Franz had to lament that European politics was chaos, and during his two years as emperor, Austria actually signed secret treaties with all the European powers.

It is estimated that those who study international history in the future will sigh at the work of the Austrian Foreign Ministry when they see this pile of secret agreements, and then leave behind a bunch of unsolved political mysteries of the world.

First of all, the "Franco-Secret Treaty", which was supposed to be good, everyone happily divided the Kingdom of Sardinia together, because of the outbreak of the June Revolution in France.

Then came the "Anglo-Austrian Memorandum on the Balkan Question" and the "Anglo-Austrian Understanding on the Italian Question", the latter of which had already been completed, and whether the former could be fulfilled or not depended on the discipline of the British.

Needless to say, the Russian-Austrian secret treaty is nothing more than the continuation and expansion of the alliance between the two countries, which have been in alliance for decades, and the two sides are each other's most important allies.

Not long ago, a secret treaty was signed with the Kingdom of Prussia, and the two countries jointly opposed the interference of foreign forces in German affairs, and this treaty will be announced when the time is ripe, and it is essentially used to deter the British, so naturally it will not be kept secret.

That's it? The Austrian government proved to be really fond of tossing, and the secret negotiations between Austria and Spain were concluded, and the two countries reached a consensus on the development of overseas colonization - the "Treaty of Colonial Austria" was released.

According to the terms of the treaty, the two countries recognized each other's sovereignty over their overseas colonies and provided each other with assistance within their capacity in colonial activities, such as obtaining logistical supplies in each other's colonies......

Now Austria has no colonies, and it seems that the Spaniards have suffered a loss, but in fact the Spanish government attaches more importance to this treaty than Austria.

There is no way, Spain is in great decline in this era, the empire on which the sun never sets has left them, and the two colonial empires of Britain and France stepped on their bones from the beginning.

Now that the Austrian Empire is ready to join the overseas colonization activities, their soft persimmon is in danger again, and they will be trampled on again.

In that case, why not choose to cooperate? Austria's conditions were not excessive, it was only that when colonizing overseas, it was necessary to obtain supplies from their ports, and it was not that they did not give money.

This humble treaty was completed under the impetus of the Admiralty. It's true that the persimmon is looking for a soft pinch, but Franz is not ready to flip the table as soon as he comes up?

If it weren't for Spain's decline, Franz would have wanted to form an alliance with them, directly stabbing France in the back, and letting them have a good feel for what sandwich biscuits are.

In any case, the shelf of the Spanish powers was still there, and the declining Spanish Navy was a little stronger than the Austrian Navy.

Not only Spain, but also the Admiralty of the Netherlands and Portugal, two small countries, attach great importance to it and are still under negotiation.

This is the price of the latter entry, and it is always more reassuring to use the ports of these small countries as a springboard than to use the British and French ones.

It is not easy to expand the colony, and the first problem is logistics and supply, and the materials in the early stage must be transported from outside.

If you look at the map, you can see that Austria's geographical location is to open up overseas colonies, and the distance is that far! In this context, it is important to be able to procure supplies nearby.

Historically, the expedition of the Russian Pacific Fleet was a negative lesson, under the blockade of the British, they lacked effective supplies along the way, and ambushed the Japanese as soon as they arrived.

Franz naturally has to learn his lesson, in any case, it is not wrong to try to get on good terms with the colonial powers first, even if it is to grab territory, it is only after gaining a foothold.

In addition, overseas colonization also requires learning experience, and now Austria has sent people to go deep into the colonies of various countries to collect intelligence and learn from their management experience.

However, this way of gathering intelligence is not very reliable, and you can only see some superficial things, and you need to learn deeper things.

Don't look at how many experts and professors in later generations criticize the backwardness of the colonial management system every day. However, in this era, it is a skill to establish colonial rule, manage large colonies with a small number of people, and make a lot of profits.

If everyone cooperates, we can also have an in-depth understanding and learn from their successful experience, so as not to lose money in just a few days after opening up the colony.

In the final analysis, overseas colonization is still for profit, and if you keep making loss-making transactions, it is estimated that it will not be long before no one participates.

The Admiralty is not just busy, taking the signed treaty, and then asking the government for appropriation.

According to the shipbuilding plan proposed by the Admiralty, the government will allocate 50 million dong to build a naval fleet second only to Britain and France within five years.

It is not an exaggeration at all, the navy of various countries in this era is not large, even the total tonnage of the British is only a hundred thousand tons, as long as the total tonnage of the navy exceeds 10,000, it is the best in the world.

In terms of tonnage, the Austrian Navy was second only to Britain, France, Spain, and Russia. Obviously, tonnage is not equal to combat effectiveness, Austria's navy is all offshore navy, it's okay to run around the Mediterranean, and the ocean-going industry probably won't sink, right?

Who knows? Anyway, there is a navy of 18,000 tons, and in Franz's opinion, this is a bean sprout navy, which is not as good as a battleship in later generations, but the tonnage of naval warships in this era is small, and this scale is not too small.

Let's put it this way, if the French suddenly break out, they can still PK with the British and compete for the position of the world's first naval power, and the gap between the British and French navies is not as big as that of later generations.

At least in terms of tonnage, the difference in tonnage is not so large, and at the closest time, the difference in the total tonnage of the two navies is less than 20 percent.

Anyway, everyone is a wooden warship, and there is not much gap between the shipbuilding technology of various countries, and there are still ten years before the birth of the world's first ironclad ship.

Looking at the ship-building plan in his hand, Franz didn't give face, and asked directly: "I remember that last year, the French Navy built the Napoleon, which was powered by a steam engine.

You build a bunch of sail warships, and when the wind is downwind, forget it, and when the wind is against the wind, do you outrun others? ”

Admiral Filcos explained: "Your Majesty, the French steam engine battleships are expensive to build and difficult to maintain, and after they have been driven with all their might, they will have to undergo a major overhaul.

Steam engine battleships did not show obvious superiority on the battlefield, and now the main force of the navies of various countries is still sail warships, and it is too risky to adopt new technologies. ”

Franz didn't care about his reasons so much, and asked directly: "With our ship-building technology, can we build it?" ”

Filcos thought for a while and said: "There is no problem in theory, we have mature experience in building merchant ships, and it is not a big problem to apply it to warships." ”

Franz didn't bother to complain, the conservative navy of various countries in this era is terrible. It is estimated that many people do not think that it was not the British who led the revolution in naval technology in this era, but the French.

In 1849, the French took the lead in applying the steam engine to warships, which opened the prelude to the revolution in naval warship power. In 1859, the French built the world's first ironclad ship, ending the era of sail warships; In 1863, the French applied the compressed air engine to the submarine, ending the human drive and increasing the range of the submarine's activity......

The revolution in naval technology was the beginning of the French, and it still could not change their status as the second oldest in 10,000 years. Later, it finally changed, and it is estimated that the French would rather remain the same, from the second to the third, fourth, and fifth......

Now the Austrian Navy is undoubtedly also a representative of the conservatives, and the technological innovation is wonderful, just look at the military spending of the Austrian Navy, they have no money to be capricious.

This is also where Franz wonders, isn't new technology first used in the military, and then promoted for civilian use?

How did it get here and it was the other way around, so many Austrian steamships in the Danube ran again, why didn't the Navy think about building steam engine battleships?

Having trouble with maintenance? This can also be regarded as a reason, why did we not see steam merchant ships continue to use sail power because of maintenance difficulties?

Franz said earnestly: "The navy should also pay attention to the use of technology, even if you can't promote technological innovation yourself, others have made results, you can always learn and apply it, right?"

Otherwise, what is the use of an outdated navy, no matter how large it is? When you get to the battlefield, you can only be a target! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Admiral Filkos replied with a wry smile

There is no doubt that the Admiralty's shipbuilding program died when Franz arrived.

Technically, it was not too difficult to build the first ironclad ships. As early as 1578, the Japanese made ironclad ships, which were covered with iron sheets.

Franz didn't want to build a bunch of sail warships and use them as targets, even though there was little chance of a naval battle in the Austrian Navy in the short term.

He can't make an epoch-making invention, it's just a conceptual innovation in military technology, which is not difficult, right?

I didn't see that after the French built the ironclad ship, only a few months later, the followers appeared, and the technical obstacles almost did not appear.

The era of shipbuilding technology reflecting the industrial level of various countries has not yet arrived, and now the shipbuilding technology of sail warships is very mature, and the gap in the performance of warships between countries is not large.

Come to think of it, Franz did not put forward the ironclad theory for the first time, this is not something that an emperor should do, and even if he wants to do it, it must be done secretly.

Otherwise, Wilhelm II is an example of this, he personally designed the warship, and then launched it and sank directly. If there is no problem, it would be strange, could it be that the German technicians are idiots and do not know to remind the emperor?

Franz doesn't give people a chance, it's much better to secretly promote technological innovation, it's normal to fail, and any new technological innovation is not a success.

Success, it proves that under the leadership of the Great Emperor, Austria's scientific and technological innovation has taken another step forward. As for the credit for the invention and creation, it is not needed as an emperor.