"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to imagine that the Bavarian army had artillery with a rate of fire comparable to that of a rifle! This artillery turned all the old artillery into garbage overnight, and as long as we can reach an arms cooperation agreement with them, we will be worth it. General Offenberg said with some emotion.

"But we already have Skoda." Earl Taaff said with some embarrassment.

"But Skoda's production capacity is actually very limited, and our troop equipment cannot be compared with Germany in terms of quantity or quality, and the German center has not made a choice between Austria and Russia, and now Germany and Russia are inclined to get closer. We must prepare for the worst. Offenberg said euphemistically.

"At least we have to start with a part of the troops, these weapons will not become obsolete even if they are used for ten or fifteen years! The elite troops of Austria must have first-class combat effectiveness, at least no worse than the Prussians, and only then will we have the courage to compete with the Russians in the Balkans, and now no one can rely on us but ourselves! Looking at the hesitant count, Offenberg said anxiously.

Although Germany has notified the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the contents of the "Reinsurance Treaty" to ease the tension of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but as the head of government, Count Taaffe still feels great pressure, if the competition between Germany and Austria can end decently, Italy and Austria can only be regarded as a small fight, then once with Russia, the European steamroller, then the price of defeat is too great!

Count Taaffe had a deep understanding of Austria-Hungary's weakness and foreign strength, and he knew that without the help of Germany, Austria-Hungary would not say that it would compete with Russia for the Balkans, and whether he could protect himself was a question, and now, in the case of Germany's unclear attitude, even if it was difficult, Austria-Hungary would have to sharpen the saber in his hand!

"We need the basic technology of Skoda, and you need the new rapid-fire gun control system and the design of the new rifle, we have something in common on this point, and we can completely unify the equipment of the army of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Austrian army, and if something happens to Austria-Hungary, we can at least provide equipment support." When Count Taaffe returned to the negotiating table again, Prince Ruprecht directly made a condition.

"We can buy patents." Taaffe made a counter-proposal.

"However, the cost of weapons produced in Škoda is on the high side, and in the whole of the heart of Europe, there is no place where coal and iron are more advantageous than in the Ruhr and Alsace-Lorraine regions, and although we are outside these regions, our raw material costs are lower than in your country."

"And if you want to consider accessories, we have an advantage, and from an economic point of view, the production of weapons in Bavaria is still a bit stronger than Skoda, even with freight and customs duties." The Travelers tried to unify the equipment of part of the armies of Bavaria and Austria-Hungary with their intentions. The experience of history tells the traverser that in the absence of a miracle, there is no future on the Western Front, and the battle on the Western Front is attrition, attrition until one of the sides completely collapses. On the Eastern Front, however, there is a lot of room for manoeuvre.

Bavaria has the right to procure armaments on its own. If it is unified with the equipment of some of the Austro-Hungarian troops, then it is undoubtedly possible to ask the German General Staff to let the Bavarian Army participate in the battle on the Eastern Front. What's more, in history, his uncle was the later commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front. Whether from the point of view of historical inertia or from the analysis of the objective situation, if the equipment of the Bavarian and Austrian troops is unified, there is a chance that they can fight on the Eastern Front again!

"As the future king of Bavaria, even from the perspective of benefiting the people of his country, he has to participate in the battle on the Eastern Front, which is simply too cruel!" The traverser secretly made up his mind.

"The meaning is very limited, really." Earl Taaff replied.

"With the development of the times and the progress of technology, the advantages of setting up a factory in Bavaria will become more and more obvious, and Germany's basic industry is very good, and it is easy to obtain subsystems and accessories for new weapons. Trust my sense of smell in this regard. ”

"Maybe someday in the future, we can install an engine on the gun and walk on it on its own without towing. Perhaps someday in the future, horses will be withdrawn from our army, and cars and tractors will become the main force of logistical transportation of troops. Perhaps one day, in addition to airships and balloons, another kind of machinery that can hover in the air will decide the outcome of the war. "The Traveler speaks in a very sincere tone about weapons that can only be described as science fiction or dreams in this era.

"You're just kidding. If you write science fiction, you will be better than Verne. Offenberg laughed dumbly.

"So I can make hardened armor, and you can't. You are not sensitive enough to technology, as a military man, learning how to command a battle is one aspect, but at the same time he must understand where military technology is headed. The traverser replied, still smiling.

"It seems that our negotiations are at a disagreement, but even so, we are still willing to buy your country's patents, so let's start small." Taaffe still stuck to his point.

"Even from an economic point of view, it is beneficial to set up a factory in Germany, don't just look at the army, since we can replace the Krupp artillery with our own artillery, then we can also squeeze out our opponents in the field of large-caliber naval artillery! I WAS NOT SATISFIED WITH THE GERMAN NATIVE 240MM GUNS AND 280MM GUNS, THE FORMER HAD TOO LOW MUZZLE VELOCITY AND THE LATTER HAD AN UNSATISFACTORY BULLET WEIGHT. Prince Leopold said.

Although he is an army general, he is also a commander with an artillery background, and he is also very concerned about the performance of naval guns, after all, this thing is called a train gun when it is installed on a train.

The fundamental reason why Skoda's heavy artillery did not improve was that the Austro-Hungarian Navy was too weak, so weak that there was no need for naval guns! However, this does not mean that the level of production of Skoda naval guns is poor! HISTORICALLY, WHEN THE GERMANS USED 240MM GUNS TO SHOOT 140KG SHELLS WITH AN INITIAL VELOCITY OF 690 METERS PER SECOND, SKODA'S K94 NAVAL GUNS COULD SHOOT 215KG SHELLS WITH THE SAME MUZZLE VELOCITY!

THE PERFORMANCE OF THE K10 12-INCH NAVAL GUN AND THE K14 350MM NAVAL GUN OF LATER GENERATIONS WAS ALSO HIGHER THAN THAT OF THE KRUPP NAVAL GUNS OF THE SAME PERIOD. This is true both for artillery performance and for shells! If from an unbiased point of view, it is better to equip the German Navy with Škoda naval guns than with Krupp naval guns!

"If Skoda were an Austro-Hungarian enterprise, it would hardly have received orders from the German Navy, but if it were a German company, both the German Navy's own warships and export warships could be equipped with Austro-Hungarian artillery. The profit in this is no less than that of armor! The traverser said.

"This plan is more reliable than the plan you said at the beginning." Austria out of technology, Bavaria out of venues and people. The two sides will rebuild a naval gun production plant and get a piece of the pie in the German Navy's future shipbuilding plan! I have to say that Earl Taaff is a little excited.

"It's going to be a big investment." Taaffe said.

"Behind us is the country after all, and money is not a problem. AS LONG AS YOU CAN COME UP WITH A NEW 240MM GUN IN 4 YEARS AND A 12-INCH GUN IN 6 YEARS, THEN I CAN GUARANTEE THAT AT LEAST HALF OF THE ORDER WILL BE SNATCHED FROM KRUPP! The traverser said confidently.

In the plan of the traverser, whether it is for his own money or for the future of the German Navy, it is necessary to compete with Krupp in the field of naval artillery! Where is the root of the big ships carrying small cannons in the German World War 1 in later generations? Half of the reason is on Krupp! The German naval artillery was supplied to him alone, and there was no pressure at all, so naturally there was no power. So after plagiarizing the Krupp armor, the traverser decisively decided to pit the other party from the ship's guns again!

AS A RESULT OF THE FINAL TALKS, THE BAVARIAN ROYAL FAMILY AGREED WITH AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN TO PRODUCE 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUNS UNDER LICENSE. And in return, Austria-Hungary bought a batch of machine guns and semi-automatic rifles from Bavaria. At the same time, it was decided to start the construction of a joint venture heavy artillery production plant in Bavaria next year, in 1891. Ready to seize the German naval market.

Thank you for the reward of zhouyu1976~~~, there has been a lot of pressure on the new book list recently! The author in the back is chasing very closely, and it seems to be very difficult to take a step forward.