Although it is said that with tractors, tanks are not far away, but the little nomads are also using 105-horsepower engines, and now Maybach racks their brains to get out only 60-horsepower in-line 6-cylinder engines, so now when it comes to tanks, the conditions are not yet mature.

The conditions are not yet ripe, so it is useless to think so much. After leaving Augsburg, Jochen quickly put the idea of building a tank out for fun.

The German delegation for the Expo has also been decided, and Jochen will leave it alone, although there have been some hiccups in the meantime.

At the beginning of the year, Germany's first hydroelectric power plant at Schluch Lake in Baden-Württemberg was completed, with the installation of four Tesla-designed, Siemens-manufactured 120 kW three-phase alternators to supply power to the nearby town of Breischgau, and the construction of the transmission network by General Electric (Note 1, hereinafter referred to as AEG) and Siemens.

Oskar von Müller, a German power expert forgotten by Jochen, quickly caught Jochen's attention after he cooperated with Dolivo Dobrovolski, the founder of three-phase asynchronous alternating current, to set up a three-phase alternating current transmission system.

The transmission system, which could raise the voltage from a 55-volt three-phase transformer to 10,000 volts and transmit power from a 22-kilowatt generator from LAUFEN to Frankfurt, 175 kilometres away, was an important piece of the puzzle to perfect the AC application.

Faced with the invitation of the German crown prince, Oscar quickly joined the research work on the application of alternating current, led by Tesla. Dolivo Dobrovolski, who graduated from the Darmstadt Technical School in 1884, was already an engineer at AEG, so under Jochen's leadership, Siemens and AEG began to work together to improve the AC transmission technology.

The results were applied to the Schluchsee hydroelectric power station. The three-phase transformer raises the voltage of the output current of the hydropower station to a high voltage of 50,000 volts, and then drops the voltage to 220 volts when it enters the user's home.

Although 110-volt residential electricity may be safer, 110-volt wires consume more copper, and high voltage is conducive to reducing losses, so Jochen should not learn from the wealthy American imperialists.

Another hydropower plant with a larger installed capacity is under construction in Gordistal in Thuringia.

The application of alternating current in Germany gave Tesla confidence, so Tesla had to participate in this Chicago Expo and go to Edison to show off, but he couldn't stop it.

Since you can't stop it, it's up to you, but Jochen still told Tesla not to be too happy and shake out all kinds of secret research.

Although the Paris Convention of 1884 allowed radio patents filed in Germany to be valid in the signatory states as long as the application was filed with the signatory countries. Still, Tesla is ready to present its new research in Chicago.

Okay, it's okay if you want to show off your ability in the field of electricity by showing off your radio, but you can only get a prototype with little practical use.

Tesla also understands people, and is studying the diode vacuum electron tube used to amplify radio signals and increase the transmission distance in the real room, but he is not ready to take it out to meet people.

For Tesla's excitement of going to the United States with a new toy to find Edison to slap his face, Yoheng had to sigh that the two were really good friends who loved and killed each other, this kind of love gives birth to hate...... Ahem.

After sending off these tech nerds who went to the United States to show off and promote their new products, Jochen did not sit idle for a month, and Schlieffen's mention caused the whole of Germany to go through a turmoil.

"Military reform?" From the study of Charlottenburg Palace came Frederick III's slightly surprised question.

"Yes, Your Majesty. This will greatly enhance the coordination and unity of command of the Imperial Army in future wars, which will be of great benefit. Schlieffen reiterated his point again.

"Of course I know it's beneficial, but have you ever wondered what to do if you're being opposed?" Frederick III asked with some headaches.

"Archduke Albrecht has already nodded, so there is little point in the opposition of others." Schlieffen replied forcefully.

It all started after Austria was annexed.

Due to the influence of Jochen's idea of dissatisfaction with the formation in peacetime, the growth of the number of soldiers in the German Army after 1885 almost stagnated, and the German Army at this time had 10 full divisions, 10 standing divisions with a full strength rate of 80%, and 31 downsized divisions with a full strength rate of 40%, with a total of 500,000 army combat troops.

In the event of war, both full and standing divisions can be directly engaged in combat, while compendium divisions can only be replenished from the reserves for a maximum of a week.

Of these, 8 out of 10 full divisions, 8 out of 10 standing divisions and 23 out of 31 compendium divisions belonged to the Kingdom of Prussia.

The remaining eight drawdown divisions belonged to the two kingdoms of Württemberg and Saxony and the four grand principalities of Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg and Oldenburg. The lower principalities and princely states did not have their own standing armies.

However, the Kingdom of Bavaria, because of its military strength of 2 full divisions and 2 standing divisions, became the most powerful state outside of Prussia.

This situation has always been a problem for the General Staff of the German Empire, or for the General Staff of the Kingdom of Prussia.

In 1871, the German Empire was established, and on April 6, the Imperial Constitution was promulgated, Article 11 of the Constitution stipulated: The position of Federal President belongs to the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Prussia enjoys the honorific title of German Emperor. The Emperor represented the empire in international relations, concluded alliances and treaties with foreign countries, and appointed and accepted envoys. To declare war in the name of the Empire, the consent of the Federal Assembly must be obtained, unless the territory of the Federation has been attacked.

From this, it can be seen that the power of the German emperor is not as good as that of the president of the United States. Although they were more closely connected under the banner of the German Empire, the sovereignty of the states was inviolable, and their rights were protected by the kingdoms of Russia and Austria.

If the Hohenzollerns were one of the most powerful families in Europe at this time, it was the crown of the Kingdom of Prussia rather than the crown of the German emperor.

This is also the reason why Jochen's grandfather, Wilhelm I, even turned against Bismarck, and wanted to be the emperor of Germany rather than the emperor of Germany.

The northern states of the former German Confederation, which had been conquered by force by the Kingdom of Prussia before and after the Austro-Prussian War, naturally did not dare to disobey Prussia's wishes. However, in 1871, the Kingdom of Bavaria, which voluntarily relinquished some of its power and formed the German Empire with Prussia, had a fairly high degree of autonomy.

It is not enough to have diplomatic powers, to be able to send diplomatic representatives to France and Austria-Hungary, and to have their own representatives in Bavaria. The Imperial Railways were also managed separately and were not uniform. That's it.

However, the army of the Kingdom of Bavaria was loyal only to the Bavarian king and only accepted the emperor's command in time of war, which made the emperor feel like a fish in the throat.

Moreover, it is said that the Bavarian army, which was under the command of the emperor during the war, also repeatedly refused the orders of the General Staff to hold its positions strictly during the First World War and took the initiative to attack the French army.

Although the failure of the Schlieffen plan was manifold, the failure of the Bavarian army's unauthorized actions caused the French army to shift from offensive to defensive, and the failure of the goal of leading the General Staff to plan to defend Guò and induce the French army to continuously invest troops to attack the German defense line on the left flank, so as to buy time for the right German army to implement the revolving door plan, was a rather serious failure.

So this ungoverned independence led the German General Staff, starting with Moltke the Elder, to get command of the Bavarian army in its hands, but there was no excuse at all, but this changed with the annexation of Austria.

The standing army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire existed in the form of combat regiments in peacetime and was reorganized into divisions in wartime. The accession of the Kingdom of Austria to the German Empire brought its own 15 dragoon regiments, 62 infantry regiments, 28 field hunting battalions, and 4 Tyrolean hunting regiments, excluding logistics troops, artillery units, and soldiers lost in the Serbian war, and its total combat force also exceeded 200,000 people.

How to absorb these 200,000 people and integrate them into the system of the Imperial German Army, or the Army of the Kingdom of Prussia, became a big problem for the General Staff. If they were allowed to have the same high level of autonomy as the Bavarian army, the Kingdom of Prussia would have a headache.

But the cooperation of Archduke Albrecht was a great surprise for Schlieffen. The Kingdom of Austria handed over all diplomatic power and railway management to the imperial government, and the happy Caprivi had nothing to do with Schlieffen.

But Schlieffen was overjoyed when the Austrian army began to reorganize itself according to the standards of the German Army, and sought the advice and participation of the General Staff.

Archduke Albrecht was old, and perhaps the Austrian army would have maintained some independence while he was there, but once the Archduke died, the Austrian army would be leaderless without a leader.

The Kingdom of Austria had such a strong military force that it was difficult for the General Staff to feel at ease, and once he died, the General Staff, which could not let go of this opportunity, would inevitably take the opportunity to seize command of the army. No one can predict what the impact of the resulting conflict will be.

Recognizing this, and at the same time not wanting to see any problems arise in the unified German Empire that his Majesty Joseph was about to establish, the Grand Duke decided to transfer the command of the Austrian army peacefully into the hands of the General Staff in this way.

So, with the participation of the General Staff, the army of the Kingdom of Austria began to revise the military service system, allowing some of the soldiers to be demobilized and sent home. 15 dragoon regiments were merged into 2 full cavalry divisions, and 62 infantry regiments were reorganized into 2 full divisions, 4 standing divisions, and 6 compendium divisions. The Field Chasseurs were renamed Mountain Infantry, and the 28 Field Chasseur Battalions and 4 Tyrolean Chaser Corps were merged into 3 standing mountain infantry divisions. Logistics units and artillery units also began to be reorganized according to German standards.

The General Staff also drew up a plan to reequip the troops of the Kingdom of Austria with German-made equipment within 10 years.

With the reorganization of the Austrian army, Schlieffen began to consider whether now was an opportunity to strike at Bavaria.

Note 1: This has nothing to do with the General Electric Company of the United States, it is the Edison Applied Electric Company established by the German Emil Rattle in Berlin in 1883, and was renamed the General Electric Company soon after, which is a monopoly group in the field of electronics in Germany. During World War II, it was the second largest arms manufacturer after Krupp. In 1996 it became a subsidiary of the Dareham-Benz Group.