Chapter 85 The Chosen General

Vienna, Franz's bedroom.

Franz has always been curious about why Austria closed the silver mine in Tyrol. It was still minable in the late World War II and the mine was not exhausted until 1957. Why did it stop mining in 1827?

Talia found a report on the silver mine in Tyrol. The reason given was that the quality of the silver mine in Tyrol was poor and the income was not enough to cover the cost, so it had to be stopped in the end.

Franz rubbed his chin. Why did it lose money year after year in the hands of the Austrian government, and then it could continue to be mined for a hundred years after it was transferred to individuals.

Franz compared the income statements of several mines and found that the income of the silver mine in Tyrol was not as good as the iron mine under his name.

Franz thought it was unlikely. Unless the silver mine could not be mined, the income of the silver mine could not be lower than that of the iron mine. Judging from the fact that private enterprises in later generations could continue to mine for hundreds of years, the silver mine in Tyrol was far from being exhausted.

Then there could be only one reason, that is, poor supervision, just like the customs of the Qing Dynasty, which leaked everywhere.

What made Franz even more angry was that someone who was so smart came up with the idea of ​​blowing up and burying the mine when abandoning the Tyrol silver mine.

Re-digging the mine is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also requires a large amount of extra expenses.

But generally speaking, the resumption of mining in the Tyrol silver mine is still very beneficial to Austria. After all, this is direct income and can be used as collateral to defraud loans.

The problem of the Austrian Army is easy to solve. Zhenla's order has come again. In addition to 6,000 rifles, they also want 20 cannons.

But this time they are not paying with silver, but part of silver, part of gold, ivory, pearls, jade, and some precious wood.

It seems that Zhenla has made up its mind or encountered big trouble. This may be a catastrophe for Zhenla, but it is an opportunity for Austria. It depends on whether Ambrosius can grasp it.

Of course, Franz will also ask the church to help, after all, Archbishop Rauscher has made a lot of money selling holy light and holy water recently.

Bleaching powder and alcohol have no cost. Although some people have discovered them, their influence is far less than that of the church. The same products cannot be sold, and the church is even in short supply.

In order to exclude possible competitors, the church frantically lowered the price, which also discouraged some people without strength.

With the promotion of church products, the cholera that should have broken out did not appear in the slums of Vienna.

The number of people who died of dysentery in Austria has also dropped sharply. In addition, with the bumper harvest and economic prosperity in recent years, railway construction and public works have absorbed a large number of refugees, which has increased the happiness of the Austrian people.

The problem of the navy is difficult to deal with. If you want to build a fleet, then a few million florins are just a rumor. At most, you can build a few frigates and cruisers. If you count the artillery and sailor training, the cost is simply sky-high.

The Austrian Navy proposed to build a powerful fleet of four fourth-level battleships, six cruisers, and ten frigates to maintain absolute suppression of the Sardinian Navy.

In fact, the navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia had a second-class battleship as its flagship, a third-class battleship, and ten fourth-class battleships. Although the number of ships was far less than that of the Austrian Navy, the gap between gunboats and battleships could not be made up by quantity.

In the naval battle of 1827, the British battleships "Asia" and "Istria" broke into the Egyptian navy and shattered Egypt's naval dream in just two hours.

However, they were not the strongest force of the British at sea, and they could only tremble in front of those first-class sailing battleships.

Austria's opponent was not the British, nor the Kingdom of Sardinia, but the Egyptian fleet.

At this time, competing with Britain in naval power was tantamount to seeking death. The number of battleships that Austria could use was not as many as the opponent's first-class battleships.

The Kingdom of Sardinia bordered Austria and could completely use the army to push forward. There was no doubt that the Austrian army had this strength.

The incompetence exposed by Austria in the two Turkish-Egyptian wars was the real reason for the decline of Austria's international status.

Later generations always said that Metternich was weak, which led to the British skipping Austria and punishing Egypt alone.

In fact, the fundamental reason is that Austria did not have a strong navy. It could only look at the faces of the British, the French, and the Russians, which led to Metternich's indecision and finally had to acquiesce to Britain's behavior and be a younger brother behind Britain.

But the British did not intend to accept the Austrian Empire as a younger brother, and turned around and threw Austria aside, and pulled it out to take the blame during the Crimean War.

In order to change Austria's fate, a navy that can defeat the Egyptian fleet is necessary.

After the Battle of Navarino, the Egyptian navy suffered a devastating blow, and the Austrian navy could really cope with it at this time.

But if everything develops according to history, the Ottoman fleet will defect to Egypt, and at this time the Ottoman fleet has more than 30 large and small ships, including the largest sailing battleship of this era, the "Mahmoudiya".

This is not something the Austrian navy can deal with. Without strength, it is naturally lacking in confidence. Of course, it is also unrealistic to expect Austria to build a fleet that can defeat the Ottoman navy in two or three years.

But there is still hope of building a mixed fleet that can quickly defeat the Egyptian fleet and deliver the Austrian army to Egypt.

Of course, Austria sending troops to resolve this dispute is only the last solution. Franz still hopes that Prince Metternich can achieve a diplomatic victory.

There is good news for the Austrian navy, that is, Archduke Friedrich, the third son of Archduke Karl, is going to join the navy.

This archduke who likes ship models will carry out a comprehensive reform of the Austrian navy, and the Austrian navy will also usher in its first glorious period.

Archduke Friedrich graduated from the military academy at the age of 13, spent another two years studying shipbuilding, and joined the navy at the age of 16 to start reforms. He is a man of talent, enthusiasm, and financial resources.

However, such a genius would not have thought that he would face a game that would change the fate of the Austrian Empire four years later. His reforms were still too conservative.

The loser of the Turkish-Egyptian War was not only Egypt. Austria exposed its diplomatic weakness and weak naval strength.

In 1840, the Austrian Navy and the British Royal Navy jointly blockaded the port of Alexandria, bombarded Sidon and Beirut, and organized a landing in Acre, slaughtering the Egyptian army.

It looked very glorious and showed off the national prestige. However, in the eyes of the old empire, the Austrian navy was like a clown, and the temporary marines were even more ridiculous.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the excitement, while experts see the doorway.

What the Austrian nobles saw was the huge number of Austrian fleets, and the artillery fired rounds and rounds of gunpowder filled the sky.

However, what the British and French fleet commanders saw was a group of fry who did not understand naval tactics, and the shipbuilding technology was terrible, and there were no large ships that could support naval battles.

The main artillery was actually an 8-pound gun, which once made the British fleet commander think that the other side was a group of land forces.

In fact, most of the officers of the Austrian navy were temporarily withdrawn from the army, and the technical personnel were also temporarily recruited. As for the sailors, many were temporary workers recruited from the port bars.

Such a temporary patchwork force is difficult for a powerful country like Britain with a deep naval tradition to look down on.