Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1021: Chapter 35, Celebration
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The wheels of history rolled on, indifferent to individual will.

As the birthplace of the economic crisis, Vienna was also among the first places to shake off its impact.

Unlike ordinary industrial cities, Vienna, centered around politics, education, scientific research, and culture, had a much stronger ability to withstand risks.

Aside from the miserable state of shareholders, the crisis did not bring about significant changes in Vienna. In its bustling streets, there was hardly any sense of depression.

Especially recently, as National Day approached and representatives from all over the country gathered, it added even more prosperity to the city.

To celebrate the third anniversary of the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz decided to hold a major military parade on National Day. It was purely for celebration, certainly not for showcasing military power.

Unlike previous parades, this one was nationwide. Representatives from colonies overseas, fief aristocrats, and the various states on the European Continent all sent delegates.

Most importantly, this parade didn’t select the elite from the entire army; rather, Franz randomly drew troops to come to Vienna for the inspection.

There was no alternative. With a multitude of sub-states and fief aristocrats numbered in the tens of thousands under Shinra, even selective choosing was not an option.

As it involved military honor, don’t expect anyone to concede; squabbling could go on endlessly.

If it had been before the opening of colonies, they could have held a grand military contest or conducted live combat exercises.

Now, just by looking at Shinra’s map, one knew that with the transportation of the era, even regional drills were difficult, not to mention live combat exercises that could take years to complete.

Therefore, to avoid controversy, Franz simply played a game of chance, leaving it all to luck.

If you wanted to shine before the national public, then you could only trust in God’s blessing. If God wasn’t online, hoping for the Emperor’s favor worked as well.

After all, looking at the final outcome, the distribution of troops was quite balanced.

Austrian Nanyang selected one battalion, Austro-American selected one battalion, Austro-Africa selected four battalions, all the states together selected three battalions, the Central Army, Navy, and Air Force each provided three battalions, plus an armored battalion and an artillery battalion, totaling twelve thousand men.

No more could be managed; any more and they couldn’t be inspected properly. Franz didn’t want to exhaust himself with a celebration event.

Assembling troops from all corners of the world was not an easy task. National Day parade was not only a review of the troops but also a display for the whole world.

As a new hegemon that had knocked down France, apart from intervening in the Philippine War once, Shinra had surprisingly not involved itself globally in recent years.

Such a peaceful hegemon was not only unaccustomed to the countries of the world, but at least the European nations truly found it unfamiliar.

Just look at the British; as soon as the Philippine War ended, they turned and stirred up trouble in Cuba. That was the mark of a professional hegemon.

In this aspect, the Vienna Government had a long way to go to catch up with the British. Judging from the current situation, it was impossible for Franz in his lifetime.

It was decided by political genetics. Seapower and landpower nations thought differently.

Thinking determines action. If possible, Franz wished to continue living in peace and tranquility.

Yet, as the saying goes, “The tree may prefer calm, but the wind will not subside.” The Vienna Government didn’t do anything, but they were blamed nonetheless, without a place to even argue their case.

The list of potential culprits was too long to determine who was the manipulator behind the scenes; thus, the Vienna Government naturally could not retaliate.

To assert its presence, there was this third-anniversary celebration. Whether other countries were accustomed to it or not, now they had to learn to adapt.

“New hegemon, new atmosphere.”

Blindly imitating the British clearly put them at a disadvantage. If they truly stirred up widespread dissatisfaction and conflict broke out, Shinra didn’t have the protection of a channel.

He who doesn’t learn from the past is doomed to repeat it. The lessons of the two World Wars in the original timeline were still deeply imprinted in Franz’s mind.

Playing power games on the European Continent was collective suicide. Winning wouldn’t cover the military expenses, and losing would lead to catastrophic losses.

…

“Over here, Friedrich.”

“I see you, General. I’m on my way.”

With the voice’s arrival, a young officer weaved through the crowd, making his way to the statue at the plaza.

Schlieffen scolded with a smile, “Friedrich, you fool. I told you not to fall behind, and yet you dare to look around. If you got lost, I’d be embarrassed to ask the police to find you.”

It was apparent that Schlieffen held the young officer in high regard.

Although this parade had been decided by drawing lots, who would dare to be negligent when being inspected by the public?

If there were any mishaps, it would be humiliating before the whole world. The selected troops had begun practicing well in advance.

Those who ultimately participated in the inspection, both officers and soldiers, had been meticulously chosen; anyone unfit had been transferred out long ago.

Being the only contingent from the Kingdom of Prussia participating in the parade, it was simply all officers. The goal was very simple: to get funding.

There was no helping it—what could be done when the Kingdom of Prussia was poor?

Constrained by financial difficulties, the Prussian Military had been having a hard time in recent years.

Even a proposal to disband the army had emerged within the Berlin Government. Although Wilhelm II had stopped it, such matters tended to recur.

The Prussian Military was very aware of the crisis. To avoid a day when the Berlin Government truly withheld funding, the officer corps took their trip to Vienna.

After the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, while the Emperor took command of the state armies, military funding for these armies also changed to tighten control.

Generally speaking, within the authorized size permitted by the Emperor, state armies could obtain 25% to 40% of military funding from the Central Government, with the remainder needing to be raised by the state governments themselves.

Under such circumstances, if the state was wealthy, the military funding was plentiful, and the army’s life was easier. If the state was poor, they had to make do with hardship.

Without a doubt, the Prussian Army always lived in hardship. Since the failure in the Prusso-Russian War, the military had never had an easy time.

Back during the German Federation, Prussia faced Russia’s constant military threats directly, forcing the Berlin Government to grit its teeth and bear it.

Additionally, being entrusted as the military backbone of The Federation, for reasons of national defense security, other Sub-State governments also supported a portion of the military funding, which barely kept things going.

After the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, the Central Government undertook part of the military expenses. In theory, their days should have been a bit easier.

Unfortunately, with the establishment of Shinra, the threat from the Russians no longer existed, and that dogged spirit of the Berlin Government to desperately scrape together military funds had also vanished.

After the economic crisis broke out and the Berlin Government became financially bankrupt, there were even proposals to hand over the army to the Central Government to reduce the financial pressure on the government.

With the support of the King, the army was retained, but financial appropriations were often delayed.

The most critical issue was that the Prussian Government genuinely had no money, not that they didn’t want to pay.

This was rather awkward. If they had money but refused to pay, the military naturally had ways to make the Berlin Government comply. But now, with no funds available, they were helpless.

Fortunately, the subsidies from the Central Government were always timely, and by saving a bit here and there, they could barely manage to keep going.

In order to save on military expenditures, the Prussian Military also came up with various methods, such as retaining the organizational framework but reducing the number of soldiers.

Unfortunately, such tactics, which clearly smacked of embezzling military funds, were quickly spotted by the Army Department.

If one plan failed, another one took its place.

The Prussian Military then replaced the soldiers with volunteers who did not take salaries, retaining only a small number of core elites, mainly focused on officer training.

Regrettably, although the Prussian Military’s plan was good, Emperor Franz did not approve.

To such obviously problematic measures that could affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, not only did Franz issue a strict warning to the Prussian Military, but he also demoted the related personnel en masse.

Demotion was a minor issue, but the problem of military funding had yet to be solved. Despite the Emperor personally intervening, urging the Berlin Government to allocate the military funds on time, the funds had to be there to be allocated.

Borrowing money for military expenses was naturally not an issue in the past. However, now it was not feasible, as the Berlin Government was in the midst of a debt restructuring tussle with the British, and the government had already declared bankruptcy.

Not only were the military salaries owed, but so too were the salaries of government public officials, including the King’s annuity and the Prime Minister’s wage, not a penny had been paid.

Everyone in the government was struggling for the nation’s benefit, so the military naturally could not lag behind at this time. No matter how difficult, they still had the military funds allocated by the Central Government, and they weren’t at the point of starvation.

Obviously, getting the British creditors to compromise was not an easy task. This “play dead” protest movement was expected to continue for a long time.

After going through so much, the Prussian Military had also realized that even if the debt restructuring negotiations were successful, the broke Berlin Government could not be relied upon for a while.

To resolve the issue of military funds, they had no choice but to appeal to the Emperor.

After all, the Shinra Empire’s annual military budget was as high as hundreds of millions of Divine Shields, whereas the annual expenses of the Prussian Army were just over four million Divine Shields, about one-thirtieth.

As long as the Emperor showed a slight preference in the allocation of military funds, their funding gap would be filled.

To obtain favored treatment regarding military funds, they naturally had to prove their value to the Emperor first. This military parade was their chance to showcase themselves.

A pure display of soldiers clearly wouldn’t cut it. The soldiers who could appear at the parade were definitely the elite of the elite.

“`

Despite the Prussian Army’s meticulous training, standing out on the parade ground was still an impossibility.

Common soldiers would not capture the Emperor’s interest, but a unit that turned soldiers into officers certainly could attract the Emperor’s attention.

Regardless of whether the plan was reliable or not, one had to try. Otherwise, with the rapid advances in modern military technology, the underfunded Prussian Army would quickly fall behind.

As for entrusting national defense to the Central Government and peacefully tending to one’s fields, other Sub-States might entertain such notions, but it was utterly impossible in Prussia.

Although the Prusso-Russian War had broken the Kingdom of Prussia’s backbone, that indomitable spirit of defiance had been preserved within the military.

To this day, “revenge” remained the driving force of the Prussian Military. However, considering the stark disparity in strength between the two sides, they were forced to bide their time, quietly preparing for war.

In the previous war against France, the Prussian Army had performed well, and thus even after the reestablishment of the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia was able to maintain the organization of four infantry divisions, standing as the leader of the numerous smaller states.

Of course, this was also the result of other Sub-States not making as much of an effort to vie for such a status. After all, only Prussia wanted to take revenge against the Russians and reclaim lost territories.

Although the Holy Roman Empire had been reestablished, according to tradition: the hatred of a Sub-State is not the hatred of the Empire; the wars of a Sub-State are not the wars of the Empire.

If faced with foreign invasion, the Central Government was naturally obliged to step in; if you yourself initiated an invasion, then you would bear the consequences.

Cases such as these had occurred in the history of the Holy Roman Empire no fewer than three times.

In the Prusso-Russian conflict, as long as Russia did not actively invade, the Vienna Government had no responsibility or obligation to Prussia.

If they wanted revenge, the Kingdom of Prussia would have to go it alone. In theory, the size of each Sub-State’s military could be decided independently.

However, any troops exceeding the prescribed limits were not the Central Government’s responsibility to fund, yet they still had to accept the Emperor’s command.

Without the support of the Central Government, the impoverished Kingdom of Prussia naturally lacked the means to seek revenge against Russia. Even if the military still harbored this wish, the Berlin Government had long abandoned such impractical fantasies.

A secret known to all is no secret, and the covert activities of the Prussian Military could certainly not escape Franz’s eyes.

However, since they had always operated within the bounds of the rules, it was not appropriate for him, as the Emperor, to interfere.

After all, the “revenge plans” of the Prussian Military had only remained at the stage of “wishful thinking,” without taking any substantial action.

Besides, with just a few infantry divisions, no matter how elite their training, they could not pose a threat to the Central Government. Instead, they served as a handy enforcer.

Friedrich replied solemnly, “Rest assured, General. I won’t be lost. It was just too crowded earlier, and I didn’t notice you leaving.”

Schlieffen nodded and said nothing more. Unlike the curiosity of the younger officers, it was the older generation of Prussian officers who harbored the most complex feelings towards the Holy Roman Empire.

As a participant in two Prusso-Russian Wars, Schlieffen had witnessed the decline of the Kingdom of Prussia and the revival of the Holy Roman Empire firsthand.

There was a time when Schlieffen had taken it upon himself to unify the Germany Region and establish Great Prussia.

The Germany Region was indeed unified, but not by Prussia’s efforts. On the contrary, the greatest contribution the Kingdom of Prussia made to the unification process was its own decline.

With the decline of Prussia, the second strongest Sub-State, no other Sub-State in the Germany Region was potent enough to counter Austria, and the internal strife within the Germany Region was thus effectively eliminated.

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