Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1107: Chapter 121: Difficult Choices
 

International arms purchases have always been fraught with various pitfalls, and if several additional paid projects are not reserved, then one is certainly not a qualified arms dealer.

In comparison, the Vienna Government, the seller, has already been quite conscientious, not causing any issues with the airships, even giving away a large number of spare parts for free.

But no matter how conscientious, there’s still no escaping the establishment of subsidiary additional services, and this time is no exception.

Indeed, it turned out that transport airships required more than just a large carrying capacity, they also needed security guarantees.

Facing the enemy’s airplanes, the survival capability of transport airships was too low; they absolutely needed fighter escorts.

Unfortunately, the poor Russian Government could not afford to indulge in the high-end new product that was the air force. With only one flight squadron for show, they were nowhere near capable of taking on the escort responsibilities.

Had it not been for the Japanese Army also being poor and having a similarly scarce number of airplane equipment, the Russian Army would have suffered substantial losses long ago.

Now they hadn’t really suffered a significant loss, but two of the frontline transport airships had already been shot down, forcing the airship transport fleet to temporarily suspend operations.

It has always been “easy to shift from frugality to luxury, difficult to go from luxury to frugality.” The Russian Army could not be an exception.

When there was no airship transport fleet, nobody felt anything; now that they had it and suddenly couldn’t use it, the frontline officers naturally could not sit still.

Since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian Army had been suppressed by the Japanese, and only with the booming smuggling trade and the addition of the airship transport fleet did they manage to reverse the downward trend.

They hadn’t enjoyed the good days for long before others cut them off, and the upper echelons of the Russian military naturally could not tolerate it.

Affected by the butterfly effect, Russia had been engaged in constant warfare for the last few decades, consequently raising the level of its military officers by a notch.

Whether in terms of professional knowledge or combat experience, they were much richer than in the original timeline.

To resolve the issue once and for all, the Far Eastern Russian Command decided to seize air supremacy, and had developed a comprehensive combat plan. Now they were just short of an air force.

Theoretically, the Russian Empire was capable of building fighter aircraft, and even had many “independently developed” products with superior performance.

Logically, they should give priority to supporting their domestic enterprises. Unfortunately, these “superior products” all had various shortcomings.

Not only did they need to import spare parts, but even for production and assembly, they had to seek external factories.

There was no choice, as everyone fought over profitable business, but no one cared for a losing venture.

With empty pockets in the Tsarist Government, they had no power to build a large-scale air force, and without widespread civilian use, naturally, no one invested in aircraft production plants, not even assembly plants.

The so-called domestically produced aircraft boiled down to a fanciful designer whose own designs’ authenticity wasn’t even certain.

Without any surprises, as one of the almost industrialized countries, Russia was also a country of knock-offs.

However, others optimised product performance or reduced production costs, or adapted to local cultural habits and aesthetics for redesigns.

The Russian industrial and commercial sectors were different. First, performance was not the foremost pursuit; convenient living for people was likewise not the main goal; as for optimizing product performance, that was even less likely.

The sentiment “buying is better than making” had already deeply rooted in people’s hearts. If not to scam subsidies from the Tsarist Government or to compete for preferential policies, no one would bother with industry.

In this context, everyone’s pursuit was merely to be able to produce the product, and all else was insignificant.

It wasn’t that people lacked ambition, but rather, the industrial supporting system couldn’t keep up, and the quality of labor was likewise lagging.

Not to mention high-tech spare parts, even screws requiring slightly higher precision needed to be imported. It wasn’t that they couldn’t be manufactured; the problem was that the yield rate was too pitiful.

That accounts for the Russian manufacturing style of “bulky, clumsy, and crude.” It’s not that people wanted to play it that way; they genuinely couldn’t make refined products.

To ensure normal use, sacrifices had to be made in other areas; thus, performance was not to be expected, with the only commendable feature being their rugged and reliable nature.

But this advantage was quite limited, only applicable to ordinary daily industrial products and not suitable for any high-precision products.

In the case of such high-tech products as airplanes, Russia could only produce primitive wooden planes.

The most popular planes internationally had already transitioned to metal alloys, and Russia was incapable of sealing the deal on any core technology.

To manufacture in-house, almost all spare parts needed to be imported. How they’d perform couldn’t be guaranteed, but the cost was most certainly high.

Now, in wartime, was obviously not the time to put on a brave front with an uncertain domestic fighter. It would be better to directly purchase ready-made fighters.

At least the mainstream combat aircraft equipped by the Shinra Air Force had been produced in hundreds, even thousands of units, and had withstood the test of time.

With a light tapping of his right hand on the chair, Nicholas II furrowed his brow and asked, “How many fighters are we planning to procure? What will the budget need to be? How do we solve the issue of crew personnel?”

Time is the best teacher. After more than a decade as emperor, Nicholas II was no longer the naive youth of before.

Perhaps he was still some ways from becoming an exceptional monarch, but basic common sense could no longer be fooled so easily.

In fact, the issue of procuring fighters was not a new subject for the Tsarist Government.

The importance of air supremacy goes without saying; if it could be controlled, no one would give it up. It was just that it was always called off for various reasons in the end.

Knowing there would be difficulties but still raising the issue again, the military was naturally expected to present a solution this time.

Army Minister Yevgeny: “According to intelligence received from the front, to seize air superiority, we need at least a hundred fighters.

Considering the current international tensions and the possibility of war breaking out between Britain and Austria at any moment, after this procurement it may be a long time before we can resupply. We plan to imitate Shinra Air Force’s organization and form an air division.

Taking into account anticipated combat losses, we need to procure a total of 400 fighters, with an approximate procurement budget between 30 to 50 million Divine Shields.

The specific figure will have to be confirmed after formal negotiations. In the field of aviation, Shinra has an absolute advantage; even the British are a generation behind.

Given Japan’s industrial strength, it is already quite difficult for them to get the planes they produce into the sky, let alone up to performance standards.

To face them, purchasing Shinra’s nearly retired second-hand fighters would be sufficient. Not only can we save on costs, but we can also obtain stock in the shortest amount of time.

”

As for the crew members, after the outbreak of the war, we asked Shinra to help train a batch. After more than half a year of training, they are now barely usable.

(Note: The Holy Roman Empire Air Division had 3 regiments, each with 3 flying squadrons and one engineering squadron, each squadron composed of 3 flying companies, each company with 8 fighters. The entire division had a total of 288 fighters, with over five thousand flying and ground personnel.)

Yevgeny’s words carried a thick tone of disdain, making it clear that he looked down on Japan. Although the Russian Empire was not much better, it could not hide the ingrained sense of superiority.

To all of this, no one found it strange. Looking down on the Japanese was normal, and it would be truly problematic if they treated Japan as an equal.

From the plan alone, it was clear that the Russian Army had really progressed. If this were decades ago, they would have certainly been “treating the head for a headache and the foot for foot pain,” and would not have been planning ahead.

As soon as the war broke out, they organized personnel for training abroad, a forward-thinking approach, obviously different from the Russian’s usual brusqueness.

However, Nicholas II did not feel pleased, instead, a sense of despair surged in the depths of his heart.

A slight analysis of Yevgeny’s words revealed the army’s high dependence on Shinra. If there was ever a fallout between the two countries, the combat effectiveness of the Russian Army would probably be greatly reduced.

Knowing was one thing, but with the Russo-Japanese War already underway, Nicholas II couldn’t afford to relinquish advanced equipment just to shed the dependence on Shinra.

Procuring fighters was one thing, but reviewing the recent decades of foreign wars, every war involved importing armaments from neighbors.

The problem was now purchasing second-hand goods, which was already a loss of face for the Russian Empire, and it was unexpected that the military could speak of it so casually, which displeased Nicholas II.

Displeased as he might be, the Russian Empire needed to hurry. Not to mention the urgent war situation at the front, the international tension told the whole story.

With the worsening relations between Shinra and Britain, international tension rose sharply, and the scent of gunpowder was detectable across the world.

If they did not quickly reach an arms purchase agreement and complete the arms deal, once war between the two countries officially broke out, even with money at hand, they might not be able to buy what they needed.

The only things that could be delivered in the shortest time were second-hand equipment. Placing direct orders with munitions factories would take several months, impossible to settle promptly.

Fortunately, Nicholas II was unaware of the true extent of second-hand equipment in the Russian Army, otherwise, it might have truly led to a volcanic eruption.

In some ways, second-hand equipment was not bad. Not only was it cheaper, but its reliability was also crucial.

Nowadays, international arms dealers often deceived customers. Without setting some traps, it would be embarrassing to call oneself an arms dealer.

Ever since the British set a bad precedent, everyone’s integrity plummeted, for example: before exporting the most advanced weapons, reducing some of their capabilities.

Moreover, the more advanced the weapon, the more severe the weakening, at best they could only be considered high-quality knock-offs.

But no matter how good the imitation, a fake would never be real. If, on the battlefield, an imitation encountered the real thing, it would be a tragic encounter in minutes.

The Russian Army’s large-scale use of second-hand equipment was naturally not out of preference, but more due to officers and soldiers being frightened by domestic bureaucracy.

Without a choice, the poor quality of domestically produced weapons worsened once officials and merchants colluded.

Compared to that, second-hand equipment procured directly from Shinra was much more reliable. Not only was its performance uncut, but its quality had also been tested by time.

“Then let’s go ahead with it!”

Nicholas II answered flatly. It was apparent to everyone that his majesty the Tsarist was not in high spirits.

Regardless of his lack of enthusiasm, state affairs still had to be managed. Especially at this critical moment, negligence and idle handling were not tolerable.

Foreign Minister Mikhailovich spoke up, “With the escalating conflict between the Anglo-Austrian countries, the European situation has become increasingly tense in recent days.

To avoid taking sides once again, several European countries have come forth to call for peace, with coastal nations such as the Netherlands and Portugal being the most active.

As of now, we have received notes from eleven countries, hoping that we would lead in maintaining neutrality, to avoid being embroiled in a hegemonic war.

Considering the complexity of the situation, it is difficult for us to clarify at a moment’s notice, and the Foreign Ministry has not given a direct response.”

Leading is not easy, as all European countries did not want to be drawn into war, but no one stepped forward to take the brunt, which said a lot.

The situation was clear: whoever stuck their head out first was bound to bear the brunt of the firepower.

Had it been thirty years earlier and such an opportunity presented itself, Mikhailovich would have agreed without a second thought.

But now things were different. Although the strength of the Russian Empire kept increasing, its dependency on Shinra continued unabated.

Especially with the ongoing Russo-Japanese War, they still needed the support of the Vienna Government. One couldn’t very well stab them in the back and then seek their support, could they?

Not maintaining solidarity with other countries was also a big problem. Without the Russian Empire leading the way, the so-called joint neutrality of the nations was a big joke.

No other reason but, someone had to bear the political and military pressure exerted by Shinra and Britain, right?

Apart from the Russian Empire, who else could bear such pressure?

Even Spain, due to its insufficient strength, was unable to shoulder this responsibility.

As for other countries, without enough power, meddling carelessly would come at a cost.

No one dared lead the charge, so taking sides was inevitable.

In this context, the stance of the Russian Empire was crucial, acting almost like a weathervane for the choices of other European nations.

If the Tsarist Government supported Holy Rome, it would mean no major war on the European Continent. Everyone would simply cheer them on, without needing to mix with the British.

Contrarily, if the Tsarist Government supported Britannia, this war would be jointly decided on both sea and land, truly an uncertain future.

After a sigh, Nicholas II stood up from his chair, paced inside the room a few times, then said helplessly, “The Foreign Ministry will handle it as they see fit! After all, do we have any other choice right now?

Let’s make the most of this opportunity to seek greater benefits for the Empire, as there probably won’t be another chance in the future.”

Such was the harsh reality; the Russian Empire, deeply bound to Shinra, also had no choice but to walk down this dark path alongside Vienna.