1834

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace, nursery.

Franz was searching through a mountain of data, looking for useful information.

At this time, the Austrian Empire possessed 30 kilometers of railway, Prussia had 6 kilometers, France had 150 kilometers, and Britain had 600 miles (approximately 965 kilometers).

Every nation had wild plans regarding railways; the French government had already issued a construction plan for 730 kilometers, and by 1848, the total length of French railways would jump to 1,814 kilometers.

However, compared to the states of the Zollverein, this was still too conservative, as the entire union (excluding the Austrian Empire) planned to build 6,000 kilometers of railway.

The British had also approved a construction plan for 6,000 miles (approximately 8,047 kilometers) of railway; by 1870, Britain would possess 15,357 miles (approximately 24,714 kilometers) of track, building the densest railway network in the world.

The Russian Tsarist government had not yet realized the importance of railways and had only approved a few easily constructed routes totaling about 200 kilometers; even by 1866, Russia would only have a pathetic 1,488 kilometers of railway.

The United States at this time only had a 2,000-kilometer railway construction plan, but by 1850, they would possess 9,021 kilometers of railway.

Historically, the Austrian Empire only approved about 350 kilometers of railway construction plans and did not possess 1,200 kilometers of railway until 1848.

The Austrian government approved the Northern Railway Company construction plan of Salomon Rothschild, and the Northern Railway Company would build 700 kilometers of railway over the next ten years.

However, Salomon Rothschild's dream of a Southern Railway fell through, though it was not because Francis II disagreed.

Francis II was quite satisfied with the bribes from Salomon Rothschild, but regarding the ownership of the Southern Railway Company, the military and Kolowrat would not budge an inch.

Moreover, the special advisor to Francis II, Friedrich List, also supported the views of the military and Kolowrat, and intelligence provided by the secret police was also very unfavorable to Salomon Rothschild.

In the end, Francis II decided to adopt the advice of Friedrich List and handed the Southern Railway of the Austrian Empire to be contracted out to three different railway companies.

Afterward, the military demanded several new railway lines from Francis II on the grounds of national security; in the end, the operating rights for these lines were sold to the highest-bidding merchants under the machinations of Kolowrat and Friedrich List.

It was just that Kolowrat, Latour (Minister of War), and Friedrich List had not expected that two important railway lines would fall into the hands of the French.

At this time, the Austrian Empire had approved a total of 1,400 kilometers of railway construction.

American cotton production accounted for 85% of the world's total, which forced the British to urgently seek new sources of raw materials; their targets were set on Egypt and India.

Regarding the number of steam looms: the Austrian Empire had 1,324, Prussia had 223, France had 1,511, and Britain had 7,000 (if water-powered looms were included, Britain had 100,000 looms). It is worth noting that Saxony, as the textile center of the German region, possessed 450 steam looms.

What was gratifying was that the machinery manufacturing industry of the Austrian Empire was quite good; it could independently produce steam looms and even export them to other German states.

Saxony was the Austrian Empire's biggest customer, but for various reasons, the profit the Austrian Empire could obtain was minimal.

The Austrian Empire's army numbered 450,000, France had 500,000, Prussia had 200,000, and Russia had 600,000.

The Austrian Empire's army possessed the largest number of artillery pieces on the European continent, approximately 1,300, followed by the Russians with about 900, the French with only 800, the Prussians with fewer than 600, and the British home army with only 300.

This resulted in annual military spending accounting for more than half of the Austrian Empire's fiscal expenditure, yet even so, the investment in military technology and soldier training was gradually failing to keep up with the trends of history.

In terms of the navy, the number of ships in the Austrian Empire's navy was not small, but it lacked large vessels. Its actual combat capability was not even as good as the Russians', and the French navy's strength far surpassed the Russians'.

However, at this time, the combined navies of all European countries were far from being a match for the British.

To what extent was this exaggerated? The Austrian Empire's navy might not be able to defeat a single British squadron. And Britain had over a dozen squadrons of this scale.

Even so, the Austrian Empire's navy could still win with an overwhelming advantage when facing the navies of non-European countries.

The total foreign trade volume of the Austrian Empire at this time was 300 million Florin, while France had 1 billion Franc, Russia had 400 million Ruble, and Prussia had 150 million Thaler; it was expected that this figure would double one year after the Austrian Empire joined the Zollverein.

However, due to issues such as reduced tariffs on some goods and increased management costs, the actual impact on fiscal revenue was only about 5%.

Of course, with the expansion of trade and the improvement of infrastructure, fiscal revenue would grow steadily.

Because the currency system of the Austrian Empire itself was very chaotic, there were even several types of Mark.

The currency exchange formula for the Austrian Empire in this book:

1 Gold Florin = 3 Ducat = 4.2 Silver Thaler = 5 Silver Florin = 150 Groschen = 600 Pfennig

Common currency: 1 Silver Florin = 12 Kreuzer = 30 Groschen = 120 Pfennig = 0.83 Thaler

The large British steamships "Asnan" and "Atlantic" were under construction; thereafter, they would become the pioneers of Britain's conquest of the oceans.

The Austrian Empire had a population of 31 million, but the quality of its citizens was worrying; there were more illiterate people than in war-torn Spain, and the only one comparable to the Austrian Empire was neighboring Russia.

However, the number of university students in the Austrian Empire ranked first on the European continent, which of course might be related to the large number of universities in the Austrian Empire.

The pig iron production of the Austrian Empire was 100,000 tons, one-third that of France, less than one-tenth that of Britain, slightly lower than Prussia, and not even as good as Belgium.

Russian pig iron production was 150,000 tons.

The agricultural strength of the Austrian Empire was unexpectedly formidable; grain production was four times that of France at the time and 20 times that of Prussia.

The Austrian Empire used chemical fertilizers earlier, and at the same time, French agriculture was in a trough period, compounded by natural disasters.

The Austrian Empire had 2.8 million horses and mules, 11 million cattle, 5 million pigs, and 30 million sheep.

In animal husbandry, the Austrian Empire and France were on par; Prussia was on par with France and the Austrian Empire in the number of pigs, cattle, sheep, and poultry, but it was severely lacking in horses and mules, with a total volume only one-tenth that of France and the Austrian Empire.

The ordnance of the Austrian Empire mainly relied on private arsenals and imports from foreign countries.

The arsenals of the Austrian Empire were mainly located in Bohemia and Lower Austria, among which a small town called Chamanzi produced half of the rifles for the entire empire.

The military of the Austrian Empire almost monopolized the ammunition trade of the Austrian Empire.

However, this created a paradox: if the price of ammunition was set too low, the military could not make money; if the price of ammunition was set too high, the soldiers could not afford to use it.

The standard military pay for the Austrian Empire's army was 100 Florin per soldier per year.

But due to the fiscal problems of the Austrian Empire, only half of the standard amount could be issued during non-wartime, which was 50 Florin.

The 50 Florin saved were used to upgrade equipment and provide provisions.

What's more, high-ranking officials in the Austria military once complained that bullets were more expensive than soldiers, asking why these men couldn't just use broadswords and spears as weapons.

This would solve the problem of the idlers roaming the streets while simultaneously cutting down on military expenditures.

Fortunately, the official who proposed this was ordered into early retirement.

This successfully saved the lives of a great number of soldiers and ammunition suppliers.

It might be written in a messy way, but this is the chapter I have put the most effort into so far. Mostly because I wasted so much time researching.

Thanks to book friends Shenzhou Buwu Tianxia Fengdao, 20210806232711729, and Yundong Bafang for their tips, to book friend lax-X for the monthly ticket, and to all the book friends for their support.