War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz, who had just finished reading the report, stretched himself. After reading a lot and for a long time, he felt a little tired that a young man should not have.

Franz felt that he needed a specialized agency and a group of professional talents to handle these matters, but he could not really establish such a department for the time being because he was not yet the emperor.

Military observation hot air balloons are nothing new.

In 1783, the French brothers Montegolfier invented the earliest hot air balloon.

At that time, the fuel used by the two brothers was a smelly leather boot, and the balloon was made of canvas with a layer of paper pulp on the outside.

Later, the French army took a fancy to this invention, and its practicality was greatly increased after the military's improvements.

But it is also relative, and it is no less dangerous than fishing at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

On the one hand, accidents of hot air balloons occur one after another, and on the other hand, they are extremely susceptible to weather effects. Just a breeze blowing in the sky can cause early hot air balloons to tremble violently or even rotate. The people in it are even more dangerous.

In addition to wind, it is also not suitable for hot air balloons to take off in rainy and snowy weather.

So after the end of the Napoleonic War, Europeans seemed to have forgotten it, but Americans have always remembered it.

However, the related technology is also developing slowly, and there is no essential difference from the hot air balloons during the Napoleonic Wars.

At this time, it was no one else but Archduke Karl who had already gone to Switzerland to propose the development of military hot air balloons.

The old general has always been obsessed with this reconnaissance tool used by the French. Under his auspices, Austria also conducted research and development of related technologies.

However, when Archduke Karl resigned, the hot air balloon force was disbanded.

At this time, Austria did not have a dedicated hot-air balloon force. Instead, Marshal Radetzki established a local hot-air balloon force in northern Italy.

But its organization is actually a cavalry regiment, and its subordinate unit is artillery.

In fact, it was only after Archduke Karl arrived in Switzerland that he discovered that the local terrain was much more complex than he imagined.

After months of digging in the Swiss ravines, his body couldn't stand it anymore. No matter how strong the seventy-year-old man is, his body is not as good as before.

But as a defense expert, how can you do without a detailed understanding of the local terrain?

After struggling with himself for several days, Archduke Karl finally came to his senses.

Ever since, he remembered the hot air balloon he encountered on the battlefield decades ago.

Since Friedrich had always called Franz the greatest military inventor in the world, Archduke Karl decided to become a doctor and wrote a letter to Franz, hoping that he really had the abilities his son said he had. .

In fact, real war is not like in real-time strategy games, where the commander can easily grasp the overall situation.

Even famous generals like Napoleon and Wei Qing could not stop their men from going shopping during the war.

Wellington awaited the Prussian army during the Battle of Waterloo, and Napoleon awaited Grouchy.

When the slopes of Waterloo were already piled with corpses, Grouchy was still having breakfast at the farmer's house, and he was still on the way when the battle ended.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was conducting a northern expedition against the Huns. When Wei Qing was fighting a bloody battle with the main force of the Huns, the flying general Li Guang lost his way at the most critical moment in his life.

Mastering the dynamics of the battlefield is the problem that every commander wants to solve most, and the side with more accurate intelligence takes the initiative.

Franz naturally knew this, and hot air balloons are the easiest battlefield observation equipment for humans to master.

However, he felt that just building some observation balloons was not enough. What Franz wanted was an airship.

In fact, although airships are much more advanced than hot air balloons, the technology used is not too advanced. Even the key technologies that have been plaguing the development of airships have been solved by Austria at this time.

A hot air balloon can only be regarded as an observation post at best, while an airship can be regarded as a weapon.

And in terms of safety alone, the safety of airships may be even higher.

Thinking of this, Franz decided to start researching technologies related to airships and hot air balloons.

To be honest, this happened to coincide with Franz's hobbies. He was an airship enthusiast in his original world and had a good understanding of the structure and related technologies of airships.

Therefore, the design was effortless. Franz drew two design drawings, one was a soft airship, and the other was the pinnacle of airship development-the Zeppelin airship.

The Zeppelin is a legendary rigid airship, but it is still difficult to reproduce it with current technology, so Franz is going to temporarily name it the "Sky Veil Behemoth" project.

In fact, in history, French engineer Jafar invented the airship in 1852. However, the airship at that time was not practical and the risk factor was also very high.

The speed is much higher than that of a hot air balloon, but most of the time it is just regarded as a circus performance.

Airships with real military value were not developed until the end of the nineteenth century.

In fact, it is not a difficult problem to transform an airship with military value and improve its safety.

Just use the multi-air bag design to bring it to life in no time. Of course, Franz classified it as top secret in order to ensure that it could exert its maximum value.

When Archduke Karl saw the plan for "The Heavenly Curtain Behemoth", he was completely shocked.

As an excellent commander, Archduke Karl did not lack imagination. He could already imagine a completely different battlefield.

The giant beast in the sky roared and dropped a torrential rain of destruction. Soldiers hid in bunkers and aimed sniper rifles at each other. The city was reduced to ruins under the overwhelming rocket bombs.

Archduke Karl suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He took several deep breaths before he recovered.

Archduke Karl's heart had not beat like this for a long time, and his blood was rushing fiercely in his body.

"A new era may be just around the corner." Archduke Karl thought, suddenly laughed and threw the book he was writing into the fire.

After finishing all the work at hand, Franz stretched again.

This scene was seen by Adjani on the side, and the two looked at each other.

This time, it was Adjani who looked away first, which made Franz feel a little strange, but he didn't really care.

What Franz didn't know was that the last time he and the four principal dancers left the room at the Old Town Opera House, they didn't come out for a long time.

But Franz was about to leave with a normal expression, saying that he had some important things to do. In fact, he wanted to arrange the situation outside first and prepare to catch all those who were following him.

Franz's friends looked into the box with great curiosity. They found that the four principal dancers were crying or laughing. They were standing tall and upright on the stage, and their dancing steps were nimble, but they had to support each other to leave.

"The first time is always so strange," Richard Metternich complained.

"As expected of him. It's him."

A group of people blinked at each other. Although everyone was wearing masks, they all felt each other's malicious smiles.

From then on, Franz gained the title of "Chief Terminator".