If Ireland, Spain and Austro-Hungarian Empire formed an economic alliance according to Xia Shu's idea, it may be regarded as the prototype of an international economic and trade organization, and have advanced points beyond the times. However, these three European countries either have shallow foundations and are in full swing, or have been in decline for many years and have accumulated deep problems. Even if they work together, it will be difficult to gain a monopoly position in the economic and trade structure of Europe and even the world. At best, they will form certain advantages in a certain field, and political and diplomatic significance is really not great.

After listening to Natsu Shu's explanation, the new O'O Emperor Carl thought for a long time, and the previous novelty did not become the driving force that made him determined to participate. Those who sit on the throne must have seen all kinds of people and listened to various words. How important is the national policy? How can others persuade him by saying something?

Xia Shu leisurely sips tea, and her eyes mostly stay in the harbor in the distance. The waterways entering and leaving the port are often swept by, and they are all ordinary ships of small and medium sizes. When they are busy, they do not have the atmosphere of Hamburg, Bremen, London, and Liverpool.

"So you can hear that the Adriatic Sea is beautiful and has a warm climate. It is the most ideal resort in Europe. If the economic resources along the coast can be fully developed and the Adriatic Sea becomes a prosperous economic circle, it can drive the development of the relatively barren southwestern part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At that time, except for a few extreme nationalists, who would have thought of breaking away from the imperial rule and living a poor life like other parts of the Balkans?"

Xia Shu spoke casually, but immediately aroused Carl I's interest. He threw the entangled problem he had just now and asked: "In your Majesty's opinion, in addition to a large amount of investment, what other ways can we develop the economic resources of the Adriatic Sea?"

Xia Shu saw expectations in the eyes of Carl I. However, even if gold mines are everywhere in a region, roads, mining, and harbors must be built to turn natural treasures into real wealth, and all rely on investment.

When officials who were in charge of economics gave advice, Carl I naturally knew this. His expectations for Xia Shu were just to hope that this genius could point out a secret path that mortals could not see. Seeing Xia Shu shook his head and hearing Xia Shu still saying old words about economic laws, he couldn't help but feel disappointed and regretful, but he was not too confused about these things. Looking at the shadow of the Chuoyou ship in Pula Port, he changed the topic and asked Xia Shu how he thought of the main ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

Xia Shu made a metaphor. The Austro-Hungarian fleet with the four joint power levels as the core is like the swords of the court guards. It is gorgeous, noble, and sharp. It is absolutely fine to defend against enemies and defend the country, but it is not suitable to cut down trees like an axe.

Carl I was thinking about Natsuki's answer. Immediately afterwards, he asked which side would have a greater chance of winning if the Austro-Hungarian fleet broke out in a decisive battle with the Italian fleet.

Natsuki replied that this may be a copy of the Battle of Lisa.

Hearing this answer, Carl I first showed a satisfied expression, but then he thought about it, his face turned gloomy again.

The Battle of Lisa is a classic naval battle in modern history where weak defeats the strong. It is against the Italian and Austrian fleets on both sides. The former is the strong, while the latter rely on tenacious fighting spirit, excellent tactics and certain luck to win a narrow victory. In other words, the result is good, but the reflected status quo is worrying.

Carl I, who looked worried, said again: "If our country's joint strength level can be fully modified, can it compete with the George V level in the UK?"

From this question, Natsuki can see that the new Austrian emperor has a high attention to naval affairs and is quite interested in the naval technology and tactics, which is exactly the same as the old Grand Duke Ferdinand. The reason for such a question is the geographical relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy as imaginary enemies. According to the London Armistice Agreement, the Austro-Hungarian Empire obtained an Iron Duke class and a Saint Vincent class from the British. After the war, Italy only received a severely damaged George V class. It seems that the Austro-Hungarian Empire took advantage. However, due to the poor financial situation and the inherent problems of the binary system, the restoration of the two compensation ships was intermittent, and it is still a half-la-slap project.

The Italians showed rare high efficiency. They spared no expense to repair the compensation ship, making it the main vanguard of their own navy, and thus joined forces with the Dante, three Earl Cafur class and two newly put into service Caio Durio class to form a modern and powerful fearless fleet, which formed an unprecedented overwhelming advantage over the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In response, the Austrian and Hungarian governments raised funds to repair the British compensation ship through loans and issuing national debts, and started construction of two super-dreadnought ships equipped with 380mm main guns in advance. However, with the efficiency of the Austro-Hungarian shipbuilding industry, these emergency measures will take at least two to three years to achieve results.

Like the British George V class, the Italian Navy's Earl Cafur class and Caio Durio class are both 25,000 tons, but they are all equipped with 46-distance 305mm main guns, with armor protection levels slightly inferior to those of George V class and Joint Power class, and their actual speed is far from the design level, so their overall strength is much worse than that of George V class. If the modified Joint Power class can match the George V class, there will naturally be a greater chance of being better than the mean Earl Cafur class and Caio Durio class in the case of fairness and equality.

During his tenure in the German Navy, Xia Shu closely monitored the development of the main ships of various countries. Now he has become the soul of Ireland, leading the characteristic development of the Irish shipbuilding industry, and still maintains a very high sensitivity to information from all parties. Xia Shu is aware of the main ship mentioned by Carl I. The Austro-Hungarian Navy's joint force class is better than the Italian dreadnought of the same period in design, but the displacement and design structure limit its room for improvement. Whether it is to upgrade the main gun diameter or impose the caliber, or stuff all the most advanced auxiliary equipment into the cabin, it is difficult to compete with the George V class of the British Navy.

Seeing that Xia Shu was silent, Carl I had an answer in his heart, and he nodded with a serious expression: "Your Majesty is right, the only way out for this country is to develop the economy. Only when the economic situation improves can other aspects be improved."

Natsuki tried his best to comfort him and said, "As long as the allies exist, Italy will not dare to act rashly. Their navy is just looking strong, but it is actually an empty arsenal that lacks fighting spirit. If His Majesty can trust my judgment, it can delay the construction of two new main battleships, enrich the navy with submarines, torpedo boats and aircraft, and invest the saved funds in economic construction and social development."

This kind-hearted suggestion was wise, but it was not enough to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire emerge from the complex dilemma. Carl I was still not in high spirits, which was completely different from his previous state in public. Next, he talked to Natsu Shu about some technical topics until the meeting ended, and the two sides did not even reach a verbal agreement. However, in Natsu Shu's view, the biggest gain of this meeting was that the two monarchs learned about each other's ideas for the first time, and Carl I was quite touched. He promised to seriously consider Natsu Shu's suggestions and hope to visit Ireland in due course.

Natsuki was a little disappointed with the fruitless meeting, but he was more understanding and sympathetic. When he was in charge of Ireland's power, he himself was worried and worried about the country's development plan and could not sleep at night. The efforts he devoted to Ireland's current achievements were absolutely critical, but the same reason might not be useful to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Carl I. Even if Carl I could maintain the correct decision on the issue of major issues, it might not be able to guide this binary empire to a dead tree. Among the four empires of England, Germany, Russia and Austria, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was industrialized and urbanized, and its developed areas were no less than Western Europe. Vienna has always regarded itself as a representative of Central and European civilization, but the advanced areas in some areas could not save the overall failure. In an era when homogeneous rule became the source of power, the highly mixed national conditions and scattered political structure of the empire became fatal weaknesses.

Simply put, Galician landlords believed that they should rule the province because they were historically the ruling elites of the Kingdom of Lithuania, but the Ukrainians in the region were dissatisfied. The Czech social and political elites believed that their motherland, Bohemia, should have achieved the same autonomy as Hungary, but once the Habsburg dynasty made concessions to the Czechs, it caused protests from the ethnic Germans in Bohemia. The German-speaking elites believed that they themselves represented the higher civilization in Central Europe and believed that giving non-German residents more rights hindered the progress of civilization, but this nationalism played a great role in tearing off ethnic relations.

In the 19th century, industrialization and urbanization in the empire continued to advance, but due to the imbalance of economic development, when economic and social stratification overlaps with ethnic borders, the weak nations will develop resentment towards the strong nations. For example, small peasants and tenants in Ukraine and Slovenia were very dissatisfied with Poland and Magyar landlords, and the improvement of the education level of the national bourgeoisie and the awakening of the political consciousness of the working class will lead to the increase of expectations for autonomy. For example, the Czech middle class and intellectuals in the industrialized Bohemia strongly demanded that the empire decentralized administrative powers, but the Habsburg royal family was worried that decentralization would cause the Czech oppression of the German residents in this area, so they were unwilling to approve it. As a result, street conflicts between the Czech and Germans abounded in this area, and even the Czech and German MPs in the Imperial Parliament often had fierce conflicts.
Chapter completed!