It doesn't matter if Spain is defeated. The key is that the strategic location of the Philippine Archipelago cannot fall into the hands of ambitious Japanese, otherwise there will be no peace in the South Ocean region.

Although the Japanese government is very calm now, even if the Vienna government openly supports Spain, they are still low and small, as if they have no temper.

But this is only based on the awe of the strong. Now the Holy Roman Empire is strong, and the military power in the Nanyang area alone can make them unable to bear it, even if they are restless.

But times are changing. The Philippine Islands that fell into the hands of the Spanish and the Philippine Islands that fell into the hands of the Japanese are two completely different concepts.

The former has declined. Even if the Philippines is fertile, it can only contribute a lot of income to Spain, and the national strength has not helped much.

If it falls into the hands of Japan, it will be completely different. With the resources from the Philippines and the hard work of the Japanese, it is a perfect place to build a medium-sized power, and it is also a good fighting power.

If it were just these, it would not be enough to make Franz afraid. After all, the Holy Roman Empire is too perverted now, and even he himself never thought that one day he could create such a huge empire.

The problem is that Japan is not a normal country. Now there are veterans who are suppressing it, so they are not going crazy for the time being. The future is not certain. You can tell that it is a series of movies that are fictional.

No one can guarantee that the Japanese will go crazy one day and will fight the South Ocean region. Franz doesn't want to go to the Far East to fight the Japanese on a long expedition.

Normal people probably don’t like the war of losing blood, losing blood, or losing blood. Unless they are sure to kill with one blow, Franz would not have launched such meaningless war of attrition.

From the standpoint of the Holy Roman Empire, it is best for the Philippine Islands to stay in the hands of the Spanish. At least the Spanish government will not fantasize about competing for the hegemony of the South China Sea with them, and will not dare to have bad thoughts about the Austrian Nanyang region.

"Is the Spanish army so useless?"

Prime Minister Carl asked first. As a normal European, he really could not imagine that the European army had achieved such a trash record when it fought against Japanese natives.

Without the record set by the Italian army, the current performance of the Spanish army can be said to be the worst among all European colonial empires.

Not to mention the exchange ratio of 1:1.4, even if it is the exchange ratio of 1:10, it is a manifestation of inferior students. Under normal circumstances, one person will chase thousands of people and fight in a group, and one group can play the War of Destruction.

Spain is the originator of colonial wars and the creator of conquest records. I remember that Spain conquered the Aztec Empire with 600 people, and 177 people and 62 horses defeated the Inca Empire.

Compared with the current Spanish army's record, even the gap between heaven and hell cannot be so big. Such a conceptual impact will naturally be unbelievable as a normal person.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg explained: "It's much more wasteful than we expected. But this is not without signs. As early as the European War, the Spaniards exposed the problem of low combat effectiveness of the army.

They concentrated the elite troops across the country and carefully planned the battle, but in the end they had never even had the cannon fodder troops temporarily formed by France.

In the entire anti-French alliance, only the Italian states' military combat effectiveness is comparable to theirs. The combat effectiveness they show now should be the lower limit of the army in the European world."

Everyone is complaining about the Spanish trash, but no one mentions the Japanese army's strong combat effectiveness. Well, Franz admits that the Japanese army's combat effectiveness these days is indeed nothing to do with being strong.

It’s not that the Japanese don’t work hard, the problem is that military spending determines the upper limit of the army’s combat effectiveness. If you haven’t fired hundreds of bullets, do you have the nerve to say that you are a veteran; if you don’t have thousands of bullets, can you feed the elite?

Infantry, artillery is even more powerful. Every qualified artillery is fed with artillery shells, and generally hundreds of artillery shells are indispensable. Even if most of them are training bombs, it is a considerable expense.

What's more, the artillery is worn and trained several gunners to scrap a cannon, which is a routine operation.

Not to mention the armored soldiers and pilots with higher technical requirements, they are all made with money. Of course, there are no Japanese troops in these types of troops, so there is no need to consider it.

In addition to ammunition consumption, soldiers' military pay, daily life, and maintenance of weapons and equipment are also quite expensive.

If it were really according to the standards of the Shinra Army, the Japanese Army's military expenditure would be fine, and it would be a bit difficult for both, not to mention the others.

And this embarrassing situation will continue until it can be achieved localization of weapons and equipment and reduce the cost of weapons and ammunition, which will improve slightly.

It is known from the original time and space that for a long time, the Japanese Army only maintained single-digit standing divisions, and was often dissatisfied with the editor.

Even if the troops were compressed in this way, the military expenditure was still not enough. Under the urgency, the Japanese army practiced hand-to-hand tactics and became the king of hand-to-hand combat.

It’s just that it’s okay to bully the garbage cannon fodder by relying on the combat power brought by blood and courage. If you meet a real elite, it’s going to deliver vegetables.

In fact, the elite troops may not be all death-seekers. Their real strength is still in their professional qualities.

Simply put, even if he is a few hundred meters away, the probability of his hitting you is 20 to 30%, but you can only fight back by luck.

In modern warfare, if a few thousand bullets are killed by an enemy, and tens of thousands of bullets in future warfares are mostly due to ordinary troops. And if an elite force kills an enemy, the average ammunition is required by much less.

The high-level officials of the Vienna government do not take the Japanese combat effectiveness seriously, which is based on this. A country that even requires import of artillery has no qualifications to make everyone afraid of it.

...

Seeing that the topic went astrayed while complaining, Franz interrupted: "It doesn't matter whether the Spanish army is a waste. The key is that the British participated. The London government is supporting the Japanese. We cannot let Spain lose the war, at least we cannot lose too badly."

In international politics, face is sometimes very important, especially for the newly born overlord.

Although both Britain and Austria were just remotely controlling the battle behind the scenes, in the eyes of many people, the Japanese-Spanish War was a continuation of the British-Australian hegemony battle.

If Spain suffers a crushing defeat, it will send a signal to the outside world: in overseas competition, the Holy Roman Empire is not a rival to the British.

Although this is true, the Vienna government must also resist it. In a sense, admitting that it is not as good as Britain in overseas competition means admitting failure.

As a challenger, you can tolerate failure but cannot admit it. This is the case with politics, and sometimes you have to deceive yourself.

Besides, if you don’t show your strength to show your brothers, how can you make them feel at ease?

Franz does not want Spain to make a comeback, but as long as he can achieve a record of losing both sides, he will be satisfied.

If it cannot be done, it is not unacceptable to let the Spaniard lose a little decently. After all, military victory is not a victory, and diplomatic game can still rewritten the final outcome.

As long as the Spaniards showed enough strength, Franz was confident that through diplomatic means, he would force the Japanese to withdraw from the Philippine Islands.

"It's too late to help the Spaniards train the Army. If you want to change the situation on the battlefield in a short time, you can only hire mercenaries.

The problem now is that the Spanish are too poor, and it is already very difficult to maintain the expeditionary force, and they do not have enough financial resources to hire an army.

What's more, the Japanese's military strength is not too weak, and there is no mercenary in the world that can complete this task."

Prime Minister Carl suggested that the Vienna government had done similar things. When he fought with the British for South Africa, he was ashamed of "mercenaries". However, after finding out that he was a waste of such a move, he simply attacked the Boer Republic government forces.

The only problem is that the Philippine Archipelago is different from South Africa. The South African region eats it by itself, and it is worth paying for people and money; while the Philippine Archipelago is Spanish, and for the sake of international reputation, the Vienna government cannot swallow it.

There is no such good thing in the world if you bring your own dry food to help the Spanish fight? Even if the Spanish government has paid the price, it is only exchanged for the support of the Vienna government, which is not enough to make the Holy Roman Empire go into battle in person.

If the Vienna government had not participated, with the ability of the Spaniards, even if they were willing to pay for mercenaries to help fight, there would not be such a powerful mercenary.

Under normal circumstances, a mercenary is only 180 people, and the number of people exceeds 1,000 is a huge team, and no matter how many, you can't afford it.

The combat power is also very different. Among them, those with strong combat power can suppress the troops of governments from all over the country, which can be said to be among the elite. More mercenary teams will only bully the natives, but they can only deliver vegetables when they encounter regular troops.

It's okay in small-scale battles. If it were placed in a battle of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, it would not be enough to see a mercenary with only a thousand or eight hundred people.

Franz nodded: "If you don't have money, lend it to them and let the Spanish use the colonial income as collateral. There is no such a strong mercenary group in the world, so set it up by yourself.

Not long after the European War ended, there was a large group of retired officers and soldiers on the European continent, and there were always desperate people who liked to lick blood on the tip of a knife.

If there are not enough people, I go to France to recruit. I have been hungry for so long. I believe that someone will work hard to fill the family's stomach.

By the way, there are no mercenaries in the Italian region. This time I went to the Philippine Islands to fight, and there was no pasta there."

If there are no conditions, you must also create conditions. No one knows whether the mercenaries can defeat the Japanese army. Anyway, it is better to do it than not.

Instead of watching the Spanish defeat, it is better to work hard. Anyway, the Spanish paid the money, and the Vienna government only needs to push it secretly.

It is best to be able to play a role, but it doesn’t work. The situation has deteriorated to this point, and no matter how bad it is, it won’t be much worse.
Chapter completed!