The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1541 Treasure
Vienna, Hofburg Palace.

Franz went back to his daily work, with a special bullet model on his desk.

There was an X-shaped cut on the bullet jacket, with the lead core turned outward from the cut. The edge of the lead core still had burrs from lathe cutting, like the unpolished edge of a torture instrument.

This is the latest product of the Austrian Imperial Weapons Development Bureau. Franz naturally knew what it was. This is the famous dum-dum bullet that later generations knew.

In fact, the Austrian Imperial Army had invested heavily in the development of white phosphorus bullets, and lost more than ten weapon test shooters alone.

But unfortunately, materials science and gunpowder technology could not keep up, so they had to give up temporarily.

Since they couldn't make a fuss about the ammunition, they changed to making a fuss about the appearance of the ammunition. Before the dum-dum bullets were delivered, Franz had already seen many kinds of bullets with strange shapes.

For example, wolf-tooth bullets, arrow-shaped bullets, snake-shaped bullets, ring-shaped bullets, and cross bullets (specially used for exorcism). In short, there is nothing they can't make, except what you can't think of.

The birth of the dum-dum bullet was largely due to the increasingly fierce war between the Austrian Empire and the indigenous people.

To put it simply, the Austrian colonial team pushed the natives into a corner, and the natives had no choice but to fight desperately. However, the Austrian side was unwilling to bear the losses, so it gave birth to a variety of terrifying weapons.

The colonial troops of the Austrian Empire were in urgent need of powerful weapons to end the war, and the high mortality and disability rates of the dum-dum bullet just met the requirements of the Austrian military.

According to data provided by the Austrian Imperial Military, the use of dum-dum bullets increased combat efficiency against the indigenous people by an average of 150%, far higher than the theoretical value of 110%.

After all, people are afraid of death. Even the most ferocious natives will be shaken after seeing the tragic deaths of people around them. On the other hand, the powerful killing effect will also boost their own morale.

Franz looked at these cold reports and knew that the Austrian military was gradually losing its humanity. However, as the saying goes, a merciful army is not good for military affairs, so Franz could only order a ban on meaningless killings.

Vincent Augustin admired the emperor's insight and imagination. Even a military weapons expert like him doubted the lethality and use of this new bullet when he first saw it, but Franz was able to accurately judge the approximate power and practical use of the new bullet.

"Your Majesty, this new bullet has not yet been named."

Franz had experienced this kind of thing many times, so he was too lazy to waste his brain cells and just said it casually.

"You just have to figure it out."

Then I heard Vincent Augustine say it very proudly.

"Your Majesty, my colleagues in the weapons development bureau and I have agreed that this new bullet should be named the Carl Augustus Type 1 bullet in honor of the birth of His Royal Highness, the great Crown Prince of our empire."

Franz rubbed his forehead and actually laughed out loud. Vincent Augustine, who was standing next to him, didn't understand why, but he also laughed.

Franz was thinking whether he should not appoint people based on merit alone, but should appoint people who understand the ways of the world to be officials, who would at least not be so speechless.

Franz looked at Vincent Augustin's sincere eyes and knew that this guy was either being fooled or he really meant it.

But Franz could at least be sure of one thing: when people were speechless to a certain extent, they would really laugh.

"Let's call it the Defender Type 1 bullet for now."

"As ordered."

Vincent Augustine was visibly disappointed.

After Vincent Augustin left, Franz immediately called Fleglova.

"Send someone to check if someone is causing trouble."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

After Fleglova left, Olga came over. "There are many female officials in Austria."

“There is no need to use the word ‘official’ specifically. There were indeed some female officials in the Austrian imperial government, but the proportion was far lower than that of men, less than 5%.

I know what you are going to ask.

I use whoever is capable. Just like the idiot who only knows how to research weapons, if he were in another country, he wouldn't even be a chief researcher for long, let alone a senior official in a department.

There is a high probability that you will be poor after retirement.”

Franz was not talking nonsense. Vincent Augustin was an excellent inventor, but not a good businessman, and his inventions did not bring him sufficiently rich returns.

After investing all his savings in the stock market, he encountered an economic crisis and eventually became a thing of the past.

"Oh"

Olga said reluctantly that she was not stupid, but she just instinctively tested Franz's bottom line.

However, Franz does not like the kind of love that is too mushy, and this is not a palace fighting story, so Franz will not give Olga that kind of opportunity.

"If you want to help, go to more formal events. If you feel bored, you can host a ball, salon or whatever. It's up to you, but don't invite everyone.

As for the rest, unless you can prove that you have enough ability. "

Olga was no fool, she would not continue to test Franz, but spoke obediently.

“What about the World’s Fair?”

Olga took some credit for this. Previously, it was for giving birth to a child, but now she is the image ambassador of the Austrian Empire.

"Don't worry, I have already prepared it for you and will not let you lose face."

Franz's expression eased a little, he put the pen back into the ink bottle, stood up, and opened a secret door with Olga.

The room was filled with rare treasures looted from all over the world by the Austrian Empire, including jewelry, gold, diamonds, furs, antiques, and artworks.
But these did not arouse Olga's interest at all. After all, she had seen too much.

"No special treasures?"

Franz understood what Olga meant, but he was not prepared to compete with Britain at the World Expo.

In fact, Austria and Britain belong to different circles. Due to the restrictions of various treaties and agreements, it is difficult for Austria to reach out to Britain, and it is also difficult for Britain to reach out to Austria.

World integration? It doesn't exist at all at this time!
Even during the same period in history, it was mainly Britain that expanded unilaterally throughout the world. The rise of the Austrian Empire at this time largely replaced Britain's ecological niche on the European continent.

That is why Britain has been unable to get out of the shadow of the economic crisis for a long time. For the current economic landscape in Europe, a World Expo cannot change anything.

Britain was more about flexing its muscles towards its colonial and semi-colonial countries. Once you understand this underlying logic, Franz's behavior is no longer difficult to understand.

Although gold, silver and jewelry are vulgar, they can best demonstrate a country's economic strength. If these vulgar items are plundered, they can not only demonstrate economic strength, but also military strength.

As for science and technology, Franz was not prepared to show them to Britain, or to give up the hard-earned research results of his country for a little fame.

Most of the technical thresholds in this era are not high, and many things are not difficult to reverse-engineer. What is difficult is the creativity itself.

Therefore, Franz was not planning to send technology to Britain to help it improve its technological system.