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

Chapter 1567 Icarus
Olga was used to this kind of thing, after all, Franz often used unconventional people.

As for those young girls with unrealistic fantasies, it doesn't matter at all. For the vast majority of nobles, being well-matched in social status is far more important than whether they like each other or not.

For the truly elite nobility, love is nonexistent. They don't need love because they don't lack it; the vast majority of marriages are exchanges of interests.

Having one or even several public lovers is not uncommon among royalty. Some husbands even encourage their wives to become their bosses' mistresses for their own and their family's future.

Of course, some people also use their romantic relationships to build power alliances for themselves. For example, the famous Prince Metternich used his mistress to build a huge intelligence network in the upper echelons of European society. Some even claim that it was Metternich and his mistress's husbands who jointly built the Metternich system.

Therefore, no one questioned Franz's actions, firstly because of the family tradition of Lower Halfburg, and secondly because of his teacher Metternich.

Given these two points, even if Franz went too far, others would understand. If anyone was going to criticize, it would be Metternich, and they might even say to Franz, "Your Majesty, it must have been hard work of personally taking charge."

Let's talk about the status of women at this time. Even in France, which proclaimed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the Napoleonic Code stipulated that wives were the property of their husbands.

In many cases during the 19th century, having another man's wife was proof of social status. There was a proverb that said, "Look at his mistress, and you'll know his power."

At this time, aristocratic women were taught to be "ignorant," which was a genuine "virtue" at the time.

Olga's mother was a typical example of "ignorance," as she even took the initiative to find lovers for Nicholas I.

Olga understood that this was what was known as courtly wisdom; after all, there weren't many women like Catherine the Great.

Moreover, Franz seemed to have a magical ability to discover all sorts of talented people, which was undoubtedly beneficial to the country and the family, so she let it be.

Olga did try her hand at politics, but she simply didn't have the talent for it. She was led by the nose by a group of advisors who even used her name to swindle and deceive people.

If Franz hadn't discovered it in time, Olga might have been deceived by those pseudo-scholars and true villains for the rest of her life.

However, this is just Olga's own opinion. In reality, those people are indeed true experts, but they have become greedy after discovering an easier way to make money and climb the ladder.

After all, it's too easy to make money in the name of charity and morality, and doing so even allows them to stand on the moral high ground and criticize others without any burden.

Normally, these top geniuses' elaborate deceptions would take at least decades or even centuries to be discovered. By then, even if the royal family found out, they would already be long gone, and those who were deceived would save face by covering up the facts and the truth.

Unfortunately, the elaborate deceptions that the geniuses painstakingly crafted had long been deconstructed in later generations. Even though Franz could not explain the underlying principles, he could easily uncover these deceptions.

If Franz were an ordinary person, even if he discovered it, it would be meaningless, since deconstructing a hoax requires a lot of time and theoretical foundation, as well as the understanding and cooperation of the public and those in power.

But Franz didn't need to go through all that trouble. Handing these little geniuses over to the secret police would make the facts pretty clear, and then letting heroes investigate heroes and good men investigate good men would quickly bring the truth to light.

After that, Olga no longer aspired to a political career, and all she felt for Franz was respect and admiration.

"Let's give that plane a name."

Olga said, "Let's call him Icarus."

Although the name carries a tragic connotation, the aviation industry is destined to be associated with risk and death, which Franz found quite fitting.

Overall, this test flight far exceeded Franz's expectations. Initially, he thought that if even one of the fourteen prototypes could successfully fly, then all his years of hard work would have been worthwhile.

As a result, four aircraft successfully took off, two of which reached the level of the Flyer II, and one even surpassed the record of the Flyer III.

However, such achievements were not accidental. As individual amateur researchers, the Wright brothers had very limited resources, just to name a few.

The development investment for both Flyer II and Flyer III was less than one thousand US dollars, and a large part of the work was done by the two of them through self-study. It is questionable whether their production skills can meet industry standards.

In contrast, researchers in the Austrian Empire had the backing of the national budget and could utilize national resources, including the advice of Austria's top scientists and the support of its top craftsmen.

The investment in just one prototype could be ten times that of the Wright brothers, even with state support.

If individual researchers wanted to meet these conditions, the cost would likely increase several times over, and getting them to work together would be even more difficult.

However, the Austrian Empire was able to achieve all of this easily in the name of the state. In other words, the power of the state was far greater than that of an individual, so it was entirely reasonable for them to achieve this result.

Moreover, Franz, the time traveler, provided the most crucial framework, saving all the research teams decades of detours.

To later generations, the aircraft of the Austrian Empire at that time must have seemed very strange, as almost all of them were biplanes, which is completely contrary to the common sense of later generations.

After all, in later generations, the advantages of monoplanes over biplanes can be described as overwhelming, including but not limited to: lighter weight, less air resistance, lower cost, and a wider field of vision.

At this point, the enormous lift of a biplane is an overwhelming advantage; if it can't fly, all theoretical advantages are nonsense.

Moreover, the engine power was too low at this time, and the material strength was insufficient, so even if it could make the monoplane take off, it could not exert its due advantages.

In reality, biplanes have an advantage at low speeds. Only when an aircraft engine has a power output exceeding 1000 horsepower and a flight speed exceeding 350 km/h can a monoplane significantly outperform a biplane.

At this time, diesel engines in the Austrian Empire were still in their early stages. The small engines installed on aircraft typically had only a dozen horsepower and weighed between 50 and 100 kilograms. Even the specially made ones did not exceed thirty horsepower.

(The Wright brothers' first engine weighed 72 kilograms and had 12 horsepower.)
If the engine is too heavy, the plane simply cannot take off.

Similarly, although steam engines were more powerful at this time, their enormous weight made it impossible to mount them on wooden airplanes. If the size was too small, it would result in insufficient power. Therefore, it was not until the advent of diesel engines that aircraft technology made a breakthrough.

Regarding landing, we can only say that we need to try more to accumulate experience. The aircraft equipped with engines and other instruments is several times heavier and has greater potential energy than the previous gliders, so the previous experience cannot be directly applied.

However, with the upgrading of materials and the accumulation of experience, these problems are not difficult to solve.

(End of this chapter)