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

At this time, the Austrian Empire did not default on military salaries as in history, so most of the army was at full strength.

The weapons and food stocks in the fortress are enough for more than one year. In addition, because the rubber trees in the Chenla area have finally matured, rubber shoes have been fully equipped in the Austrian army.

Of course, this still aroused the opposition of some military officers. As for the reason, it is a bit unbelievable.

"too ugly!"

An aristocratic officer roared and threw the new M1845 military rubber shoes to the ground. The khaki "garbage" couldn't compare to his noble black leather shoes.

Another officer: "It's really not very good-looking, but this thing is quite durable. And it's only stipulated that soldiers must wear it. There is no uniform requirement for officers. There is only one bottom line, and that is decent."

After hearing what the latter said, the former breathed a sigh of relief, and asked, "What if the soldiers also think it's too ugly?"

It's actually a complete no-brainer, shoes of this era are expensive and generally not durable or comfortable.

Of course, there are also some durable and comfortable shoes, but the price is not affordable for ordinary soldiers.

Overall, these new espadrilles were durable, more comfortable than most shoes of the era, and best of all, they were free.

Then let’s talk about the appearance. Franz has seen and worn old-fashioned yellow rubber shoes, 99-style, 07-style, and 21-style. In terms of performance, the newer the better.

However, considering the actual situation at that time, Type 07 and Type 21 could not be produced at all, and the old-fashioned yellow rubber shoes were too low, so the final choice was Type 99, but because camouflage canvas could not be produced in this era, so in the end, only yellow cloth could be used. Instead, this can be regarded as a kind of inheritance of yellow rubber shoes.

But ordinary soldiers don't think they are ugly. On the contrary, because of the unified style and color of the shoes, they feel cool.

In fact, there are no so-called standard military shoes in this era. Countries with better conditions will at most hire a few military shoemakers to help make shoes, but most of them are handmade products, with uneven levels and various materials.

The earliest standard military shoes in history appeared in Prussia in 1866. Bismarck, the prime minister at that time, equipped more than [-] soldiers with cowhide brown boots in order to boost morale on the eve of the Prussian-Prussian War.

Therefore, the Austrian soldiers at this time still supported this standard equipment very much, and the logistics troops also praised the rubber tires.

At this time, the hollow rubber tires equipped by the Austrian army do not have many advantages over the old-fashioned wooden wheels. Whether it is shock absorption, compression resistance, wear resistance, or friction with the ground, the former completely crushes the latter. .

Therefore, the Austrian army is not only powerful in places with railway lines, but its field supply capability is also the number one in Europe at this time.

The emergence of hollow tires led to a revolution in the wheel industry of the Austrian Empire, and the wheel standards that had not been unified for thousands of years also changed at this time.

All wheels must be produced according to tire standards, otherwise even the best wheels will be difficult to sell.

Because even if the wheel is wrapped with rubber, it is still far from the effect of a hollow tire.

Closer to home, according to Marshal Radetzky, with the training level and firepower of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it is impossible to conquer Northern Italy with only 10 people.

The old man even thought that he could keep the enemy out of the country, but Franz still denied this crazy idea. After all, by that time Marshal Radetzky might not be able to dispatch troops as easily as he is now.

Then Franz asked another pointed question.

"My lord Marshal, if war broke out between us and the Italian nationalists, how many Italians would rebel?"

Radetzky was a little surprised, but thought about it seriously.

"Based on past experience, there should be 5%-8%. Generally speaking, their number is less than half of the number of deserters."

The old marshal joked.

Deserters have always been a big problem in the nineteenth century. Taking Russia as an example, the proportion of deserters even in non-wartime was as high as 5%.

During the US-Mexico War at the same time, the proportion of deserters on both sides was more than 20%, and the proportion of deserters in part of the Mexican army was as high as 35%.

Cruel wars, infectious diseases, poor treatment, and deduction of military pay may all lead to desertion. The Austrian Empire is a country with many mountains, swamps, and complex terrain.

Often a few soldiers get together, steal weapons from the army, and flee into the mountains and swamps.

Generally speaking, the chief officer will not report deserters, nor will he send troops to encircle and suppress, but will only report the natural loss of firearms.This is also an important reason why only a small number of bullets are given to soldiers.

And these deserters usually have to survive. They are unwilling to work hard, and they don't have the means of production such as land and tools, so most of these people choose to become bandits.

Rampant banditry in turn affects economic development and food production. The country has no food and money to appease the army, let alone money to suppress bandits. The result is a vicious circle.

However, at this time, the economy of the Austrian Empire has achieved considerable development, so military pay and food are guaranteed. Although the treatment is slightly lower than the wages of workers, it is still much better than that of the same period in history.

In addition, the wars that Austria has participated in over the years have almost won every battle, so the morale of the army is also relatively high, and there have been no large-scale desertion incidents.

However, the phenomenon of deserters has not been eliminated, especially when fighting with the German states, the number of deserters has increased significantly.

Although Marshal Radetzky said it in jest, Franz knew very well that the problem of desertion would seriously plague the country in the future.

In fact, it's not that Franz hasn't considered solving this problem, but what he can do is to solve the worries of these soldiers.

At the same time, use victory and heroes to paralyze their nerves. It is not yet known how much other ideas such as loyalty to the emperor and patriotism and religion can play.

As for the military reform to improve the organization, Earl Latour is very good at talking about this aspect. After receiving the affirmation of Grand Duke Karl, the former is determined to fully promote the staff system.

Franz actually planned to directly extend this staff system to the company level and use it as the political commissar of later generations, but the actual situation is that Austria simply cannot produce so many qualified officers, and most of the political reviews are not passed.

In the end, we could only take a few steps back to the regiment level, but because there was no field radio station, it was still difficult to achieve unified command.

During this period, Archbishop Rauscher also asked Franz whether he could use the military chaplain to replace the role of staff officer. After all, the church is absolutely loyal to the empire.

This was immediately vetoed by Franz. Although there are many chaplains in the army, these people generally do not understand military affairs and are prone to extremes. If a wave of enthusiasm leads soldiers to send or vote, it will be a big loss. up?
The main reason is that this approach reminded Franz of the political commissar system of a certain Su and a certain hammer in later generations. In order not to "repeat the same mistakes", he must be cautious.