Armada

Laszlo was still unaware of everything that was happening in distant France.

He had already completed his tour of Venetia at an extremely fast pace, granting some important local cities certain commercial privileges.

After the Italian Wars, Laszlo had extensively implemented tax-free policies in Venetia.

Now, these policies had expired, and Venetia, which had suffered from the Imperial Army's disturbances, was gradually recovering.

Laszlo then began to implement new policies to encourage trade and economic development, striving to fully realize Venetia's value.

Although the absence of Venice as a trade hub significantly reduced Venetia's value, Venetia alone was still Austria's second most developed state, second only to Lower Austria, where Vienna is located.

The grain produced in the Friuli Plain was previously mostly sold to Venice to feed the island's residents, and Treviso, as a large granary, always stored enough grain to feed a hundred thousand people for two years.

This grain was completely consumed by Laszlo after the fall of Treviso.

To retaliate against the Venetian's cooperation with the Ottomans, Laszlo again raised export tariffs on Venice, with grain being the main restriction.

The Venetian had no choice but to import grain from the distant East to alleviate population pressure.

The grain produced in the Friuli Plain, however, was sold within Austria for internal consumption.

In addition to the grain industry, the Venetian's famous three major industrial pillars—shipbuilding, glass, and silk weaving—were also distributed among the cities of Venetia.

With Laszlo's strong patronage, there was now another important industry: Venetia's papermaking industry.

As the Royal Printing Press expanded, the demand for paper gradually increased.

For this reason, Laszlo specifically granted numerous privileges to the century-old Treviso Paper Mill, enabling it to continue expanding production.

Treviso was already one of Europe's most important paper production centers, and now its scale had reached the top three in Europe.

Hundreds of years ago, the first paper mill appeared in Toledo on the Iberian Peninsula.

Subsequently, Troyes in France and Fabriano and Treviso in Italy introduced the technology, established paper mills, and became rare papermaking centers in Europe.

Over the past few decades, several paper mills were established in the Northern Italy states, Mainz, Nuremberg, and Swiss, beginning to supply paper to the entire Empire.

Apart from these factories, no other European country had a papermaking industry.

Austria, of course, did not either, but after annexing Venetia, it did, and its production capacity was very high.

Previously, most of the paper produced by the Treviso Paper Mill was used to meet the demand of South German, and the same is true now.

After being incorporated into the Empire, the paper mill's business was much better than before.

When the Emperor's authority is great enough, some of the privileges he grants become true privileges.

Laszlo was pleased to see the distinctive industries of Venetia flourish.

With a vast Empire providing cheap raw materials and an astonishingly large market, development here would be much better than under Venetian rule.

After all, most people in that merchant republic only cared about monopolistic trade that yielded huge profits.

Even the Governor of Venice excluded industrial magnates when compiling the republic's list of wealthy individuals.

In the eyes of merchants, engaging in industry and opening factories, which was thankless work, was the lowest form of endeavor and unworthy of comparison with clever people like themselves who made big money through speculation.

Laszlo, however, held a different view.

From his perspective as a person from later generations, those who solely engaged in trade and finance would eventually collapse.

Especially Venice's economic structure, its vulnerabilities were too obvious.

Venice's greatest advantage was the outward and commercial nature of its economic activities, but this was also its weakness.

Excessive outwardness and commercialism led to a skewed economic structure.

Once the international environment changed and trade routes shifted, this vulnerability would be hit, leading to a complete collapse.

Historically, after the Age of Discovery, the center of international trade shifted, coupled with the Ottomans's encirclement and blockade, Venice quickly fell into a long period of decline.

They had no choice but to focus their efforts on cultivating their mainland territories.

But Venice, after all, was just that small piece of land; without the economic advantages brought by commercial trade, frankly speaking, the Republic of Venice was nothing.

As soon as Napoleon's army arrived in Treviso, Venice immediately surrendered, and the republic was completely annihilated.

However, Venice has now completely lost the opportunity to deeply cultivate its mainland territories, and can only rely on maintaining Eastern trade with the Ottoman and Mamluks to survive.

Laszlo would develop the fertile territory of Venetia on behalf of the Venetian.

However, if Laszlo were given an opportunity to make big money by speculating in Eastern trade, he would also do so without hesitation.

Working hard to open factories and make money is good, but making huge profits through trade is undoubtedly a more tempting path.

Unfortunately, he did not have this opportunity; so far, he had not found a chance to intervene in Mediterranean Sea trade and could only try his best to control the trade along the Adriatic Sea coast.

Considering the weakness of his naval power, Laszlo finally remembered the Austrian Navy, which he had neglected since its establishment.

Apart from allocating funds to Admiral Dujam Frankopan annually for ship repairs, recruitment, and training of sailors, he had almost never bothered with the Austrian Navy.

Overall, this was a fleet whose symbolic significance outweighed its practical significance.

The entire fleet consisted of only a dozen warships and a few hundred sailors.

Maintaining them didn't cost much, but expansion would require careful consideration.

After leaving Venetia, Laszlo quickly led his touring party to Trieste, Austria's largest port.

In the naval base, Admiral Dujam, accompanied by several subordinate captains, was eagerly awaiting the Emperor's arrival.

The sailors were also assembled, but most of them looked listless.

Since the Emperor hadn't arrived yet, they naturally didn't need to pretend.

Even the Austrian sailors who initially joined the Navy out of patriotic fervor now looked dispirited, not to mention those recruited from Venetia, Genoa, and Croatia.

Since its establishment over a year ago, this fleet had rarely left port, except for a few escort and patrol missions.

The Venetian and Ottomans pirates lurking in the Adriatic Sea were still too dangerous for them.

As a result, some people secretly mocked that this naval fleet was less effective than the Danube Flotilla.

The Danube Flotilla almost completely annihilated the Ottomans's Danube River fleet in its first battle, an unparalleled achievement. This flotilla is now stationed at Zemun Naval Base, serving as part of the Hungarian Border Guard to protect Hungary's water security.

That fleet consisted of over a hundred ships of various sizes and thousands of sailors, and its strength and achievements were evident.

Moreover, the Emperor allocated significantly more military funds to the Danube Flotilla than to the Austrian Navy.

If Dujam had his way, he would find those who compared the river fleet and the naval fleet and give them a good spanking.

Although Austria's Navy was somewhat weak, it would eventually play its part.

Dujam firmly believed this, but at this moment, a hint of anxiety still flickered across his face.

He wished he hadn't agreed to his cousin's request back then.

He secretly complained in his heart, remembering how glorious he was when he commanded the fleet in Croatia to clear out Dalmatian pirates, but now he could only rot in the naval base.

Such a huge disparity was solely due to the pro-Austrian, anti-Hungarian strategy pursued by the Frankopan Family head, his cousin, Governor of Croatia Mihailo.

Mihailo tried to place more family members in positions in Austria to gain more trust from the Emperor, thereby solidifying the Frankopan Family's position in Croatia.

After all, Mihailo was already over sixty, and in a few years, he might be meeting God.

At that time, the Emperor would appoint a new Governor of Croatia.

Because the Emperor completely took over the Celle Family's inheritance, large areas of Croatia became direct imperial territories, and the Emperor himself became the largest noble in Croatia overnight.

The Frankopan Family was not dominant in Croatia, nor did they hold an absolute advantage.

The current situation was that the Emperor could freely appoint a Governor of Croatia with absolute power, according to his own wishes.

Regardless of whether this person was Austrian, Hungarian, or Croatian.

To ensure the Frankopan Family could continue its glory and produce another Governor of Croatia, Mihailo had truly racked his brains.

And for Mihailo's grand ambition, Dujam could only continue to idle away in the military port of Trieste, waiting to die.

"General, he's here."

A subordinate responsible for keeping watch ran over in a hurry to report to Dujam.

The Admiral immediately ordered his sailors to get ready, to be energetic, and not to let the Emperor see anything amiss.

Then, he led his subordinates to welcome the Emperor's entourage.

At this moment, Laszlo was surveying this pitifully small naval base.

Outside the camp was a low wooden fence, but inside, it was well-planned, with a shipyard, warehouses, barracks, and a training ground, all readily available.

He stretched his neck and could still see two large oared warships docked in the military port a little further away.

Those were the main battleships that could truly play a decisive role in naval battles; other small boats were just extras.

Laszlo retracted his gaze; Admiral Dujam had already arrived before him.

"Your Emperor, welcome."

The Admiral respectfully saluted the Emperor.

"Let's go, take me to see the navy's situation."

"Yes, Your Emperor."

Dujam personally acted as a guide, leading the Emperor towards the training ground where the sailors were assembled, and began to introduce the situation of the Austrian Navy to Laszlo in detail.

"Your Emperor, currently our fleet has a total of 11 well-maintained warships, including 9 light vessels and 2 large oared ships.

There are a total of 460 experienced sailors, and over 600 galley slaves.

All the sailors are in this training ground."

Laszlo and Dujam ascended the temporarily erected high platform and saw the dense crowd of sailors below, all standing tall and proud, full of vigor, and could not help but nod slightly in satisfaction.

Dujam did not mention where the slaves were, and Laszlo did not ask.

They were most likely kept in a small dark room in the corner of the base, to be released only when it was time to set sail.

Someone had to row, and since the sailors were all responsible for operating the ships, naturally, others could only take their place in rowing.

"You've trained them well," Laszlo said to Dujam, "Let's go see the ships."

"No problem."

Dujam breathed a sigh of relief and led Laszlo to the dock.

Upon arrival, Laszlo's gaze was immediately drawn to the two large ships docked there; the other small boats looked like toys in front of these two ships.

However, the differences between these two large ships were also very obvious; one was clearly larger, longer, and had a deeper draft than the other.

"These two ships are...?"

"This one is the saint george, the main battleship you bought from Croatia."

Dujam pointed to the largest galley and introduced it.

This ship had undergone multiple renovations at the Trieste shipyard and had been completely revitalized.

"This ship can carry 500 people, requires 240 oarsmen, 60 sailors for operation, and can also carry approximately 200 soldiers, making it very powerful in combat."

"In other words, this one is a Venice ship, and the other one was built by the Trieste shipyard?"

"Yes, Your Emperor, this is the main battleship, Conqueror, that you ordered from the Trieste shipyard.

It was just launched from the shipyard not long ago and has only undergone sea trials; it has not yet officially participated in any missions.

The number of sailors and soldiers this ship can carry is slightly less than the saint george, but it is still sufficient to play a key role in naval battles."

Although Dujam said this, Laszlo couldn't help but feel that it sounded like he was trying to save face for the Trieste shipyard.

However, as Austria's once sole port city, it was already very commendable for a single seedling like Trieste to be able to build a ship of this size.

"Have you contacted shipyards in Venetia and Croatia?"

"This… Your Emperor, the shipyards in other places are not as capable of building main battleships as the Trieste shipyard, and the navy's budget is not enough to support us in purchasing more new warships."

"I will increase the allocation later," Laszlo first gave Dujam a promise, and then asked with some confusion, "Can't the shipyards in Venetia build large ships?"

"Your Emperor, the shipyards Venice uses to build large ships are all in Venice City.

Just a few years ago, they renovated the old shipyard, adding twelve dry docks, and named it the New Shipyard.

Among them, two dry docks can build warships even larger than this saint george.

And the shipyards in the Venetia region can only build some medium and small-sized vessels."

Upon hearing this, Laszlo cursed inwardly.

These damned Venice were afraid that he would one day attack Venice Island and hang everyone in the Senate, so they were now pouring all their national strength into frantically developing their navy.

Although he knew he would be disappointed, Laszlo still boldly asked, "How many warships like the saint george do Venice have?"

"At least 70, and according to Venice tradition, during wartime, the Doge can requisition everyone's ships.

In other words, once we engage in a naval battle with Venice, we may have to face hundreds of ships of various sizes.

Of course, Venice still publicly claims they have 3,000 warships and tens of thousands of sailors, but that's just a bluff."

Yes, Venice's claim was just a bluff, but the weakness of Austria's navy was real.

Whenever such moments arose, Laszlo would recall in his mind the story of Bayezid II, the founder of the Ottoman Navy, who started with 14 warships and eventually amassed nearly 300 warships, ending Venice's maritime hegemony in the Battle of Zonchio, to motivate himself.

Bayezid II took seven years to build a fleet from scratch and became the maritime overlord of the Mediterranean Sea.

He might need more time, because he had to pour more resources into the army to deal with threats from all directions.

But there will always be a day when Austria's fleet will defeat Venice and the Ottoman, dominating the Mediterranean Sea.

To achieve this, he needed a lot of money, and a master of naval warfare.

The Dujam before him clearly did not meet his expectations, but until he found a suitable candidate, Laszlo decided to use him for now.

There was also the breakthrough in shipbuilding technology, which also required professional talent to promote, perhaps Genoa could help.

Laszlo suppressed these thoughts deep in his heart; these were all very long-term plans.

What lay before him was the exorbitant cost of tens of thousands of florin per warship, as well as the accompanying increases in maintenance and labor costs.

Ultimately, only one thing truly stumped him: money.

The economic growth of recent years allowed him to afford the four armies and one Imperial Guard regiment temporarily expanded and formed during wartime, as well as the Hungarian Border Guard.

But it was just barely affording them; the army's military expenditure alone consumed nearly 300,000 florin annually.

Next, if Hungary's tax reform could achieve results, and the economies of Austria and other countries continued to improve steadily, he would have the opportunity to invest more resources in building the navy.

As Laszlo left this impoverished naval base, his mind was already pondering how he could acquire more money.

After seeing off the Emperor, the camp became desolate, and Dujam saw all this in his eyes, his heart filled with helplessness.

The Austrian Navy?

He used to hear that term as a joke, but now he had become the joke itself, and that was not funny.

He could only pray in his heart that the Emperor would fulfill his promise; with more budget, everything would get better.