To a certain extent, the three major arms companies are just three assembly plants. They still need thousands of factories to support them.
Whenever the three major arms companies receive a batch of weapons orders from the military, it is not only the three major arms companies themselves that are supported, but also a large number of supporting companies.
If it were just these profits, it would not be worth the fact that the entire empire's industrial system valued military orders so much.
At the same time, more importantly, a large number of weapons orders can continue to promote the upgrading and expansion of the entire industrial system.
Battleships are the best proof. The successful manufacturing of almost every component on them represents the technological improvement of a certain industrial system link.
There is a seemingly ordinary propeller, but its successful production will greatly improve the basic industry of Datang.
Because this thing looks ordinary, but the propeller on the latest battleship is more than six meters in diameter, which is almost two stories high.
The processing capacity of such ultra-large parts is very huge, and once they can be manufactured, it will also greatly improve the overall industrial technology capabilities.
The super-large propeller used on the Nova, a 30,000-ton luxury liner, was directly derived from the technology of the battleship.
Without the military's previous heavy investment in the development of ultra-large propellers, the Nova would not have been able to achieve such a high speed.
Because it doesn't even have a suitable propeller...
The same is true for the steam power system on the Nova, which is also a super-large shipboard steam engine system directly derived from military battleships.
The same is true for gasoline engines. You must know that most of the research and development funds for today's gasoline engines come from the military, especially the Army, because the Army wants to obtain a real steel chariot. The gasoline engine is similar to the previous gas engine and small steam engine.
The same thing is the supporting power of this steel chariot.
Even the gas machines that are now widely used in industry were originally designed for the Marine Corps' gas tanks.
There is also the gadget spring, which was originally invested and researched by the military in order to obtain the springs needed to make flintlock muskets. However, when spring technology made a breakthrough, military use was only a very small part, and more were still used.
It is used in industry, and for civilian use, it is mainly reflected in the shock-absorbing steel plates of horse carriages and sofa springs.
There are many similar situations. Even the steam engine was originally developed and invested by the Navy.
But now, the steam engine has become the core industrial equipment that laid the industrial foundation of the Tang Empire.
From this, we can understand the importance of the military's investment in research and development to Datang's scientific research and industrial manufacturing system.
Whether it is the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, the Royal Assets Division or even private capital, they all hope that the military will continue to invest a large amount of funds in research and development and equip new equipment.
Because in this process, the entire industrial system of the Datang Empire was able to gain huge benefits. Even this benefit was not just about the military expenditures for purchasing equipment. It was more about using these military expenditures to complete technological upgrades and then earn money in the civilian field.
More profits.
As a result, although the upper echelons of the empire agreed to allocate a large amount of military expenditures to the military every year, they also required the military to invest huge sums of money in the research and development of advanced equipment every year.
The purpose is very clear, which is for employment and the continuous upgrading of the industry.
Otherwise, don't expect the officials in the cabinet to agree to military expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
Datang's annual fiscal revenue was only over 400 million, but its military expenditure accounted for more than 100 million. Military expenditures accounted for more than 20% of the fiscal revenue every year.
This is very abnormal for a country that has no external threats at all, has completed its industrial system, and has relatively sound systems in all aspects.
With so much military spending, in addition to improving the combat effectiveness of the military, it also has the effect of continuing to stimulate domestic industrial and commercial development.
Because this money will eventually go through various channels, whether it is the purchase of weapons and equipment and a large amount of military supplies or paid as salaries to soldiers, it will eventually return to the entire economic cycle system.
The officials in the cabinet are also smart people, so they can naturally see this, otherwise they would not quarrel every year, but in the end the cabinet will give in and keep military spending above 20%.
It is because they know that the money will actually return to the domestic economic cycle system in the end.
To a certain extent, the empire spends so much military expenditure to support domestic industry and commerce, especially the development of advanced manufacturing. The military expenditure of hundreds of millions every year is much more effective than any policy support.
Finally, until now, the military actually doesn’t want those advanced weapons and equipment anymore.
The development and equipment of military reconnaissance missile balloons followed the same path.
If there were no military needs, how could there be funds to develop the current steam airships.
Although this steam airship is a very dangerous large bomb in the eyes of Holy Emperor Li Xuan, it still represents the most advanced science and technology of the contemporary era.
Especially the ultra-light steam engine above, although it only has a measly eight horsepower, it can be so light, and the technical content contained in it is extremely high.
If this kind of advanced technology is not stimulated by the external environment and relies only on industrial inertia for research and development, I don’t know how many years it will take.
Li Xuan has always been very supportive of the research and development of advanced technologies.
For this reason, he also specially reminded the airship researchers that hydrogen is still too dangerous. They can try to choose other less dangerous gases. For example, some time ago, people from the chemistry department successfully prepared helium in experiments.
Try it.
As for power, although steam engines are mature and reliable, they are still not suitable for use on airships.
Nowadays, the military has even given up on steam power and gas engine power in research on combat vehicles, and has turned to research on gasoline engine oil. This airship will still be mainly powered by gasoline engines in the future.
As for the airbag, the soft airbag is still not very safe. You can get a thick hard airbag, just like the watertight compartment of a battleship. It won't be a big deal if one airbag breaks.
He didn't say too much about the rest. Anyway, he just said a few words casually. The rest was left to the scientists to figure out on their own.
This time I came to the Royal Institute of Technology to see the steam airship just by the way. There are several other types waiting for Li Xuan to inspect.
The remaining research projects are what Li Xuan pays more attention to at this stage.
In particular, gasoline engine research is the focus of Li Xuan's trip.
A few days ago, the Internal Combustion Engine Laboratory of the Royal Institute of Technology submitted a report saying that their research on gasoline engines has achieved initial results.
After conducting intensive large-scale tests on more than a dozen preliminary design plans, they finally determined the final design plan.
Based on this plan, a prototype was built for testing, and the test results were very gratifying.
Today, although Li Xuan did not say it explicitly, he also inspected many other research projects and watched their research results, but the most important thing was to see the prototype of the gasoline engine.