Greece’s Roman Road

1901, Sofia, Royal Palace.

The new Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Calawi is delivering a State of the Union address to King Ferdinand I.

"Prime Minister, how is the situation in Macedonia?" Ferdinand I asked worriedly.

Like the successive Bulgarian rulers in history, Ferdinand was also determined to establish a new Byzantine Empire.

However, after the war between Greece and the Ottomans in 1896, the territory of Greece was greatly expanded, and the population increased sharply, which made Bulgaria, which was originally the first among the three Balkan countries, feel enormous pressure.

"Your Majesty, according to the intelligence, the forces supported by the Greeks also appeared in the Macedonia region." Calawi also frowned.

Being in the position of Bulgaria, Macedonia, which is strategically important, is an indispensable place for further development, especially the port in the Aegean Sea, which is a strategic location that Bulgaria dreams of.

The southern part of Bulgaria is only 100 kilometers away from the Aegean Sea, but since Macedonia and Thrace are still under the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria’s trade route has to go around a large circle and rely on the ports on the Black Sea coast for international trade, which is a serious problem. affected the development of the Bulgarian economy.

"According to what we heard from the embassy in Greece, after the 1896 war, Greece's economy developed extremely fast, with an economic growth rate of more than 8% every year," Callaway quoted the ambassador as saying.

"From your point of view, will the strength gap between us and Greece get bigger and bigger over time?" King Ferdinand asked worriedly.

Hearing the words, Calawi remained silent. He was indeed analyzing the specific data of Greece in his mind.

"Culturally, Greece has implemented compulsory education. Almost all school-age children have received education. The country's literacy rate has reached 50%, and the number of college students has reached 50,000."

"Economically, Greece has the Congo colony, and the whole of Greece gets 60 million francs of revenue from it every year (mainly from colonial companies). 450 million francs”

(Due to the relationship of the Latin Currency Union, the exchange rate between the franc and the Greek currency drachma, the Italian lira, is 1:1:1)

Looking at King Ferdinand's increasingly gloomy face, Callaway wisely stopped reporting the situation in Greece.

Hearing this, Ferdinand also regretted it. During the Ottoman War in Greece in 1896, there was a coup in Bulgaria. He was a new king. He was an officer from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and just became the Grand Duke of Bulgaria. The situation in Bulgaria was relatively chaotic. The powers were strongly opposed to expanding the scale of the war, so Bulgaria could only watch Greece annex the Ottoman territories in the end.

It now seems that it would have been better if Bulgaria had taken a tougher attitude at the time, but at the worst, it would not have allowed Greece to successfully expand its territory.

Now Greece's economy is soaring, especially when I heard that Greece has found an oil field with an annual output of 80,000 tons in Albania. Ferdinand, who heard the news, swallowed a fly.

"Your Majesty, the situation is now clear. The Macedonian issue cannot be delayed any longer. The longer it takes, the better it will be for Greece." Prime Minister Callaway said firmly.

"what do you mean?"

"It is time to make a decisive decision to completely resolve the issue of Macedonia's ownership. While the gap between the two countries is still within a certain range, immediately let our forces in Macedonia act, either independently or autonomously, to disturb the situation in the Balkans and disrupt the development of the Greeks. Steps, can't let the rhythm follow the Greek beat"

The shrewd-eyed Calawi has a keen eye on the situation in the Balkans, and can see Greece's plan at a glance.

The Greeks are currently very restrained on the Macedonian issue, just because they do not want to cause more troubles, seize the opportunity to develop the economy, and digest the benefits they have grabbed from the Ottomans.

Moreover, Macedonia is nominally a territory belonging to the Ottomans, no matter how many small moves Bulgaria makes, it will not make much sense in a short period of time, and this will not change.

Ferdinand pondered for a moment, the Prime Minister's words did make sense.

"What do you think we should do? Prime Minister"

"It's not difficult, Your Majesty, inform our soldiers in Macedonia, let them act as soon as possible, make some noise, attract the attention of European countries, and force European countries to pay attention to the Macedonian issue, whether it is independence or whatever, let the Balkans The situation has become chaotic"

Most of the residents of Macedonia are Christians. At the end of the 19th century, the liberation of Christians from pagans was naturally supported by the people of various European countries.

By creating chaos and making big news in Macedonia, the Macedonian issue has been put on the agenda of European politicians.

In May 1901, a French merchant ship moored in Thessaloniki was attacked, and the raging merchant ship burned for three hours on the sea near the pier. All citizens of

Just on the second day of the incident, an explosion occurred at a branch of an Ottoman bank in Thessaloniki, killing and injuring more than 50 people.

An organization called "Thessaloniki Assassins" publicly claimed responsibility for the incident in the newspapers and declared the Macedonian people's independence.

For a time, the turbulent situation in the Balkans was mysterious and attracted the attention of the whole of Europe.

France and the United Kingdom immediately put pressure on the Ottoman authorities~www.wuxiaspot.com~ to ask the Ottoman government to play an active role in ending the local chaos.

The shareholders behind the bank that exploded were almost all British and French capitalists.

At the same time, the ethnic organizations close to Bulgaria have become increasingly aggressive in their tactics in rural areas.

For those villages that are emotionally close to Greece, armed bandits brutally looted and slaughtered, and used terrifying means to deal with these people.

On August 2, the southern region of Macedonia officially opened the prelude to the uprising. From Bitola to Kruwoše, from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, there were irregular armed forces of the uprising everywhere, participating in the insurrection.

After the initial victory of the uprising, several leaders who led the uprising established a "Kruvorshe Republic" in Kruvorshe.

Britain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Germany, the ambassadors of the five countries, personally visited the Ottoman Grand Vizier and asked the Ottoman Empire to take measures to maintain the situation and prevent the situation from further deterioration.

At this time, all countries do not want to cause more troubles in Europe: Britain is deeply involved in the Boer War and has no time to care; Russia, with the extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway, is expanding into Asia with all its strength, and is ambitiously planning to establish "Yellow Russia";

The news of the uprising reached Athens, and nationalist fanatic citizens came to the Capitol, chanting slogans, demanding support for Macedonian independence and the liberation of Christians.

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