Mediterranean Hegemony Road

"What? King George I of Greece is visiting secretly!" Ferdinand said in disbelief

I'm too lazy to complain. Could it be that I've read too many novels for the mentally retarded? After all, he is also the king of a country, who can be fooled by playing a secret visit?

The Balkans are such a big place. Once you find that George I has not missed his face for a long time and is a little bit careful, you will know to check! As long as it is certain that George I appeared in Bulgaria, who is there to ask? ?

Well, Ferdinand has not thought that the Ottoman Empire is so mentally retarded now, or that small countries like Greece and Bulgaria are not at all in the heart, they are busy dealing with the difficulties of the British!

Before the outbreak of the first Balkan War in history, the four countries of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece made great preparations for the war, but none of them attracted the attention of the nobles, until the outbreak of the war was caught by surprise!

In any case, King George I had already come, and Ferdinand had to go to receive him. Everyone was still relatives, so he still had to give him some face.

Since George I was visiting in secret, Ferdinand also decided to cooperate with him in a play, and as long as the Greeks did not take the initiative to inform him, he pretended not to know about it.

And the welcome ceremony with great fanfare can be saved, and even the meeting place cannot be selected at the Sofia Palace.

The most important thing now is to figure out why George I secretly visited? And it came so suddenly, if it hadn't been noticed by the intelligence officers, it is estimated that he would not have been discovered until he arrived in Bulgaria.

"Foreign Minister, I remember that George I's secret envoy arrived in Sofia not long ago. Your foreign ministry is in charge of contacting him. How's the talk going?" Ferdinand asked.

The foreign minister said with a headache: "Grand Duke, there is no result. The Greeks are asking too much, and they can pay too little!"

Ferdinand was taken aback for a moment, and asked casually: "Oh! I want to hear how much appetite the Greeks have? What price are they going to pay?"

The foreign minister said with a smile: "The Greeks want to join hands with us to deal with the Turks. Bulgaria will send 300,000 troops, Greece will send 150,000 troops, and the Greek navy will contain the Ottoman navy. There is no problem!

But they demanded Thessaloniki, and they also wanted to share Macedonia, Albania, East Thrace with us! "

Ferdinand was a little speechless. In 1895, the Greek Navy could not cut off the connection between Europe and Asia of the Ottoman Empire. The so-called containment was only used to fight in the Thessaloniki area.

Since Greece wants the Thessaloniki region, it is reasonable to do it by itself. Why should it be included in the contribution of the alliance? If the Greek navy can suppress the Ottoman navy like in the Balkan wars, that's about the same!

The battles in Macedonia, Eastern Thrace, and Albania still depend on the decisive battle of the army. Bulgaria is the main force to obtain these areas. Even if the gap between the combat effectiveness of the two sides is not considered, Bulgaria will take the lead!

It's no wonder that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not interested in joining forces with Greece. The conditions between the two sides are too far apart, and there is no possibility of a negotiation at all!

In Ferdinand's view, Greece's fifteenth army went to the battlefield, and they were just making up the numbers. Compared with Serbia, they were far inferior. Just look at the "Greek-Turkish War" in history!

In 1897, an uprising occurred in Crete. In early February, the Greek army occupied Crete. In April, the Greek army attacked the Turkish army in Thessalia, and the Greek-Turkish war began.

The Greek army was defeated at the end of April, and before the armistice on May 20, the Turkish army was not far from Athens. On December 4, a peace treaty was concluded, in which Greece paid Turkey 4 million lire in indemnity and ceded part of the territory of Thessaly to Turkey.

Well, the Ottoman Empire didn't even have time to exert its strength, and the Greek Army was beaten to the ground. With this combat power, it was the best of the Italian Army!

Ferdinand's bottom line is,

Bulgaria can get most of Macedonia, Kosovo, East Thrace, and Istanbul. Greece can get part of Macedonia. Other areas, including Thessaloniki, Epirus, and Thrace, can be owned by Greece!

In fact, even with this distribution, Greece has already taken advantage of it! The Ottoman Empire in the Balkans has roughly 250,000 square kilometers of territory.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is owned by Austria-Hungary, remove the 50,000-60,000 square kilometers; Montenegro will acquire the Raska generation area, nearly 15,000 square kilometers of territory; Greece will acquire part of Macedonia, Epirus, Serbia The Thessaloniki generation, Crete, etc., with a territory of more than 40,000 square kilometers.

However, the appetite of the Greeks exceeded his imagination, and he directly took away more than half of the spoils, nearly more than 100,000 square kilometers of territory. Can't because Serbia is out, the Greek government will inherit their spoils? Isn't Ferdinand a scapegoat?

However, George I, who is about to arrive in Bulgaria, does not think so. In his opinion, among the Balkan countries, Greece is the earliest independent country and the earliest time to form an army. Even if only 150,000 troops are sent, the combat effectiveness will not be higher than that of the 300,000 Bulgarian army. weak!

Then it is very reasonable to divide up the territory in this way. Greece has strong strength and great responsibility, so naturally it should take the biggest piece of the cake!

Well, before the Greek-Turkish War, the Greeks had full confidence in the combat effectiveness of their army, otherwise they would not have singled out the Ottoman Empire.

Time flies, and a week later, the disguised king of Greece, George I, arrived in Sofia.

Ferdinand held a cordial and friendly meeting with him in a royal manor on the outskirts of Sofia. The two sides reached an agreement on strengthening economic and commercial exchanges between the two countries!

Simply put: Bulgaria and Greece have reached an agreement on the issue of the Ottoman Empire and decided to join forces to overthrow the evil rule of Sudan in the Balkans!

As for the issue of loot, Ferdinand was not easy to say directly when he looked at the confident George I: the Greek army is a weak chicken and can only be used for soy sauce!

Ferdinand can only make a very constructive proposal: "George, it seems that our bottom line is too different, and we can't talk about it today!

Why don't we just take a gamble. After defeating the Ottoman Empire, whoever grabs the territory of the Balkans first will go to whoever grabs it first, and at the same time grabs half of the family, and those who fall behind will consider themselves unlucky! "

After a moment of silence, George I seemed to be thinking about whether he would suffer! Ferdinand said provocatively: "How? Do you dare to take a gamble?"