Bulgarian Empire

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

I'm too lazy to complain, could it be that I read too many novels for the mentally retarded? Anyway, he is also the king of a country, who can be fooled by playing secret visits?

The Balkans are such a big place. Once you find out that George I has not leaked his face for a long time, anyone who pays a little attention will know to check! As long as it is confirmed that George I appeared in Bulgaria, is there any need to ask who? ?

Well, Ferdinand hadn't imagined that the Ottoman Empire was so mentally retarded now, or that they didn't take small countries like Greece and Bulgaria to heart at all, and they were busy dealing with the difficulties of the British!

Before the outbreak of the first Balkan War in history, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece prepared for war with great fanfare, but none of them attracted the attention of the nobles until the war broke out and they were caught off guard!

In any case, George I had already arrived, and Ferdinand had to go to receive him. We were still relatives anyway, so we had to give some face.

Since George I was visiting in secret, Ferdinand also decided to put on a play with him, pretending not to know about it as long as the Greeks didn't take the initiative to inform them.

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

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

Minister of Foreign Affairs, I remember that George I's secret envoy arrived in Sofia not long ago, and your Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of contacting him. How is the talk going? Ferdinand asked.

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

Ferdinand was taken aback, and then asked, Oh! I really want to know how big the appetite of the Greeks is? What price do you plan to pay?

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

But they demanded Thessaloniki, and also divided Macedonia, Albania, and Eastern Thrace with us equally!

Ferdinand was a little speechless. The Greek navy in 1895 could not cut off the connection between Europe and Asia of the Ottoman Empire. The so-called containment was only effective in fighting 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 almost the same!

The battles in Macedonia, East Thrace, and Albania still depend on the army's decisive battles. Bulgaria is the main force to win these areas. Even if the difference in combat effectiveness between the two armies is not considered, Bulgaria will take the lead!

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

In Ferdinand's view, the Fifteenth Army of Greece went to the battlefield, and it was just making up for it. It was far inferior to Serbia. 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. 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, and Greece paid Turkey 4 million lire in compensation, ceded part of Thessalia's territory to Turkey, and paid 4 million lire in compensation.

Well, the Ottoman Empire didn't even have time to exert its strength, and the Greek Army was defeated. With this combat power, the Italian Army has a fight!

Ferdinand bottom line is,

Bulgaria gets 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 if it is distributed like this, Greece has already taken advantage of it! The Ottoman Empire in the Balkans has a territory of more than 250,000 square kilometers.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina region is in the pocket of Austria-Hungary, and the 50,000 to 60,000 square kilometers will be removed; Montenegro will get the Raska generation area, nearly 15,000 square kilometers of territory; Greece will get part of Macedonia, Epirus, Cyprus Thessaloniki generation, Crete, etc., more than 40,000 square kilometers of territory.

But the appetite of the Greeks was beyond his imagination, and they directly took away more than half of the spoils, a territory of nearly 100,000 square kilometers. Can't the Greek government inherit their spoils just because Serbia is out? Wouldn't Ferdinand be taken advantage of?

But George I, who is about to arrive in Bulgaria, doesn't think so. In his view, among the Balkan countries, Greece was the first to become independent and formed an army the earliest. Even if it only sent 150,000 troops, its combat effectiveness would not be better than that of the 300,000 Bulgarian army. weak!

Then it is very reasonable to carve up the territory like this. Greece is strong and shoulders a lot of responsibilities. Naturally, it should take the biggest piece of 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, George I, the king of Greece in disguise, arrived in Sofia.

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

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

As for the spoils of war, looking at the confident King George I, Ferdinand couldn't say it directly: the Greek army is weak and can only be used for soy sauce!

Ferdinand could only make a very constructive proposal: George, it seems that our bottom line is too far apart, and we cannot reach an agreement today!

Why don't we simply take a gamble. After defeating the Ottoman Empire, the territory in the Balkans will belong to whoever grabs it first.

After a moment of silence, King George I seemed to be thinking about whether he would suffer a loss! Ferdinand pretended to be provocative and said, How about it? Do you dare to take a gamble?