Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Not only is the strategic material urgent, our fiscal deficit has not been resolved, although the war has just begun, we have to consider it!

If the material reserves are insufficient, we can still import, but if there is no money, I am afraid that we will not be able to do anything!

In order to raise funds, the Ministry of Finance has gone to great lengths! The European consortium is not optimistic that we can win the war, and the loan is not negotiable at all!

Bonds are also cold in the international market. So far, the bonds we have sold have not been sold at all, even though we have raised the interest rate to 20%!

It can only be sold domestically, less than 10 million drachmas (about 400,000 pounds), which is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the huge expenses!

In order to win the war, we have ordered a large number of materials from European countries, which has consumed a large amount of our foreign exchange reserves. In the later period, we have to use part of the gold reserves to solve the problem!

From the current point of view, I am afraid that the war will not end in a short time. If the financial problems cannot be solved, we will go bankrupt in the near future! As soon as the Minister of War finished speaking, the Chancellor of the Exchequer poured another basin of cold water on George I!

The Chancellor of the Exchequer is only raising expenditures, not revenue. Everyone is well aware that in order to raise funds, the Greek government has long imposed a war tax, and other tax rates have also increased substantially, and the government's fiscal revenue has actually increased!

But the debt was too much to bear, and the international loan was as high as 700 million dramarks (about 28 million pounds)! There is also a pile of debts, and other messy debts of no less than five hundred million dramarks!

The above are all owed by the central government of Greece, and there are also many arrears from the local government!

However, what is the revenue of the Greek government? ? Absolutely an incredible number - less than 110 million dramarks!

Even if it is calculated at an interest rate of 5%, the annual interest support exceeds half of the fiscal revenue! ! This is also the reason why the Greek government went bankrupt after the defeat of the Greek-Turkish war!

No matter how the war is fought, the debt that should be repaid still has to be repaid! The great powers in the 19th century were not vegetarians. Even if the Greeks declared bankruptcy, the debts that should be paid should not be less!

In any case, George I would never dare to play bankruptcy now!

Otherwise, if the foreign powers took over the finances, they would dare to directly abolish the army and navy together. How will the war be fought then?

George I looked at everyone with a wry smile and said, What else can you do? Let's talk about it! No matter how much it costs, let's get through this stage first and talk!

Tax increase? This can't be done, and now the people can't bear it anymore!

loan? Who is willing to borrow it now? The financial revenue of the Greek government is so bad that even if it wins the war, it is unable to repay such a huge debt. The most important thing is that it can no longer provide a compelling mortgage!

bonds? Isn't it selling? No one wants 20% of the interest!

...

One after another, thoughts appeared in everyone's mind, and they were rejected again!

These are all the disasters caused by the previous officers. All the tricks to raise money have been used. Tariffs, minerals, road rights, various financial taxes, as long as they can be mortgaged, almost all mortgages are finished!

Including the government buildings used by the current government, they are all mortgaged to the capitalists. The current Greek government can be said to be really poor!

Seeing that everyone was silent, George I's face became gloomy. The Prime Minister knew that he couldn't escape, and he took the initiative to stand up. It was better than being named!

Ugh!

The Prime Minister first sighed, and then said: From the current situation, only the gold reserves can be used for emergency in the short term! The other is to end the war as soon as possible, which depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

Our army is not as strong as imagined!

To win this war,

You can only pin your hopes on your allies!

All we have to do now is to get Bulgaria and Mentegro to join the war as soon as possible through diplomacy. We can make concessions when it comes to loot division!

George I nodded, and was about to say something when he suddenly realized that he had been tricked by the Prime Minister!

On the surface, it appears to make a suggestion, but in essence it says nothing!

Financial crisis, the solution is no! The use of the reserve gold is already being done, and everyone can't care about the consequences. The big deal is the collapse of Dirkmark, which is second only to the failure of the war!

End the war as soon as possible? Who doesn't want to? Now it is clear that the Greek army can't defeat the Ottomans, and even if all allies join in, the outcome is unpredictable! If possible, everyone would rather this war didn't happen!

Diplomacy? Hell, didn't it just fail? Concession on loot? Let go to that step?

After all, King George I was a king for many years. His dissatisfied expression flashed by and he continued to ask, Then Prime Minister, do you think we can make concessions in those areas? What is the bottom line?

The Prime Minister, who thought he had escaped the catastrophe, now has a bitter face, as if everyone owes him money!

Hesitantly said: This~~, I think~~ We have made a mistake in estimating the strength of the Ottoman Empire this time, and if we want to achieve the predetermined goal, I am afraid it will not work!

Instead, it is better to promise those things that are not available to Bulgaria in exchange for their early participation in the war and reduce our losses!

The thing that George I was most worried about still happened. Even the Prime Minister lost confidence in this war. You can imagine the thoughts of others!

What about the officers and soldiers on the front line? Do they still have hope for victory in this war?

And Bulgaria and Mentegro, if they also have no hope of war, does that mean they will break the covenant?

So what should Greece do in this war? How to end the war with dignity? What is the future of Greece?

Everyone doesn't know what King George I thinks, but they are very interested in the Prime Minister's proposal. No matter what, let's drag the allies into the water first!

It is better for the three to face the Ottoman Empire together than Greece alone! Even if you lose this war, there are people who stand on the back, it is always better than the unlucky Greek family!

The Minister of War immediately echoed his words. How about the front line? Others don't know. Is he still unclear?

Prince Constantine's telegram for help was sent more than ten times a day; the Greek army in the Ioannina area did not ask for reinforcements, but the situation was even worse, and the supplies were not available!

The food is still good, and it can be collected on the spot. There is no way for weapons and ammunition, and it is completely dependent on the rear supply! If you don't move, it's okay, if you move, if there is a big battle with the Ottomans, the gun in your hand will become a burning stick!

Now the per capita ammunition of soldiers is only more than 70 rounds, which sounds pretty good, but after a battle, you will find that it is really not enough!

However, the logistics supply line is not so stable. Because the time is too short, the Greek army has not had time to clear the area, and the government of the Ottoman Empire in some remote areas is still preserved!

If it weren't for the fact that the Ottoman Empire was really rotten, maybe the Greek army on the front line of Anina would have been completely cut off from the logistics supply line!

Of course, it is also related to the poor logistics of the Greeks. Even if there is no obstacle, the logistics supply cannot be guaranteed! Who told the Ottoman Empire not to pay attention to the traffic in this area?

So far, it has been almost a week since the start of the war, and the troops on the front line have not yet received a single supply after the war!

At present, there are more than 100,000 Greek troops on the front line of Epirus, and they are being pressed and beaten by 40,000 to 50,000 Ottoman troops. It is not that they cannot defeat the enemy.

Unless the enemy can be annihilated or crippled at one time, the war will continue, and the Greek army will have to use a fire stick and a bayonet!

...

Just when the Greek government was worried about the war, the front line also changed!

The Epirus region is not bad. Anyway, there are so many Greek troops, and they are defending on the spot. The Ottoman troops are insufficient and dare not attack in an all-round way!

The problem lies in the Krikala city defense line. The Ottoman Empire's defenders in the Appsani area have come to reinforce it! Although there are only a few thousand people, appearing in a specific place is enough to change a war!

Edgy Pasha already had enough troops in his hands, so he directly ordered the two regiments that came to aid him to attack Kardica, threatening the back road of Prince Constantine's army!

Colonel Kobie Pasha, the commander of the reinforcements, is a rare young soldier in the Ottoman army. A typical newborn calf is not afraid of tigers!

He knew that with the two regiments in his hands, under normal circumstances, it was a fool's dream to capture Kardica, which was the key defense of the Greek army!

Moreover, the order given to him by General Edkh Pasha was only to attack, and he did not let him capture Kardica, which is enough to explain the problem!

Colonel Kobie Pasha did something that caught the attention of the world. He went straight in alone, detoured to the rear of Kardica, and wreaked havoc!

On April 25, 1897, at noon, a regiment under Colonel Kobie Pasha encountered a logistical convoy of the Greek army outside Kardica.

There is no doubt that the enemy army, of course, did it! There was a fierce battle between the two sides, and the defenders of Kardica heard the news and immediately organized infantry to rush to the battlefield for reinforcements.

Unfortunately, in the Greek army, the logistics transport team is the worst of the bad cards. The army of more than 300 people, plus a group of civilians, has formed a team of thousands of people.

Even if they were very heroic, they were defeated by the Ottoman regular army with a larger number of them after half an hour of fighting!

When the reinforcements arrived, only one corpse was left behind, and all the supplies that could be taken away were taken away by the Ottomans, and the few bombs that could not be taken away were finished!

In order to cause trouble for the Greeks, Colonel Kobie Pasha also came up with a bad move, giving each prisoner a bullet, don't get me wrong, he did not massacre the prisoners!

The bullets were all hit in the legs, but the prisoners were turned into wounded and left in place! Of course, those who have resisted are not included in this list, and they have all been sent to see God!

This is just the beginning. In the following time, the Ottoman army followed suit. In just two or three days, Prince Constantine had harvested four or five thousand wounded, and the logistical supply line collapsed!

In the 19th century, underserved and underserved, being shot by bullets was not an easy thing to do! Even on the legs, many people will face a very cruel multiple-choice question: amputation to save life; or choose to gamble on whether the wound will become inflamed!

Don't expect the wound to just scratch the skin, and the grudge between the Ottoman Empire and the Greeks is not a day or two!

There is no doubt that the bullets hit the bones. In addition, he did not come to receive treatment in time. In fact, what Prince Constantine harvested was a group of seriously wounded people who could die at any time!

Looking at the wailing wounded, Prince Constantine couldn't help scolding no matter how well-trained he was: Get out! These beasts are inferior to beasts! How can you do this? God will not let them go. These goddamn bastards will definitely go to hell! …”

Not only him, but all the Greeks present were the same enemy. Colonel Kobie Pasha's actions had broken through their bottom line and completely angered the Greeks.

Anger is the greatest enemy of mankind, it will affect the rational judgment of mankind!

In order to take revenge and open up the supply line, Prince Constantine gritted his teeth and dispatched a division of reinforcements from the front line to encircle and suppress Colonel Biepasha's lone army!

More than ten kilometers away from Kardica City, there is a large forest. This forest is the camp of the Ottoman army of Kobie Pasha. Of course, the reason for choosing here is because it is easy to defend and run!

What if the Greeks didn't retaliate for such a big thing? Of course, if the Greeks really draw troops from the front line, it is also in line with Kobie Pasha's intention. After all, his task is to cause chaos for the Greeks!

Originally, the Greek army was at a disadvantage in terms of strength. Once it was deployed again, there would inevitably be flaws in the defense line, which created opportunities for the Ottoman army on the front line!

If Prince Constantine can keep his temper, it doesn't matter, he continues to engage in the business of roadblocks and robbery. Anyway, as long as the logistics supply line is cut off, the Greek army on the front line will be finished sooner or later!

As for whether the Greeks will detour, Kobie Pasha is not worried at all! If the detour will undoubtedly lengthen the supply line and increase the distance by hundreds of miles, it is estimated that the Greek commanders on the front line will cry!

Because the ammunition in their hands was running out, Edgy Pasha did not rely on the superior force to fight them decisively, but instead fought a war of attrition, grinding with the Greek army little by little, just to consume their ammunition!

In just a few days, the material reserves in Prince Constantine’s hands have been reduced again. According to the current consumption level, if the supply line cannot be opened as soon as possible, after half a month, he will face the end of running out of ammunition and food!

It was a conspiracy, and the Greeks had to follow the Ottomans' plan.

The fate of the Greek army was locked in the moment Prince Constantine drew his troops from the front line!

The changes in the Greek defense line could not be concealed from the Ottomans. After General Edghi Pasha determined that the Greeks had lost one division, he knew that the long-awaited fighter had finally arrived!

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