Mediterranean Hegemony Road

With the capture of the city of Kemotini, except for a few islands, the power of the Ottoman Empire in the Aegean Sea was wiped out!

At this time, after the 7th Bulgarian Infantry Division captured Serre, the forward troops came to Salonica again. At the same time, the Eighteenth Division of the Second Army also entered the Gulf of Thessaloniki and joined forces with the Seventh Division.

The troops in Thessaloniki are limited, or Thessaloniki Bend is not the main battlefield of this war!

Bulgaria invested a total of two regiments of the 7th Infantry Division plus the 18th Infantry Division, more than 170,000 people.

As soon as the siege battle began, the third and fifth regiments of the 7th Infantry Division and the 123rd Regiment of the 18th Infantry Division launched two charges successively. Under the cover of artillery fire, they stormed Thessaloniki. city!

What is a flak mosquito, this is it! At this time, Tamar Pasha, the supreme Ottoman commander in the city, was so angry that he was too bullying!

Now there are only three infantry regiments in the Ottoman Empire defenders in the city, including an infantry regiment formed by temporarily recruiting defeated soldiers, with a total strength of about 5,000 people!

That's all, defending the city, less troops are acceptable! The point is that Tama Pasha has guns but no shells, guns but no bullets!

After the outbreak of the Greek-Turkish War, in order to fight back against Greece, the Ottoman government mobilized supplies from all over the country, and Thessaloniki was no exception.

Theoretically, the ammunition reserve in the city still maintains a minimum amount, which is enough to fight one or two medium-scale battles. In fact, after repelling Bulgaria's first attack, the ammunition has been declared exhausted!

Tamar Pasha is not a martyr who would rather die than surrender. When Bulgaria launched a second round of offensive to open a gap, seeing that there was nothing to do, he decisively chose a strategic retreat!

But now the 456th Regiment of the 18th Division of the Baojun Army has not yet participated in the siege. Seeing the Ottoman army fleeing, of course they rushed after it!

It's a pity that the strong Ottoman army that practiced once every ten days still failed to outperform the Bulgarian army. Except for a few talented people, most of them became one of the captives!

First Serre, Kavala, and then Komotini and Thessaloniki. Even if Ferdinand's military level is average, he also knows that the war on the Aegean coast is almost over!

Unless the Ottomans are crazy, don't care about Constantinople!

Why didn't the Ottoman navy come out? Ferdinand asked suspiciously.

Grand Duke, it is said that the Ottoman navy is defending the Marmara waters in case the Russians take advantage of the fire! Fuhu replied

Do you believe such an idiot's explanation? The Bosphorus is still in their hands, can the Russians still fly over? Ferdinand said with a sneer

Fhu hurriedly said, Yes! According to the data collected by intelligence personnel, the Ottoman Empire is repairing naval warships.

In the Greek-Turkish War before, the Ottoman Navy had dispatched, but unfortunately, before reaching the battlefield, two warships sank on the road, and then they never dared to leave the port again!

At this moment, a group of mud horses ran past Ferdinand's heart. What kind of navy can be so wonderful that it can drive a warship to sink by itself?

How is this possible? Didn't it say that it was destroyed in the battle with the Greek navy?

Fhu explained, The Grand Duke is true. Our intelligence personnel have confirmed that, except for the two sunk ships, all other warships of the Ottoman Navy are well preserved, unlike any naval battles!

In addition, the news that just came from Greece also confirmed this point, the Greek Navy does not have any warships undergoing maintenance!

In a naval battle, except for the two sunk warships, the other ships were unscathed, which is very abnormal!

In addition, according to the information we have collected from the Ottoman government, the naval funds allocated by them in the past two decades are actually less than 10 million pounds!

Their naval training schedule is even more wonderful. From 1887 to the present, each warship has sailed less than three times on average, and each voyage is less than 500 nautical miles!

After the war broke out, in order to fill up the crew, they also forcibly recruited some merchant sailors!

Ferdinand was speechless,

Although in his previous life he had already seen strange things, he could only express his admiration for the Ottoman Navy!

It’s fine if you don’t have a navy, why do you want to build such a fleet, don’t you just stand in the latrine and don’t shit?

If he didn't understand the Ottoman Empire, Ferdinand didn't care about it anymore. As the two great modern empires, there seemed to be nothing they couldn't do!

Is the Prime Minister's supplies ready for Istanbul?

Prime Minister Constantine replied calmly, Please rest assured, Grand Duke, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the Battle of Constantinople, we mobilized a total of 150,000 people to participate in transportation.

People of all ethnic groups who were oppressed by the Ottomans along the way enthusiastically signed up, and various non-governmental volunteer teams were also arranged by us into the transportation team!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said, Well, the patriotic enthusiasm of the people cannot be dampened! The people of East Thrace will also be our citizens in the future. This war must have affected their lives. Collect it!

Constantine answered Yes! without hesitation.

After the Balkan War, Bulgaria will definitely gain a large area of ​​territory, and with it, there will be a large number of people of all ethnic groups. If you want long-term stability, you must assimilate them!

First of all, the Bulgarian government must gain their trust, otherwise assimilation will be out of the question!

Ferdinand has been thinking about this question for a long time, and combined with the successful examples of later generations, he decided to start with the sense of identity!

It just so happens that people of all ethnic groups in the Balkans have a common enemy-the Ottoman nobles!

Bulgaria has done a good job in this regard. As soon as the Balkan War broke out, the Ottoman Empire fell into the ocean of people's war!

The Bulgarian army can advance by leaps and bounds and gallop across the battlefield, and it is inseparable from the help of people of all ethnic groups along the way!

But this kind of help is based on the hatred of the Ottoman Empire, and it cannot last!

Ferdinand also knew that for ordinary people, daily necessities are the fundamental problem, and all ethnicities and doctrines are empty talk!

Especially in the 19th century, people couldn’t even have enough to eat. If you talk about your ideals with them, they will tell you that your ideal in life is to have enough to eat!

This is Ferdinand's opportunity. As long as this problem can be solved, it can be guaranteed that ordinary people will not rebel against him!

As for the others?

Those who follow me prosper, those who oppose me perish!

After thinking for a while, Ferdinand said cautiously, The next focus of the government's work is to establish a system in the newly occupied territory and to vigorously announce the policy.

In the name of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Kohari family, I now have three chapters with them

First, exempt the agricultural tax in Bulgaria in 1897; permanently exempt the tithe tax, exempt the religious tax, exempt the poll tax...

Second, confiscate the illegal gains of the nobles and capitalists of the Ottoman Empire; the government will allocate part of the land to the people who have made contributions in the Balkan War!

Third, Bulgaria will implement a one-tax system for agriculture, with a fixed tax rate of 5, which will never increase, and can be lowered according to the actual situation in various places!

Everyone's face changed slightly, but they still answered Yes!

Obviously, this is Ferdinand's family honor as a guarantee, and no one will be allowed to object!

In fact, there is no need to discuss it. If Ferdinand hadn't insisted on going his own way, the government would definitely not pass the decision!

Ferdinand's three core policies will obviously affect the government's future fiscal revenue.

Instead, most of them are aimed at ordinary people, and the class that benefits the most is the peasant class. But the peasant class has no right to speak in the government at all, who is willing to distribute the benefits to them?

As for other classes, the Ottoman Empire was originally an agricultural empire. The working class has not been separated from the peasant class, and most of them are handicraftsmen, that is, farming and working!

There is no doubt that the Ottoman nobles are the enemies of Bulgaria, as are the capitalists who are attached to them. If you don’t attack them, who will you attack?

.