Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 17, Tangled

The Ottomans' strange theory has nothing to do with Ferdinand. The battle has now progressed, and the first step strategy can basically be announced, and it has been realized!

The Greeks are very annoying at this moment. The Northern Sporades, Cyclades, Kunupia Islands are all in their hands, and the most crucial island of Crete is also in their hands.

Every man is innocent, but he is guilty! This is the true portrayal of Greece today. In the Mediterranean, the Greeks occupied the island of Kofu, threatening Epirus; in the Aegean Sea, they occupied a series of islands, hindering Bulgaria's control Strategy in the Aegean Sea.

The Greek issue was very difficult for Ferdinand. George I pretended to be his grandson after the Balkan Wars and took the initiative to ease diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

Even the idea of ​​hatred of Bulgaria in Greece was led to the Ottoman Empire by them, and they wanted to create a pretext for war, but no one believed it?

Take out the prestige of the foreign powers and go straight to it?

This is not the style of Ferdinand, but he has always opposed war of aggression!

No matter what it is in essence, it must be convincing on the surface, otherwise the hatred will increase!

Just like the war between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, it is still a war between the Bulgarians and the Turkish nobles. Other ethnic groups in the Ottomans, including ordinary Turkish people, are all indifferent attitudes. This war has nothing to do with them!

What should everyone do? The rebels rebel, and the independence is called for independence, but there is no room for easing the domestic conflicts in the Ottoman Empire.

At least the Turkish Al-Shabaab thinks that this is a war initiated by the Sudanese government in order to divert domestic conflicts!

If there is no Kavala shelling incident, it may now become a war between Bulgaria and the various peoples of the Ottoman Empire, and this war will not be easy to fight.

Greece is indeed weak enough now.

The population of the whole country is only more than 2.5 million, including more than 600,000 in the concentration camps, and the real Greeks are only 1.8 million.

These are all sequelae of the Greek-Turkish war. They were devastated by the Ottoman army in the country for more than half a year, and then they were cultivated again by the refugees. The population dropped from 2.2 million at its peak to more than 1.7 million. Zhuang has suffered heavy losses, so he has been recovering all these years!

Militarily, two Bulgarian infantry divisions were enough to sweep through Greece. This is not bragging. After the Greek government went bankrupt, the finances were taken over by various countries, and the military expenditure was immediately suppressed to the lowest point in history. It is okay to maintain order, not to mention the combat effectiveness!

Attacking Greece has to consider international influence. At least the debts they owe to the foreign powers is an insurmountable hurdle.

In 1897, the total debt of the Greek government was about 1o.8 billion leva (about 4.32 million pounds); in 1898, this figure increased to 1.65 billion leva (about 6.66 million pounds); by now this figure has been It has increased to 2o.6 billion leva (about 8.24 million pounds).

There is no way, even the interest can't be settled clearly. The interest is so abnormal. If there is no accident, the Greek government will probably never be able to pay off this foreign debt!

Unless the Greeks took the initiative to go to war, or Bulgaria is willing to take on this foreign debt, it is better not to touch it.

What do you think of the Greek issue? Ferdinand asked at the diplomatic consultation meeting

The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed: Your Majesty, we can approach the Greek government and buy these islands, anyway now the Greeks...

Ferdinand interrupted the finance minister and said, No! It is precisely because the Greek government's finances have been taken over by the foreign powers that they will not sell it.

Even if these islands are sold, the money has not gone into the pockets of the foreign powers. What good is it for the politicians in the Greek government?

That's right, the Greek government is so poor now, but it can't stand the broken pots and smashes? Could Bulgaria offer a sky-high price to solve the debt crisis for them?

After thinking about it, Xiang Constantine said domineeringly: Your Majesty, the easiest way is to directly occupy it, creating an established fact, the foreign powers can only recognize it, and the Greeks do not dare to declare war on us anyway!

Ferdinand shook his head and said, No, this will damage our international image!

If the sovereignty of Crete belongs to the Ottoman Empire, we have already started a war with the Ottoman Empire, and it makes sense to directly occupy it.

But the sovereignty of the Northern Sporades and the Cyclades Islands is owned by the Greeks, so we can't do it directly!

Unless the Greek government is in a collective brain and takes the initiative to declare war on us, then we will not be able to say anything even if the powers occupy Athens!

...

While Ferdinand was having a headache with Greece, the situation on the front changed again, and the Bulgarian army had advanced to Rhodes.

This kind of operation of the gods not only shocked the military, but even Ferdinand was frightened, thinking that the Ottomans were brewing some kind of conspiracy.

At the beginning, there was resistance from the Ottoman army when landing on the island. In the later stage, let’s not talk about resistance. On many islands, even the Ottoman army could not be found, and they directly threw the islands one by one to the Bulgarian army!

For all this, the Ottoman government is actually calm, it seems that these things can't move them.

But these things made him angry. There was one person, Ahmed Pasha, who was still looking for the flaws in the Bulgarian Navy's Second Fleet, but the reality told him that he would either fight immediately or wait to die!

On April 18, 1909, the blue sea was clear and the sky was clear. Ahmed Pasha made a hasty war mobilization and set out to sea with the reluctant Ottoman Navy officers and soldiers. The scene is quite a bit windy and easy to water cold!

Now that the arrow is on the line, I have to! Once this opportunity is missed, when the two Bulgarian fleets converge, they will not even have the strength to fight!

That's right, Ahmed Pasha never thought of winning at all. He just hoped to take advantage of the opportunity of the Bulgarian navy to divide his troops to fight a naval battle that he could take action, and he could explain it to the Chinese.

If not, then blood on the battlefield! For the sake of his family, he also had to fight to the death! After all, the dead will not be liquidated. No matter whether you win or lose, you will never be blamed if you die in battle!

...

At this time, the Second Fleet was still on routine patrols, not knowing that a major battle was about to begin.

The battlecruiser Constantinople was outside the port of Calablon when the sentry suddenly saw the fleet coming in front and exclaimed: The enemy's navy is out!

Upon receiving this news, Captain Nicholas Ivanrich immediately ordered: Report to the fleet, the main force of the Ottoman Navy has come out, we will try our best to hold them back and let them come to reinforce immediately!

The distance between the two sides was getting closer, but the Constantinople did not choose to escape, but was ready to meet.

Don't look at this as just an armored cruiser, but both in terms of firepower and armor, it's a far Ottoman ironclad.

All ready to fight! ordered Nicholas Ivanrich

He knew that it would take at least two hours to wait for the main force to come for reinforcements, and even the nearest battleship Harmony would take an hour later, and before that, the Constantinople would have to face the enemy alone!

Rush up to meet, that is impossible! This is an armored cruiser, not a dreadnought. Even if it is far from the enemy in terms of performance, a tiger can't hold back a pack of wolves!

Simply put, their main purpose is to keep an eye on the enemy. If the Ottoman navy was going to run, he would follow; if the Ottoman navy attacked them directly, of course he would run away!

Well, Nicholas Ivanrich has to be thankful that the Ottoman navy is rubbish enough, otherwise he might really be getting a lunch.

The two sides were still six or seven nautical miles away from the university, and they began to shoot each other. Originally, a one-to-twelve match would simply be a death sentence, but if it is six or seven nautical miles away (1 nautical mile = 1.852 kilometers), it doesn't matter, it has already passed the effective range of most artillery!

However, this is the era of rottenness. Both sides are rookies, and regardless of whether they have entered the effective range or not, they will start fighting stupidly when they see the enemy!

But this is in line with Nicholas Ivanrich's purpose of delaying time. Anyway, as soon as the artillery fires, the speed of the warship drops. If he can be hit at such a long distance, then he has nothing to say!

War is the best teacher, and they fought for more than half an hour, but neither side achieved any results.

At this time, the distance between the two sides has been shortened to three or four nautical miles, and Nicholas Ivanrich is still insisting, but the sweat on his face has begun to flow down.

The enemy is constantly approaching, and just now, an artillery gun was ten meters away from the warship, and it fell into the sea with a plop, and a wave was also splashed.

Withdraw! Nicholas Ivanrich seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when he said this word.

At this point, the distance between the two sides is already very close. If you don't go, you don't have to go. The Constantinople has already suffered two shells, and one shell hit the ship's string. Fortunately, the artillery of the Ottomans is not very good. The Tantinopolis will shed a layer of skin even if it doesn't die!

However, when the Constantinople retreated, there were only eleven warships in the Ottoman navy chasing after, and the other one, for some unknown reason, had already withdrawn from the war and seemed to be slowly sinking!

Nicholas Ivan Richie is a little confused, when did he make the victory? However, it is still important to run now, not the time to struggle with this issue.

The Constantinople ran fast in front, and the Ottoman navy was chasing closely behind. Even though Ahmed Pasha had ordered all advance, the distance between the two sides was still getting farther and farther!

Time passed minute by minute, and soon the distance between the two sides opened more than ten nautical miles again. Nicholas Ivanrich ordered: Stop, just wait here for the Ottomans to come!

At this time, the battleship Harmony has also entered the battlefield, and the Ottomans still know nothing!

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