Mediterranean Hegemony Road

In any case, under the urging of Ferdinand, the Military Council, the General Staff, the War Department, and the Navy Department jointly formulated a draft of homeland defense!

Yes, this is a purely defensive plan, intended to create a strong turtle shell, which can be said to be conservative to the extreme.

Mainly relying on the favorable terrain of the Balkans for defense, from the front line to Sofia, there are six areas with the least defense lines. Even in the face of the attack of tens of millions of troops, these lines of defense are enough to drag on for a year and a half.

Oh, this is not a bragging of the staff, limited by the terrain of the Balkan Mountains, there are too many troops to be used at all. In a sense, there is not much difference between the attack of ten million troops and the attack of two or three million troops. Anyway, there are very few troops that can be directly involved in the war.

Historically, the reason why Serbia and Montenegro dared to declare war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire was because they occupied favorable terrain and could slowly consume with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the Allied Powers won, they would win.

Of course, they overestimated the Allied Powers and underestimated the Allied Powers. They did not expect that this continental war would be a protracted war! Although they successfully held off the Austro-Hungarian Empire for a year or two, and finally became a victorious country, the price paid was very painful!

Ferdinand will naturally not make the same mistake. As long as Bulgaria is prepared in advance, according to the current situation, the country can mobilize three million troops after the outbreak of the war. The attack is uncertain, but the defense is still more than enough!

Well, the reason why Ferdinand deployed so many lines of defense was mainly due to this factor.

Constrained by the terrain, it was impossible to put 1.8 million troops on one line of defense. In addition, Ferdinand was influenced by his previous life, and he was worried that the Allies would give him a blitzkrieg.

Of course, it is impossible for Germany to attack France in the Balkans. There is still a mountain behind the mountain, and it is always possible to gain reaction time!

However, as long as the Allied troops come in, Bulgaria will inevitably suffer heavy losses. The local war and the damage caused outside the country are two completely different concepts!

Therefore, Bulgaria's first line of defense is the strongest, and the following ones are equivalent to backup lines of defense, which will only be activated after the first line of defense is breached.

Oh, this first line of defense does not mean a trench or a line of fortresses! This line of defense is also one or two kilometers wide along the narrowest part, and many may have to pass through several hills. It is impossible to break through the line of defense with a single charge!

Of course, following the example of the French in World War II to build a Maginot Line of Defense, Ferdinand is not so crazy. Except for the construction of fortresses in particularly important positions, most of the other areas are mainly trenches.

Ferdinand also knew that after the war broke out, most of the plans would be useless. According to the previous plan, the first step was to capture Belgrade at the beginning of the war.

As long as this step is completed, Bulgaria will have the upper hand in strategy. If you advance, you can look at the Hungarian Plain, and if you retreat, you will stick to the same place.

...

In addition to military deployment, Ferdinand did not forget to reserve strategic materials. After all, in modern wars, materials are fought. Whoever is more prepared will be able to persevere in this war longer.

Prime Minister, how much grain do we have in the country now? Ferdinand asked at the cabinet meeting

I have food in my hands,

Do not panic! So the first thing Ferdinand asked was food. As long as food was guaranteed, Bulgaria would not collapse in the war!

Constantine thought about it and said: The country's wheat reserves are now about 3 million tons; rye reserves are 4.8 million tons; soybean reserves are about 500,000 tons; corn reserves are about 800,000 tons; rice reserves are about 300,000 tons. Ton.

There is no doubt that Bulgaria is also an interview-based country. The staple food is bread and scones, and the grain reserves are naturally rye and wheat!

Ferdinand nodded with satisfaction. This grain reserve figure can basically guarantee the consumption of Bulgarian people for one year in normal years. (Note: In the 20th century, due to living standards, people's appetite was relatively large)

However, for the world war that is about to begin, this figure may not be enough to read. Once the war breaks out, there is no doubt that everyone's energy will be put into the war, and food production will inevitably be affected.

If Bulgaria has been on the defensive, as long as it is not attacked by the enemy, causing a devastating blow to the main grain producing areas, even if the production capacity is reduced, it can basically be self-sufficient.

Obviously, Ferdinand's goal is not just to defend all the time. Once he takes the initiative to attack, it is bound to allocate a lot of manpower and material resources, which will further increase the consumption of food, and can only be supported by the reserves of food.

After thinking about it, Ferdinand said: Well, from now on, we will increase the grain reserve of 350,000 tons every year in case of war!

It's not that Ferdinand doesn't want to add more, but the main reason is that the fiscal revenue of the Bulgarian government cannot support it. Otherwise, if there are unlimited reserves, the Germans in World War I will not surrender so quickly!

Even so, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy smiled bitterly and said, Your Majesty, I'm afraid this can't be done, and the current grain reserves are already the limit of fiscal expenditure.

The current government debt has exceeded forty leva (about 160 million pounds), and it is expected that when the third five-year plan is completed, the government's debt will reach 9 billion leva (about 360 million pounds), which is really unable to continue to increase. !

Ferdinand was also a little embarrassed. This increased expenditure was not a star and a half, and he did not know whether he should insist on his own opinion.

Now the price of grain in the international market has exceeded 400 lev per ton. Even if the domestic sales price of grain in Bulgaria is around 360 lev per ton, even if the government purchases directly from state-owned agricultural companies, the price cannot be lower than that 300 lev per ton.

Even at the lowest figure, 3.5 million tons of grain reserves each year require 1.05 billion leva (about 42 million pounds), which is almost 40% of Bulgaria's current fiscal revenue!

And once the government buys it aggressively, it will definitely raise the price of domestic food and cause a series of troubles. If you want to spend it smoothly, it is obvious that you can only purchase it in the international market.

You must know that the reserves of Bulgarian food are not all bought by the government, and a large part of them are the spoils of the military.

In the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria could successively occupied the main grain producing areas of Romania and the Ottoman Empire, and they all withdrew their troops after the autumn harvest. Naturally, it was impossible to return empty-handed.

Otherwise, Bulgaria's grain reserves are estimated to be half of what they are now.

It is no wonder that in this era, the reserves of grain in various countries are not very large, it is entirely because the grain is expensive!

Due to the relationship between productivity, half of the world's people are still hungry, so it's no wonder that food prices can come down!

When Ferdinand was having a headache, Chekov came up with an idea: Your Majesty, Bulgaria now exports about 1.5 million tons of grain every year. Once the war breaks out, we can completely ban grain export, so that Even if the food production is reduced due to the war, we can basically handle it!

Moreover, we can call on the people to store food on the grounds of preventing famines, which can also reduce the pressure on our food!

Ferdinand nodded, this is reluctantly also a way, the prohibition of grain exports during the war is inevitable!

Bulgaria did not implement it in the previous war, mainly because the duration of the war was too short, and it was over in just a few months, so there was no need to implement it!

Instead, he called on the people to save food for the year of disaster. Ferdinand thought it was a good idea. Now the people in Bulgaria have more money than they have, but it is still possible to store food for a few months.

Normally, this doesn't really matter, it's very important during wartime. If it is not enough, Ferdinand can only buy it from the Russians!

Don't look at the fact that during the First World War, the fur bears seemed to be in short supply of food, so they thought they were really short of food! In fact, this is mainly caused by their poor transportation conditions and chaotic logistics system. As the largest grain producer in Europe, at least in the pre-war period, their grain was very rich!

Oh, when the tsarist government collapsed, the workers in St. Petersburg could not even guarantee the basic survival of food, but the irony is that the granaries of the capitalists are still full, otherwise the new Soviet Union may really starve to death !

The big deal is that when the time comes to trade with Russia, let the Russians pay for it with grain. Anyway, the nobles and capitalists have a way. As long as they have enough interests, a mere amount of grain will not be difficult for them.

Well, as long as the problem can be solved, Ferdinand doesn't care if he does what he wants. Since Chekov's method is useful, of course it must be adopted!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said, Well, let's first increase the grain reserve by 500,000 tons every year, and call on the public to keep grain storage secret for the time being, and then implement it later!

At the same time, we must also expand the production capacity of the military industry. In addition to meeting our own needs, we must also take into account the needs of the Russians in case of emergencies!

In principle, at least we must protect our weapons and equipment in the state of extreme mobilization, and there must be a certain surplus on this basis!

Regarding the issue of expanding military production capacity, no one has any opinions. It may be affected by the Russo-Japanese War. We really don't pay attention to the military production capacity of the Russians!

Besides, now Bulgaria can produce these equipment in the arsenal itself, and the cost has dropped. If you want to expand the arsenal, you can do it at any time.

Oh, now the Bulgarian arsenal is not just the original one. The number of large and small military industrial enterprises has increased to more than a dozen, and there is still competition between them.

However, how much production capacity needs to be increased is not the same as increasing grain reserves. Ferdinand himself can estimate the grain based on the population, and the expansion of military production capacity needs to be actually investigated before making the final decision.

After all, the weapons and equipment involved in the military industry are also varied, and how much each weapon is produced is appropriate. No one has more say in this than the military.

This requires the government and the army, both sides cooperate, Ferdinand will not blindly command!

Otherwise, according to the information on the Internet in his previous life, he knew that the Russians lacked rifles in World War I, so he would foolishly store millions of rifles and wait, only to find out that due to the butterfly effect, the Russians had already prepared, no If there is a shortage of rifles, isn't that a fool?

This is not impossible, even the Black Sea Fleet in history disappeared under Ferdinand's butterfly effect?

Even the kingdoms of Romania and Montenegro, which originally participated in the Allied Powers, are now being pitted by Ferdinand into the Allied Powers?

You know, the tsarist government is busy with reforms at the moment? Who knows if this time will be successful? Anyway, Ferdinand didn't dare to jump to conclusions!

Constantine suddenly said, Your Majesty, the military already has their own plans for expanding military production capacity, and they have been handed over to the cabinet before, but due to time constraints, I haven't had time to report to you!

Ferdinand was stunned for a moment, but then he reacted quickly, which was reasonable!

Not long ago, he asked the military to formulate a national defense plan. To complete this plan, weapons and equipment are naturally indispensable. It is also logical for the military to submit a plan to expand its armaments.

Although Bulgaria's army's military production capacity is actually one of the best in the world before the powers break out, as long as Britain, France and Germany break out, people can easily overtake in a few months.

Oh, and if it weren't for the second Balkan war, this wave of production capacity in Bulgaria would not have been possible.

Since the strength is not comparable to the first-class powers, then the stupid bird can only fly first, and prepare in advance, so as not to suffer losses at the beginning of the war!

Ferdinand smiled slightly and said calmly: Well, you can study it, if there are no major problems, you can prepare in advance!

Once the war between the two major alliances breaks out, it will definitely be protracted, and it will be difficult to tell the winner without three or five years!

This is probably the largest war in human history, but the war is also full of opportunities, so long as you seize this opportunity...

Having said this, Ferdinand's words came to an abrupt end, leaving everyone to speculate in secret.

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