Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Regarding the handling of the Italian issue, the negotiation among the three countries went surprisingly smoothly. In the final analysis, it was all about getting what they needed. Due to the rise of Bulgaria and the closeness of the law, the British felt the crisis. In order to maintain their natural status in the Mediterranean, they had to Make concessions.

But Ferdinand was not happy. The Sarentina Peninsula was just a windfall. If Sicily was not acquired, then the significance of the Sarentina Peninsula would be of little significance.

There is no way to control the Mediterranean Sea, and the Adriatic Sea alone is not worth the great effort of Bulgaria. Is it just to return it to the Italians?

After thinking about it, Ferdinand finally realized that if he won the Sarentina Peninsula, he would be able to extort some money from the Italians at most. The strategic position is not that important, and the economic value cannot be used for tourism in this era. ?

Your Majesty, why don't you exchange colonies along the Persian Gulf with the British! Now many ports along the Persian Gulf are under the sphere of influence of the British, and our navy's access to the Indian Ocean is still restricted! Admiral Petrov suggested.

Ferdinand smiled slightly, Petrov's proposal is very constructive, and now is a good time to pick up leaks!

In terms of economic value, the entire Arabian Peninsula is now incomparable to a single Sicily; in terms of strategic value, the Persian Gulf in this era is not a strategic location, and the two are not comparable.

But for Bulgaria, it now has a certain strategic value, which helps Bulgaria to strengthen its control over the Arabian Peninsula.

At most, the British will suspect that Bulgaria wants to expand to the Persian region, but this is not their core interest. As long as Bulgaria is not excessive, the two sides can still carve up the Persian region!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: Well, let's exchange colonies along the Persian Gulf with the British. Except that the Bab al-Mandeb strait is forbidden to be touched by the British, this time we will simply annex the entire Arabian Peninsula. Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British delineate their respective spheres of influence in the Persian region!

Even if it is to be leaked,

It is also necessary to make a full play. In fact, the Persian area still has some value, of course, this era is only of agricultural value.

But this is still not enough. If the conditions are too low, it is estimated that John Bull's feces and urine will make them suspicious!

After a pause, Ferdinand added: In addition, we want the Italians to pay the debts owed to the British, and tell the British that we are in desperate need of money, so that they may not hinder the domestic consortium from buying what we have acquired. War reparations claims!

Well, as long as the British consortium really wants to buy it, it is estimated that Bulgaria does not need to take the initiative to propose it. Some people have a way to get the government to agree.

As for whether the British would oppose the Bulgarian Navy's entry into the Indian Ocean, Ferdinand was not worried at all, as long as they didn't imitate the Germans and Americans like the tyrannical warships, it doesn't matter where you go.

What can really make them jealous is that there is strength to threaten their world hegemony. Obviously, Bulgaria in this era does not have this strength!

The Bulgarian navy is divided into two parts, which is also impossible. After the war, Bulgaria still has such a huge fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. Not only is John Bull uncomfortable, but the French will also feel the pressure.

In this case, either dismantle the ship or disperse the fleet and reduce the strength of the Bulgarian Navy in the Mediterranean!

Ferdinand, who knew very well, naturally chose to divide his troops. In the era of sea power, there was no strong navy. How could Bulgaria's interests overseas be guaranteed?

With the current strength of the six dreadnought ships in Bulgaria, they are among the top five in the world, only in the four countries of Britain, the United States, Japan and France, and the naval strength of the three countries of Japan, France and Bulgaria is still very close during this period. Not far away yet!

The August 4th Plan formulated by the Japanese in 1915 has just begun. As for the 86th Plan and the 88th Plan, there are no plans yet, and the Japanese navy has just begun.

The French Navy does have a lot of tonnage, but there are not many capital ships, and there are too many old ships. Now they are about to face large-scale retirement, so their naval strength is not very good during this period!

...

After receiving the domestic telegram, Constantine was not in a good mood. Once the Bulgarian Navy entered the Indian Ocean, the government's previous plan to cut naval military spending would not be so easy to accomplish.

During the war, Bulgaria's military budget just had no budget. Anyway, if there was no money, it would reach out to the government. As soon as the war ended, this kind of good thing would end naturally!

If nothing else happens, the military spending of the 6th Army may be cut by more than 95% in the coming year, and the Navy will also be cut by 80% to 90%. .

In Constantine's view, this was because Ferdinand didn't want the government to lower military spending too much, so he would have to cut the budgets of other departments. As the boss of the government, he was naturally in a bad mood.

No matter what his mood is, what he should do must be done, and it must be done beautifully! It's not that easy to be an errand under Ferdinand!

In contrast, Metev is in a much better mood. The government budget has little to do with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Anyway, their funds have always been guaranteed.

The navy has entered the Indian Ocean, and the importance of their Ministry of Foreign Affairs will only increase, not decrease, and even the international affairs that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will handle in the future will greatly increase!

To put it simply, before the World War, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was only active in the foreign affairs of the Mediterranean countries, and now it is estimated that they will appear in most of the foreign affairs of the world.

...

Negotiations on the issue of Italy have started again. Now the biggest issue is the issue of compensation. The sum of compensation for the three countries is as high as 700 million pounds. Obviously, the Italians cannot afford it.

Even if it was cut in half, Constantine doubted whether the Italians would be able to pay it off. If they had no money, they could repay their debts in kind. Unfortunately, the Italians’ wealth is really thin. , the annual interest is 350 million pounds, seven times the financial income of Italy at its peak!

Lloyd-George said very responsibly: Everyone, Italy's current population is probably less than 3500,000. If it is calculated at 700 million pounds, each person will bear a huge debt of 2oo pounds. In terms of national income (note: Italy's gross national income in 1913 was 400 million US dollars, or about 822 million pounds), it would take 8.5 years to eat or drink!

According to the calculations of economic experts, even if their economy returns to the pre-war level, the Italians' ability to afford the annual repayment still cannot exceed 210 million pounds!

And we also have to accept repayment in kind, otherwise the number is even lower, so we have to reduce the amount of indemnity, otherwise the debt cannot be paid off, and the Italians are likely to play dead again!

The venue fell into a state of silence, and Constantine broke the silence: If that's the case, then we'll waive their interest, and let the Italians pay us £200 million in cash or equivalent materials every year, and they will pay us 35 years. Debt can be paid off!

If there is a breach of contract in the middle, or the repayment is deliberately delayed, it will be calculated according to the overdue calculation of the total indemnity of 50,000 per day, so that everyone will not have to worry about it!

Well, Konstantin's proposal is no different from reducing the amount of compensation. In fact, if interest is calculated, the amount of compensation is only equivalent to more than two billion pounds!

French President Poengale said hesitantly: Is this not very good, it seems that the number is too large, it is better to reduce the amount of Italians' compensation to 2.8 billion pounds, according to the monthly interest rate of 4.5 thousandths It's time to count!

If the birth is overdue, it is calculated by 1/1000 per day, so it seems that the number is better, and everyone still distributes according to their respective shares!

Constantine sucked in a breath. As expected of the origin of the usury empire, according to this figure, Italians have to pay 1.26 million pounds in interest every month, and 151.2 million pounds in interest every year. Can pay off!

If you can't pay it monthly, it will be even more terrifying if the profit rolls over!

No one can refuse in the face of interests! Even if the British wanted to preserve Italy's strength as much as possible, when it came to their own interests, all this was thrown out of the sky!

This proposal is good. We have cut the Italians' war reparations by 60%, which is enough to let the world see our benevolent side! Lloyd-George said solemnly

Constantine just nodded his head in agreement. Suddenly, compared with the old empire, he was still too tender. He dared to believe that John Bull would give up his own interests for the sake of the Italians!

After a pause, Poengale said, The Italians still have some colonies to offset their reparations. We should give them an estimate and then decide who wants it!

Both Constantine and Lloyd George had no opinion. The economic and strategic value of the Italian colony was not high, and everyone was not interested in fighting for it, so it was better to use the valuation to offset the war indemnity.

Constantine thought for a while and said, Let's just make an estimate for this colony that has little strategic value, and whoever has the highest estimate will pay to buy them back!

Anyway, in the first few years, the Allied countries have to restore their economies, and their ability to pay is limited. Use this money to repay the war reparations of our three countries!

That's right, the Three Kingdoms. Constantine so lightly erased the qualifications of other countries to carve up colonies. Everyone's interests are the same on this point. Naturally, Britain and France will not object to this proposal.

Lloyd-George thought for a while and said: For the sake of fairness, everyone will write the answer directly on paper, and then everyone will make it public together, and be the first to declare that once the bid is made, no one can go back on it!

Okay! Everyone said in unison

Constantine has some headaches. The Italian colony is Somalia, and there are only half of them. The north has been the sphere of influence of John Bull as early as 1887.

Half of Somalia, for Bulgaria, is simply tasteless, a pity to abandon!

After hesitating again and again, Constantine wrote a number that he thought was suitable in his mind, and then turned his eyes to the other two.

Lloyd-George and Poengale have already written the answer. As an old colonial empire, they are more professional in the valuation of colonies!

Poengale smiled and said, Since everyone has written it, let's show it together!

After he finished speaking, he picked up the notebook and wrote a large 3500,000 yuan in red pen on it. Unfortunately, the final unit was francs!

Lloyd George also showed his notebook, and the figure given above was 1.41 million. Fortunately, his unit was British pounds.

Constantine was a little dumbfounded. Looking at the British and French bids, he knew that he was at a loss. Half of Somalia was not worth so much money. In any case, he did not regret selling the medicine here. He also showed his offer of 300,000 pounds!

Don't think this price is not high. The key point is that the population of Italian Somalia in this era is less than one million, and the economy is in a mess. After deducting administrative expenses, the financial surplus of the colony seems to have always been negative.

Even if you count the bonuses brought by resources and the market, it is still a loss! If you want to open Somali, Bulgaria has to invest a lot of money, obviously it can't be done in the short term!

Lloyd-George said gloatingly: Congratulations, Mr. Constantine, Italian Somalia is yours from now on!

Constantine is in a very depressed mood now. He decided to turn to a professional to evaluate all the colonies of the Allied countries once, so as to avoid such an oolong joke!

However, Konstantin still said with a smile: Thank you for your intention to make it. After the negotiation is over, how about we settle the bill together?

Poengale agreed: Okay, this is just the beginning, just over a million pounds, it's a small problem for all of us!

It can be regarded as a relief for Constantine. It is true that Bulgaria quoted 300,000 pounds, but after deducting its own indemnity, the actual need to pay is only 1.714 million pounds, so it is not too much of a loss.

Constantine took the opportunity to take over the topic: Okay, let's move on to the next item, let's deal with the Italian navy first, they still have two dreadnoughts and a bunch of small warships, let's divide it up first!

Everyone was very interested in the Italian warships, but soon John Bull chose to give up. He suddenly realized that if they participated in the division of the Italian navy, it did not mean that Bulgaria and France were also qualified to divide up the German navy!

Lloyd-George said very calmly: We have not fought with the Italian Navy, so we will not participate in the distribution of the wealth left by the Italian Navy!

Poengale said with a smile: Everyone is allies, why should we share each other? Let's share it together!

It's a pity that Lloyd-George looks like a gentleman, but he is killed and distributed according to his contribution. They will not participate in the distribution if they have not fought with the Italian Navy!

Seeing that he was not fooled, now only the two countries are left to participate in the distribution. The Italian Navy still has two dreadnoughts, two former dreadnoughts, five cruisers, six destroyers and a few remaining small warships.

Bulgaria does not have much demand for these warships, and if they take too much, they will consume valuable military expenses. Constantine asked directly: It's just half of our two countries and one family, and we should pay the one hundred and ten to your country. How about erasing the £70,000 colonial subsidy?

Poengale secretly figured out that if the distribution is based on the contribution, it would be the Bulgarians who hit the Italian Navy hard, and they would definitely take the big buck. His expectation was that the two sides would share four or six points. The Bulgarians have more than one million pounds, and they still don't suffer.

So Puengale replied cheerfully: Well, we will share the Italian Navy equally!

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