Bulgarian Empire

"Not only is the strategic material in an emergency, but our financial deficit has not yet been resolved. Although the war has just begun, we have to think about it!

If the material reserves are insufficient, we can still import, but if there is no money, I am afraid we can't do anything!

In order to raise funds, the Ministry of Finance has pulled out all the stops! The European consortium is not optimistic that we can win the war, and the loan cannot be negotiated at all!

Bonds are also in the cold in the international market. So far, the bonds we have sold have not been sold at all, even if 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 amount of supplies from European countries, which consumes a lot of our foreign exchange reserves, and we have to use part of our gold reserves to solve the final payment in the later period!

From the current point of view, the war may not end in a short time. If the financial problem cannot be resolved, we will go bankrupt in the near future! "As soon as the Minister of War finished speaking, the Minister of Exchequer poured cold water on George I again!

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

But before I couldn't stand it, I had a lot of debts, and the international loans were as high as 700 million dramaks (about 28 million pounds)! In addition, there is a pile of bonds and other messy debts of no less than 500 million dramaks!

All of the above are owed by the Greek central government, and there are also a lot of debts owed by local governments!

However, how much is the fiscal revenue of the Greek government? ? Definitely an incredible number - just under 110 million dramaks!

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

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, they still had to pay off their debts!

No matter what, George I would never dare to go bankrupt now!

Otherwise, if the big powers take over the finances, they dare to abolish the army and navy together. How will this battle be fought then?

King George I looked at the crowd with a wry smile, and said, "What else can you do? Let's talk about it! No matter how much the price is, let's go through this hurdle first and let's talk!"

Tax increase? This is not good, and now the people can no longer bear it!

loan? Who is willing to borrow 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 afford mortgages that are exciting!

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

...

Thoughts floated in everyone's minds, but were rejected again!

These are the faults of the previous predecessors. They have used all the tricks to raise money. Tariffs, minerals, road rights, and various fiscal taxes. As long as they can be mortgaged, almost all of them have been mortgaged!

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

Seeing the silence of the crowd, King George I's face darkened. The Prime Minister knew that he couldn't hide, and it was better to stand up than to be named!

"well!"

The prime minister sighed first, and then said: "Judging from the current situation, we can only use the gold reserve for emergency in the short term! The other thing is to end the war as soon as possible, and it depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

Our army is not as powerful as imagined!

To win this war,

We can only pin our hopes on our allies!

All we have to do now is to get Bulgaria and Montenegro to join the war as soon as possible through diplomatic means. We can make concessions when it comes to loot splitting! "

King 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 seems that suggestions are made, but in essence they say nothing!

Financial crisis, the solution is no! The use of reserve gold is already being done, and everyone can no longer care about the consequences. In the worst case, the Decker mark will collapse, and the danger is second only to the failure of the war!

To end the war as soon as possible? Who doesn't want to? It is now obvious that the Greek army cannot defeat the Ottomans. Even if all allies join, the outcome is unpredictable! If possible, everyone would rather this war did not happen!

Diplomacy? Hell, didn't he just fail? Concede on the loot? To that step?

After all, George I had been king for many years. His dissatisfaction flashed and he continued to ask: "Then, Your Excellency Prime Minister, in what areas do you think we can make concessions? What is the bottom line?"

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

He said hesitantly: "This~~, I think~~ we made a mistake in estimating the strength of the Ottoman Empire this time, and I'm afraid we won't be able to achieve the predetermined goal!

Instead of this, it is better to promise those things that cannot be obtained to Bulgaria in exchange for their early participation in the war and reduce our losses! "

The thing that George I was most worried about happened. Even the prime minister lost confidence in this war. One can imagine what other people are thinking!

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

And Bulgaria and Montenegro, if they also have no hope for war, does it mean that they will tear up the covenant?

So in this war, what should Greece do? How to end the war decently? Where should the future of Greece go?

Everyone didn't know what George I thought, but they were 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 families to face the Ottoman Empire together than Greece alone! Even if they lose this war, there will be some people who will back them up, it's better than the unlucky Greek family!

The Minister of War immediately echoed his words. What about the front line? Others don't know, but he still doesn't know?

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

The food is okay, and it can be collected on the spot, but there is no way for weapons and ammunition, and it is completely dependent on the rear supply! It's okay if you don't move, if you move, if you fight a big battle with the Ottomans, maybe the gun in your hand will become a firestick!

Now the average number of bullets per soldier is only more than 70 rounds, which sounds 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 clean up the place, and the Ottoman government 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 Ioannina 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 war started, and the frontline troops have not received enough supplies after the war!

Now there are more than 100,000 Greek troops on the front line of Epirus, and they are suppressed and beaten by 40,000 to 50,000 Ottoman troops. It's not that they can't beat the enemy, but the guys in their hands have too little to do, so they dare not fight!

Unless the enemy can be annihilated or maimed at one time, the Greek army will have to hold fire sticks and bayonets if the war continues!

...

Just when the Greek government was worrying about the war, something happened on the front line!

The Epirus area is fine. Anyway, the Greek army has so many troops, so they defend on the spot. The Ottoman army is not strong enough, and they dare not attack in an all-round way!

The problem lies in the defense line of Kerikala city. The defenders of the Ottoman Empire in the Apspusani area have come to reinforce them! Although there are only a few thousand people, appearing in a specific place is enough to change a war!

Edhe Pasha already had enough troops, so he directly ordered the two regiments to attack Karditsa, threatening the rear of Prince Constantine's army!

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

He knew that with the two regiments in his hands, it was undoubtedly a dream to capture Karditsa, which is the key defense of the Greek army, under normal circumstances!

Moreover, the order given to him by General Edkhpasha was only to attack, and he was not allowed to conquer Karditsa, which is enough to explain the problem!

Colonel Kobe Pasha did something that attracted the attention of the world. He went deep alone, detoured to the rear of Karditsa, and wreaked havoc!

On April 25, 1897, at noon, a regiment under Colonel Kobe Pasha encountered a logistics convoy of the Greek army outside the city of Karditsa.

There is no doubt that the enemy army, of course, did it! A fierce battle broke out between the two sides. Karditsa's defenders heard the news and immediately organized infantry to rush to the battlefield for reinforcements.

It's a pity that the logistics transport team is a miscellaneous brand among miscellaneous names in the Greek army. An army of more than 300 people, plus a group of civilians, has always made up a team of thousands of people.

Even though they were very heroic, they ended in failure after half an hour of fighting against the larger regular Ottoman army!

When the reinforcements arrived, only a field of corpses 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 over!

In order to cause trouble for the Greeks, Colonel Kobe Pasha also came up with a bad move, giving each captive a bullet. Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t slaughter the captives!

The bullets all hit the legs, but turned the captives into wounded and stayed in place! Of course, those who resisted were not included in this list, and they were all 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 4,000 to 5,000 wounded, and the logistics supply line collapsed!

In the 19th century when there was a lack of medical care and medicine, it was not an easy thing to be injured by a bullet! Even for legs, many people will face a cruel multiple-choice question: whether to amputate to save their lives; or choose to gamble their lives on whether the wound will become inflamed!

Don't expect the wound to be just scratched, the grievances between the Ottoman Empire and the Greeks are not a day or two!

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

Looking at the howling wounded, Prince Constantine couldn't help cursing no matter how well-bred he was: "Fuck off! These beasts are not as good as animals! How could they do this? God will not let them go, These damn bastards will definitely go to hell!..."

Not only him, but all the Greeks present were fighting against each other. Colonel Kobe Pasha's actions had broken through their bottom line and completely angered the Greeks.

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

For revenge and to get through the supply line, Prince Constantine gritted his teeth and dispatched a division of reinforcements from the front to encircle and suppress Colonel Kobe Pasha's lone army!

There is a large forest more than ten miles away from the city of Karditsa. This forest is the camp of the Ottoman army of Kobe Pasha. Of course, the reason for choosing this place is because it is convenient for defense and escape!

After doing such a big thing, would it be strange if the Greeks didn't retaliate? Of course, if the Greeks really mobilized troops from the front line, it would be exactly what Kobe Pasha wanted. After all, his task was to add chaos to the Greeks!

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

If Prince Constantine can hold his breath, it doesn't matter, continue to block the road robbery business, 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 would take a detour, Kobe Pasha wasn't worried at all! If the detour would undoubtedly lengthen the supply line and increase the distance by hundreds of miles, the Greek commanders on the front line would probably cry!

Because they didn't have much ammunition in their hands, Edhe Pasha did not rely on his superior force to fight them decisively, but started a war of attrition, fighting the Greek army bit by bit, just to consume their ammunition!

In just a few days, the material reserves in the hands of Prince Constantine have decreased again. According to the current level of consumption, 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!

This was a conspiracy, and the Greeks had to follow the plan of the Ottomans.

From the moment Prince Constantine mobilized troops from the front line, the fate of the Greek army was locked!

The changes in the Greek defense line cannot be hidden from the Ottomans. After General Edhepasha confirmed that the Greeks lost a division, he knew that the long-awaited fighter finally came!

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