Bulgarian Empire

Kavala is the most important port of Bulgaria in the Thracian Sea, and it is also one of the centers of Bulgaria's tobacco industry!

On January 3, 1909, high-level officials of the Bulgarian government, envoys from various countries, and journalists who came to the port of Kavala gathered!

"Everyone is here, now the ceremony can begin!" Ferdinand said with a smile

That's right, today is the sea trial ceremony of Bulgaria's first dreadnought ship, the Sofia. With Ferdinand's order, the Sofia began its performance amidst the exclamation of everyone!

At this time, the British Minister to Bulgaria, Krestive, looked a little unnatural. The British Empire originally wanted to use dreadnoughts to throw off European countries and avoid the occurrence of an arms race, but the advantage of dreadnoughts was broken in less than two years. up!

And it is Bulgaria, a rising star, of course, he also knows that there are French and Dutch credits in it!

But this also means that the leading advantage created by the British Empire with dreadnoughts no longer exists! Now that Bulgaria has the technology to manufacture dreadnoughts, the Dutch and French naturally have them too!

The manufacturing technology of the dreadnought has three more owners at once, so the leading advantage will naturally disappear!

Since these three countries can do it, the Germans, Americans, Italians... There is no reason why they can't do it, at most it will be a little later in the evening!

What is lifting a rock and shooting yourself in the foot?

The British have already felt it now. After receiving the news of the trial of the Sofia, the Christmas Eve of many people in the London government has become bleak!

No matter what he thinks in his heart, the trial voyage of the Sofia is still successful. The Bulgarians present are celebrating heartily, and the moods of the envoys from various countries are also different!

At this time, Ferdinand quietly left the field and went to the waiting room. What is strange is that his waiting room is actually inside the bomb defense cave!

There are reinforced concrete walls with a thickness of tens of meters around, and there is a whole huge steel plate on the top, and there are multiple layers of protective measures on it! It can be said that at the beginning of the 20th century, no artillery could shake it in the slightest!

This is very abnormal. On the day of celebrating the birth of the Sofia, Ferdinand actually ran into the air-raid shelter, which seemed to indicate that something ominous was about to happen!

"Are you ready?" Ferdinand asked lightly.

The gray-clothed man replied affirmatively: "Everything is ready, just wait for His Majesty's order, and then we can start!"

"Well, very good! If the matter is successful this time, your intelligence department will take the lead. You did a good job, Morka!" Ferdinand said slightly

After hearing Ferdinand's words, although the man in gray was trying his best to suppress his excited expression, his body was still trembling a little!

That's right, he is the Bulgarian intelligence leader lurking in the Ottoman Empire - Morka Valdo. He has been lurking in the Ottoman Empire for more than ten years under an alias, and this time he was activated!

After thinking for a while, Ferdinand asked again, "Petrov, what happened to the navy's preparations?"

"Your Majesty, please rest assured! Fifteen thousand officers and soldiers in the navy are all ready and ready to fight at any time!" Petrov said excitedly

In order to wait for this day, the Bulgarian Navy has been waiting for three years! As early as 1906, the Admiralty felt that its strength was enough, and it was ready to attack the Ottoman Empire, but Ferdinand suppressed it on the grounds that the timing was not ripe!

However, the Admiralty did not give up. The hatred between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire is much greater than the conflict between Germany and France, and there is no possibility of any relaxation between the two sides!

Especially after the Balkan War, the war between the two countries will always be only one excuse away!

After the signing of the "Anglo-Bulgarian Agreement" in 1908, the main combat faction in Bulgaria could no longer bear it anymore, and proposed to Ferdinand many times a combat plan against the Ottoman Empire, but it has never been successful!

But after the Admiralty made a tentative proposal this time, Ferdinand directly agreed! for no other reason,

The time has come, Bulgaria has become the second country in the world to have a dreadnought!

Sofia parameters:

Displacement: standard displacement 19,200 tons;

Full load displacement is 23,589 tons;

Dimensions: length 162.3 meters / width 25.3 meters / draft 8.4 meters

Power: main engine output power 23500 shaft horsepower, 4 shafts; maximum speed: 21.25 knots; endurance: 5940 nautical miles/10 knots

Weapons and equipment: 10 5-seat twin/45-caliber 12-inch main guns, 16 single-mounted 4-inch/50-caliber secondary guns, and 3 18-inch underwater torpedo tubes

Armor (inches): Main armor belt 5-10.5, deck 0.5-4.5, turret 11-4, gun mount 11, conning tower 11.5

Crew: 758 people

Due to the service of the Sofia, the total tonnage of the Bulgarian Navy has exceeded 80,000 tons, which is the same as the current Ottoman Navy in terms of tonnage, but its combat effectiveness is not at the same level at all!

According to the estimates of the Ministry of the Navy, the Sofia alone can collapse the Ottoman Navy!

Theoretically, as long as the kite-flying method is used, the Ottoman navy can be slowly exhausted by virtue of the speed advantage and firepower advantage far surpassing the old-fashioned ironclad ships!

This is why Ferdinand wants to do it now. Since it applies to the Ottoman Empire, it also applies to other countries. Even if there is a conflict with the Allied Navy, the Bulgarian Navy will not suffer!

In addition to the dreadnought ship Sofia, the Bulgarian Navy is also equipped with two pocket coastal defense battleships, one armored cruiser, two ordinary cruisers, five destroyers, ten torpedo boats, three submarines, and various other auxiliary warships. some!

This is the entire family property of the Bulgarian Navy. No, there are still a few training ships, but the combat effectiveness is negligible, so they are not counted in the fleet!

In military history, there has been a saying of "a century-old navy". This is not a joke. Building a powerful navy does require hundreds of years of accumulation!

But it's not impossible to shorten this time, the easiest way is - fight! Like the Japanese Navy, it is a successful example. Accumulate combat experience through actual combat on the battlefield, and quickly form combat effectiveness!

Ferdinand is also ready to learn. It just so happens that the Ottoman Navy is the most ideal sparring partner, as weak as you want, so don't worry about playing around!

Ferdinand jokingly said: "Now that everything is ready, let's start with Morka so as not to miss the time!

I hope the Sudanese government will not disappoint our good intentions. Didn't they always want to take back Constantinople? If the opportunity is given to them, it depends on whether their teeth are good enough! "

"Yes!" Morka replied forcefully.

After finishing speaking, he walked to a telegraph that had been prepared in advance and conveyed the news, and a conspiracy against the Ottoman Empire began!

Thasos Island is at the northern end of the Aegean Sea, with an area of ​​378.8 square kilometers and a coastline of 95 kilometers. It is only 4 nautical miles away from the mainland. It is the closest island to Kavala!

Due to the limited strength of the Bulgarian navy in the previous Balkan Wars, it did not do anything to it. Thasos is still in the hands of the Ottoman Empire.

However, because it is too close to Bulgaria, at first the Ottoman Empire still deployed a large number of troops on it, but in the later period, the Sudanese government realized that once a war broke out between the two countries, it would be impossible to hold Thasos Island. Not many troops left!

Since Thasos Island could threaten Kavala Port, the Ottoman Empire also deployed several shore artillery on the island at that time, threatening Bulgaria's shipbuilding industry at any time!

At this time, on Thasos Island, five young people were gnashing their teeth and looking at each other. They were indeed the Turks who were deported back to the Ottoman Empire by Ferdinand.

Before they were expelled, they were still aristocratic lords, but after returning to the Ottoman Empire, their good life in the past was gone forever. If they were not noble, they might not even be able to make a living!

Therefore, they hate Bulgaria extremely, and always hope that the Ottoman Empire can return to the Balkans and regain everything they lost!

Then, they were absorbed by an organization called "The Avengers", the purpose is to avenge all the enemies who invaded the Ottoman Empire, and the behind-the-scenes manipulator of this organization happened to be Morka-Valdo!

In order to provoke the war between the two countries again, the "Avengers Alliance" has acted many times, and successfully destroyed many dirty deals that the "traitorous Sudanese government" attempted to collude with imperialist countries!

The "Sofia's sea trial ceremony" was also seen by them as an opportunity. At this time, the top leaders of the Bulgarian government gathered in Kavala. Just a few shells can cause heavy losses to Bulgaria, and it is even possible to directly deal with the Bulgarian king. —Ferdinand!

Therefore, this glorious and arduous task fell to the five of them, and at this time their identities happened to be the grassroots officers of the Thasos Island defenders!

Lex Pasha is the team leader of this operation. He is waiting for the intelligence personnel lurking in Kavala to send them coordinates. Otherwise, there is no approximate location. Who knows where the shells will fly to?

"Mr. Lex, the coordinates have been determined, you see?" A teenager said while handing over an accurate coordinate parameter

"Okay, guys, for the sake of the Ottoman Empire, kill the Bulgarian bastard on the opposite side!" Lex Pasha said excitedly

The opportunity he had been waiting for for a long time finally came. Lex Pasha believed that as long as the shells were fired, no matter how cowardly the Sudanese government was, they would have to go to war with Bulgaria again!

When the time comes, he will be able to return to his hometown in Thrace, regain everything he lost, and live an enviable noble life!

...

It's useless to talk to them about the difference in strength between the two sides. Besides, the Balkan War has happened ten years ago. They are still kids. How can they know the cruelty of war?

Their current goal is to provoke a war between the two sides again. As for whether they can win, under the blessing of the Communist Party, the great Ottoman army is invincible and can definitely destroy all enemies!

Instigated by Lex Pasha, several young Ottoman officers did a major event that shocked the world-bombarding Kavala Port!

And achieved remarkable results, killing Holman Berger, the official of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bulgaria, and three members of the Bulgarian Military Council, as well as two reporters from the London Times and more than a dozen attendants. Dozens of dignitaries including Minister Krestive were injured!

It can be said that these Ottoman officers set a world record and killed three Bulgarian generals at once, two of them were generals and one was lieutenant general!

Their victories have already surpassed the highest victory of the Ottoman army in killing Bulgarian officers in the Balkan Wars. However, after receiving such heavy victories, I wonder if the Sudanese government will cry now?

After the bombardment, the Bulgarian navy immediately launched a counterattack, went directly to Thasos Island, cleared all military personnel on the island, and arrested a culprit!

Of course, it was impossible for the matter to end like this. Ferdinand played a trick, how could it end so easily?

Besides, Bulgaria also needs to give an explanation to other countries! You can't let someone else's minister have an accident on your own territory, and there is no explanation, right?

After receiving this news, the high-level responses of various countries were very consistent: first of all, they thought it was impossible! Then I thought the Ottoman Empire was crazy!

There is no way, who said that the shell fell so coincidentally that it fell on the position of the envoy. If it weren't for a similar place, Bulgaria also killed three generals and injured many dignitaries. They would have suspected that it was What about the conspiracy of the Bulgarian government?

Well, let's play a full set! In order to ensure nothing goes wrong, Ferdinand directly left the cabinet in Sofia on the grounds of ensuring the smooth progress of the "3rd Five-Year Plan", but brought a group of high-level military officials to attend the ceremony.

Of course, this is also in line with the rules. It is okay for the cabinet to not come if the king is present in person!

It is normal for the army to choose to retreat during the sea trial ceremony of the navy. Anyway, there are so many generals in the military committee, which are enough representatives!

If you want to deceive others, you must also deceive yourself! So unfortunately, the generals in this group of military committees who played their spare role were used as cannon fodder by Ferdinand!

In fact, although Turkish youths are very secondary, they also know that if they accidentally injure the ministers of various countries, there will be big troubles!

Therefore, they had to wait until they got the exact coordinates before they started shelling!

There is no doubt that this coordinate was provided by Ferdinand Jean Morka. In order not to arouse suspicion, the location of the coordinate is not very accurate.

It’s just that it’s a little close to the mission, otherwise the mission might be taken over, and Bulgaria wouldn’t want to get rid of it!

Now this situation is undoubtedly the most ideal. On the bright side, the boss of the Bulgarian military is now dead, injured, and the military committee is basically abolished!

As for the envoys, only the unlucky guy from the Austro-Hungarian Empire died, and a few others were injured, which fits the scene where Chiyu was affected!

As for why the artillery deviates, this is very simple. The artillery capabilities of the Ottoman Empire are not enough! There is also the artillery of this era, if it is fired from several miles away, it is not surprising that it deviates by tens of meters!

As soon as the "Kavala bombing tragedy" came out, the Ottoman Empire was attacked by public opinion all over the world. Ferdinand successfully portrayed Bulgaria as a victim and won sympathy from public opinion.

And politicians from various countries know that the Ottoman Empire is going to be in bad luck this time, especially Bulgaria has occupied the island of Thasos and has evidence of the Ottoman Empire's bombardment of the port of Karava!

Even the Germans, it is impossible to stand up for them now!

In addition to international public opinion, because the Austro-Hungarian Empire was affected by Chiyu this time, a minister died, and now they are clamoring for revenge?

The Germans are busy appeasing the emotions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but unfortunately they can stabilize the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but they cannot stabilize the Bulgaria!

He was suddenly attacked by the enemy army, and so many senior officials of the Bulgarian government died. If Bulgaria could bear it, Ferdinand would be ashamed to call himself a great power again!

Therefore, unless the Ottoman Empire is willing to pay enough, the war between the two countries is inevitable, and all European countries know this!

At this time, the Sudanese government has become an ant on a hot pot, spinning around in a hurry!

"What do the Germans say?" Sultan said with a livid face.