"Your Majesty, the Germans have announced their new shipbuilding plan, adding 3 more dreadnoughts from 1912 to 1917, plus their existing 2, and the previous 3 that have already started, and the planned 4 ships, by 1917 the number of dreadnoughts in the German Navy will reach 12!" Foreign Minister Metev said cautiously

Having just returned from St. Petersburg, Ferdinand received the good news. That's right, this is undoubtedly great news for Bulgaria!

The more the Germans invested in the navy, this meant less pressure on Bulgaria on the Western Front in the future, and as for the German navy, it was John Bull's trouble, so it didn't bother with Ferdinand.

Well, Romania to the north was automatically ignored by Ferdinand. In fact, even if the Germans were willing to help, Romania was strategically unfavorable, sandwiched between Bulgaria and Russia.

If you want to attack from Romania, it is estimated that the enemy commander-in-chief will have water in his head! Obviously, as soon as the war broke out, Romania would be caught between the two fronts of the Bulgarian Russians, and it would be difficult to defend without an army of 1.8 million!

"What did the British do? Are you going to build six? Ferdinand asked without thinking

"For every warship the Germans built, the British built two!" This sentence was a domineering declaration made by the British War Secretary Haldane when he visited Germany.

Oh, and earlier Ferdinand was still in London, shouting this to the Ottoman Empire. It's just that the Ottomans were real poor people who, having ordered two dreadnoughts from Germany, expressed their silence!

But the Germans are now clearly demonstrating against the British, aren't you going to build twice as many warships? Well, come on, whoever instigates is the grandson!

Foreign Minister Metev replied directly: "Your Majesty, yes! In March 1912, Churchill, the British Secretary of the Admiralty, submitted a naval bill to Parliament, and now it has been passed, according to the provisions of the bill, the Germans did not build a warship, the British built two, and the London government has announced that six more dreadnoughts will be added in the next five years!

And just now the British have also reached an agreement with the French, the British will transfer the Mediterranean Fleet to the North Sea to suppress the Germans, and the French will transfer the navy of the Atlantic to the Mediterranean region to take over the defense, and the two countries have already agreed! ”

Ferdinand smiled slightly, obviously this is in the information, it seems that the next thing is to watch the British and German performances of dumplings.

As for the big naval program of Bulgaria? Oh, that's just a plan, although the momentum is huge, and now it's basically cruisers and destroyers, and it's not bad to use them against submarines, so forget about the main decisive battle!

"What about the Army? I remember that the French had arrogantly announced that they were going to expand by 500,000, but now where are they going? And what was the reaction of the Allies? Ferdinand asked with concern

Obviously, needless to say, the situation of the Russians is needless to say, Ferdinand has just returned from St. Petersburg, and the woolly bear is already preparing to expand the army by 450,000, and with their standing army of more than one million, this number is already staggering.

Metyev thought for a moment and said: "The French government has submitted to Congress an amendment to the military service law, raising the compulsory military service system from two to three years.

And the age of soldiers will be relaxed from the current 21~45 years old to 20~48 years old.

The atmosphere of civil war in France is now very strong, and judging by the current situation, it is only a matter of time before it is passed by the National Assembly. It is estimated that after the revision of the military service law is completed, the expansion of the French army will begin.

The Germans are now announcing a 500,000-strong military expansion, but they have a well-established reserve mechanism that can be completed whenever needed.

The Austro-Hungarian expansion had already begun, but the Viennese government was still worried about the composition of the 300,000 troops, the Hungarians were unwilling to allocate additional funds, and the two sides were still arguing.

By the way, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also planned to build two new dreadnoughts, and the Hungarians asked for one of them to be named after Budapest, and the Vienna government agreed, but the Hungarian government had to bear 70% of the construction cost of this warship, and this time the Hungarian government readily agreed.

The Italians have also been very active in this military expansion, according to their announced plan, they will not only expand the army by 300,000, but also the navy by 30,000, and plan to build three new dreadnoughts in the next five years. ”

Ferdinand was slightly stunned, the French behaved normally, it was obvious that they had reached an agreement with the British, and the two sides had a division of labor, the British were in charge of the navy, and the French were in charge of the army.

As for their amendments to the military service bill, Ferdinand was not surprised. Whether they extend the length of service, or relax the enlistment age for soldiers, it is not surprising in this day and age.

In fact, Bulgaria's military service law is the real statement, but it was enacted during the Stamm cabinet, which was mainly created to deal with the Ottoman Empire and seize Macedonia. Later, considering the factors of the world war, Ferdinand never revised it.

It is also compulsory military service, except that there is no limit to the length of service of Bulgarians! You didn't understand it wrong, it's lifelong, as long as the country needs you to serve, then you have to serve until you are 65 years old!

The age of service is from 16 years old ~ 65 years old, which is why this country with a population of only more than 4.3 million people in history was able to mobilize 1.26 million troops to participate in the war in World War I!

According to this military service law, theoretically Ferdinand can still mobilize six or seven hundred troops, but of course in practice there is no such operation!

Under this extreme mobilization, Bulgaria is estimated to collapse on its own in two or three years, and Ferdinand, the most beloved king, may also worry about his throne at that time!

The performance of the Germans shocked Ferdinand a little, and when he was competing with the British in the navy, he was also competing with the French in the army, and he couldn't be convinced!

The performance of Austria-Hungary is quite normal, how can a great power not have its own dreadnoughts? At the same time, in the face of the military threat of Bulgaria and the Russians, they will have a problem if they do not expand their army!

It's just that the performance of the Italians is so bad that Ferdinand doesn't know what to say! In the face of the threat of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Montenegro, and Romania, it is normal for a land power country like Bulgaria to expand its army by 300,000.

Well, you Italy also has a military threat from the French, and an expansion of the army by 100,200,000 is enough, and you have to come with 300,000!

At the same time, the naval competition between Britain and Germany, you also joined in with a big grin, build one less dreadnought, or announce it at another time? The political implication is already very obvious!

The key is, do you Italians have the strength? You can't be the first wave of you to participate in it, and then start watching the show, right?

Ferdinand smiled wryly and said, "So, we're also being dragged into the water?" ”

Metev thought for a moment and said, "Yes, Your Majesty! The Italians have also expanded their army and navy, and we must also be on guard, otherwise they may attack Albania from the sea and attack us with Austria-Hungary! ”

Ferdinand thought for a moment and said, "Well, tomorrow I will convene a meeting of the cabinet and the military, and then decide on what to do!" ”

Obviously, history has changed beyond recognition, and due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, governments have tightened their control over the people, and now basically everyone's ruling power has strengthened to a certain extent.

Correspondingly, under the threat of war, the potential for everyone to explode is stronger.

And what I just said is just the preparations for war of several major powers, Ferdinand does not believe that the kingdoms of Romania and Montenegro next door will not react!

Well, this time he really thought wrong, such a thing as expanding the standing army is really not suitable for small countries to play, especially small countries that are about to collapse financially!

Due to the war, the Kingdom of Montenegro has to pay Bulgaria's war reparations, as well as the expenses in the war, and the Kingdom of Montenegro, which was already very poor, is now even poorer!

Romania was no better, as the Bulgarian army invaded their elite areas, and all the cities of the lower Danube plain were sacked except Bucharest, leaving millions of war refugees to give Carol I a headache.

As a result of joining the camp of the Central Powers, the smell of gunpowder on the European continent became stronger and stronger, and it was difficult for them to even borrow loans, and the capitalists also had to consider risks.

In the event of a war between the two alliances, the small countries were always the first to be sacrificed, and their ability to repay was feared, and apart from some loans from Germany, Austria and Italy, the financial channels of the other countries were cut off.

Even the French, who were very keen on lending, did not dare to lend to them this time. The main reason is that in the second Balkan War before, Ferdinand found out that the French had actually provided loans to the anti-Bulgarian alliance, which of course could not be tolerated!

Protesting to the French government, Ferdinand was not so stupid? He directly provided the news of these financial institutions to the radical pro-militant media, adding fuel to the fire.

Then the French people were furious, someone dared to give loans to the Central Powers, then they had to pay it back, isn't this the enemy?

Even if the capitalists are rich and powerful, when this kind of nationalism is bursting, it is enough for them, and one after another they have launched scapegoats to survive!

Not to mention now, due to the Ferdinand butterfly effect, the actions of the French capitalists have been much more restrained at this time, at least the big money to the Allies in history is no longer obvious!

Oh, their exit cheapened the Jewish bankers, these people don't have a sense of statehood, anyway, they are all scolded every day for getting used to it, and they don't make money bastards!

Of course, such inferior customers as Romania and the Kingdom of Montenegro will be counted. The loans they had given to the Greeks had been repudiated, and there was no one to stand up for them in those years!