Ferdinand's worst fears did not happen. The dreadnoughts that the Italians were supposed to serve at the beginning of 1914 were skipped, and of course the battleship Dante Aligli, which they planned to serve in 1913, had long been completed.

The main parameters of the Dante-Aligories:

Displacement: 19552 tons

Length: 168.1m

Width: 26.6 meters

Draft: 8.8m (average)

Main engine: Parsons-type direct drive steam turbine 3 groups/4 shafts

Main boilers: 7 Bretchinton oil-fired water-tube boilers and 16 mixed water-fired boilers

Power: 32300 hp

Speed: 23 knots

Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament: 4 305 mm 46 x diameter triple guns (one in the front and one in the back, two in the amidships), 4 120 mm 50 x diameter single guns, 12 with single guns, 13 76 mm 40 x diameter single guns, 4 450 mm underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: broadside 254 mm, deck 38 mm, gun mount unknown, turret 254 mm in front, conning tower 305 mm

Crew: 981

Notes: This class of ships is the first warship in the history of shipbuilding to use triple turrets, and the main gun range of this gun is 18,000 meters.

In addition, the ship set a speed record of 24.2 knots during sea trials, which was the fastest battleship in the world at that time.

Now the postponement is the Julio Caesar, which was supposed to be commissioned in February, but now it is May and it is still not completed, but it is estimated that it is now almost completed.

Since the shipbuilding industry of the Italians was dragging its feet, Ferdinand guessed that the Allies would attack the French Mediterranean fleet naturally did not happen.

Of course, the most important thing is that the two dreadnoughts ordered by the Ottoman Empire from the Germans were stopped by the British on the way home, and with the strength of the current Italian navy, it would be mostly meat buns and dogs, and the shrewd Italians would naturally not do it.

The British's blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar directly triggered the "warship crisis", and once again there was tension between the Entente and the Allies, and war was on the verge of breaking out!

Well, Ferdinand thought that the two sides would fight directly, and Bulgaria carried out a national mobilization, as a result of which the Germans directly retracted!

It's right to think about it, everyone knows that a war in Europe can break out at any time, but if war breaks out to the Germans now, these two dreadnoughts will be finished first, which is very disadvantageous to the Germans militarily!

Besides, the warships launched by the Germans last year have not yet had time to enter service? As long as it takes a few more months, the German Navy can add four more dreadnoughts, and with the addition of the two dreadnoughts here, it will further narrow the gap with the British!

As for the Entente, everyone is not ready? If war breaks out now, the French will be miserable, and be ready to stand up to the Germans alone for a month or two!

Obviously, this is not the result that everyone wants, although the British want to weaken France, but the premise is to defeat the Germans first! Otherwise, if the French were crippled by the Germans in advance, how would this war be fought later?

……

The main reason for intercepting these two warships was that the British did not want the Ottomans to return home, breaking the current naval superiority of the Entente in the Mediterranean Sea and affecting the sea dominance in the Mediterranean, so they blocked the Strait of Gibraltar and banned the passage of warships, which did not mean that the British were ready for war.

And the Germans are now short of warships, no matter how they break out, the gap with the British is still so huge, the German Navy has always had the idea of requisitioning these two dreadnoughts, but because of the alliance, it was stopped by the German government.

The British now did what they wanted, and the Germans naturally took over the two dreadnoughts. Although the two dreadnoughts could not change the situation in which the German Navy was still at a disadvantage, they finally narrowed the gap between the two sides!

Of course, protests are indispensable, so why should you give an explanation to the Ottomans?

Yingde's approach made the people who eat melons stunned, and there is this kind of operation!

In order to appease the Ottoman Empire, the Germans said that since the British blocked the way, this warship would definitely not be able to be delivered, so it would be better to rebuild it in Italy and Austria-Hungary respectively, and upgrade the configuration at the same price, and send two more cruisers!

The problems of Italy and Austria-Hungary were naturally solved by the Germans, and the Ottomans only had to wait another two years to get the dreadnoughts, and the Ottoman government had no choice but to accept the Germans' arguments.

……

Many people were disappointed that the two alliances did not fight, such as the Americans on the other side of the ocean and the Japanese in the Far East, who were all looking forward to the stars and the moon and looking forward to a major war on the European continent!

Ferdinand knew that at this point, the two sides were only a little bit short of Mars, and he originally thought that the return of the Ottoman navy would become the fuse for both sides, but he did not expect that Britain and Germany had their own ghosts, and this matter was over.

……

No matter how the international situation develops, what Ferdinand has to do now is to prepare for war, reserve enough strategic materials in advance, and recruit enough cannon fodder are the top priorities of the Bulgarian government now!

After the outbreak of the warship crisis, Ferdinand convened a cabinet meeting to speed up Bulgaria's preparations for war.

"Prime Minister, from now on, increase grain reserves, and let the media release the rumors, saying that Ukraine and Romania will fail to harvest grain in the next two years, and international food prices are about to rise, and it is recommended that the people stock up on food in advance! If necessary, the government can also intervene to allow the people to stock up on as much food as possible. ”

Ferdinand had worked hard to build credibility in the media, and now it was time for them to put to work. If Bulgaria has a poor domestic grain harvest, this estimate can't deceive people, but if you say abroad, it's different, there is no Internet in this era, and it is almost impossible for ordinary people to check the news!

Even if someone swears that this news is fake, it will have no effect! Everyone knows that as long as a newspaper publishes fake news in Bulgaria, in addition to the seizure of the newspaper office, the relevant personnel will be imprisoned!

In the eyes of ordinary people, it is impossible for all the Bulgarian newspapers to collectively publish this fake news together, right?

Besides, Ferdinand is not a rumor, as long as the war breaks out, the grain harvest is inevitable, and the most important thing now is to seize the last time and scavenge another batch of grain!

Although the General Staff swore that the Wallachian plain of Romania would be taken at the beginning of the war, the domestic food supply would be fully guaranteed.

However, Ferdinand didn't dare to fully believe that taking the Wallachian plain was not a big problem, it was originally a flat river, and it bordered Bulgaria, and Romania couldn't defend it if it wanted to!

As for whether or not Bulgaria's domestic food supply can be guaranteed, it is difficult to say, the military can at most guarantee that the localities will be knocked down, and the matter of resuming production will have nothing to do with them.

Theoretically, the capture of the Wallachian Plain would increase Bulgaria's total grain production by a third of its current size, enough to meet domestic demand, and it would be much richer.

In fact, as long as the local Romanians do not cooperate, it will not be possible to restore food production without two or three years of effort!

"Yes!" Chekov replied

The Information Agency and the Ministry of Science and Technology are also under Chekov's responsibility, otherwise the title of Minister of Education alone would not be enough for him to become the number two person in the Bulgarian Cabinet!

"Prime Minister, how many young men have we brought in from Russia so far?" Ferdinand asked again

Konstantin thought for a moment and said: "Originally, there were more than 800,000 Russian laborers in the country, and since last year, we have increased our efforts to bring in them, and now there are about 700,000 Russian youths who have arrived in Bulgaria, and about 200,000 young men who have been organized in Russia, and if the war breaks out at the end of the year, then we can bring in about 780,000 or 800,000!" ”

Ferdinand calculated, even if the war broke out immediately, Bulgaria would have added 1.45 million cannon fodder, and it would be better if it could be delayed until the end of the year, 2.23 million cannon fodder was basically enough for the consumption of the world war, of course, if there could be more, the result would be even more perfect!

"Continue to work hard, we can't relax our work in this area, once the war breaks out, the Russians will definitely recruit soldiers on a large scale, and it will not be easy to pull people when the time comes!" Ferdinand said lightly

"Yes, Your Majesty! Let's get up to speed! Konstantin replied in the affirmative

In order to make the war preparations go smoothly, Ferdinand has always stayed in Sofia to command, and he did not even personally participate in the service of the two super dreadnoughts that had just been built.

The two dreadnoughts were named Constantinople and Balkan respectively.

The political implications of this are very strong, and the Castle of Constantinople is Ferdinand's achievement in recovering the holy city of Constantinople; In addition, the last ship of Constantinople sank in the Second Balkan War, and the people strongly demanded to rebuild, so Ferdinand naturally had to follow the public opinion!

In the literal sense of the word, everyone knows that this is Ferdinand's sworn sovereignty over the Balkans; The deeper purpose is to tell the Entente that this is our previous agreement, and everyone must abide by it!

The specifications of both warships are the same, and the parameters are as follows:

Displacement: 26500 tons

Length: 189.7m

Width: 27 meters

Draft: 8.3m

Main engine: Parsons direct drive steam turbine 2 groups/4 shafts

Main boilers: 22 B& type (Hercules is Yarrow type) mixed water boilers

Power: 34000 hp

Speed: 22.5 knots

Endurance: 4000 nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament: 7 305 mm 45 x diameter twin guns (two in the front and three in the rear, one on each side), 20 150 mm 50 x diameter single guns, 4 47 mm single guns, 4 450 mm underwater torpedo tubes

Armor: broadside 270 mm, deck 70 mm, gun mount 270 mm, turret forward 320 mm, command tower 310 mm

Crew: 1046~1126