There are no idiots in successful politicians, and Carol I is no exception, he will admit it when it is time to admit it, and he will call the boss directly when he sees that he can't do anything!

Face or something, in the eyes of politicians, is not worth mentioning compared to interests, especially when it comes to themselves!

Now that he is going to admit it, of course, Carol I does not plan to continue to fight with the Bulgarians, and if he does not have this army in his hands, how can he keep his throne?

He, a good king in the eyes of the bourgeoisie, did not have a very good reputation among the people, and Carol I did not think that a group of mud-legged people would care about any international influence!

Decisively began to shrink the defensive line, and within a few days, the main force of the Romanian army retreated to the capital Bucharest and fought a battle to defend the capital.

Bucharest is located in the middle of the Wallachian Plain in southeastern Romania, on the banks of the Dembovica River, a tributary of the Danube, and is the largest city in Romania.

Carol I fought a defensive battle for the capital regardless of it, and it was Ferdinand's turn to be dumbfounded, whether to attack or not?

In the event of an attack, the Bulgarian army will inevitably suffer heavy losses, and the most critical thing is that in a short time, the Bulgarian army may be difficult to capture Bucharest; If you don't attack, then the largest city of Romania will be saved!

What cannot be obtained by force can be obtained at the negotiating table, and this does not apply to the current Balkan countries!

War Minister Popov proposed: "Your Majesty, now that we have besieged Bucharest, we will be able to conquer the city in a month, and the Wallachian plain will be in our pocket!" ”

The Wallachian Plain, also known as the "Lower Danube Plain", is located in southern Romania. It stretches from the Carpathian piedmont to the north to the Danube River in the south, with a width of about 120 kilometers from north to south and a length of 400 kilometers from east to west. The climate is mild and the land is fertile.

Ferdinand knew that many people in the military were coveted here, and according to Bulgarian custom, as long as the Wallachian Plain was obtained, a group of military nobles must be divided into border areas, and many people were eyeing this place!

As for whether Bucharest can be conquered within a month, it is difficult to say, if the Romanians resist desperately, maybe it will drag on for three or five months!

This is Ferdinand's inference based on the grain stocks in Bucharest, after all, this is the Balkans, and Ferdinand does not dare to underestimate the tenacity of any people!

Ferdinand thought for a moment and said, "Forget it! Since the Romanians are going to defend Bucharest, then it is good for them!

Order the troops to take the opportunity to take Craiova, Slatina, Slobozia and other places, turn Bucharest into an isolated city, and then negotiate with the Romanians! ”

In the end, Ferdinand decided to put the Romanian problem aside, after all, the current international situation is already very serious, and in the case that the First World War may break out soon, it is still the most important thing to preserve strength!

As for Romania, it has already boarded the ships of the Central Powers, and it still wants to get down? Even if they wanted to be neutral, Ferdinand would drag them into the war at the first opportunity!

In the face of the attack of the two countries, even Austria-Hungary could not stand it, let alone Romania!

Thinking about Ferdinand, I feel very sorry, this time is equivalent to sparing the two enemies of Romania and the Ottoman Empire at the same time, as for the Kingdom of Montenegro, this little bit is really not taken by Ferdinand!

As soon as the war is over, the group of middle and second teenagers in the Kingdom of Montenegro will find out that they have been fooled, the Allies are not so easy to mix, and the contradictions between them and Austria-Hungary will not be eliminated in a while!

……

Having just dealt with the Romanian issue, Foreign Minister Metyev brought another message: "Your Majesty, the Italians want us to fulfill our agreement and hand over Tripoli to them!" ”

Ferdinand nodded and said: "Got it, tell the Italians that Tripoli can be handed over to them, but in the later negotiations, they have to lean towards us, at least to remain neutral!"

Now it's time for the Italians to send someone to take over the politics of Tripoli, but the Bulgarian army won't start to withdraw until the negotiations are complete! ”

For the Italians' temperament, Ferdinand couldn't believe it at all, if there were no chips in his hands, who knew what would happen later!

As for whether the Italians will do anything to other parts of Libya, Ferdinand said: In addition to Tripoli, there are several oases in Libya along the coast this year, and the rest is sand, unless the Italians are crazy to start a war with Bulgaria for a pile of sand!

Oh, the area of these oases is not small, there are tens of thousands of square kilometers in total, but it seems that there is nothing else to do except farming!

The oil thing, now there is not even a shadow? Otherwise, it would not have been Bulgaria and Italy, which would have been divided between Britain and France long ago!

……

Time passed in a hurry, half a month passed, and the time for negotiations agreed between Ferdinand and the countries had arrived. The venue for the negotiations was Constantinople, which was also deliberately arranged by Ferdinand.

As for what it means, it can only be understood!

On August 28, 1909, the negotiations took place in Constantinople as scheduled, and all delegations were seated.

Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, and Bulgaria are the protagonists of this negotiation, and as for Greece, Montenegro, Romania, and the Ottoman Empire, in fact, their voice is already very low.

At the beginning of the negotiations, consultations were held between Bulgaria and the six major powers, and only after the attitude of each country was clear was it the turn of the four defeated countries of the anti-Bulgarian alliance to express their opinions.

As the victorious power, as soon as the negotiations began, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Metev set conditions:

1. The four countries admitted defeat, apologized to Bulgaria, and paid 110 million pounds in war reparations;

Among them: the Ottoman Empire paid 96 million pounds, Romania paid 6 million pounds, the Kingdom of Montenegro paid 4.5 million pounds, and Greece paid 3.5 million pounds;

2. Cession by the Ottoman Empire: Tripoli and Cyrenaica (i.e., the Libyan region), Zonguldak - Eskişehir - Afyon - Adalia (almost a third of the Asia Minor peninsula, which directly turned the Sea of Marmara into an inland lake), and the islands of the Aegean Sea to Bulgaria;

3. Greece ceded all the islands to Bulgaria, including the Peloponnese, and Bulgaria gained suzerainty over the Kingdom of Greece;

4. The Kingdom of Montenegro ceded the regions of Tropobia and Ivan Grad to Bulgaria;

5. Romania ceded the Wallachian Plain to Bulgaria;

……

Well, looking at the conditions put forward by Bulgaria, everyone found that none of the previous five articles could be borne by the anti-Bulgarian alliance!

Oh no! The representatives of Romania, the Kingdom of Montenegro, and Greece said that if the land is not ceded, the war reparations can be accepted, and the specific amount needs to be further discussed!

However, the Ottoman delegation directly chose to ignore it, and before the war, Bulgaria put forward a huge indemnity demand of 80 million pounds, and now even if you talk about it, it will not be less!

In this case, they can't afford 8,000 pounds anyway, and they still can't afford to pay more, and they can agree to the issue of land cession, except for the peninsula of Asia Minor!

There is no doubt that Bulgaria could not have promised these things! Millions of people have been mobilized before and after, and a war has been fought, how can this little benefit be fed?

Of course, if the land cannot be ceded, the Anti-Conservative League is willing to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in war reparations at one time, and Ferdinand can also agree!

But this is completely impossible, if they have so much money, it is estimated that this war is still going on, even if it is to recruit mercenaries, it is enough to entangle with Bulgaria for several years!

This can be referred to the Boer Republic, where they threw out hundreds of tons of gold and were entangled with the British on the battlefield in South Africa for several years!

The sky-high asking price, the landing to pay back!

Everyone knows this, and it is impossible to negotiate successfully in the first time anyway!

As a result of the first round of negotiations, it became clear that Greece, Romania, and Montenegro all attached great importance to their territory and were still pinning their hopes on the allies to put pressure on Bulgaria!

The Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, is experienced, and in modern times, they have all ceded land and paid reparations, as long as it is not a core territory, they can negotiate!

The main thing is that they can face the reality and know that after the end of the navy, Libya, the Aegean islands, these meat that has already entered the mouth of Bulgaria, it is impossible to spit it out again.

But in such a core territory as the Asia Minor Peninsula, they do not want to back down an inch!

The newly ruling Al-Shabaab is not stupid, it is troublesome enough to be neighbors with Bulgaria, the newly rising powers, and if Bulgaria gains a foothold in Asia Minor, then it may not be many years before they move their capital again!

Ferdinand combined the intelligence fed back by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and analyzed one side, and found that probably the easiest thing to negotiate should be the Kingdom of Montenegro!

No way, who called the Kingdom of Montenegro has nothing to look at worthy of Ferdinand's peeping? The land is all mountainous, and it doesn't have much strategic value!