"Not bad! It seems that Ferdinand was still so shrewd and always knew how to get the best out of himself! How is the Navy preparing? Once the war starts, we can't intervene! Nicholas II laughed and said

The Minister of the Navy confidently said: "In order to ensure victory in this war, the Black Sea Fleet will go all out, and when the time comes, our main fleet will attack the Ottoman Empire in the name of the Bulgarian Navy!"

Once Bulgaria takes Istanbul, then the Bosphorus is in our pocket! ”

At this point, the Minister of the Navy really didn't brag! It's not how awesome the Black Sea Fleet of the Russians is, it's that the Ottoman Navy is rotten to the house!

The Ottoman Navy was also once wide, and at one time ranked fifth in the world in the ranking of navies, and the tonnage of armored ships exceeded that of the Italians, who were in sixth place, by 20%.

In 1878, the Ottoman Empire had 16 ironclad ships; At that time, the British Imperial Navy, the largest navy in the world, only had 40 ironclad ships; In terms of the number of armored ships, it even surpassed the world's second naval power - France!

Not only is there a lot of them, but the quality is not bad, there are several ironclad ships of eight or nine thousand tons! Even the German Navy, whose first 9,000-ton ironclad ship was bought from Britain after the Ottoman Empire canceled the order!

It has 5 gunboats, 10 central gun gallery ships, 1 surface rotary ship, 4 cruisers, and 20 patrol ships, with a total tonnage of 90,725 tons, second only to Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, ranking fifth in the world!

It may seem awesome, but in essence there is nothing remarkable, this is a "poor man's navy"!

The Ottoman Navy had such a large family base, and at a time when its national strength and technology were not at the same latitude as the great powers, it created such a fleet, which was completely the Sultan of 1860-1871 who produced a strange naval fanatic - Abdul Aziz!

But the Ottoman Empire was poor! The Sudanese government, which has no money, Abdul Aziz did a stupid thing - raise taxes!

Mainly the ruling Christian regions, such as Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, etc., which were still under the Ottoman Empire at the time. One day or two days is fine, but this tax is levied for ten years, and the Christians everywhere really can't survive anymore and start to revolt one after another.

The nobles and princes of the Ottoman Empire saw that this was not good, our navy was still building and the country was going to be divided, so it couldn't go on like this, and everyone together directly launched a coup d'état to abolish His Royal Highness Aziz.

Now the Ottoman navy has become a motherless child, and the huge ironclad fleet has become a large toy, even so it is enough to dominate one side!

It's a pity that the rotten Ottoman Empire is not willing to pay even the cost of maintaining this fleet, and the government has stopped the normal appropriation of the navy, and the fleet is anchored in the port all day, all month, all year round with nothing to do!

The officers and men of the Navy do not live on the ship, they all have their own lives. Many officers and men get lost when they arrive at the port, and often cannot find their ship, because they rarely get on board!

Some officers don't even know how many people are on their ship, and they can't tell the parameters of the weapons on the warship, these are the current situation of the Ottoman Navy!

As for combat effectiveness, what the hell is that? Didn't you see the provocation of the Greek Navy, and the Ottoman Navy didn't attack? You must know that both countries have declared war!

If you want to defend against the Bulgarian Navy, such a reason to hold back can only fool the group of military novices of the Sudanese government!

Anyone with a little military knowledge knows that the Bosphorus Strait is 30 kilometers long, with the narrowest point being just over 700 meters and the widest point being only 3.7 kilometers.

The shore artillery deployed on both sides of the strait is not a salute, so how can the Bulgarian Navy go to the Sea of Marmara to do something?

Of course, the shore artillery deployed by the Ottoman Empire on both sides of the strait may really be a salute! After all, nothing is impossible in this magical country!

……

Ferdinand's butterfly effect, now that the situation in the Balkans has entered an inflection point in history, no one can predict where the future will go!

But the Greeks still did not get rid of the fate of history, and the Greek army led by Prince Constantine was still defeated by Edhepasha, and the main force of tens of thousands of Greek troops was destroyed!

In the early morning of April 29, 1897, after a day of hard fighting, the Ottoman army finally tore a hole in the defense area of Major General Andrew of the 18th Division!

The problem is with this group of reinforcements, due to the lack of troops, Major General Andrew had to replenish this rabble to the troops.

The brutal offensive and defensive battles have long exhausted the Greek army, and they are already captured strong men, so don't expect them to have any sense of belonging to Greece!

In the early hours of the morning, a battalion of the 10th Ottoman Division, followed by night cover, launched a surprise attack! After the night attack, the recruits who had just been replenished ran away in a panic, and this run caused a chain reaction, and many Greek soldiers also ran away in a daze!

By the time the Greek officers reacted, it was too late, the defensive line had been torn open, and the main force of the 10th Ottoman Army Division had already rushed in and fought with the Greek army in the night!

Edkhpasha, who received the news, did not hesitate and immediately ordered the whole army to attack! More than 100,000 people from the Greek and Turkish armies launched the most brutal fight in the vast night!

All the formations are disrupted, whether it is Prince Constantine or Edkhpasha, they can no longer command the troops, and can only watch the two sides engage in a melee!

As time passed, with the superiority in numbers, the Ottomans gradually gained the upper hand, and the end was already doomed, and the Greek army was defeated in such a daze!

Even if Prince Constantine has formed a wounded division again, he is powerless at this moment!

After daybreak, Edkhpasha counted the results of the battle and found that the commander of the Greek army, Prince Constantine, had been taken prisoner!

In this battle, the Ottoman army paid 34,800 casualties, annihilated more than 57,000 Greek troops, and achieved the first great victory since the Turkish army started the war - the victory of Trikala City!

Needless to say, in this war, Greece is already the first to be out!

Victorious Edkhpasha immediately cut off the Greek army in the Epirus region from the rest of the country! The more than 100,000 Greek troops led by Duke Cyril have now been wrapped in dumplings! In the absence of a supply of weapons and ammunition, defeat is a matter of time!

At this moment, the Greek government is completely blind, and the worst has happened! The reinforcements who were originally going to reinforce Prince Constantine don't need to go now, and they just return the same way and prepare for the local defensive battle!