The strange theory of the Ottomans has nothing to do with Ferdinand, and the battle has been going on so far, and it is basically possible to announce the first step of the strategy, which has been realized!

The Greeks were now in a very unsightly situation, with the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades, and the Kunupia Islands in their hands, and the most important island, Crete.

"The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty!" It is a true portrayal of Greece now, in the Mediterranean, where the Greeks occupied the island of Cofu and threatened Epirus; In the Aegean Sea, they occupied a series of archipelagos, hindering Bulgaria's strategy of controlling the Aegean Sea.

The Greek question was very difficult for Ferdinand, and George I had been pretending to be his grandson since the Balkan Wars, and took the initiative to ease diplomatic relations with Bulgaria.

Even the idea of hatred of Bulgaria in Greece was led by them to the Ottoman Empire, and no one believed it?

Take out the prestige of the great powers and go straight to it?

This is not Ferdinand's style, he has always opposed wars of aggression!

No matter what the essence is, but on the surface it must be convincing, otherwise the hatred will grow!

Just like the war between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire, it is still a war between the Bulgarians and the Turkish aristocracy, and all other ethnic groups in the Ottoman country, including ordinary Turkish people, have an indifferent attitude, and this war has nothing to do with them!

Everyone still has to do what to do, rebellion for rebellion, independence for independence, but there is no room for easing the domestic contradictions in the Ottoman Empire.

At least the Turkish Al-Shabaab believes that this is a war that the Sudanese government has taken the initiative to provoke in order to divert internal contradictions!

If it had not been for the "Kavala shelling incident", perhaps it would have become a war between Bulgaria and the peoples of the Ottoman Empire, and this war would not have been easy to fight.

Greece is indeed weak enough, with a population of just over 2.5 million, including more than 600,000 in concentration camps, and no more than 1.8 million real Greeks.

This is the sequelae of the Greco-Turkish War, which was plagued by the Ottoman army in the country for more than half a year, and then was cultivated by the displaced people, and the population dropped directly from 2.2 million at the peak to more than 1.7 million.

Militarily, two Bulgarian infantry divisions were enough to sweep through Greece. This is not bragging, after the Greek government went bankrupt, it was taken over by various countries, and military spending was immediately suppressed to a record low, maintaining order is acceptable, not to mention combat effectiveness!

To attack Greece, we have to consider international influence, at least the debt they owe to the foreign powers, which is a hurdle that cannot be crossed.

In 1897, the total debt of the Greek government was about 1.08 billion leva (about 43.2 million pounds), in 1898 this figure increased to 1.65 billion leva (about 66 million pounds), and now this figure has increased to 2.06 billion leva (about 82.4 million pounds).

There's no way, I can't even pay off the interest, the interest is so perverted, if there is no accident, the Greek government will probably never be able to pay off this foreign debt!

Unless the Greeks took the initiative to go to war, or Bulgaria was willing to take over this foreign debt, it was better not to touch it.

"What do you think about Greece?" At the diplomatic advisory meeting, Ferdinand asked

The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed: "Your Majesty, we can approach the Greek government and buy the islands, anyway now the Greeks ......"

Ferdinand interrupted the Chancellor of the Exchequer and said, "No! It is precisely because the finances of the Greek government have now been taken over by the great powers that they will not sell.

Even if all the islands were sold, and the money would not all go into the pockets of the great powers, what good would it do to the politicians of the Greek government? ”

That's right, now the Greek government is so poor that it can't stand people breaking jars? Could it be that Bulgaria can pay a sky-high price to solve the debt crisis for them?

After thinking about it, Prime Minister Konstantin said domineeringly: "Your Majesty, the easiest way is to occupy it directly, resulting in an established fact, and the great powers can only admit it, and the Greeks will not dare to declare war on us anyway!" ”

Ferdinand shook his head and said, "No, it will damage our international image!"

If the sovereignty of Crete belonged to the Ottoman Empire, we would have already started a war with the Ottoman Empire, and it would be reasonable to occupy it directly.

But the sovereignty of the Northern Sporades and the Cyclades is Greek, and it is not good for us to do it directly!

Unless the Greek government collectively enters the water and takes the initiative to declare war on us, then we will not be able to say anything even if we occupy the Athenian powers! ”

……

While Ferdinand was struggling with the Greek problem, the situation at the front changed again, and the Bulgarian army had advanced to Rhodes.

This kind of rapid operation not only shocked the military, but even Ferdinand was frightened, thinking that the Ottomans were brewing some kind of conspiracy.

At the beginning, there was resistance from the Ottoman army in the landing battle, not to mention resistance in the later period, many islands could not even be found by the Ottoman army, and they directly lost one island after another to the Bulgarian army!

For all this, the Ottoman government was actually calm, and it seemed that these things could not move them.

But these things have angered one person - Ahmad Pasha, who is still looking for a flaw in the Second Fleet of the Bulgarian Navy, and reality tells him that he will either fight a decisive battle immediately, or sit on the ground and wait for death!

On April 18, 1909, with a clear sea and clear sky, Ahmed Pasha hastily made a war mobilization and took the reluctant Ottoman naval officers and sailed to sea. The scene is also quite a bit of a feeling of wind and cold!

Now it's ready to shoot and has to be sent! Once this opportunity is missed, when the two Bulgarian fleets converge, they will not even have the strength to fight!

That's right, Ahmed Pasha didn't think about winning at all, he just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Bulgarian Navy to divide his forces and fight a naval battle that he could take advantage of, and he could explain it to his countrymen.

If not, then scatter the blood! For the sake of his family, he also had to fight to the death! After all, the dead will not be liquidated, no matter whether they win or lose, they will never be blamed if they die on the battlefield!

……

At this time, the Second Fleet was still on routine patrols, not yet knowing that a big war was about to begin.

The battle cruiser USS Constantanburg, which was outside the port of Calabrun, suddenly spotted the flotilla approaching ahead and exclaimed: "The enemy's navy is out!" ”

Receiving this news, the captain of the ship, Nicholas Ivanrich, immediately ordered: "Report to the fleet, the main forces of the Ottoman navy are out, we will do our best to hold them down and let them come over immediately for reinforcements!" ”

The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, but the Constantinople does not choose to flee, but prepares to meet it.

Don't look at this as just an armored cruiser, but both in firepower and in armor, it is an ironclad ship that far surpasses the Ottomans.

"All ready to fight!" Nicholas Ivan Ritch ordered

He knew that it would take at least two hours to wait for the main force to come for reinforcements, and even the closest battleship to him, the Harmony, would take an hour later, and before that, the Constantinople would have to face the enemy alone!

Rush up to the battle, that's impossible! This is an armored cruiser, not a dreadnought, even if it far surpasses the enemy in performance, but the tiger can't stand the wolves!

To put it simply, their main purpose is to keep an eye on the enemy. If the Ottoman navy wanted to run, he would follow and fight; If the Ottoman navy attacked them directly, of course, they would have to run away!

Well, Nicholas Ivan Richie had to be glad that the Ottoman navy was rubbish enough, otherwise he might really have to get a boxed lunch.

The two sides were still six or seven nautical miles away from the university, and they began to shoot at each other. Originally, one against twelve would be a death sentence, but at a distance of six or seven nautical miles (1 nautical mile = 1.852 km), it doesn't matter, it has already exceeded the effective range of most artillery!

However, this is originally a worse era, both sides are rookies, and regardless of whether they have entered the effective range or not, they will be stupid to start fighting when they see the enemy!

However, this is in line with Nicholas Ivanrich's purpose of delaying time, anyway, as soon as the artillery is fired, the speed of the warship will be reduced, and if it can be hit at such a distance, then he has nothing to say!

War is the best teacher, crackling for more than half an hour, neither side has any results.

By this time, the distance between the two sides had narrowed to three or four nautical miles, and Nicholas Ivanridge continued to insist, but the sweat on his face was already starting to flow.

The enemy was constantly approaching, and just now, a cannon fell into the sea with a thud from ten meters away from the warship, and there was a wave of splashing.

"Withdraw!" Saying this word, Nicholas Ivan Ritchie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief

At this time, the distance between the two sides is already very close, and if you don't go, you don't have to go, the Constantinople has already suffered two shells, and one cannonball hit the ship's string, fortunately, the Ottoman artillery is not very good, otherwise the Constantinople will not die and will shed a layer of skin!

However, when the Constantinople retreated, the Ottoman navy chasing after it had only eleven warships, and the other, for some reason, had already withdrawn from the war and seemed to be slowly sinking!

Nicholas Ivan Ritchie is a little blindsided, when did he cause the results? But now is the time to run away, not to dwell on this issue.

The Constantinople was running fast in front, and the Ottoman navy was chasing closely behind, and even though Ahmet Pasha had given the order to move forward at full speed, the distance between the two sides was getting farther and farther!

Time passed minute by minute, and soon the distance between the two sides widened again more than ten nautical miles, and Nicholas Ivanrich ordered: "Stop, just wait here for the Ottomans to come!" ”

At this time, the battleship Harmony had also entered the battlefield, and the Ottomans still knew nothing!