Since ancient times, politics has been dirty, don't look at the Entente and the Allies fighting each other on the battlefield, but in private, everyone's mutual contact has never been broken, and there are even some insider deals continuing.

Between countries, allies and enemies are always only between the first line, as long as the interests are big enough, allies can also become enemies, and enemies can also become allies!

The most typical is the Anglo-French feud and the sworn enemies of Britain and Russia, who have become allies under the influence of interests, while Britain and Germany have been negotiating for the issue of alliance, and suddenly they have become enemies.

Even a year before the official alliance, anyone who said that Britain and France, Britain and Russia could form an alliance would take it as a joke!

Ferdinand's paddling when attacking Austria-Hungary was not something that Bulgaria could decide unilaterally, in fact, Austria-Hungary was also actively cooperating!

The most typical thing is that after the initial loss, the Austro-Hungarian Empire changed its strategy and decisively let go of Bulgaria and chose to PK with Russia, which of course has the factor that Bulgaria is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is indispensable that the woolly bear is attacking, and the factor that their eastern front is too stressful, and more is that the two countries have reached a tacit understanding!

As for the purpose of the behind-the-scenes deal, it is actually very obvious: 1. The Russians are too much of a threat to Austria-Hungary, even if Austria-Hungary does not fight woolly bears, people will not let them go;

2. A strong Russia is not in the interests of Bulgaria, especially after the Russo-Japanese War, after Bulgaria has been out of the control of the Russians, Ferdinand naturally does not want the strong Russia to come back again!

Then, in terms of weakening the position of Mao Xiong, the interests of the two countries coincided, and they naturally hit it off, and then the two governments tacitly reduced the scale of the battle, and even the generals on the front line found the fighters, but they were forcibly stopped by the government.

But this tacit understanding did not last, and when the battle on the Eastern Front was over, the Russians had been weakened, and the common interests of the two sides naturally did not exist.

So Austria-Hungary tried every means to pull the Germans to launch the battle on the southern front, and Ferdinand naturally had no need to show mercy to his subordinates.

You must know that since the start of the war, the Germans have bombed London and Paris, the British and French have bombed Berlin, and Bulgaria, as the first to exert its strength in the air force, has never bombed Vienna on a large scale, which is simply a fantasy!

Well, the Bulgarian Air Force is also often dispatched, but most of the time it is playing soy sauce, and it bombs Austria-Hungary a lot of times, but each time it just drops a few grenades to deal with it!

It is precisely in this situation that it is not surprising that the Russians will push Bulgaria to the forefront, even if they give up their interests in Romania in the future, after all, they will have to retaliate back after suffering a dark loss, right?

It's a pity that unlike the last time the Entente collectively pitted the Russians, Bulgaria is obviously not worthy of the joint pit of Britain, France and Russia, and the sudden defeat of the Russians has frightened Britain and France, for fear that Bulgaria will come again, then they will have to face the Germans alone!

Don't say that the French don't dare now, even John Bull, who is a professional pit teammate, is also cowardly at this time, and the pit teammates must also choose a good time, if one does not operate well, it will be a tragedy to bury himself!

Of course, the war has been going on now, and Ferdinand naturally has made a move, and it is also a good choice to induce Austria-Hungary to defect from Bulgaria's standpoint.

It's a pity that this is impossible, Austria-Hungary has almost been controlled by the Germans, even if Ferdinand II is unwilling, he only wants to withdraw from the war with dignity at most, and he can't even think of a counterattack!

Austria-Hungary can't stop the Germans' retaliation, even if the Germans are really going to be finished, before they die, they still have the ability to drag a big country to Huangquan together, and make multiple choice questions on the two answers of picking up traitors and picking up enemies, this question doesn't need to be considered at all!

However, if you can't do it, it doesn't mean that you can't do it, politics is never about success and failure, and sometimes the benefits of failure are even greater than success!

……

At the Bulgarian Foreign Policy Seminar, Ferdinand proposed: "Mr. Metyev, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should seize the time to communicate with the Austro-Hungarian government and try to get Austria-Hungary out of the war.

If we can't reach an agreement, then we can cooperate with the Kingdom of Hungary, and I believe they don't mind withdrawing from the war! ”

There is no doubt that this is a threat to the Austro-Hungarian government, and it is very clear that it is good for them to cooperate, and if the cooperation fails, then Bulgaria will support the independence of the Kingdom of Hungary!

It is even necessary to support the independence of the peoples in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dismember this old empire!

Foreign Minister Metev frowned, and said with some concern: "Your Majesty, I am afraid that this will be very troublesome, and it is already a well-known thing that our strategic focus has shifted from Europe to Asia.

From the point of view of our strategic interests, the existence of an Austro-Hungarian Empire that retains a certain strength is far more valuable than a divided Austro-Hungarian Empire.

For a long time to come, we will all need a stable Eastern Europe that will allow us to concentrate on running Asia Minor! ”

Ferdinand nodded, the Austro-Hungarian government still has the confidence to talk about the conditions, no doubt they think they have insight into Bulgaria's future strategy.

They saw themselves as a "powerful" Austro-Hungarian Empire that could counterbalance the continued expansion of the Russians into continental Europe. Out of strategic considerations, neither Britain, France, nor Bulgaria would allow Austria-Hungary to collapse!

It's a pity that this time the Vienna government miscalculated, after all, Ferdinand II was still not as good as the old emperor Joseph I's diplomatic insight ability, he ignored that strength is the root of all this!

If Austria-Hungary had withdrawn from the war ahead of schedule, preserving its strength, then everything would have been left to talk about. If, on the other hand, after the end of the war, Austria-Hungary lost its strength and lost its ability to counterbalance the woolly bear, would they still be of value to Britain and France?

After pondering for a moment, Ferdinand said coldly: "Then remind the Vienna government that only strength is the root of all this, and we don't need a waste!" ”

Of course, Ferdinand did not expect Austria-Hungary to withdraw from the war with a single threat, but it was enough to make the Viennese government look ahead.

This is a conspiracy, if the Vienna government wants to protect its own interests, it must first preserve its own strength!

Whether they continue to cooperate with the Germans or switch to cooperation with the Entente, their own strength comes first, so will they dare to give it a go in the later war?

Don't look at the present, Germany and Austria are the closest allies, and once the strength of Austria-Hungary is exhausted, and the world war is over, there is nothing surprising to turn around and annex them!

Interests always come first between countries, and the call for the establishment of a Greater German Reich in Germany is not low, so does the Vienna government dare to gamble? Or if there is not enough interest, why should they gamble?

Why was the Austro-Hungarian Empire able to hold out for more than four years in history? The reason is simple, the Russians collapsed first in 1917, the vitality was greatly damaged, Austria-Hungary lost its worst enemy on the Eastern Front, and the major political groups in the country saw an opportunity to win!

In essence, now the production and transport system in Austria-Hungary has begun to collapse, and their war potential has been almost depleted.

Taking grain production as an example, Austria-Hungary is indeed the breadbasket of Eastern Europe, which is not said, but when the war burns on the Austro-Hungarian mainland, should agricultural production be guaranteed?

The war has drained a lot of human resources and livestock, so what about agricultural production? Where will the lack of labor be replenished? There is no place to replenish, so the production can only be reduced! A large number of personnel are out of production, coupled with the increase in material loss, this is not a problem!

Of course, the Russian prisoners of war also made up for part of the shortage of labor, but unfortunately this part of the dividend has nothing to do with the state, and the corrupt system of Austria-Hungary directly swallowed it all!

The food produced is not used to the maximum extent of people's livelihood, but is used by the capitalists for hoarding, especially the Kingdom of Hungary!

As for the transportation system, the intensity of transportation in wartime is much more than in peacetime, so the maintenance cost of railways and highways has naturally risen, and the wear and tear of transportation vehicles is naturally much greater, for example: before the war, the service life of a train may be several years, more than ten years, but in wartime around the clock, it may only take a few months to be replaced, or overhauled!

Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, Austria-Hungary was now at the forefront, especially after the two major battles on the Eastern Front last year.

Not only did it lose more than two million troops, but it also consumed a large number of strategic materials from domestic reserves, and most importantly, the industry in Bohemia also suffered heavy losses, such as the largest military-industrial complex Škoda Arsenal, which was forced to relocate during the war!

At the same time, the national contradictions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire are actually very serious, and there is no Juche nation, and the poor dualist political system is undoubtedly the source of contradictions!

And the defeat of the war will undoubtedly exacerbate the national contradictions at home, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was originally brought together by the strong influence of the Habsburgs, and the current Ferdinand II does not have the prestige that the old emperor has established for a long time!

Naturally, the domestic careerists also saw the opportunity, and if the Entente did not know how to use it, their heads would be collectively flooded!

……

Then there was no more, and when Ferdinand's opinion was conveyed to the Viennese government, the Austro-Hungarian government began to struggle.

If the war had not broken out on their home soil, it is estimated that the Vienna government would have pretended to preserve its strength a long time ago, but now that the enemy has fought at their doorstep, how can it preserve its strength?

However, Bulgaria's warning must not be ignored, otherwise disaster will soon befall, as long as the Bulgarian air force drops tens of thousands of tons of bombs on their railway line, it is estimated that their front-line troops will be hungry!

Just look at the Germans, they are all out of the country, but Berlin is still bombed regularly! Well, thousands of tons of bombs are dropped on London every year!

Air defence? It would be nice to be able to defend Vienna, and the arsenal can be hidden, but how to hide the railways and stations scattered all over the country? Anyway, if you see a train wagon, you will throw a bomb, and you can't be wrong!

Of course, Austria-Hungary can also choose retaliatory bombing, but unfortunately this idea is not at all feasible militarily, and the gap between the two air forces in terms of strength is too large, and basically there is no return.

This has already been exposed in previous battles, and the survival rate of the planes that went to bomb the positions of the Bulgarian Army is less than a third!

Even if the pilots of this era are not as valuable as later generations, they are still much more expensive than the army, and after more than two years of war, the casualties of the pilots of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have long exceeded five figures, and the loss of aircraft has exceeded 5,000!

……

At the national policy meeting, Ferdinand II said coldly: "The Bulgarians are giving us an ultimatum, and if we refuse, Vienna will soon become a battlefield, which has been confirmed by our intelligence officers!"

The Allied forces had built a large number of airfields in northeastern Italy, and it was clear that they were coming for Vienna, and perhaps as the Bulgarians said, if they dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs, Austria-Hungary would be doomed! ”

Everyone frowned, everyone knew that at this time, there was nothing that could help them, and the only option was to save themselves!

But will they be able to accept the terms of the Entente? Do you really think the Germans are easy to mess with? They were different from Italy, the Italians did not share a border with the Germans, and even if they betrayed the Germans, it was convenient to take revenge immediately.

But Austria-Hungary was different, as long as they dared to be traitors, perhaps in less than a week Vienna would fall under the iron hooves of the Germans!

Don't expect the Entente to come to their rescue, this is impossible, and people would like to let Germany and Austria fight each other?

Conrad knew that it was time for him to play, and he couldn't let everyone be frightened by tens of thousands of tons of bombs, otherwise it was easy to make a wrong judgment.

Conrad explained: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much, the threat of the Bulgarian Air Force is not as deadly as everyone thinks.

As long as we deploy a large number of air defense weapons in important cities and major transportation routes, the enemy's planes will not dare to bomb at low altitudes, and if the country is at an altitude of several thousand meters, this hit rate will be much lower, and they may be able to have a certain impact on our communications, but they will not be able to cut off our transportation lines! ”

As soon as his words relieved everyone, the prime minister suddenly asked: "So, even if the enemy blows up our railway, we can repair it immediately?"

But what about them bombing our cities? This doesn't need a hit rate, just drop the bomb and it's enough for us to stand it!

As for the deployment of anti-aircraft weapons, can the General Staff be specific? How many anti-aircraft weapons do we need to deploy to protect us from the enemy's air threat? How long will it take to deploy?

What did our air force do in the end? Why not fight back against the enemy? ”

Conrad's face changed and he was very embarrassed and said: "These problems are very complicated, theoretically after the enemy blows up our railway line, it can be repaired immediately, but we also have to take into account the actual situation, we can't be equipped with maintenance personnel on every kilometer of railway, so it still takes a certain amount of time to repair!"

As for the fear that the enemy will bomb the city, the probability of this happening is not great, our enemies are still civilized people, and they still can't do anything to massacre civilians! Except, of course, the Russians, whose temperance no one dares to guarantee!

Even if we want to bomb cities, the enemy will choose important areas such as factories and warehouses, and we only need to focus on these places. ”

Obviously, Conrad's answer was not satisfactory to everyone, and the safety of the city was pinned on the enemy's discipline, who knows if people will blow it up indiscriminately, and then explain that it was an operational error, anyway, the hit rate of planes in this era is really pitted!

The latter two issues, Conrad avoided talking about even more, which made people even more dissatisfied with the military!

The Chancellor of the Exchequer continued to ask: "Your Excellency, you have not answered the last two questions?" ”

Seeing that he couldn't dodge, Conrad said with a wry smile: "I'm sorry, I can't answer how many anti-aircraft weapons are needed, this depends on the enemy's determination!"

As for what our Air Force is doing? From the beginning of the war to the present, our pilots have changed a few times, you don't know, right?

Anyway, we've done our best, and we can only say that the enemy is too strong! Who told us to face two great powers at the same time? The lads have defended the dignity of the Air Force with their lives, and they are not to blame! ”

The meeting fell silent again, and everyone was pondering how to deal with the current situation!

……