120mm cannon, imported from France, year of production or service: 1878/1916

Caliber: 120mm

Barrel length: 27/20.3 times caliber

High and low shooting boundary: 0 degrees ~ +30 degrees

Horizontal firing boundary: 0 degrees

Projectile weight: (18~20) kg

Muzzle velocity: (265~613)(570?) m/sec Weight: 3740/3750~3850/2700kg Maximum range: 124000m

The 155mm cannon was imported from France, year of production or service: 1877/1916

Caliber: 155mm

Barrel length: 27 times caliber

High and low shooting boundary: -26 degrees ~ +26 degrees

Horizontal firing boundary: 0 degrees

Projectile weight: (40~43.6) kg

Muzzle velocity: 561 (517?) m/sec

Weight: (5700~6500)kg

Maximum firing range: 12700m

It is not surprising why the artillery, Ferdinand used the French!

The reason is simple, even at the end of the 19th century, when the technical blockade was not tight, the export of heavy artillery was strictly controlled by the foreign powers, and under normal circumstances it would not be exported on a large scale!

In the international environment at that time, the only countries that were able to export to Bulgaria on a large scale were Russia and France!

In fact, the 1877 87mm field gun cooperated by the Russians and Germans also had very good performance, but his caliber was too close to Miss 75, the gap in rate of fire was too large, and the comprehensive performance was much worse.

As for the other Russian artillery, either it was not born, or its performance was not comparable to that of the French, and the artillery that could serve until the First World War was the absolute world leader in 1897!

As for imitation, the Bulgarian arsenal has also done it before, but because the cost is too high, it cannot be mass-produced, so it can only be bought!

In order to solve the lack of melee firepower, Ferdinand even had the idea of a mortar! But the technology of the Bulgarian arsenal is not up to par, and it is done out, just like the mortars in history, which are prone to accidents and seriously threaten the safety of the artillerymen! Due to performance and instability, it was disgusted by the military!

Finally, at Ferdinand's insistence, an old 47mm naval mortar was retrofitted on a gun carriage with wheels to fire a long-tail shell at a large elevation angle.

The mass of the full bomb is 11.5kg, the firing range is 50~400m, and the firing angle is 45 °~65 °. This primitive mortar must be reluctantly accepted by the military!

The main reason is that the military thought it was good to use it against machine guns, so it was accepted! Due to its low cost and simple production technology, General Popov, who was born in the infantry, took a fancy to it and equipped it to the infantry battalion!

Seeing this result, Ferdinand didn't know whether to cry or laugh, the famous mortar in later generations was disliked by the artillery as soon as it came out, but was taken by the infantry instead!

Well, for artillerymen, this old 47mm naval mortar gun is less powerful, has a short firing range, and even has a slow rate of fire, which is far inferior to the Bulgarian Type 1895 75mm field gun, and in their opinion it is simply useless!

Well, Ferdinand's military level is limited to mouth cannons, so it doesn't matter whether the equipment is suitable or not, after all, it is the end of the 19th century, and the opponent is a local chicken, so simply let the army get it themselves!

After listening to the preliminary introduction of the chief of staff, everyone did not have a big reaction! The military has known for a long time, and the civilian clique is self-aware and does not dare to interfere indiscriminately!

Ferdinand nodded, drew a circle on the map, and continued to ask: "If we want to take all the Istanbul region, Macedonian region, Kosovo region, Thrace region, and most of Albania this time, and drive Turkey out of Europe, purely militarily, what is the difficulty?" ”

Chief of Staff Petrov was embarrassed and said: "Everything else is fine, but in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, the Turks have deployed a large number of shore guns, which will pose a serious threat to our army!"

If we can't solve these shore guns, even if we capture Constantinople, we can only be beaten passively! ”

After a moment of silence, Ferdinand spoke: "If you want to solve the shore artillery of the Turks, unless you can land in Asia Minor, I am afraid you will not be able to completely eliminate it!"

If we also use a large number of large-caliber artillery, which is more powerful than the firepower deployed by the Ottoman Empire, and bombard the Turks, is it feasible? ”

Petrov thought for a while and said: "It is theoretically feasible to use artillery against artillery, as long as there is superiority in firepower, it is still possible to destroy most of the shore artillery on the opposite side at any cost!"

After all, most of the shore artillery deployed by the Ottoman Empire was aimed at the strait, and the defense capability was not very strong, without taking into account the threat on land!

If the navy could withstand a certain amount of losses, it would still be possible to rush into the Sea of Marma, as long as the Ottoman navy was defeated, the Turks would have to admit defeat!

But it's hard for us to get so many large-caliber guns in a short period of time. With just five of our heavy artillery regiments, I'm afraid we won't be able to suppress the Turks! ”

Ferdinand nodded, he knew that the Black Sea Strait was not so easy to open!

In the First World War in history, the Allies were at a stalemate on the Western Front, and in order to make a breakthrough on the moving front, the Battle of Dardanelles was launched.

On the Allies' side, 500,000 soldiers crossed the ocean to the Gallipoli Peninsula. After almost eleven months of fighting, about 53,000 people died, 96,937 wounded, and still lost!

In order to open up the Black Sea straits for a hundred years, the Russians have also launched many Russian-Turkish wars, all of which have returned in vain!

But the Russians still did not give up! It's not that the hairy bear's head is in the water!

But most of the sea transport in the Russian Empire was taken through the Black Sea straits, which had to be fought for!

Thinking of this, Ferdinand's mood suddenly relaxed, and he said with a smile: "We can't take it out, but the Russians do, it is estimated that they are waiting for us to come to the door?" ”

Don't look at how well Russia did in the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War, and underestimate the Russians!

Ferdinand knew very well that Nicholas II was definitely not as "idiotic", "authoritarian and stubborn" as the textbooks portrayed, on the contrary he was very smart and a reformer!

It's a pity that in history Nicholas II was a failed reformer, and the external expansion in order to divert internal contradictions happened to fail again!

Ferdinand could think of a way that the Russians could not dream of! In fact, if it weren't for the constraints of national strength, the Bulgarian General Staff would have come up with a perfect plan long ago!

……

At the time of the Bulgarian deliberations, the Russian government, which was far away in St. Petersburg, was also very concerned about the course of the war.

Nicholas II looked at the battle report that came, and said with a smile: "It seems that the Turks are really degenerate, they have been for so long, and they haven't even won a decent record!" ”

Everyone burst into laughter, Russia and Turkey were originally a pair of old enemies, and they had no reason to be unhappy when they saw the enemy unlucky!

"The Bulgarians are dying, aren't they? Ferdinand's patience was so good, wasn't he worried about the defeat of the Greeks and facing the Ottoman army alone? Nicholas II asked again

The Minister of War respectfully said: "Your Majesty the Great Tsar, this war has come too suddenly, and the Bulgarians still need time to prepare!"

And the Greeks and Turks have been at war for less than ten days, and if the Greeks are defeated so quickly, uniting with them will not do much good!

The Bulgarians are now planning to let the Greeks delay their mobilization, and by the way, consume the strength of the Turks, if the Greeks lose, there will be one less opponent for the spoils of war! ”

The Admiral smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's more than that!" Our attitude is the key to Bulgaria's decision.

After all, as long as they take Constantinople and let our navy enter the Sea of Marmara to defeat the Ottoman navy, the Ottoman army in the Balkans will become a rootless and will be defeated sooner or later! ”