Originally, Ferdinand announced the expansion of the army by 300,000 troops, but it was only for political needs, and it was just talk.

Anyway, the specific time was not specified, and it was completely feasible to delay the expansion of the army for two or three years, but the reaction of the Allies could not help Bulgaria!

Once the expansion of the countries is completed, the military pressure on Bulgaria will be great.

At that time: the total strength of the Austro-Hungarian army was as high as 768,000, the total strength of the Italians was 589,000, and if you added the kingdoms of Romania and Montenegro, if the war broke out early, Bulgaria would probably face a siege of millions of enemy troops immediately.

Even with the number of Bulgarian troops, it is obviously difficult to defend national security, and it is necessary to divide troops into many places, as long as any place is breached, Bulgaria will suffer heavy losses.

Oh, don't expect too much from the Russians, if war breaks out suddenly, by the time the hairy bear reacts, it is estimated that the daylily will be cold!

Well, in the face of the current international situation, there is a lot of pressure on the Bulgarian government, especially the Minister of Finance, which means that in the future Bulgaria's military spending may directly double!

"What are the plans of the War Department?" Ferdinand asked with concern

War Minister Popov replied without hesitation: "Your Majesty, we must also take action as soon as the Allies move, and the expansion of the army is urgent!"

At present, we have only 286,000 standing troops in the whole country, and it is already difficult for us to undertake our national defense tasks, and in addition to expanding the army by 300,000, we believe that it is also very important to increase the training of the construction corps.

It has been proven in the Second Balkan War that although the combat effectiveness of the Construction Corps is not comparable to that of our regular army, it is still possible to deal with the armies of Romania and the Kingdom of Montenegro! ”

Ferdinand nodded as acquiescence, and didn't bother to pay attention to Popov's behavior of putting gold on his face!

People are also temporarily recruited by the army, well, everyone puts down their hoes and resists guns, it is originally half a catty, the construction corps has been trained, and there is nothing to say about bullying a group of militia troops!

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the standing armies of European countries is very good, but with the expansion of the scale of the battlefield in the later period, the army has grown like a snowball, and the combat effectiveness has naturally declined.

Because the Germans had the most complete reserve system, the German army was able to stand out from the crowd in the First World War.

But this does not mean that there are no garbage units in the German army. In fact, in the middle and late periods, the quality of the Germans' soldiers also declined very seriously, and the combat effectiveness naturally declined!

This also makes many people wonder why the bullish German army is often beaten by the Entente, and its combat effectiveness in many places is actually subparable!

This situation is common in all European countries, limited by the number of people, they can not provide unlimited quality of soldiers, in the end can only reduce the quality, the quality of soldiers declines, and the combat effectiveness naturally decreases!

In contrast, in fact, the pressure on the Bulgarian Army is not the greatest! Anyway, there are Balkan mountains to rely on for defense, and no matter how bad it is, it can buy enough time for domestic mobilization!

But the navy is hard, the army Ferdinand can mobilize tens or even hundreds of thousands of people every day, and the navy can't do anything!

As long as each army is issued a rifle, it can be sent to the battlefield, and the navy must have warships, right?

Even the simplest destroyer will take at least a few months for a ship! If it's a dreadnought, no matter how fast it is, it will take more than a year, right?

Now the Navy is heavy on Bulgaria? The answer is obvious: if the Entente controlled the sea supremacy in the Mediterranean, then the weakness of the Bulgarian navy could also be; On the contrary, the Allies controlled the sea supremacy, and in order to ensure the lifeline at sea, the Bulgarian Navy had to go on its own!

"What about the Admiralty?" Ferdinand asked again

When he asked this, Ferdinand himself was not confident, the navy of Italy + Austria-Hungary + Ottoman Empire was combined, and it was still up to Britain and France!

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is very difficult, all we can do now is to suppress the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea, and to ensure the security of all our seas, unless our navy is expanded by five times!" Admiral Minister Petrov said with a wry smile

After listening to Petrov's words, everyone's faces changed greatly, which almost told everyone that as soon as a world war broke out, the Navy could not guarantee the safety of the coastline!

"What if the French could keep the Italians at bay?" Ferdinand thought for a moment and said

There is no way, now I can only believe that the Entente, as in history, can obtain sea supremacy in the Mediterranean! Or maybe the diplomacy of Britain and France is strong enough to make the Italians neutral or defective!

Petrov thought for a moment and said: "If the French can keep an eye on the Italian Navy, then we will be much less stressed."

As long as the Austro-Hungarian navy is locked in the Adriatic Sea and they are not allowed to join forces with the Ottoman navy, they can be broken one by one! Theoretically, we just need to add three more dreadnought fleets, and that's it! (Note: The dreadnought fleet here refers to a dreadnought and a series of auxiliary warships.)

Now Ferdinand is extremely nostalgic for the era of aircraft, and he doesn't need to have much performance, as long as he can fly one or two hundred kilometers with a bomb of one or two tons!

The closest place between the Apennine Peninsula and the Balkan Peninsula is only about 40 kilometers, and if you can control the air supremacy, it is a big deal to land directly from the Strait of Otranto, occupy Brindisi and lock the Strait of Otranto.

No, Ferdinand reacted, it seemed that it could be done, and by the end of the First World War, the British's Handlepeti V/1500 could be loaded up to 3400 kg.

Then theoretically Bulgaria can also do it, since Bulgarian aircraft technology started early, now it has a certain real combat value. It's just that for the sake of secrecy, Ferdinand only took out a reconnaissance plane in the Second Balkan War!

However, this idea is only fleeting, and landing in Italy is not so fun, and it is also terrible for Italians to fight for their lives!

Ferdinand thought for a moment and said, "Well, inform the French of our situation, as the second largest naval power in the world, how can they be absent from this naval arms race?"

Tell the French that if their navy is not able to keep the Italians at bay, we are willing to take the blame for it, as long as they are willing to pay for it! ”

The tension was relaxed at once, and it was acceptable whether the French navy suppressed the Italians, or the French provided military spending to Bulgaria.

Oh, it's better to provide military spending, it doesn't matter if you take out a loan, after all, the stronger the military power, the greater the distribution of benefits after the war!

As for loans? Isn't there a defeated country? It is better to offset it with their war reparations, and as for whether the French will agree or not, this question is not yet the time to think about it!

In fact, Ferdinand was already very dissatisfied with the reaction of the French, the Italians are all making dumplings, how can you be compared to the Gallic chicken?

If it weren't for the low-interest loan of the French, Ferdinand would have been furious, isn't this cheating on his teammates?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy suddenly said: "Your Majesty, we can continue to ask Britain and France for loans now, after all, we have previously announced the construction of 4 new dreadnoughts, and we are ready to expand the army by 300,000, if we ask them for help on the grounds of financial inadequacy, there is a great possibility of passing!" ”

In fact, Bulgaria did not borrow from Britain and France, but it only needed collateral, and normal commercial loans must also be settled at international interest rates, so the pressure on capital interest will be great.

If diplomacy is possible, the interest rate on the loan is usually much lower, but with strings attached!

That's why the Chancellor of the Exchequer would think of bringing it up at the height of the arms race. The most important thing is that the Russians have just coaxed in the Moroccan crisis, and the British and French have to make Bulgaria stand up! Otherwise, politically, there will be disastrous consequences!

Ferdinand thought for a moment and said: "Well, as long as Britain and France agree to provide loans, we can promise to complete the expansion of the army in the next three years, and even if they want to supervise the use of loans, it is not impossible to agree!" ”

Well, it's a big deal to expand the army! Anyway, it's a matter of time, and now it's not far from a world war, and the most important thing at the moment is to get more loans from Britain and France, otherwise many things will be difficult to do as soon as the world war breaks out!

The loans issued by Britain and France add up to hundreds of billions of leva, right? Bulgaria needs 18 billion at most, and it is not without collateral, which is a small problem for the British and French capitalists!