In the palace of Sofia, when Ferdinand's family was enjoying their family, a news from the Far East broke the peaceful atmosphere!

The Russo-Japanese War broke out!

Although Ferdinand knew that the Russo-Japanese War would break out, he did not know exactly when it would be.

Judging from the current situation, the Russians have a great advantage, and it is very unwise for the Japanese to take the initiative to provoke a war at this time!

Especially when the British have not yet made up their minds to fully support them, as soon as the attitude of the London government softens, the Franco-Russian forces will teach them how to behave!

The conflict between Japan and Russia has a long history, and it has already erupted when the "Three Kingdoms intervene to return Liao", but at that time, the Japanese chose to pretend to be their grandson in the face of the powerful Tsarist Russia, and this situation lasted until the establishment of the "Anglo-Japanese Alliance" in 1902.

With the support of the British, the Japanese government was no longer satisfied with its existing interests in Korea and Northeast China and hoped for further expansion, but was resisted by the Russians!

In July 1903, the Japanese government formally proposed to the Russians to negotiate the Korean and Tohoku issues. Because the conditions of the two sides are too different, it is difficult to reach an agreement, and they are still arguing.

That's all Ferdinand knew, now neither the Russians nor the Japanese were ready for war, but the war had already broken out!

In any case, Japan and Russia had already begun to PK, and the Bulgarian government had to take its own stand, and Ferdinand convened a state conference on the Far East.

"What's going on? Why did the Japanese suddenly go to war against the Russians? Ferdinand asked, confused

Foreign Minister Metev replied: "The outbreak of this war was caused by the fact that on January 28, in a tavern in Incheon, two Russian soldiers got drunk and clashed with three Japanese soldiers.

Such skirmishes have not occurred once or twice between Japan and Russia, but have been suppressed by the top leaders of both sides.

But this time there was something special, one of the dead was the younger brother of a Japanese soldier, and in order to avenge his younger brother, he led his troops to raid the Russian camp that night.

After the incident broke out, the Japanese troops in the Korean region simply did not stop and launched an attack on the Russian army.

It can be said that the outbreak of this war was very unexpected, the Japanese government was dragged into the water by the army and had to go to war with the Russians! ”

History has changed!

This was Ferdinand's first thought, and the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in history was a stalemate in negotiations, and the Japanese government knew that it could not achieve its goal through negotiations, so it chose to strike first.

Then the Navy took the lead in sneaking up on the Russian fleets in Port Arthur and Incheon, but this time it was the Army that acted first!

In any case, the Russo-Japanese War is definitely about to break out, the Japanese army has already launched an attack on Russia, even if Nicholas II has always opposed the war with the Japanese now, and now he has to fight!

In fact, the early outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War really had something to do with Ferdinand, because of his butterfly effect, Bulgaria was much stronger than in history, and because of the existence of the Conservative Alliance, the pressure on the Russians on the European continent was much less, so the forces they put into the Far East were greatly strengthened.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is progressing much faster than in history, and now only the section of Lake Belga remains, which will be fully operational by 1907 at the latest.

This is very worrying to people of insight in Japan, especially the radicals in the Japanese Army, who advocate a preemptive strike and a decisive battle with Russia in the Far East before the opening of the railway!

This incident is just a trigger in the background, and even without it, there will be other fuses!

Prime Minister Konstantin asked worriedly: "What is the attitude of the British?" Will they go to war with the Russians for the sake of the Japanese? ”

Metyev thought for a while and said: "I don't know, the Russo-Japanese War broke out yesterday, and now neither side has declared war, and the London government has not made any statement on this matter!"

However, our Foreign Ministry believes that the British will most likely not go to war with the Russians for the sake of the Japanese!

After all, according to the Covenant, once the British start a war against Russia, then we and the French must also enter the war, and other regions dare not say it, but in the Mediterranean region, the British are at a disadvantage!

Moreover, now on the Far East issue, the German government also supports the Russians, and under normal circumstances, the British would not take this risk! ”

Not only that, Ferdinand also knew that Nicholas II and Wilhelm II still had plans to form an alliance, but the British used the beautiful idea of an "Anglo-German" alliance to temporarily fool the Germans!

From a strategic point of view, the British developed the navy and the Germans developed the army, which seemed to be a good combination.

In essence, there is no possibility of an alliance between the two sides, and the business circles of Britain and Germany have long been incompatible, so how can an alliance without common interests be realized?

The words of the Foreign Secretary undoubtedly gave a tranquilizer to everyone's hearts, since the Anglo-Russian war would not break out, then no matter how fierce the Far East is, it will not affect Bulgaria.

Ferdinand said calmly: "The British are now pitted by Little Japan, they have just seen the dawn of victory in the battle with the Boers in South Africa, and now that the Russo-Japanese War breaks out, I am afraid that it will be fought again!"

And they have not yet had time to coordinate relations with the Germans, if the Germans fully support the Far East strategy of the Russians, the British Empire will not be able to withstand the pressure of the three great powers of Germany, France and Russia, even the Americans are supporting the Japanese!

Now we need to make our attitude clear, and now we will ban all commercial relations with the Japanese, and as for our position in this war, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will first find out the attitude of the major powers before deciding! ”

That's right, because of Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the British were pitted in South Africa, and the whole of Europe supported the Boers together, and it took nearly two years for the British to make diplomacy keep countries neutral in the war.

But the power of the Boers is still stronger, at least the extra tens of thousands of mercenaries will drink a pot of lobster soldiers.

Now, when the Boer government was finally forced to compromise, the Russo-Japanese War broke out again, and did not this give the Boers hope for victory again?

Besides, why should the French do something now? It's not too much to support the Boers!

The Germans were ruthlessly placed in front of the British, and now the Russians rushed to the front, not to give the British a little black hand, is this still the style of Wilhelm II?

As for the Portuguese, if they had the courage to blockade France and Germany, Ferdinand would have admired their courage! As for the guarantee given to them by the British, everyone knows that it belongs to the contract whose validity is to be determined!

Although the attitude of the major powers has not yet come out, for Bulgaria, even if it declares war on the Japanese immediately, Ferdinand does not have any pressure, and it will not be able to reach it anyway!

There are also so-called economic sanctions against Japan, which is even more funny, is the commercial trade volume between the two countries very large? Is there a million leva, which is a big question mark?

This is completely Ferdinand's work to show the Russians, to show me my support for you!

Foreign Minister Metev replied: "Okay! Your Majesty, we will find out the attitude of the great powers! ”

"By the way, Japan and Russia are about to start a full-scale war, the War Department and the Russians will discuss and send some of our new weapons over to test their power, and by the way, see what the Russians still lack, and if there is anything we can provide!" Ferdinand added heartlessly

Well, in the eyes of Ferdinand, the most important thing in the Russo-Japanese War was to make war money! Anyway, the Russians are not ready, and once the fight starts, they will develop a lot of reserves of strategic materials, which are simply not enough.

In terms of the relations between the two countries, the pro-protection faction within the Russian government is also very strong, and the two sides have had friendly and cooperative relations for many years.

Even the so-called testing of new weapons is not so that the Russian military will take the initiative to place an order for procurement after seeing the power?

……

On January 30, the third day of the Japanese offensive, the Japanese government finally handed over the war letter to the Russians with trepidation; On the same day, the Russian government also declared war on the Japanese, and the Russo-Japanese War broke out.

On February 1, the London government declared neutrality, followed by France, Germany, the United States, Italy, Austria-Hungary and other countries declared neutrality, and even the Manchu government came out to join in the excitement to declare neutrality, but Ferdinand did not express his position!

Oh, the position of the Bulgarian government on this issue is really not important, so people don't pay much attention to it.

Ferdinand was happy to do the same, and continued to remain silent! He had already made up his mind that he was going to make war money. If you continue to sell weapons after neutrality, you will definitely be criticized by the international community, especially the British!

At the beginning of the war, the Russians were defeated and retreated on the battlefield.

Russia now has a total population of 141 million, and the total strength of the standing army of the Russians at this time is about 1.05 million, and the number of reservists has reached 3.75 million.

Among them, 90% of the troops are deployed in the western region, and in the Far East there are only more than 98,000 regular army troops, 168 artillery pieces, and 328 machine guns (historical: 148 guns, 8 machine guns).

At the same time, the Russian Navy has more than 200 warships, of which the Pacific Fleet has more than 60 combat ships (192,000 tons).

It can be said that the Russians have a lot of strength, but in the Far East they can only show a point!

Japan, on the other hand, now has a total population of about 44 million, an army of about 375,000 troops, a reserve of 2 million, and 1,140 artillery pieces, of which 250,000 can be used to fight outside the Japanese archipelago.

37% of the artillery is mountain artillery, which is suitable for the terrain characteristics of the northeast battlefield. 847 machine guns (147 historically).

The Japanese Navy has about 80 warships (260,000 tons), most of which are new ships built in the United Kingdom, with good performance and uniform specifications.

Under the influence of the Balkan War, both Japan and Russia realized the importance of machine guns and coincidentally increased the number of machine guns.

If it was only a numerical disadvantage in the army, the Russians said that they could make up for it at any time, but the logistical problem was the real trouble!

The Trans-Siberian Railway around Lake Baikal was not completely completed, and the journey from Europe to northeastern China lasted nearly five weeks (six weeks in history), but only 2-3 military vehicles could be driven every day and night.

Although in the Far East, militarily the Russians were at a disadvantage; But in terms of national strength, the Russians have an absolute advantage, and the Russians are more than ten times more industrial than the Japanese!

Therefore, the outside world is still generally optimistic that the Russians will achieve the final victory!