Ferdinand has been in a good mood lately, with good news on the front, peace in the country and the war not disturbing social order in Bulgaria.

The most important thing is that the trouble is gone, Popov has not had time to try many people in the military court, most of the Ottomans have run away in an uproar, and it seems that basically everyone is more or less involved in the persecution of ethnic minorities, and even massacres.

Although it was a military administration, everyone was still happy to see off the hordes of Ottomans leaving. By running away, they have confirmed this crime in front of world public opinion.

It is difficult to determine how many people the Ottomans killed, but according to preliminary statistics from later generations, the Ottoman government massacred as many as 1.5 million Armenians during the First World War.

Then there was the tragedy in Syria that had just erupted, in which millions of Romanians, Greeks, blacks, and Serbs died under the butcher's knives of the Ottoman army.

All this is conclusive evidence, which provides a favorable public opinion basis for Bulgaria to end the Ottoman Empire, even if there are people who want to make a fuss about the Ottomans, everyone does not dare to support it on the surface.

This was secondary, and most importantly, hastened the fall of the Ottoman Empire. A lot of times it's not the more people the better, especially when food is scarce.

Suddenly, there were three or four million more mouths at once, did the Ottoman government have so many material reserves? The answer is clear: no!

The population of the Ottoman Empire was originally just over 20 million, and it stands to reason that with their vast territory, life should be very nourishing, but unfortunately, with their agricultural productivity still stuck in the last century, it is difficult to even fill their stomachs.

Even if agriculture is backward, you can still buy it! Unfortunately, the Ottoman government was so poor that the Sudanese government gave the Turkish Al-Shabaab a mess of hundreds of millions of pounds in foreign debt, and the biggest problem of the Ottoman government before the outbreak of the world war was to repay the debt.

If there is no money, there will naturally not be much grain reserves, and now that the grain-producing areas have been lost, life will naturally be even more difficult.

The Ottoman government was doing well, but Ferdinand didn't care, he only knew that it would weaken their war potential.

New refugees always need help, right? Aid requires the consumption of materials, and failure to help will lose the support of the people and lead to riots. No matter what the Ottoman government does, they must suffer this loss!

Moreover, since the beginning of the war, the casualties of the Ottoman Empire's army have exceeded the million mark, which is already very stressful for this country with a population of just over 20 million.

The most important thing is that out of a population of just over 20 million, no more than 15 million are willing to support the Ottoman government!

Ferdinand knew that if the country was normal, it would have collapsed long ago, and the Ottoman Empire was able to hold on until now, the most important thing is to rely on religion and faith, but unfortunately faith cannot be eaten!

……

At this time, the battlefield on the Eastern Front also changed, with the arrival of the main German force, the Russians gradually fell behind on the battlefield, and two important figures, Hindenburg and Ludendorff, also began to appear on the stage of history.

After the end of the Russian winter offensive, in less than half a month, the situation began to take a sharp turn for the worse, and the Russian army, which had been victorious all the way, was defeated and retreated by the German-Austrian forces.

The reason is simple, winter is over, summer comes, the ice and snow begin to melt, the roads become muddy, and there are serious problems with the logistics supply of the Russian army.

The main problem is the supply of food, weapons and ammunition, and many of the food, weapons and ammunition that should have arrived are still on the way.

There are even some grains, due to poor management, wet by the rain, have begun to germinate, of course, germination is only a small problem, anyway, it is okay to feed the livestock malt.

Obviously, the woolly bear knows how to do it themselves, and they already have the tradition of "eating the enemy", so until now their front-line army has not collapsed.

The most important thing is the weapons and ammunition, a few people only need a rifle to the incident did not happen, but a few rifles only one bullet tragedy appeared.

Well, this is the Anglo-French pot, and the Russian logistics department can not carry it! Due to the rapid expansion of the Russians' army, the domestic production capacity could not keep up, and the British and French provided them with a batch of weapons and ammunition, including rifles.

Due to the different caliber of bullets, the Russians have limited military production capacity, and naturally they have no ability to add new production lines, and the later ammunition consumption can only rely on the assistance of Britain and France.

Now the promised supplies of Britain and France have not been delivered on time, and without bullets, these rifles have naturally become burning sticks. Not only is it not robbed, but there are also many machine guns and artillery in the Russian army that are now in a state of "hunger".

Fortunately, there are not many British and French weapons equipped in the Russian army, the proportion is still below 20 percent, and the rest are equipped with Russian-made or guaranteed weapons, and everyone's bullet caliber can be used in the same way.

Although the ammunition supply is not very sufficient, there is still a replenishment, and there is still ammunition for one or two battles, otherwise there is no strength to fight now.

In terms of supply, the Northern Front is the worst in the Russian army now, followed by the Western Front, and the Southwestern Front is the best.

This is determined by geographical location, and after the end of Romania, the southwestern side can receive military supplies from the Black Sea, as well as part of them from Bulgaria.

According to the route of material transportation, the order is: the Southwestern Front - the Western Front - the Northern Front, obviously the supplies from the Black Sea must pass through the defense area of the Southwestern Front, so naturally they can get these materials first, and the Northern Front is the last to get the supplies.

In terms of numbers, on the contrary, the Northern Front had the most, followed by the Western Front, and the Southwestern Front had the least.

This was determined by the strength of the opponents, with the Northern Front facing East Prussia and German Poland, the Western Front facing the German-Austrian border, and the Southwestern Front only facing Austria-Hungary.

Judging from the current form, Ferdinand could judge that the current situation was very unfavorable to the Russians, and the best option was to shrink the line and retreat.

Shorten your own supply lines, but also lengthen the enemy's supply lines, exchange space for time, and wait for the right time to fight the Germans.

According to the deduction of the Bulgarian General Staff, the Russians' Northern Front and Western Front only had to retreat more than 200 kilometers before they could hold the defensive line.

After all, the further east you go, the worse the traffic situation becomes, and in the face of muddy roads, the German tanks and armored vehicles are not functional, and the enemy's superiority in equipment is gone.

Anyway, they only need to hold off the Germans for a few months, and wait for the British and French counteroffensive on the Western Front, the more they get to the back, the greater the advantage of the Entente, and it doesn't matter if they don't fight to the death with the Central Powers, they can also drag the Central Powers to death.

……

Of course, how could Ferdinand, who was good at turtle shell flow, understand the thoughts of the Russians?

If you retreat now, won't that be a waste of all your efforts? The Russian Empire's newly-established prestige was just abandoned?

In the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II was worried about the situation at the front, of course, he was not worried about the Russian army losing, he was worried about how to defeat the Allies and end the war as soon as possible.

The current economic situation in Russia is not very good, and many industries are in a depression due to the war. The capitalists also took advantage of the fire to loot and forced the workers to work overtime without pay in the name of war, which intensified the war-weariness of the people.

There are also many people who can't stand the oppression and go directly to Bulgaria to be mercenaries, which is very embarrassing, and it is strange enough to think about it if their own country does not defend it, but helps others to fight.

But in the eyes of ordinary people, instead of joining the tsar's army for free, it is better to be a mercenary, and at least there is a commission, a reward for war merits, and even land!

Anyway, it's all about the allies, who is helping to fight a war is not a war? As for the country? Sorry this is the country of the tsars, the nobles, the capitalists, what does it have to do with them?

Ferdinand didn't realize that he had inadvertently shared the firepower for the Russians, after all, as long as there was another choice, few people would go to extremes.

Nicholas II asked: "What plans do you have to end this war by defeating the Germans as soon as possible?" ”

The winter offensive that had just won undoubtedly gave him enough confidence, and he believed that as long as he was willing to pay casualties, he could not win the Germans and kill the Germans.

In just two months, the Russian army's losses of soldiers have been replenished, and even increased, and now the front line of five million troops is proper!

Of course, he did not know that the commanders at the front wanted supplies more than the personnel, and this was clearly suppressed by the bureaucrats within the tsarist government.

"Your Majesty, now we just need to defend on the spot and delay time, wait for the British and French to launch an offensive on the Western Front, exhaust the Germans, and then fight them again!" Minister of War Vladimir Alexandrovich Sukhomlinov proposed

"Your Majesty, our War Minister is too conservative. Now that Austria-Hungary has lost its vitality, we should unite with Bulgaria to continue the fight against Austria-Hungary, as long as Austria-Hungary collapses, the Central Powers will be finished! Foreign Minister Sasonov objected

The Minister of War retorted: "This is impossible, now Bulgaria is still busy with the war in Asia Minor, it is impossible to end it in the short term, their forces in Europe are limited, and they simply do not have the ability to launch a major offensive!"

We alone are facing the two great powers of Germany and Austria at the same time, and the defense is okay, but it is impossible to succeed in launching a war of annihilation! ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer objected: "No, Mr. Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sukhomlinov, you are too conservative, do not forget that the military is for politics!"

Now is the time when the Allies are at their weakest, and we should take advantage of the victory to pursue and take out the main forces of the Allies in one go, so as to establish our position as the hegemon of Europe! ”

……