The telegraph brought about an astonishing upheaval between Eurasia......

On July 17, 1909, the North African campaign entered a critical moment, the Ottoman North Africa Commander Major General Kemal raided a 4,000-strong Italian army marching from Benghazi to the southern interior, and successfully cut off the Italian army's passage back to the port, after a fierce battle for 24 hours, completely controlled the terrain, and at the same time had a large number of Arab cavalry to participate in the interception, forcing the Italians to retreat tactically, the battle of the day, the Italians suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, They can only survive on a plain less than 500 meters from north to south.

He obviously realized that without a fatal military blow, the long coastline and territory of the Ottoman Empire would become the biggest weakness of the empire, and although he was born in the army, he wore the hat of a marine commander, but he did not plan to bet all his chips on the battleships of the navy......

Therefore, the entire military forces east of Benghazi in North Africa and the paramilitary organizations that can be mobilized were incorporated into the decisive battle sequence by this Turkish general, and a week earlier, a Chinese merchant ship passing by the Suez Canal brought him unimaginable army armaments, including 20 80mm heavy mortars, 80 battalion-level 60mm mortars, 70 MG heavy machine guns, and equipped with artillery shells and ammunition, which made the Ottoman North African army with a large number of cavalry have extremely mobile army firepower.

However, a crisis that the entire Ottoman Empire had never anticipated struck again, and it was menacing......

On the 19th, seeing the protracted war between the Italians and the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary suddenly announced that it would send troops into the two states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are close to Austria in the Ottoman Empire, and on the night of the 19th, the Ottoman government in Bosnia and Herzegovina had been driven away, and most of the local troops followed Al-Shabaab to Istanbul to station, and the remaining less than two regiments of paramilitary troops were simply unable to deal with the Ottoman Empire, a land military power in the Mediterranean.

Overnight, Lieutenant General Enver, who had gained an advantage in the war against Italy, had to face the base areas of Macedonia and Albania under the threat of war with Austria-Hungary, and the most important thing was that the army forces in the hands of Lieutenant General Enver, who held power, were extremely scarce, and defending Istanbul was the key to maintaining power, although the Austro-Hungarian Army was not a strong army in Europe, but it also had to defeat the aging Ottoman Empire's regular army.

Whether to send troops to the Western Front against the Ottoman Empire, or to defend Al-Shabaab's regime in Istanbul, became a key decision for Enver almost overnight...... Kelmer's military prowess, which had been fully demonstrated, had quickly rallied a large number of North African legions in almost a short time with secret aid from the East, but it was almost a gamble to expect Kelmer to cross the Mediterranean, across the blockade of the Italian fleet, which was now on the seas in search of a decisive battle for the Ottoman navy.

Enver thought bitterly, when the meeting of the coalition ruling committee was convened to discuss how to confront the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Western Front, Qin Kai had quietly arrived at Yingkou Port on the battleship Chang'an, and arrived in Liaoyang, where the real yàn room in the north was located on the afternoon of the 21st.

However, the fundamentals of the Ottoman Empire being attacked from all sides have not fundamentally changed, and Qin Kai originally envisioned that in his Mediterranean strategy, he would support and use the rise of the Ottoman Empire to contain and change the balance of power in the Balkans, and once the Ottoman Empire was able to build a modern army, it would be able to fully threaten the Balkan interests of European countries.

What's more, the penetration of the Russian Empire in the Balkans into the Mediterranean, which is of the greatest concern, will be the main line of military conflicts in Europe, although it is somewhat difficult to expect the Ottoman Empire to be able to confront the Russian Empire, but I also know very well that the whole of Europe, including the powerful countries such as Ying, Germany, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, and even Russia's ally, France, will not accept the Russian Empire sweeping the Balkans, otherwise, Russia will form a comprehensive encirclement of the whole of Europe from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

Therefore, it is clear that the Ottoman Empire only needs to become a worthy target, and whether it can become a country of great value is no longer something that it can completely dominate...... Enver and Kelmo are undoubtedly the most valuable training goals in Turkey in this era, and their own goals are in fact the future they desire.

Although the aid from China is not gratuitous, it is obviously a win-win situation for both sides, which is the fundamental reason why the Turkish Al-Shabaab is willing to rely on China, after all, the German Empire has also frequently courted the Ottoman Empire because of the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, but in fact, the Germans only hope that the Ottoman Empire will confront Russia and not fall to Britain at the same time!

The Austro-Hungarian Empire suddenly stabbed the Ottoman Empire in the back at this moment, which somewhat surprised Qin Kai, but in history, the Ottoman Empire has always been a powerful force involved in the Balkans, and this time it was obviously accurate that the Ottoman Empire could not fight on two fronts, and it was obviously the meaning of the Ottomans.

However, this also suddenly alerted Qin Kai, the barrel of dynamite in the Balkans, God knows when it will explode, and what triggered the First World War was only an assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Ferdinand, the assassination plan came from the ultra-nationalist forces in the Serbian military "Black Shadow", the ridiculous thing is that the Serbian government knew in advance, but Serbian Prime Minister Basiki was intimidated by the atrocity of the "Black Shadow" in 1903 who unscrupulously cut the king and queen into meat sauce, and even dealt with the incident that was enough to provoke the national war in a low-key manner!

In particular, it is entirely possible that tensions between the countries surrounding the Balkans could be abrupt and unpredictable as a result of any change...... In particular, the war between the Ottoman Empire and Italy has now undergone such great changes, and it is clear that the Ottoman Empire has achieved partial victories, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire has very strangely accelerated the invasion of its neighbors...... Soon, a telegram was urgently dispatched from the Shiyàn room in the north of Liaoyang to the military and political department in Beijing.

Qin Kai decided that he had to make the most of Greater China's powerful influence, which could not be done at any cost...... But maybe it will give the Ottoman Empire a chance to breathe, maybe it will make the powder keg in the Balkans cease to stop, and if it explodes immediately, our fast super dreadnought fleet will only lay the keel, then it will be a little trouble!

On the morning of the 23rd, the Beijing government met with the German Minister to China Brück and the Austro-Hungarian Minister to China Frings, and Premier Zhou Ruidong expressed the Chinese government's serious concern to the two ministers, especially regarding the sudden territorial claims of Austria-Hungary to the Ottoman Empire, and the Chinese government did not want any large-scale war to break out in the current situation in the Mediterranean, which was becoming more and more chaotic -- because that would affect the trade interests of Greater China overseas!

Minister Frings was naturally not a fool, and it was not news that China had long been involved in the war between the Ottoman Empire and Italy, and now it was not news in Europe, earlier Chinese sold a large number of arms to the Ottoman Empire before the war, and even provided the Ottoman Caliph with advanced battleships of the same type built by the German Empire...... Originally, it was rumored in Europe that the Sultan of Istanbul was expected to convert the huge battleships into royal cruise ships, and God knows, now these battleships have really become a nightmare for the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean.

Of course, for asking Austria-Hungary to spit out the fat that it swallowed, it is obviously a serious problem that Frings cannot give any commitment, after all, Bosnia and Herzegovia have been the territory that the two countries have fought for many times in history, and they have been partially occupied by Austria-Hungary in the Berlin Treaty that year.

After careful consideration, Minister Frings expressed the intention of Austria-Hungary very tactfully - even though the Berlin Treaty of that year clearly recognized the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire over Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided that the reforms promised by the Ottoman Sultan in the treaty had not been realized, and Austria-Hungary had to promote the political reform of the two states on its own!

Zhou Ruidong listened carefully to the translation, Austria-Hungary refused to let go, which was obviously expected, and he also noticed that the German Brück did not express his position from beginning to end, which also convinced on the other hand, Austria-Hungary's decision to annex the two states obviously did not have any recognition from Germany, if Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans went to war, the railway that the Kaiser cared about probably would not have any benefit.

"Minister Frins, our bottom line is that your country can garrison Bosnia and Herzegovia, but it must also unify the Ottoman Empire and deploy troops there, as for the political reform issues that your country and European countries are concerned about, I hope to formulate a 10-year transition plan, and at the same time solve it in a peaceful way, and must not affect China's commercial interests in the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East because of the political reform issues in the two states! Moreover, the construction of the Berlin-Baghdad railway, in which our country is partly involved, should obviously not be affected! ”

Speaking of which, Zhou Ruidong has already pulled the Germans into the chariot, although in fact the possible impact will not be too great, after all, the German-Austrian alliance is currently very stable, and the only thing to worry about is the fierce resistance of the Ottoman Empire, so he also immediately added a political weight, "If China's interests in the Ottomans are affected, we will unilaterally impose punitive tariffs on the Ottoman business activities in the Far East, and at that time, the free trade port in the south will be closed to your country!" ”

Speaking of this, it has already made Frings break out in a cold sweat, the huge free port in the Far East is obviously extremely important to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the heavy industrial products of Czechoslovakia and the light industrial products of Hungary have returned a large number of important consumer goods from the Far East, which is definitely a loss that the empire cannot afford, although he is not sure that the Chinese will do this, but this serious concern must be fully understood by the imperial cabinet.

At this moment, the German minister Brück finally opened his mouth to make a round, and the three parties quickly decided that the decision of the Berlin Treaty must be continued, and Austria-Hungary would immediately negotiate with the Ottoman Empire on the ownership of the two states, but the expelled Ottoman troops must be allowed to re-station, and the territorial dispute must be fully negotiated. R1152