Amid the hissing of a train's whistle, a fully loaded military train pulled into Istanbul station. The train stopped on the platform, and judging by the messy serial numbers of the carriages and the details of the various miscellaneous carriages hanging together, it was clear that the train had been improvised and that the carriages that had been used to transport heavy goods and even cattle, sheep and horses were loaded with a large number of exhausted and confused infantry.

These soldiers were all infantry of the Ottoman Imperial Guard, and although they had all the same Chinese equipment, there was no doubt that their mental state was definitely not as good as the equipment on their bodies. Many had not slept well for two days and two nights, and the soldiers were exhausted by the crowded trains, foul air, and swaying carriages, and when the train entered the station and stopped on the platform, some simply pulled open the car door, jumped off the platform and fell asleep. The congestion in the carriage was greatly improved, and the soldiers who did not get out of the carriage were comfortably laid down to sleep, and before that their legs were curled.

The already overcrowded platform became even more crowded, and the officers of the Ottoman Imperial Guard, who commanded the troops on the platform, desperately whipped the soldiers who were sleeping on the ground, but shouted this, and that one lay down again. The extremely sleepy soldiers had no regard for military discipline, and as for why the train suddenly pulled them back from the front line to Istanbul, and who gave the order to the Janissaries, whether the train stopped in Istanbul to add coal and water, or whether the terminal was here, it was all within the scope of these tired soldiers. Now only the coming of the true God himself can prevent them from sleeping, otherwise His Majesty the Sultan will not be able to.

Istanbul was the military and political center of the entire Ottoman battlefield. The headquarters of the entire Ottoman theater was undoubtedly located here. During the years of war, this predominantly military department gradually became the core of the entire Ottoman Empire. Just like Wilhelm II. The monarch, who could not personally lead the army to fight, was gradually stripped of his power by his Pashas. What's more, the entire Sultan family could not find even a decent officer. Just like Karl I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the German Empire, a participating country with an emperor, there are still a few famous generals from the royal family and local royal families who hold part of the military power. Thus, when the influence of the post-war period was gradually revealed, the German imperial family undoubtedly retained, and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the internal strife of the Ottoman Empire inevitably destroyed the old order.

Yes, the internal strife within the Ottoman Empire had reached a point of extreme intensity, and the end of the war gave the Sultan hope of regaining military power, but this kind of thing was opposed by the entire military chiefs. When these Pashas, who were in charge of the army, stood on the opposite side of the Sultan. The Ottoman Sultan, who had ruled the land for 600 years, also seemed to be suddenly vulnerable.

It's just that Ahmed IV is not willing to accept defeat, and he is still making his last efforts. The Pasha of the Ottoman Empire were also engaged in fierce negotiations and transactions for each other's interests. Both sides are preparing for the final moment, when the time comes, the Sultan and the Pasha will have only one victor alive.

"That moment was the end of the Ottoman Empire!" The Pashas, who were in charge of the military, were unwilling to give up their rights and interests, and most of them wanted to become the next Muhammad Ali ibn Ibrahim [the founder of the Ali dynasty of Egypt, the 19th-century governor of Egypt in the Ottoman Empire, nominally subject to the Ottoman Sultan, de facto independent]. And not just the Koplulu family of the Grand Vizier! [The Koplulu period refers to the period when the Ottoman Empire was ruled by the Grand Vichle, who was mainly from the Koplulu family. 】

Even Mustafa Kemalpasha, known for his 'Great Ottomanism' in the Ottoman army, a staunch guardian of Ottoman interests, was dissatisfied with China's seizure of the peninsula and preferred Ottoman secular reforms. He was very dissatisfied with the Sultan-led theocratic integration. However, Ahmet IV always had a few loyal subjects. Especially the Royal Praetorian Guard!

This is an elite Ottoman army that has experienced a lot of battles. When Ahmet IV first ascended to the throne, he remodeled the original Royal Guard in order to strengthen his power, and this army was initially composed of only one division. Fully equipped with Chinese equipment, it was one of the earliest mechanized infantry divisions of the Ottomans. Although no more important than the Guards Panzer Division, which was expanded from the Guards Tank Brigade founded by Abdul Hamid II, the army was initially under the control of Ahmed IV. The significance of this can be imagined.

It slowly expanded into a complete corps during the Ottoman war, with three integrated divisions, a cavalry division, a heavy artillery brigade, an engineer regiment, a baggage regiment and a group of troops directly under the corps, with a total strength of 100,000!

It's just that along with the growth of the Praetorian Legion, there are also sands mixed in from all sides. In the war, the soldiers admired brave and resourceful officers, relying on their military exploits rather than their identity. As a result, Ahmed IV's control was eroded little by little, and by the time he realized that something was wrong, the situation was irreversible.

At the moment, the train was carrying about 3,000 men, that is, six brigades, and most of the artillery was missing, which was what Ahmet IV had done. It's just that the officers loyal to him, although they took the troops with them, could not take the heavy artillery with them. That's why one train can fit three thousand people. The strength of these six brigades is only men and rifles.

Istanbul Railway Station is the largest railway station in the entire Ottoman Empire, hundreds of thousands of vehicles depart from here every day, and trains carry truckloads of arms and materials to the front line.

The entire Istanbul station, and even the entire Ottoman railway, were under the control of China. This is not a Chinese hostage of the Ottomans, but a last resort. The big war is together, and there are a lot of things. The Ottomans overhauled the railway, and the national line communication has not been around for a few years. Such a scale and frequent deployment of vehicles is not at all something that the Ministry of Railways, which has only been established for two years since the beginning of the Ottoman period, can play. They can only turn to China.

But after the ceasefire of the war. The Chinese side has already transferred a large number of railway personnel, leaving only some personnel in control of a major station like Istanbul. Many of the Ottomans who had been tempered in the war had risen to higher positions, but these people may have the ability, but the political inclination is never guaranteed. In any case, the railway traffic in northern Ottoman countries had fallen into total chaos, and sometimes the destructive power of their own men was really greater than that of the enemy.

The railway traffic in the north was in chaos, and now that the train was rushing all the way to Istanbul, Li Zheng, who was in charge of the Istanbul station, did not receive any news, and fortunately, the officers of this army knew the seriousness, and the train quickly left the platform. Regardless of whether or not a large number of soldiers were sleeping inside, the train was freeing up seats. The soldiers on the platform were also whipped and left the station listlessly.

The Chinese government has not yet expressed its position in the Ottoman political situation, and no one dares to offend the Chinese. The more you have to be careful at this time, don't poke the basket, you didn't die on the battlefield but were killed by your own boss.

After a brief period of chaos, the station returned to its 'calm' bustle. Li Zheng sighed, the Ottomans did not dare to offend China now, how could he dare to be tough on the Ottomans so easily? He doesn't know what the decision is in China. One is not enough, bet on the wrong treasure, and you may have to say goodbye to the uniform on your body.

Is it easy to go from a rootless grassroots struggle to the current first-level station manager?

With Li Zheng's efforts and merits in the past few years in the Ottomans. When I return to China, I will also give a first-class station a regular position, and then I will be able to look forward to the position of the Provincial Railway Bureau.

A good future is still waiting for Li Zheng in front of him, and he doesn't want to drop the chain at a critical moment. The more sensitive this period is. The more careful you are.

Because of the 'stopper' of this train, the sequence list of Istanbul station had to be adjusted, not to mention because of the rush of this military train. Along the way, many trains have been delayed. It's just that there is no radio on the train, so there is no way to contact it directly. And the telegraph lines or radios at the stations along the way have long been in shambles.

Li Zheng watched the railway lines of the Ottoman Empire change little by little into what they are now. He sometimes can't help but wonder if this situation was something the government had long anticipated. Transferred the manpower back to the majority of the country early, leaving a gap for the Ottomans to grab it themselves?

China has not yet made a clear decision. This is not really not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Ottomans, it is completely to watch the Ottomans themselves collapse and chaos, and even the outbreak of war. Beijing is really evil!

Looking at the direction in which the soldiers left, Li Zheng shook his head, national affairs are not something that he can argue about as a railway stationmaster, he should hurry up and be busy with his work. Let's hope the two sides don't fight in Istanbul. Li Zheng has lived in this place for two years, and he also has feelings. Besides, he also bought three shops on the streets of Istanbul, and these are all money.

The guns have to be fought, not to mention how much the price of the stores in Istanbul will drop, and whether the three stores can be preserved is a big problem.

Just after this column of military vehicles arrived in Istanbul, two more military vehicles arrived here in the afternoon, and in the following days, the number of such military vehicles increased, but fortunately, these military trains were all carrying troops, and Li Zheng did not see artillery, let alone tanks.

Istanbul is all the rage. With so many soldiers entering suddenly, even the ignorant people could feel that something was wrong. And from time to time, news also reached Istanbul, such as Kemal led his two divisions into Ankara, the Ninth Army Mahmud Shevkat Pasha and the Ottoman Third Army General Commander Nazmir Pasha [formerly the commander of the Fourth Army] led the army into Iraq, they are the Ottoman Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Tarakat Pasha's right-hand man, Or that Muhammad Tarakaat Pasha in the center had formed an alliance with Mahmud Shevkat Pasha and Nazmir Pasha. Then in the battle, Apulpasha, who replaced Ziapasa in charge of the Guards, led his trusty army into Syria, while Mehmed Talat Pasha, the governor of Macedonia and the commander-in-chief of the Front, relied on his army to not only control all of Macedonia and most of Albania, but also seize part of Montenegrin territory, as well as the contact area between Serbia and Bulgaria, so that he could reach the lower Danube plain.

In addition, Greater Lebanon (including Palestine, Jordan, etc.) and the Hejaz region were also controlled by the governor there. Although China took the opportunity to swallow up the Ottomans in the north and east of the peninsula, in the southwest of the peninsula, that is, in the Hejaz region, that place has always been under the control of the Ottoman army because of Mecca, the holy land of the Green Religion. China seized the Najd Plateau and the eastern tip of the peninsula, but it did not touch the Hejaz.

The power of religion is incalculable. If the Mecca territory is really in the hands of China, who knows what the Arab world will become.

The current situation is very bad for the Ottoman Empire, and without China's full support for the Sultan, the collapse of the entire empire will be inevitable. But compared with the ending of the Ottoman after the First World War in the original time and space, the current Ottoman can be described as good.

No matter how bad it is, it is impossible for the 'rebellious' Pasha to march directly into Istanbul, although the whole empire is broken, as long as Ahmet IV can deal with it properly and stabilize Istanbul, especially Kemal not far away, he can always keep Turkey. It also has a title similar to 'Regional Alliance'.

Just as the Ali dynasty of Egypt was called a governor and nominally submitted to Istanbul, those generals who took advantage of the war to hold real power and divide the territory often kept the title of governor and waited for Ahmet IV to 'give' the title of emir or something. And then rightfully become the master of the party!

Ahmet IV's most important thing was to stabilize Turkey and keep the Ottoman base. But that's easier said than done.

It has been 60 years since the end of a series of constitutional reforms during the last Tanzimet period, and the Ottoman Empire is still ********, especially during the lifetime of Ahmadi IV's father, Abdul Hamid II.

After Ahmadi IV ascended to the throne, the convening of the parliament was re-convened, and the parliament really had a small part of the real power, but compared to the rights of Ahmad IV himself, the parliament was far from enough. From this point, we can see the true temperament of Ahmet IV, as long as everything is stable and the situation is in hand, people like him will not let go of power, let alone change the situation of the ******** of the Ottoman Empire. (To be continued.) )