Admiral Cadore did receive the news earlier than Rome, and that he had received the news at his headquarters in the morning when the Ottomans had only begun to make moves in Adrianople. And to keep him well informed, in addition to the reason for distance, there was the help of the Bulgarians.

As for the reason, I don't need to guess to know, but I also want to use this news to stimulate the Italians, after all, most of the Bulgarians' troops are in Adrianople, so helping the Italians is helping themselves.

The Bulgarians were right, and when the news of the Ottomans attacking in Adrianople was learned by Admiral Kadolna, he immediately realized what the problem was.

The Ottomans wanted to rescue the encircled Macedonian army, which is why they were so desperate to attack the Bulgarians.

As the supreme commander of the Macedonian region, Admiral Kadolna had enough experience and knew what to do, and now it was necessary to intensify the offensive against Skopje.

This does not mean that the previous offensive of the coalition forces against Skopje was not enough, you must know that the offensive against Skopje was as fierce as the previous Italian army as the main force and the Bulgarian and Montenegrin armies that flanked it. But as if they knew that this was their last battle, the local Ottoman defenders seemed to have eaten gunpowder and fought hard against the offensive of the coalition army.

Even if the casualties are not small, they still have to retreat in the slightest. So at present, it is a pity that the coalition forces have not been able to break through the outer positions of the Ottoman defenders.

The experienced Admiral Cadore naturally knew the intentions of the defenders, and the other side wanted to take advantage of the peripheral terrain to block the offensive of the coalition forces.

Kadolna had to praise the commander of the opposing side, Admiral Yelmaz, for a very good job, because if you open the map, you can see that Skopje is actually in a basin-like terrain, surrounded by mountainous and hilly terrain, so that its defenders must hold on to the periphery if they want to hold the place.

Therefore, the Ottomans could not use the battle plan of the Pleven fortress of the 10th Turkish-Russian War this time, and could only defend the periphery, not the city. Skopje is a city, not a fortress. Under the current firepower, how can the brick and wood structure of the local buildings withstand the artillery attack of the coalition forces.

In the face of the Ottomans' tortoiseshell-like stubborn defense tactics, in fact, there are many ways to solve it, take the most secure way at present, Italy is a battalion, with artillery as the lead, aligning to carry out fierce strikes, and then launching an offensive against it with infantry, such an offensive casualty figure is definitely very good. The only drawback is that the time is too slow, and then the ammunition consumption is not small.

However, this method is definitely not a good solution for the current Admiral Kadolna, because it takes too much time and does not meet his requirements at all.

He thought of another way to do this, and he called the secretary to ask.

"Is Lieutenant General Simone coming?"

"It hasn't arrived yet, when I called to inquire before, Lieutenant General Simeone had already set off for a short time, and it was expected to be there soon."

Hearing the secretary's answer, Admiral Kadolna continued, "When he arrives, bring him to me immediately." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

After the secretary left, the chief of the general staff of the Italian army buried his head in the papers on the desk that were about to bury them, and this was his workload today.

As for Lieutenant General Simeone, who was waiting for Admiral Cadorna, he had just arrived in the town where the headquarters of the army group was located.

Simeone sat in the carriage and looked at the unusually busy town, he had led the retreat from his position only two days before, and had just taken a breath when he was summoned by His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff.

As the driver showed his ID to the sentry at the town's checkpoint, he noticed that the town was busier than the last time he had visited. After passing the checkpoint, the carriage headed straight to the headquarters of the group army.

As soon as his feet stepped on the door of the headquarters, an officer who had been waiting at the door immediately greeted him.

"Hello, Lieutenant General Simeone, the Admiral is waiting for you in the office."

"Okay."

Simone, who was being greeted, immediately took three steps and two steps and followed.

Upon entering the headquarters, a noisy scene appeared before him, full of officers who were flying like a fly, and Simeone walked through them all the way to Admiral Cadore's office.

When he reached the door, the secretary knocked on the door.

"What's the matter?"

Admiral Kadolna's voice was heard inside.

"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General Simeone has arrived."

"Invite him in."

As Admiral Caddolna's voice fell, Simeone stepped into the office.

"Simeone, go well."

Admiral Caddolna, who saw Simone, asked him with a smile on his face.

Faced with Admiral Cadore's inquiry, Simeone replied naturally. "Very well, Your Excellency."

And after a brief greeting, the two soldiers, immediately got to the point.

"With the current offensive, Simeone, how long do you think we will be able to break through the enemy lines?"

Faced with Admiral Cadorna's question, Simeone, who had been carefully observing the front-line position, thought for a moment and replied. "If nothing happens in the middle, then it will take at least half a month."

Simeone's answer was very satisfying to Admiral Cadorna, because he had also inspected the front-line positions, which was the same as what he had observed.

The main reason for the two military commanders to answer this question is that the current offensive is not going well. Although in the early stage of the battle, Italy used the advantage of heavy artillery to force the Ottoman defenders to abandon their positions, but relying on the advantages of the mountainous terrain, they were very difficult to fight in the second half of the offensive.

The main problem was that the offensive of the coalition forces was already within the range of Ottoman heavy artillery. With each attack, heavy artillery from the Ottoman army halted the coalition offensive.

No one wants to launch a deadly offensive under the bombardment of all kinds of enemy artillery. This was true even of the Bulgarians, who were known for their bravery.

This has happened before, the Bulgarian army wanted to increase the attack, and as a result, a brigade of troops was beaten back before reaching the position under various artillery bombardments of the enemy, and nearly half of the casualties made the Bulgarians dare not attack the next day.

Some people may ask, since the Ottoman artillery is so ferocious, then where is the artillery of the coalition army.

Thanks to the mountainous terrain, although the number of artillery of the coalition forces far exceeded that of the Ottomans, there was little chance that the artillery that entered the mountain battle would be able to exert its full strength.

Because the weight of the artillery is not light at present, this also reflects its inconvenience, and mountain warfare in the face of the defenders' various artillery placed in bunkers, the need for mobile coalition artillery at any time. And the coalition heavy artillery was even more unlikely to enter the mountains, and could only be composed of light artillery, which greatly reduced the intensity of its strikes.

Therefore, when the enemy occupies the terrain advantage, the artillery cannot suppress the opponent, so that the combat effectiveness of the front-line officers and soldiers cannot be brought into play. At present, he can only slowly grind the enemy, and at the same time grind himself.

Admiral Cardolna waited until Simeone had finished speaking before he spoke. "It's the same I thought, it's hard to break the enemy quickly with the current method alone. So if we want to defeat the defenders as quickly as possible, we have to find another way. ”

Hearing Admiral Cadorna say this, Simeone did not know the purpose of looking for himself this time.

"Chief of the General Staff, what can you do, just give an order."

"Don't worry, I came to you because I needed you to make this sharp knife and tear through the enemy's defenses."

Speaking of this, Admiral Kadolna asked after thinking for a moment. "How many troops do you have left in your Third Army at the moment?"

"At present, my Third Army still has 32,000 people fighting power."

Hearing Simeone's answer, Admiral Cadorna couldn't help frowning, because this force is a bit small, you must know that the Third Army has 42,000 people when it is fully loaded, but considering that the Third Army has fought several fierce battles before, it is reasonable to have a large loss of troops.

Thinking of this, Admiral Kadolna then said. "I will let the 3rd Mountain Brigade operate with your 3rd Army, under your command."

Speaking of this, after glancing at the other party, Cardolna picked up the baton and talked about the next task that Simeone needed to do.

"After your 3rd Army has joined up with the 3rd Mountain Brigade, you use the cover of night to assemble at Kumanovo, east of the city of Skopje, where the Bulgarian army is located. Once you're in place, I'll get your troops to step up their offensive and hold the enemy back before you launch a surprise attack. Then, as a surprise soldier, you surprise with the Bulgarians to quickly break through the enemy line to the east, and then, after breaking through the enemy's position, you continue to approach the city of Skopje, and if you have the opportunity, take it. The main difficulty of this operation is concealment, I will drive away the locals along your path before you start, and then you will have to rely on yourselves. Questions? ”

"No problem, but I have a small request."

Faced with Simeone's words, Admiral Cardolna asked. "If you have any requests, you can ask them now."

"I need ammunition for at least seven days of combat." Speaking of which, Simeone explained. "The main thing is to increase the output of firepower, and the other is to prevent possible accidents."

"No problem, I'll ask the logistics department to prepare the ammunition you need. Do you have any more questions? ”

"Nope."

In fact, after Admiral Cadorna said the plan, Simeone thought it carefully, and he also knew that the first condition of the operation was concealment, and when he heard the preparations that Admiral Cadorna had made for him in advance, he thought that this battle could be fought.

Then the two discussed for nearly two hours, mainly about the details of the plan, as well as the deployment of troops, and other aspects of the march. When Simeone finally walked out of the general's office, he immediately boarded the carriage that had been waiting for him and hurried back to the headquarters of the Third Army overnight. According to the plan he discussed with the general, the Third Army and the Third Mountain Brigade needed to launch an offensive early the day after tomorrow.