1890 King of Southeast Asia

A small village at the border between Bulgaria and Serbia.

There are only more than 300 people in the village, half of them are Serbians and half are Bulgarians.

Because there are often merchants passing by at the border between the two countries, this village is relatively wealthy. Of course, these merchants are not completely legal.

But who cares? In this era, civilians only care about their three meals a day. More is too luxurious.

There is enough food, clean clothes, and some medicines can be bought from "merchants" when they are sick. There is even a small school.

The life in this village has surpassed most ordinary families in the countryside of the two countries. They are very satisfied with their comfortable days and think that such days will continue.

After all, these "merchants" can make huge profits from trade and will not give up easily.

But one day, everything changed.

That day, the mayor came with a team of cavalry and recruited 20 young people from their village.

This village of more than 300 people, excluding the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled and women, only has more than 100 young and middle-aged men, and one-fifth of them were taken away at once.

This is not the end. After the war started, tax officials came to collect taxes several times a month, and the residents' only savings were gradually plundered.

In addition, the war started, road management became strict all of a sudden, the number of merchants dropped sharply, the income of residents also dropped sharply, and life became more and more difficult.

As the fighting on the front line became more and more intense, the Grand Duke needed enough soldiers, and the mayor took away another 30 people one after another.

There were few middle-aged men, and many tasks could not be completed satisfactorily. In addition, the number of merchants decreased, and hunger began to appear in the village.

When people are hungry, their consciousness will be disordered. Many people set their sights on the homes of men who went to the army and robbed them clean.

The village chief tried to stop it, but failed, and then hanged himself in pain.

"From today on, this village has lost its unity. We are no longer brothers and sisters. Instead of waiting for death in fear, it is better to face death."

This was the last sentence left by the village chief. Unfortunately, no one in the village heard it, and no one would care if they heard it.

A big fight broke out in the village. First, the families that lost their men were robbed of everything, and the wives and children were driven out to fend for themselves. Then, the elderly families were targeted.

By the end of the war, there were only 101 people left in the village.

Just as the remaining villagers were looking forward to a bright tomorrow, they were greeted by a more cruel reality.

The "merchants" disappeared, well, they could still farm.

But the chaos after the war created many bandits. Ferdinand I sent troops to suppress the bandits, and the bandits were gradually compressed to the border.

Then, because of the sensitive border issue, the army stopped.

Coincidentally, the situation in Serbia was similar to that in Bulgaria, or even worse.

On November 30, a light snow visited the village.

Along with the light snow, there were more than 20 "bandits". They rode tall horses, didn't speak, and wantonly killed all the lives they could see.

Two hours later, the crying and shouting in the village basically stopped. After another hour, the "bandits" left the village, leaving only a mess.

Half an hour later, three trucks arrived at the village, and fifteen minutes later, the trucks left again. On the same day, several airships flew from Bulgaria to different directions.

…

On December 1, newspapers printed with photos of the nameless village spread throughout the European continent.

Because of its outrageous behavior, Europeans named it the Chuprene Massacre after the village.

This place is only 200 kilometers away from the capital Sofia in a straight line, and it is not an exaggeration to call it the foot of the emperor.

On December 2, under the instruction of Ferdinand I, a temporary investigation team with the participation of personnel from many countries was quickly established and rushed to the village of Chuprene.

The investigation soon came to a conclusion, and all evidence showed that it was done by bandits composed of Serbian deserters.

On December 6, angry Sofia citizens "spontaneously" took to the streets to demand severe punishment for the murderer.

"Punish the murderer!"

"Punish the murderer!"

"Punish the murderer!"

"Did you hear that, gentlemen? My people are angry, angry at their compatriots being mercilessly slaughtered."

"Listen, listen to the voice of the people. There should be some action in the army, right?" Ferdinand I looked at his army chief of staff, Barolov.

Although Ferdinand I did not know when his people became so conscious, it did not prevent him from seeing the opportunity.

An opportunity to establish Bulgaria's leadership in the Balkans.

"There are also many soldiers who are dissatisfied in the army. We have several soldiers whose hometown is in Chuprene. Their anger is understandable." Barolov looked at the prime minister and said softly.

On the issue of investigation, after finding out that the murderer was from Serbia, the government was divided into two factions.

One faction is the government faction that advocates taking some compensation to settle the matter, also known as the pro-Russian faction.

The other faction is the hard-line faction that advocates a tough solution to the matter, demanding compensation and a public apology from Serbia, also known as the pro-German faction.

The pro-Russian faction is headed by the Prime Minister, and is mainly composed of landowners and nobles. The pro-German hardliners are headed by Ferdinand I, and are mainly composed of military factions and capitalists.

"Prime Minister, I know that the government believes this is just a misunderstanding and does not want to damage the alliance."

"But I must tell you that the reason why Bulgaria exists and why it escaped from the control of the Ottoman Empire is not because of Serbia's efforts."

Ferdinand I pointed to the boiling people outside the window.

"It is because of the support of these people, because they sent their sons and husbands to the army to fight against the Ottomans, that you can sit here and be your prime minister."

"We are Bulgarians, not Serbs, please remember this."

Ferdinand I walked to the window sill expressionlessly, turned back and said to Pavlov:

"General Barolov, please inform Serbia that we need them to publicly punish the criminals and apologize and compensate at this time."

Then, Ferdinand I pushed open the window and raised his hands to the people.

"People of Bulgaria, your tsar is here!"

Without a loudspeaker, Ferdinand's voice could not be heard far, but his appearance caused the crowd to become more agitated.

"Quiet, quiet!" With Ferdinand's shouting and dancing, the crowd gradually quieted down.

"My people, I am your Tsar, Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria."

"I know why you are here, and I also know why you are angry. I understand your anger. Please believe me, I am as angry as you!"

"I have ordered General Barolov to immediately submit an official letter to Serbia, demanding that the murderer be brought to justice."

Ferdinand's speaking ability is very average, so he chose to speak his mind and tell his people what he would do.

"Your Majesty, what if Serbia protects the murderer? I heard that the murderer is from the Serbian military."

The crowd near the building was the quietest, and suddenly spoke, attracting everyone's attention.

Ferdinand I did not hear this question at the first time, and he heard it only when the crowd began to repeat it.

But the words changed from person to person. In Ferdinand I's ears, the question became-what if the Serbian military insisted on keeping the murderer?

"Then I can only express my regret to the Kingdom of Serbia and the friendship between us as allies."

"Bulgaria cannot be insulted easily. If they don't listen to our voices, I will use cannons to play music in their ears!"

For Ferdinand I, this is just a very normal operation. After all, he is famous for "holding grudges" among European royal families.

It's not that he hasn't done more excessive things than this. For example, during the funeral of Edward VII, he had a conflict with Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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The cause was the order of the carriages. In the end, Archduke Ferdinand won. The Archduke's carriage was in front and his was behind the Archduke.

The dining car was in the seventh carriage. In retaliation, Ferdinand I refused Archduke Ferdinand to pass through his carriage to the dining car and did not let him eat.

There are countless such things.

"War!"

"War!"

"War..."

I don't know who took the lead, anyway, in the end, the whole square was filled with this voice.

It was obviously a very simple question, why did it develop to this stage? The Prime Minister did not quite understand.

"Your Majesty, the Russian ambassador hopes to see you."

After Ferdinand I finished his speech, the Prime Minister rushed over.

"If it is about Serbia, there is no need to say it, just let Serbia give an explanation." Ferdinand I leisurely drank a sip of red wine to moisten his throat.

"I am afraid not, Your Majesty, just today, the same thing happened in Serbia, and what's worse is that the murderer was caught, and it was a Bulgarian soldier." The Russian ambassador broke free and rushed in.

Ferdinand I frowned, looked at the Prime Minister deeply, and then looked at the Russian ambassador slowly.

"Impossible, Bulgaria did not organize soldiers to retaliate, nor did it intend to retaliate in this way." Ferdinand I denied it flatly.

"Your Majesty, those soldiers came from that village, and it has been confirmed that it was an act of revenge, and when they took these actions, they were still part of the Bulgarian Kingdom Army."

"That's the fact. Things are becoming more and more complicated. We suspect that... someone is manipulating it, so I hope you can calm down."

The Russian ambassador wanted to say that the Germans were manipulating it, but then he thought that the person in front of him was a German nobleman, born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and had a lot of assets in Germany and Austria.

"I see, we won't take action for the time being, and hope to find out the truth as soon as possible." Ferdinand was silent for a while and said.

The Russian ambassador breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a few words, and left.

After the Russians left, Ferdinand drove everyone away, leaving only his confidant Barollov.

"Let Barollov take this letter to Vienna and give it to my dear uncle. He knows what to do." Ferdinand wrote a letter by hand, sealed it, and gave it to Barollov.

His uncle was Franz Joseph, the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The relationship between them was not very good, especially after he asked his son to give up Roman Catholicism and convert to Orthodoxy, they were almost hostile.

"Yes, my dear Majesty." Barolov looked at the envelope in shock, pursed his lips and nodded.