Greece to roman road

On the morning of January 7, the general headquarters of the Greek Macedonian Legion welcomed a special guest, Mr. Benjamin, the British Consul in Salonika.

After receiving the news, Constantine walked out of the camp to greet him personally.

Benjamin, wearing a bowler hat, riding attire and brown leather boots, dismounted, took the cane from the servant, took two quick steps, took off his hat and saluted Constantine: "Congratulations. , His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, under your leadership, the Greek army achieved a great victory."

After that, he looked at the guards behind Constantine and complimented: "The bravery and excellent military quality of the Greek soldiers are impressive."

"Thank you for your compliment, Mr. Consul," Constantine nodded.

Constantine greeted Consul Benjamin and entered the conference room. Attendant Hammett politely served Benjamin black tea and snacks.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, I came to visit today because I accepted the request of Aitsa Pasha, the commander of the Salonika garrison in the Ottoman Empire, to deliver a message for him." Sitting on Constantine's guest sofa, he picked up the After taking a sip of the black tea in the porcelain cup, he moistened his throat and said.

Benjamin went straight to the point and explained his purpose.

When Constantine heard the news, he was not surprised at all. The barrier of Salonika has been broken by Greece. The current city of Salonika is surrounded by a flat plain. There is no danger to defend. It will only be lost sooner or later. Something happened.

"No matter what the outcome is, I would like to thank Mr. Consul for his mediation. The Battle of Salonika will end as soon as possible, and the people here can restore the peace of the past as soon as possible," Constantine praised.

Benjamin was noncommittal. The reason why he took this matter was just to take the opportunity to meet with the future king of Greece and find out the next direction of Greece.

"Your Highness, according to the information I have learned, the Balkan Alliance is advancing at a rapid pace, and the Ottomans are unable to effectively resist your attack. Now all European countries are paying attention to this war. If the war drags on for a long time, maybe the whole of Europe will be involved. Come in," Benjamin said.

For a long time, European countries have had the same attitude on the issue of the Ottoman Empire. They can neither allow it to perish nor make it strong. It is best to live half-dead and contentedly.

Only in this way can all countries peacefully suck blood from the Ottoman Empire and reap huge benefits.

Obviously, the current actions of the Balkan Alliance to carve up the territory of the Ottoman Empire are not welcomed by all countries.

"Bulgaria's ambitions are worthy of vigilance. Your Highness, I would like to remind you that according to the news that the British have learned in Bulgaria, Bulgaria is not only interested in Adrianople, but their war goals also include Constantinople." Ambassador Benjamin Telling information about Bulgaria.

Bulgaria's appearance in this war was eye-catching, its army was powerful, and it was known as the Prussia of the Balkans.

The Bulgarians not only have the name of Eastern Prussia, but their style is also very similar to that of the Germans. They are thrifty and rigorous in daily life and brave and fearless in battle.

This war was the largest battle in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War, which naturally attracted major newspapers in Europe to rush to report on the Balkan War.

A large number of reports made this battle one of the most detailed battles recorded in newspapers, and also gave the Bulgarian Army a reputation.

After all, the fierce battle between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire in Thrace was the main battlefield of this war.

In comparison, the Greek and Serbian armies are more like two supporting roles.

According to newspaper reports in Paris, after the victory of the Bulgarian First and Third Armies at the Battle of Kirk Kilise, French War Minister Alexandre Millerand commented that compared to other European armies, Bulgaria has the best army. He preferred to ally with 100,000 Bulgarians.

"The Second Army led by General Ivanov of Bulgaria has won the victory and has been marching forward with great success. Now it has reached the gates of Adrianople, an important Thracian town, and has begun to besiege this heavily guarded city." Benjamin sighed. said.

Adrianople is the last fortress of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Once this city is captured by Bulgaria, it is really possible for Bulgarian King Ferdinand to realize his long-cherished wish of going south to drink the Bosporus.

The city of Adria was historically the capital of the Ottoman Empire. It was not until the Ottomans conquered Constantinople that the capital of the empire was moved to Constantinople.

The Bulgarian army cleanly defeated the Ottoman army in a short period of time, approaching Adrianople. This feat was praised by European newspapers.

"According to the news I heard from London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London has received a diplomatic letter from the Russians. The major countries want to jointly call for peace negotiations to prevent the war from continuing." Benjamin dropped a piece of bombshell news.

Constantine thought to himself, it seems that the Russians can't sit still.

After all, everyone in Europe knows about the Russian ambitions for Constantinople.

Now seeing that Bulgaria is about to approach this city that Russia has dreamed of for hundreds of years, Russia will immediately jump out and call for peace negotiations.

In fact, they were afraid of Bulgaria's little brother, who performed well in this war, and were worried about this little brother, so they took the castle first.

Bulgaria, an ally, seemed to Constantine to be whimsical and too arrogant.

Is Constantinople a small Balkan country that can care about?

Even if Bulgaria really captured Constantinople, the major European powers would allow Bulgaria to occupy Constantinople.

I'm afraid that when the time comes, Russia, Bulgaria's big brother, will be the first to teach his disobedient little brother a lesson.

Constantine ended the meeting after informing Consul Benjamin that he agreed to negotiate with the remaining Ottoman soldiers in Salonika.

On the second day, Constantine's chief of staff, Samaras, as a negotiator, entered the city of Salonika, and the two sides conducted secret negotiations.

That night, Constantine received the conditions from Atesa Pasha: the Greek army allowed more than 60,000 Ottoman soldiers to retreat to Thrace. During the retreat, the Greek army was not allowed to block it in any way.

In exchange, Atesa Pasha promised to hand over the complete city of Salonika to the Greek army.

After receiving news of Samaras' negotiations, Constantine immediately called Athens and informed King George and Prime Minister Venizelos of the news.

Constantine himself agreed to this condition. Greece prevented the city of Salonika from becoming a ruin, and the 60,000 Ottoman troops returned to Thrace to strengthen the Ottoman Empire's defense there, which was beneficial to everyone.

Since the Bulgarian army is known as the Prussia of the East, let them work harder and add some tasks to them.

If you don't pull the opponent's hind legs, how can you call yourself an ally?

After all, after acquiring the city of Salonika, conflict with Bulgaria was inevitable, so there was no need to worry too much about Bulgaria.