Holy Roman Empire

In terms of interests, Britain and France will definitely have less pressure to sell them. The Sudanese government has a bottom line, and it is impossible to make unlimited concessions.

Abdul Mejid I thought for a while and said: "Then we will take another step back, as long as Austria is willing to cease the war with us, we will cede the Principality of Moldavia to them.

The specific negotiation is up to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide on your own. We have already had enough troubles. In short, we cannot let the Austrians come to participate in the cooperation again. "

The Principality of Moldavia encompasses the descendants: northern Romania, the Republic of Moldova, parts of Ukraine.

This is the border area between the Ottoman Empire and the Russians on the Balkan Peninsula.In order not to be neighbors with the Russians, Abdul Mejid I didn't mind giving away this hot potato.

After a pause, Abdul Mejid I seemed to feel that this condition was not safe, and he added: "The bottom line is the Principality of Wallachia, and other regions on the Balkan Peninsula can only make small concessions."

When he said this, he was still a little bit pained.

If I had known that the war would evolve to the present situation, I should have agreed to the British proposal and threw the two principalities of the Danube River Basin to Austria to provoke their conflicts with the Russians.

Abdul Mejid I knew that even if the coalition forces won the war, they would not be able to restore their pre-war sphere of influence.

This world speaks with fists, without the strength, how can they get so much profit.At that time, as long as the great powers make a slight provocation, the Balkan nations who want to be independent will not respond one after another.

Ethnic conflicts in the Ottoman Empire have not been a day or two. Although the Sudanese government has made a lot of efforts, it still has little effect because of the grassroots execution capabilities.

If the wave of independence cannot be stopped, the decline will become a foregone conclusion.

If other countries are in decline, they can still pretend to be grandchildren.Anyway, there are many small countries on the European continent, as long as you follow the right boss, you can still live a good life.

Only the Ottoman Empire can't do it, let alone the enemies all over Europe, and hatred can't be eaten as food, if you make more apologies, things can always pass.

It's a pity that they are not a small country, with a very strong family background and a very important geographical location. It is located at the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa, which can be called the heart of the world.

A little inventory will show that there are three of the ten most important straits in the world that will be controlled or influenced by the Ottoman Empire in the future: the Black Sea Strait, the Red Sea Strait (Suez Canal), and the Strait of Hormuz (Persian Gulf).

With so many strategically important places, if there is not enough strength to guard them, then people will sit at home and disaster will come from heaven.

In history, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, it was to cut, cut, and cut again, and it was considered stable after throwing away these hot potatoes.

Obviously, this is not acceptable to the Sudanese government. Who doesn't have the dream of a big country?Even the corrupt Sudanese government is also unwilling to sink.

The reform and striving for strength that started in the last century is their self-help movement.Through these reforms, the Ottoman Empire was successfully returned to the ranks of great powers.

It's a pity that it's just a pseudo-power, and the tiger's skin was torn apart in the first battle with the Russians, exposing its weak nature.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Fu Ade replied cautiously

The pressure, now he felt the heavy pressure.There is no credit for this matter being done well, and any land ceding and compensation will not be good.

If it goes wrong, the Ottoman Empire will be in danger.The Greeks were probably the last straw that crushed them, and Ade didn't know that the Greek government simply wanted to grab the territory.

Chapter 86 Scandal

The choice that the Greeks consider themselves to be the right choice is undoubtedly unsatisfactory to both sides, and it can be said that they are not pleasing to both sides.

The Russians can barely accept that no matter where the Greeks are fighting, they have tied down part of the energy of the Ottoman Empire.Now is a critical moment. One more ally will give us more power and increase our odds of winning.

Britain and France can't stand it anymore, especially the British. In their view, Greece's approach is a naked betrayal.

The conflict between the two countries in 1850 was ignored by the London government.Ignore that the two countries had turned against each other when Palmerston ordered the blockade of the Piraeus port a few years ago.

Of course, John Bull didn't want to irritate the Greeks at this time.In case they go straight to Constantinople regardless, and cut off their logistics transportation line along the way, the coalition forces on the Balkan Peninsula will be finished in less than half a month.

While discussing a new front in Parliament in London, Foreign Secretary Palmerston got into trouble.I didn't control my lower body, and got involved with the queen's maid.

This is nothing, there are many bad things about nobles, and it doesn't matter to add one more.Cheating in private, if you steal it, you steal it, and when everyone turns a blind eye, it's over.

But they had a tryst in the palace, but they were unlucky, and they were bumped into by Prince Albert face to face.

The matter is on the bright side, this is a court scandal, Prince Albert is angry, and Queen Victoria is also angry.

If you don't kill everyone, where is the dignity of the royal family?

Things got into a big mess, and the unlucky Palmerston and the maid were arrested by the guards in the palace on the spot, and they gave them a good meal.

Under Franz's butterfly effect, history has reached a turning point.Historically, Palmerston broke the virginity of the Queen's maid, and that was a private matter.

The window paper has not been pierced, and there is still room for maneuver.In history, Palmerston also paid a painful price for this. Not only did he go out of the field, but he also spent a lot of money to find someone to intercede. After exchanging political interests, he finally returned to the political arena.

Now that one person has been caught and stolen, let alone what will happen in the future, how to get through this catastrophe is a problem.

If the news gets out that the Foreign Minister is promiscuous with the court, it will be lively.The fire of gossip among the British people is very strong, and I don't know what kind of picture book to compile.

John Russell was dumbfounded. He had nothing to say about his admiration for Palmerston. He couldn't envy this colleague's love affair, and he admired his ability to commit suicide even more.

Then, he had to find a way to deal with the aftermath.The royal family must give an explanation, and this colleague can't just disappear for no reason.

Palmerston was no small man. He was not only the foreign minister of the British Empire, but also the spokesperson of the bourgeoisie in the government, and he had great influence among the people.

Prince Albert asked: "Prime Minister, how do you think this problem should be handled?"

After arresting the man, Prince Albert regretted it.There are plenty of opportunities behind Palmerston to clean up, so why do it now?

People with long mouths don't wear it, God knows how the outside will arrange it.Maybe some people will think that this is a drama created by the royal family to persecute ministers.

For the sake of the royal family's reputation, this matter is destined to be handled coldly.Prince Albert, who has a strong political mind, naturally chose to play football.

……

The sudden scandal directly affected the efficiency of the London government, delayed the opening of the second front, and created opportunities for the Russians.

In a small dilapidated village in Plovdiv, Bulgarian partisans are meeting secretly.

"Everyone, just now we received information that the Ottoman Empire withdrew the troops that encircled us, and they were replaced by the [-] British Army that just arrived.

This is a challenge as well as an opportunity. The combat power of the British is much stronger than that of the Ottomans. Without two or three times the superior force, we are not their opponents at all.

Obviously, we don't have that many troops, and that's an upcoming challenge.

We know from the captives that there are also many conflicts between the British and the Ottomans. Although they are allies, the arrogant British just use them as cannon fodder.

This is an opportunity. Since they have conflicts, it is difficult for the two parties to cooperate closely.

After all, the British are outsiders. They are not familiar with the environment in Bulgaria. At this time, they are handing over to the Ottomans. Chaos is inevitable in the short term.

According to the news from the inside, the 2000 Ottoman defenders in Plovdiv evacuated yesterday, and now there are less than 800 left, of which there are only [-] British soldiers.

This is an opportunity. If the few of us join forces to capture Plovdiv in one fell swoop and destroy the enemy's material transfer station, the war on the Sofia front will inevitably be affected. "

It was a middle-aged man who spoke, and he was Dimiter, the main leader of these Bulgarian guerrilla alliances.

Don't think that the Bulgarian guerrillas have already established a system because they have a large number of people. In fact, they are not unified, and they still fight independently.

The real purpose of the Russians who supported them was to add chaos to the Ottoman Empire, but they were not prepared to make them really independent, so naturally they would not be unified.

In this era, Bulgarian nationalism has not yet awakened, and the later father of Bulgaria, Hristo Potov, was still a child in kindergarten. (if there is a kindergarten)

The motivation of Bulgarian resistance is mainly from the oppression of the Ottoman government and the persecution of religious belief.

A young officer with black hair and green eyes stood up and objected: "Mr. Dimiter, Plovdiv is only 15 kilometers away from Asenovgrad, and only 30 kilometers away from Pazarzhik.

This means that once we launch an attack on Plovdiv, the reinforcements of the enemy Asenovgrad will arrive on the same day, and the reinforcements of Pazardzhik will be delayed until the next day at most.

Pazarzhik still has [-] defenders, and Asenovgrad also has [-] defenders. The enemy I have to face is not two thousand but seven thousand.

The enemy has just withdrawn [-] defenders, and there will definitely be new troops coming over. We haven't received any information about this, which is very unreasonable.

There are only three possibilities for this to happen: first, the enemy commander forgot and ignored the importance of Plovdiv; second, there was a problem with our intelligence system; fool us.

The first case is obviously impossible.The enemy is not that stupid, it is impossible to fail to see such a simple problem.

The people who provided us with information are Bulgarian people from all over the country. The actions of large troops cannot be kept secret. Judging from the information we have received, there is no large group of troops coming to Plovdiv yet.

Then the possibility that this is a trap is very high. If we cannot occupy Plovdiv in a short period of time, the surrounding enemy forces will swarm in for at most three days and trap us here. "

Dimiter explained: "Cypros, you are right. This is probably an enemy trap, but the temptation is too great.

We all know that the enemy has accumulated a lot of supplies in Plovdiv, and even if this is a decoy, we have the opportunity to destroy these supplies.

Although I am not sure how much strategic materials the enemy has hoarded in Sofia, but judging from the enemy's emphasis on logistics and transportation, it can be roughly judged that the strategic materials in the Sofia area are not enough to support their frontline troops until the end of the war.

After destroying these supplies, we will run away. As for the city of Plovdiv, let’s leave it to the Ottomans for the time being. We will come back after this battle is over. "

Dimiter's analysis is well-founded. Up to now, the enemy's strength in the Sofia area has dropped to [-].It was under such circumstances that Montes also dispatched [-] British soldiers to be responsible for logistics and transportation.

Due to the logistics occupying a large number of troops, this resulted in the situation where the coalition forces were pushed to the ground by the Russians on the front line of Sofia.

Because of the tension in the army, Montes asked for help from the country.Dimiter was in a hurry to break the situation, mainly because the enemy's reinforcements were coming soon, and if he didn't fight, he really couldn't win.

This is the aftermath of the hasty response of the coalition forces. The Russians had prepared in advance, and the troops on the front line suffered heavy losses, so they immediately retreated to replenish.

The supplementary soldiers were all sent to the Principality of Wallachia, but not sent directly to the front line. It was because the logistics could not afford it, so they could only stay by the Danube River.

The Ottoman Empire played stud directly, and now it relies on recruiting strong men to replenish its troops. Since most of the Balkan Peninsula has fallen, there is no place to catch strong men, and the speed of replenishment can no longer keep up with the consumption speed of the front line.

Britain and France are too far away from the Balkan Peninsula. If they want to replenish troops, they must report to the country and go through layers of bureaucratic approval.

From this point of view, the British are indeed far-sighted in preparing to open a second front. Once the Crimean Peninsula War starts, the Russians will be exhausted.

No matter how well prepared you are, there is no limit.Poor domestic traffic is undoubtedly the biggest enemy, restricting the deployment of Russian power.

A middle-aged man said with a sneer, "Mr. Dimiter, our guerrillas together only have more than 5000 people, and you know how the weapons and equipment are.

If this is a trap, the enemy will definitely be prepared.On the surface, the enemy's combat-capable troops were the eight hundred British soldiers.

But who actually knows?The army of the Ottoman Empire is not incapable of fighting. If they were all a bunch of waste, we would have returned to the country long ago.

In case the more than 1000 Ottoman defenders are the elite troops of the Ottomans, plus [-] British soldiers, their combat effectiveness is not much worse than ours.

I think it is too risky to attack Plovdiv rashly. Even if we have internal support in the city, the chance of success is too low. "

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. The Bulgarian guerrillas were originally divided into many branches, most of which were formed by region. Many people are peeping at the leadership of the guerrillas.

Dimiter is only the nominal leader of these guerrillas, and there are many people who are dissatisfied with him.It's just that in the face of a common enemy, this contradiction has been suppressed.

"What is Mr. Hamill's opinion?" Dimiter asked calmly.

He could tell that Hamill was not opposed to attacking Plovdiv, but had other plans.

Hamill smiled slightly and said, "It's not a good idea, since we're not sure if it's a trap, let's test it first.

First attack Zarjik, [-] kilometers away. We have already figured out the situation there. The [-] defenders are all Ottomans, and their combat effectiveness is very average. It is not difficult for us to join forces to eat them.

If the enemy has traps, it will be exposed at this time. It is impossible for them to arrange a [-]-kilometer encirclement.

If there are no traps, we will take a short cut and go straight to Plovdiv.The surrounding enemy forces have been drawn to Zarzhik, and our raids have had a high success rate. "

Dimiter thought for a while and said: "This is indeed a good way to minimize the risk. However, the pressure on the guerrillas is still too great to attack in two places.

It seems that it is necessary to contact Boris and the others. They will be responsible for attacking Zarzhik to break the situation. Let us help first.

Kill the enemies of Plovdiv and Asenovgrad as soon as they leave the city to make the siege easier. "

This was not the first siege of the Bulgarian partisans, but it was their first major counterattack since their defeat in the Battle of Sofia.

After more than two months of recuperation, they have regained their vitality. Although they have not reached their peak, their confidence has been displayed.

In this regard, the Sardinian army also has credit.If they hadn't created opportunities for the Bulgarians, these guerrillas are still fighting the coalition forces on the ground.

It is estimated that at this time, they have already suffered heavy casualties.Mao Xiong is not a good friend, and he used the guerrillas as cannon fodder from the beginning.Ordering the Bulgarian guerrillas to tear apart the coalition's line of defense, interspersed to the rear and flanked the coalition forces, obviously wanted to kill with a knife.

It's a pity that the plan didn't change quickly. Who knew that the Sardinian army was so cowardly that they were actually penetrated by the Bulgarian guerrillas and penetrated to the rear.

The Russians didn't believe that the guerrillas could do it at all, they failed to respond in time, and lost a chance to win the war.

Chapter 87 The Lesson of Blood

Snowflakes are flying, and another year of winter is coming.Vienna, which is wrapped in a layer of silver, has become extraordinarily pleasant this winter.

Schönbrunn Palace

Metternich reported: "Your Majesty, the British and French envoys have forwarded the Ottoman truce negotiations to the Foreign Ministry. It seems that the Sudanese government is preparing to deal with the aftermath."

This did not surprise Franz. Since the war started, the Ottomans have suffered the most losses, followed by the Russians. The losses of Britain and France are all drizzle and not worth mentioning.

Without strength, everything is empty. It is inevitable for the Ottomans to shrink their sphere of influence in the future. Taking advantage of the support of Britain and France now, it is more in their interest to end the war with Austria early and shrink their troops to go back to beat the Greeks.

Franz thought for a while and said, "According to our original plan, talk to the Ottomans slowly, and find out their bottom line first."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Metternich replied

The second Bulgarian battle has been fought so far, and both sides are exhausted.In the past few days of high-intensity combat, the soldiers' war-weariness has increased day by day, and the morale of the troops on both sides of the war has inevitably declined.

Except for the Greeks who had just entered the war, and the Montenegrins who were dazzled by the victory, the rest were holding on.

On the surface, the Russians had the upper hand, and Franz knew very well that this was just an appearance, and that this was a battle for both sides.

Just look at the casualties of the Russians. After more than four months of fierce fighting, the casualties of the Russian army have exceeded 17.