30) Battle Preparation and Debate

The reason is none other than gold! At the end of the 19th century, in this era of the gold standard, no one wanted the British to get the gold of South Africa and take control of the world's financial lifeline!

The British, who have historically committed the people's wrath, cleverly used diplomacy to stir up conflicts between countries so that the Great Powers could not unite.

Even so, the British eventually fought hard for three years before winning under the small moves of the countries.

However, against the backdrop of countries that manipulate public opinion to give the British a hard time, the European public has set off a boycott of the British.

The British were victorious while still paying the price, with industrial products forced to lose part of their market in the European region, replaced by German industrial and commercial goods, creating a chance for the German economy to overtake Britain!

The situation now is even worse than in history. In Ferdinand's opinion, even if John Bull's diplomacy is more than good, it is not a short time to fix. Of course, the British don't think the Boers are much of a fighting force!

Of course, now the British are prepared to intervene in the Near East crisis after fighting the Boers!

If Bulgaria is out to weaken the Ottoman Empire, it is estimated they are still happy to do so. After all, the importance of Egypt speaks for itself. The British are not allowed to let go of the landline of transport to India!

In contrast, the Balkans' importance will take a back seat. Besides limiting the expansion of the Russian Empire, it isn't very important to the British Empire in terms of benefits!

Ferdinand took a deep breath, calmed down a bit, and said, "Since everyone has no opinion, let's sign with France and Russia as soon as possible!

Don't think about those useless. All we have to do now is get ready for war, get ready for war, and get ready for war! Strive to win the war with the least cost and get the biggest piece of the cake!

As for the navy, just leave it to the Russians. Anyway, there is a history of this. Isn't it true that the Russians were the ones who took care of the army before?

Isn't the army returning to our own hands now? Don't have any stress in your mind. Instead of this, go and put your energy into building the country!"

The new Minister of Defense Petrov asked in a nervous voice: "Your Highness, are we now going to conduct an all-out preparation for war right away?"

Ferdinand thought about it, nodded, and said, "Yeah, what's the plan for your Ministry of Defense?"

Petrov said calmly, "Our Ministry of Defense has devised a national reserve training program, in which all young people (over 17 years old and under 55 years old) in Bulgaria of the right age are required to take part in military training.

With the actual situation in mind, we focused our reserve training on the countryside, using the spare time of farming to conduct militarized training.

The training time varies from three to six months per year, although such high-intensity training also requires the government to allocate part of the funds to subsidize the young and strong people who participate in the training.

Of course, townspeople are not exempt, but since most of them work in factories, we reduced the training time to one month per year!

In theory, once war breaks out, we can mobilize 300,000 troops within three days, 600,000 troops within a week and the maximum limit of mobilization can reach one million people!"

Ferdinand's face changed slightly and then returned to normal, and he thought: 'This may be the historical Bulgarian set of mobilization system! But now, I'm afraid it's a little crazy. After all, the people have not been through the humiliation of the Second Balkan War. Who knows if the people can withstand such hardship?'

"Mr. Petrov, has your Ministry of Defense considered the actual situation when it made this plan? It is the whole of the country already, will the Bulgarian population be able to bear it?"

Petrov said confidently: "Your Highness, please don't worry! Bulgaria has a tradition of having a full military population; in fact, all Balkan countries have a tradition of having a full military population. If Serbia could do it before, there is no reason we can't do it!

As long as there is sufficient military funding, we at the Ministry of Defense can ensure this mission is accomplished!"

Looking at the confident Minister of Defense, Ferdinand knew that it was hard to say in other countries, but Bulgaria was really able to complete, but the capitalists will have a hard time, or Ferdinand himself will have to lose a lot of money!

Besides, if only it were Bulgaria and Ottoman alone, Ferdinand may not likely really fought, but it's not to that point yet.

So he threw it into the cabinet, opened his mouth, and asked, "What does the cabinet think?"

The result was beyond Ferdinand's surprise, and the cabinet, which was expected to oppose it, actually supported the Ministry of Defense's proposal en masse!

Konstantin: "Your Highness, I see no problem with the program developed by the Ministry of Defense to maximize the war potential of Bulgaria!"

Then Minister of Foreign Affairs Metev, Minister of Industry Vladimir Ivanov, and Minister of Education Chekhov voiced their support!

Ferdinand finally understood why Bulgaria was able to expand in World War I. 'The fall of a single leaf ushers in the autumn'1). What could not be done in the context of the upper line?

He still shook his head and said, "That's true in theory, but you've overlooked the logistical supply problem when war breaks out! We also have to have enough manpower to put into logistics!

From the military point of view, after the outbreak of war, the main battlefield is the Macedonian and Istanbul regions. Other regions are secondary battlefields. We simply do not need to use so many troops!

How many troops did the Ottoman Empire have? How many troops are there in Europe? There are less than 200,000 people in Europe right now! Even their entire army is merely 500,000 to 600,000 men!

With their rotten system and low efficiency, if they want to mobilize the whole country, it is estimated that the war will already be over before it starts!

The enemy army we face, at most 300,000 to 400,000, but we also have to consider that they suffer from a lack of response, in this regard, detailed information, someone will give you later!

Don't be scared by the name of the Ottoman Empire. This huge empire is already very sick. The most they can mobilize is the European region, and the reserve training is deserted!

The supplies reserve is a joke! If we really want to fight, I guess they are not as good as the Serbs! At least when the national crisis, the Serbian government officials still perform well.

Ottoman Empire? Suppose half of the funds are used in practice and are already running. In that case, it is usually under the situation of different stages of restraint down, adhere to the seven or eight stages of the normal level!

In addition, there is no need to ignore that we still have always a 200,000 people army available! When necessary, with a little training, we can send the militarized road construction workers to the battlefield!

So this time, the main preparation for the war is in the supplies and personnel training, rather than simply go after the number!"

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1) It means that when you see a leaf fall, you can tell the coming of autumn. It is a metaphor to deduce the changes and trends of things from subtle signs.