Vol 4 Chapter 128: , Political offensive

Since ancient times, politics has been sordid. Don’t let the Allies and the Allies fight to the death on the battlefield, but in private, the contact between everyone has never been broken, and there are even some insider trading continuing.
Between countries, allies and enemies are always only on the front line. As long as the benefits are large enough, allies can become enemies, and enemies can become allies!
The most typical are the feuds of Britain and France and the mortal enemies of Britain and Russia. They have become allies under the influence of interests, while Britain and Germany have been negotiating on the issue of alliances and suddenly become enemies.
Even a year before the formal alliance, if anyone said that Britain, France, and Britain and Russia could form an alliance, everyone would treat it as a joke!
When Ferdinand attacked the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was not a unilateral decision made by Bulgaria. In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was actively cooperating!
The most typical thing is that after the initial losses, the Austro-Hungarian Empire changed its strategy and decisively let Bulgaria choose to go to pk with Russia. Although there are factors that Bulgaria is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is also inevitable that the bear is attacking. , The reason for their excessive pressure on the eastern front is that the two countries have reached a tacit understanding between Paul and Austria!
As for the purpose of the behind-the-scenes transaction, it is actually very obvious: 1. The Russians pose too much of a threat to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even if Austro-Hungary does not fight the bears, they will not let them go;
2. A strong Russia is not in the interests of Bulgaria, especially after the Russo-Japanese War, Bulgaria has been out of the control of the Russians, Ferdinand naturally does not want strong Russia to come back!
Then, on the position of weakening the bear, the two countries’ interests were aligned, and it was natural that it was a hit. Then the two governments tacitly reduced the scale of the battle. Even if the front-line generals discovered the fighters, they were forcibly stopped by the government.
But this kind of tacit understanding cannot last. When the Eastern Front is over, the Russians have been weakened, and the common interests of the two sides naturally no longer exist.
As a result, the Austro-Hungarian Empire tried every means to pull the Germans to initiate a battle on the Southern Front, and Ferdinand naturally had no need to be merciful.
You must know that since the beginning of the war, the Germans bombed London and Paris, and Britain and France bombed Berlin. As the earliest force in the air force, Bulgaria had never bombed Vienna on a large scale. This is simply a fantasy!
Well, the Bulgarian Air Force is also frequently deployed, but most of the time it is soy sauce, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also bombed a lot, but every time it just drops a few grenades to deal with it!
It is also under this situation that even if the Russians gave up their interests in Romania, it is no wonder that they have to push Bulgaria to the forefront. After all, they have to retaliate after suffering a dark loss?
Unfortunately, unlike the last time the Allied nations collectively pit the Russians, Bulgaria is obviously not worthy of the three countries of Britain, France and Russia. The sudden defeat of the Russians has frightened Britain and France. For fear that Bulgaria will come again, then they will face Germany alone. People!
Don't say that the French dare not now, even the professional pit teammate John Bull is stunned at this time. The pit teammates must also choose a good time. If one does not operate well and bury himself, it will be a tragedy!
Of course, since the war has progressed to the present, Ferdinand is naturally active, and it is also a good choice to induce the Austro-Hungarian Empire to reverse from the standpoint of Bulgaria.
Unfortunately, this is impossible. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is almost controlled by the Germans. Even if Ferdinand II is not reconciled, at most he just wants to withdraw from the war decently. As for the counterattack, he wants to OK!
The Austro-Hungarian Empire could not stop the Germans' revenge. Even if the Germans are really going to die, they still have the ability to drag a big country to Huangquan before they die, choosing between picking up the traitors and picking up the enemy. Question, this question does not need to be considered at all!
However, being unable to do it does not mean that it cannot be done. Politically, it is never pure success and failure. Sometimes the benefits of failure are greater than success!
...
At the Bulgarian Foreign Policy Seminar, Ferdinand put forward: "Mr. Metjeev, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must seize the time to communicate with the Austro-Hungarian government, and strive to allow the Austro-Hungarian Empire to withdraw from the war.
If no agreement can be reached, then we will cooperate with the Kingdom of Hungary. I believe they will not mind withdrawing from the war! "
There is no doubt that this is threatening the Austro-Hungarian government, and it is very clear that it is good for them to cooperate. If the cooperation fails, then Bulgaria will support the independence of the Kingdom of Hungary!
Even support the independence of various ethnic groups in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and dismember this old empire!
Foreign Secretary Medev frowned and said with some worry: "Your Majesty, this may be very troublesome. It is well known that our strategic focus has shifted from Europe to Asia.
From the perspective of our strategic interests, the existence of an Austro-Hungarian empire with a certain strength is far more valuable than the divided Austro-Hungarian empire.
For a long time to come, we all need a stable Eastern Europe that allows us to concentrate on operating the Asia Minor Peninsula! "
Ferdinand nodded. The Austro-Hungarian government still has the confidence to talk about the conditions. It is undoubtedly that they think they have insight into Bulgaria's future strategy.
They believed that a "strong" Austro-Hungarian Empire existed, which could counterbalance the continued expansion of the Russians to the European continent. For strategic reasons, neither Britain, France nor Bulgaria will let the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapse!
Unfortunately, this time the Vienna government made a wrong calculation. After all, Ferdinand II was still inferior to the diplomatic insight of the old emperor Joseph I. He ignored that strength is the root of all this!
If the Austro-Hungarian Empire withdrew from the war ahead of schedule and preserved its strength, then everything has to be discussed. Conversely, if after the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire loses its strength and loses its ability to check and balance the bears, are they still valuable to Britain and France?
After pondering for a moment, Ferdinand said coldly: "Then remind the Vienna government that only strength is the root of all this, we don't need a waste!"
Of course, Ferdinand did not expect that a threat alone would make the Austro-Hungarian Empire withdraw from the war, but this threat was enough to make the Vienna government look forward and backward.
This is a conspiracy. If the Vienna government wants to preserve its own interests, it must first preserve its own strength!
Whether they continue to cooperate with the Germans or turn to cooperate with the Allied powers, their own strength is the first, so in the following wars, they dare to give it a go?
Don't look at it now, Germany and Austria are the closest allies. Once the strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is exhausted and the world war is over, there is nothing surprising about U-turning and annexing them!
The interests of countries always come first. The call for the establishment of the Greater German Empire in Germany is not low. Will the Vienna government dare to gamble? In other words, there is not enough interest, why should they gamble?
Why can the Austro-Hungarian Empire persist for more than four years in history? The reason is simple. The Russians first collapsed in 1917. The Austria-Hungary Empire lost its greatest enemy on the Eastern Front, and the major political groups in the country saw a chance to win!
Essentially speaking, now the domestic production and transportation system in Austria-Hungary has begun to collapse, and their war potential has almost been consumed.
Take food production as an example. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is indeed a granary in Eastern Europe. This is not said, but when the war is on the land of Austria-Hungary, should agricultural production be guaranteed?
The war drew a lot of human resources and livestock, so what should be done in agricultural production? Where can the lack of labor be supplemented? There is no place to supplement, so we can only cut production! A large number of people are off work, coupled with the increase in material consumption, this is no problem!
Of course, the Russian prisoners of war also made up for a part of the labor shortage. Unfortunately, this part of the dividend has nothing to do with the country. The corrupt system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly swallowed all of this!
The food produced is not used to maximize the livelihood of the people, but is used by the capitalists for hoarding, especially the Kingdom of Hungary has done one-tenth outstanding!
As for the transportation system, the intensity of transportation during the war would have been much higher than usual. As a result, the maintenance costs of railways and highways have naturally risen, and the loss of transportation tools has naturally been much greater. For example, trains were in the pre-war period. , The service life of a train may be several years or more than ten years, but it runs around the clock during the war, and it may only take a few months to be updated or overhauled!
Due to the butterfly effect of Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is now at the forefront, especially after the two general wars on the Eastern Front last year, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been greatly injured.
Not only did the army lose more than two million troops, but it also consumed a large amount of strategic materials in the domestic reserve. The most important thing is that the industry in Bohemia also suffered heavy losses. For example, the largest military industry company Skoda Arsenal was forced to follow suit during the war. move!
At the same time, the ethnic contradictions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire are actually very serious. There is no dominant nation. The poor dualistic political system is undoubtedly the source of contradictions!
The defeat of the war will undoubtedly aggravate the national conflicts in the country. Originally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was brought together by the powerful influence of the Habsburg family. The current Ferdinand II does not have the old emperor’s long-standing establishment. prestige!
The domestic careerists naturally saw the opportunity. If the Allied Powers still don’t know how to use it, their heads will be flooded!
...
Then there was no more. When Ferdinand's opinions were passed on to the Vienna government, the Austrian-Hungarian government began to feel embarrassed.
If the war did not break out in their homeland, it is estimated that the Vienna government would have pretended to preserve its strength, but now that the enemy has reached its doorstep, how can it preserve its strength?
However, Bulgaria’s warning cannot be ignored, otherwise disaster is about to come. As long as the Bulgarian Air Force drops tens of thousands of tons of bombs on their railway line, it is estimated that their frontline troops will be hungry!
Just look at the Germans. They all fend off the enemy outside the country, but Berlin is still bombed regularly! Well, thousands of tons of bombs are thrown in London every year!
air defense? It would be good to be able to guard against Vienna, and the arsenal can be hidden, but how can the railways and stations scattered across the country be hidden? Anyway, you can throw a bomb when you see the skin of a train, you can't go wrong!
Of course, the Austro-Hungarian Empire can also choose retaliatory bombing. Unfortunately, this idea has no military feasibility. The difference in the strength of the air forces between the two sides is too large, and basically there is no return.
This has been exposed in previous battles. The survival rate of the aircraft that went to bomb the Bulgarian army positions was less than one-third!
Even if the pilots of this era are not as valuable as later generations, they are still too expensive compared to the army. After more than two years of war, the Austro-Hungarian empire’s pilot casualties have long exceeded five figures, and aircraft losses have exceeded 5,000. frame!
...
At the national policy meeting, Ferdinand II said coldly: "The Bulgarians are giving us an ultimatum. Once we refuse, Vienna will soon become a battlefield. Our intelligence personnel have confirmed this!
The Allied forces built a large number of airfields in northeastern Italy. Obviously, this was aimed at Vienna. Perhaps as the Bulgarians said, as long as tens of thousands of tons of bombs are thrown, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will be over! "
Everyone frowned. Everyone knew that at this time, there was nothing that could help them. The only choice was to save themselves!
But can they accept the terms of the Allies? Really think Germans are easy to mess with? They are not the same as Italy. Italians and Germans do not border each other. Even if they betray the Germans, it is convenient to take revenge immediately.
But the Austro-Hungarian Empire is different. As long as they dare to be traitors, maybe less than a week, Vienna will fall under the iron feet of the Germans!
Don't expect the Entente to rescue them. This is impossible. People still want Germany and Austria to fight each other?
Conrad knew it was time for him to play, and could not let everyone be frightened by tens of thousands of bombs, otherwise it would be easy to make wrong judgments.
Conrad explained: "Your Majesty, in fact, don't worry too much. The threat of the Bulgarian Air Force is not as deadly as everyone thinks.
As long as we deploy a large number of anti-aircraft weapons in important cities and traffic arteries, enemy planes will not dare to bomb at low altitude. If the country is at an altitude of several kilometers, the hit rate will be much lower. They may be able to attack us. The traffic caused a certain impact, but they could not cut off our transportation line! "
He just made everyone breathe a sigh of relief when the Prime Minister suddenly asked: "So, even if the enemy blows up our railway, can we repair it immediately?
But what about they bombing our city? This does not require a hit rate, as long as the bomb is dropped, it is enough for us!
As for the deployment of air defense weapons, can the General Staff be more specific? How many anti-aircraft weapons do we need to deploy to protect us from enemy air threats? How long will it take to complete the deployment?
Finally, what did our Air Force do? Why not counter the enemy? "
Conrad's face changed greatly, and he said with great embarrassment: "These problems are very complicated. In theory, after the enemy blows up our railway line, it can be repaired immediately, but we must also consider the actual situation. , It is impossible for us to have maintenance personnel on every kilometer of the railway, so the repair still takes a certain amount of time!
As for the fear that the enemy will bomb the city, the probability of this happening is not high. Our enemy is still civilized, and they still can't do the killing of civilians! Of course, except for the Russians, no one can guarantee their integrity!
Even if the city is to be bombed, the enemy will choose important areas such as factories and warehouses. We only need to deploy key defenses in these places. "
Obviously Conrad's answer did not satisfy everyone. He placed the safety of the city on the enemy's morals. Who knows if they will blow up indiscriminately, and then explain that it is an operational error. Anyway, the plane hit rate of this era is really very high. pit!
Conrad avoided discussing the last two issues even more, which made people even more dissatisfied with the military!
The Chancellor of Finance continued to ask: "Your Excellency Marshal, have you not answered the next two questions?"
Seeing that he couldn't hide, Conrad smiled bitterly and said: "I'm sorry, I can't answer how many air defense weapons are needed. It depends on the enemy's determination!
As for what our air force is doing? Since the start of the war, our pilots have changed a few times, don’t you know?
In any case, we have tried our best, we can only say that the enemy is too strong! Why should we face two powerful countries at the same time? The boys have defended the dignity of the Air Force with their lives, and they should not be blamed! "
The meeting fell into silence again, and everyone was thinking about how to deal with the current situation!
...