Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 77: Army Expansion - Assassination Case

As soon as Bulgaria announced the expansion of the army, the recruiting offices were filled with people. Even the streets were lined with full lines of applicants, and the people rushed to join the army.

In fact, all of the above is the official Bulgarian propaganda. The recruitment offices are indeed all full of people, and the lines do go out into the street. It is difficult to say whether the population is eager to join the army or not. Because Bulgaria has a mandatory military service system, every draft has to come.

Bulgaria's finances were not that rich either. Even though they had grown considerably compared to the previous year, with revenues of 130 million Lev in 1891, there was no money left over from the "Second Five-Year Plan", which was a gold-digging beast.

Although he recruited 60,000 soldiers this time, the budget for weapons and equipment was not much. Ferdinand intends to wait for the military reform, then change on a large scale, to give recruits the weapons that are obsolete just after.

Since the fall of Stambolov's cabinet, Ferdinand has kept away from making major moves against the army in order to maintain stability.

Simply use the Royal Guard to train his people, quietly keep a reserve of talent, and at most use the subtle ways of communication between officers to influence the army.

Since the Army almost doubled in size at once, a massive personnel transfer certainly made sense.

He then promoted many people in the Bulgarian Army, and the old cliques were torn apart suddenly.

Even if someone wants to oppose, it can not stop his men from being promoted! The former position of the army is very much, and naturally, it can only take the promotion outside. The close associate of Ferdinand, who has been nurtured for a long time, also took the chance to be placed inside.

It is just the start. After completing the adjustment of the middle and lower officers, Ferdinand, who knows the value of the 'gun', made another move and formed the Bulgarian Military Council in charge of army training and foreign wars and made a collective promotion of the top officers.

The coming of a single power combination of Ferdinand removed the army's former high officials from the front line. Nominally, the status of these officials was raised, and they were only responsible to the monarch, and the cabinet became a parallel body.

Sava Mutkurov was in a bad mood recently. He was afraid to stand up for Ferdinand when he faced Ferdinand's offer and did not stand up for him at first. However, he chose to support Ferdinand in the end, who knew that the Stambolov government was finished so quickly that he did not play much of a role.

After the formation of the new government, Sava Mutkurov was still used again for the sake of stability and was eventually promoted to the post of Minister of War, which was a perfect place to start.

But Sava Mutkurov is not that sharp in his political thinking. He did a stupid thing not long ago, 'against military reform'!

Well, nothing happened. The Military Council formed by Ferdinand has a lot of authority that overlaps with that of the Minister of War. What is more crucial is that Sava Mutkurov is now only an ordinary member of the Military Council and does not serve as its chairman.

In hindsight, Sava Mutkurov also knows that he was left on his own. The members of the Military Council are all big shots in the Bulgarian military. Who will listen to him now that everyone has the same authority?

This reform brought many unhappy people like Sava Mutkurov, but there was nothing to do but complain about themselves!

As for the coup, their influence in the military has been weakened to the lowest point. This time, almost all officers above the company level have been replaced. Besides, Ferdinand did not kill all. Not all of them have been "promoted" is it?

Some people are unhappy, some people are happy, Stefan Toshev is now very happy. Due to Ferdinand's enlarged Royal Guard's butterfly effect, he joined it. With his superior ability, he was promoted to captain a year ago. He has now caught up with the good times and became the commander of the 8th Division of the new Bulgarian Army.

There are many other examples like this. After the reform of Ferdinand's military system and the main post, there were two deputies as reserve officers. Moreover, in time for the great expansion of the army, the demand for officers is several times more than the original. If one cannot be promoted under this situation, there is indeed a problem.

Of course, Ferdinand did not have the energy to concern himself with such trifles now that an important historical event had broken out - the assassination of Crown Prince Nikolai in Japan!

Ferdinand was not concerned when he thought that the attack would not happen after Nikolai stayed in Bulgaria for a short time and he postponed his visit to Japan.

He did not expect that Nikolai II would travel to Japan more than a month later than in history. However, the unlucky boy did not escape the knife.

He can only say that the ability of the little Japanese to harm is really great. Luckily, the assassination of the Crown Prince of Russia has not succeeded. Otherwise, it would immediately go to war with Russia!

The Sino-Japanese War has not yet broken out. There is no compensation from the Qing Dynasty to achieve great development. Japan is still a poor guy at this time against the Russian Empire at their peak. If you think about it, you will know the end.

No matter how Ferdinand wished, the news all over the world blew up anyway. Political assassination has always been taboo. The Japanese dared to assassinate the Crown Prince of Russia. No matter the relationship with the government is, it is impossible to get away with it.

Bulgaria is an ally of Russia. Of course, Ferdinand, who was not a fan of Japan in his previous life, will take advantage of the situation.

As a matter of fact, he told the domestic media that they were always trying to create a false flag. He also told Hoover to guide Russian public opinion. He created a theory that they would be traitors if they didn't attack Japan.

At this moment, anyway, it's not easy to do so. It's politically correct to avenge Crown Prince Nikolai. Everyone is cursing the Japanese, and it's not a problem if someone curses harder!

And that's not all. Ferdinand sent a fake telegram to express his concern. By the way, he also asked: when are you going to beat up the Japanese? Do you need any help?

It is clear that Ferdinand is looking for something to provoke. May Russia now war against Japan? If the one in power is not Alexander III, that is really hard to say! It is clear that Alexander III did not intend to go to war because if not, Russia would have made preparations.

Crown Prince Nikolai in Japan, now really very angry that he was simply out to travel around. He was not well received in any country, but the assassins came out when he arrived in Japan!

Now, they are re-sending a few officials over to apologize, and that's the end of it? No matter what, the assassins in the crowd are a failure of their security, and they must be held responsible. Even if they apologize, the Emperor himself must come!

After checking his injuries from the hospital, Nikolai didn't care about any diplomatic protocols and went straight back home, not caring about how the Japanese felt now.

Crown Prince Nikolai, who had just left Japan, received Ferdinand's telegram, and his anger, which he had suppressed, came up again. He tore up the telegram and cursed: You think I don't want to go to war? I want to beat him up right now, but I can't say it!

After some time, the British began to mediate. Ferdinand felt that it seemed too cheap to let Japan pass. A bright idea came into his mind again, and he immediately sent another telegram to Crown Prince Nikolai.

This time Nikolai's mood is much better. Ferdinand's idea this time is much more reliable. That's right. It's to get the Japanese government to pay for it!

It's not too much to ask for compensation for your injuries. You are at least the Crown Prince of the Russian Empire, and you must have compensation worthy of your status!

It makes sense everywhere. Even if the Japanese government has reached an agreement with Russia with the help of British mediation, it does not negate Nikolai's right to claim.

This time, the Japanese were very quick to express their willingness to compensate in the newspapers publicly.

Ferdinand said, "huh" on the aside, what is worthy of the status of compensation?

Ferdinand gave a proposal of 100 million Pounds. No matter how much the Japanese can give, at least this figure makes Nikolai happy!

It is a good ass-kissing by Ferdinand, which also means that the Japanese government is in trouble. Because no matter how much they give behind will not satisfy Nikolai, 100 million pounds will not come out!