Chapter 202 Scandal

What the Greeks think is the right choice is undoubtedly unsatisfactory to both sides, and it can be said that both sides are not flattering.

The Russians can also grudgingly accept that no matter where the Greeks are fighting, they are holding back part of the Ottoman Empire's energy. Now is a critical moment, one more ally, one more strength, and one more chance of winning.

Britain and France couldn't stand it, especially the British, in their view, what Greece did was a blatant betrayal.

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

Of course, John Bull did not want to stimulate the Greeks at this time. In case they go straight to Constantinople regardless, and cut off their logistical transportation line along the way, the coalition forces on the Balkan Peninsula will be over in less than half a month.

While the London Parliament was discussing opening a new front, the foreign secretary, Palmerston, was in trouble. She didn't control her lower body, and got into it with the queen's maid.

This is nothing, there are too many bad things for the nobles, and there is no harm in adding one more. If you have an affair in private, you will steal if you steal, and everyone will pass by with one eye open and one closed.

It happened that they had a tryst in the palace, and they were unlucky, and they were bumped into face by Prince Albert.

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 one person as an example, where is the dignity of the royal family?

Things got a lot worse, and the unlucky Palmerston and the maid were caught by the guards in the palace on the spot, and they were given a good meal.

Under Franz's butterfly effect, history has turned an inflection point. Historically, Palmerston broke the virginity of the Queen's Handmaiden, and that was a private matter.

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

Now that a person has been caught and stolen, not to mention what will happen in the future, how to survive this disaster is a problem.

The foreign minister is promiscuous in the court. If the news spreads, it will be lively. The fire of gossip among the British people is very powerful.

John Russell was dumbfounded. He had nothing to say about Palmerston's admiration. He couldn't envy this colleague's affair, and he was even more impressed by his ability to kill.

Then, he had to figure out a way to deal with the aftermath. There must be an explanation from the royal family, and this colleague cannot just disappear for no reason.

Palmerston is not a small person, not only the foreign secretary of the British Empire, but also the spokesman of the bourgeoisie in the government, and has a great influence in the people.

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

After the arrest, Prince Albert regretted it. There is an opportunity to clean up Palmerston, so why do it immediately?

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

For the reputation of the royal family, this matter is destined to be handled coldly. The politically savvy Prince Albert 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 dilapidated small village in Plovdiv, Bulgarian partisans are meeting in secret.

"Everyone, just now we received information that the Ottoman Empire withdrew the troops that encircled us, and they were replaced by the 30,000 British troops who had just arrived.

This is a challenge as well as an opportunity. The British are much stronger than 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 our upcoming challenge.

We know from the mouths of the prisoners that the British and the Ottomans are also in conflict. Although they are allies, the arrogant British just use them as cannon fodder.

This is the opportunity. Since they are in conflict, it is difficult for the two sides to cooperate closely.

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

According to the news from the inside, the 5,000 Ottoman defenders in Plovdiv were evacuated yesterday, and now there are only less than 2,000 people left, including only 800 British soldiers.

This is an opportunity. If several of our families join forces to conquer Plovdiv and destroy the enemy's material transfer station, the war on the front line in Sofia 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 look at the number of Bulgarian guerrillas now, and think that they have established a system. In fact, they are not unified, and they are still fighting each other.

The real purpose of the Russians who supported them was to cause chaos for the Ottoman Empire, but they were not prepared to be truly independent, and naturally they would not be unified.

In this era, Bulgarian nationalism has not yet awakened, and the later Bulgarian founding father, Christopher Potev, was still a kindergartener. (if there is a kindergarten)

The motivation for the Bulgarians to resist was mainly due to the oppression of the Ottoman government and the persecution of religious beliefs.

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

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

There are still three thousand defenders in Pazardzhik and two thousand in Asenovgrad. The enemy I have to face is not two thousand but seven thousand.

The enemy has just withdrawn 5,000 defenders, and there will definitely be new troops coming over. We have not received any information on this, which is very unreasonable.

There are only three possibilities for this to happen: first, the enemy commander forgot, ignoring the importance of Plovdiv; second, something went wrong with our intelligence system; third, it was a trap of the enemy, deliberately lure fool us.

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

The people who provide us with information are Bulgarians from all over the country. The movement of the army cannot be kept secret. From the information we have received, no large army has come to Plovdiv yet.

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

Dimiter explained: "Cypros, you're right. This is probably the enemy's trap, but the temptation is too great.

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

Although I'm not sure how many strategic materials the enemy has hoarded in Sofia, but looking at the enemy's emphasis on logistical transportation, it can be roughly judged that the strategic materials in Sofia are not enough to support their front-line army until the end of the war.

After destroying these materials, we will run away. As for the city of Plovdiv, we should leave it to the Ottomans for the time being. After this battle is over, we will come back. "

Dimiter's analysis is well-founded. The enemy's strength in Sofia has dropped to 80,000 since the war. In this case, Montes also dispatched 15,000 British soldiers to be responsible for logistics transportation.

Because the logistics occupied a large number of troops, this caused the situation in the Sofia front line that the coalition forces were beaten to the ground by the Russians.

Because of the shortage of troops, Montes asked for help at home. Dimitre was in a hurry to break the game. The main reason was that the enemy's reinforcements were coming soon. If they didn't fight, they couldn't win.

This was the aftermath of the coalition's hasty challenge. The Russians were prepared in advance, and the troops on the front line suffered heavy losses and immediately retreated to replenish.

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

The Ottoman Empire directly played stud, and now it relies on recruiting strong men to replenish its troops. Since most of the Balkan Peninsula has been occupied, there is no place to catch strong men, and the replenishment speed has not kept up with the consumption speed of the front line.

Britain and France are too far away from the Balkans. If they want to replenish their troops, they must report to the country, and they have to go through layers of approval by bureaucrats. Time goes by.

In this regard, the British are indeed far-sighted in preparing to open up the second front. Once the Crimean Peninsula war begins, the Russians will be exhausted.

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

A middle-aged man said with a sneer: "Mr. Dimiter, our guerrillas are only more than 5,000 people together, and you know how the weapons and equipment are.

If this is a trap, the enemy will surely be prepared. On the surface, the enemy's fighting force was the 800 British soldiers.

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

In case the more than 1,000 Ottoman defenders are the elite troops of the Ottomans, plus 800 British soldiers, the combat effectiveness is not much worse than ours.

I think it's too risky to take a shot at Plovdiv, and even if we've got an in-law in town, the chances of success are too low. "

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. The Bulgarian guerrillas have been divided into many branches, most of which are formed according to regions. 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. But in the face of a common enemy, this contradiction has been suppressed.

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

He could hear that Hamill was not against attacking Plovdiv, but had other plans.

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

First attack Zarjik, which is 30 kilometers away. We have already figured out the situation there. The three thousand defenders are all Ottomans, and their combat effectiveness is very general. It is not difficult for us to unite and eat them.

If the enemy has a trap, it will be exposed at this time, and it is impossible for them to set up a 30-kilometer encirclement.

If there were no traps, we were taking a shortcut and heading straight for Plovdiv. The surrounding enemy forces were attracted to Zarjik, and our raids had a high success rate. "

Dimitel thought about it and said: "This is indeed a good way to minimize the risk. But running between the two places

The attack was still too much pressure for the guerrillas.

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

As soon as the enemies of Plovdiv and Asenovgrad leave the city, kill them first to make the siege easier. "

This was not the first siege of the Bulgarian guerrillas, but it was their first major counterattack after their defeat at the Battle of Sofia.

After more than two months of repairs, they have recovered their vitality. Although they have not reached their peak, their confidence has already come out.

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

It is estimated that by this time, they had already suffered heavy casualties. Mao Xiong is also not a friendly master, and from the beginning he used the guerrillas as cannon fodder. Ordered the Bulgarian guerrillas to tear apart the defense line of the coalition forces, interspersed with the rear and front and rear to attack the coalition forces, obviously wanting to kill people with a knife.

It is a pity that the plan did not change quickly. Who would have known that the Sardinian army was so cowardly, that it was really penetrated by the Bulgarian guerrillas and interspersed into the rear.

The Russians simply did not believe that the guerrillas could do it. They failed to respond in time and lost a chance to win the war.