Chapter 133 Military Parade

On January 30, after Constantine handed over his work to the Chief of Staff Canaris, Canaris was responsible for handling the work of the Greek army in the occupied area.

Constantine himself took the train and led a part of the army returning from the front line back to Athens.

Sitting in the carriage, Constantine, who had nothing to do, looked at the scenery outside the window that was rapidly receding, and was in a daze.

After the Greek army won, Constantine felt much more relaxed, and even his breathing felt lighter.

As the highest front-line commander of the Greek army, Constantine himself has been under tremendous pressure since the war began. He carries the expectations of all Greeks-to realize great ideals and revive the empire.

Once the Greek army fails, this expectation will soon turn into hatred.

Constantine can fully imagine how the Greeks will curse him if the army he commands fails.

The reputation of the Greek royal family will be criticized because of the failure of the army.

Fortunately, the result is good, and the war is almost over-with a victory.

At present, the Ottoman army is only in a state of confrontation with the Greek army. Since the visit of the British Foreign Secretary, the Marquis of Salisbury, neither side has taken large-scale military actions against the enemy.

"Knock, knock, knock"

The knock on the door of the carriage interrupted Constantine's silence.

"Come in"

A young man pushed open the door and stood in the corridor. After saluting Constantine respectfully, he said: "Your Excellency the Commander of the Legion, I am ordered to inform you"

"This military train will stop in the town of Aeonia to allow the soldiers to take a short rest"

"Be prepared for the military entry ceremony tomorrow"

"This is the plan of His Majesty the King"

Constantine, who was completely relaxed, had no idea that he would have to face such trivial matters. He pondered: "Okay, I know"

"Anything else?" Looking at the officer still standing at the door, Constantine asked.

"I am Dimitrios, the officer sent by His Majesty to be in charge of the military entry ceremony."

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The train stopped in Ionia, a small town in front of Athens.

The soldiers on the train got off the train one after another, chatting in twos and threes.

In order to prepare for the grand entry ceremony and trim the soldiers' appearance, dozens of barbers in the Greek city were organized to do makeup for the soldiers returning from the front line.

The originally quiet town became noisy after the arrival of 10,000 soldiers.

The children in the town came to the soldiers, pestered them, and asked about the situation on the battlefield.

After fully satisfying their curiosity, they even played military games on the spot.

After Constantine got off the train, under the instructions of Dimitrios, he first bathed, shaved, and then tried on clothes - a gorgeous and exquisite military dress.

Due to the urgency of time, the maker of the dress came to the town with Dimitrios to prepare for timely modifications.

In front of the tailor, Constantine tried on the dress of a senior officer, which was very similar to the European marshal's dress: a wide-brimmed hat with two golden olive leaves embroidered in a ring on the brim; the upper body of the dress was embroidered with a lot of gold thread, which looked bright and shining; the breeches and vest were made of fine silk.

After wearing such a gorgeous outfit, Constantine had a new feeling about military dress - anyone who wore such clothes to the front line was simply looking for death.

At eight o'clock the next morning, the soldiers lined up in neat rows and slowly marched towards the city of Athens two kilometers away.

According to Dimitrios' instructions, the troops appeared at the gate of the city.

On the morning of January 30, the news of the victory of the Greek army reached Athens. His Majesty King George personally announced the news of Greece's victory in front of the gathered people in Constitution Square.

"Dang" "Dang" "Dang"

The melodious bronze bells resounded throughout the city of Athens.

The church announced that the church bells would ring for three consecutive days to celebrate the great victory of the Greek army.

The Athenian people who heard the news gathered on both sides of the road from the entrance to the Constitution Square to admire the majestic appearance of the Greek army.

In a joyful atmosphere, Constantine rode a vigorous bay horse, leading the army into the city.

Following closely behind him were a group of middle and senior officers who participated in the war, also dressed in fine clothes and riding horses.

Finally, there was a neat line of soldiers with long spears in their hands and on their shoulders.

The parade troops headed by Constantine marched on the road, and the majestic soldiers accepted the attention of the people.

The people waved their clothes, hats, and flowers to the army to express their joy.

I don’t know who started it, and shouted "Long live Constantine, long live Greece"

After two seconds of silence, the infected onlookers shouted in unison: "Long live Constantine, long live Greece"

The sound seemed to overwhelm the "dangdang" sound of the bronze bells.

The city of Athens was boiling, and the enthusiasm of the people seemed to heat up the whole city.

It took almost an hour for the 10,000-strong army to arrive at Constitution Square to receive the inspection of His Majesty King George.

After the team was disbanded, the jubilant soldiers scattered around the city and entered cafes, restaurants and other leisure places.

When the shop owners saw the soldiers in military uniforms coming to consume, they gave them free bills to express their respect for the soldiers.

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At the same time in Constantinople, the atmosphere in Topkapi Palace was completely different from the warm atmosphere in Athens.

After the Minister of War reported the military situation on the front line, the entire Topkapi Palace seemed to be silent.

Hamid II in the conference room, his face flushed, breathed rapidly and stood up from the chair, feeling dizzy and shaking.

The Minister of War hurried forward and tried to support Hamid.

Hamid struggled to break free, and with a "crash", he swept all the documents and cups on the table under the table, and sighed fiercely: "Edmund, you pig, give me back my legion"

"Even if there are 80,000 pigs, you can't let the Greeks catch them all so easily? Ah"

Since the Ottoman Turkish defeat by Russia in the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, the deeply humiliated Ottoman government has spent a lot of effort in training a new army.

The reason why Hamid II completely abandoned the Ottoman Navy was not entirely out of selfishness: although he was indeed annoyed that they had repeatedly participated in "rebellions", Hamid II also had his own difficulties - the Ottoman government did not have so much money.

It was too expensive for a declining dynasty like the Ottoman Empire to maintain a large army that could deal with Russia while building a navy.

And the army is the most cost-effective for a conservative country.

The price of a new warship is enough to build several divisions of the army.

There is actually nothing wrong with this strategy itself. For a country with weak industry like the Ottoman Empire (almost no industry), the construction of the navy almost entirely depends on purchasing warships from Britain and France.

The late 19th century was a period of great development of naval technology, and the naval shipbuilding technology of various countries made rapid progress, which means that the naval warships were updated very quickly.

The warships purchased by the Ottoman Empire at a huge cost were completely outdated after three to five years.

This means that in order to maintain the situation, the navy needs to continue to spend money to purchase new warships to ensure that the navy does not fall behind.

Instead of doing this, it is better to spend money on the army.

At worst, the army would not be able to keep up with the situation in three to five years.

Therefore, since he ascended the throne, Hamid shamelessly invited German officers, purchased German weapons, and formed and trained a new army according to the requirements of German advisers.

Hamid had high hopes for this army.

Now, it is all ruined!

And it was a disastrous defeat at the hands of Greece, which Hamid II had never taken seriously before.

Now the Ottoman Empire has been stripped of its last fig leaf by the Greeks, exposed in public, and has become a laughing stock in Europe.