Chapter 231 Thessaloniki

On the morning of January 7, the headquarters of the Greek Macedonian Legion welcomed a special guest, Mr. Benjamin, the British Consul in Thessaloniki.

Constantine, who received the news, walked out of the tent to greet him in person.

After Benjamin, who was wearing a round hat, riding clothes, and brown leather boots, got off his horse, took the cane handed by the servant, took two quick steps, and saluted Constantine with his hat off: "Congratulations, Your Highness, the Crown Prince, under your leadership, the Greek army won a great victory"

After that, he looked at the guards behind Constantine and complimented: "The bravery and excellent military qualities of the Greek soldiers are impressive"

"Thank you for your compliments, Mr. Consul," Constantine nodded.

Constantine greeted Consul Benjamin and entered the conference room. Hammett, an attendant, politely served Benjamin black tea and snacks.

"Your Highness, I came to visit you today because I accepted the request of Atsa Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman Empire's Thessaloniki garrison, to pass on a message for him." Sitting on Constantine's reception sofa, Benjamin took a sip of the black tea in the porcelain cup and said after moistening his throat.

Benjamin went straight to the point and explained his purpose.

Constantine was not surprised to hear the news. The barrier of Thessaloniki had been broken by Greece. The current city of Thessaloniki is surrounded by a flat plain with no defenses. It is only a matter of time before it is lost.

"No matter what the result is, I have to thank Mr. Consul for mediating. The Battle of Thessaloniki will end sooner, and the people here will be able to restore the peace of the past one day earlier," Constantine praised.

Benjamin did not comment. The reason why he took this matter was just to take the opportunity to meet with the future king of Greece and find out the next direction of Greece.

"Your Highness, according to the news I have learned, the Balkan Alliance is now advancing all the way, and the Ottomans cannot effectively resist your attack. Now all European countries are paying attention to this war. If the war drags on for a long time, perhaps the whole of Europe will be involved," said Benjamin.

For a long time, European countries have been consistent in their attitudes on the issue of the Ottoman Empire. They cannot let it perish, nor can they let it become strong. It is best to live half-dead and live in a miserable way.

Only in this way can countries feel at ease to suck blood from the Ottoman Empire and grab huge benefits.

Obviously, the Balkan Alliance's behavior of dividing the Ottoman Empire's territory is not welcomed by all countries.

"Bulgaria's ambitions are worth vigilance, Your Highness, I want to remind you that according to the news that Britain has inquired in Bulgaria, Bulgaria is not only interested in Adrianople, but also their war goals include Constantinople," Ambassador Benjamin told about Bulgarian intelligence.

Bulgaria's appearance in this war is eye-catching, and its army is powerful. It is known as the Prussia of the Balkans.

The Bulgarians not only have the name of Eastern Prussia, but also have a style very similar to that of the Germans. They are frugal and rigorous in daily life, and brave and fearless in battle.

This war was the most heavily participated battle in Europe after the Franco-Prussian War, which naturally attracted major European newspapers to report the news of the Balkan War.

The large number of reports made this battle one of the most detailed battles recorded in newspapers, and also made the Bulgarian Army famous.

After all, the fierce battle between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire in Thrace was the main battlefield of this war.

In contrast, the Greek and Serbian armies are more like two supporting roles.

According to newspaper reports in Paris, after the Bulgarian First and Third Armies won the Battle of Kirk Kilis, French Minister of War Alexander Millerand commented that compared with other European armies, Bulgaria has the best army, and he is more willing to form an alliance with 100,000 Bulgarians.

"The Second Army led by General Ivanov of Bulgaria has won the victory and has been advancing triumphantly all the way. Now it has reached the city of Adrianople, a major city in Thrace, and has begun to besiege this heavily guarded city." Benjamin said with emotion.

Adrianople is the last bastion of Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Once this city is conquered by Bulgaria, then the Bulgarian King Ferdinand may really realize his long-cherished wish of going south to drink water from the Bosphorus Strait.

The city of Adrianople was once the capital of the Ottoman Empire in history. It was not until the Ottomans conquered Constantinople that the capital of the empire was moved to Constantinople.

The Bulgarian army defeated the Ottoman army cleanly and neatly in a short period of time, and the blade was close to Adrianople. This feat was praised by European newspapers to the sky by the Bulgarian army.

"According to the news I heard from London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London has received diplomatic letters from the Russians. The major powers want to jointly call for peace talks to prevent the war from continuing." Benjamin threw out a heavy news.

Constantine thought to himself that it seemed that the Russians could not sit still.

After all, everyone in Europe knew about the Russians' ambitions for Constantinople.

Now that Bulgaria was about to approach the city that Russia had dreamed of for hundreds of years, Russia immediately jumped out and called for peace talks.

In fact, it was because it was afraid that Bulgaria, its younger brother, would perform well in this war and was worried that this younger brother would take Constantinople first.

In Constantine's view, Bulgaria, this ally, was also whimsical and too arrogant.

Could a small Balkan country care about Constantinople?

Even if Bulgaria really captured Constantinople, the major European powers would allow Bulgaria to occupy Constantinople

I am afraid that at that time, Russia, the big brother of Bulgaria, would be the first to teach its disobedient little brother a lesson.

After informing Consul Benjamin that he agreed to negotiate with the remnants of the Ottoman army in Thessaloniki, Constantine ended the meeting.

On the second day, Constantine's chief of staff Samaras entered Thessaloniki as a negotiating representative, and the two sides held secret negotiations.

That night, Constantine received the conditions of Aitser Pasha: the Greek army allowed more than 60,000 Ottoman soldiers to retreat to Thrace, and during the retreat, the Greek army was not allowed to block them in any form.

In exchange, Aitser Pasha promised to hand over the entire city of Thessaloniki to the Greek army.

After receiving the news of Samaras's negotiations, Constantine immediately called Athens to inform King George and Prime Minister Venizelos of the news.

Constantine himself agreed to this condition. Greece avoided the city of Thessaloniki becoming a ruin, and the 60,000 Ottoman troops retreated to Thrace, strengthening the Ottoman Empire's defense there, which was good for everyone.

Since the Bulgarian army is known as the Prussia of the East, let them do more work and give them more tasks.

How can we call each other allies if we don't pull each other's legs?

After all, after Greece got the city of Thessaloniki, it was inevitable that it would conflict with Bulgaria, so there was no need to worry too much about Bulgaria.