My Italy - Chapter 690 The Second Munich Conference (Part 2)

Neufenburg, located south of Munich, has a pleasant climate and beautiful scenery, so it was built by the Bavarian royal family through the ages. It has now become the largest Baroque palace in Germany.

At this time, Newfenburg fell into a more lively scene than it had been more than a year ago. This meeting was attended by five countries from the alliance camp, and the leaders were all leaders or important figures with decision-making power in that country.

For example, the Austro-Hungarian team was led by Crown Prince Karl and Foreign Minister Count Berchtold, while the Bulgarian team was led by King Ferdinand I and Prime Minister Radoslavov, and the Ottoman team was led by Enver Pasha, the leader of the Big Three. , it can be said that the leaders of the alliance camp gathered together.

At this time, the heads of the five parties gathered in the conference hall and were having friendly negotiations.

“We in Bulgaria currently need a large amount of food and arms. In addition, for the upcoming Greek campaign, we need the support of our two distinguished allies, Austria-Hungary and Italy. We need troops, ammunition, weapons and other military supplies.”

At this time, Bulgarian Prime Minister Radoslavov was speaking impassionedly about Bulgaria’s needs.

At this time, Bulgaria was very proud. The North Macedonia region they had always been thinking about had returned to their embrace. Of course, they also played a major role in the siege of Serbia. Together with the Italian 7th Army, they captured the important town of Nis in southern Serbia, cutting off Serbia from Greece in one fell swoop, and also cutting off Serbia’s retreat.

At this point, Serbia was facing a pincer attack from the north and the south, and the battlefield situation was extremely bad. Although Field Marshal Putnik, a famous Serbian military strategist and the man who defeated the Austro-Hungarian army in the past, constantly adjusted his deployment, facing the heavy siege of the Allied camp (520,000 troops from the Allied camp and 470,000 Serbian troops), the Serbian commander-in-chief also coincidentally It is difficult for a woman to make a meal without rice.

As a result, after losing battles in Niš, Belgrade, and Çacak, Serbia entered a point of no return. The joint strangulation of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Bulgaria destroyed Serbia in three months. Its 470,000 troops were either killed or wounded, captured, escaped, or disappeared.

One more thing, do you think among the countries currently at war, which one has the highest casualty ratio? Not France, not the Ottomans, not Austria-Hungary, but Serbia. It has lost 29% of the total population and 63% of the total male population. It is true that men have been wiped out.

After solving the small thorn in Serbia, Greece, a country that could not see the situation clearly, became the next target. If you want to say who is the most active in fighting Greece here, it must be Bulgaria. After all, South Macedonia is still in the hands of the Greeks.

However, Bulgaria’s unparalleled high mobilization rate also comes at a price. That is, Bulgaria’s food production has been significantly reduced. In addition, the army formed by Bulgaria has a shortage of weapons and ammunition, and even tents are not enough, so this time Bulgaria is looking for help.

Of course, just asking for things is definitely not enough. Bulgaria also needs to pay.

Bulgarians know this very well, Prime Minister Radoslavov continued. “After defeating Greece, we can send 150,000 troops to Asia and Africa to help our allies in that direction.”

The Bulgarians are still very smart and know that Bulgaria cannot provide anything in exchange for these supplies, and can only provide its own troops with good combat effectiveness.

After Bulgaria finished speaking, it was others’ turn to speak. All parties in this parliament have their own needs, so in order to avoid disputes, each country will first state its own needs, and then coordinate according to the needs.

“We are in urgent need of enough arms. Our country’s current fighting in Palestine and the Caucasus is not ideal, mainly because of insufficient weapons and ammunition. In addition, our country can use iron ore, wool, and grain as compensation.”

The Ottomans did not perform well in this war. With all countries performing well (Austria and Hungary were ignored), the Ottomans were a bit embarrassed.

It was embarrassing, but Osman also wanted to perform well and win the right to speak for himself after the war in sharing the fruits of victory.

After Tubo stated his needs, the next step was Austria-Hungary. Count Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, spoke. “We need food, industrial raw materials and sufficient oil. In addition, due to the slow expansion of our army, we need reinforcements.”

Having said that, Count Berchtold turned his eyes to the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, and his purpose was self-evident.

Facing Count Berchtold’s gaze, Prime Minister Radoslavov hurriedly spoke. “We have signed an agreement before that our troops cannot appear on the Eastern Front. At present, our people still have a very good impression of Russia. If they are deployed on the Eastern Front, their morale will be quite low, which is likely to lead to It collapsed when the Russian army attacked.”

Prime Minister Radoslavov stated the facts or made some threats, which made Count Berchtold stop talking. During the negotiations for Bulgaria to join the alliance, the Bulgarian side repeatedly requested that they not join the Eastern Front to fight Russia.

The reason is simple: Bulgaria has a strong pro-Russian atmosphere. Even though Russia had sided with Serbia several times before, this situation that harmed Bulgaria’s interests still could not offset Russia’s gratitude for allowing Bulgaria independence. In addition, as they are both Slavs, the people of the two countries are actually very close in terms of culture and language.

Count Berchtold stopped talking. In order to avoid a cold moment, Italian Prime Minister Cruz immediately spoke. “We need industrial raw materials, especially iron ore, pyrite, and wool. In addition, we can provide oil, fertilizers, and some machinery. In addition, we need transportation ships to help us transport materials.”

Prime Minister Cruz’s words are firm. It only requires raw materials and transport ships, and nothing else is needed. This also fully shows that Italy is playing very well, both the navy and the army are excellent, and Carlo’s more than 30 years of careful training is not in vain.

Italy’s toughness ranks first in the venue. As Prime Minister Cruz finished speaking, German Prime Minister Holweger came next.

I saw him slowly opening the folded paper he took out from his jacket pocket and then started talking. “Germany can provide some arms and various machines. We can also provide chemicals. We can also provide a small part of explosives, about 2,000 tons. In addition, we need more oil, as well as tungsten, chromium, antimony, We are in great need of rare metals such as nickel, tin, and manganese.”

When Prime Minister Holweg was talking, everyone else present turned their attention to Cruz. They wanted to see the Italian Prime Minister’s attitude towards this.

Speaking of which, Italy currently has the most abundant resources among the countries in the alliance. This is due to Carlo’s strategic reserve factory, which allows Italy to store a large amount of minerals that cannot be produced in the country.

Of course, these supplies are also available in quantity. If the war is not over in three years and Italy fails to purchase them, it will be difficult to deal with them.

But Prime Minister Holweg is not done yet. “In addition, our country has invested troops in three strategic directions, which has made our country’s military strength tight, so we hope that some countries can help us relieve the pressure from the Western Front.”

Well, these words are directed at Italy. At this time, representatives from various countries are focusing on Cruz, which puts him under some pressure.