Chapter 391 When the sky is crazy, it will rain, and when people are crazy, there will be disaster

Chapter 391 When the sky is crazy, it will rain, and when people are crazy, there will be disaster

Chapter 391 When the sky is crazy, it will rain, and when people are crazy, there will be disaster

"I really can't believe it. I haven't even become the emperor yet, but Quanxiao, this droopy-headed kid, has actually become the emperor. Tsk tsk!"

Shao Quanzhong had already returned to Hailing, holding the telegram from Sophia in his hand, and went to tell his parents the good news. He was amazed and marveled at the wonder of fate.

Shao Shucai and his wife were so happy to receive the good news that they couldn't stop smiling. The Shao family had a emperor, which was earlier than the couple had expected.

Shao's mother was very satisfied now. "I said that Quan Xiao is 29 years old and still hasn't found a wife. It seems that he is waiting to become the emperor. Wouldn't he be able to have three palaces and six courtyards?"

Shao Shucai curled his lips, "What do you old women know? The emperor over there can't have three palaces and six courtyards."

"Then why did I hear from Maria that his father had more than a dozen women?"

Well, that's called a lover. However, being able to bring his mistress to live in the Winter Palace is something that most people can't do, so the Tsar still has privileges.

Shao Shucai sighed, "Alas, it's a pity that I, the emperor emeritus - hey, hey, don't do this in front of the children -"

A palace war broke out in the Bulgarian royal family, involving the power of the retired emperor and the empress dowager. Shao Quanzhong, a mere prince, fled in panic.

Shao Shucai and his wife lived in Shanxiang Thatched Cottage in Qiao Garden, which was originally Wu Wenxi's study. This was simply because it was the only Thai-style residential building in the garden that resembled the old Shao family's home in Jiangyan, with black tiles and clear water walls, which was relatively simple and in line with Shao Shucai's aesthetics.

Shao Quanzhong left Shanxiang Thatched Cottage and told Maria, "Let's go to the train station and go to Beijing."

The reclusive Shao Quanzhong did not come to Beijing to make a comeback. He did not go to the Leopard Room or the palace to meet the five concubines in the harem. Instead, he visited the residence of Prime Minister Zhang Zhidong in a low-key manner.

"Brother Xiaoda, I'm bothering you again. There's nothing I can do. Others don't have your insight. You're the only one who can help me make a decision on this matter."

The Shao faction has a shortcoming: Shao Quanzhong has no advisers around him.

There are many staff officers, all of whom have learned the skills of orthodox warfare. If we need to launch a surprise attack, Grant is a general in Yili Province, and he has nothing to do every day, so it is no problem to transfer him back.

When it comes to political intrigue, there is no suitable talent. In this regard, Shao Quanzhong's own cleverness is enough for general problems, but when it comes to real big things, he can only find Zhang Zhidong.

A thick pile of information sent by the intelligence staff and Le Sen was spread out on Zhang Zhidong's desk.

Zhang Zhidong carefully studied the complex relationships on the Balkan Peninsula in the materials, and listened to Shao Quanzhong's strategic intentions. After thinking for a moment, he made a decision.

"My Lord, are you saying that Serbia and Bulgaria are in conflict over the divided Macedonian territory, and Serbia has mobilized a large number of troops to fight Bulgaria?"

“My suggestion is that Bulgaria should not only give up its claim to part of Vardar Macedonia, but also simply give up the occupied Pirin Macedonia to Serbia.”

"So cowardly?"

"Hey, doesn't the information say that the Serbian king, Milan Obrenovich, is very dissatisfied with Quan Xiao's title of Tsar? He always wants Serbia to unify the southern Slavs. He doesn't know his own weight."

"My Lord, your goal is to instigate Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia and trigger a European war. To do that, you have to make Serbia go crazy."

"When the sky is wild, it will rain; when people are wild, they will suffer disasters. Bulgaria tolerates Serbia's expansion, and those who don't know their limits may challenge the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

"At the London Peace Conference, Austria-Hungary prevented Serbia from annexing Albania and denying them access to the sea. This was a great grudge. Then, they occupied Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and other Slavic regions that Serbia wanted to control. Conflict between the two countries was inevitable."

"I also think that Quanxiao's Tsar's crown is a good bait, so why not do this..."

Zhang Zhidong never let Shao Quanzhong down by laying out baits and luring people into traps. Shao Quanzhong took the train back to Hailing that day and immediately sent a long secret telegram to Quanxiao.

Actually, the Hagia Sofia has a telephone connection, but the call needs to be manually transferred and is not confidential. Code telegrams are still useful...

…………

Sofia, Rose Valley.

Shao Quanxiao was dressed in military uniform and held the rank of major general. He did not wear a luxurious crown. He rode a "Hailing" brand 28-inch heavy bicycle. He carried the flower girl Sophie on the shelf and brought her back to the small house that served as a temporary bridal chamber.

Red couplets and double happiness characters were pasted on the new house. The only people who attended the extremely simple wedding were the groom and the bride's comrade-in-arms, Potowski.

Potowski gave them a washbasin and a pile of towels as gifts, and the two bowed to the portrait of Garibaldi, the father of both Italy and Bulgaria, and became husband and wife.

This was the flower girl's own insistence, a new style of wedding advocated by the Fenian Society in Bulgaria.

Shao Quanxiao was the emperor who lived the simplest life in the world, and it was not a show. After two sieges by the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria's economy was in tatters and people's livelihood was in dire straits. They really had no money.

Quanxiao was a strict, responsible person. He felt really bad watching the common people suffer while he lived a luxurious aristocratic life.

Quanxiao has suffered hardship since childhood. His elder brother was able to go out to beg at the age of sixteen to reduce the burden on the family. He feels that now he is so glorious and has enough food and drink, and he should set an example of diligence and thrift for the Bulgarians - this is a hundred times better than his childhood.

What is rare is that Sophie, the wife, strongly supports her husband's decision, and the couple have the same thoughts on this.

Rulers do not have wedding leave, and Quan Xiao was preparing to return to the city of Sofia with his new wife when the villagers of Rose Valley arrived.

The villagers brought their own food, such as tripe soup, cheese lasagna, sausage, kebabs, and yogurt and cucumber soup, which are all things they only eat during festivals.

The girls who grew up together gave the bride their own rose essential oil, and the old Slavic men brought their collection of Bulgarian unique distilled fruity vodka. Sophie, an orphan, lived in poverty when she was a child, otherwise she would not have joined the guerrillas. But she is handsome and has delicate skin, which is related to the fact that the Rose Valley produces the best rose essential oil in the world. This thing is produced by themselves and it is free.

Slavic girls and boys gathered in front of the Rose Valley Cottage to sing love songs together, forming a circle and singing and dancing.

The old men drank and laughed wildly, not treating the Tsar as an outsider at all.

The Russian Tsar had just freed the serfs and was affectionately called "Father" by the Russian peasants. The Bulgarian Tsar lived a simple life and shared the joys and sorrows with the villagers.

These days, the word "Tsar" is no longer a synonym for a corrupt and decadent dictator.

Simplicity alone cannot make Bulgaria strong. The next day, when the newlywed Tsar and his wife returned to the city, Bulgarian Privy Councilor Zhang Siwen, who had arrived urgently, was meeting with the Austro-Hungarian ambassador.

The Bulgarian Royal Palace was originally converted from the official residence of the Ottoman Pasha in Bulgaria, but it became more simple after the renovation.

All the magnificent decorations, famous paintings and antiques were entrusted to the Sofia branch of Wen's Chamber of Commerce for sale, and only the tables, chairs, paper and pens needed for office work were retained in the office area.

The Austro-Hungarian ambassador despised Bulgaria's poverty, and the new Bulgarian councillor showed great humility.

The two countries signed the Treaty of Sofia, under which the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided post-war impoverished Bulgaria with a loan of 10 million crowns, with an annual interest rate of 4%, to be repaid in 39 years.

The loans were mainly in the form of industrial aid, not just money, but a large number of machine tools, metallurgical equipment, experts, technicians, and support for railway construction.

The Bulgarians lived a poor life, but they promised to give generous treatment to the Austro-Hungarian experts and built a large number of small Western-style buildings for them in the beautiful Sofia, the "Back Garden of the Emperor".

As a result, Austro-Hungarian companies enjoyed investment privileges in Bulgaria, and citizens enjoyed extraterritoriality. Bulgaria also gave its only valuable item - Rose Valley rose essential oil - as a gift to the Austro-Hungarian Queen Sissi, and the Austro-Hungarian ambassador left satisfied.

Francis I received the ambassador's report that day and was very satisfied with Bulgaria's obedience to the Austro-Hungarian superiority.

Bulgaria did not need to eliminate the landlords, as all the Ottoman landlords had been killed by the guerrillas. Minister Zhang Siwen immediately issued a decision to establish cooperative agriculture and use Austro-Hungarian loans to introduce Hailing steam tractors and Song fertilizers to build farms.

Farms and mechanization caused a large number of farmers to become unemployed, and factories were built everywhere to absorb these farmers.

The management body composed of members of the Fenian Society shared the joys and sorrows with the new workers, while the senior Austro-Hungarian technicians responsible for training and guidance enjoyed treatment that exceeded that of the factory directors.

The former guerrilla supervisors constantly preached to the workers and peasants the reason why we all suffer together today.

Shao Quanxiao's frugality made the whole nation of this new country united in their efforts and tightened their belts to promote industrialization - fortunately, although Bulgaria was poor, it still had belts.

The day after Shao Quanxiao returned to Sofia, he received two telegrams at the same time.

One letter was sent by Chen Cheng, the King of England of the Bau Heavenly Kingdom Federation in South America, protesting against Shao Quanxiao's interception of Zhang Zizheng.

After Zhang Siwen went to London to meet Shao Quanzhong, he originally planned to go to South America, but was intercepted by Bulgaria and became the advisor of the Bulgarian Privy Council. When will it be our turn for the Bau Heavenly Kingdom Federation? Shao Quanxiao, you did a very unfair job in this matter.

Uh, Shao Quanxiao, play dumb, pretending that I didn't receive this telegram. Your South American grasslands are vast and rich in resources, and each of the Heavenly Kingdom's soldiers has several Spanish beauties. You live a happy life, so why are you in such a hurry, right?
The second letter was a secret telegram from his elder brother Shao Quanzhong. After Shao Quanxiao consulted with Zhang Siwen, Zhang Siwen immediately represented Bulgaria on a diplomatic mission to Belgrade.

Eight days later, Serbian King Milan Obrenovic met Zhang Siwen in the royal palace.

"Your Majesty, Bulgaria has no intention of offending Serbia's authority and we withdraw our territorial claims to Vardar Macedonia."

"Bulgaria has been through war for a long time and was the main battlefield of the Balkan War. It is devastated, poor and backward. It is unable to take care of the newly acquired Pirin Macedonia and is willing to hand it over to Serbia for rule."

"When the foreign ministers arrived, Bulgaria had already withdrawn its troops from Pirin Macedonia. Please accept it from the upper country."

"Bulgaria is weak, and His Majesty Shao is trembling with fear about wearing the Bulgarian Tsar's crown. Serbia is the natural leader of the southern Slavs."

"If Serbia can support the southern Slavs and make significant contributions, Bulgaria is willing to join Serbia and establish a Greater Serbia Federation with Belgrade as the core."

"Your Majesty Shao, I can offer you the Tsar's crown. Your Majesty Shao is content to be the Grand Duke of Bulgaria under your command."

After Zhang Siwen bowed humbly and left the Serbian royal palace, Obrenovich laughed up to the sky, "It turns out that the new Bulgarian tsar is a coward and a coward. As soon as we sent troops, they were trembling with fear and were willing to hand over their land and crowns."

"Hey, the old Austro-Hungarian Empire occupies Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, and the residents there are all us Slavs. When the time comes, my great Serbia just needs to raise its arms and call for them to surrender, won't they be happy to surrender?"

"That Tsar's rose crown will belong to me sooner or later - no, it belongs to me!"

His Majesty the King's wild laughter echoed throughout the Serbian Royal Palace.

……

"Soldiers are deceitful, so they show their inability when they are able, show their inability when they are in use, show how far they are when they are close, and show how close they are when they are far."

"Lure them when they are in a state of disorder, take them when they are strong, prepare for them when they are strong, avoid them when they are strong, frustrate them when they are angry, make them arrogant when they are humble, tire them when they are idle, and separate them when they are close. Attack them when they are least prepared and take them by surprise. This is the way to win in military affairs, and it cannot be announced in advance."

——The Art of War by Sun Tzu, “Beginning of Strategy”.

(End of this chapter)