Chapter 428 Shocking Change

Chapter 428 Shocking Change

Chapter 428 Shocking Change
Shao Quanzhong claimed that he led the Huai Army to participate in the European war. In fact, from May 17th to October 20th of the lunar calendar, the war lasted for five months and the army never left Asia.

For example, Batumi, where we are now, is located south of the Caucasus Mountains and traditionally belongs to Asia.

However, Batumi does not look like an Asian city at all. At this point in time, Batumi is not a city, but only a small town, and its main functions are a fortress and a seaport.

Cargo ships from various ports in Europe gather here. Oil products produced in Baku are shipped here via Tbilisi and shipped to major cities in Europe, becoming fuel for gas lamps on the streets of various cities and kerosene lamps in residents' homes, bringing light to European citizens at night.

There are many Orthodox churches of various shapes in the town, and people walking on the street have high noses, deep eyes, brown hair and red eyes, full of European style.

In fact, in modern times, Georgian football teams participate in European competitions, which leaves a valuable qualifying spot for Asian football. Although even if there is one more spot, it is of no use to a certain country...

The five-nation talks in Batumi were held at the Gonio Fortress with only three representatives. Shao Quanzhong was not one of the three negotiators. The Qing ambassador to Germany, Wu Ziyi, represented Russia, Qing and Bulgaria in the negotiations.

In addition to being the ambassador to Germany, Wu Ziyi also holds the position of Minister in the Prime Minister's Office of Foreign Affairs. It is his duty to be pulled in by Shao Quanzhong to do the work.

There was no railway in the South Caucasus, and Wu Ziyi took a train from Berlin to Italy and then a boat to Batumi, which was faster than Shao Quanzhong's trip from Baku to Batumi. This made Shao Quanzhong determined to build a railway from Batumi to Baku and even an oil pipeline as part of the investment promised to his father-in-law.

Shao Quanzhong was good at building relationships behind the scenes to exchange interests, and he didn't like to argue with people at the negotiation table. The job of arguing was given to Wu Ziyi, and Prince Shao Quanzhong took his secretary, Archduchess Maria, out for a stroll.

Batumi's special tourism includes beaches and horseback riding on inland grasslands, both of which Shao Quanzhong is fed up with.

Damn, I just rode from Basra to Baghdad, then to Tbilisi, Baku, and from Baku to Batumi. I rode this horse for more than 6,000 miles, okay?
As for the sea, in recent years Mr. Shao has spent more time on the sea than on land.

Therefore, Shao Quanzhong chose to accompany Maria to church for worship. After all, Maria had saved his life twice in assassinations, and his father-in-law had just crowned him king, so he had to show some appreciation.

Today was not Sunday, but even in the world of God, the nobility had privileges. The priest of the church provided Maria with a private worship ceremony and had a good meal with Shao Quanzhong.

Walking out of the church drunk, Shao Quanzhong said that his wife Lucia had a good faith.

It is said that in 986 AD, Grand Prince Vladimir was undecided about which religion to follow, so he invited representatives of three religions to consult about the prohibitions in their respective religious rules.

A church representative said: "Our priests are not allowed to get married."

Another religious representative said: "Not only the clergy, but all our believers are not allowed to drink alcohol."

Byzantine people and Orthodox representatives said: "Orthodox priests can marry, and all believers are allowed to drink alcohol!"

The Duke exclaimed in delight: "This teaching is exactly what I want!"

After returning to the temporary headquarters in the fortress, Shao Quanzhong received two pieces of information. These were brought by the Pacific Fleet when it sent the Fujian and Zhejiang New Army to Japan. They were slowly spread and finally delivered to Shao Quanzhong as intelligence.

One was that the Pacific Fleet was cruising and visiting various islands in the Pacific. When it passed by Fiji, it took Fiji as a vassal state and hoisted the Yellow Dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty there.

Well, the process was very friendly, there was no bloodshed, just the naval guns knocked down a few huts. The chiefs there were real chiefs, completely different from Hawaii.

The other is about Hawaii. King Lunalilo I of Hawaii died after two years in office. Kalakaua I succeeded him and prepared to continue paying tribute to the capital.

As for Kamehameha V, who had dealt with Shao Quanzhong at the time, he died young two years ago at the age of 42.

Alas, every time Shao Quanzhong went to Zhang Zhidong for advice, he lamented that God was jealous of talented people.

Otherwise, if he could transfer the King of Hawaii to his side as an adviser, he would definitely be able to help him thrive in the international political arena. He is one of the few truly understanding people he has ever met in the world.

As for the other strategist chosen by Shao Quanzhong, it was Zhao Liewen, Zeng Guofan's aide. Unfortunately, Zhao had the character of a traditional Chinese scholar. After Zeng Guofan's death, he pretended to be ill and did not go out. He even quit his post as governor of Yizhou and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion. He never made plans for others.

In this world, there are many foolish people who hold high positions and act arbitrarily, but there are too few wise people who can truly see through the fog of history. That is why there are so many disputes, meaningless wars, and tens of millions of ordinary people died in ditches without knowing why.

——This could have been avoided. Wouldn’t it be better to sit down and negotiate like this?

The world belongs to those with virtue. If you occupy something that you don't have the ability to own, just give it to me. You have to defeat the enemy before you give it to me - well, the Ottomans definitely don't think so.

Wu Ziyi's first day report to Shao Quanzhong proved that the Ottomans did not think so.

"The Greeks demanded that the Ottoman Empire cede half of the Thrace region they occupied, and I demanded war reparations of 10 million Turkish liras on behalf of Bulgaria, and they had no objection."

"I asked for the division of territory along the ceasefire line, and I wanted the territory east of Ankara, but they refused to agree." Ahem, if they really followed this dividing line, the Ottoman Empire would basically be left with nothing. They still have nearly 300,000 troops, and if they are really forced into a corner, they will definitely fight to the death. Even if they can't beat you, they will bite off a piece of your flesh, making you lose more than you gain.

In fact, Liu Jintang and Ma Zhan'ao went straight to Ankara. As for most parts of Asia Minor, the Huai Army did not occupy them.

But it's just a negotiation. You ask for a sky-high price and pay back on the spot. Just take your time talking. How many international treaties can be concluded in one day?
"As for you, Ziyi, just do your best to negotiate. Anyway, as long as we have the rich Mesopotamian Plain that we have stably occupied, we will take as much as we can of the rest."

After Wu Ziyi left, Le Sen walked out from the shadows, "Marshal, is this negotiation meaningful? Isn't our intelligence department working with the Rothschild family..."

Shao Quanzhong smiled mysteriously, "Of course it makes sense. The more Wu Ziyi negotiates, the more favor Murad V will owe me in the future. Hehe, favors are not easy to repay."

This negotiation was quite formal and lasted for half a month.

Compared with most international treaties, this was certainly very fast. The main reason was that without Asia Minor as a strategic rear base to provide food and fodder, the Ottoman Empire's army of more than 200,000 could not hold on and was running out of food and fodder.

As long as the negotiations are not concluded, the Ottoman Empire cannot disband its army, which is their bargaining chip.

After complicated bargaining, the Treaty of Batumi was finally reached.

The Ottoman Empire ceded Western Thrace to Greece and paid an indemnity of 10 million lire to Bulgaria.

Western Armenia was ceded to Russia, and the Levant, Mesopotamian Plain, Kuwait, Qatar and North Yemen were ceded to the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty agreed not to make territorial claims on other parts of Asia Minor west of Ankara. The Ottoman Empire paid a ransom of 5 million liras to the Qing Dynasty to redeem the occupied territories on the Asia Minor Peninsula except Western Armenia.

After the treaty was announced, the new armies of Saudi Arabia and Sinai withdrew immediately, and Greece and Bulgaria also began to slowly disband their frontline troops.

The Ottoman Empire's territory shrank significantly, and it began to disband its huge army that it could no longer support, while also recalling the Third Army that was still wandering as bandits in Persia.

Alexander II immediately sent a congratulatory message, praising his son-in-law for expanding Russia's territory and snatching Western Armenia from the Ottoman Empire. The Russo-Turkish War was fought nine times, and Russia had never achieved such a great victory, okay?

Britain and France did not gain any advantage and were very upset about the treaty.

The British brother immediately issued an order, "The war with the Ottoman Empire is over. Please ask the Huai Army to enter Europe immediately and help us fight Germany and Austria-Hungary, even if you fight Italy."

Shao Quanzhong was very positive, "I received the instructions from you, big brother, and I will execute them right away."

Shao Quanzhong ordered that the new Tianfang army take over North Yemen and Qatar, the new Sinai army maintain order in the Levant region, and the Gan army temporarily maintain order in the Mesopotamian Plain and take over Kuwait.

Under the leadership of Zeng Xiaoyi, the Anhui New Army consolidated the Huai Army's rule in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The main force of the Huai Army boarded ships in Batumi with great fanfare, carried by the Black Sea Fleet, and claimed that they would march into Europe to fight. It was unknown who Shao Quanzhong was going to fight.

The Black Sea Fleet had just left the port of Batumi when shocking news came from Istanbul, shocking the world.

The Fifth Army, which returned from the Gallipoli Peninsula, under the leadership of the reformist general Mihadet Pasha, launched a mutiny with officers from the "Turkish Youth Society" as the backbone.

Abdul Hamid II was declared the main culprit for the Ottoman Empire's defeat and humiliation because of his refusal to reform. The Sultan was deposed and Murad V, who was in exile in the Qing Dynasty, was welcomed back to the Ottoman Empire to take power.

The generals of the First and Second Armies, who had not yet disbanded on the front line, collectively opposed the rebellious behavior of the Fifth Corps. Two hundred thousand troops returned to attack Istanbul to rescue the king, and fierce fighting broke out between the two sides.

Five days later, the Black Sea Fleet arrived at the Bosphorus and resupplied in the Golden Horn.

Shao Quanzhong announced that at the invitation of Mihadet Pasha, the Huai Army entered Istanbul for peacekeeping and invited Bulgaria to send peacekeeping troops.

Two hundred thousand Bulgarian troops followed the Ottoman First and Second Armies and entered Thrace.

The elite main force of the Huai Army of the 4th Division and 1st Brigade landed in the Golden Horn, and a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, wheeled personnel carriers, and heavy artillery tractors continuously entered Istanbul.

In the city of Istanbul, the sound of the Huai Army's military boots could be heard everywhere, and the cold light of the Mauser bolt-action rifle bayonets could be seen.

(End of this chapter)