Chapter 429 Tongzhi's Death
Chapter 429 Tongzhi's Death
The main force of the Huai Army consisted of four divisions and one brigade with 60,000 men. The Fifth Corps of the Ottoman Empire won the battle against Britain and France on the Gallipoli Peninsula with relatively small losses, with only 60,000 men left out of the 84,000.
When the two armies joined forces, the number of defenders in Istanbul reached 120,000.
The Ottoman Empire's First and Second Armies that attacked the city originally had 250,000 people. After losing a tank division in Bulgaria and fighting a bloody battle with Greece in Thrace, they now have only 200,000 left.
Istanbul can be said to be the strongest city in the world. It is basically impossible to capture a city defended by 120,000 people with 200,000 people.
If the weapon bonuses of both sides are taken into account, the attackers will have absolutely no chance of winning.
Maxim machine guns and 37mm Hotchkiss machine guns were assigned to squads, 47mm rapid-fire guns were assigned to companies. As a heavy artillery unit of a division, the firepower of the Huai Army far exceeded the core strength of the two mechanized divisions of the siege force.
The two armies enjoyed the excellent treatment of being hit by the heavy artillery divisions from a long distance, and they were unable to fight back. After being bombarded for three days, morale was extremely low. The two tank divisions rushed out of the city, and 200,000 people were immediately defeated like an avalanche.
Then, behind them were the three trenches built by 200,000 Bulgarian troops, with machine guns and rapid-fire cannons as well as squads.
Bulgaria didn't have that many mechanized troops, so their troops marched quite slowly with heavy weapons.
But since the beginning of the war, the Bulgarian army has never attacked, and has always been digging trenches to confront the Turks. Slow marching is not a weakness. Except for the first time when the Ottoman tank division was encircled and annihilated, there was a tank lightning outflanking...
As the two loyalist armies attacked from both sides collapsed and surrendered, the Ottoman Empire's loyalist forces no longer had the ability to fight back, and the overall situation was decided.
Murad V, who was in exile in Hailing, heard that a mutiny had occurred in his country and that the people were welcoming his restoration. He immediately chartered a clipper ship to return home urgently, and was expected to arrive in Istanbul in fifty days.
In order to "stabilize the situation in the Ottoman Empire", the Huai Army temporarily stayed in Istanbul to maintain peace and help Mihadet Pasha defend Istanbul.
Mihadet Pasha began to take control of the empire, and a large number of Turkish Youth Society cadres were sent to Thrace and Asia Minor, where they became new officials with the help of the bayonets of the Fifth Legion soldiers.
On the fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of the Tongzhi reign (January 1875, 1 in the Gregorian calendar), Murad V was still on his way to Istanbul by sea.
At 2 p.m., in the guest room of the New Palace in Istanbul, the dedicated telephone line assigned to Shao Quanzhong suddenly rang.
Maria picked up the phone. "Hello? This is Shao Ban."
Then he covered the phone with one hand, "Shao, it's Haiqing calling."
Hai Qing's voice was quite excited on the phone, "Second brother, I have good news for you - wrong, I have sad news for you. The young emperor was infected with syphilis - ahem, wrong, he had smallpox, and unfortunately he just passed away."
"Okay, the two Empress Dowagers and the Military Affairs Office are in urgent consultation. We still need to continue to gather new intelligence, so I won't say more."
Shao Quanzhong was not shocked at all. Not to mention his ability to tell fortunes with his fingers, in fact, in the past two months, all of China knew that the young emperor was dying, and everyone was speculating on the day he would die. Shao Quanzhong had even received news from the Intelligence Department a long time ago.
It’s not that the Intelligence Bureau is omnipotent, but my Qing Dynasty is now a model of press freedom.
In other words, the Qing court had not yet realized the importance of the media and had no awareness of news control.
Two months ago, news of His Majesty's poor health accidentally came out, and reporters stationed in Beijing set their sights on the Forbidden City.
The reporter conducted "paid interviews" with the eunuchs and imperial doctors working in the Forbidden City. As a result, the emperor's daily physical condition, eating, bed rest and even the imperial doctors' prescriptions were published in the report.
The sales volume increased greatly, and the people on the streets and alleys predicted when the emperor would die after dinner every day. The emperor's illness had been broadcast live for the past two months. From then on, Haiqing called every day, constantly reporting the latest intelligence from the Forbidden City, and his tone was always full of excitement.
On February 2, Murad V arrived in Istanbul and held a press conference at the New Palace, announcing his official restoration.
The day after Murad V's restoration, the New Palace issued a statement.
Since all vassal states had become independent or were ceded, the Ottoman Empire was left with only half of Thrace and most of the core territories of Asia Minor, and the empire had in fact disintegrated.
Murad V was unwilling to bear the false name of an empire, so he sent a telegram to the world, announcing that he would change the country's name to the Kingdom of Türkiye, and he would give up the title of Caliph, but still be called Sultan.
In the future, the Kingdom of Türkiye must recognize its international status, abandon its ambition for hegemony, and make increasing national income and benefiting the people its sole goal.
This is a signal to the world, "I am a loser, and I know it. I have been demoted to a kingdom, so you don't have to be on guard against me anymore. Let's work together to make money and get rich together."
Murad announced that the new Kingdom of Türkiye would be a constitutional monarchy and appointed Mihadet Pasha as prime minister to form a government cabinet.
The Grand Council, the Chief Justice, everything is configured according to the European style.
The Turkish Kingdom, having lost the bloated shell of the Ottoman Empire, threw off its historical baggage and, under the leadership of Mihadet Pasha, began a comprehensive reform.
On February 2, Mihadet Pasha, who had completely taken control of the leadership, requested to revise the treaties with Qing and Russia and redefine the terms of the Treaty of Batumi between the three countries.
After ten days of detailed consultations, on February 2, Mihadet Pasha, on behalf of the Kingdom of Turkey, and Wu Ziyi, on behalf of the Qing Dynasty and Russia, signed the Treaty of Istanbul as a supplement and amendment to the Treaty of Batumi.
The Qing Dynasty gave up its claim to the Levant and returned it to the Kingdom of Turkey, trying to ensure the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Turkey. It also gave up the 5 million lira indemnity and supported Turkey's economic reforms.
Russia gave up its territorial claims to all of Western Armenia and returned all the land west of Erzurum Province to the Kingdom of Türkiye.
Only the ceded territory of the narrow strip of land centered on Lake Van was retained, so that Armenia could border the Mesopotamian Plain ceded to the Qing Dynasty.
The Kingdom of Türkiye, the United Kingdom of Crimea and the Qing Dynasty formed a tripartite economic alliance to achieve economic integration, mutual exemption of tariffs, and free movement of citizens and goods.
The three countries jointly built a railway network that runs through the major cities of the three countries and shared profits according to their investment.
The three countries formed a military alliance and had the obligation to defend each other. The Crimean Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty each sent a division of troops to assist in the defense of Istanbul.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet was renamed the Triple Alliance Fleet and stationed in the Golden Horn Bay.
Murad V and Shao Quanzhong approved the treaty and made it known to the world.
After attending the signing ceremony, before waiting for the world's feedback, Shao Quanzhong walked out of the signing venue and immediately received a bombshell news.
Aixinjueluo Zaiyi, the younger brother of the late Qing emperor, was chosen by the royal family as the successor of the late emperor. He married the eldest daughter of Prince Su Longqin on the same day. He was scheduled to succeed to the throne in ten days and asked Shao Quanzhong for the reign title.
After careful consideration, Shao Quanzhong replied with two words, "Xuantong".
(End of this chapter)