48) The Crisis

After receiving the telegram for help, Prince Konstantínos tossed it aside without reading it. They said, after some thought, "Take a regiment from our newly formed militia division and go over to reinforce the 18th Division! Tell Major General Andreas that this is his last group of reinforcements and that he must hold the line. If he can't, he doesn't have to come back!"

After saying that, Prince Konstantínos got up directly and went to the field hospital, knowing that it would be tough to hold the defense line with the current strength in hand!

In order to increase the number of soldiers, he had even ordered to catch strong men in the area. The militia reserve that has just been formed comprises militiamen captured in the Thessaly region!

Theoretically, he gained another division of troops; in reality, this newly formed militia division does not even have a gun in hand, and its combat power is better than nothing, right?

When they get to the front lines, they'll have guns anyway! The war goes on, people always die, and they'll have guns when others die!

In the late stages of World War I, the Russian army did just that! Now it has been done by the Greeks, in advance!

Now Prince Konstantínos played the idea of the field hospital again. From the beginning of the attack on the city of Trikala until now, the wounded in the field hospital has exceeded 20,000 people!

Leaving out the severely wounded who have completely lost their fighting ability, at least 7,000 to 8,000 lightly wounded can still barely fight on the battlefield! Even if the combat power has to be reduced, this group of 'veterans' is better than the newly formed militia division!

Prince Konstantínos has long ordered, but it is a pity that few people are still willing to go to war again!

When he approached the field hospital, a stench overwhelmed Prince Konstantínos, who had never suffered this pain but was still forced to resist nausea and continue to move forward!

Not far away appears a row of a load of the stretcher. It still puts the wounded on top. These are just from the front line! From time to time came a burst of wailing from the wounded. It's creepy!

Few medical staff holding a first aid kit are busy working. That is, to carry out some first aid work, take the bandage to re-dress the wound!

Medicine? I'm sorry, but in the 19th century, this was a very luxurious product! Except for a few officers, ordinary soldiers were not entitled to it!

And many of the seriously injured, even if one can rescue them, are also crippled, making it even less worthwhile for the Greek government to spend the big bucks!

Even with medicine, the chances of the seriously wounded surviving are meager! There are no antibiotics in this era, and the inventor of penicillin is still a kid!

It's all a gamble on whether the wound will become infected or not! Once a wound becomes infected, if it is on an extremity, it has to be amputated!

If it is other parts, expect God to help! The chances of a miracle will not be more than one percent!

Obviously, the field hospitals of the Greek army were not capable of receiving so many wounded! Even for simple medical treatment, they could not do it!

Seeing this scene, Prince Konstantínos had some understanding as to why those lightly wounded refused to go into battle again! After experiencing such an environment, it is estimated that many of their minds would collapse!

Prince Konstantínos was thinking about how he could send these men to the front again. Coercive means are useless, and many of the wounded who have been healed have already broken their bones again to resist being recruited!

...

On the front line of the 18th Division Command, Major General Andreas looked at this batch of reinforcements sent to him by Prince Konstantínos and was about to go crazy!

From twelve or thirteen-year-olds to seventy or eighty-year-olds!

Not to mention combat power, Andreas doubts that many of them, in the end, will still be able to afford to withstand the gun!

At this moment, he even wondered if he had offended Prince Konstantínos somewhere and was now putting on little shoes!

Soon, he dismissed this idea! At this time, everybody is in the same line of shackles. If something happens, no one can get away!

Anyway, it's better to have reinforcements than not. No matter how outrageous, as long as you can pull the trigger, it's always somewhat useful!

The premise is that he first has to teach this mob to use weapons!

After a moment of frustration, Major General Andreas yelled, "Guards, tell all regiments to come to division headquarters to collect their men and tell them that reinforcements have arrived!!!"

Well! Soon he will not be the only one depressed. It will be even more difficult for those below! And there is no choice. There are only so many reinforcements. Take it or leave it!

Anyway, now all the troops are short of men! Since Prince Konstantínos drew a division at the front, everyone's defensive line has become longer, and accordingly, the troops have been divided thinly!

...

Since the Ottomans launched a full-scale counter-offensive, Prince Konstantínos telegraphed the Greek government with a sternly worded plea for help!

The content is very short, with just one meaning: if there are no more reinforcements, everyone will receive the news of his defeat in less than three days!

At this moment, Geórgios I could not sit still! Unlike the previous letters for help, this time is dangerous. No commander will send such a telegram for help until the moment of life and death!

"How many troops are left in the country?" Geórgios I asked eagerly.

The Minister of War said with a bitter smile, "Not more than 40,000 men, and mostly old, sick and disabled! But all the troops with fighting ability are now deployed to the front!"

Geórgios I thought about it and said, "It's no big deal! Send out my Royal Guard as well, form a reinforcement force of 30,000 men, and set out at once to reinforce Prince Konstantínos!"

The Minister of War said with a deathly grimace: "But Your Majesty, there's simply not enough time!

All these just formed the army. They are still only a peasant with hoes, or just from the factory workers, not to say that there is no combat power!

Right now, they're still spread out all over the country, and I'm afraid it will be too late when they arrive! Now the army that can reinforce Prince Konstantínos within three days is less than 10,000 men!"

Geórgios I look more gloomy and dreadful, this moment he suddenly found the situation, the crisis has reached such a point!

The government has been holding back from sending additional reinforcements to the front, not that they don't want to, but the country simply can't get a decent army all the time!

In other words, from the moment they sat down at the gambling table, the Greek government had already bargained! If they hadn't done their best, the Greek army wouldn't have been able to pierce the Ottomans' defenses earlier easily!

It is also the common problem of all small countries - they can not afford to lose! One defeat and you lose all the chips in your hand!

Geórgios I coldly swept the Minister of War and said, "I don't care how many reasons you have, but within three days, reinforcements must arrive at the front!

We have to hold the Trikala line, and don't tell me that your Ministry doesn't even have a plan for reinforcements!

Even if the reinforcements can't all arrive, we must make it to as many as possible! I only ask that the defense line be held, and at what cost, we must hold it!"

"Yes!" The Minister of War replied with a bitter smile.

——

After a few moments of silence, seeing Geórgios I's anger slightly subsided, the Prime Minister suddenly sighed and said: "Now is not the time to blame. The most urgent task is to make Bulgaria and Montenegro join this war soon!

Otherwise, it's no longer possible to win this war on our own, even with a decent armistice outcome!"

Geórgios I is also considered the Greek hero of all generations, but it is a pity that some were born at the wrong time. Now the bottom of Greece is really too thin!

At the Prime Minister's prompting, Geórgios I at once understood and opened his mouth to ask: "Tell us all! What price do we have to pay in exchange for the Bulgarians to send troops immediately?"

The faces of the people changed greatly, from the beginning of the war to now. In not even ten days Ottomans will defeat Greece!

The plan to rebuild Greater Greece has just taken its first step and failed!

Now Greece can not compare with the latter. Not only is the territory less than half of the latter, but the population is also only two million! Once defeated, in the future, the Greek army will not be able to restore their strength for a long time!

The Minister of Finance spoke up first and said, "Isn't it too early for you to talk about the post-war gains!

The current situation on the battlefield is very unfavorable for us, and I suggest urging Bulgaria and Montenegro to enter the war as soon as possible!

From the situation on the battlefield, the strength of the Ottoman army is still there, and it is tough to end the war in the short term!

Without the intervention of the Great Powers, it is a big question mark whether the League could have won the final victory?"

When the covers were blown off, the Balkan League had to be quick to win the war! Once the Ottoman Empire reacted, the war became a protracted war, and the other countries were still uncertain, but Greece is definitely did not last two months!

The Minister of the Interior said with a bitter smile, "This is indeed a problem! But we started this war. We have to get something out of it, right?

Without enough revenue, what will we tell the people at home!

If we promise too many benefits now in order to pull Bulgaria into the war, in case the Russians intervene later and the League wins the war, we'll lose big!"

Everyone looked at each other with a look of helplessness! Everyone has now lost confidence in the Balkan League and pinned their hopes on the support of the Russians!

The Minister of Foreign Affairs disapproved: "At this point in time, why do you still think so much! We must think so much, but won't others think about it?

Do you think the Bulgarian and Montenegro governments can't think of this? Why should people take millet from the fire for us without enough interest?"

Geórgios I was stunned, wasn't he? They would have joined without the Greeks' promises if it was a sure-win war!

But now it is obvious that the chances of winning are not good. Do you expect a paper treaty to bind everything?

Ferdinand did not even have to tear up the pact. The war was started in advance by the Greeks. According to the pact's terms, Bulgaria joined the war within three months, which is not considered a breach of contract!

As for the Bulgarian government's promises, don't even bother. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made verbal promises. As long as the Bulgarian government comes to a stalemate, Greece can't even make allegations in public opinion!

If Greece can hold out for three months, Bulgaria will definitely enter the war! It means the Ottoman Empire had limited strength, and there was no pressure to crush weak people!

If Greece could not hold out for three months, they lost the war. Bulgaria can pretend that nothing happened. Anyway, they have not yet declared war on the Ottoman Empire. With the presence of the Russian-Bulgarian Alliance, the Ottoman Empire did not dare to do anything to them!

At this moment, Geórgios I knew Ferdinand had screwed him! Moreover, he was also screwed. There is no concrete compromise. Bulgaria will probably continue to watch the show!

But he also did not believe that the Bulgarians would not be worried at all. It really is not easy to watch the defeat of Greece, nor will it be easy for Bulgaria!

Well, he had overestimated Ferdinand's morality! In Bulgaria, Ferdinand is looking at the war report, drinking tea, and enjoying himself!

Sometimes they also review a few points and come off as a crowd eater, not worried about the Greeks at all!

The Greeks were able to fight until now, and Ferdinand was satisfied! At most, according to the initial estimate of the staff, Greece could withstand the attack of 150,000 Ottoman troops with all its strength; if they launched an active attack, they would defeat them in no more than ten days!

It was similar to the historical Greek Army performance, which got defeated a week after the start of the war!

Now the performance of the Greek army has been very good, and fighting with more than 100,000 Ottoman troops for so long, and has taken out at least 30,000 to 40,000 Ottoman troops, has been very surprised by Ferdinand!

As for sending troops to help? No problem! Just wait a little bit. After the defeat of the main Greek force, that's when Bulgaria sent troops!

In both lives, countless lessons from history have taught Ferdinand that the allocation of benefits is never based on merit. That strength is the core factor in determining the distribution of benefits!

Isn't Bulgaria the biggest contributor to the Balkan wars in parallel time and space? He thought he could get the biggest share of the cake, but the result? Not enough strength, in front of the interests of former allies into enemies, was beaten up a half!

Now Ferdinand intends to pit one against the other, and anyway, Bulgaria is acting according to the plan that was agreed upon in advance.

The Greeks themselves are the ones to blame for starting the war early, and if they can't hold out for half a month, who has the nerve to blame Bulgaria!

Of course, even if it lasted half a month, it would be useless! Even if they entered the war, Bulgaria was also first to deal with Istanbul, followed by the Macedonian region. For a while still could not help the Greeks!

...

Ferdinand put down the cup of tea in his hand and asked, "Prime Minister, how are the preparations for Montenegro? Is there a chance that they will enter the war early?"

Prime Minister Konstantin smiled and said, "Montenegro is now terrified! They have their eyes on us right now, and it looks like they won't enter the war as long as we don't come to the field!"

Ferdinand's face turned pale. Something is wrong! Nikola I was a man who had fought in two wars against the Turks and knew absolutely everything about the military power of the Ottoman Empire! Even if the Greeks are defeated, it is not so much to scare him!

"Do not underestimate them. Nikola I is also a famous general of his generation! The strength the Ottomans display now will not scare him!

We were able to fool the Greeks, but not him! It looks like through the Bulgarian War, Nikola I has gained a basic idea of our strength, or else by now Montenegro would have simply withdrawn from the League and would not be watching!"

The people's faces changed greatly and then returned to the time. It has come to this point, even if their strength is exposed and what can be?

Could the Greeks not make peace with the Ottoman Empire? At the most, it was only two divisions in size. What could it do to threaten Bulgaria?