Chapter 117： The impact of war on the economy

"The Serb played well in Kumanovo."

Sitting behind his desk, Edel looked at the telegram in his hand, and praised the Serbian army to the chief guard in front of him. Facing the question of the crown prince, the head guard Carust nodded in agreement with his speech. Edel continued. "Serbia is not considered the best player in the war. I don't know what Bulgaria will achieve by that time?"

"It should be soon. The military observation group we sent has now followed the Bulgarian army into the Ottoman territory."

The head of the bodyguard still knows something about the crown prince's question.

"That should be known soon."

"I think so."

There was a knock on the door, interrupting the conversation between the crown prince and the chief guard.

"Come in."

As the crown prince called, a guard in a white dress came in and saluted the crown prince and the chief guard. "Mr. Baslob, the German ambassador, please see me."

Hearing that it was the German ambassador begging to see him, Edel was already prepared. Since Romania declared war on Osman, he knew that the ambassador would come to him sooner or later, but he didn't arrive for four days before coming, so he told the guard. "Invite him in."

The captain of the guard Carust consciously followed the guard out of the crown prince's office.

After a while, the Ambassador Baslob walked into the crown prince’s office. In the past two years, Ambassador Baslob’s life has not been very good, because the Romanian government has gradually shifted to neutrality from Germany. He has been reprimanded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs many times, saying that his diplomatic work in Romania is very bad. It's not that there is someone in the government to protect him, it is estimated that he will be recalled to the country.

After Ambassador Baslob entered the door, he walked to Edel and bowed to salute and said. "Good day, Your Highness."

Edel knowingly asked. "Don't know what Mr. Ambassador is asking for me?"

"His Royal Highness, our German government is very concerned about this Balkan war. Now the war has caused many civilian casualties, and many more people are homeless. I don't know what position Romania holds in this war." Ambassador Robb first expressed Germany's attitude.

His attitude of caring about Romania has a lot to do with the interests of Ottoman in Germany. Germany now occupies an important position in Ottoman: it has undertaken the reorganization of the Ottoman army and has obtained the concession to build the Baghdad Railway. So in diplomacy, I chose to support the Ottoman Empire.

In this Balkan War, the European powers held different positions. Britain and Russia chose to support the Balkan Alliance because of their interests in the Balkans. Among them, Russia supported Serbia and Bulgaria, Britain supported Greece, and France followed Russia and Britain. Attitude to support the Balkan countries.

Romania's neighboring country, Austria-Hungary, now also supports Ottoman. This is because the strategic location of the Balkans is particularly important for Austria-Hungary. He wanted to annex the northeastern part of Serbia and hand over the rest of Serbia to Bulgaria. It has obtained a concession from the Turkish government to build a railway from Uvac to Kosovo Mitrovica, and in Kosovo Mitrovica has built a railway to Thessaloniki, plus domestic ethnic issues So choosing to support the Ottoman Empire is not surprising.

Italy is more complicated. On the one hand, he just signed a peace treaty with Ottoman ("Uchi Treaty" 1. Turkey must withdraw all military personnel from Benghazi Province, but in return, Italy will return Rhodes and 12 islands close to Turkey. 2. Benghazi Province will have a special status with a regent and judge representing the Caliph. 3. Before appointing these regents and judges, the Turks will ask the Italian government. 4. The Turkish government will be responsible for the regency and justice. The judge's related expenses). On the other hand, Italy also has its own ideas about the Balkans, so he chose to secretly support the Ottoman Empire.

Facing Ambassador Baslob’s question, Edel spoke out the answer he had prepared long ago. "Mr. Ambassador, we in Romania can only express regret about this war."

Seeing Ambassador Baslob still staring at him, Edel continued to talk about his most relevant topics. "Mr. Ambassador, you should know that this time we declared war only because of the alliance. This is a last resort. In fact, our country does not have the idea of ​​mobilizing the army. I hope Mr. Ambassador can bring our attitude to the German government and let them know Romania. In fact, we are not too interested in this war. We are just fulfilling the basic obligations of an ally. We can call the relationship between Romania and the Ottoman Empire the Cold War."

After hearing Crown Prince Edel's speech and appearance, Ambassador Baslober secretly let go of the burden in his heart with a long sigh of relief. Because the task given to him by the German government is to ascertain the attitude of the Romanian government, and if there is a tendency to send troops, he can persuade Romania's ideas.

When Ambassador Baslob received this telegram, he wanted to squeeze the telegram into the mouth of the person who ordered him. He is only the ambassador to Romania, not the Romanian imperial emperor, and his small ambassador can persuade such a major event as sending troops. It's just that this telegram was sent by the Prime Minister. He didn't dare to express his attitude. He could only come to visit Crown Prince Edel, hoping that Romania had no plans to send troops. Now it seems that he is lucky.

"Our German government thanks Romania for its restraint in this war. This is good news for the people who suffered in the war." Ambassador Baslob also expressed his gratitude to Romania for restraint. None of the articles have Germany's own requirements, which is hypocritical enough.

For Romania, the country with the strongest volume and mobilization power in the Balkan Alliance, Baslob, still relying on his experience as an ambassador here for several years, can infer that Romania has no problem in mobilizing 600,000 troops. In this Balkan war China is already a decisive force. It is necessary to know that in the several countries that have sent troops now, only a total of more than 700,000 troops have been drawn. You can see the weight of Romania in it. No wonder the German government wants Ambassador Baslob to dissuade Romania’s intention to send troops.

Ambassador Baslob left after a few small chats after Crown Prince Edel got the answer he wanted.

Seeing Ambassador Baslob's departure, Edel breathed a long sigh of relief. He still doesn't want to have a conflict with Germany. Romania's industrialization has not yet taken shape, and a lot of German support is needed.

Just when Edel was about to take a break, a guard walked in to report. "His Royal Highness, please see the Prime Minister."

When I heard that Prime Minister Bretianu asked to see him, Edel knew what he was looking for, so he cheered up and ordered. "The Prime Minister, please come in."

After the guard went out to pass the pass, Prime Minister Bretianu walked in refreshedly, it seems that power is really a man's life-saving medicine. He talked about it after walking up to the crown prince to salute. "His Royal Highness, after calculation by our government's transportation department, through railway transportation, this war has a limited impact on our Romanian economy in a short period of time."

After hearing the Prime Minister's words, Edel asked with interest. "Talk about the specific situation."

Now Edel is most concerned about economic issues. What he cares most about joining the Balkan League is that the Ottoman Empire closed the Dardanelles to them. In fact, on October 22, the day after Romania declared war on the Ottomans, Daddani The Strait is closed to Romania. Now their exports can only take the railway to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria. Fortunately, he asked the government to make plans in advance to transport exports by rail, even though the cost is better than not being transported.

"His Royal Highness, we now have 876 steam locomotives in Romania, with 23,700 carriages, including 6,700 passenger carriages and 17,000 cargo carriages. After deducting the domestic freight and passenger trains that we must guarantee, we now have 527 One steam locomotive can be used, and there are 11,000 freight cars that can be equipped for transportation. The average time for our trains to transport foreign goods is about three days. After deducting the train maintenance and repair time, we can send three trains to overseas in an hour Freight train."

Mr. Prime Minister also explained a little after finishing speaking. "The long round-trip time is because most of my country's exports go to Western and Central Europe, which makes my country's transportation time longer."

After hearing the Prime Minister’s detailed description of the current status of railway transportation, Edel calculated silently in his heart. One thousand eight hundred tons of shipments per hour should be able to satisfy Romania’s external exports.

Edel still asked the Prime Minister uncertainly. "Now the railway capacity can guarantee our normal export code?"

After hearing the concerned inquiry from the crown prince, Prime Minister Bretianu said in a very positive tone After our calculation, the railway capacity can meet the export demand. "After saying this, the Prime Minister said in a different tone. "However, this kind of full-load operation puts a lot of pressure on the railways. Our state can only be guaranteed for three months. After three months, the railways and trains need to be dealt with. Carry out comprehensive maintenance. "

After hearing the Prime Minister's resignation, Edel thought of the Spring Festival travel in his previous life. It seemed that this situation was an explosion pattern. Edel also had no good way, only to speak to Prime Minister Bretianu. "I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for the transportation statistics. I hope to discuss with the transportation department after I get down and try my best to maintain this state of sustainability."

"I will."

After talking with the Prime Minister about railway transportation to ensure Romania's economic operation, Edel personally sent him out.

Crown Prince Edel, who returned to the office, can now only hope that the Balkan countries can quickly finish the war.

Facing Edel's wishes, Bulgaria, the strongest force in the Balkan Alliance, is now launching an offensive against the Thracian region.

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