The choice that the Greeks considered to be the right one was undoubtedly unsatisfactory to both sides, and it could be said that both sides were not pleasing to both sides.

The Russians could barely accept that wherever the Greeks were fighting, they were holding back a part of the Ottoman Empire's energy. Now is the moment of truth, one more ally and one more power to increase the odds of victory.

The British and French could not bear it, especially the British, who saw what Greece was doing was a naked betrayal.

The conflict between the two countries in 1850 was ignored by the London government. Ignoring the fact that years earlier, when Palmerston ordered the blockade of the port of Piraeus, the two countries had turned on each other.

Of course, John Bull did not want to irritate the Greeks at this time. In case they go straight to Constantinople regardless of the disregard and cut off their logistical transportation lines by the way, the coalition forces on the Balkan Peninsula will be finished in less than half a month.

While the opening of a new front was being discussed in the London Parliament, Foreign Secretary Palmerston was in trouble. didn't control the lower half of his body, and got involved with the queen's maids.

It's nothing, there are a lot of bad things for the nobles, and it doesn't hurt to add one more. Cheating in private, stealing is stealing, everyone opens a blind eye and passes.

However, they died in a tryst in the palace, and unluckily, they were bumped into by Prince Albert in the face.

Things are on the bright side, this is the court scandal, Prince Albert is angry, Queen Victoria is also angry.

If you don't make an example, where is the dignity of the royal family?

Things went haywire, and the hapless Palmerston and the maid were arrested on the spot by the palace guards and entertained with a good meal.

Under Franz's butterfly effect, history took a turning point. Historically, Palmerston broke the virginity of the Queen's maids, and that was a private matter.

The window paper was not punctured, and there was room for manoeuvre. Historically, Palmerston also paid a terrible price, not only went into the wilderness, but also spent a lot of money to intercede, and after an exchange of political interests, he finally returned to the political arena.

Now that he has been caught with a person and stolen goods, what will happen to him in the future, and how to survive the catastrophe in front of him is a problem.

The foreign secretary had fornicated with the court, and if the news got out, it would be lively. The fire of gossip among the British people is very powerful, and I don't know what else to arrange.

John Russell was dumbfounded, he had nothing to say about Palmerston's admiration, this colleague's sexual encounter was not enviable, and his ability to die was even more admired.

Then, he also had to find a way to deal with the aftermath. The royal family must give an explanation, and this colleague can't just disappear for no reason.

Palmerston was not a small man, not only the foreign secretary of the British Empire, but also the spokesman of the bourgeoisie in the government, and his influence in the people was very great.

Prince Albert asked, "Prime Minister, what do you think should be done on this issue?" ”

After the arrest, Prince Albert regretted it. If you want to clean up Palmerston, there is an opportunity behind you, so why do it immediately?

Don't have a long mouth, God knows how it will be arranged outside. I don't know if some people think that this is a drama made by the royal family persecuting the minister.

For the sake of the royal family's reputation, this matter is destined to be handled coldly. Prince Albert, who is politically minded, naturally chose to play ball.

……

The sudden outbreak of scandal, which directly affected the efficiency of the government in London, delayed the opening of a second front and created opportunities for the Russians.

In a small, ruined village in Plovdiv, Bulgarian partisans were secretly meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have just received information that the Ottoman Empire has withdrawn the troops surrounding us, and they are replaced by the 30,000 British Army that has just arrived.

This is both a challenge and an opportunity, the British are much stronger than the Ottomans, and without two or three times the superior forces, we are not their opponents at all.

Obviously, we don't have that many troops, and that's the challenge we're about to encounter.

From the captives, we know that there were also many contradictions between the British and the Ottomans, and although they were allies, the arrogant British only used them as cannon fodder.

This is the opportunity, since they have contradictions, it is difficult for the two sides to work closely together.

After all, the British were outsiders, they were not familiar with the environment in the Bulgarian region, and at this time they were in the process of handing over to the Ottomans, and chaos was inevitable in the short term.

According to the information transmitted from the inside, yesterday the five thousand Ottoman defenders in the city of Plovdiv were evacuated, and now there are less than two thousand left, of which only 800 are British soldiers.

This is an opportunity, if several of us join forces to conquer Plovdiv in one fell swoop and destroy the enemy's material transit point, the war on the Sofia front will inevitably be affected. ”

It was a middle-aged man who spoke as Dimiter, the main leader of these Bulgarian partisan coalitions.

Don't look at the fact that the Bulgarian partisans are now quite numerous, and think that they have established a system, but in fact they are not united, and they are still fighting on their own.

The Russians who supported them were really aimed at causing chaos to the Ottoman Empire, but they were not prepared for them to be really independent, and naturally they would not be unified.

At this time, Bulgarian nationalism had not yet awakened, and the later father of the Bulgarian nation, Christo Botv, was still a kindergarten child. (If there is a kindergarten)

The Bulgarian resistance was driven mainly by the oppression of the Ottoman government and religious persecution.

A young officer with black hair and green eyes stood up and objected: "Mr. Dimiter, Plovdiv is only 15 kilometers from Asenovgrad and 30 kilometers from Pazardzhik.

This means that as soon as we launch an offensive towards Plovdiv, reinforcements from the enemy's Asenovgrad will arrive on the same day, and reinforcements from Pazardzhik will be delayed until the next day at most.

There are still 3,000 defenders in Pazardzhik, 2,000 in Arsenovgrad, and I have to face not two thousand, but seven thousand.

The enemy has just withdrawn 5,000 defenders, and there will certainly be new troops coming over to replace them, and we have not yet received information about this, which is very unreasonable.

There are only three possibilities for this to happen: first, the enemy's commander forgets and ignores the importance of Plovdiv; Second, there is a problem with our intelligence system; Third, it is a trap of the enemy, deliberately luring us into being deceived.

In the first case, it is obviously impossible. The enemy is not so stupid, it is impossible not to see even such a simple question.

It was the Bulgarian population everywhere who provided us with information, and the movements of the large army could not be kept secret, and from the information we received, there was no large force coming to Plovdiv yet.

Then it is very likely that this is a trap, and if we do not capture Plovdiv in a short time, the enemy troops around us will swarm in three days at most and trap us here. ”

Dimitl explained: "Sepulos, you're right. It may well be a trap for the enemy, but the temptation is too great.

We all know that the enemy has hoarded a lot of supplies in Plovdiv, and even if it is a decoy, we have a chance to destroy it.

Although I am not sure how many strategic materials the enemy has hoarded in Sofia, looking at the enemy's emphasis on logistics and transportation, I can roughly judge that the strategic materials in the Sofia area are not enough to support the use of their front-line army until the end of the war.

After destroying these supplies, we will run away, and as for the city of Plovdiv, it is better to leave it to the Ottomans for the time being, and we will come back after this battle. ”

Dimiter's analysis is well-founded, and by the time the war had progressed, the strength of the enemy forces in the Sofia region had dropped to 80,000. It was in this situation that Montes also sent out 15,000 British soldiers to be responsible for logistics and transportation.

Due to the large number of troops occupied by logistics, this created a situation on the Sofia front, where the coalition forces were pressed to the ground by the Russians.

Because of the shortage of troops, Montes asked for help from home. Dimiter is in a hurry to break the game, mainly because the enemy's reinforcements are coming soon, and if he doesn't fight, he can't really win.

This is the after-effect of the hasty response of the coalition forces, the Russians had prepared in advance, and the troops at the front suffered heavy losses, and they immediately retreated to replenish them.

Reinforcements were sent to the Duchy of Wallachia and not directly to the front, because the logistics could not afford it, so they had to stay by the Danube.

The Ottoman Empire directly played stud, and now it relies on catching strong men to replenish its troops, because most of the Balkan Peninsula has fallen, there is no place to catch up with the consumption rate of the front line.

Britain and France were too far away from the Balkans, and if they wanted to replenish their troops, they had to report to the country, and they had to go through the bureaucrats for approval.

In this respect, the British were indeed far-sighted in their preparation for a second front, and once the war on the Crimean peninsula began, the Russians would be exhausted.

No matter how well prepared you are, there are no limits. Poor domestic transportation is undoubtedly the worst enemy, restricting the projection of Russian power.

A middle-aged man sneered and said, "Mr. Dimiter, there are only more than 5,000 of our guerrilla units combined, and you know how the weapons and equipment are.

If this is a trap, the enemy will definitely be prepared. On the surface, it seems that the enemy's combat-ready troops are the 800 British soldiers.

But who actually knows? The Ottoman army is not without being able to fight, and if it were all a bunch of rubbish, we would have been restored long ago.

In case these more than 1,000 Ottoman defenders are the elite troops of the Ottomans, plus 800 British soldiers, the combat effectiveness is not much worse than ours.

I think it's too risky to attack Plovdiv, and even if we have an internal response in the city, the odds of success are too low. ”

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and the Bulgarian partisans were originally divided into many branches, most of which were formed according to regions, and many people were peeping at the leadership of the guerrillas.

Dimitri was only the nominal leader of these guerrilla detachments, and there were many people who were dissatisfied with him. It's just that in the face of a common enemy, this contradiction is suppressed.

"What does Mr. Hamill think?" Dimmitel asked calmly

He could tell that Hamill was not against attacking Plovdiv, but had other plans.

Hamill smiled and said, "Gao Jian doesn't count, since we're not sure if this is a trap or not, then let's test it first."

Attack Zarjik thirty kilometers away first, we have already figured out the situation there, the three thousand defenders are all Ottomans, and their combat effectiveness is very average, it is not difficult for us to join forces and eat them.

If the enemy had a trap, it would be exposed at this time, and it would be impossible for them to arrange an encirclement of thirty kilometers.

If there are no traps, we will cut corners and go straight to Plovdiv. The enemy forces in the surrounding area were attracted to Zarjik, and the success rate of our surprise attack was high. ”

Dimittle thought for a moment and said: "It's really a good way to minimize the risk. However, the pressure on the guerrillas was still too great.

It seems that it is necessary to contact Boris and them, and they will be responsible for attacking Zarjik to break the situation, and we will help send reinforcements first.

As soon as the enemies of Plovdiv and Arsenovgrad left the city, they were killed first, making it easier to storm the city. ”

This was not the first siege of the Bulgarian partisans, but it was their first major counterattack after being routed at the Battle of Sofia.

After more than two months of repair, they have recovered their vitality, and although they have not reached their peak, their confidence has been beaten.

In this respect, the Sardinian army also has a credit. If they hadn't created an opportunity for the Bulgarians, these partisans would still be fighting the coalition forces on their positions.

It is estimated that by this time, they have already suffered heavy casualties. The hairy bear is not a good match, and he used the guerrillas as cannon fodder from the beginning. The Bulgarian partisans were ordered to tear through the defense line of the coalition forces and penetrate the rear to flank the coalition forces in front and rear, obviously trying to kill people with knives.

It's a pity that the plan didn't change quickly, who knew that the Sardinian army was so cowardly that it was really penetrated by the Bulgarian partisans and interspersed with the rear.

The Russians simply did not believe that the partisans could do it, and they did not respond in time, losing an opportunity to win the war.

。 m.