The captain of the guard, Kalust, spoke with some uncertainty. "This news was reported by Zagreb's Srpobulan Daily. It revealed that the Grand Duke will go to Bosnia in early summer to observe military exercises, and then he will
Visit the Bosnia and Herzegovina region.”
Because he was afraid that his arrival would affect the trajectory of history, this year he asked the captain of the guard to pay more attention to the news about Austria-Hungary, especially the whereabouts of the Archduke Ferdinand, the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Karlust did not know the Crown Prince's intentions.
But he still carried out Edel's instructions seriously. Now that there was no definite news in a newspaper, he also reported it to the crown prince in advance.
After hearing Calust's uncertain tone about the source of his information, Edel was very sure that it was true. In his previous life, he had also wondered how Archduke Ferdinand could meet so many assassins in Sarajevo.
Now it seems that the information was leaked three months in advance, so it makes sense that there was an organized assassination. It can be seen that the Austro-Hungarian Empire also had great oversights in its management of intelligence.
Seeing the brooding Crown Prince Edel, Kallust asked, "Your Highness, should we continue to pay attention to the developments in Austria-Hungary?"
Edel came back to his senses and spoke to the captain of the guard beside him. "Continue to inquire about Austria-Hungary's intelligence, but be careful not to expose yourself."
After getting the answer from the crown prince, Kalust left the office. Now he has many things to do. Not only does he have to pay attention to Austria-Hungary's intelligence, but he also needs to cooperate with Milok in preparing Russian affairs. He also needs to pay attention to domestic developments. Now he is very busy.
Few even return home.
At present, the two major Romanian intelligence agencies are the royal intelligence department controlled by Carust, and the government intelligence department controlled by Milouk. Last year, Eder personally re-divided the scope of their respective jurisdictions for the two, so that one is responsible for internal affairs and the other for external affairs.
There was friction between the two because of their spheres of influence. It was just that the dynamics of Austria-Hungary this year were very important to the crown prince, so he asked Kallust to keep an eye on Archduke Ferdinand's whereabouts.
In this regard, Milok also cooperated with Karust in time, not only giving him several important chess pieces lurking in Austria-Hungary, but also preparing a separate intelligence line for him. Therefore, the relationship between the two major intelligence agencies gradually eased this year.
, the atmosphere was not as tense as before.
After it is confirmed that Archduke Ferdinand will still go to Sarajevo for a death visit, then the historical line is likely to continue along the established track. The focus that Eder needs to focus on now is to seize the time to allow Romania to reserve enough supplies.
He knew that the Ottoman Empire later turned to Germany because of the Dreadnought incident. In order not to bring aid to Russia, it would be a great possibility that the Black Sea Strait in the Ottoman territory would be closed to Romania. If Romania had the size of Germany
Then the Ottomans did not dare to make such a choice. As for the current military expenditure, which is only one-tenth of that of Japan, the poorest power, how could he have the confidence to negotiate with the Allies?
Then when Romania's sea export road is completely blocked, its land transportation will be the main means of transportation. Just turn over the map of Romania and you can see that there are not many neighboring countries, only Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Seville.
The four Bulgarian countries are exactly two alliances and two entente countries, but economically Romania's export direction is Central and Western Europe plus one southern Europe.
It has to pass through Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, so that the two countries agree that Romania will transport export goods to Italy. Britain, France and other countries are completely foolish dreams, so it is impossible. As for Russia and Serbia, they are not the traditional markets for Romania’s exports. Russia’s grain exports
It is still competing with Romania in Europe, and Russia's poor finances can't buy much goods, so Romania can only export to the Allies.
Fortunately, with the outbreak of World War I, sea trade among the Allies would be cut off, and the surrounding countries, except for the three Nordic countries, were all enemies. Moreover, the food, oil, and cars exported by Romania were all the necessities it needed and materials it could use in the war.
Therefore, in the early stage, we can only gain profits by exporting to the Allies. However, since the surrounding countries are in a state of war, Romania, which can export in large quantities, is believed to be able to make good profits.
However, Edel still has a worry, that is, if Romania earns enough profits in the early stage, it will become a thorn in the side of Britain and France, the defenders of the European order after the war. You must know that after the First World War, the British and French treasuries will be able to escape.
So whether Romania, which has gained a lot of economic benefits, can avoid the blackmail from the two countries will be a big problem.
Moreover, Romania needs Britain and France to ensure that it obtains Transylvania from Austria-Hungary, which will be the key to its rise. Since the current dividing line with Austria-Hungary is drawn along the southern line of the Carpathian Mountains, from the map
It can be seen from the above that Romania's territory was greatly recessed when facing Austria-Hungary. Militarily speaking, Austria-Hungary's 100,000 troops can hold back Romania's 200,000 troops. Of course, this does not take into account equipment, morale, etc.
In case of disparity.
It can be said that if it had not always maintained good relations with Austria-Hungary, Romania would have been under pressure from national defense, just like the Soviet Union, which had Mongolia in its previous life, faced its own motherland. So Edel has always wanted to eliminate this unfavorable factor. As for Russia
In the currently occupied Bessarabia region, I believe that under the threat of Red Russia, the local people will be willing to throw themselves into the embrace of Romania, a country of the same ethnicity.
However, this requires a very high level of diplomacy. Currently, only the current Prime Minister Bretianu has this skill. In addition, Britain and France now consider him the leader of the Anglo-French faction in Romania, so Edel can tolerate this prime minister who keeps making small moves.
.So even though Prime Minister Bretianu is as docile as a cat in Edel, in fact, as long as he leaves the palace, he is the legitimate Prime Minister of Romania, and he is also a strong Prime Minister.
However, he is also very smart and will only argue with Edel on some trivial matters. The Crown Prince takes into account the prestige of the Prime Minister, so most of his proposals are approved. This makes him a figure who can balance with Crown Prince Edel in the eyes of Britain and France.
In the eyes of Britain and France, Edel was a thorough pro-German faction. This made Edel, who wanted to make Romania stronger, dumbfounded. In fact, he was the leader of the German faction.
After receiving the news that Archduke Ferdinand was going to Sarajevo for an inspection as scheduled, Edel could only step up efforts to urge all domestic industries to prepare, and they must implement it regardless of whether these people understood it or not. Now he can only hope for everything
