Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 109, Influence

London

"The Bulgarians have come to protest, don't pay attention to them, the Canal Company is a purely commercial operation, and it is our freedom to raise prices or not!" Stanley Baldwin said indifferently

"But Your Excellency Prime Minister, it is said that the Bulgarians are preparing to dig the Aqaba Canal. If the purpose of the Bulgarians is achieved, then our Suez Canal will lose a lot of money!" Chancellor of the Exchequer Chamberlain said in distress.

Originally, in addition to making up for the financial shortfall, the most important reason for the Suez Canal price increase this time was to beat the Bulgarians so that they could follow the footsteps of the British Empire in the next international affairs.

The first project has indeed been achieved, and the profits of the Suez Canal have been greatly improved in the short term.

In the second project, they played and jumped, and they beat it, but the result was not what they wanted.

The Bulgarians directly stated that they would stop playing and would dig a grand canal by themselves, which was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

In order to get rid of the influence of the British Empire, the Grand Canal has to be dug. Can we expect Bulgaria to support the British Empire in international affairs in the future?

"Damn it! Are all Bulgarians pig-brained? Or do we mean too complicated and they get it wrong?" said Stanley Baldwin with a headache.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, I think it should be the Bulgarians who feel that we have mastered the Suez Canal and can cut off their maritime lifeline at any time, so they made this decision!

Fortunately, their best cabinets are getting old and rational, otherwise we'd have more headaches! ' explained Foreign Secretary Donald

"That's rational? What would Bulgarians do if they weren't?" asked Stanley Baldwin, puzzled.

"Judging from the development history of Bulgaria, they are actually a bunch of gamblers. For example, in the two Balkan wars, they all gambled on their national luck.

Their luck was not bad, or the enemy was too stupid to let them win both times, and then there is now Bulgaria!

If they followed the previous style of the Bulgarians, maybe they would not consider digging the Grand Canal, but plan how to seize the Suez Canal! "Donald shrugged.

"Oh, so it's still a good thing?" Stanley Baldwin seemed to have thought of something

A radical country is very scary, because they will play cards out of common sense, and you can't analyze it according to normal interests!

Just like the current Japanese government, the London government is very troublesome to them. For example, a large number of volunteers have been sent to Southeast Asian countries, directly mixing with the rebels.

This is beyond their understanding. The British Empire often supports some forces, but they usually give weapons and equipment, or financial support.

If they go into battle directly, it is estimated that there are not many volunteers in the British Empire, but the Japanese government can send thousands of people to be cannon fodder at one time.

That's right, they are cannon fodder. Even though these people have caused enough trouble for the British, the difference in strength still determines that this uprising cannot be successful, and their sacrifices are equivalent to wasted.

In the European continent, the only place where so many death squads can be born is the Balkans, and other European nations are not so crazy.

Crazy is a very scary thing. If the radicalism in Bulgaria is not suppressed, it is estimated that it is a bit better than Japan.

Except that they don't have the habit of killing thieves, they are all equally radical and crazy, eager to wage war and establish their own merits.

"This question depends on how you look at it! In the short term, a conservative Bulgaria is in the interests of the British Empire, and we don't have to worry about them suddenly doing something out of control.

In the long run, this conservative enemy will be even more difficult to deal with. As long as they don't make big mistakes, it's hard to beat them! "Donald said calmly.

"Well, we don't care about the future,

That is the next thing, let's talk about the current problem first!

Now I have two questions: First, is it possible for us to get the Bulgarians to give up digging the Aqaba Canal?

Second, with the current technical capabilities, can the Aqaba Grand Canal be excavated? If it can be excavated, how long will it take? How much will it cost? ' asked Stanley Baldwin concerned.

"I can answer the first question. It depends on the determination of the Bulgarians. Once they really make up their minds to dig the Aqaba Canal, it will be difficult for us to stop it!

Even if we threaten them with closing the Suez Canal, it won't do much!

We all know that the greatest hobby of this Ferdinand the Great is to build roads, so now there are three or four railways that can bypass the Suez Canal in Bulgaria.

For example, the railway from Baghdad directly enters the Persian Gulf, or the railway from Gaza in the Palestinian area enters the Gulf of Aqaba, and they also have a railway directly from Syria to the Arabian Peninsula.

In theory, our blockade of the Suez Canal could increase their transportation costs by 40 to 50 percent, but that shouldn't scare the Bulgarians! "Donald analyzed

"This is really bad news! Technically speaking, there is no technical difficulty in digging the Aqaba Canal.

Whether they choose to go directly with the Gaza Strip; or by connecting to the Dead Sea and from the Dead Sea into the Mediterranean, both routes can be done!

It's just that this amount of work is much larger than the original work of the Suez Canal, almost two to three times that of the Suez Canal, and there may even be more! ' said Landis Zou, Minister of Industry, with a frown.

"You mean that the construction time of the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba will be very long?" Stanley Baldwin said in surprise

"No, Your Excellency Prime Minister! On the contrary, I think as long as the Bulgarians are willing, the excavation time of the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba will be very short. As long as they are willing to invest at all costs, it can be completed in three to five years!" Landis very much for sure

"Why? You must know that the French dug the Suez Canal for ten years. In the face of the Aqaba Bay Grand Canal, which is a much larger project, how could the Bulgarians have completed it in such a short period of time?

Even if science and technology are much more developed now than they were back then, the gap wouldn't be that big, right? ' said Stanley Baldwin in disbelief

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, we calculated this based on the efficiency of the Bulgarian organization!

You should know that there is now a term called Bulgarian speed all over the world.

The organizational ability of the Bulgarian government is really terrible. Now they can build more than 10,000 kilometers of railways and more than 100,000 kilometers of roads every year. It is worth noting that these projects are mostly in areas with harsh natural environments!

However, this is not the limit speed of the Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian government is still doing it well!

If the Bulgarians were to dig the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba, they would certainly not be able to do so slowly as the French did.

Even if they select more than ten lots at the same time to start construction together, I will not feel any surprise, the current measurement technology can already be achieved.

The Grand Canal of hundreds of kilometers and a width of several kilometers, even if there is a little error, can be repaired by widening the canal, which will not affect the final navigation.

To mobilize thousands of excavators at one time and excavate at the same time, I think this project is not as terrible as imagined!

Anyway, they need rail lines along the way, and supplies can be transported by train, I don't think it's a hassle!

The question of cost, I think this is not difficult for the Bulgarians.

When the French dug the Suez Canal, it cost 178 million pounds. Now the cost of the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba, even if it has been expanded tenfold on this basis, is nothing more than the Bulgarians have spent seven or eight years. Toll! ' Landis explained

"No, we must not let the Bulgarians' plan succeed, or we'll be in big trouble!

The toll of the Suez Canal is only a small problem. The most important thing is that once the Grand Canal of the Gulf of Aqaba is connected, the influence of the British Empire in the Mediterranean Sea will be gone! "Stanley Baldwin thought about it and said

"Your Excellency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can only try to delay the construction time of the Bulgarians. If we want them to dispel this idea, our strength in the Mediterranean is probably not enough!" Donald said bluntly.

"What did you say? Procrastination?" Stanley Baldwin

"Yes!" Donald said calmly

"Very good! All we have to do now is to delay the start of construction for the Bulgarians!

The Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba cannot be dug through in one or two days. As long as we delay for a while, and after we have dealt with the problems in Central Asia and Southeast Asia, we will concentrate our efforts to solve this problem! "Stanley Baldwin exclaimed

No one objected. Anyway, no matter what the Bulgarians did, it was impossible for the Aqaba Grand Canal to pass through during their term of office.

Now if there is some disruption, delaying the progress of the Bulgarians, or even the end of the next term, it will not necessarily face this problem.

The premise is that they can still be elected in the next term, otherwise this trouble has nothing to do with them.

After all, the term of Stanley Baldwin's cabinet ended in 1929, and no matter how efficient Bulgaria was, it would not be possible to start construction until 1928.

In any case, it is impossible for Bulgaria to dig through the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba in just over a year.

According to the current situation, the rebellion in the colony cannot be resolved for a long time, and the public's support for them is getting lower and lower, and their chance of re-election is almost zero.

As long as this trouble doesn't break out during their tenure, it will leave the next one with a headache! Anyway, in the end, it was also the political enemy, and no one felt any pressure in their hearts.

...

Paris France

"The Bulgarians invited us to dig the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba?" asked President Gaston Doumerge in surprise

"Yes, Your Excellency! The sudden surge in the toll of the Suez Canal this time has made the Bulgarian government very dissatisfied.

They hope to dig a new canal and break the British monopoly on the Suez Canal!

The Bulgarians not only invited us this time, but also the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it seems that they want us to stand with them against the diplomatic pressure of the British! ' explained the foreign secretary

"Well, this is a good proposal. If the conditions are right, I think it is very positive for the French Republic to break the British Empire's monopoly on the Suez Canal!" Gaston Dumaeg said calmly.

(Note: Gaston Doumergue, 12th President of the French Third Republic, Social Radicalist)

"Yes, Your Excellency!

However, the purpose of the Bulgarians is not so simple. Although the diplomatic pressure of the British is uncomfortable, Bulgaria is not a soft-footed shrimp. They can resist it alone. There is no need to share the benefits of the Grand Canal with us! ' the foreign secretary reminded

"Of course, this is very obvious. If we stand with Bulgaria and Austria-Hungary, what do you think the British will do?" Gaston Doumergue said with a smile.

"They will be angry, the Mediterranean Sea will have nothing to do with them from now on, and even their right to speak on the European continent will be greatly reduced!" The foreign minister thought for a while and said

"In that case, why don't we do it? Let's see how the British react. No matter what the final result is, this time we can get a lot of benefits from it!

Of course, being able to strike the British and expel them from the Mediterranean would be the perfect ending, although there is little chance of success.

But being able to give the British a little trouble is also a pleasant thing! ' said Gaston Doumergue after some thought.

...

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