"Your Majesty, our army is ready. We can land on the Asia Minor Peninsula at any time!" War Minister Popov said solemnly.
"Your Majesty, our navy is ready as well. We can cover the army's landing at any time!" Naval Minister Petrov added.
Ferdinand knew the military had long been unable to hold itself back. If he had not forcibly kept them in check, they would have acted long ago.
The conflict between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire had long become impossible to reconcile. Settling their old scores in the World War was undoubtedly the best choice. Then let the Ottomans make one final contribution, Ferdinand thought to himself.
"Mm. Syria can be allowed to fall," Ferdinand said calmly.
He knew this order might cost more than a million lives, but politics was this cruel.
The Syrian region was no longer as desolate as it had been under Ottoman rule. With the Greeks who had arrived first, followed by the Romanians and Montenegrins who came later, the total population had already reached 3.18 million.
Of them, 1.78 million were Greek immigrants, 430,000 were immigrants from the Kingdom of Montenegro, and the remaining 970,000 were Romanians.
If Bulgaria wanted to defend it, all it needed to do was arm them. Clearly, Ferdinand would not do that. It was not in Bulgaria's interests.
Of course, Bulgaria could not suddenly abandon Syria either. That would too easily reveal a flaw and invite unnecessary trouble.
Among the immigrants relocated from Montenegro were quite a few former supporters of the Ottoman Empire. If they were given an opportunity to serve as guides for the enemy, then the garrison's defeat would become perfectly natural!
The intelligence department was more skilled in this area, so Syria's newly appointed garrison commander was Major General Wiki Clinton, a man