"Your Majesty, the British ambassador has proposed that our two countries divide Persia between us. It seems the British intend to settle the Persian question once and for all!" Metev said.
Ferdinand nodded. At the mention of Persia, his first thought was oil, followed immediately by Afghanistan—the graveyard of empires.
"Graveyard of empires" was an exaggeration. A tiny Afghanistan did not possess the power to bury an empire.
In history, in 1919, the Afghan people threw off British enslavement and achieved national independence.
A slight accident had occurred in this timeline. Although Afghanistan had still established an independent state, British influence had not been completely expelled. The British even continued to occupy the southern regions.
Ferdinand was still hesitating over whether to support Afghanistan in fighting a war of national independence. Given British strength, Afghanistan would not be able to hold out for long.
This was not the later era. If John Bull was provoked, he would not mind carrying out a racial massacre. Once everyone was dead, resistance would naturally come to an end.
"We can join forces with the British to divide Persia, but we must demand that they act at the same time. We cannot give them an opportunity to pull any tricks!" Ferdinand said cautiously.
Since the nineteenth century, Persia's population had begun to grow rapidly. It now exceeded eleven million, making it the most populous region in the Middle East. More people meant more trouble, and Ferdinand had no desire to acquire a Persia plagued by endless strife.
His decision not to swallow Persia whole was also to avoid choking after eating his fill. Bulgaria's methods of ruling colonies were downright brutal—surely they could not just toss all ten-odd million of them into Africa?
Nearly two million of them were nomads. Without three to five