A small village on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia.

There are only more than 300 people in the village, half Serbian and half Bulgarian.

Because at the junction of the two countries, merchants often pass by, this village is relatively prosperous. Of course, these merchants are not completely legal.

But who cares? In this era, common people only care about their three meals a day. Anything more would be too luxurious.

There is enough food, clean clothes, you can buy some medicines from "merchants" when you are sick, and there is even a small school.

The life in this village has surpassed that of most ordinary families in the villages of the two countries. They are very content with living a comfortable life and think that such a life will continue forever.

After all, these "businessmen" can make huge profits from trade and will not give up easily.

But one day, everything changed.

That day, the mayor came with a group of cavalry and recruited twenty young people from their village.

Excluding the old, weak, sick, disabled, and women, this village of more than 300 people only had young and middle-aged men in their early 100s, and one-fifth of them were suddenly taken away.

This was not over yet. After the war started, tax officials came to collect taxes several times a month, and residents' only savings were gradually plundered.

Coupled with the outbreak of the war, road management suddenly became stricter, the number of merchants dropped sharply, and residents' income also dropped sharply, making life increasingly difficult.

As the fighting on the frontline became more intense, the Grand Duke needed enough soldiers, and the mayor took away thirty more soldiers one after another.

The number of prime-age men was scarce, many jobs could not be completed satisfactorily, and with the number of merchants decreasing, starvation began to appear in the village.

When people are hungry, they become confused. Many people set their sights on the homes of men whose men were serving as soldiers and robbed them all.

The village chief tried to stop him, but failed, so he hanged himself in pain.

"From today on, this village has lost its unity. We are no longer brothers and sisters. Instead of waiting for death in fear, it is better to face death head-on."

These were the last words left by the village chief. Unfortunately, no one in the village heard them, and no one cared if they heard them.

A big fight broke out in the village. First, the families that lost their men were robbed, and their wives and children were driven out to fend for themselves. Then they targeted the elderly families.

By the end of the war, there were only one hundred and one people left in the village.

Just as the remaining villagers were looking forward to a bright tomorrow, what greeted them was an even crueler reality.

The "businessmen" disappear, well, they can still farm.

However, the chaos after the war created many bandits. King Ferdinand I sent troops to suppress the bandits, and the bandits were gradually reduced and gradually compressed to the border.

Then, because of sensitive border issues, the army stopped.

As luck would have it, the situation in Serbia is similar to that in Bulgaria, or even worse.

On November 30th, a light snowfall came to this village.

Along with Xiaoxue, there were more than 20 "bandits" who rode on tall horses and said nothing, killing all living things they could see.

Two hours later, the crying in the village basically stopped, and another hour later, the "bandits" left the village, leaving only a mess.

Half an hour later, three trucks arrived at the village, and fifteen minutes later, the trucks left again. That day, several airships flew from Bulgaria in different directions.

…

On December 1, newspapers printing photos of the nameless village spread throughout the European continent.

Because the act was so heinous, Europeans called it the Cuprene Massacre after the village.

This place is only 200 kilometers away from the capital Sofia in a straight line. It is not an exaggeration to call it the foot of the emperor.

On December 2, under the instruction of King Ferdinand I, a temporary investigation team involving personnel from many countries was quickly established and rushed to the village of Cuprene.

The investigation quickly came to a conclusion, and all the evidence showed that it was done by bandits composed of Serbian deserters.

On December 6, angry Sofia citizens "spontaneously" took to the streets demanding severe punishment for the murderer.

"Punish the murderer!"

"Punish the murderer!"

"Punish the murderer!"

"Do you hear that, gentlemen? My people are angry, angry at their compatriots, being mercilessly slaughtered."

"Listen, listen, the voice of the people. There shouldn't be any action within the army, right?" Emperor Ferdinand I looked at his Army Chief of Staff Barolov.

Although Ferdinand I did not know when his people became so aware, it did not prevent him from seeing opportunities.

An opportunity to establish Bulgaria's leadership in the Balkans.

"There are also many soldiers who are dissatisfied within the army. We have several soldiers whose hometown is in Cuprene. Their anger is understandable." Barolov looked at the Prime Minister and said softly.

Regarding the investigation, after it was discovered that the murderer was from Serbia, the government was divided into two factions.

One faction is the government faction that advocates some compensation to settle the matter, also known as the pro-Russian faction.

One faction is the hard-liners who advocate a tough solution to the matter and demand compensation and a public apology from Serbia, also known as the pro-German faction.

The pro-Russian faction was headed by the Prime Minister and was mainly composed of landowners and nobles. The pro-German hardline faction was headed by Ferdinand I and was mainly composed of the military faction and capitalists.

"Prime Minister, I know that the government thinks this is just a misunderstanding and does not want to damage the alliance."

"But I must tell you, the reason why Bulgaria exists and the reason why it escaped from the control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire is not because of Serbia's efforts."

King Ferdinand I pointed out the window at the excited people.

"It's because of the support of these people, because they sent their sons and husbands into the army to fight the Ottomans that you can sit here and be your prime minister."

"We are Bulgarians, not Serbs, please remember that."

Peternan I walked to the window sill expressionlessly, turned back to Pavlov and said:

"General Barolov, please inform Serbia that we need them to publicly punish the criminals and apologize and compensate for this."

Then, King Ferdinand I opened the window and raised his hands toward the people.

"People of Bulgaria, your Tsar is here!"

Without a loudspeaker, Pei Dinan's voice could not travel very far, but his appearance made the crowd agitated on a larger scale.

"Quiet, quiet!" As Pei Dinan shouted and danced, the crowd gradually became quiet.

"My people, I am your Tsar, Ferdinand Maximilian Carl Leopold Maria."

"I know why you are here, and I also know why you are angry. I understand your anger. Please believe that I am as angry as you!"

"I have ordered General Barolov to immediately submit an official letter to Serbia, demanding that the murderer be brought to justice."

Ferdinand's speech ability was very average, so he chose to tell his people directly what he wanted to do.

"Your Majesty, what if Serbia protects the murderers? I heard that the murderers are members of the Serbian military."

The crowd near the building was the quietest, and the sudden noise attracted everyone's attention.

Ferdinand I did not hear this question immediately. He only heard it when the crowd started to repeat it.

However, word changed from person to person. In the ears of Ferdinand I, the question became - what if the Serbian military insists on keeping the murderer?

"Then I can only express regret for the Kingdom of Serbia and our alliance."

"Bulgaria cannot be insulted easily. If they can't hear our voice, I will use cannons to play music in their ears!"

For Ferdinand I, this was just a very normal operation. After all, he was famous among European royal families for "holding grudges".

It is not that he has never done anything more outrageous than this. For example, during the funeral of Edward VII, he had a conflict with Archduke Ferdinand, the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary.

The cause was an issue with the order of the carriages. In the end, Archduke Ferdinand won. The Grand Duke's carriage was in the front and his was behind the Grand Duke.

The dining car was in the seventh carriage. In order to retaliate, Emperor Ferdinand I refused to allow Archduke Ferdinand to pass through his carriage to the dining car and did not allow him to eat.

There are countless such things.

"war!"

"war!"

"war……"

I don’t know who took the lead, but by the end, the whole square was filled with this sound.

It is obviously a very simple problem, why has it developed to this stage? The Prime Minister does not quite understand.

"Your Majesty, the Russian Ambassador wishes to meet you."

After King Ferdinand I finished his speech, the Prime Minister rushed over.

"If it's something about Serbia, there's no need to talk about it. Just let Serbia give an explanation." King Ferdinand I took a leisurely sip of red wine to moisten his throat.

"I'm afraid, Your Majesty, the same thing happened in Serbia today. What's worse is that the murderer was caught and he was a Bulgarian soldier." The Russian ambassador broke free from his restraints and rushed in.

Emperor Ferdinand I frowned, took a deep look at the Prime Minister, and then looked at the Russian Ambassador unhurriedly.

"Impossible, Bulgaria did not organize soldiers to retaliate, nor did it intend to retaliate in this way." Ferdinand I flatly denied it.

"Your Majesty, those soldiers came from that village. It has been confirmed that it was an act of revenge. When they took these actions, they were still members of the army of the Kingdom of Bulgaria."

"That's the fact. Things are getting more and more complicated. We suspect...someone is operating in it, so I hope you can calm down."

The Tsarist Russian ambassador originally wanted to say that the Germans were manipulating the situation, but then he thought about it and realized that the man in front of him was a German aristocrat who was from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and owned a large amount of assets in both Germany and Austria.

"I understand. We will not take any action for the time being. We hope to find out the truth as soon as possible." Pei Dinan said after being silent for a while.

The Russian ambassador breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a few pleasantries, and left.

After the Russians left, Petinan drove everyone away, leaving only his close confidant Barolov.

"Ask Barolov to send this letter to Vienna and give it to my dear uncle, who knows what to do." Ferdinand wrote a letter with his own hand, sealed it and gave it to Barolov.

His uncle was Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria-Hungary.

The relationship between them was not very good, especially after he asked his son to abandon Roman Catholicism and convert to Orthodox Christianity, and there was almost hatred.
Chapter completed!