Bulgarian Empire

After Ferdinand inspected the new area of ​​Sliven, he didn't stop, and went directly to the last stop of the trip - Plovdiv.

Ferdinand, who has been away from Sofia for almost two months, is feeling homesick now. It may be the reason for being a father for the first time. Ferdinand already misses the little guy a little, and doesn't want to miss every small step of his son's growth.

Therefore, Ferdinand's impromptu national parade this time is quite anticlimactic, and it is about to come to an end.

However, Ferdinand's political purpose - to tell the bureaucrats that the king attaches importance to industry, has now been achieved, and Plovdiv is the last stop of this inspection!

Plovdiv has a unique position in Bulgaria. It is also the second largest city in the country with a long history and culture, second only to Sofia.

Plovdiv is located on the upper reaches of the Maritsa River, on the north side of the Rhodope Mountains. It has a history of more than one thousand years, and it is one of the origins of the Bulgarian national rejuvenation. The Bulgarian national heroes Potov, Levsky and the great writer Vazov all lived here.

At the same time, Plovdiv is also the most affluent agricultural area in south-central Bulgaria, surrounded by wide plains and fertile land, rich in grain, various fruits and vegetables.

And Plovdiv is also one of the most important transportation hubs in Bulgaria, located on the Eurasian artery. The transit point between Belgrade, Sofia and Constantinople is one of the most important trade centers on the Eurasian continent.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Serbia, Ferdinand once had the idea of ​​moving the capital to Plovdiv. It was only after seeing the poor performance of the Austro-Hungarian army and comprehensively evaluating the strength of both sides that he gave up this plan.

After all, the current Bulgaria is no longer the Bulgaria in history. Although Sofia is a little closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after all, there is an extra Nis region as a strategic buffer. With the current military strength of Bulgaria, it can still be defended.

Moreover, since the Balkan Wars, the morale of your people in Bulgaria has reached its peak, and moving the capital is likely to cause criticism and damage morale.

Plovdiv is a comprehensive city with agriculture as its core and commercial trade as its supplementary development. The industries it owns are also supporting enterprises mainly exhibited by agricultural product processing enterprises, and there are almost no heavy industries.

Therefore, this stop soon came to an end. After all, it was impossible for Ferdinand to inspect each food factory in person, otherwise it would be a shame.

The current Bulgaria is very different from before, except for particularly important industries, Ferdinand will not go to see it in person!

Time flies, Ferdinand left Sofia in golden autumn in October, and it was almost Christmas when he came back.

At this time, little Ferdinand was able to crawl around on the ground. Now teaching the little guy how to speak every day—calling him "Daddy" is one of Ferdinand's most important jobs.

It's a pity that no matter how hard he tried, the little guy always didn't buy it. He just said "oh, oh" and didn't know what he was talking about.

When Ferdinand was enjoying the family happiness, an unexpected guest broke in and interrupted his family happiness.

"Grand Duke, Yingde has agreed to a compromise!" The foreign minister hurriedly said

Ferdinand's face changed slightly. He thought that his butterfly effect would allow Britain and Germany to become colonies of South Africa. It would take a while, but he didn't expect the two countries to compromise so soon!

You know, the British just slapped Germany hard on the partition of the Portuguese colonies, and William II has not had time to retaliate, so it has calmed down now.

"What's going on? The Germans shouldn't compromise so quickly?" Ferdinand asked suspiciously

Megev explained: "On February 22, 1898, the king of the Kingdom of Samoa passed away, and there was a fierce conflict between Britain, the United States and Germany on the issue of the succession to the throne.

However, the British made concessions to the Germans, and the Salisbury government tried to ease the relationship between Britain and Germany. The British transferred their interests in the Kingdom of Samoa to the Germans as compensation for the previous Portuguese colonial problems.

And the Germans also obtained the right to build the Baghdad Railway, and the British agreed to Germany's free actions in the Asia Minor peninsula.

The German government has accepted the compensation from the British and agreed not to continue to support the war between the Boers and the British! "

Ferdinand thought about it, and felt quite a headache. Bulgaria is still too weak now, and it is not qualified to participate in these international diplomatic games.

The interest transaction between Britain and Germany made Ferdinand very worried. If Britain and Germany reach a comprehensive compromise and really form an alliance, then things will be really big!

Don't talk about the Russian alliance, even if Italy, the United States, Japan, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are all brought over, it will not help. Even if all the other countries in the world are added together, they are not the opponents of the two countries joining forces!

Of course, Ferdinand knew that the possibility of such a situation was not great.

John Bull cannot tolerate the unification of Europe, and it is impossible to accept the unification of Europe by the French or the Germans.

Judging from the current situation, the economic development of Germany in recent years has been astonishing. Ferdinand also knew that after entering the 20th century, the development of the Germans was called crazy!

Unless John Bull is willing to give up his position as the world leader, the conflict between Britain and Germany cannot be eased. Regardless of interests, when the Germans become stronger, they will naturally threaten the status of the British.

As for the Americans with faster economic development, they have been ignored. In addition to the fact that the United States is far away from the European continent, it also has weak military strength.

The core problem is that the United States has no main nation. If the war breaks out in the United States, their staying power will be the worst. Once at a disadvantage, it is easy to split!

Of course, this was what the European powers generally believed at the end of the 19th century. As for whether it is true or not, no one knows until it has been played! But it cannot be denied that the ethnic conflicts in the United States at that time were indeed very intense!

Ferdinand can only pay attention to these things at any time, so that he can stand in the international diplomatic game. In principle, he is on the side of the winner!

...

At this time, an undercurrent has begun to spread in Russia. Yes, the Jewish bankers feel that the harvest time has come, and they are preparing to cut a wave of wool in the Russian stock market. Of course, other consortia also have a share. The Russian financial crisis is imminent.

But now no one thought that the harvest in the stock market would induce a financial crisis in Russia, which in turn would brew a more serious economic crisis that would spread to the whole world.

The bear's money is not so easy to get, the Jewish bankers made a lot of money, and then the ordinary Jewish people suffered for them, and then the anti-Semitism movement occurred in Russia!

Of course, even if they knew that there would be such serious consequences, the capitalists would not show mercy. The lives of compatriots are worthless!

Otherwise, there would not be so many anti-Semitism movements in the world. It can only be said that the Jewish capitalists are too good at killing, and ordinary people can only be regarded as incidental!

Of course, no one knows all this yet. Even Ferdinand only remembered the financial crisis that broke out in Russia at the end of 1899, which led to an economic crisis that spread to the whole world.

As for the specific reasons, Ferdinand only figured out the cause and effect after the economic crisis broke out, and now he is still busy with loans!

"Mr. Kennedy, how is the loan work going?" Ferdinand asked concerned

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, the first batch of loans has been received. But do we really need to borrow so many loans?

If the previous loans are added, so far, the Bulgarian government has owed a total of 1.5 billion levs in international loans from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium and other countries; it also owes a total of 380 million levs to the three major domestic banks commercial loans from Vladimir; and various government bonds, totaling 220 million levs!

These add up to 2.1 billion levs, which is four times our fiscal revenue. If we add the 500 million levs to be borrowed later, it will be 2.6 billion levs. The annual interest expenses alone are as high as 200 million levs. Is this ratio too high? "

After Ferdinand succeeded to the throne, Bulgaria's development has been rapid. Compared with 1887, its fiscal revenue has increased tenfold, and its comprehensive national strength has also increased tenfold compared to 1887!

As fast as Bulgaria is developing, there is also debt. From the initial foreign debt of less than 200 million levs, it has snowballed to 2.1 billion levs, and there is a tendency to continue to expand!

Debt has always been directly proportional to the growth of national strength, this is the status quo in Bulgaria! Ferdinand didn't care at all. With the pressure of the world war, in his heart everything was centered on the growth of national power, and other things were trivial, but others couldn't stand it anymore!

Constantine said worriedly: "Yes, Your Majesty! Our debts are growing too fast. If we don't limit them, the interest alone will drag us down!"

Ferdinand was startled suddenly. Before he knew it, Bulgaria had already owed an astronomical sum of money. In case of any accident, the Bulgarian government might follow in the footsteps of the Greeks!

"How about this, our current economic aggregate has been greatly improved compared to before, but our currency supply has never been able to keep up with the economic growth, or we should find a way to print a batch of currency to reduce financial pressure!" Fei Dinan thought for a while and said

The Minister of Finance said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, we have also thought about this issue, but Bulgaria implements the gold standard, and our gold reserves are insufficient. If we increase the currency rashly, it will easily cause the currency to depreciate!"

Ferdinand pretended to be surprised and said: "Is there no way to solve the gold problem? The Balkans are also the main gold producing areas in Europe. Now the main gold mines are in our territory. Can't we get enough gold?" ?”

That's right, Bulgaria's debt is increasing, and its economic aggregate is increasing, but the currency supply is insufficient. Everyone knows that printing money is the most profitable.

It's a pity that this is the age of the gold standard. To print banknotes, you must have a certain amount of gold as a reserve fund. Otherwise, in foreign trade settlement, other countries will not

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . Miaoshuwu mobile version reading URL: