Bulgarian Empire

After working for more than half a month, Ferdinand finally finalized the main outline of the "3rd Five-Year Plan", but after seeing the final total investment, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy was blown away!

"Your Majesty, isn't this figure too big? 8 billion levs. This is to invest all of Bulgaria's fiscal revenue for the next five years!" Kennedy said in horror.

Ferdinand's expression remained unchanged. All of this was within his expectations. In terms of Bulgaria's current fiscal revenue, not to mention 8 billion levs, even if it was a 50% discount, the government would not be able to provide it!

Even in 1907, Bulgaria's fiscal revenue reached 18.6 levs, but as revenue increased, so did expenditure!

After thinking about it for a while, Ferdinand settled an account with Kennedy and said, "We know this very well! Judging from the current economic situation in Bulgaria, the fiscal revenue in 1908 will probably be the same as in 1907, which means that tomorrow After the Russian war, our economic transformation went well!

Under normal circumstances, according to our economic growth estimates, the fiscal revenue in 1909 would exceed at least 2 billion levs, and it would exceed 3 billion levs in 1914, which is normal!

On average, it is not difficult for the government to spend 500 million levs from fiscal revenue every year and put it into the "Three Five-Year Plan", right?

This is 2.5 billion levs, and we can also issue a batch of national debt! Given the current domestic situation in Bulgaria, can it be sold for more than one or two billion levs? In the international market, it is not a problem to sell more than one or two billion levs in five years, right?

Optimistically, there are more than 6 billion levs of funds! For the remaining one or two billion leva funding gap, can your Ministry of Finance borrow from foreign consortiums? The British and the French must be very happy now - to do this business! "

Compared with ten years ago, the situation is much better now! At that time, the Bulgarian government still had a headache for the expenditure of tens of millions of levs, which is not the same figure for any project now!

In the past, the issuance of tens of millions of levas had to go through precise calculations, but now Ferdinand said billions, not without reason!

In terms of economic aggregate, Bulgaria's economic aggregate in 1908 was more than ten times that of 1888. This is the benefit of a larger basic market!

Population increases, resources increase, and market capacity increases; imported resources decrease, and the exploitation of the Ottoman Empire disappears; traffic conditions improve, and industrialization is completed...

Under this series of comprehensive factors, Bulgaria has formed a virtuous circle, and now it has formed an independent "small economy" that can generate blood by itself!

In fact, is it really as simple as Ferdinand said? Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy can say with certainty, no!

Just talk about military spending! In addition to routine expenses: 270 million levs (about 10.8 million pounds) for the army, 60 million levs (about 2.4 million pounds) for the navy

These only include a series of expenses such as daily training, personnel wages, equipment maintenance and a small amount of replacement, as well as the research and development of new weapons!

In this five-year plan, in order to cope with the changes in the international situation, the army will expand its army by 200,000 within five years, and the financial allocation will be 860 million levs (about 34.4 million pounds); the navy will also expand its army by 5,000, plus the planned new two Dreadnoughts, 4 destroyers, 2 cruisers, and 8 submarines, with a financial allocation of 300 million levs (about 12 million pounds).

These are all in an ideal state. Once the arms race escalates, the navy can make them stop and play soy sauce, but who dares to let them stop in the army?

Where will the money come from? These are all issues for the Treasury Department to consider. Wouldn't it be strange if Kennedy wasn't worried?

"Your Majesty, in this way, our finances that have just improved will soon have to bear huge foreign debts, and the annual interest alone is a huge sum? Can't we slow down?" Kennedy continued to fight for it without giving up

"Hey!"

Ferdinand sighed.

Said: "Time does not wait for me! How about this, first release the news of our military expansion, and then delay it on the grounds of insufficient military expenditures!

After the situation in Europe further escalates, the British and French will take the initiative to find them, and they should be able to save a sum of interest by then! "

Oh, Ferdinand still decided to learn from the Russians. Historically, the Russian military expansion was limited by finances, so they came up with rogue moves.

If Britain and France do not grant loans, Lao Tzu will not expand the army. The French will resist the military pressure on the European continent by themselves!

Anyway, due to the contradiction between Germany and France, the first unlucky ones are the French. The Russian Empire has a vast territory as a strategic buffer. Even if war breaks out, they can afford it!

The current situation in Bulgaria is even better. Anyway, there is no need to face the Germans directly. Ferdinand can also be a rogue. We will not expand the army without money!

Even if war breaks out immediately, Bulgaria is not the key offensive direction of the Allies. The Serbs have resisted the attack of a partial division of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in history!

With the strength of the current Bulgarian Army, once it is mobilized, it will not take much trouble to kill this partial division. What is there to be afraid of Ferdinand?

Although the British have now joined the Allied Powers, the German pressure on the French on land has not been reduced, and the Royal Navy cannot go ashore!

Moreover, the British did not assume military obligations to the Allied Powers. After a while, the politicians in France will definitely react. At that time, the French will naturally come to the door and ask the French and French countries to contribute!

Anyone who knows Ferdinand knows that this kind of thing will probably happen more often in the future!

He has already made up his mind to use British and French loans to expand arms and prepare for war, so as not to be militaristic and affect the domestic economic development!

As for the loan owed due to this, as long as the war is won, it will be paid with the indemnity of the defeated country. Ferdinand will not have any moral pressure in this regard!

...

When Ferdinand was planning a British-French loan, the British and the French were not idle. Everyone is the elite of this era, so how could they not have their own plans?

How could Bulgaria have been able to get to this point without the secret push of Britain and France?

Just look at when the Balkan War broke out, the Germans wanted to intervene, and they were held back by whom!

Of course, there was Ferdinand's advance arrangement, which provoked conflicts among all parties, so why didn't Britain and France follow suit and cooperate deliberately?

...

In fact, after entering the 20th century, the life of the British Empire was not so easy. In addition to the world hegemony being challenged by later powers, due to the large gap between the rich and the poor, domestic conflicts also began to intensify during this period!

Since the Liberal Party came to power in 1905, the London government has been undergoing an internal reform.

In 1907, free lunches were provided in schools;

In 1908, Prime Minister Asquith drafted the old age pension scheme;

...

At this time, the Germans have replaced the French and the Russians as the new confidants of the London government, but the Asquith government still has not forgotten the old enemy of the Russians!

At the European State Advisory Conference, the Foreign Secretary put forward:

"Mr. Prime Minister, despite our efforts, the Bulgaria-Russia alliance is still unbreakable.

The pro-Russian faction within the Bulgarian government is too powerful, and it may be difficult to change it in the short term; and the Russian government also attaches great importance to its relationship with Bulgaria, especially after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the relationship between the two countries has been more closely linked up! "

Prime Minister Asquith frowned, and then said: "Don't worry, our main enemy is still the Germans now, and the Russians and Bulgaria joined hands to block the expansion of the Germans in Eastern Europe, which is also what we need!

Now that the Bulgarians and the Russians have a common enemy, and there is no conflict of core interests between the two sides, the alliance is of course strong!

But the future is not certain. Once the allies fall, Bulgaria and Russia will border on each other. As long as we push, the good relationship between the two sides will become fragmented due to the conflict of interests!

Don't forget that our principle is that we should not allow the European continent to become dominant. The current Germans are an example!

Due to our previous strategic mistakes, the Germans have become bigger, and now they dare to challenge our supremacy. In order to suppress them, we have to give up even the isolation policy!

We must not make this mistake again! Now on the European continent, the three countries of France, Russia and Bulgaria are still not the opponents of the Allies, so we have to support them!

But we all know that although we are now trying to avoid a war in the European continent, try to ensure the balance of the European continent as much as possible!

But this situation cannot last long. Once a war breaks out on the European continent, this situation will change!

Either the Entente defeated the Allies, or the Allies defeated the Allies! The latter situation is something we try our best to avoid, even if we do it ourselves, we can't make it happen, it will be a disaster for the British Empire!

And after the Allies defeat the Allies, they will become our new enemies, so the Russian-Bulgarian Alliance must be dismantled! "

...

Well, when the Germans are still planning to use the fleet to force the British to compromise, and even when there are still people in the German government who are dreaming of an "Anglo-German alliance", the British are already ready to kill the Germans!

By the way, they are also considering the international situation after the World War! It is no wonder that after the outbreak of World War I, the German government could not accept the fact that the British participated in the war. It can only be said that John Bull's diplomatic deception is too strong!

...

The British have plans, why don't the French? At least Ferdinand knew that there has always been a saying in France that the Allied Powers will kill the Allies, and France will once again dominate the European continent!

This is the core reason why the French government simply handed over the technology it had painstakingly accumulated to Bulgaria!

If it is just to pull Bulgaria into the water, they will learn from the British to support Japan in providing money and equipment. There is no need to enhance Bulgaria's overall national strength!

At least when dealing with the Russians, the French still maintained a restrained attitude towards technical support, and even required confidentiality in the technology transfer with Bulgaria!

And Ferdinand's performance was very in line with their expectations, and he decisively refused to disclose the technology to Russia, as if telling the world that the relationship between Russia and Russia is not so unbreakable!

After all, the Russian chassis is too big. If they are allowed to obtain these technologies, what will happen to the Way of Heaven? At least Ferdinand didn't dare to gamble!

It is obvious that the main purpose of the French is to stir up conflicts between Bulgaria and Russia, so that Bulgaria and Russia will fight each other in Eastern Europe, and they will be powerless to prevent the French from becoming bigger in the European continent!

In order to achieve this goal, the French will support Bulgaria's expansion, so as to block the way for the Russians to enter the Mediterranean! Prior to this, both Romania and part of the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could be bait for removal!

Only when Bulgaria confronts Russia, will Bulgaria need the French and the British! The premise is that Bulgaria itself is not weak, otherwise it will directly become the younger brother of the Russians!

It can be said that none of the old empires is simple! These are all blatant schemes on the surface, but everyone didn't expose them!

Ferdinand is sure that the St. Petersburg government also knows the plans of Britain and France, but they are still willing to enter the game, knowing that the Tsarist government must have its own plan!

Now that the game has started, let's see who can come out on top! Anyway, Ferdinand's purpose is very simple, to fish in troubled waters and reap benefits! It is also possible to be a thug, but you must pay!

Combining the information in his hand, and the trend of parallel time and space history, Ferdinand has already cleared his mind, and he has made a decision, just swallow the bait first!