Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 6. Budget vs. Plan

Chekhov was the first to ask: "Marshal Popov, how long will it take for the military's plan to be completed? How much manpower and material resources will be involved? How to ensure that the strategic goal of globalization can be achieved with limited funds?"

Budget inquiry is an essential part, and Popov is naturally prepared for it. The strategic goals set out by the military are more ambitious than each other. Of course, it is impossible to achieve them all at once!

Popov replied calmly: "Let me answer the first question first. To eliminate the unstable factors in the colony, it cannot be completed overnight.

The total area of ​​our current colony is about 8 million square kilometers, which is 12 times that of our mainland. There are no railways or roads in such a large place, and it is not a small task to patrol around.

The military has formulated a military action plan based on five years, with the goal of initially eliminating the unstable factors in the colony within five years!

The question of the number of troops invested, I think this is easy to handle, we can directly put the training of recruits on the colony to suppress bandits, and use actual combat to train troops. Although the casualties may be a little bit larger, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, this is still a small price. worth it! "

After a pause, after everyone digested it, Popov added: "The globalization strategy is a step that every powerful country must take, and it is a long-term national policy.

In today's world, there is only one country that has truly completed the strategic layout of globalization—the British Empire. Even the French's globalization layout still has some sections that are not perfect. The rest of Japan, the United States, and us are just on the road!

Although the road is very long, we must go! Bulgaria has been able to grow from nothing, from weak to strong, all the way to the present, relying on the strategic layout of the first step, and now we still cannot lag behind!

The military has carefully considered this time limit, and the final calculated time limit is within 30 to 50 years, which means that our generation basically has no chance to complete this strategy! "

Well, Popov is also a bachelor, so he didn't say how much it would cost, but told everyone clearly that it is enough to think about the globalization strategy. If you want to complete it, let's leave the opportunity to the next generation!

Naturally, Chekov would not let him go so easily, and continued to ask: "Since this is the case, can we understand that Bulgaria's globalization strategy is just a plan, and there is no need to start it in the short term?"

Popov calmly replied: "Of course not. We must make preparations in advance. Otherwise, if the international situation changes and an opportunity suddenly comes, and we are not prepared, wouldn't it be a waste of the opportunity?" pity?"

After a pause, Chekov said seriously: "Okay Marshal Popov, I understand what you mean. After your statement, I think there are serious problems with the budget proposed by the military this time!

First, the work of suppressing bandits in the colonies can be promoted in a distributed manner. I personally suggest that in 1918, the military should focus on the Asia Minor peninsula, and at most take into account the Middle East;

Second, the navy enters the Indian Ocean, as long as it has a foothold in the Persian Gulf, there is no need for us to over-invest in the short term;

Third, the globalization strategy can be shelved first, and it will not be too late to invest after our economy develops. There is no need to crowd out precious construction funds now;

Fourth, although integrated warfare is very important, I personally feel that it is enough to perfect it locally. In terms of our current military strength, no matter whether it is in the Balkans, the Middle East, or even the Persian Gulf, no one is ours. opponent!

Colonies in Africa are our weak point, but African colonies have no cash value at present. In the short term, I don't think anyone will start a war against us for our African colonies!

To sum up, I personally suggest that the military's budget for the coming year should be cut by 45%, that is, retaining 1.43 billion levs (approximately 5.72 million pounds) is a more reasonable figure! "

After all, Bulgaria came out of the Balkans,

Even if it was to limit military spending, everyone did not cut it too hard. The huge sum of 1.43 billion levs is already equivalent to Bulgaria's military spending in 1914 before the war!

Of course, this also requires the use of troops in the colonies, and the military expenditure cannot be too low. Even now that the world war has just ended, Bulgaria still has a lot of strategic materials left, but the military expenditure will still not be low!

There is no doubt that this number is unacceptable to the military, and then they started to quarrel. As the protagonist, Popov is naturally under siege, but everyone's face has been trained. No matter how you say it, he will not stand still. move!

Seeing that the time was almost up, Constantine decisively stopped the quarrel among the crowd, and snapped, "Quiet! The questioning continues, and now the Ministry of Industry begins!"

...

After a series of procedures, two days have passed, and the funds of various departments have been suppressed. Of course, it is still far from the budget of 5.2 billion levs.

No, it is 5 billion levs, of which 200 million levs have been withdrawn by Ferdinand as an emergency reserve fund, which is not within the scope of this budget.

However, Constantine is still very satisfied with the current work progress. The financial budgets of various departments have also been successfully suppressed to within 6 billion levas. It only takes a few more debates to complete the task.

Under normal circumstances, the budget meeting in Bulgaria will not last more than a week. After all, everyone is very busy, and it is impossible to argue about the budget every day.

Usually at the last minute, the prime minister still needs to personally cut the budget. There is still one step before the head of each department evaluates the reasonable funds of other departments!

This is also not to be done randomly. It cannot be said that deliberately lowering other people's funds in order to grab funds will be considered as having no overall view. The consequence is to prepare to go home. Bulgaria does not need a national leader who does not have an overall view!

This data is also a reference standard. If everyone is willing to give you a big number, don't be complacent, it means that the workload of your department in the coming year will be overwhelming!

Corresponding to the annual plan, there is also the annual assessment. You can't put forward a lot of plans in the budget, and you can't complete any of them by the end of the assessment, right?

This is dereliction of duty. If there is no special reason, the ICAC will probably investigate the departments that have not completed their tasks. Even if there are no economic problems, they must prepare to pack their bags and go home. The Bulgarian government does not want waste!

Therefore, when formulating plans every year, everyone is careful enough, not only to list projects to grab the budget, but also to complete the plan and make political achievements!

The budget meeting in 1918 lasted until mid-December, and the preliminary budget plans of various departments were formed, which could be formally determined as long as they were approved by Ferdinand.

The general framework is still within the scope of Ferdinand's plan. For example, the final military expenditure is fixed at 1.872 billion levs (approximately 74.88 million pounds), accounting for 36% of fiscal revenue.

The education expenditure is fixed at 780 million levs (approximately 3.12 million pounds), accounting for 15% of the total fiscal revenue.

The cost of industrial construction is only 500 million levs (about 2000 million pounds), accounting for 9.6% of the total fiscal revenue.

...

These are all unavoidable things. Although the world war is over, it does not mean that the world is peaceful. Bulgaria's international status must also be maintained by the army, so military expenditures are still high!

The increase in education funding is also an inevitable result. A group of scientific researchers have just been recruited from Germany, so they must be resettled, right? It takes money to build a laboratory, right?

There are still many "big shots" who were famous at the time, and their treatment must be guaranteed, right? And the original high-level talents in Bulgaria, you can't cut down their treatment for no reason, right?

By the way, Bulgaria's educational funds include national financial appropriations, patent fees from universities, social donations, and tuition fees from students!

Of course, universities in Bulgaria do not charge tuition fees. This "tuition fee" is not an ordinary tuition fee. There are always some rich people who want to spend money to send their children to college. Although they can't get a formal diploma, they can still learn something. Is not it?

For these Ferdinands, what he pursued was not to slaughter for nothing, and a few cheap liberal arts classes could handle it, and he could charge tuition fees ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 levs per year. He had no reason to refuse!

Anyway, for many people, the more expensive the better, besides, there are quite a few dandies who have been corrected after entering the university, and the rich and rich don't suffer at all when they spend this money!

The investment in industry does not seem to be large. In fact, the money is only used to provide basic supporting facilities for enterprises. After all, a batch of cheap equipment has just been swept away from Germany. As long as the supporting facilities are completed, they can be assembled and operated.

As for whether the enterprise can make a profit? I don’t know about this. Anyway, in Ferdinand’s view, money is really easy to earn in this era. It will take time for the Germans to recover from their disability. Britain and France are going further and further on the financial death road. Now it is The time when the competition in the continent of Europe is the least intense!

During this period, as long as there is no problem with the direction of investment, basically there will be no losses. The European continent is waiting for a lot of waste, and the spring of the bourgeoisie has come.

If this period is missed, when the order in Germany returns to normal and the industry starts to operate normally, then a large number of cheap goods will flood the European continent, and the competition will be cruel at that time.

Well, Bulgaria was originally playing with counterfeit goods, and they almost achieved the extreme cheapness. They took advantage of the wage gap between Eastern and Western Europe, as well as the difference in raw material prices. Before World War I, when the competition among European countries was the most intense, they all had their own products. A seat, let alone now.

On the other hand, Ferdinand didn't have much interest in light industry, the reason is very simple, he is not short of money! Using banks to control enterprises has a much higher rate of return than direct investment in enterprises. It is no wonder that British and French consortia have rushed to play finance!

...

In fact, before the outbreak of the World War, Bulgaria still had another key industry-agriculture, but with the end of the World War, neither Ferdinand nor the cabinet paid much attention to it.

The reason is very realistic - there is more land! Now that the land has increased, the grain output will naturally increase, but the demand for grain in the international market has not increased!

The Ministry of Agriculture proposed agricultural transformation at the annual budget meeting. The area of ​​arable land that the government ordered to keep is no longer needed. Instead, the people should be guided to grow cash crops!

Of course, the crisis of oversupply of food will not break out in the short term, at least until the Russians resume food exports, Bulgaria does not have to worry about this problem.

But the work of planning for a rainy day must start, otherwise, after a few years, the land reclamation will be completed, and a large area of ​​wheat and potatoes will be harvested, and the feeling will not be so wonderful!

To resolve this crisis, we still have to rely on the Family Planning Commission. Only when the population increases can this problem be solved perfectly, so family planning must continue.

Then, in this round of budget competition, the Population Agency took the lead, not only got 250 million levs of funds, but also got special approval from the cabinet: to release the rewards or subsidies stipulated by the national law, and finally the part of the budget , the government is responsible for the bottom line!

To put it simply, we still encourage everyone to have children, the more the better! Even if it is budget expenditure, it doesn't matter, anyway, the Bulgarian government needs population now!

According to the Bulgarian government's plan, Bulgaria's human resource gap in the next ten years will exceed 8 million. To make up for this gap, there seems to be no better way in the short term than emigrating from Russia and Europe!

But immigration is not a long-term solution, and the quality of these people is flawed, and it is increasingly unable to meet the needs of Bulgaria's development.

At the working conference in 1918, Ferdinand put forward to the Population Agency: the requirement of doubling the population within 20 years!

This is also a conclusion drawn after precise calculations. Due to the factors of the Russian Civil War, Bulgaria currently accepts at least tens of thousands of refugees every month, and at most hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Coupled with immigrants from European countries, if Bulgaria's population wants to double within 20 years, on average, it needs to ensure the survival of 2.3 million newborn babies every year to complete the task.

Of course, this population doubling refers to the doubling of the population with Bulgarian nationality, not the doubling of the population in the area controlled by Bulgaria. Otherwise, the officials of the Population Administration will stop doing it, and it will not be completed at all!

To complete this great population strategy, Bulgaria still has a long way to go.

However, in theory, as long as the current birth rate is maintained, this strategic goal may be accomplished in the fourteenth or fifteenth year without waiting for twenty years. The government is optimistic about this plan!

Naturally, Ferdinand did not discourage everyone's enthusiasm. Although he knew that after the destruction of the small-scale peasant economy, the population growth rate would decline, which is an inevitable trend, but he did not know when it started!

...

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

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like