Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 12, Winter is Coming

The promulgation of the Bulgarian Language, Writing and Religion Law has two-sided effects!

In the short term, it will help stabilize the domestic situation in Bulgaria, accelerate the integration of various nationalities in the country, and promote the economic and cultural development of Bulgaria!

In the long run, it also restricts the entry of immigrants. At least immigrants from countries with different languages ​​and scripts must first carefully consider whether their own language can pass the test!

There are pros and cons! But now Ferdinand can't take care of these things. At worst, after the national integration is completed in the future, the law should be revised!

The most urgent task now is to digest the meat eaten in the stomach first, and transform it into the strength of Bulgaria's progress, instead of letting it rot inside and make a stomachache!

...

What should come will still come. After the outbreak of the Russian financial crisis, major banks have shrunk their money and called for loans in advance to cope with the run.

A large number of Russian companies first suffered heavy losses in the stock market, and then the banks tightened their lending. In August, many enterprises went bankrupt due to the broken capital chain, and the Russian industrial crisis broke out in an all-round way!

Affected by the industrial crisis, unemployment broke out in Russia, and millions of unemployed people were added in a short period of time. The economic crisis is coming!

After entering the end of the 19th century, the economic ties between countries in the world have become closer and closer. After the outbreak of the Russian economic crisis, import and export trade began to shrink, and other countries in the capitalist world were also affected.

Subsequently, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Britain, the United States, Italy and other countries followed suit one after another. At the same time, an economic crisis broke out in Japan in the Far East.

The fifteenth economic crisis of capitalism has erupted in an all-round way, and no one of the major industrial countries in the world can survive alone!

Bulgaria is no exception. After the outbreak of the Russian economic crisis, Bulgaria was the first to be affected, and its export trade was directly cut in half, and continued to decline in the following months.

In the second half of 1899, Bulgaria's total export trade was less than one-third of the same period of the previous year, and a large number of enterprises engaged in export trade were facing bankruptcy crisis!

...

At the 1899 year-end summary meeting, Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy said with a sad face: Your Majesty, this is the economic report for the past six months. The situation is very bad! And because the economic crisis is spreading to the whole world, our export trade will continue to decline in the next year. !

Although it has been well prepared, Bulgaria's economy is still affected, especially the export trade. The economic environment in the world is not good. Who can the products produced be sold to?

What's the cabinet's plan! Ferdinand asked blankly.

Prime Minister Konstantin frowned and said: In the second half of 1899, Bulgaria experienced negative economic growth for the first time in nearly ten years, a drop of 3 percentage points compared with the same period of the previous year!

Affected by this, the annual economic growth rate in 1899 also slowed down significantly, hitting a record low in the past ten years, with an increase of only 3.3%!

Affected by the global economic crisis, the government predicts that the export trade will not improve in the coming year.

In order to cope with the economic crisis, the government will continue to increase investment in public infrastructure in the next year, mainly focusing on road transportation and rural water conservancy facilities!

At the same time, the government decided to exempt industries affected by the economic crisis and take measures to stimulate domestic demand as much as possible!

Government agencies and enterprises, from now on, will purchase all domestic products under conditions, and at the same time call on the general public to buy domestic products and support domestic production!

Ferdinand nodded. The cabinet is still very pragmatic. Bulgaria is not a European or American country. There is no saying that the government cannot intervene in the market economy!

Now that the economic crisis has come, the government must intervene by administrative means. If the market is allowed to work freely, even if the national bourgeoisie in Bulgaria is not dead, there will be only a few left!

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: This is not enough! After the economic crisis broke out, the major industrial countries will definitely dump to alleviate the economic crisis.

We must take countermeasures!

Calling on the public to support domestic products can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause!

If the products of Western European countries are not only cheaper than ours in terms of price, but also of better quality, it is unreasonable to ask ordinary people to buy domestic products for a long time!

What better measures do you have?

The questions raised by Ferdinand stumped everyone. In fact, the measures taken by the cabinet in this economic crisis had already been used in the last economic crisis (1890-1893).

It's just that the economic crisis at that time had little impact on Russia, and Bulgaria, with the backing of the Russian market, easily got over it.

This time is different, the Russians are overwhelmed, and Bulgaria can only rely on itself to tide over the difficulties!

After much hesitation, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, Your Majesty, let's increase the tariff!

Ferdinand was taken aback for a moment. He didn't expect the Minister of Finance to come up with this method. Now Bulgaria's domestic market has increased significantly compared to before. If trade protection measures can be taken, it will indeed play a certain role!

But Ferdinand still shook his head and said: No! Now the global economy has been hit. Once we raise tariffs, countries will definitely follow suit. At that time, we will move a stone and shoot ourselves in the foot!

That's right, with the current world situation, once tariffs are raised, Britain and France have vast colonies, and they will be able to get out of the economic crisis immediately, and other countries will be miserable!

Why did the United States take trade protection measures during Roosevelt's New Deal? That is, the Americans have turned the Americas into their own backyard. With the backing of the American market, of course they can adopt trade protection!

Prior to this, Americans were honestly following the free economic route, how could Bulgaria be an exception?

As far as Bulgaria's domestic market is concerned, it cannot support the rise of an industrial power! Even if it works, Ferdinand can't do it. Industrialization is bound to be accompanied by a lot of profit exploitation. There is no international market to share it, and it will all be passed on to the domestic people. Isn't it forcing them to rebel?

Why don't we expand the ports in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea! The Minister of Industry said with some hesitation

Ferdinand's eyes lit up, he understood, and said excitedly, Okay, let's do this!

I have to say that the Minister of Industry's method is very good, that is, it blocked the export of Western European countries to Bulgaria, and did not break the rules of the free capitalist market!

It is impossible to increase tariffs, but I can always tear down the port. Anyway, no matter who comes to protest, the port will take time to be demolished and rebuilt!

As for whether it is reasonable or not, this is a matter for the Bulgarian government itself. We think that the port is too small and needs to be expanded, or that the port is broken and cannot be navigated. Whether other people believe it or not, I believe it anyway!

Besides, we haven't demolished all of them, and we still have a gap. If the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea can't get through, we can just go to the Marmara Sea!

The ports in the Mediterranean are not open to normal navigation. To trade with Bulgaria, you must either go overland or bypass the Sea of ​​Marmara.

The cost of traveling by land is too high, and it is estimated that the Austro-Hungarian Empire can still do it. Russians traveling by sea through the Dardanelles have to pay customs duties, and they have to pay them again when they arrive in Bulgaria, and the cost will go up!

at this time. Everyone seemed to understand something. Prime Minister Constantine said excitedly: The ports left over from the Ottoman Empire can no longer meet our increasing demand for import and export trade. In order to promote economic development, we need to rebuild coastal ports!

Offending the Western European powers, Ferdinand is really not afraid now! Anyway, as Mao Xiong's younger brother, the Russians have always opposed the entry of Western European forces into the Balkans, and will stand up for them!

Britain and France have their own colonies, and the market demand for Bulgaria is not large; the trade between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria has always been completed by land, and there is no skin pain!

With this bad move, the real interests are affected by Germany, Italy and other countries. Ferdinand said that he doesn't care about the diplomatic pressure from these countries!

Even so, the winter of the Bulgarian economy is coming, the export trade volume has dropped sharply, and many companies have begun to fall into a situation where they cannot make ends meet!

...

In order to survive, many SMEs are forced to transform. Then a shocking scene appeared, a small company engaged in international trade turned into a construction company!

Every urban white-collar worker turned into a construction site manager, leading the employees to become a member of the Bulgarian road construction army!

Ferdinand had to rejoice that it was the end of the 19th century, and we hadn't experienced the age of pampering. Everyone could still sit in the office and go to the construction site!

Either way, jobs are saved!

As for engineering quality? Now that the car has just emerged, is it too early to popularize it? At the moment, the so-called hair roads are being repaired. There is neither asphalt nor concrete. It only needs to be filled and compacted.

Anyway, they are all sports cars, and the quality requirements of the roads are really not high. When cars become popular in the future, I think the roadbed will be stronger than these roadbeds, and it will be better to increase it at that time!

...

Thatcherf-Toss is one of the construction site army, commonly known as the contractor.

Thatcherf-Toss was originally the owner of a textile processing factory, mainly engaged in international trade, but after the economic crisis broke out, his products could not be sold.

Restricted by Bulgaria's labor protection law, he can't lay off employees without reason. Now that the products can't be sold, and the production has temporarily stopped, he can't keep people for nothing, right?

It just so happened that Bulgaria was engaged in infrastructure construction again, and Thatcherf Toss, a shrewd mind, went to the industrial and commercial department to register a labor service company.

Then the textile worker became a construction worker, and he also officially became a member of the contractor. Through his previous contacts, he successfully blended into the construction team!

Hurry up, Baolun, haven't you eaten yet? It's fine if you can't compare to the engineering team next door, don't even compare to the female workers! Thatcherf-Toss roared

There is no way, the labor service company really can only earn a little money, especially the Bulgarian government's projects, which are stuck in all expenses.

Coupled with the fact that most of the textile factories are female workers and the labor force is limited, the labor service company of Thatcherf-Toss can only be maintained now. Compared with the previous international trade, the profit is far worse, so his The anger is also rising day by day!

But Bao Lun ignored him, and continued to work unhurriedly. He has become impatient to hear these words recently.

Not only him, but basically the few male workers in the factory are the targets of his scolding. Compared with other construction workers, their working efficiency is far from that of Thatcherf. As expected!

If this is the requirement for female workers, it will damage the image of Thatcherf-Toss himself, and it is easy to be regarded as harsh on employees. After all, women's physical strength is generally weaker, and the same standard cannot be used!

For Thatcher Toss, who aspires to be in the upper class of Bulgaria, moral accomplishment cannot be stained.

As for men, it doesn't matter. You are worse than your peers. It is understandable to scold you a few times. Anyway, as long as you don't deduct your salary because of it, everyone can accept it!

...

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