Bulgarian Empire

Seeing this result, Ferdinand didn't know whether to cry or laugh!

This novel version of the history of national origins was mainly created to promote the integration of various nationalities in Bulgaria.

Unexpectedly, to a certain extent, it also helped Austria-Hungary and Russia. Compared with Bulgaria, their domestic ethnic conflicts are more serious!

The main ethnicity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is less than 30%; the Russian Empire is not much better, dangling on the edge of 40%. Both countries need a set of theories to promote national integration!

The novel version of the origin history of the nation created by Ferdinand just met this condition, so they directly took it for use. As for whether it will be effective, only God knows!

Anyway, Ferdinand was not optimistic about them, relying on the executive ability of the bureaucrats of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, trying to instill this set of close relatives theory is tantamount to a dream!

If you can't unify the language and characters, even if you speak brilliantly, the gap between them still cannot be eliminated. People may ask, why is there such a big gap in our cultural heritage?

After the outbreak of nationalism in the future, we should do whatever we want!

...

Economic crisis for Bulgaria: An instant crisis is also an opportunity!

Although the economic crisis has temporarily interrupted Bulgaria's economic development, industries all over the world are devaluing. Many things that Bulgaria could not afford before can now be purchased at low prices.

For example, before Ferdinand set his sights on a struggling English shipyard, the offer was 1.5 million pounds. There is still an expression of buying it if you like it, and if you don’t buy it, you will get it. Now half a million pounds is a high price, and it is still depreciating!

The major countries in the capitalist world now have excess production capacity, and all the capitalists who are usually arrogant are having a hard time for everyone at the moment.

First, he suffered heavy losses in the stock market, and then faced brutal market competition. The more you produce, the more you will lose money, the products cannot be sold, and the bank's loan has stopped again. In order to get back the funds, everyone has to sell at a reduced price!

You drop and I drop, and he drops even harder, vicious competition begins to circulate, and factories go bankrupt because of this, and are sent to the auction block by the bank!

Ferdinand, who had been prepared for a long time, now of course wants to buy, buy, buy!

...

Your Majesty, this is the procurement list delineated by the Ministry of Industry, please have a look! The Minister of Industry said, and also sent a thin procurement plan

Ferdinand took it and glanced at it. Although the content was small, the appetite of the Ministry of Industry this time was not small, covering almost the entire industrial system.

Including metallurgy, electric power, fuel, chemical industry, shipbuilding, machine manufacturing, transportation... plus the industries that Bulgaria already had, the industrial system at the end of the 19th century was basically complete.

It is planned to acquire 148 factories, and the total capital involved is as high as 1.5 billion levs, which is about 60 million pounds, almost catching up with Boxer indemnity!

This is still the price during the economic crisis. Ferdinand is sure that if this is during the economic boom, even if this number is increased by four or five times, it may not be able to be taken down!

No wonder the chancellor's eyes are wrong, it is clear that the government can't come up with the money. Moreover, even if all these factories are bought back, how to make them work is a problem!

It's not a human problem. It's a period of economic crisis, and there are many unemployed people everywhere. It's still very easy to poach people.

On the question, after these factories are up and running, how to make them survive! There must be a market for a product, right?

For example, the two 30,000-ton docks and three 20,000-ton docks in this plan look very good, but Ferdinand can be sure that after they are established, half of them can survive, which is a record-breaking!

Another example is the steel project. After the theoretical completion, Bulgaria will be able to produce three million tons of steel per year. Ferdinand is very skeptical. Who will the steel be sold to?

...

Anyway, this series of acquisition plans,

They are all very aggressive! Ferdinand was a little suspicious, who is the time traveler?

Did everyone know that the Russo-Japanese War would break out in 1904 so that the Russians could serve as volunteers? That's not right, even the Russo-Japanese War couldn't help consume so much production capacity!

The Russian family also has industries, and even if they want to purchase from abroad, they only have a part of it, and they still face competition from European countries.

Besides, the Russo-Japanese War ended in a few years, so who should we sell it to? Ferdinand didn't think that Bulgaria could develop so fast that he could consume this part of production capacity in just a few years!

Even though he was full of doubts, Ferdinand asked patiently: Can the Ministry of Industry explain this plan?

The Minister of Industry said with some embarrassment: Your Majesty, this opportunity is rare! Now such industrial equipment is at the price of cabbage. If you miss this opportunity, then...

Before the Minister of Industry finished speaking, Kennedy, the Minister of the Exchequer, interrupted him: But the problem is, even if it is the price of cabbage, we can't afford it!

This reason is very strong, so strong that no one can refute it. The Bulgarian government has just completed the big immigration, and it is still heavily in debt. It is impossible to come up with this huge sum of money!

4.26 million people were brought back, and another 2.67 million people were sent away. The Bulgarian government completed the migration of 6.73 million people in just three years. Even if each person spends 1,000 levs, this is a huge sum of 673 million levs, and the actual cost will only be greater!

Coupled with the domestic construction, the debt of the Bulgarian government has grown like a snowball, and now it has reached the peak of 2.6 billion levs!

Ferdinand also knew that the Bulgarian government absolutely could not carry out large borrowings anymore, and this figure was almost four times the fiscal revenue.

It is the beginning of the 20th century, not the 21st century, and the four times debt ratio has not crushed the Bulgarian government, which is already a record. If it continues to increase, Greece will be a lesson for the past!

Ferdinand asked: How much money can the government finance allocate without affecting domestic construction?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy thought for a while and said: Up to 700 million Levas, including the 500 million Levas of emergency funds raised later!

Considering the actual situation, these industrial equipment must be put into production after they are purchased. We need to leave at least 300 million funds for the later construction of supporting facilities!

Kennedy's words cast a chill on the ambitions of the Minister of Industry, A penny can't beat a hero?

The current gap is not 8 million, and the government squeezes it out. With a funding gap of more than one billion levas, even if the Bulgarian government really sells iron, it will not be able to make up for it!

What should we do? Your Majesty, our large-scale industrial plan is at a critical moment, and we cannot stop now!

Seeing the performance of the Minister of Industry, Ferdinand knew that these guys were suffering from idealism again, so he simply ignored them!

This is something that can’t be helped. In order to develop the industry more efficiently and rationally, many officials of the Ministry of Industry are engineers.

People are engaged in industrial construction while also being responsible for overall planning. Of course, political savvy can no longer ask for it!

Ferdinand had seen this kind of idealized plan many times, but seeing that they had really done a good job in industrial construction, he tolerated it.

Idealization is idealization, it's better than a bunch of bureaucrats, tossing around for the sake of face project! Ferdinand said that as long as he can complete the tasks he set, he will not pursue the details. Why is Bulgaria short of talents?

Ferdinand comforted: Don't worry too much, you can come up with a solution. Considering the actual situation, let's slim down this plan first and reduce the production capacity, so that the funding gap will not be so big!

In addition, for the construction of supporting facilities in the later stage, we can still think of ways. Considering that our industry is about to skyrocket, then we can put another batch of currency into the market, which can be digested by the market, and the funding gap will almost be closed!

Well, the way Ferdinand finally came up with was to print money. Anyway, he just made a fortune, and now the gold is still in the vault.

In the era of the gold standard, money could be printed with gold. This is not nonsense. With the rapid development of Bulgaria's economy, the demand for currency has also increased significantly.

Just like the British Empire in history, there was still a bunch of fiscal deficits during this period, but after the end of the Anglo-Boer war, with the gold obtained from South Africa, it quickly came out of the deficit, and the financial hegemony of the pound became more consolidated !

Moreover, Ferdinand also knew that the use of currency issuance to solve financial crises is also the most commonly used method by countries in later generations. Some countries even earn more than half of their fiscal revenue from currency issuance.

No one objected, this is not their specialty, as long as the Ministry of Finance thinks it's okay, then it's fine!

Of course, Kennedy would not object. You must know that the Ministry of Finance has made a lot of profits from the previous additional currency issuance, but because of the economic crisis, this part of the proceeds has been invested in infrastructure construction!

As for how much currency will be issued and how much gold will be needed as reserves, Ferdinand doesn't even ask. Bulgaria's original reserves plus his private treasury, the total amount of gold exceeds 600 tons!

This number already accounts for most of the Russians, and the total amount of levs currently issued on the market is estimated to be less than one-tenth of the total amount of rubles!

In the end, Ferdinand still cut off a lot of production capacity in the large industrial plan, but the projects were kept. After all, the establishment of a complete industrial system is of great significance.

For example, the iron and steel plan has dropped by one million tons from the original three million tons of steel per year; another example is the large shipyard, which has also been directly cut in half, leaving only two 20,000-ton shipyards and three 10,000-ton shipyards. dock.

These are decisions made by Ferdinand based on the actual situation.

In the next ten years, Bulgaria's railway plan will not stop, and it will consume a lot of steel.

Ten years later, the domestic market in Bulgaria has also grown, and the steel production capacity can naturally be easily absorbed.

The same is true for ships. These production capacities can still be digested in the market, and they can be increased as needed in the future. The main purpose now is to accumulate shipbuilding technology and prepare for building warships.

As for the huge dock of 30,000 to 50,000 tons, Ferdinand said that it was flashy. If the big powers want the Pan technology tree, they can naturally do it. Forget about Bulgaria, and now they can honestly follow them and learn!