Bulgarian Empire

For Lev's sake, Nicholas II quickly approved the transaction, and the handover between the two parties went smoothly.

The locals had two options, either to return to the Russian Empire, funded by the Bulgarian government, to buy all their local assets; or to stay and apply for Bulgarian citizenship.

This multiple-choice question is easy to do. Most ordinary people choose to stay. The civil war has progressed to the present, and the young and strong of the Russian Empire have suffered heavy losses. Everyone can avoid military service if they can.

According to incomplete statistics, before the outbreak of the World War, the population of the Russian Empire was about 160 million. After the end of the World War, it dropped to 146 million, and now this number has dropped to 124 million.

In addition to war casualties, the greater population loss was due to the chaotic situation and poor economic conditions, which caused a sharp drop in the birth rate, and hunger and immigration also caused a large number of human losses.

According to the estimates of the Bulgarian Population Agency, even if the Russian Empire ends the war, the population will still fall into negative growth in the next ten years. A large number of young men were consumed in the war. Now the balance between men and women has been broken. At present, the young women in the Russian Empire , At least six million more than men!

Benefiting from this situation, Bulgaria's domestic gender balance problem has been easily resolved, and the imbalanced male-female ratio of European immigrants has been improved.

The credit of the ruble has long since collapsed, and now the largest currency in circulation in the Russian Empire is the lev, followed by the pound and the franc.

Faced with this situation, the tsarist government did not fail to take measures. They re-issued the gold ruble, but it was a pity that it was quickly dragged down by the run on the people.

Without enough credit, the people got the ruble, and the first thing they wanted was to exchange it for gold. Seeing this, the government of Nicholas II was forced to announce the termination of the exchange.

Then the value of the gold ruble also fell rapidly, and was finally abandoned by the people. Now the Russian people recognize gold and foreign exchange, and they really have no love for the ruble.

The funniest thing is that after the credit collapse of local banks, foreign banks are the most popular in the Russian Empire now, even the National Bank established by the Tsarist government can't compare.

This status quo exists in all three Russian governments. No, it should be said that there are two Russian governments. The Moscow government has nationalized. The rich have their homes ransacked and wiped out, and the poor have no money to save. Even the currency has been replaced by bills. Their finances are relatively Still the best.

After getting the money, the first thing Nicholas II did was to pay the army, which was owed for half a year. The soldiers didn't buy the rubles they paid before, so they had no choice but to reissue them.

Now Nicholas II has learned to be smart, no matter what, first grasp the army first. Not only is the army going to make a noise, but even the wages owed by the government departments have to be settled. In this respect, Nicholas II is also a good boss.

Three times, five times, two times, more than half of the land sales income of more than two billion levas was spent, and he had to buy ammunition for the remaining funds to launch the unification war.

It would be fine if there was no war, the money would be enough for him to spend for half a year. Once the flames of war ignited again, it would be spent in one month. Not only would the moths of the government be wiped out, but it would also be consumed for him.

Nicholas II said solemnly: Prime Minister, please urge Sassonov to speed up the negotiation process. In 1922, we will launch a unification war!

The prime minister was startled, and hesitantly said: Your Majesty, should we wait a little longer, our soldiers need to be refreshed after a long battle, why not delay for a year!

Nicholas II smiled wryly and said: Do you think we can still afford it? You are well aware of financial issues. Every year of delay will consume five or six billion pounds. Where are we going to get it? so much money?

Money is just one aspect. If we are in a hurry, we can still sell the land. Presumably that fellow Ferdinand is already ready to take over the offer. As long as we dare to sell, they will take over!

You know, they actually packaged up and sold all the war reparations from Germany and Italy, and the Bulgarian government now has money in their hands!

But what about the international environment? Once Britain and France have settled their internal problems,

Will they tolerate the reunification of the Russian Empire?

If they give blood transfusions to those two traitors, how long will this war last? One year, two years, three years, five years, or ten years, eight years?

No one can tell. If it takes a long time, it will be difficult for us to unify again!

The Prime Minister was silent. Everyone knows these questions, but they just avoided them selectively. Otherwise, when Nicholas II wants to sell the Crimean Peninsula, he will not get their support!

...

Sassonov, who received the telegram, began to have a headache. Arguing with the bank representative was troublesome enough, but now there are still people in the country urging him to speed up!

On October 22, 1921, the Bulgaria-Russia negotiation meeting on the loan issue officially started. This time the protagonist was no longer Megev, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only provided a venue for the two parties.

The head of the bank's delegation was Cage Nicholas, the CEO of Union Bank, and the two deputy heads were Wolf Regus, a representative of National Bank, and Marshall Priestev, a representative of Royal Bank. .

In addition to these three people, the three major banks also formed a temporary evaluation team, a financial team, and a negotiation expert team. The total number of people in chaos was as high as more than 300.

Seeing this posture, Sassonov felt a little dizzy. It would be strange if he hadn't come prepared!

Megev is the middleman this time, and he took the lead in saying: On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I welcome you here. For the traditional friendship between Bulgaria and Russia, I hope that you can successfully reach cooperation in the future.

Well, my nonsense is over, Mr. Sassonov, and Mr. Cage, now you can start!

Cage said, Thank you, Mr. Megev, for providing us with this venue, and I hope that our next negotiation can proceed smoothly.

In business, Mr. Sassonov, how much loan does your government need this time, and what is it willing to provide as collateral?

Sassonov was stunned. Of course, the more loans the better, but the mortgage issue is a headache. There are no regulations in the country. In theory, he can make decisions about where the mortgage is.

This is based on the fact that the government can repay the loan. As long as the loan can be repaid on time, it doesn't matter if he mortgages St. Petersburg!

If the government cannot repay the loan on time, then it will be in big trouble. He who has lost a lot of benefits will definitely not have good fruit in the future!

Sassonov asked back: Mr. Cage, I would like to know how much loan your bank syndicate can undertake at most?

Cage smiled slightly and said, It depends on how big the benefits are. If the benefits are big enough, I think we can provide all the funds your country needs!

Sassonov was startled, and then returned to normal. It is impossible for a bank that monopolizes the finance of a powerful country like Bulgaria to be short of funds. There is no consortium in the world that has as much cash flow as them!

Of course, one of the more important reasons is that the Lev loaned by the Russians will eventually return to Bulgaria.

It was impossible for Nicholas II to take Lev to fight. They wanted to buy weapons and ammunition, as well as various strategic materials. Will go into the bank again.

Sassonov thought for a while and said: We plan to borrow 10 billion levs. The Russian Empire can use the Volyn Heights, the highlands along the Dnieper River, and the heights along the Black Sea coast as mortgages. Sex pays off!

Cage shook his head and said, Mr. Sassonov, with all due respect, no bank in the world would dare to do this business based on the conditions offered by your country!

Even if there is no civil war in your country, it would be very difficult for you to obtain this loan under such conditions in a peaceful age, not to mention that it is now a war age, and we will lose all our money if something goes wrong!

Sassonov's face darkened. He knew that the negotiation might be so smooth, and the conditions just thrown out were just a temptation.

Instead of answering directly, he threw out the question: Then Mr. Leitch, what do you want?

Leitch thought for a while and said: There is nothing wrong with the loan figure of 10 billion levas, but there must be some changes in the loan interest, repayment method, and collateral!

Loan interest, we have to calculate the interest on a monthly basis, the monthly interest is 8/1000, and it is settled every month. The funds are linked to gold, and you have to bear the inflation by yourself.

As collateral, we suggest that the Ukrainian Great Plains controlled by the Russian Empire be used as collateral, so that everyone can accept it!

Sassonov was like a frying pan, and he roared loudly: Impossible, you are taking advantage of the fire!

Cage said calmly: Mr. Sassonov, you also have to consider the risk cost I bear. Once you lose the war, we will lose everything!

With such a high risk, we need a little more interest, is this too much? Now the benchmark interest rate for international loans is basically maintained at 4.5-6 per thousand per month, and I have only raised it a little bit!

As for the issue of collateral, mortgages all over the world have to be discounted. As long as you can guarantee the repayment on time, these are not problems at all!

Unless you are not sincere and have no intention of repaying the loan from the beginning, there is no need for you to struggle with the collateral issue at all!

Sassonov said with a sad face: Your interest rate is too high, it has exceeded the capacity of the Russian Empire!

As for the collateral you want, it has far exceeded the value of the loan. Even if the collateral is to be discounted, it can't be so ruthless, right?

Cage smiled slightly and said: This problem, we have increased the risk cost! Everyone knows that the greater the risk, the greater the benefit!

You have no way to reduce our risk, so you can only increase our interests, otherwise, what is the point of doing this business for us?

Mr. Sassonov, you might as well consult the bankers in your country again, and ask them, is our request really too much?

Sassonov's face darkened. The bankers in the Russian Empire have become the laughing stock of the whole world. At the same time, they have also become wanted criminals by the government. Isn't it funny to consult them?

Without the presence of the Bulgarian government, the risk factor of this loan is almost 100%, and normal people would not accept this business!

But this loan is obviously endorsed by the Bulgarian government. They have the ability to recover the loan. If it doesn’t work, they can resell the mortgaged land to the government. The risk has been transferred!

Sassonov thought for a while and said, We can afford up to six thousandths of the monthly interest rate, which is also a normal international loan, and the repayment standard can also refer to international standards.

As collateral, the Russian Empire can take out all the factories and enterprises in St. Petersburg, plus half of Ukraine, with the Dnieper River as the dividing line, the value of these assets is 20 billion levs!

Cage shook his head and said: We are not interested in companies in your country, no matter how much their value is, it is equal to zero for us!

As for this half of Ukraine, if your country is willing to sell it directly, I think it will not be a problem to sell it for 18 billion levs, but it is not enough as collateral.

We are a bank, not a charity. We must make money in all businesses. If profits cannot be guaranteed, we would rather not do this business!

The two fell into silence, and Megev on the side suddenly said: Mr. Sassonov, in fact, Mr. Cage's proposal just now is still very good. You may wish to think about it. Sell the Ukraine area directly, and you can Get a lot of money, and all the problems don't worry about it!

Sassonov cursed inwardly, good guy, the bank just proposed to sell half of Ukraine, but it turned into selling the whole Ukraine in a blink of an eye.

Do you really think that there are no bandits in the Russian Empire? If it goes too far, the Russian people will also punish the country's thieves!

But on the surface, Sassonov remained unchanged. Instead, he politely declined Megev's proposal.

He said that although the Russian Empire has a vast territory, no inch of land is superfluous, as if he did not do the land sale earlier!

The negotiations on the first day naturally ended in vain. Everyone was just trying to get a feel for each other's bottom line. It may take a long time to reach an agreement.

Although Ferdinand didn't care about the interest rate, he believed that Nicholas II couldn't pay off his debts from the very beginning, but as a bank, if he didn't care about the interest and just focused on the collateral, any fool would know there was a problem?

Therefore, the bank representatives had to haggle over the interest with the Russians to convince them that this was an ordinary loan with a larger amount and higher interest, and finally let down their vigilance on the collateral!

As for Chekhov’s proposal to buy the Ukrainian region, this is also an overt conspiracy. If many things are made clear, it will be reassuring; if the Bulgarian government has no intentions, the Russians still suspect that they are engaged in a big conspiracy?

The more positive the Bulgarian government's attitude towards buying land, the more assured Nicholas II would be. At least they can confirm Bulgaria's position and just want to buy Ukraine from them instead of using tricks to seize Ukraine!

Well, these problems were not something that Ferdinand could come up with alone, but the solutions that the government think tank finally came up with after two or three years of research!

The effect has only just begun, and no one knows the success or failure. Anyway, this is a long-term strategy, and it will not be able to achieve results in a short while!

...

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