Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The destructive nature of war is inherent, and more than three months after the end of the Balkan war, Ferdinand finally received a concrete loss report.

Of course, this report only includes Bulgaria's territory, and the area controlled by the Kingdom of Montenegro is only a rough guess. As for Greece, there is no result.

Even so, the toll of the war was staggering. In just three months, nearly 200,000 civilians were killed and injured in the Balkans, and millions of people were displaced and made homeless.

The direct economic loss caused is as high as 1 billion lev. Especially in Istanbul, where the Ottomans resisted the most, the losses were even more severe.

No matter who is responsible, now this bitter fruit needs to be swallowed by Ferdinand. The economic level of various places has regressed by at least 30 years.

This judgment is very objective. After all, during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the economy of the Balkans has not been very good.

The data based on them is not for reference. According to the cabinet's estimates, the Ottoman army resisted the relatively weak Kosovo region, and the economic damage is not large, and it can be recovered in one or two years.

In the Istanbul region, the economic damage caused by the fierce resistance of the Ottomans is so great that it will take at least five years to recover.

As for Constantinople, it has been reduced to ruins, and it will not be restored in twenty or thirty years.

On the whole, most of the Bulgarian government's energy in the next five years will be spent on post-war reconstruction, and most of the government's financial investment will be spent on these new territories.

As for the displacement of nearly a million people, this issue does not need Ferdinand to be a headache. They have already left Bulgaria anyway, just to make room for immigrants.

After reading the report, Ferdinand thought about it and said, These situations are even more serious than we estimated before. What specific plans does the cabinet have to restore the local economy as soon as possible and stabilize people's livelihood?

Constantine said with some embarrassment: After comprehensive consideration, we will resettle millions of immigrants in the next few years, so we must create a large number of jobs.

The Cabinet plans to continue to increase financial investment in the new round of the Third Five-Year Plan, focusing on our new territories. Mainly concentrated in railways, mining, municipal infrastructure, as well as vigorously building water conservancy projects in agriculture.

However, the financial pressure will be great. In 1898, the government's fiscal revenue is expected to reach about 510 million leva, of which the former Bulgarian region can contribute 307 million leva, and another 145 million leva is sold for land and confiscated leva. of noble real estate,

The additional territories contributed just under 58 million levs.

However, in terms of fiscal expenditure, it has risen sharply, reaching an astonishing 680 million leva, and the fiscal deficit is as high as 170 million leva, which has exceeded the safety line.

The increase in expenditure is mainly due to the tripling of administrative expenditure to 120 million leva; the doubled of education expenditure to 80 million leva; the increase of medical and health expenditure by 50% to 21 million leva Eph.

Other parts are mainly government investment, including: investment in railway construction, which is expected to be around 80 million levs; municipal renovation and post-war reconstruction, which is expected to be around 75 million levs; and the construction of water conservancy projects and the promotion of new agricultural technologies , this part of the investment is about 60 million lev...

After listening to Constantine's introduction, Ferdinand thought for a while and found that there was no problem. These cost ratios are determined according to the actual situation, and there is no blind pursuit of results.

Just like the fastest-growing administrative expenses, this is a top priority. The ruling order of the newly added territories must be established, right? This cost will not be saved at all!

The second is education, which is obviously for brainwashing. It is a long-term project that cannot be completed in the short term, so the urgency is slightly lower.

As for the subsequent construction investment, this number is really not large. Bulgaria's investment in the Second Five-Year Plan exceeded this number. But now financial difficulties, can only take it slowly.

I remember that this time there are still a lot of real estate, including land. If the government manages them, it will also be a large amount of income. Can this cover most of the deficit? Ferdinand asked suspiciously.

Constantine said bitterly: Considering the complexity of the situation in the Balkans, our future military expenditures can only increase, not decrease.

In order to ensure a stable supply of military spending, the government has decided to allocate the remaining 5 million hectares of land to the army, in addition to those that have been rewarded and sold by the confiscated officers and soldiers!

The Ministry of Finance has done detailed calculations in this regard. In 1897, due to the Balkan War, our military expenditure actually exceeded 700 million leva.

In 1895, our army's military expenditure totaled 147 million leva; in 1896, this figure expanded to 280 million leva, of course, this is mainly due to combat readiness!

In the coming year, the army still needs to carry out a large-scale campaign against bandits and suppress local stubborn forces. In addition, our national borders have also grown greatly, and the pressure on national defense has increased.

As a result, military spending will also be high, and it is expected to increase to 360 million leva, of which the army accounts for 94 percent and the navy 6 percent.

This part of the expenditure, in addition to the financial allocation of 120 million lev, is mostly borne by land income and the profits turned over by supporting state-owned enterprises.

As for the other confiscated real estate, the income from this part of the industry has to cover the expenses of the immigrants, otherwise the 40 million levs allocated by the government will not be enough at all!

Ferdinand nodded with satisfaction. The Bulgarian government still adhered to his usual style, listing the most important parts first, giving priority to satisfaction, and then doing other things.

There is no doubt that the most important thing for Bulgaria at the moment is to maintain a strong army, which is the foundation of everything!

The second is to stabilize the place, digest the fruits of victory, and exchange the main ethnic group with the Ottoman Empire.

Only after this is done, can we have the energy to consider the issues of construction and development!

So, our fiscal deficit in the next few years will not only not shrink, but will even further increase? Ferdinand asked with concern

Constantine said embarrassedly: Yes! It is impossible for us to sell real estate every year. In 1899, our fiscal revenue will return to normal, and the fiscal revenue may be slightly lower than that in 1898!

The government's various investments will continue to increase. The only thing that is likely to be reduced in the next few years is the military expenditure. After local stability, the military expenditure can be reduced by about 30 to 50 million levs.

However, if there is no real estate for sale, all immigration expenses will be borne by the government. Our financial pressure will not be reduced, but will be more serious!

Ferdinand said with emotion: It seems that we still have a few years of hard life! However, from another aspect, our total economic volume has increased by 80% compared with before the war!

If we can develop this new territory, we will gain leaps and bounds. In the next five years, the total industrial volume is expected to catch up with Belgium, and it is expected to catch up with Spain within ten years!

Well, there is no doubt one of Ferdinand's emotions, which has become the development goal of the Bulgarian government in the next ten years, to catch up with Belgium in five years, and catch up with Spain in ten years!

It is not difficult to catch up with Belgium in five years! After all, the total industrial volume of Belgium is not much higher than that of Bulgaria, and the gap between the two sides is less than one-fifth.

However, Spain is different. Where is the size, it is also a second-class power, and its comprehensive national strength is comparable to Italy. Europe ranks second only to the five countries of Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia!

As soon as the Bulgarian government chanted the slogan, it was met with ridicule. Of course, when the Spanish-American War broke out, the result was different. The Spanish Kingdom, which was at the bottom of the great powers, was knocked out of the dust and became a stepping stone!

In any case, the Bulgarians of this era are still confident, especially under the leadership of Ferdinand, they have achieved a series of victories.

The Bulgarian government has more confidence in whether it can accomplish this goal than Ferdinand, and directly blew the bullshit out!

They have reasons for self-confidence. The biggest disadvantage of Bulgaria is that the industrial system is not perfect, but in some fields it has come to the forefront of the world.

For example, steel production exceeds that of Italy + Japan combined. No way, the Italian steel production has always been the lower limit of the foreign powers, as for Japan's steel industry is only now starting.

It also has the largest army arsenal in the world. For the Balkan War, the Bulgarian arsenal has grown like a snowball, and it can indeed be proud of the pack in terms of production capacity!

Even if you are the strongest, this will be embarrassing. At most, it can be called the strongest cottage factory. Only Ferdinand can do the arsenal developed with cottage as the core idea!

The tug-of-war between the Greeks and the Ottoman Empire was over when Ferdinand ambitiously shouted, Dare to surpass Belgium in five years, and catch up with Spain in ten years.

The Greek government lost most of its homeland, and as time went on, the pressure on the government increased; and the Ottoman Empire was not in a good situation. Affected by the Balkan War, domestic revolutionism prevailed, and troops continued to be repressed.

Since both sides were having a hard time, the Greek government and the Ottoman Empire naturally compromised and each gave way.

The Ottoman Empire gave up its claim for ceding land and withdrew its troops directly from the Greek peninsula. The Greek government paid the Ottoman Empire the cost of purchasing Crete, a total of 10 million pounds.

Everyone knows that the Greeks have no money now, let alone 10 million pounds, even if it is a million pounds, they can't come up with it!

And even if they wanted to borrow money, they couldn't get enough collateral, so the two sides made a compromise and let the Greek government pay in installments.

At the strong request of George I, the Greeks paid 10,000 pounds to the Ottoman symbols in the first year, and then it was gone!

No way, everyone knows the financial situation of Greece. Their currency, the drachma, is now almost a waste of paper. It is really out of money, and the Sudanese government can only admit disaster.

We can only take a step back. The two parties agreed to repay 500,000 pounds a year, and the principal and interest will be shared for 30 years in Fuqing, and the first year will be ignored.

After reaching an agreement. George I didn't have time to be happy for long when he found out what kind of mess he had taken over!

This time it really sucks! In the Greek-Turkish War, the Greek army of 200,000 troops was almost wiped out, and the direct death toll exceeded 60,000.

At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of prisoners who fell into the hands of the Ottomans will naturally not have any good results. Especially the wounded. After a few months, nearly 20,000 people have been reduced, and those who survived have become skin and bones. Without a year and a half of recuperation, don't even think about recovering!

In addition, the Ottoman army is rampant in the Greek peninsula, and now the Greek peninsula is hungry and wailing.

The loss of civilians alone is no less than 200,000, and the number of Greeks has dropped to less than 2 million again, but the population of Greece has increased by 600,000!

George I said that Greece was short of people, but he was definitely not short of mischief. From the defeat to the present, he has been assassinated twice and suppressed five rebellions!

So when the locals and the outsiders clashed, George I keenly found an opportunity to get rid of the political crisis and resolutely sided with the locals.

Taking advantage of the racial conflict, George I once again won the recognition of the Greek people and successfully retained the throne. At the same time, it further caused chaos in the Greek peninsula!

The foreign population entering Greece lost its restraints after the withdrawal of the Ottoman army. And Edhe Pasha, who hated Greece, did not forget to bury the nails for the Greeks before leaving.

Deliberately leaving a large amount of weapons and equipment in the refugee camps, when the refugees take up arms, they often become mob instead of a revolution!

In order to survive, they targeted the locals, initially trying to snatch each other's food, and then slowly others began to snatch property, and when they encountered resistance, they raised their butcher knives.

In order to keep his throne, after the incident, King George I not only did not stop the situation from deteriorating immediately, but instead led public opinion to amplify the incident.

Then, when the Greeks were worried about their lives, George I stood up, organized the army to suppress the rebellion, and aimed at all the foreign nations.

This can't be blamed for George I's ruthlessness. The actual situation forced him to do so. With the current poor finances of the Greek government, there is simply no way to accommodate these uninvited guests!

Not to mention now, even before the Greek-Turkish war, there was no way to provide hundreds of thousands of jobs in Greece.

Since there is no way to digest it, of course it can only be destroyed. This time, George I decided to learn from the successful experience of Nicholas I, and throw all the foreign nations he captured into the prisoner-of-war camps, adding to the construction of the Greek government.

However, when George I started, these refugees had long been scattered in the Greek peninsula. Since they could not be caught all at once, the other party would naturally resist.