Bulgarian Empire

Nicholas I knew very well that if he wanted to establish the United Kingdom of Hesse, it was not enough to rely on Mente Negro's strength. He had to find strong supporters!

After Bulgaria fell to Russia in 1891, the advantages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Balkans no longer exist.

Especially after the Balkan War broke out, the Ottoman Empire was expelled from the Balkans, the pro-Russian Bulgaria and Mentenegro both gained strength, and the pro-German and Austrian Greeks were weakened!

In this context, the best way for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to ensure its interests in the Balkans is to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia!

The Vienna government believes that when the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly borders Bulgaria, it has every opportunity to force Bulgaria to rebel through diplomatic means!

Constantinople is the biggest contradiction between Bulgaria and Russia. As long as there is the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I am not afraid that Bulgaria will not take the bait!

The benefits of the Bosphorus are too great. If it weren't for the fact that Germany will develop too fast in the future, it will force the British to end in person and join the Allied Powers, Ferdinand will have to be tempted. This is a naked conspiracy!

Now Nicholas I, regardless of the fact that the front line is still fighting with the Ottomans, gritted his teeth from their few weapons and equipment, and took out a part of them to support the Serbian Revolutionary Army.

The Prime Minister said embarrassingly: "Grand Duke, the Serbs now need too many supplies, our reserves are not enough, and the front lines are not enough to support them. It is really unsustainable to support them again!"

Nicholas I gritted his teeth and said: "No matter how difficult it is, we can't give up. The Revolutionary Army has swept through most of Serbia. Now they are in urgent need of supplies. Without our support, this uprising will soon be destroyed. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is extinguished!

Once this uprising fails, we will never have a chance to stop Austria-Hungary from annexing Serbia! In fact, even with our support, they have little chance of victory!

Now we can only hope that the Serbs will make trouble and make the Vienna government feel that it is not worthwhile to rule directly, and then it is possible to gain independence again!

Then merge with us and combine the power of the two countries to survive in the Balkans! "

The Prime Minister smiled bitterly and said: "Unfortunately, Mente Negro is too weak, otherwise we can annex Albania this time and we won't be so passive!"

Nicholas I nodded in agreement. After thinking about it, he asked, "What is the attitude of the Russians? Do they support our actions in Serbia?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs said with embarrassment: "Your Excellency, the attention of the St. Petersburg government is now focused on Constantinople. They want us to exercise restraint.

Secretly supporting the Serbs is fine, if we send troops directly, all the consequences will be borne by ourselves! "

Nicholas I's face sank, and he said firmly: "No matter how bad the situation is, we can't give up!

What about the Bulgarians? What is their attitude? We are willing to come out as a buffer zone between them and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They can't also oppose it! "

The Minister of Foreign Affairs replied: "The attitude of the Bulgarians is very contradictory. They both want us to be a buffer zone between them and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and they are worried that Serbia after independence will cause them trouble because of the conflict between the two countries!

However, the Sofia government still agreed to provide us with limited support and can sell us a batch of weapons and ammunition at a low price! "

Nicholas I was overjoyed. The contradictions in Bulgaria are not important. The key is that they are willing to sell weapons. That is good news!

The Minister of War eagerly said: "Oh, what are you waiting for? The Ministry of Finance immediately raised a fund to buy weapons from the Bulgarians! Is it right to sell their new artillery?"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs said with a wry smile: "This issue has not been specifically discussed. It is said that the export of their new artillery requires the approval of Grand Duke Ferdinand himself!"

Nicholas I thought for a while and said, "Well, don't think about it so much. We will buy what they sell. Now is not the time to be picky!

Our top priority is to provide support to the Serbian Revolutionary Army, help them stabilize the situation, and eliminate the remnants of the Ottoman army as soon as possible! "

...

In the Palace of Sofia, Prime Minister Constantine said embarrassingly: "Grand Duke, we sell weapons to Mentenegero, will it cause a backlash in the Austro-Hungarian Empire?"

Ferdinand nodded and said calmly: "Of course it will. These weapons will eventually flow into the hands of the Serbian Revolutionary Army. If the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not respond, they will not be able to hold the title of a great power!

But what does this have to do with us? We sell weapons to our allies. It is only natural and righteous. At this point, diplomatic pressure can be resisted!

Tell the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that it's impossible, and push it on the Russians. They don't care about itchy skin! "

Everyone has become accustomed to the behavior of Ferdinand's teammates. Anyway, Bulgaria is still fighting for the Russians, so it's not a problem to let them back the pot!

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy suddenly said: "Grand Duke, the ongoing war has severely affected Bulgaria's economy. Our maritime import and export trade has now fallen sharply to less than one-third of the same period last year. I am afraid this year's fiscal revenue. Will be greatly affected!

Moreover, the newly occupied areas also need to be rebuilt after the war, which in turn requires a lot of funds. Due to our previous insufficient estimates of the destructiveness of the war, we will face a very serious funding gap in the coming year! "

The Chancellor of the Exchequer didn't say one more thing, mainly because Ferdinand exempted a lot of taxes, and wrote that he lost hundreds of millions of dollars!

In the coming year, the newly-occupied area will basically only have expenditures and no income! This is equivalent to twice as much land as the Bulgarian mainland, and the administrative expenditure required is an astronomical figure.

The war reserve of three billion levs has been spent a lot now, and it will not be enough in the later period!

Ferdinand's good mood suddenly disappeared, and it seems that now as long as the money is mentioned, it is the culprit of the Bulgarian government!

He frowned, then gritted his teeth and said: "Go borrow! Borrow from the French, borrow from the British, borrow from Belgium, borrow from any consortium in Europe!

Now that our plate is so big, UU reading www.uukanshu.com should have a lot of things to mortgage! "

"By the way, mineral resources cannot be pledged! It is related to the core interests of economic development behind us, and we cannot make concessions!"

Ferdinand added that he can’t rest assured. In case he didn’t make it clear, the bureaucratic heads underneath became hot and signed a traitorous treaty, which put all the industrial and commercial products of Western European countries in, and the Bulgarian national bourgeoisie would really die Up!

The Bulgarian bourgeoisie’s small life is not bad, but it has not grown!

In addition to the lack of a sufficient local market, they also have to face the dual oppression of state-owned assets and royal industries. They are almost invisible in important areas related to the national economy and the people's livelihood!

If international capital is introduced again, it is estimated that they will really cool down!

Hearing about the loan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Metzhev's face was overwhelmed. If there is no way for the loan of this era, there must be no good things. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs often has to act as a bearer!

I saw him ask with a wry smile: "Mr. Kennedy, how big is our funding gap?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy thought for a while and said: "The specific figures are still difficult to determine, mainly depending on the cost of the Battle of Constantinople! But as far as the current situation is concerned, our future funding gap is no less than 500 million lev! 1 Lev ≈ 0.29 grams of gold, about 20 million pounds)

Ferdinand’s expression changed. Twenty million pounds is not a small figure. The Beiyang government’s large-scale loans for the aftermath of the aftermath, Yuan Datou can actually get, almost only so much!

Ferdinand only feels the baby's heart is bitter now! After crossing, I have been farming in Bulgaria for ten years. The fiscal revenue has only tripled compared with the same period in history, and the debt has increased four or five times, and now it will continue to grow!

It can be imagined that for a long time in the future, he will have to live a life of hard debt repayment!

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