Bulgarian Empire

Time flies by, and it entered 1914 in a flash. The arms race is still in full swing, and countries are scrambling to make dumplings first.

There is no doubt that the top spot is still the British Empire, which stabilizes the world with its powerful shipbuilding industry.

The Germans, who followed closely behind, did not give in too much, and set a record of launching 100 warships in one year, which amazed the whole world!

In the context of the arms race, the news that Bulgaria had completed the "Three Five-Year Plan" was covered up. Ferdinand, who has always been low-key, naturally has no intention of publicizing it, and making a fortune in silence is the kingly way.

Of course, this is impossible. The eyes of ordinary people have been attracted, but politicians from various countries have expressed their concern, but that's all!

Many people are still waiting to see the jokes of Bulgaria. If it is simply to increase industrial production capacity, the British Empire can overtake Germany and the United States at any time if they want to. The problem is what to do with the produced industrial products?

The problem of overproduction has seriously plagued the United States and Germany for a long time. A new round of economic crisis will break out if it is not handled properly. Can Bulgaria be an exception?

Fortunately, Ferdinand suppressed the development of the financial industry, otherwise the Bulgarian stock exchange market would have gone crazy by now.

But the price paid was also serious. In terms of economic aggregate, due to the absence of the stock market, by the end of 1913, Bulgaria was only on par with the Italians. You must know that Italy is only half of Italy now, and the economic gap between the north and the south is huge!

According to the forecasts of economists, if Bulgaria opens its financial market, its domestic economic aggregate will immediately achieve a leapfrog development. It is not a dream to double its fiscal revenue within three years, and it is just around the corner to surpass the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Then there is no more, the bubble-like economic aggregate, although it can increase fiscal revenue and facilitate shearing, it cannot increase the war potential!

Besides, Ferdinand still wants to explode the population? In his opinion, it is far more reliable to spend the dividends brought about by Bulgaria's economic development on the new population than to spend on the illusory stock market to create a group of rich people!

By the end of 1913, Bulgaria's total annual steel production had reached 3.486 million tons, which was far from the target of 3.5 million tons. After rounding, it is no problem to announce the completion of the plan now.

Compared with steel production, coal production has developed by leaps and bounds. With the development of the economy, the demand for coal is also increasing day by day, and where there is demand, there is a driving force for mining.

Kosovo has become the largest coal production base in Bulgaria. In 1913, the coal production in Kosovo alone exceeded 16 million tons, and the national coal production exceeded 33 million tons!

Not to mention ship production, the original goal was low, and apart from the Black Sea route and the Mediterranean route, Bulgaria is still rarely involved in ocean shipping, and it can basically meet its own needs.

By the end of 1913, the total tonnage of Bulgaria's ships had suddenly increased by 820,000 tons, of which the tonnage of warships accounted for a quarter.

...

Of course, these data cannot be compared with top powers, but Bulgaria is not without advantageous industries, at least it has reached the forefront of the world in automobile production and aircraft production.

If Ferdinand had a thicker skin, he could declare Bulgaria the world's number one air force power! Whether it is the performance or quantity of the aircraft, as well as the number of pilots and crew members in reserve, they all temporarily rank first in the world!

As for how long this advantage can be maintained, no one knows. Anyway, when the world war breaks out, all kinds of military technology will explode!

However, Ferdinand is still very confident that the development of any technology is inseparable from talents. Since the aircraft is just in its infancy, most of the people who promote the development of aircraft technology are hobbyists. Except for Bulgaria, almost no countries have government funding.

In this context, Ferdinand naturally brandished a hoe and dug people all over the world. There is not enough professional and technical personnel reserves, and want to promote the development of aircraft technology,

One can imagine the difficulty!

...

While Ferdinand was celebrating the successful completion of the "3rd Five-Year Plan", a shocking news came.

"Your Majesty, we are in trouble. Since the first half of this year, most of our enterprises have experienced a backlog of products. If this continues, the economic crisis may erupt!" Economic Minister Nicolas Cage said worriedly

"What's going on specifically? Is it all industries, or individual industries?" Ferdinand asked with concern

Economic Minister Nicolas Cage thought for a while and said: "Almost all industries have more or less overcapacity, especially in the light industry, where the product backlog is even more serious!"

Ferdinand was surprised. It stands to reason that we moved a large number of Greeks to Syria and introduced a large number of laborers in Russia. Coupled with our rapidly growing population, we should be able to consume a large amount of light industrial products. How could the problem be more serious? Is it light industry?

Ferdinand continued to ask: "Have you found the reason? Is the market shrinking, or is our production capacity increasing?"

Nicolas Cage explained: "Your Majesty, the main reason is that our production capacity has increased. Although the local market has also expanded, this speed is far behind the growth rate of our industrial production capacity!

In addition, after the domestic situation in Russia has stabilized, their industries have also begun to recover, and they are beginning to snatch our market, but this is not the main factor!

More importantly, a large number of German products have recently appeared in European markets, and the Germans have also lowered their prices. It is estimated that even their production costs are not enough. These cheap products have robbed us of our European market. "

The word "dumping" suddenly appeared in Ferdinand's mind, and he couldn't get it out of his mind. Obviously, the Germans are having a hard time now!

Bulgaria, as a big counterfeit country, is famous for its cheap products, and its products still have a place in European countries. Now that the prices of German products have also been reduced, the impact on Bulgarian industrial and commercial products will naturally be even greater.

Heavy industry is less affected, mainly because Bulgaria's current export products are mainly light industry. In the field of heavy industry, except for a small amount of machinery that can be sold to the Russians, most of them are self-produced and sold.

Other products such as steel and coal are consumed by themselves. Ships cannot be sold in foreign markets except for the domestic market.

Ferdinand asked cautiously: "This situation is only happening to us, or is it happening in other countries?"

Nicolas Cage said without hesitation: "This time, all European countries should not be spared. No one can be immune to the German dumping!"

Ferdinand sighed slightly, and after some hesitation, he said harshly: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact Britain, France, and Russia, and let us all raise tariffs on imported German goods together!"

"Your Majesty, it is not difficult to increase the tariffs on the Germans, but it may cause unpredictable consequences!" Foreign Minister Megev said hesitantly

The dumping by the Germans will definitely damage the interests of capitalists from various countries. It is not difficult to promote a restrictive bill, but the consequences of doing so will be very serious!

It is obvious that the German economy has problems now. If even the overseas market is lost, the German business community will have only one way to go, and support Wilhelm II to break the current world order!

You know it, but the actions of the Germans have affected the interests of Bulgaria, and Ferdinand had to take action.

In his opinion, a world war is going to break out anyway, and the impact of the outbreak one day earlier and one day later is not very big for Bulgaria!

"So, now we are ready for war, the Germans have no choice!" Ferdinand said lightly

The world market is only so big in total, if you get more, naturally I can only get less. With the rise of Bulgaria, it naturally got a share, and this share happened to be the last straw that broke the camel's back!