Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Thinking back to 20 years ago, the Franco-Prussian War caused economic losses of more than 20 billion francs to France, and the war reparations had to pay more than 5 billion francs.

The Germans' attempt to use the war reparations to drag over France was over as soon as it started!

After the war, a bourgeois revolution broke out in France. After a fierce battle, there are still people who can come up with enough funds to restore their vitality, and you can see the heritage of the old empire.

Ferdinand set his sights on France, the main reason is that after the Franco-Prussian War, the newly established French Republic went further and further on the road of usury empire!

The second is the existence of the Russia-Belgium and the Franco-Russian alliance. Bulgaria has always been tacitly regarded as Russia's sphere of influence internationally. Even if France puts forward conditions, it will mostly be within the economic scope, and it is unlikely to destroy the French-Russian relationship for a Bulgaria!

At the end of the 19th century, when the Franco-Russian alliance was established, the French demanded far more from the Russians than the Russians demanded of the French. Therefore, in the international arena, many times the French have to take into account the attitude of Russia!

Before 1905, the Russian Empire had been in its heyday, the Franco-Russian alliance had suppressed the Triple Alliance, and the British had always been in favor of the Germans.

Until the Russo-Japanese War, the weak nature of the Russian Empire was exposed, and the strengths of the two sides were reversed. In order to suppress the rising Germans, the British's continental balance foreign policy changed and they joined the Entente.

Ferdinand also knew that even so, borrowing money from France is not so simple! The French do not open charity halls, and additional conditions are absolutely indispensable!

"What is the government's fiscal gap for the next three years now?" Ferdinand asked.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy's expression changed, and he wanted to say, "Your Majesty, you are playing your cards against common sense!" Under normal circumstances, shouldn't we ask what the current fiscal gap is?

Kennedy thought about it for a moment, then said hesitantly, "Grand Duke, the fiscal deficit this year will be around 50 million leva, and the budget deficit for next year and the year after is initially estimated to be between 150 million leva and 200 million leva. Between Eph!

These are all built behind the government, no new construction projects, and no war! "

Ferdinand nodded. In fact, the period of the "Second Five-Year Plan" was the most difficult period for Bulgaria's finances. Once this pass was passed, the government's fiscal revenue would experience explosive growth!

What's more, there was another "War on the Sierra Leone", which increased the cost of the war, and expanded the scope of the implementation of the "Second Five-Year Plan". Naturally, the financial expenditure will rise rapidly!

If you take into account that the "Greece-Turkish War" is coming, and Ferdinand wants to swallow an elephant again, then the cost of the war is definitely an astronomical figure!

After thinking about it, Ferdinand asked, "Then if, during this period, we had a war with the Ottoman Empire, and taking the war expenses into account, how big is our financial gap?"

Everyone's face changed slightly, they knew that Ferdinand was planning to go to war with the Ottoman Empire. Seeing that the Chancellor of the Exchequer stayed there with a dumbfounded expression, Ferdinand knew that he had made a blunder!

Even if you want to calculate the war expenses, you must first find the military and calculate it according to a series of comprehensive factors such as the strategic plan, the scale of the war, the number of mobilized people, etc.!

It is too embarrassing to ask the Ministry of Finance to calculate the cost of the war without knowing anything, and even if the scale of the war is a local conflict or a full-scale war has not yet been determined.

Ferdinand laughed and added: "Of course, I'm not asking you to tell me now, come down and contact the Ministry of Finance and the General Staff, estimate a rough figure, and report it to me!

In addition, the Prime Minister's government will now prepare strategic material reserves in advance. We must ensure that in the event of an emergency, we can support an army of 300,000 people.

A strategic reserve that continues to fight for more than a year! "

Constantine was stunned for a moment, but he immediately reacted and said hesitantly: "Grand Duke~ I'm afraid this will be difficult! We have already started the preparations for combat, but now the government is in financial difficulties, we still lack sufficient funds!"

Well, the final difficulty comes back to the word "money"! In fact, without making a detailed budget, Ferdinand can roughly judge the next funding gap in Bulgaria. To detonate the Balkan War in advance, and ensure victory, and take into account domestic construction, it is impossible to fight without four or five billion levs!

After thinking about it, Ferdinand said without doubt: "In this case, the Ministry of Finance and the banking group of various countries will contact and discuss the borrowing conditions. This time the funding gap is too large, so prepare to borrow from various countries!"

Ferdinand's emperor's mind has become more and more powerful, and now he can send and receive freely and hide his thoughts at will.

Even though it has been decided to take out a loan from France, there is still no sign of inclination.

As the Prime Minister, Constantine felt the most obvious. He had clearly found that Ferdinand's power was getting stronger and stronger. In many cases, once a decision was made, no one could change it.

This is both good and bad!

The good aspects can increase the awe of the subordinates, and the bad aspects are easy to be used by yourself, which is also a common problem of emperors!

No one can say what the final result will be. Anyway, Ferdinand's order was quickly carried out.

Since the Berlin Conference in 1878, the Balkan countries have set their sights on parts of the Ottoman Empire in Europe.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire took the lead in including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia have extended their tentacles into the Macedonia region, and the governments of the three countries are all expanding their schools and churches.

In this regard, Bulgaria has come to the forefront. Since the end of the 19th century, 25% of the Bulgarian government's fiscal revenue has been used to carry out work in the Macedonia region.

In 1885, 306 schools were established in Macedonia; in 1890, the number increased to 871. By the end of 1890, Serbia and Greece had only more than 200 schools each, and were left far behind by the Bulgarians.

At the same time, the three countries of Baotou, Greece, and Cyprus all fought fiercely for the schools and churches they founded. Such church schools are usually organized by consuls of the three countries and accept their supervision!

During this period, the Serbs began to openly promote the idea of ​​Macedonian separatism because of fear of Bulgaria's monopoly on Macedonia.

Serbia is so eager to expand, the main reason is the pressure from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.