Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 61, Planting Grapes

"Your Majesty, the British have sent us an invitation, and they plan to hold a Naval Armaments Conference in London in May to limit the ongoing arms race around the world!" Foreign Secretary Metev said.

Ferdinand asked in confusion: "The world naval arms race? When did this happen, why don't I know? Could it be that a new round of arms race has started again?"

Metev thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, the Japanese government is doing something in the Far East, and the British should be going for them this time!"

Thinking of the Japanese, Ferdinand shook his head. How could he forget them? With the poor economic situation in their country, it is not surprising to embark on this road.

But even if you want to dare to do things, you have to look at the limelight, right? The British just settled the colonial issue and sent it to their door. Do you really think the world hegemon is a soft persimmon?

Well, now the Japanese government is also very aggrieved, they are indeed preparing to do things. But the problem was that before he could do anything, the British slapped a sap on finances, making him dizzy. Haven't reacted yet, this London meeting has come again.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can do it. This time we are going to make soy sauce. As for the issue of limiting the tonnage of the navy, this is a good negotiation, as long as it is in line with our international status!" Ferdinand said.

Metev replied immediately: "Yes!"

In my heart, I was thinking about what tricks the British would play this time. Now that the Royal Navy is the dominant family, it stands to reason that there is no need for them to hold this meeting unless they have other plans.

In Paris, the French government is also worried about the British meeting this time. Since the world has been at peace, there has never been an enemy against the British Empire.

The pressure on France is also great. For no other reason, who told them to get close? The British's home fleet went there, and the French felt military pressure.

Now the main force of the British navy,

It is mainly divided into three waves, the local fleet, the Far East fleet, and the Mediterranean fleet. The three fleets can just suppress the three countries of Bao, France, and Japan at the same time.

Ferdinand didn't feel the military pressure, mainly because Sofia was too far from the sea, and as a land-power country, the Royal Navy couldn't scare him at all.

Besides, the Mediterranean Sea is not big. If he really wants to go to work, he is not afraid of the British. If the navy cannot win, can the army and air force also win?

Even if the UK wants to block Bulgaria, it can't do it. The big deal is to block the coastline with the air force, directly seize the Suez Canal, and kill the African continent.

The premise is that Bulgaria's ten-year plan has been completed. Only by connecting the Eurasian continents through railways and highways can they be invincible!

Bulgaria is getting bigger, how could the British not know? It's just that they are not idle either. As long as they digest the three North American countries, their world hegemon will be as stable as Mount Tai.

With the end of the United States, the proportion of industries in the world has also undergone earth-shattering changes. The British Empire once again won the first place in the world, accounting for 34.8% of the global industrial total.

Bulgaria followed with 11.8%; the Germans were hit hard by the World War with 9.1%; the French followed with 8.7%; Austria-Hungary accounted for 5.8%; the Great Lakes Kingdom accounted for the Commonwealth Kingdom 4.1%; the Kingdom of the South Pacific (mainly California) 3.8%; the United Kingdom of Germany and Russia 3.3%; the Kingdom of South America 3.0%, Japan 2.3%; Italy 1.4%…

This data does not mean that everyone's industry has suddenly increased, but that the total industrial volume of the world has been weakened. Europe and the Americas have been baptized by war at the same time. Now the total industrial volume of the world has fallen back to the level of 1900.

If you split the three North American countries, you will be surprised to find that even if the United States is split, half of the top ten industrial powers in the world are split from them, which is enough to see their wealth.

The world was caught up in the upcoming London conference, and Ferdinand was still busy farming.

Just now, he inspected the Rose Industrial Park again. Now it is no longer the original scale. From production to processing to final sales, there are more than 300 people working in this industrial production line throughout Bulgaria.

The products have also expanded from the original rose essential oil, rose wine, rose drink, and rose perfume to hundreds of brands, including medicines, food, cosmetics, health products, drinking products, skin care products...

Well, the most profitable thing here is no longer rose essential oil, medicines and cosmetics are the most profitable, followed by drinking products.

What surprised Ferdinand was that the health care product market was sluggish, not only rose health care products were not well sold, but other health care products were also not well sold. It seems that people are not used to using these things in this era.

Of course, this is all a small problem. It is not worth Ferdinand's concern whether a small product will sell well or not. It was only after he accidentally discovered a rosé wine that he suddenly remembered that wine seems to be one of the important industries in the Balkans. .

In later generations, the wine industry in the Balkan Peninsula declined due to the war, with an annual output of 450 million liters, ranking second in the world after France, and the development potential is huge.

In terms of natural conditions, from Herzegovina in Bosnia in the west to Macedonia in the east, the Balkans have hot and dry summers, plenty of sunshine, and the rocky slopes all over the place are ideal for growing grapes.

Anyway, these places are not suitable for growing food. Most of them are panicked, and they are used as waste to open up vineyards.

Ferdinand does not need to produce as much a year as later generations, as long as he can produce two or three hundred million liters a year to meet the needs of the domestic market.

As for the issue of opening up the international market, let's wait until the people all over the world get rich. At most, we can sell a small amount in Europe, and we have to face competition from the French. This market is still very small.

Compared with the so-called industrial plan, the establishment of vineyards is really not worth mentioning. 21 In fact, when the world's first wine producing area started, the total wine output value of France was only more than three billion US dollars.

However, it is not just about the output value. Ferdinand has always attached great importance to the development of agricultural products, which will help improve the living standards of the majority of Bulgarian people.

Of course, this is a lie. The real purpose is very simple, which is to increase the income of the peasant class and consolidate the loyalty of this class to the king!

Any industry, as long as a complete industrial chain is established, can bring a lot of employment to the society. It is still too early to build a wine industrial park, at least to plant grapes first.

As for the production technology, don't worry at all. As a big noble, how can you not have your own wine estate?

When he was still in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ferdinand sold the excess production of his own wine estate to the market. Now there are no technical problems to build a large-scale winery.

It’s just that the high-end wines were produced back then, but now they are mid-to-low-end wines. After all, the high-end wine market is very limited. The European nobles in this era basically have their own wineries and will not buy them.

The big capitalists are also following the example, spending a little money to build a wine estate, and it is not difficult, a manor with an annual output of several thousand liters of wine, a mere tens of thousands of levs can be done.

Do what you want, Ferdinand said directly: "Linka, go and call Karl over!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" said the maid Linka.

...

After making an appointment for a cup of tea, Butler Carl ran in, greeted Ferdinand, and asked, "Your Majesty, what are your orders?"

Ferdinand said directly: "Find someone to do a market research on wine, and count the production, origin and quality of Bulgarian wine at the same time!"

"Yes!"

Butler Carl replied, and then asked: "Your Majesty, are you going to surrender wine?"

Ferdinand nodded and said: "I have this idea. I found that many places in the Balkans are suitable for growing grapes, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Greece, which are all suitable for developing the wine industry.

Whether you want to do it or not, you will finally have to wait for your investigation report to come out and then decide! "

Ferdinand is not a second-year-old. He can do whatever he thinks of. No matter how good the prospects of wine are, it is only a prospect. How big is the current market and how big is the domestic wine production? These are all factors that must be considered. .

Blind investment, planting a bunch of grapes, and finally selling raisins is a tragedy. You must know that Portugal's profits are much higher than raisins.

Oh, of course, you can also sell fresh grapes, but this business is estimated to be able to pay people to death. How many hundred million kilograms of grapes can be sold?

It seems that there are also grape drinks in later generations. Unfortunately, Europeans do not like it. Later French people have not made a name for it. Everyone's favorite drink is wine.

Before Ferdinand could come up with the result, Foreign Minister Metev had arrived.

"Your Majesty, something has happened in Russia. Under the suppression of the tsarist government, the Moscow government ran away directly. Now they have also given up the territory of the Moscow generation and went directly to Siberia!

And also occupied Nikolaevsk (Novosibirsk), and now Nicholas II's main army has been transferred to the battlefield, and they never thought they would run. Now there are not many troops in Siberia at all, I'm afraid it will soon be will fall into the hands of the Moscow government! "

Ferdinand was speechless. He clearly had an advantage. Now his strategy is passive again. The road to Russian unification is doomed to twists and turns.

It is wise for the Moscow government to jump out of the two tsarist governments. As long as they can occupy the vast Siberia area, it will be difficult for Nicholas II to destroy them.

Perhaps Nicholas II is still celebrating the recapture of Moscow, and he will cry in the future.

Before the Moscow government left, they were sandwiched between the two tsars. The territory they controlled was only 200,000 to 300,000 kilometers, and the population was only five or six million. There was no room for development at all.

But it's different now. Siberia has a population of 20 to 30 million people. Once it is integrated, it will be a qualitative change.

But now that the two tsarist governments are fighting together, Nicholas II simply does not have enough troops to eliminate this threat!

Even if there is, it is estimated that he will not pay attention to it, otherwise the Moscow government of sandwich biscuits will be finished long ago. You must know that they did not have a decent army at the beginning, but after a few years of fighting, they established a regular army.

After thinking about it, Ferdinand smiled again. If Nicholas II unified the country so easily, then Bulgaria's role would not be much.

This is just right now, the strength in the hands of little Nicholas is not weak, and there is the support of the British behind the scenes, Nicholas II wants to kill him, it is impossible to do it without two or three years.

For such a long time, the Moscow government has already grown bigger. After integrating Siberia, the two sides are estimated to be anxious again against the exhausted Nicholas II.

As for the failure of Nicholas II, that is impossible. Ferdinand will not tolerate the Moscow government's unification of Russia, and no country in Europe will allow such a thing to happen.

Even if Nicholas II couldn't hold on, Ferdinand would unite with Britain and France to support and eat him under the banner of the League of Nations. For example, if they stopped the war, they would directly split the Russian Empire!

After the lessons of the Americans, no one dares to ignore the attitude of the League of Nations. For example, when the decision of the League of Nations came out in Japan, they shouted so loudly that they finally handed over Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. What?

The worst thing to do is for Bulgaria to go into battle in person and pull sideways. Ferdinand estimates that the situation will not deteriorate to that point. The tiger skin of the League of Nations is still deterring many people.

Only the three leaders of Britain, France and the United Kingdom know that this alliance is essentially empty, and the contradictions between countries are not small. It is difficult to get everyone to unite again.

Unless there is another one who is outraged by the public and can make the European people want to kill them, and under the influence of public opinion, everyone can unite again.

Some people may have seen through this issue, but no one dares to bet!

After all, on the bright side, the three countries of Britain, France, and Bulgaria have always appeared as allies. Under the principle of the same stance of the great powers, who can resist this pressure?

After thinking for a while, Ferdinand said slowly: "Pay close attention to the situation in Russia. For the time being, we should not join in, unless Nicholas II really can't stand it anymore and ask us for help!"

Metev thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this situation will not happen!

With the current situation in Russia, how do you think Nicholas II will eventually unite the country, unless foreign forces directly intervene in the Russian Civil War! "

Ferdinand thought for a while and said, "It's impossible to intervene directly! Who knows if the British will do it?

The most important thing is the Moscow government, which went to Siberia. It is estimated that the tsar's local rule will be subverted soon. Their organizational ability should not be underestimated! "

Metev nodded, and he had to admit that, as sandwich biscuits, among the two tsarist governments, it was very surprising that they could last so long.

Perhaps the only people who have suffered is the people around Moscow. After a few years of war, there are only a group of old, weak, sick and disabled. From the more than 6 million people at the peak of the battle, to now, there are only more than 100 old and weak people left. .

These have all become a burden for Nicholas II, the little father of the Russian people. Whether he wants it or not, he must continue, even if many people here have been brainwashed and hated him.

Most people still "eat the pot pulp to welcome the king". No, there is only water left in the pot now, just wait for the rice to cook!

The local economy has long since collapsed due to the long-term war, and the food production has not been able to make ends meet.

For them, the arrival of Nicholas II's army is the arrival of meal tickets, and everyone is not stupid!

As long as you shout a few slogans and support the great His Majesty Nicholas II, even for the sake of face, for his own reputation, and to show the justice of his war, Nicholas II has to carry out disaster relief!

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