"Your Majesty, if a large number of laborers are brought into Russia, I am afraid that this cost will be very huge!" Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy said in embarrassment

Kennedy had no opinion on Ferdinand's recruitment of "mercenaries", and there was already a tradition of using mercenaries in Europe, and there was nothing that everyone could not accept in this regard.

Oh, Ferdinand's idea of finding a woolly bear as cannon fodder was directly understood by them as recruiting "mercenaries". Of course, there is no difference in essence, even if it is cannon fodder for recruitment, Ferdinand still has to pay military salaries, which is nothing more than recruiting "mercenaries".

The only difference is probably that the mercenaries are self-contained, while the cannon fodder troops recruited by Ferdinand are the Bulgarian officers who are responsible for directing them to fight!

In Kennedy's opinion, if Bulgaria could use two or three million "mercenaries", then with the population base of Bulgaria, it could also have the same number of troops as the British and French powers, and it would also occupy a more advantageous position in the distribution of interests after the war!

At the same time, with the massive use of mercenaries, after the outbreak of the war, Bulgaria was able to reduce its mobilization and preserve its domestic industry and food production.

……

Although from the perspective of a single person, the price of importing labor into Russia is not expensive, and the intermediary fee paid is only 250 leva (about 10 pounds), the average travel fee is about 50 leva, and the job placement fee is about 200 leva, all of which add up to the cost of a laborer is only 500 leva.

In any case, the Bulgarian government paid in advance, and later it had to be deducted from their salaries in installments, and there would be no loss. Therefore, Bulgaria had brought in a large number of Russian laborers, and the Ministry of Finance had no pressure.

But now it's different, it was all Bulgaria that was brought in due to a lack of labor, and there are a lot of jobs to place them, and Ferdinand can't get so many jobs at this time!

If there are no jobs, then there will only be artificial jobs, and this expense will be large!

And when the war in Europe broke out, everyone does not know, if it drags on for three or five years, then won't the Bulgarian government have to find a way to feed them for three or five years?

Aside from the sidelines, the upfront intermediary fee alone costs £10 per person, and the intermediary fee for a million people alone is £10 million.

According to Ferdinand's request, how could there be two or three million people in the end? That's two or three million pounds invested alone, and don't expect to pay for itself in the short term!

Ferdinand nodded, this time the number of young people needed was too large, and the time was too tight, which was indeed a challenge for the Bulgarian government's finances.

"In this way, we will issue another phase of construction bonds, in the name of developing the Greek peninsula, to raise funds from the world, and this time the focus of the bond issuance will be on Russia!"

Kennedy thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay, Your Majesty, the Treasury will estimate the funding gap as soon as possible." ”

There is no doubt that Kennedy thought that Ferdinand's focus on selling debt to the Russians was to win over the financial circles and aristocracy in Russia and create a good political environment for the introduction of labor.

Ferdinand knew that he had misunderstood, but he didn't explain it, there were some things he could just know, and there was no need to say it.

"Don't evaluate it, just issue 200 million pounds of bonds directly, with our tariff revenues as a guarantee, and the interest will refer to international standards." Ferdinand said lightly

The figure of "200 million pounds" directly frightened everyone, and now all countries are preparing for war, and a lot of money is consumed on the military, but 200 million pounds, this can create a British Royal Navy! (Ship construction only)

Konstantin hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this figure will not be sold, and countries will think that we are raising military spending, this ......"

Ferdinand smiled slightly and said, "Prime Minister, you are too worried, even if they know, what can they do?" Now that everyone is raising military spending, we just have to do something more obvious!

However, for the sake of convenience, the bonds can also be split for sale, and it is temporarily announced that 50 million pounds is good, but there is no restriction on the actual sales, the more the merrier! ”

Anyway, the world war is about to break out, and Ferdinand is now holding on to making a fortune, of course, the money will still have to be repaid in the future, but the premise is that these creditors are still there!

Needless to say, once the war broke out, the communication between the two sides would naturally be cut off, and by the end of the world war, I don't know how many financial institutions have gone bankrupt, and I don't know how many people's debts have been destroyed in the war!

What's more, the bonds issued in Germany were in marks, and in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were krona, and when the world war ended, the currencies of these countries were almost wasted, and Bulgaria could easily pay off its debts!

It's a pity that the current international situation, the bonds issued by the Bulgarian government, I'm afraid it will be difficult to sell in the Allied market, and Ferdinand missed the opportunity to take advantage of the fire!

Although the Allies can't do it, aren't there still Entente powers?

After the end of the First World War, the franc was greatly devalued, from the pre-war ratio of 1 pound ≈ 25 francs, to 1 pound ≈ 240 francs in 1926.

This is the main reason why Ferdinand borrowed from the French. Now the Bulgarian government owes the French a huge foreign debt of more than 7 billion francs, but by the end of the First World War, this debt will shrink rapidly with the depreciation of the franc!

Oh, in fact, the pound has also depreciated, but the British Empire is supported by South African gold, and the depreciation is not so large!

As for the Russians, not to mention, as soon as the tsarist government collapsed, the ruble would immediately be equal to waste paper, and it would not be too simple to pay off this debt?

It can be said that now is the golden age of borrowing money! Ferdinand was now able to use the borrowed money to reserve strategic supplies and enhance Bulgaria's war potential.

In any case, no matter how high the interest rate of international borrowing is, it cannot compare with inflation. Now the Bulgarian government is heavily indebted, but by the end of the world war, the real value of these debts will probably not be even a tenth of what it was before the war!

……

After discussing the financial issues, Foreign Minister Metev suddenly said: "Your Majesty, the conditions are now ripe for the annexation of the Greek peninsula!" ”

Ferdinand was slightly stunned, and asked reflexively, "Why?" ”

Originally, he had planned to wait for the outbreak of world war before annexing the Greek peninsula. When the time comes, both sides will fight, and naturally they will not be able to take care of the Greek peninsula!

"Your Majesty, there are only four or five hundred thousand Greeks left on the Greek peninsula, and we have more immigrants on the peninsula than the Greeks. Even if we immediately announce the annexation of Greece, the Greeks will not be able to make a big wave!

And diplomatically, we have also obtained the understanding of the Entente countries, and with their support we will not be alone.

The strength of the Central Powers in the Near East is limited, and the only one capable of intervening is Italy, but as long as the Italians are not stupid, they will not go to war for the Greeks and us! ”

Ferdinand pondered for a while, but finally resisted the temptation, shook his head, and said, "No, we have to wait a little longer!" Now let's speed up the immigration in Greece first, and after packing up the Greeks and sending them away, it would be more appropriate for us to annex the Greek peninsula! ”

Anyway, the Greek peninsula is already meat in a Bulgarian bowl, and if you eat it later, you won't run, so what if you eat it hot now?

……