The destructiveness of war is inherent, and more than three months after the end of the Balkan War, Ferdinand finally received a concrete report of losses.

Of course, this report only includes the territory of Bulgaria, and the area controlled by the Kingdom of Montenegro is only a rough speculation, and the Greek side has not yet achieved results.

Even so, the damage caused by the war is staggering. In just three months, nearly 200,000 civilian casualties and millions of people have been displaced and left homeless in the Balkans.

The direct economic loss caused is as high as 1 billion leva. Especially in the area of Istanbul, where the Ottomans resisted most fiercely, the losses were even heavier.

Whoever is responsible, this bitter fruit now needs to be swallowed by Ferdinand. The economic level of various places has been regressed by at least 30 years.

This judgment is very objective, after all, during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, the economy of the Balkans has not been very good.

According to the Cabinet's estimates, the Ottoman army's resistance to the relatively weak Kosovo region will not suffer much economic damage, and it will be restored in a year or two.

In the Istanbul area, the economic devastation caused by fierce resistance from the Ottomans was so great that it would take at least five years to recover.

As for Constantinople, it has been reduced to a ruin, and there is no twenty or thirty years not to recover.

Overall, the Bulgarian government will spend most of its energy in the next five years on post-war reconstruction, and most of the government's financial investment will be spent on these new territories.

As for the displacement of nearly a million people, the problem did not require Ferdinand's headache. Anyway, they have already left Bulgaria, and they are just making room for immigrants.

After reading the report, Ferdinand thought for a while and said: "These situations are even more serious than we estimated before, what specific plans does the cabinet have to restore the economy and stabilize people's livelihood as soon as possible?" ”

Konstantin was somewhat embarrassed: "After all things considered, we have to resettle millions of immigrants in the next few years, so we have to create a lot of jobs."

The Cabinet plans to continue to increase financial input in the new round of the Third Five-Year Plan, with a focus on our new territories. The main focus is on railways, mining, municipal infrastructure, and in agriculture, water conservancy projects.

In 1898, however, the government's revenues were expected to reach about 510 million leva, of which 307 million could be contributed by the former Bulgarian region, and another 145 million leva was the proceeds from the sale of land and the confiscation of lev's real estate by the nobility, and the new territory contributed less than 58 million leva.

However, in terms of fiscal spending, it has risen sharply, reaching a staggering 680 million leva, and the fiscal deficit is as high as 170 million leva, which is already above the safety line.

The increase in expenditures consisted mainly of a twofold increase in administrative expenses to 120 million leva, a doubling of education expenditures to 80 million leva and a 50 per cent increase in health expenditures to 21 million leva.

The rest is mainly government investment, including: investment in railway construction, which is expected to be around 80 million leva; municipal renovation and post-war reconstruction, which is expected to invest around 75 million leva; There is also the construction of water conservancy projects and the promotion of new agricultural technologies, which will be invested in the area of about 60 million levas......"

After listening to Konstantin's introduction, Ferdinand thought for a while and found that there was nothing wrong. These cost ratios are determined according to the actual situation, and there is no blind pursuit of results.

Just like the administrative expenses that are growing the fastest, this is a top priority, and the ruling order of the new territories must be established, right? You can't save this expense at all!

The second is education, which is obviously for brainwashing, and it has always been a long-term project, which cannot be completed in the short term, and the urgency is slightly lower.

As for the construction investment in the back, this figure is really not large, and Bulgaria's investment in the "Second Five-Year Plan" exceeded this figure. But now that the finances are in trouble, we can only take our time.

"I remember that there were a lot of real estate, including land, and if the government operated them, it would be a lot of revenue, so could it cover most of the deficit?" Ferdinand asked, confused

Konstantin said bitterly: "Considering the complexity of the situation in the Balkans, our military spending in the future can only be increased, not reduced.

In order to ensure a stable supply of military spending, the government decided to allocate all the proceeds of the confiscated land, except for the meritorious officers and soldiers who had already been rewarded and sold, and all the proceeds of the remaining 5 million hectares of land!

The Ministry of Finance has already made detailed calculations in this regard. In 1897, as a result of the Balkan wars, our military expenditures actually exceeded 700 million leva.

In 1895, the military expenditure of our army totaled 147 million leva, and in 1896 this figure was expanded to 280 million leva, of course, mainly for war readiness!

In the coming year, the army will also need to carry out a large-scale crackdown on bandits and suppress local stubborn forces. In addition, our national borders have also grown significantly, and the pressure on national defense has increased.

As a result, military spending will also be on the high side, which is expected to increase to 360 million leva, of which the army accounts for 94 percent and the navy accounts for 6 percent.

In addition to the 120 million leva allocated by the government, most of the remaining part of the expenditure is borne by land revenues and profits paid by supporting state-owned enterprises.

As for the confiscated other immovable property, the proceeds of this part of the property must be used to cover the cost of immigration, otherwise the 40 million leva allocated by the government alone will not be enough at all! ”

Ferdinand nodded with satisfaction, the Bulgarian government still adhered to his usual style, first listed the most important part, prioritized satisfaction, and then went to other things.

There is no doubt that the most important thing in Bulgaria at the moment is to maintain a strong army, which is the root of everything!

The second is to stabilize the place, digest the fruits of victory, and exchange the main nation with the Ottoman Empire.

Only after we have done all this can we have the energy to consider the issue of construction and development!

"So, instead of narrowing, our fiscal deficit will increase further in the next few years?" Ferdinand asked with concern

Konstantin was embarrassed and said: "Yes! It is not possible for us to sell real estate every year, and in 1899 our revenues will return to normal, and they may be slightly lower than they were in 1898!

The government's investment will continue to increase, and the most likely reduction in the next few years is probably only military spending, which can be reduced by about 30 to 50 million leva after local stability.

However, without the sale of real estate, the cost of immigration will be borne by the government, and our financial pressure will not be reduced, but will be more serious! ”

Ferdinand said with emotion: "It seems that we have a few more years to live!" On the other hand, however, our economy has increased by 80 percent compared to before the war!

If we can develop this new territory, we will develop by leaps and bounds. In the next five years, the total industrial volume is expected to catch up with Belgium, and it is expected to catch up with Spain within ten years! ”

Well, Ferdinand's undoubted emotion has become the Bulgarian government's development goal for the next ten years, "catching up with Belgium in five years and catching up with Spain in ten years"!

It's not difficult to catch up with Belgium in five years! After all, Belgium's total industrial output is not much higher than that of Bulgaria, and the gap between the two sides is less than one-fifth.

However, Spain is different, where is the volume, it is also a second-class power, and its comprehensive national strength is comparable to Italy, and the European ranking is only the five countries of Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia!

As soon as the Bulgarian government shouted the slogan, it provoked a burst of ridicule. Of course, as soon as the Spanish-American War broke out, the result was different, and the Kingdom of Spain, which was at the bottom of the great powers, was knocked to the dust and made a stepping stone!

In any case, the Bulgarians of this era are still full of self-confidence, especially under the leadership of Ferdinand, who have achieved a series of victories.

The Bulgarian government, with more confidence in whether it can accomplish this goal, than Ferdinand, blew it out!

They have reason to be confident that Bulgaria's biggest weakness is the imperfection of its industrial system, but in some areas it is still at the forefront of the world.

For example, the production of steel exceeds that of Italy + Japan combined. No way, the Italians have always been the lower limit of the great powers, and the Japanese steel industry is only now in its infancy.

It also has the world's largest army arsenal, and for the Balkan War, the Bulgarian arsenal has snowballed, and it can indeed be proud of itself in terms of production capacity!

Even if it is the strongest, this will be a shame, at most it can be called the strongest "cottage factory", and only Ferdinand can do the arsenal developed with the core idea of "cottage"!

When Ferdinand ambitiously shouted "dare to surpass Belgium in five years, catch up with Spain in ten years", the tug-of-war between the Greeks and the Ottoman Empire also ended.

The Greek government has lost most of its homeland, and as time goes on, the pressure on the government has increased; And the Ottoman Empire was not doing well, affected by the Balkan wars, revolutionism prevailed in the country, and continued to send troops to suppress it.

Since both sides were not having a good time, the Greek government and the Ottoman Empire naturally compromised and made concessions to each other.

The Ottoman Empire abandoned its demand for land reparations and withdrew its troops directly from the Greek peninsula, and the Greek government paid the Ottoman Empire 10 million pounds sterling for the purchase of Crete.

Everyone knows that now the Greeks have no money, not to mention 10 million pounds, even if it is a million pounds, they can't take it out!

And even if they wanted to borrow, they couldn't get enough collateral, so the two sides compromised and let the Greek government pay in installments.

At the strong demand of George I, the Greeks paid the Ottomans a symbolic £10,000 in the first year, and then it was gone!

There is no way, everyone knows the financial situation of Greece, their currency drachmas, is now almost like waste paper, there is really no money, and the Sudanese government can only admit disaster.

can only take a step back, and the two parties agreed to repay 500,000 pounds a year, and the principal and interest will be divided into 30 years, and the first year will be counted.

After an agreement was reached. George I didn't have time to rejoice long before he found out what kind of mess he had taken over!

This time it's really rotten! In the Greco-Turkish War, the Greek army of 200,000 troops was almost completely wiped out, and the direct death toll exceeded 60,000.

At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of captives that fell into the hands of the Ottomans naturally did not end well. Especially the wounded, after a few months, nearly 20,000 people have been reduced, and those who survived have become skinny bones, without a year and a half of recuperation, don't want to recover!

In addition, the Ottoman army was ravaging the Greek peninsula, and now the Greek peninsula is full of hunger and wailing.

The civilian losses alone were no less than 200,000, and the number of Greeks dropped again to less than 2 million, but the population of Greece increased by 600,000!

George I said that Greece was short of people, but he definitely did not lack people, and since his defeat, he has been assassinated twice and suppressed five rebellions!

So when there was a conflict between the locals and the outsiders, George I keenly saw an opportunity to get out of the political crisis and decisively sided with the locals.

Taking advantage of the ethnic conflict, George I once again gained the approval of the Greek people and managed to retain the throne. At the same time, it also caused further chaos in the Greek peninsula!

The foreign population that entered Greece lost its restraint after the withdrawal of the Ottoman army. And Edher Pasha, who hated Greece, did not forget to bury nails for the Greeks before evacuating.

Deliberately leaving a large amount of weapons and equipment in the refugee camps, when the refugees take up arms, often not revolution, but into a mob!

In order to survive, they targeted the locals, initially trying to steal each other's food, but later on they began to loot their belongings, raising their butcher's knives when they met resistance.

In order to retain his throne, George I not only did not stop the situation from deteriorating immediately after the incident, but instead led public opinion and expanded the incident.

Then, when the Greeks feared for their lives, George I stepped forward and organized an army to quell the rebellion, turning his guns on all the foreign peoples.

This can't be blamed on George I's ruthlessness, it is really the actual situation that forces him to do this, with the poor finances of the Greek government now, there is no way to accommodate this group of uninvited guests!

Not to mention that now, even before the Greco-Turkish war, Greece could not provide hundreds of thousands of jobs in Greece.

Since there is no way to digest it, of course, it can only be eliminated. This time, George I decided to learn from the successful experience of Nicholas I, and threw all the foreign nationalities he captured into the prisoner of war camp to contribute to the construction of the Greek government.

However, when George I made his move, these refugees had already been scattered on the Greek peninsula, and since they could not be wiped out, the other party naturally had to resist.