After Ferdinand inspected the new district of Sliven, he did not stop and went directly to the last stop of the trip, Plovdiv.

Ferdinand, who had been away from Sofia for almost two months, was now a little homesick. Probably because he was a father for the first time, Ferdinand already missed the little one a little and didn't want to miss every small step of his son's growth.

Therefore, Ferdinand's impromptu national tour was a bit anticlimactic, and it was about to come to an end.

But Ferdinand's political purpose, to tell the bureaucrats that the king valued industry, had now been achieved, and Plovdiv was the last stop on this tour!

Plovdiv has a unique position in Bulgaria and is the second largest city in the country, with a long history and culture, after Sofia.

Plovdiv is located in the upper reaches of the Maricha River, on the north side of Mount Rhodope. With a history of more than 1,000 years, it is one of the birthplaces of the rejuvenation of the Bulgarian nation, and the national heroes Potf, Levsky and the great writer Vazov have lived here.

Plovdiv is also the richest agricultural region in south-central Bulgaria, surrounded by wide plains and fertile land, rich in grain, fruits and vegetables.

Plovdiv is also one of the most important transport hubs in Bulgaria, located on the main Eurasian artery. The transit point from Belgrade and Sofia to Constantinople was one of the most important trading centers in Eurasia.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Serbia, Ferdinand also had the idea of moving the capital to Plovdiv. It was only later that he saw the poor performance of the Austro-Hungarian army, and comprehensively assessed the strength of both sides, that he gave up this plan.

After all, the current Bulgaria is no longer the Bulgaria of history. Although Sofia is a little closer to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after all, the Tones region is a strategic buffer, and with the current military strength of Bulgaria, it can still be defended.

Moreover, since the Balkan War, the morale of the Bulgarian people has reached its peak, and moving the capital is easy to cause criticism and hit morale.

Plovdiv is a comprehensive city with agriculture as the core, supplemented by commerce and trade. The industry is also a supporting enterprise developed mainly by agricultural product processing enterprises, and there is almost no heavy industry.

Therefore, the stop was quickly over, after all, it was impossible for Ferdinand to personally inspect the food factories, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.

Bulgaria is very different now, and Ferdinand doesn't go to see it in person, except for particularly important industries!

Time flies, Ferdinand departed from Sofia in autumn and October, and when he returned, it was almost Christmas.

By this time, little Ferdinand was able to crawl everywhere on the ground. Teaching the little one to speak every day – called "Daddy" – was one of Ferdinand's most important jobs.

It's a pity that no matter how hard he tries, the little guy always doesn't buy it, and he just says "oh, oh", and he doesn't know what he is talking about.

While Ferdinand was enjoying his family, an uninvited guest broke in and interrupted his family.

"Grand Duke, Yingde has already agreed to a compromise!" The Foreign Secretary said hurriedly

Ferdinand's face changed slightly, he thought that his butterfly effect would be able to make Britain and Germany colonies of South Africa, and it would take a while, but he didn't expect the two countries to compromise so soon!

You know, the British had just put Germany together in the partition of the Portuguese colonies, and Wilhelm II had not had time to retaliate, and now it has subsided.

"What's going on? Shouldn't the Germans compromise so quickly? Ferdinand asked, confused

"On February 22, 1898, the king of the Kingdom of Samoa died, and there was a violent conflict between Anglo-American and German over the succession to the throne.

However, the British made concessions to the Germans, and the Salisbury government tried to ease Anglo-German relations. The British transferred the interests of the Kingdom of Samoa to the Germans as compensation for the problems of the previous Portuguese colonies.

The Germans also received the right to build the Baghdad Railway, and the British agreed to Germany's freedom of action in Asia Minor.

The German government had already accepted compensation from the British, agreeing not to continue the war with the Boers and the British! ”

Ferdinand thought about it and had a headache, now Bulgaria is still too weak, and these international diplomatic games are not qualified to participate in it at all.

The trade of interests between Britain and Germany worried Ferdinand. In case Britain and Germany reach a full-fledged compromise and really form an alliance, then the matter will be really big!

Don't say that the Franco-Russian alliance, even if it pulls Italy, the United States, Japan, and Austria-Hungary over, it will not help. Even all the other countries in the world together are not two rivals for the two countries to join forces!

Of course, Ferdinand knew that this was not very likely.

John Bull could not tolerate the unification of Europe, whether it was the French or the Germans, it was impossible to accept the unification of Europe.

Judging from the current situation, the speed of economic development in Germany in recent years has been astonishing. Ferdinand also knew that in the 20th century, the speed of development of the Germans was called crazy!

Unless John Bull is willing to give up his position as the world leader, the contradictions between Britain and Germany cannot be eased. It has nothing to do with interests, when the Germans are strong, they naturally threaten the position of the British.

As for the Americans, whose economy is developing faster, they are ignored, in addition to the fact that the United States is far from the European continent, there is also a weak military strength.

The core problem is that the United States does not have a majority nation, and if war breaks out on American soil, their staying power is the worst. Once you are at a disadvantage, it is easy to split!

This, of course, was generally believed by the European powers at the end of the 19th century. As for whether it's true or not, no one knows until it has been beaten! However, it cannot be denied that the national contradictions in the United States at that time were indeed very intense!

Ferdinand can only pay attention to these things at any time, so that he can stand in line in the international diplomatic game, and in principle, he is on the side of the winner!

……

At this time, an undercurrent had begun to spread in Russia, and yes, the Jewish bankers, thinking that the harvest had come, were ready to shear a wave of wool on the Russian stock market, and of course other conglomerates also had a part, and the Russian financial crisis was imminent.

However, no one now thought that the harvest in the stock market would induce a financial crisis in Russia, and then brew an even more serious economic crisis that would affect the whole world.

The bear's money was not so easy to get, the Jewish bankers made a lot of money, and then the common Jewish people suffered for them, and then there was an anti-Jewish movement in Russia!

Of course, even if they knew that there would be such serious consequences, the capitalists would not show mercy, and the lives of their compatriots were worthless!

Otherwise, there would not be so many anti-Jewish movements in the world, and it can only be said that the Jewish capitalists are too good at death, and the ordinary people can only be regarded as incidental!

Of course, all this is not known yet. Even Ferdinand only remembered that at the end of 1899, the economic crisis broke out in Russia, which in turn led to an economic crisis that spread throughout the world.

As for the specific cause, it was only after the economic crisis broke out that Ferdinand figured out the cause and effect, and now he is still busy taking out loans!

"Mr. Kennedy, how is the loan going?" Ferdinand asked with concern

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy smiled wryly and said, "Your Majesty, the first batch of loans has arrived. But is it really necessary for us to borrow so much?

If you add the previous loans, so far, the Bulgarian government has owed Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium and other countries, a total of 1.5 billion leva in international loans; It also owes commercial loans totaling 380 million leva to the three major banks in the country, as well as various types of bonds issued by the government, totaling 220 million leva!

These add up to 2.1 billion leva, which is four times our fiscal revenue, and if you count the 500 million leva to be loaned later, it is 2.6 billion leva, and the annual interest expense alone is as high as 200 million leva, which is too high, right? ”

After Ferdinand's succession, Bulgaria has developed rapidly, with its fiscal revenue increasing tenfold compared to 1887, and its comprehensive national strength increasing tenfold compared to 1887!

As fast as Bulgaria is growing its debts, from less than 200 million levits at the beginning, it has snowballed to 2.1 billion leva, and it will continue to expand!

Debt and growth in national power have always been directly proportional, and this is the current situation in Bulgaria! Ferdinand doesn't care, there is the pressure of the world war, everything in his heart is centered on increasing national strength, and everything else is trivial, but others can't stand it anymore!

Konstantin said worriedly: "Yes, Your Majesty! Our debt is growing so fast that if left unchecked, interest alone can drag us down! ”

Ferdinand was suddenly shocked, unknowingly Bulgaria already owed an astronomical amount of money, and if something unexpected happened, the Bulgarian government would follow in the footsteps of the Greeks!

"In this way, our current economic aggregate has been greatly increased compared with before, but our currency issuance has never been able to catch up with the growth rate of the economy, or we will find a way to print a batch of currency to reduce the financial pressure!" Ferdinand thought for a moment and said

The Chancellor of the Exchequer smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, we have also thought about this issue, but Bulgaria implements the gold standard, and our gold reserves are insufficient, and if we rashly issue additional currency, it is easy to cause currency depreciation!" ”

Ferdinand feigned surprise and said, "Is there no way to solve the problem of gold?" The Balkans are also the main gold producers in Europe, and now that the main gold mines are on our territory, can't we get enough gold? ”

True, Bulgaria's debt is growing, the economy is growing, that is, the amount of money is not being issued, and everyone knows that printing money is the most profitable.

It's a pity that this is the era of the gold standard, and to print money, you must have a certain amount of gold as a reserve, otherwise in foreign trade settlement, other countries will not