1923 was the year of the official implementation of the Treaty of London, and according to the provisions of the treaty, a wave of disarmament broke out all over the world in this year, and Bulgaria was no exception, and the navy was directly cut off six layers of tonnage.

The Navy was in turmoil from top to bottom, and even the retired Field Marshal Petrov was alarmed, but it was of no use.

Now that the treaty has been signed, the disarmament is still to be reduced, and all the Admiralty can decide is to keep those warships and how many troops to withdraw.

The navy is different from the army, as long as each person has a rifle, it can maintain its establishment, and without enough warships, the size of its personnel will definitely be greatly reduced.

It is impossible not to reduce the number of personnel, because in the 1923 defense budget, the military expenditure of the navy has been cut by five layers, and it has become the lowest military branch of the Bulgarian army, navy and air force.

This year, military spending was successfully suppressed at 23.7 percent of the budget, and the ratio of military spending among the army, navy, and air force was 6:2:3.

No way, who called it Navy holiday? All countries of the world are disarming, and Bulgaria is naturally going to follow suit.

The proportion of military spending in fiscal revenue has dropped by a large margin, but the total amount of military expenditure has not decreased. With the increase in fiscal revenue, the proportion of military spending in expenditure naturally decreases.

In 1918, Bulgaria's fiscal revenues were 5.2 billion leva; But by 1923, the budget given by the Ministry of Finance was 9.2 billion leva, with an average annual growth rate of 12%.

This is not surprising, given the rapid economic growth of Bulgaria in recent years, on the one hand, and the fact that the government has sold off a large number of state-owned enterprises and freed itself from the burden of being held back.

In addition to the state-owned enterprises involved in the international people's livelihood, other industries that cannot make profits or are not profitable have been disposed of by the government one after another.

This alone will reduce losses by several hundred million yuan every year, and with the transformation of these enterprises from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, they have also brought a large amount of tax revenue, which has promoted the rise of fiscal revenues.

The restructuring of state-owned enterprises will continue to be deepened, and Ferdinand has decided to abolish the tax-free privileges of state-owned enterprises, unless it is a tax-exempt industry, state-owned enterprises must also pay taxes to the government normally.

For these officials who have brought down enterprises, the Independent Commission Against Corruption must conduct a comprehensive investigation, and if there is no problem, just pack up the covers and go home.

Once a problem occurs, it is natural to punish it severely, even if it is an ex, a former predecessor, no matter what position you are in, don't want to run away.

Considering the complexity of the source of funds, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has never bothered to distinguish between legal and illegal gains, mainly because there is no way to distinguish between illegal gains, as long as there are illegal gains, all of them will naturally be confiscated.

Ferdinand had even heard of unlucky people who had just entered the government and embezzled hundreds of leva and had their entire family property confiscated.

Of course, now, it is not as ruthless as it was back then, except for rebellion and treason, the government has stopped engaging in other crimes.

The property of the family members can only be proved to be their legitimate income, and it will not be confiscated, which is much better than in previous years.

Well, Ferdinand admits that it was because the government was so poor that there was no way to solve the financial crisis.

Now that life is better, everyone has begun to pay attention to the appearance of eating, but the property of the parties has been confiscated in full, and the relatives have accepted that the property of the parties will be repaid twice.

The government's determination to fight corruption remains unshakable!

The biggest international news was undoubtedly the direct declaration of bankruptcy by the Italian government, and the Germans, citing the depreciation of the mark, demanded a moratorium on the payment of cash indemnities for 1924.

I have to say that the Germans chose a good time this time, and the Italian government declared bankruptcy very shamelessly, which put the Allies in a very embarrassing situation.

The so-called military control of Italy by the British is nothing more than a scary purpose, and the ultimate purpose is only to make the Italians pay the war reparations honestly.

The French have a very strong interest in military management of Italy, but John Bull does not agree?

At this time, the military ruled Italy, didn't it allow France to annex Italy?

Ferdinand was also very cooperative in expressing interest, and after the French sent troops, Bulgaria also sent troops at the request of the British consortium.

On the face of it, there was nothing wrong with it, but according to the agreement between the Bulgarian and British consortiums, Bulgaria had to guarantee the payment of reparations, so military action was inevitable.

John Bull saw that the momentum was not right, and immediately sent troops to join in, because they feared that the two countries would directly divide Italy, and they demanded that the troops of the three countries must be mixed and acted together.

This impudent demand was immediately opposed by the two countries, which made the British Empire very faceless, but in the Mediterranean, the combined forces of the two countries were stronger than the British, which made John Bull very uncomfortable.

At this time, the Germans proposed to postpone the payment of reparations, and the British immediately agreed, saying nothing this time, John Bull could not let the French take charge of Germany!

While the London government was still struggling with these problems, Ferdinand had already approached the British consortium, and the two sides negotiated the Italian question.

On August 12, 1923, the Bulgarian ambassador to London, William Snov, and the representative of the British consortium, Douglas, held secret talks on the issue of Italian reparations.

"Mr. Williamsnov, according to our agreement, now the Italian government has defaulted on its debts, and your country needs to take responsibility for this!" Douglas Howe said politely

"Mr. Douglas, haven't we already taken action? Now that the Bulgarian army has taken control of southern Italy, isn't it just to solve the problem of reparations? William Snove said with a smile

"However, this will not solve the problem, and with the current economic situation of the Italians, it is impossible to repay this reparation with the tax situation in southern Italy alone!" Douglas retorted

"No, Mr. Douglas, you have miscalculated! The southern region of Italy has a population of more than 14 million, of which at least 8 million are working, and if they all work for you, how can they not be able to pay the compensation? William Snoff asked rhetorically

"It's impossible, we don't need so much labor at all, Mr. William Snoff's joke is not funny!" Douglas said with some annoyance

"Don't get excited, Mr. Douglas. You can look at it this way, now that Italy's domestic economy is finished, labor costs have fallen to the bottom, as long as you give them a bowl of rice to eat, they can give you their lives!

In Italy, you don't have to worry about the annoying unions, you don't have to worry about strikes, and if you're in a good mood, you can go around the factories in a tank!

With your strength, will it be difficult to make money? Isn't it enough to make use of so much cheap labor without having to bear onerous taxes? William Snoff said calmly

Douglas fell into deep thought, and it was clear that he was moved by the Bulgarian proposal, and the real economy was not unprofitable, but the rising labor and tax costs of the British Empire, and the profits of enterprises were chillingly low.

If the consortium's factory is moved from London to Italy, these problems will not exist, and the labor cost will only need to pay one-fifth, or even less.

Workers can be unscrupulously allowed to work overtime, and strikes can be suppressed at will, and the conditions are many times better than in London.

Raw materials are not a problem, anyway, most of the raw materials of the British Empire are imported from abroad, and they are still the same in Italy, and even the distance is closer, just to offset the cost of shipping the goods back to London.

"What Mr. William Snouff means is that we can make all businesses tax-exempt?" Douglas asked with concern

If it is possible to pay not a single cent of tax, then this profit is even more considerable, and now the level of the British Empire for real industry is too high, much higher than tariffs.

"Of course not, I mean that we can implement a tax package system, and we will directly contract the taxes of each city to you, and all the tax rates and taxes are set by you.

You can form your own forces to maintain law and order, and under normal circumstances, we will not interfere in any of your actions.

I believe that your business ability is definitely above that of the government, and the increased tax revenue is your profit, and we only charge the expenses of the garrison. William Snovnov explained

Douglas rejoiced that if there was so much good news, the profits would be enough to make up for the losses, even if the Italian government was unable to pay the war reparations.

"Mr. Williamsnof, I believe in the sincerity of your government, but this question is beyond my competence, and we must study it before we can answer you!" Douglas replied without changing his face

"Alright then, you have three days to think about it, if not, we'll have to work with someone else!" William Snoff said calmly

……

Refuse? How can a capitalist refuse profit?

Ferdinand's condition was a plan for maximizing the benefits of Bulgarian economists after careful calculations.

Even if you don't make any investment, just controlling these cities will give you an astronomical amount of money every year, and if you take advantage of these industries and make them your own, then the benefits will be even greater.

So big that Ferdinand was tempted, if it weren't for the influence, he would have to do it himself. Now that such a big benefit is lost to the British, I am not afraid that they will not be moved!

As for whether the Italians are going to rebel in the future, why think so much? After making the money first, as long as it is controlled for three or five years, the consortium can recover the war reparations owed by Italy.

It's just that when the time comes, they are reluctant to give up the benefits they receive every year, and it's hard to say!

But at that time, it was the turn of the British to have a headache themselves, and presumably with the strong strength of the British Empire, it was more than enough to suppress an Italy!

Time flew by, and three days later, the Bulgarian government and the British consortium formally reached an agreement on the issue of Italian reparations.

According to the terms of the agreement, all the profits of the British in Italy were only normal business dealings, and had nothing to do with loans.

The war reparations owed by the Italian government are still indispensable, and all the delayed payments have to pay late fees, while Bulgaria collects a part of the contract tax, which can be regarded as a division between the two sides.

Of course, the British consortium will no longer hold Bulgaria accountable for guarantees, after all, the money has already arrived, what else is there to say!

The most immediate consequence was that by 1928, the export value of the British Empire itself had decreased by 180 million pounds compared with 1923, while the import trade volume had increased by 380 million pounds.

Had it not been for the fact that these transactions had been made in pounds, this trade deficit alone would have been enough to collapse the British Empire.

And the Kingdom of Italy has also become an industrial power, of course, this power has not brought a dime of benefits to the Italian people, all of them are burden-bearing disasters.

……

The sinkhole was dug down, Ferdinand's mood was much better, and the London government did not know that they had fallen into the quagmire of Italy in the future.

When the consortia set up factories in Italy one by one, and a large amount of industry was transferred, even if the London government wanted to give up Italy, these vested interests would not agree!

And is it good to rule a country like Italy, which has already completed the national awakening? There will be no problems in the short term, the smoke of the world war has just passed.

Repaired by hunger again, now as long as you give them a bowl of rice to eat, they can give you their lives.

However, time can forget all this, and live a peaceful life of three or five years, opposing colonialism and oppression, will once again become the mainstream of this country, and then it will be enough for the British to stand it.

"Your Majesty, something big is happening in the Far East! At 11:58 on September 1, there was a major earthquake in Tokyo, Japan, and half of our embassies in the Tokyo area collapsed, but fortunately there were no casualties, and now Tokyo has fallen into chaos!

According to the news from the embassy, the earthquake affected a large area, and the Japanese fell into bad luck this time! Metev gloated

It is no longer news that the Bulgarian government is not interested in the Japanese.

This is all thanks to the Russians, who had a great influence in Bulgaria until the end of the world war.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Bulgaria supported the Russian Empire and made a fortune from the war, so relations with Japan were naturally not very good.

It's just that for a long time, there has not been a big conflict of interest, and the diplomatic relations between the two countries are still passable and have not yet become enemies.

Well, that's just what Ferdinand himself thought!

Although the outside world also thinks that the bad relations between the two countries are due to the Russians, but they all think that it is the credit of the pillow wind, who let him, the king, show his dislike for the Japanese?

Even if someone has a good impression of Japan, they don't dare to show it? Ferdinand is no longer needed, and the pro-Russian faction within the government alone has also suppressed them.

Although the popularity of the pro-Russian faction has dropped a lot, there are still many people who have a favorable opinion of Russia, and this situation is a natural sense of cultural identity on both sides, and no one can influence it.

Anyway, it is also relative, and there are not a few Russians who have a good impression of Bulgaria, not to mention that as long as Russians are immigrants, 99% of them will choose Bulgaria.

Against this background, the Bulgarian people were not interested in the Japanese government, and this was indeed the credit of the Russians, and the Russian immigrants brought their hatred of Japan with them.

Ferdinand, who was familiar with all this, naturally did not guide public opinion because of his own feelings.

Due to geopolitical relations, there is no big conflict of interest between the two sides, and there is no common interest, so naturally there are not many exchanges, and the relationship is very ordinary.

"Well, got it! In the name of the Bulgarian government, send a sincere message of condolences to the Japanese government, and at the same time let the Japanese government protect our diplomats and overseas Chinese!

In addition, in Sofia, a volunteer medical ambulance team was organized to represent the Bulgarian government in disaster relief! Ferdinand said with a smile

Those who know him know that he is in a good mood right now.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Metyev replied

With the speed of transportation in this era, when the Bulgarian medical rescue team was formed, it was estimated that it would not even be able to catch up with the collection of corpses when they set off from Sofia and arrived in Japan.

As for efficiency, how can it be efficient? Medical volunteer ambulance team, how many medical staff are willing to volunteer to Japan for disaster relief this year?

With such an obvious perfunctory attitude from above, how can the bureaucrats be fast?

If nothing else, many European countries will do this this time, and there is no way that the European people are busy dealing with the economic crisis, who is in the mood to care about the affairs of the Japanese!

……

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