Towards the end of the year, Ferdinand's work was suddenly busy, and as soon as the national question was dealt with, the annual planning and budget for 1902 were about to be carried out in the final step.

In fact, these questions have been discussed many times, but many things are not determined by human subjective consciousness, but by changes in objective facts!

For example, now, Education Minister Chekov said with a sad face: "Your Majesty, I am afraid that the Ministry of Education will not be able to complete the plan we made before!" ”

Ferdinand's face changed slightly, in recent years, there have been very few unplanned plans in Bulgarian departments, especially their own plans!

"What's going on?" Ferdinand asked, confused.

You must know that the Ministry of Education, under the leadership of Chekov, has done a good job in all aspects of its work over the years, and Bulgaria's basic education once became the first in the world!

It is very abnormal for the Ministry of Education to announce that it cannot be completed before it has time to implement the plan it has previously formulated!

Chekov said with a wry smile: "The previous estimate of our Ministry of Education was wrong. From the approximate data of the census, we can see that the actual number of illiterates in Bulgaria is much higher than previously estimated!

We now have a population of more than 13 million, of which the number of illiterate people will not be less than 7 million, and even after deducting more than 2 million elderly people and children, there are still nearly 5 million people in need of literacy education, which is nearly a million more than we previously estimated!

Not only that, but even the previous plan to build two new comprehensive universities had to be suspended.

At present, the number of high school graduates in the country is about 12,000, and 85 percent of them are concentrated in our original territory.

If we expand the two universities now, we will have more than 5,000 students admitted each year.

Then the quality of the source will definitely decline significantly. Instead of blindly increasing the number of students and lowering the quality of teaching, it is better not to expand the enrollment! ”

Ferdinand patted his forehead with some headaches, he originally thought that the quality of the population in the Balkans ruled by the Ottoman Empire was poor enough, with an illiteracy rate of seventy or eighty percent.

I didn't expect that there was no worst, only worse! The rest of the Ottoman Empire is really rotten, and it is speculated from the data that immigrants from the Ottoman Empire can basically be regarded as illiterate!

Of course, maybe people are not illiterate, but they don't know Bulgarian writing, and now they can only pretend to be illiterate in order not to be exposed and sent back to the Ottoman Empire!

It is no wonder that all but a small number of Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire have gradually disappeared into history. After all, to assimilate a bunch of illiterates, it's really not too simple!

The literacy rate is so low, so the number of people who can apply for universities is naturally even less!

Apparently Ferdinand ignored that basic education in Macedonia and Thrace had little to do with the Ottomans, and was the result of the efforts of successive Bulgarian governments!

Twenty percent of the annual financial revenue is invested in the export of religious culture, and it has persisted for more than 20 years in a row.

Ferdinand thought for a while and said: "This literacy education still needs to be stepped upon, and the local government must take action to cooperate with the work of the Ministry of Education.

As for the expansion of the university, let's build a science and engineering school first! We still have to continue to maintain the principle of preferring shortage to excess, to ensure the quality of students first, and the number of students should not be too large! ”

Bulgaria has implemented universal basic education, with equal emphasis on elite university education. Naturally, Ferdinand will not be able to expand enrollment, the resources of higher education in this era are limited, even if you want to fight for crowd tactics, it is not suitable for Bulgaria!

If you blindly make a bunch of universities that only have quantity and no quality, what is the use of wasting resources except for wasting resources?

Is it really as later generations said: universities are not places to learn knowledge, but only to teach students how to learn?

Instead of this, Ferdinand might as well get a few more technical schools, so that the engineers trained can directly contribute to the construction of Bulgaria without worrying about employment!

It's better than cultivating a group of mouth cannons, if you don't learn any professional knowledge, you won't know anything after you are born in society. In addition to being blind, he has nothing to do all day long, only to receive some messy thoughts, and then think about revenge on society!

Therefore, the liberal arts majors that the education sector has been striving for have been striving for to enter the university, but this time it was taken out by Ferdinand. Anyway, giving priority to the cultivation of science and engineering talents is Ferdinand's established national policy, and it can never be shaken!

This is not entirely the case, as practical majors such as law and foreign languages have long been included in the classification of Bulgarian universities, and they are one of the few surviving achievements in the liberal arts!

Education Minister Chekov replied with a wry smile: "Okay, Your Majesty! Our Ministry of Education will come up with a more suitable plan as soon as possible! ”

He knew that there would be a big trouble in the future, and literacy education would be enough, and not many people cared; But the plan to open two more universities is no secret in the world of education, and many are still eagerly awaiting.

In particular, the enrollment of liberal arts majors that was previously prepared to open has now been closed, which is absolutely unacceptable to many old masters!

Demonstrations, looking for government protests? They can't do it, and the government has done it for a good reason, in Ferdinand's words, "everything is centered on building Bulgaria!" ”

This point is recognized by all sectors of Bulgarian society!

Now Bulgaria has finally climbed to the edge of the second-rate powers, and if it steps into it, it may not be able to become another European power after Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria, and Italy!

It is precisely because of this that many of the current social contradictions in Bulgaria have been suppressed by this common goal, and everyone is willing to fight for this great goal!

However, just because you can't trouble the government doesn't mean you can't trouble the Ministry of Education.

Chekov can already imagine the future in his ears, don't think about purity!

Of course, Ferdinand pretended not to know about these questions, for these respected old-timers in the education field, even he didn't fold!

They are really of high moral level, love their academics, love Bulgaria, and are willing to give everything for this country!

When the Bulgarian University was established before, Ferdinand cut off many people's majors on the grounds of the needs of national development, and they didn't make a fuss, and they accepted it!

Now that the country has grown, it makes sense to come out again to fight for the interests of the cause you love!

Of course, there is one more important reason, these people are all stubborn royalists, and they are eager to reject all messy ideas, which is the main reason why Ferdinand has always offered them high!

……

Ferdinand is in a depressed mood now, before Bulgaria has basically eliminated illiteracy, basic education is the first in the world, even in the field of higher education, that is also the world's top ten existence!

But now, the world's penultimate is not enough, there are a lot of worse bottoms in Asia and Africa, but Europe is about to reach the bottom, fortunately, there are Montenegro and Greece next door to give them the bottom!

Of course, they were also pulled down by the new population!

After dealing with the educational troubles, Ferdinand thought that he was about to finish, but he didn't expect that even bigger troubles would come.

The Minister of Industry first opened fire on the Ministry of Communications: "Your Majesty, the current traffic and road conditions in our country are really bad, and even many important cities are not covered by the railway network!"

In addition, the quality of our road network is also substandard, and in many places horse-drawn carriages are very difficult to pass.

You must know that the 20th century was a century of development and progress, and now that the automobile has appeared, it may not be long before the automobile will replace the horse-drawn carriage as the most important and most important means of transportation.

In many areas of our country, it is now difficult for horse-drawn carriages to run, let alone cars that require higher road conditions?

Now Bulgaria's domestic transportation has restricted our economic development, the most important factor, our Ministry of Transport is too inactive! ”

Listening to the awe-inspiring words of the Minister of Industry, the Minister of Transport was immediately dissatisfied, and the Ministry of Transport in Bulgaria is definitely the busiest Ministry of Transport in the world. The number of road builders under his command has exceeded 3% of the total population of Bulgaria for more than ten consecutive years!

Is this called inaction? What is it called acting? For the transportation construction of Bulgaria, the officials of the Ministry of Communications have worked hard, either here or there, and went around to supervise the construction and solve the problem!

"Or gossip! Your Majesty, it is clear that the Ministry of Industry itself does not want to forge ahead, how can they slander us?

Whether our Ministry of Communications has done anything to increase the length of railways and highways every year is the best proof! Last year, Bulgaria completed the largest number of roads in the world!

On the contrary, the Ministry of Industry has dragged us back, and we can't even meet the steel we need to build the railway, and we have to use our precious foreign exchange to import from abroad, which is simply embarrassing! ”

The Minister of Transport's words undoubtedly irritated the Minister of Industry. Now the Bulgarian government is investing a lot of money in industry, and at the same time squeezing the funds of other departments, many of which have opinions.

Now the Ministry of Industry is holding its breath, and it is necessary to come up with the results and show them to the people to prove that this investment is worth it!

I saw the Minister of Industry stand up angrily and say: "You are a bloody squirter, why don't we work hard in the Ministry of Industry?" Can't you see our industrial growth? ”

The Minister of Transport sarcastically said: "I can see it, but if this fund had been given to us, the current traffic problem would have been solved a long time ago, so that it would not grow as fast as you!" ”

……

Ferdinand roared, "Stop! What is the noise, this is not the place for you to scold the street, you have to quarrel back and slowly quarrel!

You are all at the top of the Bulgarian government, and you are arguing over something like this, what about your qualities?

Will a fight solve the problem? If you can, you can continue to argue, and if you can't, sit down honestly and think of a solution! ”

To tell the truth, now Ferdinand just wants to laugh in his heart, the quarrel skills of these technical officials are really embarrassing and thrown to grandma's house.

The words spoken are full of loopholes everywhere, and they just pop up naturally without going through the brain!

Even if you want to spray people, you have to scold people and expose them! They seem to be scolding people here, and they are clearly helping the right watch?

As for the contradictions between the two sides, they are all made with the word "money", and Bulgaria's key investment has always been transportation construction. However, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, in order to buy the bottom at a low price, the focus of investment shifted to industry.

Now the problems that the two of them are talking about are real, and for a while, no one can solve them!

Ferdinand was a traverser, but he wasn't a god and didn't have a plug-in!

The road needs to be repaired meter by meter, and the industry also needs to accumulate bit by bit! And all of this takes time, and it can't be done in one leap!

Now the traffic problems in Bulgaria are mainly concentrated in the Macedonian and Albanian regions, as well as in the Kosovo region.

During the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan government probably didn't have the concept of construction, and the infrastructure was a terrible mess, and now these problems are Ferdinand's turn to have a headache.

From 1897 to 1898, four years have passed, and the construction of the main road of the transportation hub is only two-thirds of the preliminary completion, not to mention the branch line!

According to the plan of the Ministry of Transport, after the full completion: the total mileage of railways in Bulgaria will reach 40,000 kilometers, and the total mileage of roads will reach an astonishing 90,000 kilometers!

Of course, this plan is just a plan, and there is still no way to achieve this goal. At present, the total length of railways in Bulgaria is only 8,867 kilometers, and the total length of roads is only 18,365 kilometers, which is less than a quarter!

Oh, and the big industrial program of the Ministry of Industry is really terrible in comparison. Although the road plan of the Ministry of Transport is a little bigger, and after ten or twenty years of hard work, Ferdinand feels that Bulgaria can still complete it!

Is that a big industrial plan? Ferdinand thinks that it is better not to mention it, in order to catch up with the goal of overtaking Britain and France, just think about it when you dream, and everyone in the German Empire is still fighting for this?

Now I haven't experienced World War I or World War II, everyone is still in the heyday of Britain and France, just dream of Bulgaria's current family background.

If he wanted to achieve it, Ferdinand thought that it would be almost possible to expand the territory by ten times and eight times first, and then increase the population by ten times and eight times, and theoretically struggle for another ten or twenty years!

Of course, Ferdinand's dream of becoming an industrial power in the Ministry of Industry did not wake them up. At least people have found a great goal and are fighting for it, which is much better than the walking dead without ideals!

There are always more solutions than problems, this is an idealist!

There are always more problems than solutions, this is a social reality!

Good ideas, Ferdinand didn't have, and no one in the top of the Bulgarian government could come up with them!

In any case, the problems raised by the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Transport are objective facts, and it is impossible for anyone to solve them in the short term!

After thinking about it, Ferdinand said: "You are all the elite of Bulgaria, guiding Bulgaria forward, and when you encounter a problem, you will find a way to solve it!"

Industrial problems, your Ministry of Industry will handle it yourself, and I, a layman, will not interfere!

On the issue of transportation, I have a suggestion, according to Bulgarian law, it is a system of universal military service, but our current population base has increased a lot, and it is certainly impossible for the army to be fully conscripted!

Then the remaining part of the people will serve in the military, and it is better to simply form a production and construction corps to specialize in production and construction.

Your Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of War will coordinate and borrow it for use first, so that there will be a lot of more labor! ”

Ferdinand was well aware that the questions raised by the various departments now were all aimed at getting a bigger share of the next year's allocation.

Obviously, they are all thinking too much, and it is impossible for the Ministry of Finance to promise to increase the budget! No money is the most common and effective reason for the Ministry of Finance!

No matter what reason you have, the total financial expenditure is only so much, if you have the ability, go and grab it from other departments!

As for his idea, it was a complete bad idea, at least for the Ministry of Transportation!

The military is not so easy to talk to, if you want to borrow someone, you can give money, and people's military expenses are also very tight!

Otherwise, even if people go to cultivate wasteland, they will not come to help in vain, and farming is more or less an income, isn't it?

In fact, as Ferdinand expected, the final allocation of funds was basically according to the previous plan, and if you want to take advantage of it, you need at least one reason that Ferdinand agrees with!