Nicholas I knew very well that in order to establish the United Kingdom of Hesse, it was not enough to rely on the strength of Mentenegro, it was necessary to find strong supporters!

After the fall of Bulgaria to Russia in 1891, the advantage of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans ceased to exist.

Especially after the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Empire was expelled from the Balkans, the pro-Russian Bulgaria and Mentnegro were strengthened, and the pro-German-Austrian Greeks were weakened instead!

In this context, the best way for Austria-Hungary to guarantee its interests in the Balkans is to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia!

The Vienna government believed that when Austria-Hungary bordered Bulgaria directly, it had every chance to force Bulgaria to defect by diplomatic means!

Constantinople is the biggest contradiction in the relationship between Bulgaria and Russia, as long as there is the support of Austria-Hungary, I am not afraid that Bulgaria will not take the bait!

The interests of the Bosphorus are too great, if it weren't for the fact that Germany would develop too fast in the future, forcing the British to die in person and join the Entente, Ferdinand would have to be tempted, this is a naked conspiracy!

Now Nicholas I, despite the fact that he was still fighting the Ottomans on the front line, gritted his teeth and took out part of their few weapons and equipment to support the Serbian Revolutionary Army.

The prime minister was embarrassed and said: "Grand Duke, the Serbs need too many supplies now, our reserves are not enough, and there are some deficiencies to support the front line, and it is really difficult to support them again!" ”

Nicholas I gritted his teeth and said: "No matter how difficult it is, we cannot give up, the revolutionary army has already swept through most of Serbia, and now they are in dire need of supplies, and without our support, this uprising will soon be extinguished by Austria-Hungary!"

Once this uprising fails, we will no longer have a chance to stop Austria-Hungary from annexing Serbia! In fact, even with our support, they have little chance of winning!

Now one can only hope that the Serbs will make a ruckus and make the Viennese government feel that direct rule is not cost-effective, and it will be possible to gain independence again!

Then merge with us and join forces to survive in the Balkans! ”

The prime minister smiled bitterly and said: "It's a pity that Mentenegro is too weak, otherwise this time we could annex Albania and not be so passive!" ”

Nicholas I nodded in agreement, and after thinking about it, he asked: "What is the attitude of the Russians now?" Do they support our actions in Serbia? ”

The Foreign Minister looked embarrassed and said: "Your Excellency, the attention of the government of St. Petersburg is now focused on Constantinople, and they want us to exercise restraint.

It's okay to secretly support the Serbs, but if we send troops directly, we will bear all the consequences! ”

Nicholas I's face sank, and he said firmly: "No matter how bad the situation is, we can't give up!"

What about the Bulgarians? What is their attitude? We are willing to come out as a buffer zone between them and Austria-Hungary, they can't be against it! ”

The Foreign Secretary replied: "The Bulgarians are ambivalent, they want us to be a buffer zone between them and Austria-Hungary, and they are afraid that independent Serbia will cause them trouble because of the contradictions between Bulgaria and Serbia!"

However, the Sofian government agreed to provide us with limited support and to sell us a batch of weapons and ammunition at a low price! ”

Nicholas I rejoiced in his heart, the contradictions of Bulgaria did not matter in his heart, the point was that they were willing to sell weapons, which was good news!

The Minister of War said eagerly, "Oh, then what are you waiting for? The Ministry of Finance immediately raised a sum of money to buy weapons from the Bulgarians! By the way, their new guns are for sale? ”

The Foreign Secretary smiled bitterly and said: "This issue has not been specifically discussed, it is said that the export of their new artillery requires the approval of Archduke Ferdinand himself!" ”

Nicholas I thought for a moment and said: "Well, don't think so much, we will buy what they sell, now is not the time to be picky!"

Our immediate priority is to provide support to the Serbian Revolutionary Army (RSA) to help stabilize the situation, and to eliminate the remnants of the Ottomans as soon as possible! ”

……

In the palace of Sofia, Prime Minister Konstantin was embarrassed and said: "Grand Duke, will our sale of weapons to Mentenegro cause a backlash from Austria-Hungary?" ”

Ferdinand nodded and said calmly: "Of course it will, this batch of weapons will eventually flow into the hands of the Serbian Revolutionary Army, if Austria-Hungary does not react, they will not be worthy of the title of great power!"

But what does this have to do with us? It is only natural that we sell weapons to our allies, and this little diplomatic pressure can still be resisted!

Tell the Foreign Ministry that it really doesn't work, just push it on the Russians, they don't care about this itch with thick skin! ”

Everyone is used to Ferdinand's behavior as a teammate, anyway, now that Bulgaria is still fighting for the Russians, it doesn't matter if they take the blame!

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy suddenly said: "Grand Duke, the ongoing war has seriously affected the Bulgarian economy, and our maritime import and export trade has now been sharply reduced to less than one-third of the same period last year, and I am afraid that this year's fiscal revenue will be greatly affected!"

Moreover, the newly occupied territories also need to be rebuilt after the war, which in turn requires a lot of money. Due to our previous underestimation of the war, we will face a very serious funding gap in the coming year! ”

The Chancellor of the Exchequer still didn't say a point, the main thing is that Ferdinand exempted a lot of taxes, and he lost hundreds of millions of dollars in writing all of a sudden!

In the coming year, the newly occupied territories will basically have only expenditures, no revenue! This is equivalent to twice the land area of Bulgaria proper, and the administrative expenses required alone are astronomical.

The war reserve of 300 million leves has been spent a lot now, and it will not be enough in the later stage!

Ferdinand's good mood was suddenly gone, and it seemed that now as long as he mentioned money, it would be a dead end for the Bulgarian government!

He frowned, then gritted his teeth and said, "Go and borrow it!" Borrow from the French, borrow from the British, borrow from Belgium, borrow from any consortium in Europe!

Now that our plate is so much bigger, there should be a lot of things to pledge! ”

"By the way, mineral resources can't be mortgaged! When it comes to the core interests of our economic development, we cannot make concessions! ”

Ferdinand added that he could not be at ease, because if he did not make it clear, the bureaucrats at the bottom would be in a hurry, and if they signed a traitorous treaty and put in all the industrial and commercial goods of Western European countries, the Bulgarian national bourgeoisie would really be finished!

Now the small life of the Bulgarian bourgeoisie is not bad, but it has not grown!

In addition to the lack of sufficient local market, they also face the double oppression of state-owned assets and royal industries, and they are almost invisible in important areas related to the national economy and people's livelihood!

If international capital is introduced, it is estimated that they will really be completely cool!

Hearing about the loan, Foreign Minister Metev's face turned across, there is no way to borrow money in this era, it must be no good thing, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs often has to act as a backbiter!

I saw him ask with a wry smile: "Mr. Kennedy, how big is our funding gap?" ”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy thought for a moment and said: "The exact number is still difficult to determine, mainly depending on the cost of the Battle of Constantinople!" However, judging from the current situation, our future funding gap is no less than 500 million leva! (1 lev≈ 0.29 grams of gold, about 20 million pounds)

Ferdinand's face changed, 20 million pounds is not a small amount, the Beiyang government's big loan for the aftermath, Yuan Datou can actually get the number, almost only so much!

Ferdinand only feels that the baby is bitter now! After crossing over, I worked hard in Bulgaria for ten years, and my financial income only tripled compared with the same period in history, and my debt has increased by four or five times, and now it will continue to grow!

It is conceivable that for a long time in the future, he will have to live a hard life of repaying debts!

……