Twenty years ago, the Franco-Prussian War caused more than 20 billion francs of economic losses to France, and more than 5 billion francs had to be paid in war reparations.

The attempt of the Germans to use the war reparations to drag France across was over at the very beginning!

After the war, a bourgeois revolution broke out in France, and there was still enough money to recover, which can be seen in the heritage of the old empire.

The main reason why Ferdinand set his sights on France was that after the Franco-Prussian War, the newly established French Republic went further and further on the road of the usury empire!

The second is the existence of the Russian-Bulgarian alliance and the Franco-Russian alliance. In the international community, Bulgaria has always been regarded by default as Russia's sphere of influence, and even if France puts forward conditions, it will be within the economic range, and it is unlikely that Franco-Russian relations will be damaged for the sake of Bulgaria!

At the end of the 19th century, when the Franco-Russian alliance was established, the French needed the Russians much more than the Russians needed the French. So internationally, many times the French have to take into account the attitude of Russia!

Until 1905, the Russian Empire was in its heyday, the Franco-Russian alliance suppressed the Triple Alliance, and the British position was always biased in favor of the Germans.

Until the Russo-Japanese War, the weak nature of the Russian Empire was exposed, and the strength of the two sides was reversed. In order to suppress the rising Germans, the British's continental balanced foreign policy was changed and joined the Entente.

Ferdinand also knew that even so, borrowing money from France was not so simple! The French don't open charity halls, and the additional conditions are absolutely indispensable!

"What is the current government's fiscal gap for the next three years?" Ferdinand asked

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy's face changed, and he wanted to say: Grand Duke, you are playing cards out of common sense! Under normal circumstances, isn't it time to ask what the current fiscal gap is?

Kennedy calculated for a moment in his heart, and said with some hesitation: "Grand Duke, this year's fiscal deficit is about 50 million leva, and the fiscal deficit next year and the year after next is initially estimated to be between 150 million leva and 200 million leva!"

These are built behind the government, without new big construction projects, and without war! ”

Ferdinand nodded, in fact, the "Second Five-Year Plan" period is the most difficult period for Bulgaria's finances, once this hurdle is passed, the government's fiscal revenue will grow explosively!

What's more, we have encountered another "Baosai War", which has increased the war expenses and expanded the scope of the implementation of the "Second Five-Year Plan", and the financial expenditure will naturally rise in an uproar!

If you take into account that the upcoming "Greco-Turkish War" is coming, and Ferdinand still wants to swallow an elephant once, then the war budget is definitely astronomical!

Ferdinand thought for a moment and asked, "So if we had a war with the Ottoman Empire during this period, and we had taken into account the war expenses, how big would our financial gap be?" ”

The faces of the people changed slightly, and they knew that Ferdinand was planning a war with the Ottoman Empire. Seeing the Chancellor of the Exchequer stay there with a bewildered expression, Ferdinand knew that he had lost his words!

Even if you want to calculate the war expenses, you have to find the military first, and calculate it according to a series of comprehensive factors such as the strategic plan, the scale of the war, the number of mobilizers, etc.!

It is too difficult to ask the Ministry of Finance to calculate the cost of the war without knowing anything, and even whether the scale of the war is a local conflict or a full-scale war has not yet been determined.

Ferdinand laughed and added: "Of course, I'm not asking you to tell me now, come down and your Ministry of Finance and the General Staff will contact you, estimate an approximate figure, and then report it to me!"

In addition, the Prime Minister's government must now make a strategic material reserve in advance, and it must be done that in the event of an emergency, we have a strategic reserve that can support 300,000 troops and continue to fight for more than a year! ”

Konstantin was stunned for a moment, but immediately reacted, and said hesitantly: "Grand Duke~ I'm afraid there will be difficulties in this!" We are already starting to do the work of preparing for war, but now the government is in financial difficulties, and we still lack sufficient funds! ”

Well, the final difficulty still comes back to the word "money"! In fact, without making a detailed budget, Ferdinand can also roughly judge the next funding gap in Bulgaria. To detonate the Balkan War in advance and ensure victory, and to take into account domestic construction, it is impossible to fight without four or five billion leva!

After thinking about it, Ferdinand said undoubtedly: "In this case, the Ministry of Finance will contact the banking groups of various countries to discuss the terms of borrowing, this time the funding gap is too big, so let's be ready to borrow from various countries!" ”

Ferdinand's imperial mind has become more and more powerful, and he can now send and receive freely, hiding his thoughts at will.

Even though he had decided to take out a loan from France, he still did not show any inclination.

As Prime Minister, Konstantin felt it most obviously, and he had clearly noticed that Ferdinand's power was getting stronger and stronger, and many times once a decision was made, no one could change it.

This is both a good thing and a bad thing!

The good aspects can increase the awe of his subordinates, and the bad aspects are easy to use for themselves, which is also a common problem of emperors!

What the final result will be, no one can say. Anyway, Ferdinand's order was quickly executed.

Since the Berlin Conference in 1878, the Balkan states have turned their eyes to the European part of the Ottoman Empire.

Austria-Hungary was the first to include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia all extended their tentacles into Macedonia, and all three governments expanded their schools and churches.

Bulgaria has been at the forefront of this regard, and since the end of the 19th century, 25 percent of the Bulgarian government's revenues have been spent on work in the Macedonian region.

In 1885, three hundred and six schools were established in the Macedonian region; In 1890, it had increased to 871. By the end of 1890, Serbia and Greece had only about 200 schools each, and the Bulgarians had left them far behind.

At the same time, the Bulgarian, Greek and Serbian countries all waged a fierce struggle against the schools and churches they founded, and such church schools were generally organized by the consuls of the three countries and were supervised by them!

During this period, fearing that Bulgaria would monopolize the Macedonian region, the Serbs began to openly promote the idea of Macedonian separatism.

The main reason why Serbia was so eager to expand was the pressure from Austria-Hungary.