Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 58, John Bull's Conspiracy

For Bulgaria's "Million-Kilometer Highway Project", the outside world does not buy it. Many people speculate that this is just a fig leaf thrown by the Bulgarian government. In the end, most of this project will end without a success!

However, it was immediately dumbfounding. On February 1, 1922, the Bulgarian Infrastructure Investment Group began to issue bonds. Although the interest rate was outrageously low, isn't it still the same as the bank deposit interest rate?

In addition, the security of the bond is guaranteed, and it can be directly used as currency to circulate in the market, which has attracted many patriots to join in. Anyway, the benefit is the same as depositing a bank. If you are short of money, you can directly use the bond as a Lev!

Economists haven't reacted yet. When the Great Depression continues and countries use the method of printing money to alleviate the financial crisis, everyone suddenly remembers that Bulgaria has been over-issued currency for a long time!

It's just that because it was issued in the name of bonds, there was more money in normal circulation in the market, but it didn't affect the value of Lev's currency.

After all, the value of the lev is linked to gold, and Bulgaria's gold reserves have not decreased, nor has the currency issuance increased!

The currency value of the bond is actually maintained by the credibility of the bank and the support of the public for this project! In essence, it is already the currency of the credit system, but it does not rely on national credit!

In the absence of currency devaluation, increasing the currency that can be circulated in the market will inevitably stimulate economic development in the short term.

Of course, Ferdinand also knew that this flow could not increase too much, otherwise inflation would break out in the country, so the first batch of bonds was only issued 2 billion levs.

In the end, the investment company invested 1 billion levs, plus 20 levs of bonds, and 10 billion levs provided by the bank, which was the first year of investment.

Still maintaining Bulgaria's consistent high efficiency and directly adopting the "Trilateral Project", the project started construction at the end of February and kicked off with lightning speed!

The eyes of the whole world are attracted,

Now no one doubts the determination of the Bulgarian government to promote this project!

Tens of billions of funds have been invested in it. If the project fails, it will be enough to hurt Bulgaria!

On the other hand, the secret talks between the two countries on the loan between the two countries have also been covered up. Of course, whether it has been known by the British and French intelligence agencies, this is still unknown, at least they have not discovered it on the surface.

On January 25, 1921, the two countries signed an agreement whereby the Russian Empire pledged the Ukrainian region to lend a syndicated loan of 10 billion levs to Bulgarian banks.

This loan is fully operated in accordance with the international standard, with a monthly interest of 6.5%, compound interest, and repayment of the principal and interest in 30 years, and the principal and interest of the first year are deducted first. In fact, Nicholas II takes The money in hand was only 8.76 billion levs.

Don't think it's expensive, there are also cheap loans, but they require additional conditions. In fact, in many cases, the price of additional conditions is much higher than the interest of the loan itself!

Otherwise, why did Ferdinand raise the interest rate up to 12% when he issued the bond, and did not seek bank loans?

After the terms of the loan to Russia were agreed, the Bulgarian government also officially obtained the sovereignty of the Libyan province of Pisa and the Crimean Peninsula.

The governance of the two places has become a difficult problem for Ferdinand. Assimilation is necessary, but how to assimilate must also be skillful!

In fact, these two areas were infiltrated by Bulgaria as early as the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. After so many years of operation, there are not a few local Bulgarian companies investing in factories.

Coupled with the long-term civil war in the Russian Empire, which has brought heavy military service and economic burdens to the local people, the reception work went smoothly.

Neither the nobles nor the commoners troubled Ferdinand on this issue, but the next governance was troublesome. Since there was no purge, the local local forces were completely preserved.

Now they still support Bulgaria. This support is largely forced. Most people may not really agree with Bulgaria. The main reason for them to join Bulgaria is to find a safe haven!

Bulgaria's low taxes and stable social environment are all factors of their choice!

There is no choice. The Tsarist government sold the local sovereignty, and the transaction is a foregone conclusion. When the local people get the news, the Bulgarian army has taken over the place, and they have no strength to resist?

Ferdinand is naturally not worried. When he was there, it is estimated that no one would dare to rebel or fight for independence, and the future might be uncertain!

Not every generation of kings has his prestige, and not every government is a hawk, who can have the courage to suppress when they say suppression, and start war when they say war!

"Prime Minister, what are you going to do with the Libyan Province of Pisa and the Crimean Peninsula?"

Taking into account the limitations of the times, Ferdinand decided to leave this issue to the cabinet first, if not, he is thinking of a way!

Constantine thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, considering the strategic value of the two places, we must have stationed heavy troops, and the local people's success in rebelling is not high.

Presumably smart people know that to oppose us now is to seek death, so we don't have to worry about finding collaborators locally!

In the cultural field, the government plans to fully Bulgarianize the local area; in the industrial and commercial field, we will also find ways to suppress local capitalists and let domestic enterprises control the economic lifeline of the two places.

Through economic control and cultural identity, the two-pronged approach to assimilation of the local area is completed, but this time is a bit long. I am afraid that it will take 20 or 30 years for a new generation to grow up before they will be completely assimilated! "

Ferdinand nodded, slow down, slow down! Cultural assimilation cannot be achieved overnight. Even if the local culture is very close to Bulgaria, it still takes time for the locals to completely abandon their traditions and accept the new cultural system!

Ferdinand wants to develop with peace of mind, but unfortunately some people don't want to! 10 Downing Street, London, there is a conspiracy going on here, not just against Bulgaria, but against the major powers in the world!

The nature of John Bull has attacked again. With the substantial increase in military salaries and the improvement of military welfare and benefits, the British Army still showed the strength of their great powers and suppressed the Egyptian uprising and the non-violent Indian non-violence. Non-cooperative movement.

The colonial rebellion was suppressed, and the London government suddenly became idle again. John Bull, who was idle, naturally wanted to find something to do.

Suppressing competitors and maintaining the balance of the European continent is their consistent national policy, but now this balance has obviously been broken!

The Russians were plunged into a civil war, and although the treasure of the British Empire, India, was safe, their pre-set tripartite confrontation between the European continent, Russia and France, could no longer be realized.

Later, they came up with a plan, that is, let the two countries compete for the hegemony of the European continent, and the British Empire will be the referee in the middle, and continue to maintain the balance of the European continent.

As a result, Bulgaria backed down and helped the Austro-Hungarian Empire to stabilize the situation. The conflict of interests between the two countries was completely separated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now that the French are dominant in Western Europe, it is difficult to find an enemy who can check and balance them. Once they recover from the war, the battle between Britain and France is still indispensable!

Bulgaria is dominating the Near East and building construction behind closed doors. It seems that there is no threat in the short term, but what about the future?

Who can guarantee that Bulgaria has never been ambitious, and in their opinion Ferdinand is scheming, now that the British Empire is strong, and Bulgaria has chosen to retreat, what about the future?

Once the British Empire is in trouble, I am afraid that the first to jump out to grab the Suez Canal is Bulgaria, and even print the idea!

Geographically, both are threatened by Bulgaria! It is very necessary to prevent problems before they happen!

There is also Japan in the Far East, which has been testing the strength of the British Empire again and again, and must be suppressed.

In terms of strength, the British Imperial Navy is greater than the sum of these three, and the industrial strength of the three North American countries is also greater than the sum of these three.

However, the army of the British Empire is not comparable to any of these three, and the air force is not in their consideration!

Going into battle naked is not the style of the British Empire, and it has also been confirmed that this is the worst practice. The lessons of the world war have just passed, and everyone still remembers it fresh.

Lloyd-George is in a good mood recently, otherwise he would not have the heart to hold a national policy meeting and find a way to fight against the three main competitors!

...

This is undoubtedly a simple and complex problem. The method is very simple, but it is very troublesome to operate.

Foreign Secretary Gray said: "There are many ways to suppress these three rivals, but very few are really suitable for the British Empire.

Given the domestic economic situation, we cannot go to war with them, so the actions we take must be within the other's tolerance.

According to the analysis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the most suitable measures are undoubtedly to support the Germans to contain France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire to contain Bulgaria, and the **** to contain Japan!

These methods are all within the acceptable range of the opponent, and they will not turn their backs on us because of this!

Of course, there are also more extreme measures, such as: the Royal Navy directly blocks their shipping routes and cuts off their overseas trade, but in this way, a war will inevitably be fought!

Or make counterfeit banknotes and attack their currency proposals. The consequences will be very serious, and the enemy will follow suit to make pounds. These extreme measures are not worth the harm to us! "

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said with a wry smile: "Mr Gray, the financial situation of the British Empire is not very good, we cannot invest a lot of money to target these three countries at the same time!

Their strength is not weak, and they will definitely retaliate. There is no need for us to fight with them. As long as the British Empire develops fast enough, the strength gap between us will only get bigger and bigger! "

The Admiralty retorted: "No! In fact, we all know that due to the small size of the mainland, the economic development of the British Empire has been restricted, and we have fallen behind in terms of development speed. The gap between everyone's strength has not only not widened, but has been narrowing!

Besides, we are not going to fight with them, we are just restricting or delaying their development speed, it won't cost much! "

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said angrily: "Stop fooling people!

In order to limit the French, we have to support the Germans, but they are in a debt crisis. Unless we can get them out of the debt crisis, it is a fool's errand to check and balance France!

To check and balance Bulgaria, you have to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the investment in this area is also indispensable, otherwise they will not have the courage to confront Bulgaria at all!

Don't forget that the total population of Bulgaria has now reached more than 50 million, which is comparable to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The industrial gap between the two sides is almost doubled, and the gap in the combat effectiveness of the army will only be greater!

With less investment, why should the Austro-Hungarian Empire stand up to challenge Bulgaria? Don’t they even know how to analyze the most basic strength gap?

And Japan in the Far East, your plan is even more nonsense. It is better for us to count on those wastes directly! "

The Minister of State suddenly interrupted their dispute and said, "It is impossible for us to cooperate with the consortium and use financial means to directly attack their economy, so maybe we can make a small profit?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer thought for a while and said: "It is feasible in theory, but the French people's economic strength is not weak, and the French consortium's wealth is still very strong. Before we understand their position, any action we take is very important. dangerous!

We can't penetrate the Bulgarian financial market at all, unless we are willing to send them hundreds of tons of gold, then we can get a ticket!

Financial blows, for them, are simply an itch, but we may be caught.

The real effective use of financial means is actually Japan, whose economic situation is also very bad, we may be able to take advantage of it! "

Seeing no objection after a while, Lloyd-George made up his mind and said, "Then we'll hit Japan first, and we'll just charge interest, and we should warn our little brother that being a traitor will not end well. !

There is no hurry to deal with Bulgaria and France. If the pressure on them is too great, the two countries will form an alliance if one is not good, and then it will be really troublesome!

So it is enough for us to secretly give Germany and Austria-Hungary a certain amount of support, and let them come out and delay for a while, and the development speed of these two opponents will be fine! "

There is no way to find soft persimmons. Unlike European countries, Japan is far from the Far East. Although it has gained geographical advantages, it is also their disadvantage!

Hanging alone overseas, far from the center of this era, they are naturally hostile from various countries, and they can't even find an ally when they look around. Even if they suffer this loss, they can only endure it!

After being an ally for more than ten years, the British have almost figured out the nature of the Japanese.

...

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