The Path to Mediterranean Supremacy/Bulgarian Empire

"Hey, what do you two think? There seems to be something wrong with this!" said one of the taller men.

"What do you think, this is not understood by Luka! An aristocratic lord, intends to build a secret factory that was held here, why do you care so much, as long as we can earn a sum on it, it is beyond our reach anyway!" A middle-aged man with a slightly obese build said back.

"Fatty is right, Luka, the affairs of the aristocrats, it is not for us to interfere! If we have the chance, we might as well think about how we can recruit a few more people for the money!" Another man said.

"I know the logic of what you say, but I always feel very strange, it's not simple for an aristocrat to recruit workers? With their power, where do they still need our help? Do not you think it is unusual that the wages are so high?" The tall man named Luka explained.

When they heard Luka's words, the two had some thoughts. After a few moments of time, the chubby middle-aged man seemed to think of something. His face changed greatly, and he said with some fear: "He will not open a shady business, right? I heard that some rogue capitalists go around to cheat people to go to the mine, and they all go without return!"

"Then what should we do? He is an aristocrat, if we agree and do not do it, I am afraid ~ ~; if we do it, how can we still have a base in Sumy? Looking at this situation no one can afford to send a thousand or eight hundred people, if something happens, how many families won't tear us three?" Another person said.

"It's not that serious! The ones who dare to do that are mostly small mines in the middle of nowhere, and there are not many workers. This aristocratic lord recruited many people, with several thousand workers up in arms. Does he really dare to do anything? Once the word gets out, even aristocrats will have to eat their words!" Luka said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean, we try to find him a local man, and we have a way to look after each other, at the same time, the more people the better?" Fatty asked tentatively.

"That's right! A few civilians are ants in their eyes, what if there were hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people? There is no way it can be done too much!!!" Luka confidently said.

...

For the sake of the ruble and their future lives, the three called on their friends and urged everyone to go out to work.

Thanks to the natural disaster some time ago, most Sumy had a poor harvest, and many people were worried about their livelihood. The result was great. In just one week, more than a thousand people signed up.

Count Volensky was cautious and did not appear in person but only sent his servant Viki to appear. In the priest's witness, who is God's representative, the people signed the labour contract on behalf of Count Volensky and the workers.

In his opinion, he did not break the contract! The contract does not specify the workplace. The salary is not a lie. Mining in Bulgaria does have this income. There will not be enough to work overtime, but always have!

Such a low investment, high return, zero-risk business is difficult to find. In Count Volensky's opinion, the Bulgarian government is completely 'natural' stupid, doesn't want high-quality intellectuals, and spends a lot of money on a group of stupid pariahs!

If Prime Minister Konstantin knows, he will surely curse. Why is it their business? The Knyaz entirely insists on it. Ferdinand, who is usually happy to listen to advice, has a firm opinion this time: You can have an opinion but still have to carry out 100%. If you dare to make a mistake, you can go home and work the land!

It's not that Ferdinand doesn't want highly qualified people. At least scientists, engineers, and doctors, he welcomes them and is willing to pay a high price! However, these people are scarce talent in any place, nor have you seen you get a few over?

The population trade is still going on eagerly, and shrewd people like Count Volensky are still a minority in the end.

Most aristocrats also took a position as loan sharks, which used to be a problem for the poor pariahs. After all, the manpower of Russia was worthless! It is simple, squeezing the money first and then exporting together with the whole family packed immigrants to Bulgaria.

It can make another profit, no matter how old or weak, but as long as there are strong labourers, Ferdinand said they would not refuse, just a little lower price!

The young and strong workforce is more valuable in the short term, but it's easier to integrate in the long term when the whole family comes together.

After spending most of the month in pain and suffering, the Ministry of Finance finally came up with a scientific figure approved by most experts at least!

It is planned to issue, within three years, a total of 200 million Leva of state construction bonds, with interest rates of 5%, 7.5% and 10.75% per annum on five, ten and twenty-year terms, respectively.

Are these interest rates high? In Ferdinand's opinion, not at all! The longer the time, the greater the risk, and the higher the interest rate. Naturally, there is still a risk of inflation even on the gold standard!!!

Society was growing, and the late 19th century was the beginning of the second industrial revolution, and human wealth was booming!

Don't look at the low-interest rates on international loans, but if you count the other attached strings, you'll see that it's not as good as issuing bonds!

At the end of the 19th century, there was no 'Debt holders are the masters', and what was most popular during this period was 'Justice is within the range of the cannon'. The cannon will make you a new job if you dare not pay your debts!

If it is a bonds issue, it is different. Most of them will be in circulation to people. For this part, it is really 'the one who owes the money is the master'!

Just find an excuse to postpone payment, suspend support, or set up a set of complex processes to delay payment time. These tactics have been seen so much by Ferdinand in his previous life!

Anyway, the ordinary people are helpless against the rogue government. Of course, this hurts credibility, except Ferdinand will not do it as a last resort!

...

Having received the Treasury's plan, Ferdinand called upon Minister of Finance Kennedi and asked, curiously, "Mr. Kennedi, how does your ministry intend to sell these bonds?"

Two hundred million Leva, which is not a small amount, is worth sixty-nine tons of gold! It was 1.25 times the revenue of the Bulgarian government in 1893, and it was not an easy task to sell it!

Kennedi stammered, "Your Highness, this ~~, I'm afraid we ~ can't ~ ensure a sale!!!"

Hearing this, Ferdinand glared hard at Kennedy. If there is no way to sell out, why did you make this plan? Is it to tease me? Dare you today if you do not have a proper explanation. This matter is not over!!!

Seeing that Ferdinand was about to get angry, Kennedi hastened to explain: "Your Highness, such a large-scale issuance of bonds, we are the first time to do, and the Bulgarian government's credibility in the international arena, in the end, we are not sure how to define!

In order to solve the financial gap, we planned only an idealized figure. How much we could sell out was an unknown! In fact, for the first batch of bonds, we only put on sale 50 million Leva.

Our Ministry of Finance is prepared to negotiate with bank groups in various countries in the hope that they can act as sales agents. Unless they are optimistic about us and can eat part of it, the outcome is not optimistic!!!"