Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 20: Trigger

Chapter 20: Trigger

With a righteous face, Ferdinand stopped that cabinet's death-defying Bill.

All jokes aside, there are two of them. Bulgaria's financial gap is not a few million, but hundreds of millions of Leva.

If they imposed all on the peasants, Ferdinand already thought of the scene that countless bankrupt peasants rose and started a revolution to overthrow the government.

However, as for the reason why and the cabinet has fallen out, Ferdinand no longer cared. Choose the lesser of two evils, compared with the peasant uprising. The cabinet is obviously a soft target.

Ferdinand knew more about the Stambolov cabinet, or better. When it comes to political brutality, the methods can be called a novice. Ferdinand has ways to deal with them.

After leaving the palace, Minister of Economy Mihail said worriedly, "Your Excellency, the Knyaz has vetoed the tax increase bill. What should we do?"

"What to do! Since this is the case, then there is no need for us to be polite with him. Ferdinand's throne is still ours to put up, so the big deal is to replace him!" Minister of Interior Ionas growled.

"What!" The faces of the people changed in unison.

Stambolov retorted: "God! Ionas, you idiot, shut up! Don't talk nonsense! You think it's a child's game and you can change people at will! Are you trying to get us killed?"

Ionas, who knew he had gotten into trouble, turned pale. He knew that if word of today's events got out, he would be finished. The last Knyaz's affair had just passed, but Sofia was bleeding to death. He looked at the crowd for help!

Wilson, who usually has a good relationship with Ionas, came out to round up the situation and said, "Your Excellency, no need for that idiot Ionas to take it into account. What should we do next?"

After a moment of silence, Stambolov said, "According to Bulgarian law, we can still convene the National Assembly now. As long as the Assembly approves it, the Knyaz will not jump out and veto it again!"

The hearts of the people were shocked, their faces changed slightly, and finally, they nodded. Everyone knows that bypassing the monarch and directly using the parliament to pass the Bill is equivalent to having overruled the monarch.

Their session of the cabinet can no longer get Ferdinand's support. There will certainly be trouble in the future.

Sure enough, as Ferdinand had expected. Stambolov's cabinet did not rest in peace. After Ferdinand's veto, they directly convened the National Assembly.

The plan is to force through the tax increase bill with the advantage of the Liberal Party in the National Assembly and strike at Ferdinand's prestige.

On April 28, 1888, the Bulgarian National Assembly was held again. Stambolov, on behalf of the cabinet, submitted the Bill on the Increase of Agricultural Taxes to the National Assembly.

But Ferdinand, who had anticipated this, naturally did not do nothing. The rumors of the disputes between him and the cabinet had already gotten out before the National Assembly convened.

Would the opposition parties, who received the news, let the Stambolov cabinet get what it wanted? Ferdinand does not know.

What is certain, however, is that public opinion is already on his side. Once the Bill is passed, the cabinet will undoubtedly be scolded.

Knowing that today the National Assembly must be very lively, Ferdinand will not attend the meeting naturally. He hides in the back to watch a good show. If he jumps out directly, it is certainly a lowering of status.

When he was looking at the noisy parliament, Stambolov's heart was irritated for no reason. The son of a shoemaker who can become the prime minister of a country is naturally not a fool.

He was prepared in advance to be scolded for raising agricultural taxes. For the sake of Bulgaria's industrialization, taking a little bit of blame, Stambolov does not care.

But looking at the current chaotic National Assembly, he doubted that this group of people could lead the revival of Bulgaria!

Stambolov, who is also the Speaker, angrily spoke up and said, "Order! All right, without further ado, let's get straight to the vote!"

But this move has caused strong discontent among the Conservatives and Democrats. According to the standard procedure, the Bill should be debated first before voting.

In a bad mood, Stambolov has actually skipped the session and submitted the Bill for legal purposes to clarify and then voted directly on it, depriving them of the right to speak.

Furious Conservative MPs simply withdrew from the vote in protest.

No surprise, the Liberals occupy the seven-fold of the parliament, and passing the resolution is naturally not a problem.

Now that the biggest opposition in parliament, the Conservative MPs, have simply withdrawn from the vote, it should pass with a high vote!

The result was surprising and regrettable for the Conservative MPs. It passed 26 votes for the resolution, 55 abstentions, and 18 votes against it.

The scene is awkward for the Stambolov cabinet, which is so unpopular that they have less than 30 percent support. If the Conservatives do not withdraw, then the Liberal-controlled parliament will have to reject their proposals today.

As one can imagine, a political struggle around the cabinet is about to unfold.

If Ferdinand were here, he could tell Stambolov very clearly that he was totally wrong.

Most of the Bulgarian MPs are foreign students, and their juvenile spirit is most likely to be swayed by public opinion.

Moreover, a large part of the feudal landlord's origin, the family will certainly not tell them where the family land comes from it. After hearing the tax increase, the first reaction is that the interests of their own families are damaged.

The opposition to the proposal came out of instinct but not really upset with the cabinet.

Ferdinand, who received the results, knew that the Stambolov cabinet was about to make a stupid move. It could be the trigger for the police government!

Since he can not stop it, Ferdinand is naturally going with the flow to maximize the profits.

At the very least, Ferdinand's intelligence agency has already started to act. Several newspapers have been secretly acquired and are waving the flag for Ferdinand.

While people did not think about it, he brushed up a wave of prestige for him. At least in the minds of most of the nation, Ferdinand, who opposed the brutal draft, was a benevolent monarch.

Ferdinand's gaze was now out of Sofia and into the vast countryside.

As early as last year, Ferdinand sent someone to Austria-Hungary to invite agricultural experts, and then the Ministry of Agriculture has done an initial survey.

These experts developed his agricultural development plan. Ferdinand also lowered his standards to ensure its successful outcome.

As early as a thousand years ago, farmers recognized that they could use manure to improve the soil during the Warring States period. Early farmers applied fertilizer, compost, and animal manure to their croplands.

Scientists in the 19th century discovered the major role of nitrogen. Farmers began to buy sodium nitrate found in Chile's natural deposits and apply it to their own fields.

Bulgarian agriculture, in general, however, is still behind the times. Using chemical fertilizers is very irrational. The yield per acre is less than two-thirds of that in Western Europe.

Irrigation projects are a mess. They basically rely on the sky to eat. If Bulgaria had not been ideal climatic and sparsely populated, it is estimated that there would be headaches for food.

Ferdinand is no longer a middle-aged teenager; there is no intention to solve the problem at once. He is ready to pick the easy ones first.

First of all, the agricultural experts were allowed to compile the rational use of chemical fertilizers. Then they handed it over to the Ministry of Agriculture to spread it further down the line. After it produced the results first, then it continued to go deeper.