The cabinet meeting concluded smoothly, and Ferdinand was very satisfied with the division of labor; he had secured oversight of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education.
Compared to other industries, the Cabinet clearly did not place enough importance on agriculture, and the plans they formulated involved very little agricultural development, which gave Ferdinand his opportunity.
As for the Ministry of Education, it was even simpler: the Bulgarian treasury was empty.
Currently, apart from the Opposition Party, the education sector was the harshest in criticizing the Government, as teachers’ salaries had been suspended for several months.
Since Ferdinand, the King, was willing to take over, they naturally did not mind throwing away a mess, especially since education funding was already in arrears.
Ferdinand had taken on two hot potatoes, yet he was very happy inside.
Bulgaria was an agricultural country with poor mineral resources, so agriculture was the easiest area to achieve results in the short term.
Compared to China’s land utilization rate, Bulgaria, like other European countries, lagged far behind.
If it were in the East, Bulgaria’s arable land area could still be doubled.
Of course, Ferdinand did not intend to do that; there was absolutely no need.
With an area comparable to Jiangsu Province, the population was only over three million, less than one-tenth of the population of Jiangsu during the same period.
Ferdinand planned to vigorously build water conservancy projects, promote advanced agricultural technology, and increase grain production; that would be enough.
(Agriculture in the Balkans was underdeveloped, and the grain yield per mu during the same period was less than two-thirds of that in Western Europe.)
As long as he did these things well and gained the support of the peasant class, which accounted for ninety percent of the total population, he would be in an invincible position.
For this, even if he had to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds, Ferdinand would not hesitate.
As for the education sector, that was even easier to handle.
History told him that as long as he controlled the schools, he controlled public opinion.
Controlling the next generation of the nation meant controlling the future of the country.
The urgent priority was to establish a university.
Historically, the first university in Bulgaria, Sofia University, was established in 1888.
It was also this university that created Bulgaria’s earliest socialist organization, the Science Society, laying the foundation for launching the proletarian revolution.
Ferdinand’s high efficiency was enough to make the Cabinet feel ashamed.
Knowing the treasury was empty, he did not go to the Stambolov Cabinet.
On January 10, 1888, just after the Cabinet clarified the division of labor, Ferdinand, in his capacity as the Prince of Bulgaria, issued the second decree: “Issuing 5 Million lev Education Bonds” (Note: 1 lev = 1 franc = 0.2903225 grams of gold). This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
The whole country was shocked; one must know that due to the civil war, Bulgaria’s fiscal revenue in 1887 was less than 40 million lev.
This move quickly received strong support from people in the education sector and the enlightened bourgeoisie.
Although the interest was only slightly higher than bank deposits and the term was as long as ten years, everyone generously opened their purses, and half were sold in just one month.
The shrewd Ferdinand, of course, knew how to maximize benefits; not only did he high-profile subscribe to 300,000 lev, but he also publicly invited the media to supervise the use of these funds, and his reputation soared for a time.
Anyway, he did not intend to embezzle education funds, so no matter how strict the media supervision was, only those below would be unlucky.
If he could catch a few corrupt officials, he wouldn’t mind either.
After getting the money, besides paying off the teachers’ salaries that had been in arrears for years, he allocated funds to build the first university in Bulgaria, “Bulgarian University.”
The remaining money had not been touched yet, and the Cabinet had tried to get their hands on it several times, but were blocked back by Ferdinand with the phrase “earmarked funds.”
Stambolov, desperate for money, also followed Ferdinand’s example and issued bonds.
However, his appetite was not as small as Ferdinand’s; the funds required for the “Five-Year Plan” were an astronomical figure for the Government.
He started with 50 million lev in railway bonds, followed immediately by 30 million lev in industrial bonds.
The Bulgarians were not that wealthy, and the Government’s credibility was not that high.
For the few million in education bonds, they exercised some patriotism and gritted their teeth to buy them.
As for the industrial bonds and railway bonds issued by the Government, they were powerless, and after selling a mere few hundred thousand, it ended in embarrassment.
Ferdinand did not worry about the Cabinet’s troubles.
He was still worrying about the candidate for the first president of the university; it had to be someone of high moral standing and prestige who could convince the education sector.
Among the figures in the Bulgarian education sector, there was precisely no candidate who enjoyed universal support.
Like the country itself, most of the students who studied abroad and had sufficient ability were still very young and lacked that level of seniority.
The older generation was conservative in their thinking, lacked an international perspective, and could not keep up with the pace of the times.
Unable to find a candidate, Ferdinand turned his gaze to the Ministry of Education.
“Minister Chekhov, what ideas does your Ministry of Education have regarding the president of Bulgarian University?” Ferdinand asked.
“Your Highness, the education sector is currently in an uproar; there are three people qualified for nomination, but their abilities are hard to convince people!” Minister of Education Chekhov said with a headache.
Ferdinand knew that lack of ability was a minor issue; the key was that all three were opponents of the Stambolov Cabinet.
As old-school educators belonging to the Pro-Russian faction, the Cabinet would definitely want to prevent them from taking office.
“Then what about others?
The school is currently just an empty shell!
What will we do then?
You should go back and think about it slowly!” Ferdinand shifted the pressure to Chekhov.
This put Chekhov in a difficult position.
If he chose from these three, how would he explain it to the Cabinet?
If he chose someone else, how would he convince the education sector?
The headache-stricken Chekhov suddenly had a bright idea and thought of a suitable candidate: why not let the King hold the position?
Once this idea emerged, it could no longer be suppressed.
First, the Cabinet would not object, and it could suppress the opposition; second, it would be acceptable to the education sector; at least they wouldn’t have to worry about education funding in the future.
This reason was enough to make those three old stubborns withdraw on their own.
On the way back, the more Chekhov thought about it, the better it seemed.
If Ferdinand were made the university president, the Ministry of Education’s presence would certainly be greatly strengthened, and he could let the King take the lead when asking for funding, without having to bear the pressure from the Cabinet himself.
No, such a big matter is not something I can decide alone; I might as well contact the education sector and let them take the lead.
Whoever opposes it, let them be responsible for solving the education funding!
It did not exceed Chekhov’s expectations; after the news was released, the endless arguments in the education sector stopped immediately.
For the sake of everyone’s interests, or perhaps for their own rice bowls, so they could receive their salaries on time, almost all teachers publicly expressed support for Ferdinand to serve as president.
This left Ferdinand dumbfounded; it turned out he was the one who enjoyed universal support.
He immediately thought it was impossible; he was an outsider, had only been on the throne for half a year, and hadn’t done anything major, yet he could gain everyone’s support.
Even though Chekhov repeatedly assured him, it could not convince Ferdinand; he did not want to become president only to be cursed at by that group of educators.
“Karl, send someone to investigate what is going on?” Ferdinand still decided to get to the bottom of the situation.
“Your Highness, this is actually very simple!” Karl said calmly.
“Oh, tell me about it?” Ferdinand asked.