Ferdinand righteously blocked the Stambolov Cabinet’s suicidal bill.
What a joke.
If there’s a first time, there will be a second.
Bulgaria’s fiscal deficit is not a few million, but over a hundred million lev.
If it were all passed on to the farmers, Ferdinand could already envision the scene of countless bankrupt farmers rising up in rebellion, launching a revolution to overthrow the Government.
As for falling out with the Stambolov Cabinet over this, Ferdinand could no longer afford to care.
Of two evils, choose the lesser; compared to a peasant uprising, the Stambolov Cabinet was clearly a soft target.
Ferdinand had a fairly good understanding of the Stambolov Cabinet.
Their political methods were crude, basically amateurish; Ferdinand had plenty of ways to deal with them.
After leaving the palace, Minister of Economy Michael said worriedly, ‘Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Grand Duke has vetoed the tax increase bill.
What should we do?’
‘What should we do!
Since it’s come to this, there’s no need for us to be polite to him.
Ferdinand’s throne was propped up by us anyway; at worst, we’ll just replace him!’ Minister of Interior Yunas said angrily.
‘What!’ Everyone’s expression changed instantly.
Stambolov said furiously, ‘God!
Yunas, you idiot, shut your mouth!
Don’t talk nonsense.
Do you think this is a child’s game where we can just switch people around?
Do you want to get us killed?’
Knowing he had caused trouble, Yunas turned pale.
He knew that if today’s incident got out, he would be finished.
The events involving the previous Grand Duke had only just passed, and Sofia had been soaked in blood.
He looked at the others, begging for help!
Wilson, who usually had a good relationship with Yunas, stepped in to smooth things over, saying, ‘Your Excellency Prime Minister, don’t mind that idiot Yunas.
What should we do next?’
After a moment of silence, Stambolov said, ‘According to Bulgarian law, we can still convene the National Assembly.
As long as the National Assembly passes it, the Grand Duke surely won’t jump out to veto it again, right?’
Everyone was startled, their expressions shifting slightly, but in the end, they nodded. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Everyone knew that bypassing the King and using the National Assembly to pass the bill directly was equivalent to sidelining the King.
Their cabinet would never again be able to obtain Ferdinand’s support, and there would surely be endless trouble in the future.
Indeed, just as Ferdinand had expected, the Stambolov Cabinet did not give up.
After Ferdinand’s veto, they directly convened the National Assembly.
They intended to rely on the Liberal Party’s advantage in the National Assembly to force the tax increase bill through, while simultaneously striking at Ferdinand’s prestige.
On April 28, 1888, Bulgaria convened the National Assembly again.
Stambolov, representing the Stambolov Cabinet, submitted the ‘Agricultural Tax Increase Bill’ to the National Assembly.
However, Ferdinand, having anticipated this, naturally wouldn’t just sit idly by.
Before the National Assembly convened, the dispute between him and the Stambolov Cabinet had already spread.
Would the Opposition Party, having received the news, let the Stambolov Cabinet have its way?
Ferdinand didn’t know.
But one thing was certain: public opinion was already on his side.
Once the bill passed, the Stambolov Cabinet would surely be cursed relentlessly.
Knowing that the National Assembly would definitely be lively today, Ferdinand naturally wouldn’t attend the meeting.
It was better for him to hide in the background and watch the show; if he jumped out directly, it would undoubtedly lower his own status.
Looking at the noisy National Assembly, Stambolov felt an inexplicable irritation.
Being able to rise from a shoemaker’s son to become a Prime Minister, he was naturally no fool.
Increasing agricultural taxes would certainly invite criticism; he had been prepared for that in advance.
For the sake of Bulgaria’s industrialization, Stambolov did not care about bearing a little infamy.
But looking at the current chaotic National Assembly, he highly doubted whether this bunch of people could lead Bulgaria to a revival!
Stambolov, who also served as the Speaker, said angrily, ‘Quiet!
Enough, no need for more nonsense, let’s start the vote immediately!’
Unexpectedly, this move caused strong dissatisfaction among the Conservative Party and democrats.
According to normal procedure, there should be a debate before a vote on the bill.
In a bad mood, Stambolov actually skipped this step entirely, proceeding directly to a vote after clarifying the bill, thereby depriving them of their right to speak.
The angry Conservative Party members withdrew from the vote directly to show their protest.
Unsurprisingly, the Liberal Party occupied 70% of the seats in the National Assembly, so passing the resolution was naturally not a problem.
Now that the largest opposition in the National Assembly, the Conservative Party members, had simply withdrawn from the vote, it should pass with a high number of votes, right! This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
The result was unexpected and left the Conservative Party members filled with regret.
The resolution passed with 26 votes in favor, 55 abstentions, and 18 against.
The scene left the Stambolov Cabinet extremely embarrassed; it turned out they were so unpopular, with a support rate of less than 30 percent.
If the Conservative Party hadn’t withdrawn, the National Assembly controlled by the Liberal Party would have vetoed their proposal today.
One can imagine that a political struggle centered around the Stambolov Cabinet is about to unfold.
If Ferdinand were here, he could clearly tell Stambolov that he was completely overthinking it.
Most of the members of the Bulgarian National Assembly were students who had studied abroad; young and impulsive, they were most easily swayed by public opinion.
Moreover, a large portion came from feudal landlord backgrounds.
Their families certainly wouldn’t tell them how they acquired their land, so their first reaction upon hearing about a tax increase was that their own interests were being harmed.
Opposing the proposal was just an instinct, not genuine dissatisfaction with the Stambolov Cabinet.
Upon receiving the results, Ferdinand knew that the Stambolov Cabinet was about to make a foolish move; this might be the fuse for the police Government!
Since he couldn’t stop it, Ferdinand naturally went with the flow, striving to maximize his own benefits.
At the very least, Ferdinand’s intelligence organization had already begun to act.
It had secretly acquired several newspapers to cheer for Ferdinand.
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone hadn’t reacted yet, it boosted his reputation; at least in the hearts of most citizens, Ferdinand, who opposed excessive taxation, was a benevolent king.
Ferdinand’s gaze had now left Sofia and turned toward the vast countryside.
As early as last year, Ferdinand had sent people to Austria-Hungary to hire agricultural experts, and then ordered the Ministry of Agriculture to conduct a preliminary survey.
His agricultural development plan was formulated by these experts.
To ensure its smooth completion, Ferdinand even lowered the standards.
As early as a thousand years ago, during the Warring States period, farmers realized that fertilizer could be used to improve soil.
Early farmers applied compost and animal manure to their farmland.
19th-century scientists discovered the important role of nitrogen.
Farmers began to buy sodium nitrate found in natural deposits in Chile and applied it to their own fields.
However, Bulgaria’s agriculture overall was still behind the times, the use of chemical fertilizers was very unreasonable, and the yield per acre was less than two-thirds that of Western Europe.
Water conservancy projects were even more of a mess, basically relying on the weather for harvests.
If it weren’t for Bulgaria’s superior climate conditions and sparse population, it would probably still be struggling with food shortages.
Ferdinand was no longer a naive teenager; he didn’t intend to solve the problem all at once.
He was prepared to start with the easy things first.