Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 36: Interim Cabinet Formed

When he looked at the newspaper in his hand, Kliment said in disbelief, "How is this possible? Has the cabinet gone crazy? Have all the officials below also gone crazy? This is completely insane!"

No one answered his question, and everyone around him was as stunned as he was. The opposition party, which had thought it was going to make a comeback, was now baffled by the bad news.

The main figures are dead. The roots are gone. The remaining two or three small dogs and cats are already destined to be reduced to spectators.

It is a big battle of fire between the Liberals and the opposition party to the outside world. The Liberals felt that the power was gone and simply dragged the opposition party down with them.

Now everyone is pretty much the same. The Liberals are in disgrace, the opposition is thin, everyone has lost their popular base, and no one can wipe out the other.

It is precisely the result Ferdinand wanted. After this battle, for at least twenty years ~ the Bulgarian political parties will not be able to become a trend.

And the people are already sick of political parties. The Liberal Party's massacre, the opposition's mass assassination, it's scary to think about it!

Ferdinand thought about it but still decided to beat the dog and said to Hoover, "Your next priority is still to continue to guide public opinion and make the party the focus of propaganda!"

Hoover asked in doubt, "Is Your Highness trying to abolish political parties?"

Ferdinand glared at Hoover with discontent and, after a moment of silence, said, "What? You think there's something wrong?"

Hoover knew he had slipped up. It was beyond the scope of his job, and he quickly said, "No, no problem, I'll get right on it!"

Ferdinand waved his hand and signaled for Hoover to leave. He thought to himself, "Hoover has so much power in his hands that he is now a little forgetful. It seems that power must be divided!"

At that moment, Alisa came up to Ferdinand and said, "Your Highness, Minister Chekhov is here."

"Let him in!" Ferdinand said as he calmed down.

...

After completing and polite greeting, Chekhov began to report to Ferdinand.

"Your Highness, I recommend a man to you who is very capable and can assist you in your political affairs!"

In a surprise, Ferdinand asked, "Oh! Who is it?"

After the fall of Stambolov's cabinet, except for leaving a huge sum of money, it also left a pile of tough messes. The interim cabinet has not yet come to form, which needs Ferdinand to deal with it. He now urgently needs help.

Chekhov did not shy away from saying, "My old classmate Konstantin Stoilov. A former high ranking member of the People's Party, with strong personal skills... He has no obvious bias in diplomacy."

Ferdinand's heart is shocked. Another famous person seems to be the next Prime Minister of Bulgaria in the original era.

Konstantin Stoilov, who became prime minister of Bulgaria in 1894, pursued the economic policy of the Stambolov regime with the most enthusiasm among the various governments and promoted the industrial development of Bulgaria. In diplomatic terms, he reached a compromise with Russia and normalized Bulgarian relations.

But in dealing with its political opponents, the People's Party often hired assassins to murder its opponents. Moreover, soon after coming to power, party officials engaged in gray deals and corruption and soon became infamous.

Ferdinand thought about it and then relaxed. The situation now was very different from the historical one. A single Konstantin Stoilov could not make any big waves, and it seemed a good choice to let him handle the internal affairs.

"Oh, since you hold him in such high esteem, I'll meet him!" Ferdinand said with a smile.

Chekhov said in a certain tone, "Don't worry, Your Highness, he will never let you down!"

Ferdinand nodded and said, "Hmm! By the way, the interim cabinet will be formed soon. Among them I have reserved a position for you. You should be prepared!"

Chekhov's heart was delighted that his efforts were finally not in vain and had been rewarded so quickly. He said with happiness and emotion, "Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will try my best to do a good job!"

Ferdinand nodded with content. He has been running the business in Bulgaria for too short a time. There are actually not many suitable candidates in his hands.

Chekhov was the first senior government official to join him. Although his ability was average, he was good at obeying and enforcing his orders. Moreover, the Minister of Education has already taken care of this. It is not too abrupt to promote him to the cabinet.

...

Time passed quickly, and after two days of wild rumors, the news had spread all over Bulgaria, and everyone was talking about it.

The media, which they had just relaxed, now acted like they were being held back. They bit the Liberals and the Opposition in a frenzy of criticism. The intellectuals who escaped the attack and the educators responded in unison.

Thanks to the Stambolov government's reign of terror, many ordinary people who are not concerned about things, it is to reduce the pressure on Ferdinand.

He sent the Stambolov cabinet away for mental illness, but the call for their death sentence was still very loud.

However, Ferdinand was quick to deal with the matter and launched a Revision Committee, which diverted public attention with the reversal of the case not to cause chaos.

On May 15, 1889, Ferdinand formed a low-profile interim cabinet with the prime minister left vacant. The cabinet was now composed of only three members: Minister of Education Chekhov, Minister of Agriculture Yakov Petrinov, and the pro-Russian Archbishop Kliment.

When he established the new government, the tithe and the harsh taxes imposed under the Stambolov regime were abolished.

Ferdinand was then assigned to Archbishop Kliment and formed a delegation to St. Petersburg to calm the pro-Russian faction in the country.

After he did all this, Ferdinand breathed a deep sigh of relief. He stabilized the chaotic situation in Bulgaria in the short term.

It was only now that Ferdinand had the energy to deal with the mess left by Stambolov's cabinet. He could not stop the ongoing five-year plan. The chaotic system of government needed to be sorted out. Most of the suspects who had been secretly executed and were still in prison needed to be newly identified.

Konstantin Stoilov passed Ferdinand's test and was assigned to the post of Minister of Interior. He was in charge of keeping the administration on a day-to-day basis.

Chekhov personally takes charge of the Revision Committee. It began to identify the crime, and of course, he directly ignored those involved or implicated in the assassination case. The unlucky ones that got now exterminated also leaned back.

It was a great success. Even so, they could not do the rehab of tens of thousands of people fast enough. It was Ferdinand's idea that all be handled by legal procedures.

Ferdinand also invited the Bulgarian judicial sector, the famous veteran - Boris Christoff, to form the anti-corruption bureau.

The purge of the government has begun, and the former cabinet is also under scrutiny, with a large number of officials facing dismissal.

The first to bear the brunt is the police department as a direct party to the massacre. The public is crying out for help. Ferdinand took this chance to complete the control of the police system quietly.

Ferdinand and the interim cabinet were busy for most of the year before the administration was on the right track.