Bulgarian Empire

Chapter 85: Conflict in Serbia

"One ant-hole may cause the collapse of a thousand-li dyke!"1)

During the economic crisis from 1890 to 1893, a shady deal was hatched against the Austro-Hungarian banks under Ferdinand's butterfly effect, which led to the Austro-Hungarian financial crisis.

History has begun to change. The United States and Germany, which had the most to lose in this economic crisis, are now joined by an unlucky Austro-Hungarian Empire. The future path of the world has become vague.

Well, the economic crisis is now brewing in the United States and has not yet broken out in general. What happened was that the Austro-Hungarian financial crisis broke out and shook all of Europe.

Now the status of the British Empire's hegemony is still solid. The conflicts between the Great Powers have not yet escalated; the two major military blocs have not yet been formally created.

For the sake of goodwill and the common progress of human society, international capital has lent a helping hand to help Austria-Hungary out of the economic crisis.

Of course, the noble capitalists gave so much for the Austro-Hungarian Empire that it would not be worthwhile to reap a little trivial profit.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was still very strong. At that time, it was ranked with Great Britain, France, Germany, and Russia as one of the five traditional powers in Europe; at the same time, it was also one of the five Great Powers of the world.

Its territory was the third-largest in Europe at that time, after the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Its population was slightly smaller than that of Russia and the German Empire, and it was the third-largest in Europe.

In the field of heavy industry, the strength of the machinery and instrument manufacturing industry and the steel and arms industry ranked fourth in the world, after Germany, Britain, and the United States. The heavy artillery weapons produced by the koda before Great War ranked first in the world.

In the field of agriculture, the variety of agricultural products and the abundance of production have surpassed Russia and ranked the highest in all of Europe.

With such a large fortune, the Austro-Hungarian financial system was still struggling to persist. It waited for an international friend like Ferdinand to come to the rescue.

The first to suffer from this financial crisis was the Balkans. The Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot take care of itself. Naturally, they can not afford to watch out for their little ones.

Since the Austro-Hungarian Bank had announced that it would stop granting loans, other financial entities have followed suit. The small Balkan countries that are still waiting for money to get through the economic crisis are in trouble.

The economic crisis has not yet passed, and the financial crisis has come back. The first to bear the brunt of the economic crisis was Serbia. As the little brother of Austria-Hungary, when the economic crisis broke out, it was in trouble.

Austria-Hungary's loan is just to be taken out to get rid of the crisis, and now suddenly said that it is gone. The 16-year-old Aleksandar was angry. He didn't want to be cheated. He signed the contract, they granted half of the loan, and suddenly it was gone.

So, the flowers and plants in the palace were ruined and trampled all over by Aleksandar. It only was after he had vented enough that an emergency meeting was held.

...

"Austria-Hungary has suddenly stopped our loans. What do you think we should do now?" Aleksandar Obrenovi said bitterly.

"We want to protest to Austria-Hungary with the harshest words possible. It is total neglect for us in Serbia!" The Foreign Minister said with an angry face.

"Austria-Hungary has suddenly suffered an economic crisis and is now taking care of itself; it will not be useful to protest! We have been abandoned, and now I'm afraid we have to find our own way out!" The Minister of Finance said with a mixed reaction.

"How much money does the government have left now?" Aleksandar asked in a stern voice.

"A total of 213,218 dinars. These are not enough to cover the government's expenses for a month!" said the Minister of Finance after thinking about it.

"So what's the solution now from you, the Ministry of Finance?" Aleksandar asked hopefully.

"In the short term, we can only cut expenses. All government officials will not be paid half of their salaries from now on. The army will suspend its expansion and cut military spending by two-thirds, plus the tax burden behind it. During this time, we will seek external loans!" The finance minister said with a clear mind.

"No, I oppose it!" The Minister of War shouted.

"Oh, what is the high opinion of our Minister of War?" The Minister of Finance said with a scornful sweep.

"Humph! Now that the financial crisis is serious, it is acceptable to suspend the expansion of the army. However, on what grounds do you cut the military expenditure by two-thirds? Aren't you afraid that the army will mutiny?" The Minister of War angrily asked.

After hearing the 'mutiny', the finance minister's face changed slightly, then quickly returned to normal and said with a sneer, "'Mutiny', are you threatening me? We are in a financial crisis. We should be in the same boat to overcome the difficulties together. Can't the army make sacrifices for the country?"

"And with the current number of troops, our Ministry of Finance has precisely calculated that even with a two-thirds cut in military spending, there's still barely enough to pay the soldiers! What makes them want to mutiny? Could it be that someone ~~"

At this point, the Minister of Finance's voice stopped, and he looked at the Minister of War with a strange deadly gaze, as if to find out what was going on.

"Don't you dare spout lies! Doesn't the army need training? Doesn't the equipment need to be updated? You idiot!" The Minister of War, who was a little bit furious by the strange gaze of the Minister of Finance, cursed angrily.

"Stupid! There are things of priority! Don't you know how to find an excuse to train soldiers with low cost? Wouldn't a few days of equipment renewal be enough?" The Minister of Finance said scornfully.

"You ~ you ~ ~" the Minister of War was so angry that he could not speak.

The Minister of Finance had just shown a triumphant smile when Aleksandar spoke up, "Enough of this bickering! Now that Serbia is in a crisis, you have to take the big picture into serious focus and stop arguing about everything!"

"Humph!" The Minister of War gave a cold snort of disapproval. Although he did not explicitly say so, he also knew that Alexander, who had always advocated the expansion of the army, now had an attitude that was clearly more inclined to the Minister of Finance, which made him very unhappy.

The Minister of War now wants to ask the people: What do you think the army is? Do you think you can cut military spending whenever you want?

Finally, he gave up. He knew it was useless to say anything now. Even if he broke his lips, the government has no money can not change the outcome.

...

"Blessings do not come in pairs, calamities never come singly!"2)

Just as the meeting was about to end, an urgent phone call came with the bad news: "The peasants in the Kraljevo region are rioting"!

Here comes the curse of blind tax increases! After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the prices of agricultural products in the Serbian region fell sharply due to the dumping of international capital.

The income of the peasants decreased, but the taxes increased. Unable to cope with the burden, the angry peasants of the Kraljevo region decided to resist the taxes!

Next, there was a violent conflict with the tax collector of the Kraljevo region. After that, the peasants rioted for no reason.

When he received this sudden news, Aleksandar's lamented, "Ah, God, have you abandoned Serbia?"

For the riot, no doubt, must be suppressed! The cabinet quickly reached an agreement to send troops to suppress it at once. When the storm rose in Serbia took place, the wolf began to fight.

Translator:

1) A metaphor from Lao Tzu that means slight negligence may lead to great disaster.

2) A metaphor from Ming - Shi Nai'an "The Complete Biography of Shuihu" Chapter 37. It means that fortunate things will not come in a row, but misfortunes will come one after another.