The Path to Mediterranean Supremacy/Bulgarian Empire

After dismissing Yakov, Ferdinand lay helplessly in the chair. Alisa was kind enough to rub his forehead lightly.

"The temple is small, the demon wind is big, the pool is shallow, and the king is full!"¹This word was spoken by Mao Zedong.  It means some counter-revolutionary and capitalist problems can only be understood and solved by people in the unit and the department, not by the "task force". Now mainly used to describe things are tiny but mixed with wicked influence, yet it can not be ignored—a derogatory meaning.

This sentence fully depicts the current situation in Bulgaria, which is still the result of a large group of worms that have been cleaned up in front.

The problems in Bulgarian agriculture are far from being as simple as they appear. It is just corruption or embezzlement of public funds. The core problem is that agriculture has moreover not attracted the attention of the bureaucrats.

The "Five-Year Plan" has been in progress, and the "Railway Plan" is the most difficult and the most important.

Up to now, there have been no major problems. Even the most chaotic phase of the Stambolov period has not been affected.

All local governments are doing their best to support the construction of the railroad. Demolition of land acquisition, material transportation, many local governments is organized workforce without the usual go to help. Anyway, Ferdinand has not found anyone who dares to drag their feet.

Ferdinand could not think of a way to change the mindset of bureaucrats in their heads for a while.

After seeing Ferdinand in a bad mood, Alisa, who is also the secretary's attendant, was also troubled to put in place. It suggested: "Your Highness, why don't you go out for a walk?"

"Go for a walk, yes! It's time to go for a walk!" Ferdinand said with great joy.

One sentence woke up the dreamer. The confused Ferdinand found a way at once.

In the history of the original time, the Soviet Union has also faced this problem when implementing the first five-year plan.

It was not until the first half of 1929, when Stalin personally inspected the countryside and supervised the work, that socialist collectivization of Soviet agriculture was in full swing.

In just two months, 10 million Soviet farmers joined collectivization, representing half of the country's farming households. Although there were problems in between, the Soviet agricultural reform was generally successful.

The problems in Bulgaria are not as serious as those in the Soviet Union! Ferdinand only intended to carry out agricultural reforms but did not touch the private ownership of land. There was no harm to the interests of the class.

...

The sky is snowing heavily. Everywhere is a white, only the pine trees are still as bright green, dotted with snowflakes drifting down on it as if it is a white flower.

In February 1891, Ferdinand set out from Sofia on a three-month tour of the country in the bitter cold.

Ferdinand set off along the northwest in great numbers with a thousand guards, with the first stop being Vratsa Province.

Vratsa is a city in northwestern Bulgaria, the capital of Vratsa Province. It is located on the northern slope of the western part of the Balkan Mountains, where the Leva River flows into the plain.

It is located in a good location and has various industries such as natural gas, chemical industry, cement, cotton textile, silk textile, cast iron, copper refining, fertilizer, wood processing, etc. In agriculture, wheat and oats are produced in abundance.

He cannot deny the importance of the Vratsa region in Bulgaria.

In 1974, Vratsa accounted for 96 % of the total Bulgarian production of urea, 24,8 % of pulp, 23 % cement, and 19 % of cotton.

In agriculture, the state already has the third-largest production of wheat and oats, the fourth largest production of poultry eggs, and the country's eighth-largest production of milk.

What deserves special mention is the 'Kozloduy' Nuclear Power Station in Bulgaria, built near the village of Kozloduy in the Vratsa Province, which was the first nuclear power station in the Balkans and the whole of Southeast Europe.

Ferdinand can not help but pay attention to it, but now Vratsa is not as glorious as in later times. Industrial development is just starting, and agricultural development is seriously lagging down.

Ferdinand's surprise visit stunned the bureaucrats of Vratsa, who had little time to prepare for it, given that Sofia was only a few days away.

This time, Ferdinand is not to go to seek their bad luck. All the way around, the speed is naturally not fast. In each place, he will send someone to inspect the factories and personally walk around the countryside, and when he encounters a problem, he will directly raise it and order the local government to solve it.

What are bureaucrats? In his previous life, Ferdinand did not have to look more petite. Without pressure, there is no motivation, of which meeting the political demands of their superiors is the primary motivation for their behavior.

The Governor of Vratsa Province, Vladimir Ivanov, is a modernist bourgeois bureaucrat. Since he came to power, Vratsa Province has seen rapid industrial development, maintaining an annual growth rate of over 10%, and has been honored by the government several times.

So even though he came from the Liberal Party and was a staunch supporter of Stambolov, he was not removed from the new government.

...

Vladimir Ivanov said in a stern voice: "All right, gentlemen, now go and get ready! His Highness will be here in a few days, and I don't want him to see a dirty Vratsa. If something goes wrong, no one will be lucky!"

"Don't worry, Governor. We'll get it done!" The people replied in unison.

If Ferdinand had seen this scene, he would have shouted 'hilltopism'²"Hilltopism" refers to the lack of internal party politics in some places. The loopholes in the monitoring and restriction mechanism of the "leader" of the party. The "collusion" reveals that some places have many problems with the cadre selection and appointment mechanism. The "small corruption" and "competent corruption" reveals that the current power of the grassroots rent-seeking opportunities, space, lack of supervision has seriously damaged the personal interests of the voters/people. In some cases, they prefer to be paternalistic figures, equating the individual with the organization, making major decisions neither scientifically nor democratically, and engaging in "one voice". Some of them work separately, treating their areas of responsibility as "private territories", turning subordinates into their own "vassals", with severe internal conflict and no synergy. Some are only held personally responsible for leadership and not for the organization, turning subordinate relationships into personal dependencies.!

On February 18, Ferdinand arrived in Vratsa with a large group and was warmly welcomed by the population. The first impression he had of the city was its cleanliness and neatness.

Ferdinand would not be surprised if it were the 21st century in Vratsa. But this is the 19th century, the world's cities are the same, dirty, messy, poor. There is also the saying that "London smells like a car and wine", cleanliness and hygiene are not yet taken seriously by the people.

It has to be said that this is the right kind of flattery by Vladimir Ivanov. Ferdinand has given the order for policy cleanliness and hygiene several times since he succeeded to the throne, and so far, only Sofia has been fully implemented.

Ferdinand pleasantly met with Vladimir Ivanov and attended the welcome party they had organized.

Of course, it only went to show a face, said less than ten words, and left in a hurry. After all, the identity gap is too big. It isn't easy to play nicely together.

"You have done a great job, Vladimir Ivanov!" Ferdinand calls a separate meeting with Vladimir to say it.

Vladimir Ivanov even said, "I don't have the guts to do so! I just followed Your Highness's orders and simply did my essential job!"

In later times, Westerners were confident and showed a blunt dislike for modesty. In the 19th century, however, their self-confidence had not yet become immense, or at least they remained in awe when faced with people of higher status.

Ferdinand smiled and said, "To be able to carry out my orders perfectly, you are a talent! But what I see now is only part of it. I'm looking forward to your performance in other areas!"

Vladimir Ivanov is first joy, then a shock. By the orders of the central government, Vladimir thought he was still doing a good job! But it is hard to say whether it can meet Ferdinand's requirements. There was also some secret regret in his heart: "If I had known earlier that His Highness was coming to make his rounds, I would have done a better job myself."

...

How come there are so many leaders in the latter days to visit around? Stay in the office is not good? Before he traversed, Ferdinand did not understand it very well and thought it was simply for show. After more than two years as leader, Ferdinand found that there is a need to show off, at least to give enough pressure below!