I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 552: Standing in Line in Advance
In order to get to Rivne as soon as possible, Brusinov had to complete his work as quickly as possible.

The saying "the smaller the temple, the more evil spirits may arise" refers to a country like the Kingdom of Bulgaria, which has a population of only 440 million but only 165 members of parliament, a perfect example of the saying "the pond is shallow but the turtles are numerous".

After Augustus returned to Sofia, he immediately set about reforming the state parliament.

The Bulgarian Parliament was established earlier than the Kingdom of Bulgaria. Other countries had a country first and then a parliament, but the Kingdom of Bulgaria had a parliament first and then a country. Therefore, the power of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Bulgaria is much greater than that of the king.

The archbishop was not very good at politics and it was impossible for him to customize an election plan for the Kingdom of Bulgaria, so he copied it entirely from the Russian Empire and formed a new parliament according to the election method of the Russian State Duma.

The reason for the re-election was that the Bulgarian Kingdom lost southern Dobruja, annexed Western Thrace, and the population increased from 440 million to 650 million, so a re-election was necessary.

Referring to the Russian electoral law, in the Kingdom of Bulgaria only adult males had the right to vote, and there were property requirements. Hired workers, short-term workers, women, soldiers, students, and people under the age of 25 did not have the right to vote.

All voters were divided into four electoral groups: landlords, citizens, peasants, and workers.

The criteria for selecting members of parliament are: for every 2,000 landowners, 4,000 citizens, 30,000 farmers, or 90,000 workers.

The members of parliament who are elected through this standard are provincial members of parliament. After the provincial parliaments are formed, elections will be held again on this basis to produce national members of parliament.

August's idea was good.

But the situation of the Russian Empire did not apply to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

If this standard is strictly followed, the Kingdom of Bulgaria can only produce a maximum of 21 national parliamentarians.

this is normal.

The fourth Russian State Duma, which was newly elected this year, has a total of only 465 members.

This was based on the premise that Stolypin's agricultural reforms were effective and the number of rich peasants in Russia increased significantly.

The land annexation situation in the Bulgarian Kingdom was very serious. More than 6 percent of the country's land was concentrated in the hands of the six most powerful families. The owner of the largest amount of land was the former king Valdemar.

What made Augustus angry was that although Valdemar was deposed, he did not give up his property in the Bulgarian Kingdom and still insisted on ownership of these lands.

With the support of Polis, Augustus forcibly purchased the land from Waldemar at the price of 20 levs per acre, and then distributed the land equally to the landless civilians.

This distribution is not free and requires civilians to purchase it at the same price.

Even so, after the news came out, the Bulgarians' gratitude to the new King Polis instantly reached the point of overwhelming gratitude.

Augustus not only took action against the former king, but also implemented a tiered system of land taxation. Families with less than one acre of land were taxed according to the minimum standard, and a progressive system was implemented on this basis.

If this standard is strictly enforced, the annual taxes for families in the Bulgarian Kingdom that own large amounts of land will reach an unbearable level.

This decision aroused collective opposition from all the big families. In Burgas, three families that owned large amounts of land united to resist taxation. They not only refused to pay taxes, but also beat the tax officials to death.

George was not surprised by this result at all.

Every change of power is always accompanied by a new round of wealth distribution.

The Kingdom of Bulgaria was founded in 1878. At that time, it was not an independent country and was administered by the Russian Empire. It can be said that the wealth owned by the so-called families in the Kingdom of Bulgaria was basically inherited from the Ottoman Empire.

If these families could recognize the situation and follow August's reforms, George would not mind sharing power with them.

It would be great if they dared to resist. The Bulgarian Kingdom now has many places where it needs to spend money and is in urgent need of replenishment.

George sent a telegram to Brusinov, asking him to mobilize troops and impose martial law on Burgas. Those who should be arrested should be arrested, and those whose properties should be confiscated should have their properties confiscated. The charges were ready-made, and if the properties of the members of the Bulgarian Parliament were confiscated one by one, there might be some innocent people who were found innocent. If the properties of every other member were confiscated, there would definitely be some who would slip through the net.

George is now in Rovno.

In August, the annual routine Rivne exercise continued. George had been absent from the Rivne exercise for many years. This time, not only the Marines but also the Balkan Coalition Forces were brought.

After the end of the Balkan War, the Balkan countries gradually disarmed. The Romanian Kingdom, which retained the largest number of troops, had a total strength of only 15.

The Kingdom of Romania had a population of over 750 million, so this military ratio was reasonable.

Leading the Romanian army in the Rivne exercise was George's old friend, Crown Prince Ferdinand.

Through the Treaty of St. Petersburg, the Kingdom of Romania finally obtained the long-awaited Southern Dobruja, and Ferdinand was grateful to George for this. So after George extended an invitation to the Kingdom of Romania, Ferdinand personally led his troops to Rivne.

Ferdinand brought not many troops, only one infantry regiment.

It doesn’t matter. The number of soldiers is not a problem. The key is attitude.

The Kingdom of Romania was also an agricultural country with a good military. In the Ninth and Tenth Russo-Turkish Wars, the Kingdom of Romania fought side by side with the Russian Empire and was the most loyal ally of the Russian Empire in the Balkans.

Although the king of Bulgaria had been replaced by Boris, the Kingdom of Romania was still George's most important ally. In addition to cheering for the Russian Empire, Ferdinand also asked George to help the Russian Empire provide some armored vehicles to the Kingdom of Romania.

In his early years, Ferdinand was also ambitious and hoped to establish a military-industrial system in the Kingdom of Romania so as to no longer rely on the Russian Empire.

This is understandable. Even though the Russian Empire is an ally, some things still need to be kept in their own hands.

Through years of hard work, the military industry of the Kingdom of Romania has improved slightly. It can not only manufacture bullets and artillery shells, but also produce guns.

Then came the problem.

Due to limited resources, the weapons and ammunition produced by the Kingdom of Romania needed to be imported from the Russian Empire, and the Kingdom of Romania could not provide them on its own.

So after calculating the costs, Ferdinand and King Carol I of Romania helplessly discovered that purchasing guns and ammunition directly from the Russian Empire was actually cheaper than producing them by the Kingdom of Romania itself.

After the appearance of armored vehicles and aircraft, Ferdinand completely gave up.

Even Germany had to buy parts from the Russian Empire to assemble them itself. Even if the Kingdom of Romania sold everything it had, it would not be able to put together a complete industrial chain.

The Romanian Kingdom had no shortage of oil. There were abundant underground oil reserves in Southern Dobruja, which was ceded to the Romanian Kingdom by the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Speaking of oil, after the signing of the Treaty of St. Petersburg, Anne also blamed George and Nicholas for Nandobro and did not give enough support to Polis.

George was helpless. He did not expect that the Kingdom of Bulgaria would actually invite Polis to be king. Otherwise, the Second Balkan War would not have broken out at all.

In the past, George would have helped Ferdinand without hesitation.

The current situation is different from the past. The Bulgarian king has been replaced by Polis. If the Romanian Kingdom becomes too powerful, it will not be a good thing for the Bulgarian Kingdom.

But you can't refuse directly, as that would hurt your old friend's feelings.

So George asked Ferdinand to wait, at least until the armored forces of the Russian Empire were formed.

Of course, since Ferdinand had spoken, George had to say something.

So George personally gave Ferdinand 10 armored vehicles for the security of the Romanian royal family.

The assassination of George I once again sounded the alarm for everyone. The enemies of the Russian Empire really have no bottom line in order to create trouble for the Russian Empire.

The Kingdom of Romania was the most important ally of the Russian Empire in the Balkans, and Carol I and Ferdinand, the heir, were crucial. If anything happened to their safety, George would have nowhere to cry.

"Have the Greek Kingdom's investigation yielded any results?"

Ferdinand was also haunted by the assassination of George I.

The timing of George I's assassination was too coincidental. If it had happened earlier or later, it would not have triggered the Second Balkan War.

He died at the most critical moment, in the most sensitive Thessaloniki. Everyone knew that there must be something fishy going on.

“It doesn’t matter what the reason is now.”

George is now more cautious. The more tense the situation is, the crazier the enemy becomes.

Along with the Rovno exercise, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also began to mobilize troops on a large scale. Now, near the border between the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both sides have assembled hundreds of thousands of troops, and the situation can be said to be on the verge of breaking out.

Fortunately, the commanders on both sides are rational and have been restraining their troops during this period. The border patrol teams do not even carry bullets when patrolling to minimize the possibility of conflict.

The border patrols of the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire often clashed, and this could not be stopped at all.

If you bring bullets with you, if some idiot gets angry and starts shooting, it might immediately start a world war.

After Constantine I ascended the throne, the position of the Kingdom of Greece began to change. Just before the start of the Rovno exercise, William II awarded Constantine I the honor of Marshal of the German Empire, which was more disgusting to the Russian Empire than eating a fly.

It is indeed a bit naive to expect the honor of a marshal to buy the position of a country.

But this is indeed something that William II could do.

Since Constantine did not refuse, it means that Constantine is not smart enough.

Constantine was William II's brother-in-law, and the Kingdom of Greece and Germany were so far apart that if something really happened, Germany would not be able to provide any substantial support to the Kingdom of Greece.

When there is a conflict between major powers, small countries should avoid taking sides in advance.

(End of this chapter)