Chapter 18: Chapter 018: Education

The cabinet meeting ended well, and Ferdinand was satisfied with the split of power. He got to monitor the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education.

Compared to other sectors, the cabinet did not pay enough attention to agriculture. The plans that were made rarely involved the development of agriculture. It gave Ferdinand the excuse to take full advantage of it.

The Ministry of Education is even simpler. The Bulgarian treasury has no money. The most severe attacks on the government now and the opposition are the education sector. The salary of teachers has been suspended for several months.

Since Ferdinand is willing to take over this role, they naturally do not mind throwing away a mess. Anyway, funds for education are still in debt.

Ferdinand took two hot potatoes, but his heart was happy.

Bulgaria is an agricultural country with poor mineral resources. The easiest thing to do in the short term is agriculture.

Compared to China's use of land, Bulgaria is too far from European countries. If the area of arable land is in East Bulgaria, it could be enlarged twice.

Of course, Ferdinand did not intend to do that. It is entirely unnecessary. An area comparable to province, it now has just over three million people. It is less than one-tenth of the population of Jiangsu during the same period.

Ferdinand planned to build an irrigation system greatly, promote modern agricultural technology, and increase grain production, which would be enough. (The agricultural development in the Balkans was poor, and the yield of grain per acre in the same period was less than two-thirds of that in Western Europe.)

As long as he did this well and obtained the support of the peasant class, which made up nine-fold of the total population, he would be standing firm. For this reason, Ferdinand would not hesitate to invest hundreds of thousands of pounds.

As for the education sector, that's even better. History tells Ferdinand that if you control the schools, you control public opinion. By controlling the country's next-generation, you control the future of that country.

It was urgent to found a university. The first Bulgarian university in history - - was established in 1888.

The same university gave birth to the first socialist-scientific society in Bulgaria, which laid the foundation for setting off the proletarian revolution.

Ferdinand's efficiency was enough to make the cabinet sweat. He knew that the treasury had no money, nor did he go to the Stambolov cabinet.

On January 10, 1888, just after the cabinet had settled on the split of power, Ferdinand, in his capacity as Knyaz of Bulgaria, issued a second decree ;An Education Bond Roll of 5 million Leva.'