Vol 5 Chapter 136: Rubber crisis

A genius remembers the address of this station in one second: (Vertex Chinese), the fastest update! No ads!? "Your Majesty, the Arabian Peninsula Circle Railway is completed and opened to traffic. Our big railway plan, all the main lines are completed, the remaining branch lines The construction will be completed gradually in the next two years!" said Transport Minister Behir Ivanlov
"So fast?" Ferdinand asked in surprise.
"Your Majesty, how powerful this man is, he will naturally be faster!" Beshir explained
Ferdinand nodded. He didn't need to know what was going on. It is estimated that the rebellion occurred in the colony, and then a lot of labor was added.
For its own benefit, the military is very active in capturing labor.
For the labor they provide, the railway company also needs to pay wages, but the wages are not paid to the workers, but directly paid to the military to make up for the lack of military spending.
Now the Bulgarian Railway Company is about to become the largest slave owner in the world, but with a layer of legality. Without the selfless dedication of these laborers, there would be no Bulgaria today.
Not only Bulgaria, but many countries have risen in this way, but they are all covered by legality.
Of course, Ferdinand has to pretend not to know about this kind of thing. The people below are all good courtiers, and they will automatically pick up the black pot, and he will definitely not stain him as a king.
History books will only record their great achievements. At most, they will mention that the grass-roots law enforcement is too strong, and then it disappears.
The primitive accumulation of capital is bloody, everyone is the same, no one is cleaner than anyone else.
"Well, this time your Ministry of Communications has done a good job. The focus of the next work will be the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba. How is the progress over there?" Ferdinand asked concerned.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured! The work on the Aqaba Gulf Canal is progressing very fast. We have mobilized 2,000 excavators, 10,000 transport vehicles of various types, and 150,000 laborers. The Grand Canal will be dug in the shortest time! "Bashir replied confidently
Ferdinand was not involved in engineering. I don’t know if this allocation is reasonable. It’s not just a preliminary calculation, but the length of the Grand Canal is 318 kilometers:
On average, there are 6.2 excavators, 31.44 cars, and 471.7 people per kilometer. This density is high enough.
On the planned route of the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba, the altitude is not very high. There are few places with an altitude of more than two hundred meters. Most areas are less than 30 meters above sea level, and many places are still below sea level.
It should not be a big problem to dig out a canal in two or three years.
In the face of such a large-scale earthwork project, the work efficiency of an excavator is one hundred times that of manual work. Back then, the French could dig through the Suez Canal manually, and the Americans could dig through the Panama Canal manually. It doesn't make sense that now that there are machinery, it can't make it more efficient.
"Is this the fastest speed?" Ferdinand asked with concern
"No, in theory we can still be faster, but the cost will be greatly increased. Right now we are using the most reasonable combination.
At the same time, taking into account the construction period and cost, we can even cut the construction period by half at any cost! "Beshir thought for a while and said
"Then follow the current plan. If the cost is too high, the price/performance ratio is not worth it!" Ferdinand thought for a while and said
The Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba was excavated to get rid of the Suez Canal controlled by the British and to take this lifeline in their own hands.
The most direct reason was that the tolls charged by the British were too high, which prompted the Bulgarian government to rush to launch the Grand Canal in the Gulf of Aqaba. If the cost is too high, the gain will not be worth the loss.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Beshir replied
...
"Your Majesty, due to the impact of the war in Southeast Asia, the world's rubber production has been greatly reduced, and the price of rubber has tripled in 1927.
At the end of 1927, the price of rubber on the international market was 3.6 times that of the pre-war period.
Although the Indonesian rebellion is over, the price of rubber has not fallen, but has risen further. It is already seven times the price of rubber in 1924.
The high price of rubber has severely affected our domestic industrial development. The rubber plantations opened in China have not been harvested in a short time.
The quality of our artificial synthetic rubber is not good enough to be used in large-scale industrial production. Now the price of domestic rubber products has risen sharply!
This is not the most serious. For a long time in the future, many of our companies may be forced to stop production because they cannot buy qualified rubber! "The Minister of Industry Lauren said with a headache.
"What's the matter? Is anyone in the international market speculating on rubber prices?" Ferdinand asked concerned.
"Your Majesty, it is not the issue of some people speculating on rubber prices, but the fact that the market is already out of stock. Since the outbreak of the Southeast Asian rebellion, the world's largest rubber producing area and the area controlled by the rebels have reduced the amount of foreign rubber exports.
After the Indonesian rebellion was suppressed, unwilling rebels destroyed the rubber plantation. Now everyone is worried that the rebels in other regions will follow suit.
Once the rubber plantations in Southeast Asia are gone, the global rubber crisis will break out.
Now the public opinion has been heated up, and everyone is worried that rubber will not be available by then. Coupled with the fact that a consortium is driving up the price of rubber in the international market, the current sky-high price of rubber has appeared! "The Minister of Industry Lauren explained
Ferdinand frowned. If the price of rubber continues to rise, Bulgaria will have to replace it with inferior synthetic rubber, otherwise this sky-high-priced rubber company cannot afford it!
Natural rubber has high elasticity at room temperature, slightly plasticity, very good mechanical strength, low hysteresis loss, low heat generation during multiple deformations, so its flex resistance is also very good, and because it is non-polar Rubber, so good electrical insulation performance.
Synthetic rubber will not work. Except for its low cost, most of its properties are not as good as natural rubber.
Of course, synthetic rubber is not without good performance, but the performance is improved, the cost will go up, the cost performance is too low, and there are not many industrial applications in this era.
Faced with this real problem, Ferdinand is also powerless, either sacrificing quality or reducing output.
"When will the rubber plantation established in our country be fully operational?" Ferdinand asked concerned.
"Your Majesty, now some of the rubber plantations that were opened first have been harvested one after another, and some have to wait until two years later!
It is precisely because of this batch of harvested rubber that we have persisted until now, otherwise the rubber crisis will occur last year.
We originally thought that after the end of the Indonesian rebellion, rubber production in Southeast Asia would recover, and rubber prices on the international market would normalize. The government ignored this issue before.
The biggest problem now is that even if our domestic rubber plantations are all put into production, they can only meet about 70% of our domestic industrial production demand, and the rest still needs to be imported! "Constantine replied
There is no solution to this problem at all. Rubber is different from other products and requires at least five or six years of planting. It is impossible to increase rubber production immediately in a short time.
"Then increase the output of synthetic rubber. We give priority to solving the rubber supply of special industries. If we can replace it with synthetic rubber, we will replace it with synthetic rubber. Let us pass the current hurdle first!
At the same time, we have to open up some more rubber plantations so that the rubber should not get stuck in our necks! "Ferdinand thought for a while and said
Of course, Bulgaria is not the worst. At any rate, some of the colonies have been planted, and the supply of important domestic industries can be guaranteed. It is nothing more than the sacrifice of some less important enterprises.
It is always possible for these ordinary enterprises to use inferior synthetic rubber to ensure industrial production.
The worst thing is of course no industrial countries that produce rubber, such as Germany, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden and other countries without colonies.
Without their own rubber industrial park, the price of rubber on the international market is skyrocketing, and they have to bite their teeth to buy it. Unfortunately, it is not a question of money. The bigger problem is that money cannot buy goods!
The main suppliers in the rubber market in this era have always been Britain, France, and the Netherlands, followed by Thailand, and then no more.
The main production areas are in Siam (Thailand), Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
All were concentrated in Southeast Asia, and this colonial rebellion happened in the three countries of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. Only one Thailand can export normally.
This problem is very serious. The rubber supply on the international market is already less than the fourth level of a normal year, but the demand for rubber in countries around the world has not decreased, but has increased.
Since there are more monks and less porridge, then it can only be stronger. At this time, a weak country can't rob the strong one.
These countries, Britain and France, will undoubtedly exert political pressure on the Siamese government, relying on off-field advantages to grab the largest share, and the rest will be shared by others.
Don’t even think about it. With such a small output, the three countries are not enough.
Although the price of rubber on the international market has skyrocketed, everyone can still snap up the purchase. That is based on the premise that the governments of the three countries have not yet intervened. Once domestic capitalists cannot buy enough rubber, government intervention is an inevitable problem.
"Your Majesty, we can communicate with the Siamese government to give priority to ordering a batch of rubber. There is no need to go to the international market to grab the goods!" Foreign Minister Metjeev proposed.
"Yes, this issue is left to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and all government departments will cooperate fully!" Ferdinand thought for a while and said
"Your Majesty, this time I am afraid that the military will have to cooperate. Our influence in Southeast Asia is too small, and the Thai government may not buy our account!" Metiev explained
"Well, no problem, I will order the military to cooperate with your actions, and you can use special methods when necessary!" Ferdinand said indifferently
Why are great powers called great powers?
If everything is done according to the rules, is it still a power?
Especially in the age of imperialism, as a qualified imperialist country, the gentleness of the Bulgarian government is only on the premise that there is no conflict of interest.
At this time, domestic enterprises are about to suspend production due to raw material problems. If they continue to follow the rules, will they still be powers?
However, Ferdinand's usual style is to courteous first and then to war. As long as the two sides negotiate, everything is easy to say, even if the price is higher, the Bulgarian government now recognizes it.
If the Siamese government wants to take advantage of the fire, it must make a good point, and warships are the biggest truth of this era.
Not only Bulgaria, Britain and France must also take action.
If you want to take advantage of the fire, you must also keep your eyes open. Not all objects can be blackmailed.
You know, after Bulgaria was established for so many years, Ferdinand did not actively invade any country. I have to say that this is also a miracle!
Of course, this is only on the surface. In fact, all the countries that Ferdinand spotted at the end were mildew.
It is nothing more than his clever means and a reasonable excuse. On the surface, Bulgaria is a passive counterattack. It is nothing more than the final counterattack a little too hard.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Metev replied
Diplomats who don’t want to do things~EbookFREE.me~ are not good diplomats!
Evaluating the ability of a diplomat in this era depends on how much you do and how much benefit you bring to the country.
It’s not what ordinary people imagine. It has coordinated the direct relations between countries. Hello, me, hello, everyone. I am a qualified diplomat.
The kind of exquisite diplomats are only suitable for living in small countries. The foreign ministries of the major powers have no persimmons. As far as the ability to do things, everyone is not bad.
It is worth noting just this problem of means. For example, the British Empire did the most things, but they still controlled the situation, so their diplomatic ability was recognized by everyone as the world's first.
Another example: Germany is the negative example. They can also do things, but unfortunately their methods are too bad. If they do, they put themselves in. They are considered by everyone as the worst diplomatic method among the big powers.
Now the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also not a fuel-efficient lamp, but the space for them to play is too small.
After the rise of Bulgaria, the world has been divided up, and there are very few independent countries left.
Either it is hard bones, or the interests are too small, or the international relations are too complicated, and Ferdinand is not interested in them. Naturally, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will not do things.
Everyone is just normal business cooperation. On the surface, it seems that Bulgaria is full and has no desire to continue to expand!
The current situation has changed again. Ferdinand is not interested in Siam, but the Bulgarian industry needs Thai rubber, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will naturally take action.
In line with the principle of peace is the most important, if you can talk, you can talk. If you can't talk, you don't know what will become in the end. Anyway, don't expect any international axioms in this era. He is only within the range of the cannon.
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