Ferdinand had only just finished the army reorganization plan and had not yet had time to announce it when Prime Minister Konstantin and Finance Minister Kennedy came knocking.
"Your Highness, this is our expenditure report for this war. The cost of the war was somewhat beyond our expectations, especially the Battle of Constantinople, which went far over budget!" the finance minister said gravely.
Ferdinand nodded and said calmly, "That is normal. The battlefield changes by the thousand and shifts by the ten thousand; a few unexpected incidents are perfectly normal!
"We won this war in the end. A little financial loss is acceptable! By the way, how much did we overspend?"
A flicker of panic flashed through the finance minister's eyes before vanishing. He quickly composed himself and said, "There was no overspending. On the contrary, we saved 70 million Lev. Our original war budget was 300 million Lev, while the actual expenditure came to roughly 230 million Lev!"
The figure of 70 million Lev flashed through Ferdinand's mind, and he was rather startled. There could actually be a surplus after fighting a war? That truly was unexpected!
Seventy million Lev was equivalent to 18.6667 million taels of Kuping silver. It would have been enough to buy the Beiyang Fleet! (Note: Exchange rate taken from 1901: 1 tael of Kuping silver = 3.75 Lev = 0.15 pounds sterling.)
When he had first transmigrated, hearing that number would certainly have sent Ferdinand into wild delight. But now, it was no longer enough to move him.
After a slight start, Ferdinand opened the documents as if nothing had happened and began reading them carefully.
The first thing that leapt into view was ammunition consumption. During the Balkan Wars, the Bulgarian army had expended over 3.87 million shells of various kinds and more