By the time Ferdinand and his party returned from London to Sofia, it was already early 1904.
What pleased Ferdinand was that during the more than half year he had been away, the Bulgarian government had continued operating in an orderly fashion, without causing any trouble.
Prime Minister Konstantin presented a summary report and said, "Your Majesty, these are Bulgaria's achievements over the past year!"
Ferdinand naturally took the report and began leafing through it. Before long, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.
For Bulgaria, 1903 had absolutely been a year of leapfrog development. Equipment imported from abroad had been installed one after another and put into operation.
In terms of total industrial output, it had increased by 87 percent over the four years since 1899!
Aside from some factories left behind by the Ottomans resuming operations, many domestic industries had also made great strides.
Many workers who had taken to construction sites because of the economic crisis were now gradually returning to the factories.
Bulgaria had once again set foot on the expressway of economic development and begun racing forward.
Of course, this industrial equipment was currently only unleashing a portion of its capacity. To fully realize its production potential would require waiting until at least the end of 1905. By then, Bulgaria's industrial capacity would reach a new height!
Take the steel industry, for example: in 1903, Bulgaria's total steel and iron output had reached 546,000 tons, including 234,000 tons of steel, 303,000 tons of iron, and another 9,000 tons of specialty steel!
Most crucially, the Bulgarian Steelworks had finally begun turning a profit. Though it was only an insignificant few hundred thousand Lev, and equipment depreciation had not yet been factored in, it was still tremendous progress!
This showed that the steelworks had begun entering a