At Ferdinand's command, Bulgaria's government statistics added another two million-plus people to their rolls.
By the end-of-1906 national census, Bulgaria's population had already reached 17.6886 million. It was not far from Ferdinand's target of twenty million people by 1914!
This time, everyone was acting voluntarily. Obtaining Bulgarian citizenship came with tangible benefits—benefits they could see and touch. The capitalists could no longer exploit them as they pleased!
First, within the scope stipulated by labor law, they enjoyed far more comprehensive protections. For instance, they were entitled to Bulgaria's minimum wage standards and no longer had to worry about being dismissed by companies on a whim.
Moreover, capitalists could no longer demand that they work overtime for free. Otherwise, they could report them; once verified, compensation would be paid at ten times the standard, and the capitalist would even face prison time!
Of course, Bulgaria's economy was now developing at high speed. Even with these added expenses, businesses could still bear the burden!
That was the core reason Ferdinand chose to resolve the issue of immigrant citizenship now!
Otherwise, once the Russo-Japanese War ended and the economy gradually returned to normal, resolving this issue would become difficult!
After all, this meant increasing business costs. When the economic outlook was bright, an increase was just an increase—everyone could endure it. But once businesses and markets had adjusted themselves—
The rise in these people's incomes also meant greater purchasing power, which helped expand domestic demand. Bulgaria's local market would grow accordingly, feeding back into businesses in turn. It was a virtuous economic cycle!
But when the economy was bad, businesses would already struggle just to survive. Forcing them to increase their expenses—wouldn't that be driving them into bankruptcy?
Well, this only worked in a country like Bulgaria, where capitalists had little voice. In