Reform II (Food Scandal 1)

Finally signed the contract, thank you all for your support!!

"However, Your Highness, the resistance is too great. It is difficult for us to gain support from all sectors of society, and the government will be very passive," Konstantin said with some hesitation.

Ferdinand nodded in acknowledgment, then asked, "Then, what if we break the plan down? For instance, pick one industry as an entry point."

Konstantin was startled and said, "If it is just one industry, then the resistance we face would be much smaller, but~~"

Ferdinand cut off the rest of Konstantin's words: "There are no more 'buts'! Your government can start by investigating one industry, identify the problems, collect sufficient evidence, then build public opinion, and finally carry out the reform!"

Konstantin looked thoughtful, and after a moment, he said, "Your Highness is wise!"

Ferdinand was quite pleased, even though the flattery was clumsy. He smiled and said, "Don't flatter me; it doesn't suit you! By the way, you are going to be busy. Reform is reform, but the Five-Year Plan must not be affected. The government has a heavy responsibility!"

"Rest assured, Your Highness, our Ministry of Interior will handle it well!" Konstantin guaranteed.

After leaving the Sofia Royal Palace, Konstantin had a headache. Despite his prompt agreement earlier, he actually had no idea where to start.

The Five-Year Plan was tying up most of the government's energy, and deep down, Konstantin opposed carrying out reforms right now; he simply could not handle the workload.

At the same time, he agreed with Ferdinand's reasoning for the reform—now was the time when resistance would be at its lowest. The interest groups had just been purged by the previous government and were severely weakened; those who survived were all smart people.

The new parliamentary elections had not yet begun, and power was still concentrated in Ferdinand's hands. If the government forced the reforms through, they could still be implemented. The backlash would not be very strong; after all, the butcher's knife from the Stambolov era had already terrified the capitalists, and they would not dare to openly defy the government in the short term.

However, where to start was a thorny problem. As the first target, it had to be representative and widely recognized by all sectors of society.

The wind is refreshing after autumn, the rain is cool after autumn, a cool and pleasant autumn indeed. The earth presented a delightful scene of harvest, making one feel relaxed and happy.

Facing the autumn breeze, Konstantin walked onto the street involuntarily. From time to time, he heard peddlers shouting. The street was filled with goods stalls from one end to the other, and the colorful merchandise dazzled the eyes. Even the air was filled with the tempting aromas of tripe soup, canned meat, cheese, roasted meat, tzatziki...

Konstantin suddenly had a flash of inspiration: what industry could be better than the food industry?

"Food safety" was definitely a topic of concern for the entire population. Cracking down on illegal merchants and resolving food safety hazards—who could say there was a problem with that?

Looking at the bustling Sofia, apart from Konstantin, who knew that in the near future, this place would usher in a severe government crackdown?

The problem of "food safety" had existed for a long time. In the golden age of capitalism in the 19th century, in order to maximize profits, capitalists were unscrupulous, using all kinds of additives at will.

As for food safety, as long as it didn't cause immediate problems upon consumption, they dared to put it on the market. Things like dead beef or rat meat were trivial; large amounts of mercury compounds were used as preservatives—it was practically murder.

On October 15, the Bulgarian government issued the Food Safety Management Regulations, ordering food processing enterprises to rectify within a time limit.

The capitalists waited and watched for a few days. Seeing that the government took no further action, it was a classic case of "loud thunder but small raindrops." So everyone went back to business as usual; they weren't fools, and who would go against money?

Of course, there was one exception. At the very least, the Shineway Food Group was undergoing a major overhaul. Welian, who had insider information, naturally knew that the government was serious this time.

Previously, the Shineway Food Group had multiple brands for the same type of product, with a huge price gap. The lowest-grade ordinary goods and the highest-grade aristocratic supplies differed by more than ten times in price.

Even so, the aristocratic supplies still sold very well. Apart from the face-conscious aristocrats, the capitalists were the main consumers.

Why did European aristocrats eat food produced on their own estates, and why were the nouveau riche capitalists also keen on buying estates? They were not fools; it was mainly because everyone knew that the food sold on the market was problematic.

Clearly, Ferdinand was also a qualified capitalist. For products sold to the masses, profit maximization was natural—the cheaper, the better. As for the aristocratic supplies, Ferdinand could guarantee with a pat on his chest that they were absolutely safe, without any chemical additives, mainly because he was eating them himself.

Anyway, the cheaper the product, the less guaranteed the quality. It was absolutely in line with international standards; everyone was about the same. As for whether it would poison people, that was not within Ferdinand's consideration.

Now that Ferdinand was the King, standing from the perspective of a monarch, Bulgaria needed to increase its population, so food safety was an urgent problem to be solved. Konstantin's plan could be said to coincide with his own.

As for whether rectifying the food industry would affect Ferdinand's own industries, that could only be called worrying about nothing.

No matter how it is rectified, people still have to eat! Market demand would not drop significantly. With technological innovation and rising production costs, the first to suffer would only be the small capitalists.

A few days later, the Bulgaria Daily reported a piece of news. A large-scale food poisoning incident occurred at the Chaote Hardware Factory in Sofia. More than eighty people were sent to the Jiu Ren'ai Hospital for emergency treatment due to food poisoning.

According to the news report, the cause of the poisoning was mainly the addition of large amounts of mercury-based preservatives to the food consumed.

Such things were actually not new in Bulgaria at the time, nor in the whole of Europe, or even the whole world back then. It was just a group of workers who were poisoned; it wasn't like some big shot had been poisoned, so what was the big deal?

So they were poisoned, what of it? Besides, these people didn't all die; not a single one had died.

Not even one person died, and they were sent to the hospital for emergency treatment—could something that happened every day like this really count as big news?

Well, such things, indeed, did not count as news. If it were in the past, when food poisoning occurred, the workers were left to fend for themselves. Now that the capitalists had sent them to the hospital for emergency treatment, even if it was forced by labor laws, it was still a great improvement.

The news media didn't bother to report it because most of the workers were poor and wouldn't buy newspapers. But this time, the situation was completely different; the Bulgaria Daily actually published this news in the most prominent position.

Book recommendation: The seedling "Balkan Overlord," a novel about the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Interested friends can go and take a look.