"Your Majesty, the Arabian Peninsula Ring Railway has been completed and opened to traffic. All the main lines of our Grand Railway Project are finished, and the remaining branch lines will be completed one after another within the next two years!" Minister of Transport Beixier Ivanlov said.
"So quickly?" Ferdinand asked in some surprise.
"Your Majesty, many hands make light work. Naturally, the pace is faster!" Beixier explained.
Ferdinand nodded. Even without being told, he knew what had happened. Some colony had likely erupted in rebellion again, resulting in a massive increase in laborers.
For the sake of their own interests, the military was exceptionally enthusiastic about rounding up laborers.
The railway company still had to pay wages for the laborers they supplied, except those wages were not paid to the laborers themselves. They were paid directly to the military to make up for shortfalls in military spending.
The Bulgarian Railway Company was now practically on the verge of becoming the world's largest slaveholder. It merely wore a cloak of legality. Without the selfless dedication of those laborers, there would be no Bulgaria as it was today.
And it was not just Bulgaria. Many countries had risen in much the same way, merely draping themselves in a legal disguise.
Naturally, Ferdinand had to pretend he knew nothing about such matters. The people below him were all loyal ministers; they would voluntarily take the blame and would never allow any stain to touch their king.
The history books would only record their great achievements. At most, they might mention that grassroots enforcement had been a little too heavy-handed, and then that would be the end of it.
The primitive accumulation of capital was always bloody. Everyone was the same; no one was cleaner than anyone else.
"Mm. Your Ministry of Transport