My Italy

It's a new day, and the Prime Minister's Office is extremely busy again.

People come and go in the Prime Minister's Office, and people are everywhere.

“This is the Ministry of Transport’s new plan for the port of Durrës, and it needs to be given priority to the Prime Minister.”

“The construction plan for the coal mine in Kosovo is waiting for funding from the Ministry of Finance after the Prime Minister signs it.”

Documents that required the Prime Minister's signature slowly piled up on his desk, making Prime Minister Despretis unable to raise his head at all.

"Prime Minister, Your Excellency Tejela is here."

The secretary's words made Despretis finally raise his head.

The 61-year-old finance minister is not much younger than the prime minister, and with the same silver hair, he shows his age.

But despite this, it is still a little worse than the Prime Minister.

Wrinkled and tired, this is the current image of Prime Minister Despretis.

Everyone, especially those close to the Prime Minister, know that the Prime Minister is aging very quickly after entering this year.

However, Depretis did not want to discuss this when he brought the Chancellor of Finance. The Prime Minister raised his head and asked the Finance Minister to sit down before speaking. "The reason why I came to you this time is this. The newly appointed Governor Antonio reported a plan to me..."

Only after the Prime Minister's narration did Finance Minister Tejela know why the Prime Minister invited him here. As expected, he went to the Three Treasures Hall for no reason, just to get money.

Antonio, the newly appointed Governor of Borneo, had his own ideas after taking office and getting a preliminary understanding of the Borneo colony.

Knowing that he could not compete with the old Prime Minister financially, so in order to leave his mark, he thought of another way out. Expand the colony of Borneo.

Yes, Antonio wants to cause trouble!

And his goal is to still hold the Netherlands, which is half of Borneo.

And he also has good reasons. Compared with the prosperous Italian Borneo, Dutch Borneo is simply a backwater. The total investment by the Dutch in Dutch Borneo over the years was less than 10 million lire, and the largest investment was the construction of the road from Machen to Nahabuan. The main reason for building this road was to prevent the infiltration of Italian forces next door.

In addition, Antonio didn't make this plan just by snapping his head. He also had practical needs.

Although the construction of Italian Borneo is in full swing, one key factor has shrouded the minds of local people, that is, the places suitable for development in Italian Borneo have almost been developed. This is especially true for cash crops such as rubber pepper. At present, all the land suitable for these cash crops has been developed. If you want to continue development, you will need to pay additional costs, especially in the primitive areas in the interior, where the cost is even higher.

At this time, Dutch Borneo, which is almost stagnant in development next door, seems so delicious and tempting.

When Antonio takes office, Depretis, as Prime Minister, should support Antonio's first request. However, because the funds required for his plan were not small, in order to avoid opposition from the Ministry of Finance, Tejela, who was the Minister of Finance, was first called in.

After listening to the Prime Minister's introduction, as expected, Tejela immediately expressed his objections.

"Prime Minister, I personally support Governor Antonio's plan in principle, but it costs too much. Isn't the investment of nearly 10 million lire a year inappropriate?"

Faced with the words of the Finance Minister, Prime Minister Despretis smiled and defended Governor Antonio. "The money is not much at all. I have already calculated it. Both the personnel composition and the expenditure are very reasonable. After comparison, the income is already very good."

There is a reason for the Prime Minister to excuse Antonio. In Antonio's plan, only four or five years of preparation are needed to seize the territory of Dutch Borneo for Italy. Although these lands are basically undeveloped, and the soil quality is not as good as that to the west, they can still expand the benefits of Borneo for Italy. According to his estimation, it would only take four or five years of development for the Borneo colony to provide Italy with an income of over 100 million lire every year.

Such a return on investment is one of the main reasons why the Prime Minister is willing to support Governor Antonio. Of course, diplomacy and other aspects need to be calculated separately.

But for Tejela, although the return on investment is very attractive, it is difficult to meet the requirement of reducing the revenue of the Ministry of Finance by nearly 10 million liras per year within four to five years.

"Prime Minister, you are also familiar with the current situation of the Ministry of Finance. Last year, we spent 2.471 billion lire due to the war, and this year due to the development of new territories, another expenditure of up to 514 million lire. And according to the plan, in Another 429 million liras will be invested next year. Prime Minister, you should be aware of the fiscal gap in recent years. Currently, the annual yield on our Italian ten-year government bonds has increased to 3.18%, which is already very high. We need to pay 1.92 in interest alone every year. Billions of liras, if we continue to spend without restraint, financial bankruptcy is not impossible. Besides..."

Depretis did not expect that the Chancellor of Finance would suddenly explode and reveal all the bad things in the Ministry of Finance.

It’s not his fault. Anyone who serves as finance minister would be the same as this one when faced with Italy’s mounting debt.

Fortunately, Italy has developed well in recent years. Otherwise, as in history, it would have been on the verge of financial bankruptcy, leading to numerous domestic problems, and the past ten years would have been wasted.

Faced with the angry Chancellor of Finance, Despretis of course couldn't stand up to him, he could only go along with it.

"If that's the case, then why don't you reduce some expenses from other places and raise this money?"

After venting her anger towards the amiable Prime Minister, Tejela recovered. He said with a bitter look on his face.

"My Prime Minister, where can the current government reduce expenditure? The current expenditure of each department has been carefully calculated, and it is impossible to reduce it. And I am not saying that the only way to reduce expenditure is at present. The only place where the expenses are is the royal family’s expenses. I really don’t think of any other way to reduce expenses.”

Despretis was dumbfounded by Tejela's suggestion. Although reducing the royal family's expenses seems feasible, it is not easy to achieve. Moreover, this is not something that the king can do just by nodding his head. If he brought it up, the Savoy family would still hate him to death.

Faced with this situation, Depretis' old habit of hesitation returned.

"Is there any other way?"

He was greeted by the finance minister who was shaking his head.

In the end, Antonio's plan to expand Italian Borneo was sent to Carlo's desk, along with suggestions from the finance minister on reducing royal expenses.

I, the Great Superintendent of Guanglu Temple, bake the steamed buns with butter...