Chapter 17: Reforms
After the report submitted by Vasile Mihai(the chief investigator), Carol I started to doubt the cabinet members but almost all of them were his comrades from past battles or came from a military background so now after a discussion with his son, they ordered an investigation aimed at all of them.
It didn't take too much time to find out about their corruption even espionage against our kingdom.
King Carol I was more disappointed than angered, he discovered that among the countries the German Empire was second to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in bribing government officials.
"British, French even Dutch bought information mainly about the Sigmaringen Consortium, it seems that's difficult to obtain it from high-level executives so they opted to bribe our kingdom officials," Frederick said expressionless and continued:
"The report also states that the navy advisors hired from the UK performed espionage missions although it didn't specify their missions we can roughly guess what their aim is... "
"They want to influence our army and our navy! Damn Wilhelm, didn't we agree to ally ourselves with the German empire?, we are all Germanic Hohenzollern! How dare he to meddle with my kingdom." Carol, I angrily threw the documents on the table.
Frederick paused for a few minutes to let his father calm down.
"There are so many traitors in the government and the military, without a stable political environment it'll be a pipe dream to make Romania a great kingdom!"
"Father, should we handle it cautiously from now on? We can slowly remove these people from the government and the military. When I hired the German military advisors I made them come with their whole families, they are living in the Army Academies around Romania.
Each Academy is built to accommodate 10,000 recruits and is monitored by our people, it's difficult for spies to contact German advisors or pass messages as for the navy, that was my negligence I never thought those Britons would be interested in our small navy" Frederick said the last part with heavy regret.
"Since the Academy was newly formed the corrupt central government officials probably didn't have the time to influence there yet. As for the navy, we must act quickly, identify the spies, and deport them back to the UK" Carol I took a deep breath and continued:
"As for how to deal with it, don't worry about it. It's my fault for promoting these ungrateful scums I will clean them myself" Carol said with a cold voice.
As days passed, Frederick expelled the spies from the navy and sent someone to Spain in hopes of hiring Spanish navy advisors. With the crisis Spain was in, Frederick didn't believe that they had the energy to spy on them or try to influence their navy.
'That bastard George must have planted the spies, I remember it took quite some time to find "experienced advisors", but why he's interested in Romania? Our navy is nothing but child's play to the great powers' Frederick Thought confused.
'Maybe it's not our navy, but over the years have accumulated a lot of wealth perhaps it's my consortium that they are aiming for. '
Frederick immediately ordered a trusted man from the royal family alongside Vasile Mihai(the chief investigator) to form an anti-espionage team for the army academies and the naval academy, this team would be part of the royal secret service. Meanwhile, almost all the agents of the Royal Secret Service are busy collecting evidence against the corrupt officials from the government and army.
The Royal Secret Service is an independent organization from the government before it was called the Royal Intelligence Agency but Frederick changed it to the Royal Secret Service its function is to provide intelligence reports to Frederick, monitor influential officials and high executives of the Sigmaringen Consortium, and alongside the royal guards protect the royal family.
December 20th, 1894, Bucharest.
It was night, a loud sounds of heavy footsteps, shots, and screams affected the usually calm and peaceful night in Bucharest.
"I'm impressed by the high level of conspiracies aimed at us, according to these documents they planned riots, rebellions even assassinations! Big landowners, a few government officials, and even foreigners were involved."
"I don't understand their greed either, when we were still fighting for our kingdom's independence they all were honest and brave soldiers... "
"It's just that we are letting the prime minister go? He did admit his wrongdoings and gave us a list of names that participated in conspiracies against us but they are also his political enemies, aren't they?
The new prime minister is from civilian origin without any background to speak of, it was not until Carol I reign that he was promoted for his contributions.
"You can't do all by yourself, the prime minister offered himself to bear the blame for arresting so many members of the cabinet and the parliament If we do it by ourselves will leave a stain on our reputation and make future generations of officials wary of us. "
On the 25th day of December, an investigation for corruption was made over all of Romania. Prime Minister Nicolae Ciolacu successfully arrested all the corrupt officials and presented them to the king.
On the 26th day, a few far-sighted aristocrats who owned big extensions of land came to Carol I in hopes of selling their lands and contributing to the Kingdom.
On the 27th day, Prime Minister Nicolae declared a state of emergency and arrested thousands of conspirators who bribed government and army officials to instigate a rebellion.
Frederick then released all the evidence he had been collecting of "accidents" in Constanta's industrial zone.
Aristocrats who had already sold their land to the royal family accused big landowners of exploiting peasants and inciting riots around the kingdom.
The intense turmoil in Romania lasted until January 5th, 1895. The parliament was dissolved, and the prime minister alongside the royal family announced political, economic, military, and social reforms that would lead Romania to prosperity.
The new government will be reorganized into legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The cabinet is as follows:
Head of the state:
MONARCH (Holds significant power and influence over the kingdom)
Cabinet office:
* Monarch himself or representative
* Prime minister
* Deputy Prime minister
* Chancellor of the Exchequer
* Chief secretary to the treasury
* Minister of Foreign Affairs.
* Minister of Development of colonies
* Secretary of the Home Department(Home office)
* Minister of Defense
* Minister of Justice
* Minister of Education
* Secretary of Business and Trade
* Secretary of Transportation
* Director of the National Intelligence and Contra Intelligence agency. (Non-regular member)
* Head deputy of the Royal Guards(the king is the head), (non-regular member).
* Leader of the House of Commons
* Leader of the House of Lords
Parliament:
The Lower House members will be elected by all Romanian citizens above 21 years old. The Upper House(Lords) will be appointed by the king with the condition of selecting outstanding academic careerists, people who made huge contributions to the kingdom, and members of the royal family. The King has the right to veto any policy that tries to amend the constitution or change the political system.
The role of the Upper House is mere supervision of new laws passed by the lower house and impeachment of corrupt or negligent officials.
The King is subjected to the supervision of the royal council, If it's demonstrated that the king is not suitable for ruling the kingdom, his administrative power could be limited by the royal family council and delegated to the upper house. The council doesn't have the authority to pass any law against the monarchy or amendment of the constitution.
The cabinet members will be elected by the lower house and approved by the upper house. The King can propose a maximum of 3 candidates for the cabinet.
In other words, the king and the royal family govern alongside civil-elected mandataries, future kings are supervised by the royal council in case of an inept or mediocre king.
The king is the Supreme Commander of the Military in all its branches(Land, Sea, Air even space).
The army is supervised by the central government except for the royal guards.
After these shocking declarations, several newspapers commented on the political reform of the Kingdom of Romania.
The Times(UK) published: "Winds of changes in Romania? "
Le Figaro(France) published;" Romania reforms itself into a backward Monarchy"
Neues Deutschland(Germany) published:" Romania's path to greatness under the leadership of a German of the Hohenzollern Royal House! "
...
January 19, 1895, Bucharest.
"We had been under a lot of pressure due to the seizure of foreign assets in Romania. Although we could prove their involvement in several heavy offenses against our kingdom, they are adamant declaring that was only the individuals, not the companies' actions."
"It was as expected, a weak country diplomacy is futile if we are against the interests of the great powers."
"The elections for the new parliament are dated to next year, our provisional government needs to be approved by Your Majesty. I have a list of candidates if you allow me.. "
Carol I, took the folder and looked over his son.
"Father I also have a list of candidates for you, I selected highly capable people from the consortium, I'm sure they will be of great help in stabilizing the kingdom"
The list of candidates describes barely their backgrounds, names, and past affiliations. The prime minister, the king, and the crown prince are just promoting their people to high positions so it doesn't need to be that detailed report.
Carol I and Frederick previously agreed to control several key departments.
"As for the diplomatic pressure, we need to carefully evaluate it so first prepare a plan to appease them while maximizing our benefits, those foreign companies have a lot of assets in Romania it's impossible to return all of them."
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Author note: (1) Romania has changed a lot so changed foreign countries' interests in Romania.
(2) Sigmarigen Consortium's worth is around 400 million pounds, and it attracted a lot of people's interest.
(3) Mc has little knowledge of history he only remembers documentaries of WWI, WW2, great inventors or inventions... He's guessing the historical trend of wars and economic crises by his 21st-century common sense and after long studies in political and economic fields.
What is common sense? Knowing how the economy works you can know what will happen quite easily if you allow an industry to grow without supervision or regulations... For example, a bank loaning money to everyone without checking if they could pay the loan back or the skyrocketing price of a railway company's stock prices...