Greece to roman road

"On land, the Balkans are a place where European powers compete fiercely. Greece needs to actively but cautiously expand into the interior of the Balkans and Asia Minor to fill the political and military gaps left after the decline of the weak Ottoman Empire."

"Greece is obviously not an Eastern country, nor is it a Western country, but a country located between the East and the West, a place where the East and the West meet. If the New World (America) is ignored, Greece is at the center of the Eurasian and African continents. "Constantine said to everyone in the conference room.

"Greece must realize this situation if it wants to become a big country. This is both an advantage and a shortcoming of Greece."

After listening to Constantine's explanation, the Greek military and political leaders in the audience had a general understanding of Constantine's central empire strategy.

The so-called central empire strategy is to base itself on the center of the Eurasian and African continents and radiate in all directions to enhance Greece's influence.

The senior officers of the navy and army were naturally happy. Since expansion is underway, they must increase investment in the army.

Contrary to the jubilation of the military personnel, the government looks bitter and has no choice. If this continues, the government's fiscal deficit will become larger and larger.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, your vision for the future of Greece and Greece's strategic plan are indeed very grand and powerful, but is it a little too, well, unrealistic?" Prime Minister Venizelos said hesitantly.

"Greece is currently only a small country with a shallow foundation. I hope your strategic planning can take this situation into consideration," Venizelos said earnestly.

I originally wanted to give a very high-spirited evaluation, but considering the face of the royal family, I worded it more tactfully.

Constantine had expected the attitude of the prime minister and the government. After all, large-scale investment in the army and navy would undoubtedly make Greece's already tight finances even worse.

To be honest, this strategic concept does have some whimsical elements. Is it just a dream? Or is it necessary? What if it can be realized?

Just like the slogan shouted by US President Monroe: "America is America for Americans." How many people at that time thought it was possible to achieve it?

"Mr. Prime Minister, as Contoriotis said, strategic planning naturally needs to maintain a certain degree of foresight and redundancy," Constantine said with a smile.

"Hey" sighed. Seeing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's resolute attitude, Venizelos stopped admonishing and said instead: "In view of the increasingly serious fiscal deficit problem in Greece's finances, which has reached a point that must be solved, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I invite you to attend this afternoon’s ministerial meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence to address the government’s lack of funds.”

Since the royal family is so bold, let you also feel the pain of raising money. It is easy to pay back money, but it is difficult to make money. This is Venizelos's voice at this time.

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That afternoon, Constantine took a carriage and went to the Prime Minister's residence.

When Constantine came in, there was a quarrel in the reception room. Arms Minister Giannis and Navy Commander Kontoriotis were entangled with Finance Minister Larris and Prime Minister Venizelos.

"Prime Minister, our navy is in urgent need of purchasing several new German submarines. In any case, we need you to allocate a sum of money," Kontoriotis said anxiously.

Giannis, who represents the Army, is naturally not polite: "Secretary Larris, our Army is now actively preparing for war, and we should give priority to allocating funds to the Army."

Laris, who was already a little impatient, yelled: "I also want to know where to get the money now. Why don't you wait a little longer? I will allocate it to you as soon as the revenue from the tax department arrives next month."

While the two were entangled with Finance Minister Laris and Venizelos, Constantine came in.

However, I saw a few acquaintances in the Prime Minister's residence, namely three managers from the three major banks in Greece, Royal Bank of Greece, National Bank of Greece and Alfa Bank.

Seeing Constantine's surprised look, he didn't expect to see three people here.

"The three managers are here by invitation," Venizelos explained over and over again, beckoning Constantine to sit down.

Venizelos nodded to Laris, who took out a stack of information from his desk and handed it over. Venizelos passed it over and put it in front of Constantine: "Your Highness, money is being used everywhere in Greece now. , in addition to the previous budget, how many more budget items have been allocated later? You should also know that no matter how much money the Ministry of Finance has, it is not enough! If the government’s revenue still cannot cover the expenditure, the Greek government will immediately We are about to face a financial crisis. The specific situation is here. Please take a closer look."

When Constantine looked at the result information carefully, the content became more and more shocking. Even though he had been mentally prepared for the huge cost of the war, he still felt frightened when he saw the words on the document.

Although the 1912 war only lasted a few months, the Greek Ministry of Finance paid 600 million drachmas for the war, not including the cost of comforting the wounded and wounded soldiers.

This is not over yet. Now Greece is gathering troops in Macedonia, and the backward transportation conditions in Macedonia continue to change. These are two more huge expenditures.

According to the data, Greece's fiscal deficit in 1912 was 230 million drachmas; the estimated fiscal deficit in 1913 was 360 million drachmas; and in 1914 this number will become 690 million drachma million drachma, this number almost catches up with Greece’s annual fiscal revenue!

"If the fiscal crisis cannot be solved as soon as possible, I am afraid that the Greek government will fall before the war comes," Venizelos said with a wry smile.

Constantine pointed at the managers of the three major banks and asked in confusion: "Can't we continue to provide large treasury bonds to the three major banks? In this case, in the short term, the government only needs to consider paying 5% interest on the treasury bonds. The government’s financial strain can also be greatly alleviated.”

The Finance Minister was embarrassed and hesitated to speak.

"What's wrong, the three major banks are unwilling to issue government bonds on behalf of the government?"

After listening to Constantine's words, the manager of the Royal Bank of Greece, Coredis, explained: "His Royal Highness, if you forcefully demand that the Royal Bank must issue treasury bonds for the government, the royal family, as the major shareholder with absolute controlling rights in the Royal Bank, I will The general manager naturally has to obey orders."

"Just as a professional manager, I must remind you, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, that the total deposits received by our three major banks are about 1.2 billion drachmas, and we have currently issued about 360 million drachmas for the government. of national debt, in other words, the Greek Treasury is now the largest borrower of our three major banks.”

"The three major banks are trying their best every day to find wealthy people who are interested in investing in government bonds to purchase government bonds and alleviate the banks' own difficulties."

"Currently, the three major banks are subject to the government's national debt problem, which has greatly affected the liquidity of the banks. The three major banks are unprecedentedly weak. Once there are some disturbances in the domestic economy and bank runs occur, His Royal Highness, I believe that the consequences of this will be No one wants to see it.