Greece to roman road

After Prime Minister Venizelos received the support of Constantine and left contentedly, he suddenly heard the roar of an engine in the yard.

Driven by curiosity and following the direction of the sound, Constantine came to the courtyard of Tatoy Palace and met the manager of a tractor manufacturing company. Andros was teaching Prince George to drive an open car.

"This car is so beautiful, Mr. Andros, with walnut interior, leather sofa, and stylish yet elegant appearance." Prince George, who was sitting in the driver's seat, touched the decorations in the car excitedly and said to Andros said from the passenger seat.

Then he saw Constantine following the sound and shouted to Constantine: "Father, look, this is a gift from Mr. Andros, a beautiful convertible car."

Constantine looked at the car in front of him: the black body was eye-catching, and the appearance was dynamic and fashionable with a calm and heavy look. It was indeed a car full of industrial beauty.

"Although this is indeed a beautiful car, it doesn't excite you that much, George" Constantine asked in confusion.

Prince George is in his twenties. Such a young man naturally likes cars. But how could the eldest son of Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, who has never seen a luxury car, be so excited?

Seeing the arrival of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Andros immediately stood respectfully by the car door and bowed: "Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, this is a car produced by the factory. In order to express your support for the factory over the years, this handmade car was specially made. The cars made were given to the royal family.”

Hearing that this was a car produced by a factory in Greece, Constantine was also pleasantly surprised. He reached out and gently touched the body of the car. The black paint felt smooth to the touch. He said happily: "Your factory can already produce such a beautiful car? This is amazing. What a good news”

Due to the narrow market capacity in Greece, Andros' factory produced motorcycles, cars, tractors, bicycles and other products in order to survive. In the field of internal combustion engines, it is the company with the best technical level in Greece.

Although the company's results are outstanding, the economic benefits have never been good. It is limited by the Greek domestic market. After all, a country with no more than 10 million people has limited spending power. Whether it is a motorcycle or a car, it is undoubtedly a luxury. Taste.

Despite this, Andros's machinery factory is barely surviving, and its financial situation has always been tight, with few times of prosperity.

"The company's cars are ready for mass production. This is a privately customized model specially provided for the royal family. Only one is available."

In order to keep this company of great significance to Greece alive, Constantine provided all the help he could.

For Andros's machinery factory, Constantine is currently the biggest customer.

The motorcycles and armored vehicles that played an important role in the Second Balkan War were products of the machine factory managed by Andros.

The Second Division was able to quickly and decisively cut off the retreat of the Ivanov Army. The motorcycles provided to the Greek Army by the Machinery Factory in Andros, as well as armored vehicles modified from civilian cars, provided them with sufficient power support to allow the Second Division to The Second Division was able to quickly complete the maneuver.

As for the tractors produced by the factory, they also rely on the relationship between Constantine and government subsidies. They sell hundreds of tractors every year and operate miserably.

In addition to finding sales for the factory's products, the Royal Bank of Greece, a bank controlled by the royal family, has been providing loan support to machinery factories in recent years.

It can be said that if it were not for Constantine's private support, this factory would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Especially in the past two years, wars have occurred frequently in the Eastern Mediterranean. First, there was the Italian-Turkish War, and then Greece participated in two wars in succession. In such turbulent years, under the influence of panic, people's consumer desire was sluggish, and Andros' machinery The factory copied the American Ford Company's Model T car, and the car it produced had just rolled off the assembly line when Greece entered the war.

As a result, there is a serious backlog of cars that the machinery factory invested a lot of money in manufacturing, and so far few have been sold.

"The car production line has been running, but Your Highness, affected by the war, people's desire to buy cars is very low." Andros said about the sales situation of the car, looking a little depressed and depressed, with a trace of exhaustion on his face.

"The more we produce, the more money we lose. If the sales problem of the car cannot be solved and is dragged down by this, the factory is likely to go bankrupt. Maybe it is a wrong decision to produce cars. The profit will not be seen for a long time, and the gap with expectations is too large. There are also differences of opinion among several investors. I am very sorry, Your Highness, for failing to live up to your support."

"This car may be the only reward I can give you, although it is insignificant compared to your support." At this point, Andros was depressed and his eyes were slightly red.

After the war broke out, a large number of young people in Greece were conscripted into the army. It is almost impossible for older people to like such a trendy means of transportation as cars. Of course, it is useless for them to like it. It is not easy to learn to use a new type of means of transportation. things.

The sales of other products of the machinery factory, such as tractors and motorcycles, have also stagnated.

If it were not for relying on the support of the military and grabbing some orders for the production and maintenance of military machinery from the military, the machinery factory would have gone bankrupt.

Maintaining military motorcycles, armored vehicles, and tracked artillery transport vehicles for the army, but after all, the quantity of military equipment is limited and there is not much profit.

Andros is a person who advocates industrial power. He believes that a country like Greece with poor resources and a sparse population must rely on mechanical power if it wants to become strong.

Andros opened a machinery factory and developed various products in order to realize his ideal of industrial salvation.

It is with the support of this belief and ideal that Andros's machinery factory continues to develop new products even when sales are poor.

Constantine stepped forward and patted Andros on the shoulder comfortingly: "Don't be so discouraged, Andros, the war is over now. Greece will not participate in the war in a short time. The machinery factory is the last The bad days are over, and from now on, I believe things will get better.”

Having said this, Constantine thought of Prime Minister Venizelos’s new agricultural policy and said to Andros: “The government will soon release a new agricultural support policy. If nothing else, your tractors will receive more government support. With subsidies, sales should be very good.”

"Besides, the army is about to reduce its personnel. After these young people come back, I believe your car sales will also improve."

"No matter what, as the manager of a machinery factory, you cannot fall before the dawn of victory."