Greece to roman road

In the taxi, Kalia leaned forward in the back seat, stretched her head, held the window with both hands, and stared at the scene outside the car through the glass. She was struck by the bustling scene in front of her, and she was in a daze. Read 520 official website

Kalia's family, Greeks living in Bulgaria, headed south when they fled.

Because the pastor of the village church once conveyed the news to them: the Greek Kingdom in the south is not only a country controlled by the Greeks themselves, no one bullies and oppresses them, but also has a prosperous economy and rich people.

Everyone didn't take it seriously at first. After all, since the decline of the Ottoman Empire and into the 18th century, the Balkans were either fighting or preparing for war. Under the ravages of frequent wars, a large amount of wealth was requisitioned by the authorities for consumption in wars.

Being poor is the norm in the Balkans.

When the Ottoman Empire took control of the situation, Greeks like Kaliya and others lived in villages. Because they were Christians, they had to bear heavier tax obligations.

According to the laws of the Ottoman Empire, Christians paid more taxes than Islamic believers.

Later the Bulgarians took control of Eastern Rumelia. Although everyone was Orthodox Christian, they spoke Greek.

Relations with the Slavic-speaking Bulgarians remain uneasy, and they are discriminated against in terms of political rights and still have to pay more in taxes economically.

Anyway, the Greeks are used to this inferior situation and just make do with their lives.

But in 1913, war broke out between Greece and Bulgaria. For Kalia, the Bulgarians and Greeks became enemies.

The Greeks living in the Bulgarian-controlled areas suffered again. The Bulgarian army attacked Greek-controlled Macedonia on the battlefield. In the Bulgarian-controlled areas, the Bulgarians also began to suppress and retaliate against the Greeks living in the territory.

The buildings in the villages where the Greeks lived were burned, and the farmland was seized. If they resisted at all, they would be killed and injured by the local Bulgarians.

Due to the defeat of Bulgaria, they Greeks became the targets of everyone's anger.

In order to prepare for the war, the Bulgarian authorities not only increased taxes domestically before the war, but also borrowed large amounts of loans from Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Now that the Bulgarian army has been defeated, the financial situation of the Royal Government of Bulgaria is even worse. Not only does it have to pay war reparations to Greece, but it also has to repay maturing foreign debts. The country's severely damaged army is also in urgent need of large sums of money for reconstruction.

Greeks like Kalia really couldn't stand the harsh social environment, so they had no choice but to flee to the rumored Greek country.

Despite going through twists and turns, the family finally arrived in the coastal town of Kavala

, the Greek authorities do take good care of Greeks who defect abroad, but none of Kalia's family feels that Greece is rich.

The buildings in the small town of Kavala are dilapidated and short, the population is sparse, and the people are equally poor. Apart from the fact that the authorities will not levy taxes indiscriminately, Kalia did not notice the so-called southern Greeks' incomes and people's prosperity preached by the pastor.

Kalia also thought that the priest couldn't bear to see them being bullied and encouraged them to move to the south, so she told some white lies.

This is actually not surprising. Kavala was still under Bulgarian control a few months ago. Kavala was in a war zone and had just experienced the ravages of a war. The Greeks had just taken control.

The local Greek government has just been established, and the situation has not yet completely stabilized, so naturally there will be no prosperity.

And now I came to Thessaloniki and saw the Thessaloniki Industrial Zone.

On the flat and wide asphalt road, you can often see cars (actually Model T cars) and tall trucks loaded with cargo, bustling workers on both sides of the road after work, a dazzling array of goods in the business district, and an endless stream of goods. Absolute shoppers, these scenes, in Kaliya's memory, were scenes that the remote, impoverished and inland Eastern Rumelia had never seen before.

Only then did Kalia realize that the priest had not lied. Greece in the south was indeed a rich and prosperous country.

Even the strong contrast between the two gave Kalia an unreal hallucination.

"It's unbelievable, this is such a bustling city," Kalia muttered.

Yakov, who was also sitting in the back seat, was closing his eyes and concentrating when he heard the murmur of the woman sitting next to him. Through her refugee status, he thought of the scene when his family arrived in Greece from Poland in poverty a few years ago. , couldn't help but feel sympathy for each other, and comforted: "Ms. Kalia, Kavala is now recovered by the Kingdom of Greece. Without the gangsters like vampires and the government like villains, it will soon prosper."

"Tobacco is a cash crop with huge profits. If your agricultural cooperative grows tobacco on the right track, the income of you members will soon catch up with that of most workers here."

Three taxis carrying several people soon arrived at a factory area in the northeast corner of the industrial area, near the train station.

"This is very close to the train station. The wagons containing flue-cured tobacco can be transported directly to the factory. After the railway from Thessaloniki to Kavala is built, the train can transport your tobacco directly here, which can save a lot. "Expenses," Yakov pointed to the endless train tracks in front of the factory and explained to Kalia and others from the inspection team.

Yakov personally led the team and led a few people to visit the open and fully accessible factory building of the cigarette factory. It was like a spacious warehouse with no partitions inside, and the line of sight could be observed from one side to the other without any obstruction. .

Inside, there is a series of cigarette making machines that have just been imported from Germany. Engineers are directing workers to install and debug them, and it looks very busy.

After finally proving to several people that the Salonika Cigarette Factory was a legitimate factory and not a scam company, the inspection team finally made up its mind to sign a supply contract with the Salonika Cigarette Factory on behalf of several agricultural cooperatives in Kavala. Tobacco orders.

After completing this task, Yakov sorted out the orders that had been signed. According to the agreement, the factory will soon have suppliers from agricultural cooperatives in Salonika and Kavala to provide the factory with 20,000 kilograms of flue-cured tobacco. .

The quantity of these tobaccos was enough to fulfill the requirements of Crown Prince Constantine.

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After completing the inspection of the Salonika cigarette factory, since the free land reclamation work granted by the government was in full swing, and worried about problems with the land, Kalia and her party did not dare to delay in Doga, Salonika, and immediately returned in a hurry The small town of Kavala.

The agricultural cooperative where Kalia works finally located its land at the twists and turns of a small river outside the small town of Kavala. The members of the cooperative will grant the total area according to the quota allowed by the announcement issued by the Greek government. More than two thousand acres of land were settled here, facing the river on three sides and leading to the small town of Kavala on one side.

Such a special geographical location allows the land to be easily irrigated.

After Kalia brought back the signed tobacco supply contract, the collaborators first relied on the government's support policies and applied for a cooperative support loan from Kavala's bank.

Later, under the guidance of Lundhart, he applied for a commercial loan of 80,000 drachmas from the Royal Bank of Greece after proving the credibility of the agricultural cooperative to the Royal Bank of Greece based on the tobacco supply contract.

According to Greek law, agricultural cooperatives have independent legal personality and can be responsible for their own profits and losses just like companies. Naturally, they can apply for commercial loans from banks.

In this way, the agricultural cooperative that Kalia and her team had just established already had a starting capital of 130,000 yuan, which was enough to help their agricultural cooperative survive the difficult initial stage of reclaiming wasteland.

Kegman, a refugee from Eastern Rumelia like Kaliya, was leaning on a small wooden stool. The woman sitting next to him was his wife Lisa. All their property was sandwiched between Kegman A wooden box between her legs, and a piglet in Lisa's arms.

Years of continuous wars and famines left this young Eastern Rumelia farmer with almost nothing. He could barely make ends meet, and he had to endure the bullying and plundering of the Bulgarians.

What’s even more despairing is that there seems to be no end in sight to such days.

In order to improve his living conditions, Kegelman tried every means. He believed that the corrupt and greedy Ottoman government had caused his predicament, so he secretly joined the army to fight, which was the war with the Ottoman Empire in 1912. After demobilization, he Go back to your hometown to farm.

I thought that my situation would improve after the Ottoman rule was driven away, but I didn't expect that the Bulgarians who controlled Eastern Rumelia were as hated by the Greeks as the Ottomans.

So, in a desperate situation, Kegelman gritted his teeth and took his wife Lisa with him. He abandoned the only property left to him by his father - a few acres of barren hilly land - and embarked on a journey to the Greeks' own country. .

It was under these circumstances that Kegelman and his wife, Lisa, came to Kavala.

Compared to Kalia's dead husband, the Kegelmans were much luckier.

These refugees from Eastern Rumelia were uniformly accepted by the local government of Kavala and arranged to live in Kavala, a sparsely populated area.

The newly established agricultural cooperative has established a temporary camp by the small river outside Kavala. While Kalia went to Salonika, the remaining members were building their own villages.

After determining the location of the land to be reclaimed, the members unanimously agreed to move out of their residences in the small town arranged by the Kavala government and build a brand new village near the land as the new home of the members.

Now the temporary camp is ready, waiting for the members of the reclamation club to arrive.

Kalia, wearing an apron, smiled kindly at Kegman and handed him a few roasted potatoes.

Kalia's face was full of gratitude. This Greek, who was also from Eastern Rumelia, came here earlier than them.

Kogman, who had participated in the war, was hired by the Greek army in the previous war to transport supplies for the frontline army. He was said to have a monthly salary of 500 drachmas, and he could also eat free barbecue in the canteen. Potatoes and salted fish, which made the previous Kalia family very envious.

Kegelman used to take pity on the orphaned and widowed mother of Kalia's family and often helped them.

At the end of a path covered with grass, a group of people stopped in front of a row of tents neatly built with logs. The members began to discuss with the few people who had been waiting there.

"Uncle Kegelman, is this our new home?" Kalia's son. Varvis shook Kegelman's arm excitedly and asked curiously: "Are we really going to live here in the future? Ah, I want to raise a dog and some chickens."

Just as Kegelman was about to answer, he saw that the people in front of him had already ended their conversation.

One of the tall men faced them and said to them in Greek: "Hello everyone, I am Gert, an employee of the Kavala Region (similar to a province) government. First of all, I would like to congratulate you, you foreign rulers. The Greeks who lived there took the trouble to return to their homeland.”

"In the future, I will be responsible for the measurement and recording of the land reclaimed by the entire cooperative. If you have any questions, you can consult me. After completing the recording and witnessing, I will represent the Greek government to faithfully record and witness the land you reclaimed, and then Submit it to the Kavala regional government. After completing this, you will be the officially recognized owners of these lands."

Gert announced loudly to the crowd in front of him.

"Okay, that's all. I think you can't wait to have your own land. Now, on behalf of the Greek government, in accordance with the government's decree to encourage the reclamation of wasteland, each household can obtain no more than fifty acres for free. The law allows you to cultivate wasteland.”

Kalia and others clapped excitedly, and everyone became noisy.

Kegelman sat on a tree stump and watched his wife, Lisa, walking excitedly around the camp.

In fact, the furnishings in the tent are very simple: a wooden bed, a simple table made of tree stumps, and four identical tree stump chairs.

But Kogman felt like home.

Having struggled in Eastern Rumelia for more than twenty years, I witnessed too many Greeks suffering from wars, taxes, hunger and disease.

Unexpectedly, after defecting to Greece, he would immediately acquire a large area of ​​fertile land.

There are no hateful tax collectors to extract money from him, and there is no unbearable national oppression. He can live quietly with his dear Lisa, and at the same time own a piece of land that truly belongs to him.

God bless!

Kegelman praising the Lord at this moment.

No one can take away my new life.

After Gert made the announcement on behalf of the government, smoke rose from the temporary public kitchen at the end of the village. It was obviously almost breakfast time.

Kalia directed several fathers and daughters to move pots of food out of the kitchen, and members of the entire agricultural cooperative gathered together to eat.

Kalia is a motivated person and has been working diligently since returning to the cooperative.

Kalia works dutifully until very late every day, because the agricultural cooperative has recently purchased a large amount of materials and transported them here, mainly seeds, agricultural tools and grain.

Kalia understood that this was preparation work for large-scale land reclamation, and she carefully registered every material in the warehouse to ensure that it was correct.

In addition to being responsible for material distribution, she also manages the cooperative's temporary canteen.

Kaliya rang the copper bell tied to the tree, and the first wave of farmers who had been burning wasteland, leveling the land, and digging canals stopped working and began to come to the canteen to eat.

Today's breakfast is still the same fried potatoes and fresh fish soup.

The food was simple, but everyone enjoyed it. The work ahead was very hard, and they needed enough calories to maintain their strength.

The cooperative has planned a tobacco planting area of ​​1,500 acres here, and the remaining 500 acres are used to grow potatoes, wheat and other crops. The main purpose is to meet the cooperative's own food rations.