Greece to roman road

Time came to June 1887, and the promotion of compulsory education in Greece was in full swing. Children were either curious or forced to be sent to school by their parents.

It can be said that so far, all the money gained from Constantine's colonial achievements in the Congo has been invested in the popularization of education.

Tesla, who came to the University of Athens to study alternating current systems at the invitation of Constantine, hurriedly came to Constantine's residence, the Tatoi Palace.

"Your Excellency, we have a breakthrough!" Tesla rushed into Constantine's office and said excitedly.

Looking up and seeing it was Tesla, Constantine stood up and asked Tesla to sit down.

"What's the breakthrough?" Constantine asked doubtfully.

"The experimental team finally made a breakthrough in practical transformer technology, which can withstand transformers from hundreds to thousands of volts," Tesla said to Constantine excitedly, his face flushed.

"What will happen if there is a breakthrough?"

"Transformers allow electricity to be transmitted economically over long distances. In other words, the emergence of transformers makes it possible to provide alternating current services to users far away from power plants."

"Your Excellency, this means that all the technical difficulties of the AC system have been theoretically overcome by our team. Now, the only factor hindering the use of AC is that there is no real AC power plant in the world," Tes said. Ra explained to Constantine.

It turned out to be an alternating current system. After nearly two years of investment regardless of cost, the technical difficulties were finally overcome.

After hearing the good news about Tesla, Constantine took Tesla to the Prime Minister's Palace to discuss matters with Trikupis.

The two told Trikupis about the breakthrough in alternating current technology.

"What's the use of this thing?" Trikupis asked confusedly, looking at the two people in front of him who were excited and incoherent.

Constantine looked at the gray-haired Trikupis, patted his head, and suddenly realized that an old man who had spent most of his life on the political stage didn't know what the use of cutting-edge technology like alternating current was.

"How can I explain to you the use of alternating current? Well."

Constantine rubbed his head, trying to find words.

"Let's put it this way, in the past, the machines in large factories were powered by steam engines. But now, alternating current can replace steam engines and directly power machines. It is a new energy source."

"In the past, factories that could not be built in Greece due to the lack of high-quality coal can be built after alternating current and slight modifications. For example, the textile industry in Greece has been unable to develop due to the lack of energy, resulting in high production costs. "

There are some handicraft workshops in Greece that use manpower to produce cotton cloth. Due to the low price of imported cotton cloth, the development of Greece's domestic textile industry has been difficult. Foreign imported cotton cloth has always firmly occupied the Greek local market.

It took a lot of effort, but Trikupis finally understood the use of alternating current.

"Tesla plans to build street lighting facilities on the streets of Athens to provide clean and efficient electric lighting to the people of Athens. This requires your approval as the Prime Minister."

"Of course, in addition to this, there is also the development planning of the textile industry, which I will discuss with you," Constantine said.

Greece has a domestic production of thousands of tons of cotton. Greece's neighbors, Egypt and Turkey, are all high-quality cotton planting areas.

Egypt and Türkiye are suitable for growing cotton due to their long sunshine hours and dry climate.

In particular, the high-quality cotton produced in Egypt is known as Egyptian long-staple cotton. It has long staple, rich silk-like luster, tough texture and good dyeing effect.

It is a high-quality raw material for the textile industry and has long been famous in the world market, known as "Platinum".

After solving Greece's energy problem and having the unique advantage of being close to cotton producing areas, Greece can vigorously develop its cotton textile industry.

At all times and in all countries, when it comes to industrialization, the textile industry is almost an unavoidable topic.

In the early stages of industrialization, all countries attach great importance to the textile industry, and there are special reasons for this.

The textile industry is a labor-intensive industry, which means that companies need to hire a large number of workers, which provides a considerable number of jobs.

As for its product cloth, as long as people still wear clothes, they will not worry about sales.

Therefore, the textile industry occupies a special position in the economies of various countries.

"Developing the textile industry? If the energy problem can be solved, Greece's geographical location and lack of raw materials will indeed be a suitable breakthrough for industrialization," Trikupis responded thoughtfully.

"Do you need my cooperation on tariffs?"

"Yes, Greece's import tariff on textiles is only 10%, which is not enough to allow domestic textile companies to develop. It is necessary to increase the tariff on textiles and at the same time lower the import tax on raw cotton to reduce the production costs of enterprises."

"If you want to develop the textile industry and build a textile factory, I have a friend who I would like to introduce to you," Trikupis said.

Trikoupis had been involved in Greek politics for twenty or thirty years and naturally knew many wealthy Greek businessmen. Constantine came to discuss this matter with Trikoupis and originally wanted to ask for help.

"Contoriotis, a Greek who lived in Alexandria (Egypt)," Trikupis said.

Since the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, Greeks have played an important role in Ottoman Turkey's domestic commerce. This has also resulted in Greek settlements in important commercial cities or ports in various territories that originally belonged to Ottoman Turkey.

It seems that this Contoriotis is one of them.

"Is there anything special about him? It deserves to be introduced to me personally by the Prime Minister," Constantine asked curiously.

"Egypt's cotton import and export has actually been controlled by the Kontoriotis family and some other Greek families. In fact, the Greeks in Alexandria also control cigarette production, cement, soap, wine making, and paper production and manufacturing. and other industries,” Trikupis said with an admiring tone.

"They are a group of wealthy and powerful Greek businessmen. Egypt's cotton has been purchased by these Greeks and handed over in Alexandria. This group of people has dominated Egypt's cotton import and export trade for a long time."

"You just said you had the idea of ​​building a textile factory, and I thought of this person." At this point, Trikupis looked at Constantine.

"If His Excellency the Duke can cooperate with him, it will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. I think a shareholder who controls a large amount of cotton production will be of great benefit to the development of the textile industry in Greece."

“After all, that means a stable source of raw materials,” Trikupis explains.

A group of Greek businessmen living in Egypt have been engaged in the trade of raw cotton. Now there is an opportunity to expand into the downstream cotton industry. These big Greek businessmen will definitely be interested.