Greece to roman road

"His Royal Highness, what do you think our government should do?" Venizelos said.

Since Crown Prince Constantine came to discuss this matter with him personally, he naturally had plans.

"My opinion is that your government can focus on the agricultural field in the near future." Constantine directly stated his purpose.

"Including the increase in grain import tariffs you mentioned, we will implement a package of policies to focus on supporting the development of Greece's agriculture and strive to achieve breakthrough development in Greece's agriculture within one to two years, especially in staple food crops."

Greece currently consumes around 860,000 tons of wheat annually, of which Greece can only produce 120,000 tons, and the rest is met through imports.

Originally, Greece had a small population and the food it needed was not prominent in the international food market.

It's just that the population of Greece is growing rapidly every year, and with it, the tonnage of wheat imported every year is also growing sharply, which not only causes a large amount of currency outflow every year, but also increases the risk.

The current population of Greece, stimulated by the government's policy to encourage childbirth, is predicted to exceed the 10 million mark in the next few years based on the population growth rate.

Now that the war in Greece is over, and after disarmament, Greek society will soon usher in a baby boom.

In this case, for a country with a medium population, major food imports seem inappropriate.

Venizelos frowned and said: "The way to quickly increase staple food production is to directly provide agricultural subsidies to farmers who grow staple food. This has the most significant effect."

"It's just that the current funding situation of the government, as you, the Crown Prince, also know, is powerless. The government has no funds, and many tasks are tied up."

Hearing Prime Minister Venizelos mention the issue of funding again, Constantine also felt a little headache.

If it weren't for the excessive pressure on the government's fiscal revenue, there would actually be no need for such drastic action on Greece's disarmament issue.

In fact, in the Balkans, no country’s military expenditure is less than half of its fiscal revenue!

Bulgaria has a population of more than four million and maintains a standing army of 500,000 people all year round. Judging from this ratio, Bulgaria is fully worthy of its name as "Prussia of the Balkans".

This does not only mean that the Bulgarian soldiers are hard-working and full of character, and the officers are shrewd, capable, brave and good at fighting.

In fact, it also points out the militaristic characteristics of Bulgaria's maintenance of the army. Like Prussia, it is not a country that owns an army, but an army that owns a country.

In other words, almost all of Bulgaria's fiscal revenue is used to maintain the army!

With a country like Bulgaria as a neighbor, who dares to be cautious?

Therefore, as neighboring countries, they are in a defensive mentality. In fact, Greece and Serbia also spend most of their fiscal revenue on military expenditures.

Just like Serbia, with a population of less than four million, it also supports a standing army of 200,000 people all year round. How can its financial situation be any better?

It is said that the big countries in Europe are engaged in arms competition all year round. In fact, the small countries in Europe have no chance to relax.

It is not only the big countries that are under the pressure of heavy military expenditures. Small Balkan countries like Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria are also not relaxed. They are also engaged in an arms race.

It's just that the arms race that took place in the Balkans was not as high-end as the major European powers. It was a naval arms race between Britain and Germany. Dreadnoughts, battlecruisers, and super-dreadnoughts were being built intensively.

The independence of the Balkan countries was short-lived (Greece was the first independent country in the Balkans in 1821, and other Balkan countries basically became independent only in the late 19th century). Their economic development was lagging behind, and the arms race between countries was relatively primitive. : Crazy troops.

Just like the Bulgarian army.

You must know that in 1912, the Greek government's fiscal revenue was only 1.2 billion drachmas; in 1913, due to the impact of the war, fiscal revenue growth slowed down to only 1.3 billion drachmas;

In 1914, Greece began to digest the dividends of the war, which naturally stimulated economic development. The Ministry of Finance optimistically estimated that revenue may exceed the 1.8 billion drachma mark.

However, military expenditures in 1912 were 470 million drachmas; when the war broke out in 1913, military expenditures reached 1.6 billion drachmas; it is expected that this number will fall back to 800 million drachmas in 1914.

Even so, compulsory military service was still adopted. Otherwise, military expenditures would have increased by 20 to 30% on this basis.

After the current disarmament of the General Staff, the Greek army will still adopt the old style, that is, the army's basic combat unit divisions are divided into elite divisions and full divisions.

The Greek army's organization imitated the German system, with each full division having up to 17,000 men.

The number of elite divisions will shrink to 7,000 or 8,000.

Each of the six main divisions has more than 17,000 people, and the military expenditure of each division is as high as more than 30 million drachmas;

For comparison, the elite divisions have seven to eight thousand men each, and each division's military expenditure is 18 million drachmas;

The main reason why new divisions are cheaper is that soldiers are required to perform military service and do not need to be paid, and their weapons and equipment are not as good as those of main divisions, which greatly saves expenses!

It’s simply that the main force is too expensive and Greece can’t afford it! As a last resort, Constantine had no choice but to raise a sufficient number of officers!

According to the current reserve number of officers in the Bulgarian army and the basic number of troops of 200,000, once war breaks out and Greece begins general mobilization, the Greek army can double or triple the number of troops at any time within two weeks.

"Now that the war is over, without the huge expenditure of the war, your government can also let go and boldly raise funds." Constantine heard Venizelos mention the problem of financial difficulties again, in an encouraging tone said.

"Just like the method of issuing national bonds, sufficient funds can be raised in a short period of time. Now with this demonstration, in the future, after the public realizes the investment role of national bonds, they should be motivated to purchase government bonds."

The current fiscal policy of the Greek government is still very conservative, and its attitude towards debt is no different from that of ordinary people, who always want to replace debt as soon as possible.

Unlike later generations, as long as the interest on government debt can be replaced in time, some countries even regard borrowing new debt to repay old debt as the main source of fiscal revenue.

"Perhaps the government can be more proactive in dealing with debt issues financially and regard government debt as a normal state."

Seeing the surprised look on Venizelos's face, it was clear that he could not accept such a proactive fiscal policy in his heart.

"Of course, this is also a temporary financial means to ease the government's financial pressure. The government still has to focus on increasing fiscal revenue." Venizelos nodded thoughtfully, planning to use it if the government funds are really difficult to cope with in a short period of time. , it does not mean that we cannot continue to issue some government bonds.

"Bulgaria has transferred the first payment of 80 million drachmas to the government's account," Venizelos said.

"In addition, after this war, the government has a large amount of land that can be sold. The Greek people are still very active in purchasing land. There is also a large amount of minerals in Macedonia. Mining rights can be sold to companies in Greece. It should also be A sum of money can be raised in a short period of time.”

Before the outbreak of the Second Balkan War, the financially strapped Greek government was already pursuing Macedonian land and minerals.

It was just that people in Greece were panic-stricken at that time. Everyone knew that a war would soon break out between Greece and Bulgaria to determine the ownership of Macedonia. There was a risk of war, so naturally not many Greeks really dared to take the risk of buying it at that time.

After all, if the Greek army was defeated, all the land and property purchased in Macedonia would be in vain.

Now if you want to buy land and minerals in Macedonia, the prices are not the same as before.

Now that Greece has won the war and secured the ownership of Macedonia and Western Thrace, there is no risk at all.

The Balkans have always been Europe's main gold-producing area, and mining can be traced back to prehistoric to ancient times.

Although Constantine could not remember the extent of Greece's gold reserves, it was still exporting gold to China until the 21st century.

Until the end of the 19th century, Greece's economic level was historically backward. In order to make up for the increasing foreign trade deficit year by year, Greece's gold had been flowing out.

The Greek government, which is short of money, has now set its sights on gold mines. You must know that after previous assessments by mining experts, they believed that Macedonia and Western Thrace contain a lot of minerals. However, due to the rush of time, they did not have time to expand scale survey.

Greece is naturally not lacking in gold mining technology. Greek mining companies have been operating gold mines in Congo for several years.

Oh, the mining industry in this era does not have much technological content. Internal combustion engines have not yet become popular, and there are not many machines to use. Most of them rely on manpower.

Mining is not a good job, it is labor intensive and dangerous.

Constantine estimated that there was no large-scale mining in the Ottoman Empire before, and there were not enough workers for this reason!

After all, mining is a high-risk job, but Bulgaria has a limited population, so only a few miners can do it!

"We will organize manpower immediately to conduct a large-scale exploration! The five gold mines currently being mined were not large in scale before, with less than a thousand mining workers! Our preliminary plan is to first conduct some simple mining operations. Mines are undergoing focused auctions,” Venizelos said.

Ferdinand nodded, he approved of Venizelos' plan.

The auction of easier things first and then harder ones is undoubtedly realistic, and it also meets the Greek government's purpose of raising funds in the short term; all miners recruit outsiders, which can save labor costs to the maximum extent, and mining is a high-risk activity, and casualties occur. It is inevitable.

The population of Greece is limited, and the life of every citizen is precious!

"Go ahead and do it boldly. I will let the Intelligence Department of the General Staff Headquarters provide you with convenience. They have a lot of information about the distribution of products in Macedonia and Thrace. I hope it can help the government auction those products as soon as possible and smoothly. Minerals," Constantine said seriously.

"Even so, in a short period of time, the government is still facing a deficit?" Constantine asked a little uncertainly.

Sighing, Venizelos responded: "Although the war is over now, the impact of the war is still there in a short period of time. Moreover, the government also has a lot of work to deal with, such as the transportation construction problem in Macedonia. Your Highness just now You mentioned the food subsidy issue, the subsidy issue after the army is downsized, the interest on the national debt, the population and childbirth subsidy, the newly annexed Macedonian region, and the school and church issues there also need to be rectified, which is also an expense."

Since the Berlin Conference in 1878, the Balkan countries have set their sights on parts of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire took the lead in acquiring Bosnia and Herzegovina. In order to gain an advantage in the struggle for Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia all extended their tentacles into the Macedonian region, and the governments of the three countries were all aggressive there. Expand your own schools and churches to expand your country's influence in Macedonia.

In this regard, Greece is at the forefront of the other two countries due to its economic advantages.

Since the end of the 19th century, ten percent of the Greek government's fiscal revenue has been used to carry out infiltration work in Macedonia.

In 1886, 309 schools were established in Macedonia.

By 1897, the number of schools built with Greek support had increased to 871.

By the end of 1900, Serbia and Bulgaria each had only more than 200 schools, leaving them far behind the Greeks.

At the same time, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia all fought fiercely for control of the founding of schools and churches.

This kind of church school is usually organized by the consuls of the three countries and accepts their supervision!

Now that the ownership of Macedonia has been settled and is in the hands of Greece, it is natural that Greece will clean up this mess in Macedonia.

"If circumstances permit, I think the Greek government needs to borrow from the UK to maintain the precarious financial problem," Venizelos said cautiously, looking at Crown Prince Constantine.

"With the glorious victory in the Balkan War, the Greek government's international credit strength has been raised to a new level. If it doesn't work, we can ask the British government to come forward to guarantee it!

The government's funding gap may be a pressure on the city for Greece, but for those capitalists in London, England, it is a drop in the bucket. "

After thinking for a while, Constantine said without a doubt: "In this case, the Ministry of Finance can contact the banks of various countries to discuss the borrowing conditions. The funding gap this time is too large. Let's see what kind of conditions can be achieved! "