Greece to roman road

"Our farmers here are very unfamiliar with tobacco as a crop and have no planting experience. Moreover, after tobacco is planted, it needs to be baked before it can be delivered to the cigarette factory. And we also don't understand the tobacco baking technology. The price of flue-cured tobacco is mainly Determined by the quality after curing, the prices of flue-cured tobacco of different qualities vary greatly. Mr. Yakov, if your cigarette factory is in urgent need of tobacco, it is best for you to hire some experienced technicians in tobacco growing and curing. Assist us." After several agricultural cooperative representatives whispered, Kalia said to the two Yakovs.

Yakov's brows furrowed, and his businessman's intuition made him hate any factor that would increase costs. He hired technicians in tobacco growing and baking, and stayed in the small town of Kavala for many years. Unintentionally, this was another expense that cannot be underestimated. .

Noting Yakov's facial expression, Kalia explained: "Your company requires a large amount of tobacco, and we are farmers with no tobacco growing experience. Once errors and mistakes occur during the planting and baking process, It will have a significant impact on the cooperation between your company and the cooperative. After all, your company is in urgent need of a large amount of tobacco raw materials."

After hearing the news delivered by Lundhart, Kalia and other Bulgarian refugees specifically asked for information about the tobacco growing industry, and were very excited to learn that tobacco is indeed a lucrative crop.

"This will also allow cooperatives to grow tobacco more quickly and get on the right track, and alleviate the cigarette factory's shortage of raw materials as soon as possible."

"Tobacco cultivation is all about seasons and seasons. Once errors occur in every link, planting can only start again in the next season."

"If we just rely on farmers like us who lack relevant experience to figure it out on our own, we can't guarantee when we can deliver flue-cured tobacco to the factory."

Representatives of several other agricultural cooperatives also expressed echoes of their opinions.

The helpless Yakov could only agree. After returning to Salonika, the cigarette factory will hire several senior agricultural technicians to come to Kavala to provide technical guidance to the tobacco-growing cooperative.

"Do you have any other questions?" Yakov patiently continued to ask as he looked at the several representatives.

"Actually, there is one more important question, Mr. Yakov, Mr. Lundhart," Kuduro responded to the two of them.

"Although you said it was a cigarette factory in Thessaloniki, gentlemen, you know that there was no large-scale cigarette factory in Greece before, but now one suddenly appeared and proposed to cooperate with the cooperative to grow tobacco. requirements”

At this point, seeing the unhappy look on Lundhart's face, he quickly explained: "After all, this is related to everyone's livelihood, we must be more cautious."

"What exactly do you want to say?" Yakov asked doubtfully.

"I mean, sir, everyone doesn't know much about Salonika. We need to inspect your factory to dispel our doubts. I don't mean any disrespect."

Yakov was stunned after hearing this. These people were in remote Kavala and did not know him or his identity as a royal advisor.

And this is not Athens or Thessaloniki, and my reputation among the Greek upper class will have no effect here.

Yakov has become accustomed to his identity. In past business meetings, as long as he was introduced by others, Yakov was always the target of business people's talk. He single-handedly developed the Royal Greek Petroleum Company and was the manager of the Purple Robe Foundation. , investment adviser to the royal family, and other titles have no role here.

These people did not know themselves or the Salonoka Cigarette Factory, a newly established cigarette factory, and suddenly asked for cooperation, so it is understandable that they would have doubts.

"This is Mr. Yakov, you guys," Lundhart explained quickly, worried that these guys' questions would anger Yakov.

Yakov raised his hand to stop Lundhardt and said: "Then how can you trust the Salonika Cigarette Factory?"

Several people looked at each other, and then Kalia said: "We must go to Salonika to conduct an on-site inspection of your factory. Sir, we also need to ensure the strength of our partners."

"It's better to hurry up. Our land reclamation work is about to start. It's best to confirm the cooperation quickly. Everyone can't wait to own their own land."

Yakov nodded and agreed. After all, it was a very legitimate request.

Without wasting time, Lundhart helped several people buy ferry tickets that afternoon. Kavala in the northern Aegean Sea is not far from Thessaloniki, only more than a hundred kilometers away. Since Kavala is a new city in Greece, Into the rule, the railway to Thessaloniki is still under construction.

Therefore, the most convenient route to get from Kavala to Thessaloniki is to take a ship, go around the Halkidiki Peninsula and cross the Thermaic Gulf.

On August 14, 1913, at the height of summer, the ship, which had been drifting at sea for two days, finally sailed into the port of Thessaloniki.

The pier is crowded with people, and the whistles of ships are constantly buzzing. Under the tug of barges, they are leaving or docking at the pier.

A neat row of cranes in the cargo area of ​​the dock lift cargo to or unload the ship.

After the ship docked, what appeared in front of everyone was such a busy and orderly scene.

After wandering at sea for two days, it happened to be noon, and Yakov placed Kalia and others in a dock hotel to rest temporarily.

The waiter served each person several cups of drinks made from coffee beans.

The decoration in the hotel lobby is very simple: walls painted with limewash, furniture made of ordinary birch wood, simple chairs made of logs, and only two candles on the candlestick. Fortunately, the room is clean.

It was noon, and under Yakov's greeting, the waiter quickly served them a simple and sumptuous lunch.

Kalia took a casual look and saw that the staple food for lunch was mashed potatoes, several of which were piled on a porcelain plate.

The side dishes are rich: pan-fried cod, honey-glazed pork breast, fried eggs, fried sausages, vegetable salad with rich olive oil flavor, shell seafood soup, cream-baked mushroom soup.

Several representatives came from the remote Kavala, and Kaliya was a refugee from Bulgaria. It was rare to see such a sumptuous dinner, and such dishes were really rare.

"A few of them came to the cigarette factory for inspection, so the cigarette factory will be responsible for all the food and accommodation expenses for this inspection." As the host, Yakov warmly entertained everyone.

Kalia thought to herself while eating. Seeing how the waiters were relaxed and happy with these dishes just now, they should be able to enjoy these meals more often.

In other words, even lowly servants can often enjoy such rich food. The people of Salonika are really rich.

After finishing their meal and taking a short rest, Kaliya and Yakov boarded three T-car taxis, left the hotel in the dock area, and headed towards the Salonika Industrial Zone.

These taxis are replica T-models purchased by the Salonika Municipal Government from Andros Machinery Company. The taxis are now in operation.

Although Salonika was controlled by the Kingdom of Greece for only about a year, it developed rapidly. The government introduced a series of measures with the intention of turning Salonika into a new industrial zone in Greece.

After the government's railway construction plan with Salonika as a land and sea transportation hub was announced to the public, a large number of companies took notice and moved their factories to Salonika, which has a more advantageous geographical location.

Compared with Athens, Thessaloniki is not only an excellent deep-water seaport, but also can radiate to the entire Macedonian region. There are dense rivers and numerous plains nearby, which is suitable for agricultural cultivation and is also conducive to industrial production.

These conditions are undoubtedly extremely superior compared to Athens, the southernmost part of the Balkans.

After the war, Thessaloniki's industrial zone ushered in a development climax. A large number of large heavy industrial enterprises such as steel plants and power groups also began to settle in the industrial zone.

For example, Andros Machinery Group, after raising funds from its listing, spent a huge sum of 12 million drachmas to build a brand new automobile assembly plant in the Salonika Industrial Zone to fully produce cars and trucks.

The Model T taxi that several people were traveling in was produced by Andros Industrial Group in the industrial zone of Thessaloniki.

The car drove smoothly along the way, and the road surface was very wide and smooth, which surprised Kalia and others.

The streets are wide enough for four such taxis to run parallelly with redundancy.

There were bustling crowds of people walking on the gravel road outside the famous white lines on both sides of the street.

Several people were surprised by the crowds on the street. Yakov explained considerately: "It is noon now, the factory has a lunch break, and the workers have to go out to eat."

"These are factory workers who are off work. They come to the commercial district to buy daily consumer goods such as tobacco, alcohol, sugar, coffee, and fruits."

This surprised Kalia that these ordinary workers could afford these luxury goods.

"Do they have a high income? Can they afford these goods?" Kalia asked subconsciously.

Yakov's explanation shocked several people, especially Kalia from Eastern Rumelia.

"The salary of workers in the Salonika industrial area is about five to six hundred drachmas per month. For them, buying some consumer goods is not a problem at all."

Faced with Kalia's questions, Yakov, who accompanied her, patiently explained to her that those who frequently visit the business district are generally skilled workers in factories, teachers, military non-commissioned officers, government workers, businessmen, and wealthy people nearby. Peasants, whose annual income is generally above 5,000 drachmas, belong to the middle class in Greek society.

Kalia was silent, the sight in front of her shocked her greatly.

Compared with Thessaloniki in Greece, the consumption power of ordinary people in both the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria is hugely different.

Since Eastern Rumelia was successively ruled by the Ottomans and the Kingdom of Bulgaria, Karia, who was born in Eastern Rumelia, can deeply feel the gap between the people of the two countries and Greece.

Whether they are Turks or Bulgarians, if they do not hold a position in the government or the army, and their families do not have land or factories, it is unimaginable to live like a worker in Thessaloniki.

Kalia herself knew how big the gap between rich and poor people was under the Ottoman Empire, and how poor the lives of ordinary farmers were.

Under the rule of Bulgaria or the Ottoman Empire, farmers relied solely on the food produced from the land to make a living. It was a typical small-scale peasant economy and could only be self-sufficient. There was no concept of consumption at all because there was no money at all.

In fact, Thessaloniki is currently the place in Greece with the richest workers’ income after Athens. After all, the companies gathered in the Thessaloniki Industrial Zone are the backbone of Greek industry. Workers working in these factories have an income of It's normal to be high.

Other cities are far less prosperous than Thessaloniki, a commercial port and industrial city.

Even so, for a few people, the income of workers in Thessaloniki is very high.

Kalia is a little confused, because now she doesn't understand at all how huge the gap is in the efficiency of creating material wealth between industrial countries and agricultural countries.

Even the current Kingdom of Greece is only a semi-industrialized country and has not completely completed the industrialization process.

But her efficiency in creating material wealth is far from comparable to that of traditional agricultural countries like the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.

Greece is now a quite mature business society. People divide labor and cooperate to carry out social production efficiently.

Now, with the advent of the second industrial revolution, and with the spring breeze of the times, Greece's electricity and internal combustion engine industries have also begun to flourish, driving Greek society to catch up with the trend of the times, and productivity has increased explosively.

Industrial countries and agricultural countries are completely different in terms of wealth production efficiency and social organization systems.

After passing through this 150-meter-long street, the taxi passed a gate and entered the core of the industrial area.

As the industrial area of ​​Thessaloniki City, this can be said to be the core area of ​​Thessaloniki Port.

Along both sides of the road, cotton textile mills, arsenals, steel plants, power plants and other factory areas are lined with towering chimneys, and billowing black smoke rises, looking so eye-catching against the blue sky.

Seeing the magnificent scene before her, which she had never seen before, Kalia was deeply shocked.

The Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Bulgaria also had many workshops that used coal as fuel, but they had never seen such tall chimneys as before.

According to Kalia's simple understanding, the taller the chimney, the larger the factory, the more workers it employs, and the greater its output.

If you are a person in the 21st century, when you see the scene of billowing black smoke and numerous chimneys, you will not only disapprove, but also think of industrial pollution and environmental protection issues.

However, in the early 20th century, chimneys with billowing black smoke meant the smell of wealth, strong industrial strength, and rising national power. The more, the better.