Greece to roman road

After everyone's discussion, the military finally agreed to try to sell 20,000 old Xasebo rifles to Ethiopia, half sold and half given away, priced at 800,000 drachmas, and each rifle came with 40 rounds of ammunition.

Proceeds from military expenditures are used to subsidize Army military expenditures.

This batch of weapons will be negotiated with the Ethiopian government by the Greek ambassador in Addis Beba (the capital of Ethiopia).

·······

October 1894, Constantinople, in a coffee house on the coast of the Golden Horn.

In the sparkling Golden Horn Bay, under the bloody sunset, the sea water looks like overturning a red paint bottle.

There are gulls flying and the sea breeze blows.

Jefferson, who was affiliated with a British trading house, put down the coffee cup in his hand and saw Derek, the French businessman opposite, slowly stirring the spoon, admiring the beautiful scenery outside the window, and said angrily: "Derek, we are both going to be unemployed. Yes, you are really leisurely and relaxed."

Derek, who heard Jefferson's complaint, didn't look back and said without interest: "What can I do? The price of cotton in Greece is lower than ours, and the market share continues to expand. I'm almost planning to change careers."

Derek sighed when he thought about the price of cotton in Greece, took a sip of coffee, and said, "We have to think of a solution. If the situation continues like this, our future will be doomed."

The two were respectively the local persons in charge of the British and French commercial firms in the Ottoman Empire, and were mainly responsible for the sales of cotton cloth and the purchase of cotton in the Ottoman Empire.

With the rise of the Greek textile industry in the Eastern Mediterranean in recent years, the cotton market in the Ottoman territory, which was almost entirely occupied by the two countries, has suddenly changed.

Not only did Greece have the geographical advantage of being closer to the Ottomans than Britain and France, but also in the Eastern Mediterranean including the Ottomans, such as the Balkans, the Black Sea coast, Syria and other regions, there were many Greek merchants and their relationships were intricate.

A group of Greek businessmen living in Egypt, led by Kontoriotis, invested a large amount of money in the Greek textile industry. With the support of Constantine and Greek Prime Minister Trikoupis and others, it developed rapidly.

The Greek textile industry all uses advanced electric textile machines, which have high production efficiency and are not hindered by backward production capacity. Therefore, the Greek electric power industry develops almost simultaneously with the textile industry.

The Greek textile industry, in addition to textile machinery, also needs to be imported from Germany, and has almost achieved the development of the entire industrial chain, such as cotton spinning, weaving, dye production (Nobel's gunpowder factory), and power stations.

Cotton is imported from Egypt and Asia Minor, plus Greece's own small production (less than 5,000 tons), transported to the industrial zone in Athens, processed into cotton cloth, and then sold back to markets in Asia Minor, Egypt, the Balkans and other places, which has become a market for Greece. Benefit a lot from the economic cycle.

Greece's textile exports have increased year by year, and the textile industry has become Greece's pillar industry.

In contrast, the domestic textile industries of Britain and France at the end of the 19th century were quite different.

Since these two countries are colonial powers with relatively fixed markets, such as India in the UK and south of the Yangtze River in the Qing Dynasty, the UK has almost a monopoly on the textile markets in these areas.

The French textile industry is similar. The textile market in Vietnam is undoubtedly the exclusive territory of the French textile industry.

Such markets are exclusive and do not allow products from other countries to enter.

Textile factory owners in both countries are certainly happy about this relatively fixed market, because it means they have a guaranteed harvest despite droughts and floods, and no one is competing with them.

Everything has advantages and disadvantages. This current situation has also caused inertia in the textile industries of the two countries: Since no one can compete for my textile market, why should I work hard to improve management methods and purchase advanced machinery and equipment? , there is no need!

For example, in the textile industry, even though electricity-powered textile machines have higher production efficiency, textile factories in both countries still stick to old steam engine-powered machinery and refuse to let go.

Because the cost of purchasing new machines is very expensive: the cost of the machine itself, the cost and time of training new skilled workers, and the time cost caused by the adaptation period of new management methods.

The emergence of new technologies has brought about a series of cost expenditures that have discouraged factory owners in both countries.

Even if the goods produced are of poor quality and high in price, these colonial consumers have no other choice and have a monopoly.

Similar to textiles, the markets for other industrial products of the two countries are exclusive within their respective spheres of influence and are only open to their own industrial products.

This comfortable situation has led to a lack of enterprising spirit in the industrial sectors of the two countries. They have been living in a greenhouse built by the government for a long time, and their competitiveness has gradually declined.

However, in the markets of Europe and other independent countries, this is not the case. People naturally choose high-quality and low-priced products in the national market.

This is why after entering the 20th century, German and American industries rose up and conquered cities and territories in the European market, winning successively.

Germany and the United States developed rapidly in the second industrial revolution represented by electrification and the internal combustion engine. On the contrary, the original hegemons, Britain and France, lagged behind in the second industrial revolution wave.

Because Germany and the United States do not have vast colonies like Britain and France (Germany’s colonies were acquired very late, and although the area is not small, they are not densely populated places with limited markets), so they can open up to their own industrial products alone. .

Under this situation, factory owners and capitalists in Germany and the United States have to always pay attention to market changes and adopt the most advanced technology, more efficient management methods, and higher-quality workers to ensure that they enhance their competitiveness. , the products produced are of better quality and lower prices, so that they can survive in the cruel market.

The industrial circles of Britain and France, accustomed to comfort and increasingly conservative, are naturally not as competitive as the enterprising industrial circles of Germany and the United States.

After experiencing the market collapse of independent countries, the factory owners and capitalists of Britain and France naturally valued the remaining colonial markets even more, and were reluctant to let go of the colonies and let them become independent.

By the 20th century, colonies had actually become a sweet burden, dragging down the original world hegemons Britain and France.

As professional practitioners, Jefferson and Derek deeply realized that the competitiveness of their country's textiles was indeed not as competitive as that of Greece, at least in the Ottoman Empire market.

However, they felt unwilling to admit defeat like this.

At this time, Britain and France were at their peak, especially Britain. At this time, its national power was at its peak and unprecedentedly powerful. Jefferson surrendered to the Greek businessmen and surrendered. The pride of the British Empire could not bear this humiliation.

Thinking of this, Jefferson rolled his eyes, stood up, and whispered to Derek across the table, "..."

"What do you think of this idea? Ha, it's time to teach the Greeks a lesson and let them know whose territory this is," Jefferson said with a smirk.

After hearing Jefferson's attention, Derek secretly said with disdain: It is indeed a country where pirates started. Commercial competition is not an opponent, so it secretly uses dirty methods.

But his face was full of compliments: "This is a good idea, Jefferson. I can pay half of the bribe cost. I'm waiting for your good news."