Greece to roman road

The next day, Prime Minister Alexandros hurried to the Royal Palace in Syntagma Square to meet with King George.

In the meeting hall, seeing the king and the crown prince discussing things, the prime minister did not care about anything else and said directly to King George: "Your Majesty, almost all public opinion in Greece in the past two days has criticized the government."

"If left unchecked, it may lead to unrest."

"I implore Your Majesty to grant the government temporary press censorship rights to calm the situation."

King George seemed not at all surprised by the Prime Minister's words and instructed him to sit down.

"Prime Minister, when I went to Piraeus Port for inspection the morning before yesterday, I met a family with their families and luggage on their backs. They were obviously going to immigrate." King George suppressed the Prime Minister's question and said, Instead, he started telling stories.

"As a king, when his subjects move to other countries, he naturally feels ashamed."

"I walked up to them and asked them where they were going and why."

King George was talking eloquently, and although he was anxious, Alexandros could only be patient at this time.

Alexandros was a little disapproving when he heard that he was an immigrant.

At the end of the 19th century, people from Greece immigrated to North America every year, ranging from tens of thousands to thousands.

At this time, North America was vast and sparsely populated, with rapid industrial development and a massive labor shortage.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Greeks immigrated to North America.

King George continued; "They told me that they were going to join their relatives in Smyrna (located on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor). The taxes in Greece are too high. They work non-stop all year round and can barely fill their stomachs."

Alexandros's eyes widened with a wonderful expression.

He hesitated and said: "Well, maybe they have rich relatives in Osman's place."

King George seemed oblivious and continued: "Didn't the Ottomans be defeated by us? Why would some Greeks go to Asia Minor instead?"

Due to the high foreign debt of the government and the previous government's response to the war, Prime Minister Trikupis raised taxes several times.

Although the war is now over, the government's finances are still tight, and the temporary increase in taxes that was originally imposed during the war has not been abolished.

Moreover, the Greek government's foreign debt, until now, has always been repaid with interest when due every year, and the principal has not been repaid at all.

The current tax system in Greece is an equal tax system. Everyone pays the same amount of tax regardless of their income gap.

Therefore, although the Trikupis government seems to only increase taxes a little bit each time, for the people of the middle and lower classes, each increase makes them feel unbearable.

Because under this tax system, people with different incomes have different tax tolerances.

For those who have money, such tax increases are not worth mentioning.

The two people formed a sharp contrast.

People with higher incomes feel that taxes in Greece are very low.

And poor people with low incomes feel that taxes in Greece are very high.

Such unfair taxation has led to Greece’s weak tax collection ability.

"Frankly speaking, Prime Minister, do you think Greece should not change?" Constantine interjected.

The military now also has grievances against the government.

Originally, it was supposed that the Greek army would be increased by 10,000 people to form a standing division during peacetime. As a result, the meeting was over, and there is no trace of the appropriation until now.

Two days ago, the Chief of General Staff, full of anger, hurriedly came to Constantine and said that the pension expenses for Greek soldiers were clearly stipulated, but now when they were paid, they had shrunk, causing all the soldiers in the army to come. Blame the officer.

"Greece did win the war, but these newly acquired territories also have to be digested?" Constantine said this and became very angry.

"Albania is still under martial law. If the Greek government does not take measures to bring Albania under the control of the Greek government, how long will you have to wait?"

Originally, the government held a meeting on Albanian affairs last time, but nothing happened after that.

"Do you have to wait until the Italians have recovered from the political chaos of the failed war and have time to intervene in Albanian affairs?"

Without money, the government can't do anything.

Constantine's complaint made Alexandros look embarrassed: "Your Highness, there is nothing we can do about it. You know the financial situation of Greece."

"I know that the government has no money. If we continue with the current situation and do not make changes, we will not have money in the future."

Alexandros felt bitter when he saw Crown Prince Constantine targeting the tax system, and said: "The reason why the government adopts the equal tax system is because this system is simple to operate and everyone pays the same tax."

I originally thought that the post of prime minister was a sweet potato, but now it seems that it has become a hot potato.

King George was deeply moved since his encounter with the immigrants.

The Greeks' own kingdom was not favored by the Greeks. After discussions with others, they also intended to carry out reforms.

Alexandros was in the conference room, pacing back and forth anxiously, thinking about the opinions of the king and the crown prince.

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The next day, Greek Prime Minister Alexandros gave a speech to lawmakers at the National Assembly Building, demanding tax reform and raising taxes on high-income earners in order to deal with the fiscal crisis.

The Prime Minister, who was under tremendous pressure from all aspects, had no choice but to test the reaction of parliament and the people.

One stone stirs up a thousand waves.

Obviously, by doing so, the interests of high-income earners have been harmed, and they will naturally have to fight back.

The next day, Athens newspapers also changed their tone and began to criticize government officials for corruption, inefficiency, and poor social services.

At the same time, they began to criticize Greece's political party system, which divides political parties into factions and does not care about Greece's national interests at all.

In particular, the report focused on the fact that when Trikoupis was Prime Minister, because Greece borrowed heavily to build infrastructure, contractors followed officials, paid bribes to officials, and gave kickbacks, colluding with officials and businessmen to get projects.

Officials and businessmen made fortunes while the Greek government was saddled with heavy debt.

The unrest caused by hosting the Olympics has intensified.

On the morning of July 8, Constantine personally visited the Ministry of Defense building in Athens.

"Okay, everyone, Greece is now in a special period. From now on, no Greek army can be mobilized at will without orders from the General Staff. Violators will be punished with treason." Constantine said to the army with a serious face. The officers of the General Staff announced.

Almost all the top leaders of the Greek army were present.

"Your Highness, is this making too much of a fuss?" Manugianaski asked doubtfully.

"Making a fuss out of a molehill? Do you know how many wars were caused by taxation conflicts in history?" Constantine said angrily.

"Especially your Army's First Division, which is stationed on the outskirts of Athens. You must be careful and don't make any mistakes at this time."