Greece to roman road

"His Royal Highness, since the government has decided to take back the right to mint coins, does the Greek government need to increase its gold reserves?" Banning suddenly asked.

After the Greek government decided to take back the right to mint money, increasing gold reserves came into the government's sight.

At present, when Greece issues currency, it relies on the foreign exchange it holds, such as pounds, francs or marks. It treats these foreign exchanges as disguised gold reserves, and then issues a corresponding number of drachmas for circulation in Greece.

This is due to the fact that Greece’s domestic gold reserves were previously limited and were simply not enough to implement a true gold standard system.

Now that the government has taken back the right to mint money, it is urgent to implement the gold standard system. A large amount of gold reserves will definitely be needed as a guarantee for the issuance of currency.

In the middle and late 19th century, major countries in the world successively implemented the gold standard system.

The production of gold is limited and its value is relatively stable.

Silver is different. In the late nineteenth century, with the massive increase in silver production, the value of silver continued to depreciate.

Therefore, countries that use the gold standard system have high credibility because their currency can be freely exchanged for gold, and people are more willing to hold such currency.

As Greece's fiscal revenue has increased in recent years, it has begun to repay the principal of its huge foreign debt, which has caused a further reduction in domestic gold reserves.

"A lot of new gold deposits have been discovered in Congo recently. If Greece needs it, it can increase gold mining in Congo," Banning said.

"In recent years, with the preliminary completion of infrastructure construction, Congo's gold exports have surged, and gold mining companies from various countries have gone to Congo to prospect for gold," Brut said regretfully.

"This year's gold import and export volume will reach 2 tons. If Greece can get this gold..."

When the Congo was acquired in 1885, due to the limited strength of Greece itself, the government itself still needed to rely on borrowings to maintain itself. There was simply no sufficient funds to invest in the Congo thousands of miles away. And Constantine was eager to obtain benefits from the Congo, so he could only Borrow a chicken to lay an egg.

In order to speed up the development of Congo and attract international investment, Constantine specifically asked Banning to encourage people to develop Congo's gold mines.

It is precisely because of the attraction of gold that capital from various countries is willing to come to Congo and overcome many difficulties to build railways and other transportation facilities in the Congo's tropical rainforest.

After the construction of the first railway in the Congo, the Matadi-Constantinople railway, was subsequently built from the upper reaches of the Congo River to Lake Tanganyika and from Kayseri and the navigation terminal to the center of Katanga. The railway, with two lines connected at Kamina, has a total length of 3,500 kilometers and is still not completed.

As the saying goes, every gain must come with a loss. Greece does not have the power to monopolize Congo's gold. The flow of people and capital attracted by gold has greatly reduced Greece's investment and difficulty in developing Congo.

"So far, Congo's mining industry mainly relies on gold mining and copper mining. Although Congo is also rich in other mineral deposits, there has been little progress so far, otherwise the Congolese government's fiscal revenue will grow rapidly," Banning added .

Congo’s mineral deposits are mainly non-ferrous metals and rare metals. To be honest, it may take some time for these minerals to fully demonstrate their value.

There is not much demand for these metals at the moment.

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After the afternoon meeting, Constantine and Sophie, led by Banning and Costeblu, went to visit a rubber forest outside Constantinople.

The rubber estate is the property of the Greek Congo Corporation.

Constantine and his group stepped on the soft and thick fallen leaves and strolled through the artificial rubber trees that were neatly arranged and evenly spaced. The sunlight filtered through the tight blockade of the tree canopy and fell one after another.

"This rubber plantation covers an area of ​​more than 1,000 hectares and can produce more than 100 tons of rubber every year," Costebrough explained to Constantine.

While he was talking, workers from the rubber plantation came to cut rubber.

But the appearance of these rubber workers surprised Constantine: black hair and eyes, yellow skin.

Isn't this a typical Asian look?

"What's going on with these workers? Asians?" Constantine asked, pointing to several workers cutting rubber.

"Oh, these are workers from Southeast Asia," Costebrew explained.

"There is no way. The indigenous people in Congo are too lazy and love freedom. As you know, Congo is located in the tropics, rich in products, and there is no winter. This makes the indigenous people in Congo very lazy. For them, they will never starve to death. , If you can’t freeze, you can always go into the rainforest and find something to eat.” Speaking of this, Costeblu also felt helpless towards the Congolese natives.

"When you start working, you try your best to be lazy and slippery, just like a top. It only spins once you have to be whipped. If the supervisors don't notice, they will fish in troubled waters."

Speaking of this, Costebrough shook his head helplessly.

"Later we noticed that in the rubber plantations managed by the British, workers hired from Southeast Asia were hardworking and efficient, so we followed suit."

"In this way, we have also introduced workers from Southeast Asia to other plantations, and their efficiency is indeed much higher than that of the indigenous people."

Speaking of this, Costebrough seemed to remember something and said: "We are planning to hire some agricultural experts from Europe in the near future to come here to guide agricultural production."

"It would be best to set up an agricultural research institute in Constantinople to guide agricultural cultivation here for a long time."

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The day after the visit, upon hearing the news that Constantine had come to Constantinople, chiefs from all over the Congo presented Constantine with numerous gifts.

Things like ivory, lion skin, rhino horn, etc. were piled in the room.

One of the chiefs of the Makulu tribe probably asked the Congolese authorities specifically for news about Constantine, and ingeniously sent him a lion hat.

In Greek mythology, Hercules, the son of Zeus, was so powerful that after killing a lion, Hercules turned the lion's head into a hat.

The famous Alexander the Great in Greek history worshiped Heracles very much and has always regarded him as his idol.

In the portraits left by Alexander, it is common to see him imitating Heracles wearing a lion's hat.

It seems that the chief heard that Constantine was a soldier, so giving him such a hat was probably to flatter him, implying that Constantine was a powerful general comparable to Alexander.

Constantine liked this gift very much, so he returned the favor and gave the chief the ivory-carved pistol he had always treasured.

Time came to 1908,