Greece to roman road

"Father, there are so many companies in Greece, and I have never seen you value one company so much. Why do you value Mr. Andros's machinery factory so much?" Prince George asked curiously.

In fact, there are many business organizations closely connected with the Greek royal family.

The first is the Royal Bank of Greece, controlled by the royal family, which is currently one of the largest commercial banks in Greece.

Through this bank as the central media, whether through loans or direct investment, the Greek royal family has established interest relationships with many companies.

For example, Tesla Power Group, Philip Pharmaceuticals, Greek Steel Plant, Athens Shipyard, etc.

The second is the Royal Greek Educational Foundation. The main work of the foundation has always been the responsibility of Crown Princess Sofia.

Although nominally the foundation's main job is to provide Greek education funds, over the years, as the foundation's investment scale has become larger and larger, the scale of the foundation has also expanded rapidly, and it has become de facto Greece's sovereign wealth fund. .

With Sofia's efforts, the foundation's main source of funds has changed from the annual allocation of funds by the original Congolese colonial government in accordance with the agreement with the Greek royal family to the current main source of funds, which is the income from the foundation's investment.

For example, in the Royal Greek Petroleum Company, not only the Purple Robe Foundation participated in the investment, but also part of the equity is in the hands of the Royal Education Foundation.

In addition, the Education Foundation has invested in a large number of companies in Greece, especially some mining companies, such as lignite mines in Greece, some thermal power stations, copper mines, gold mines, and rubber fields in the Congo.

The Royal Educational Foundation is basically among the major shareholders of companies engaged in mineral mining and smelting in Albania, such as copper and nickel mining companies there.

The funds currently held by the foundation, in addition to being responsible for most of the expenditures on Greek education, also have excess funds for investment and appreciation every year.

As for the Greek government, as the Greek government's finances have been in a tight state in recent years, even after the tax reform, most of the funds have been invested in the rapidly expanding military, unable to compete with foundations for influence in the education field.

In the words of Crown Princess Sofia, the beneficiaries of the foundation are all Greeks. The mineral resources in Greece are the wealth of all Greeks. The foundation logically has a natural investment priority.

Through two business institutions, the Royal Educational Foundation and the Royal Bank of Greece, the royal family is involved in hundreds of Greek businesses.

As Prince George said, with the exception of Tesla Electric Group, no other business attracted Constantine's attention like Andros's machine shop.

The reason why Constantine pays special attention to these companies is simple. They are all emerging industries that emerged with the development of the second industrial revolution.

The quality of their development directly determines the future economy of Greece.

Throughout the history of the world since the discovery of geography, those countries that have emerged as world powers have directly grasped the pulse of the times and enjoyed the dividends bestowed by the times.

The first generation of overlords, Spain and Portugal, led the Age of Discovery and reaped huge rewards from the voyage.

The two countries' methods of making money were simple and crude. Spain directly mined gold and silver mines in the New World. With the power of one country, the entire world's silver began to depreciate.

In contrast, Portugal's path to fortune was more technical and made its fortune through trade.

Portugal was the first to establish a trade network from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and even Southeast Asia, such as the establishment of the Macau colony.

The second generation overlord, the Netherlands, finally won the competition and became the "Sea Coachman".

The innovative financial system that the Dutch relied on.

Many people have had this thought: If everyone gives me a dollar, I will become a rich man.

The essence of stocks is like this: raise funds, concentrate on developing enterprises, share profits, and share risks.

The Dutch East India Company was the world's first joint-stock company established by issuing shares.

It is precisely relying on Dutch innovation in the financial field that the Dutch maritime industry has developed to its peak.

Modern financial systems such as the issuance of stocks and stock exchanges are the creations of the Dutch.

Amsterdam became the first generation world financial center.

Britain, the world's maritime hegemon, not only inherited the modern financial system of the Netherlands (London became the new world financial center after Amsterdam), but what really allowed the British to secure their position as maritime hegemon was the first industrial revolution.

Newton, classical physics, steam engines, Jenny looms, trains, and ships, these familiar products of the world's first industrial revolution, originated in Britain.

The reason why these overlords can successfully rise is that in addition to learning and imitating the previous overlords and inheriting the advantages of the previous overlords, they ultimately need to have their own unique features.

Like the Dutch stock trading system and the British Industrial Revolution.

It is not enough to just catch up with the countries that are leading the trend of the times in order to get ahead.

Late comers need to do better.

Now is the time when the Second Industrial Revolution is booming. Relying on the spring breeze of the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany and the United States have begun to rapidly expand in strength and are qualified to challenge Britain's world hegemony.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the rise of a country has essentially been the rise of its manufacturing industry.

The automobile industry is one of the most representative emerging industries of the second industrial revolution.

Tesla Electric Company is currently the largest electric power company in Greece.

With the maturity of alternating current technology, the Royal Educational Foundation has recently begun to invest in a power company in Macedonia, mainly responsible for the power supply there.

The most prominent feature of the second industrial revolution was the internal combustion engine and electricity.

Since Greece's industrial development was severely limited by the lack of high-quality energy, Constantine could only make arrangements in the field of electricity.

Infrastructure construction such as power facilities can be supported through administrative means and are relatively easy to promote.

For example, companies with interests in the royal family took the lead in using alternating current as energy and set an example to other companies. After opening a breakthrough, Greece's power industry developed rapidly.

In fact, Greek companies have no more choices.

There is no high-quality coal in Greece, and imported coal is expensive, so steam engines are naturally unpopular in the Greek industry.

As for the field of internal combustion engines, it is more complicated.

Whether they are cars, tractors, or motorcycles, they are all consumer goods that need to directly face thousands of ordinary consumers, making the situation even more complicated.

It's like a country can easily create a powerful atomic bomb, but it can't rely on the same method to build an excellent automobile manufacturing industry.

It was impossible for Constantine to create a car that was popular with the people directly through political means.

So, like formulating a five-year plan to develop the country's industry, well, wake up, this is simply impossible.

In fact, even though the royal family is economically influential, Greece is a capitalist country and the government does not directly control enterprises.

The primary purpose of private enterprises is to make profits, not production. Except during times of war, the government has no right to forcefully order enterprises.

All the government can do is guide and promote. If companies simply ignore it, then there is nothing the government can do.

Just like Andros's machinery factory, Constantine certainly hopes that Andros will produce more cars, preferably tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of cars every year, so that Greece's industry will be stronger.

But is this possible?

Once produced, if it cannot be sold, who does it belong to? Who will pay the compensation?

Therefore, only socialist countries can formulate national development plans such as the Five-Year Plan. Capitalist countries cannot do this.

Therefore, Constantine can only rely on outstanding entrepreneurs like Andros to complete the Greek automobile industry. There is no other way.

Moreover, automobile manufacturing is closely related to military industries, such as tanks and aircraft.

In fact, the internal combustion engines used in automobiles can be used in piston aircraft engines with slight modifications.