Greece to roman road

The current financial center of the world is undoubtedly London.

Britain's annual overseas investment reached 4 billion pounds, which accounted for 43% of the world's total investment at that time.

As Britain's domestic capital became saturated, London in 1913 relied mainly on providing financial support to foreign countries rather than providing capital to domestic industry.

Greece and Britain have always had close ties, which is good news for Greece's ability to borrow from British bankers.

"Prime Minister, how much loan do you think Greece needs to borrow to solve Greece's short-term financial problems?" Constantine explained.

Since we need a loan, we might as well take this opportunity to raise all the expenses for developing Macedonia in one step.

For the Greek government, there is simply not enough time to waste time. Digesting and developing the territories of Macedonia and Western Thrace as soon as possible is the foundation of Greece's foundation in the future when a war involving the entire Europe breaks out.

Although he was a little confused as to why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seemed a little impatient, Venizelos calculated it clearly in his mind and said: "This year's Greek fiscal deficit is about 300 million drachmas. In order to ensure that the government's work can run smoothly, if it can After negotiating with the banks of various countries, it is best for the government to issue bonds of at least 300 million drachmas."

The news that the Greek government needed to issue bonds due to financial constraints was quickly leaked by the Greek ambassador to the UK in London.

At this time, Greece had just won the Second Balkan War and became the biggest beneficiary of the Ottoman Empire's territorial legacy in the Balkans.

Secondly, the Greek government has excellent credit and has no record of default in repaying foreign loans. Naturally, many bankers are willing to lend to the Greek government.

In 1913, Crown Prince Constantine and Prime Minister Venizelos received a special guest at the Prime Minister's residence, Robert, the business manager of the Rothschild family bank in London.

This Mr. Robert is of medium build, with a monocle on the bridge of his nose, fair complexion, and wearing a black woolen coat.

"Mr. Robert, since you have arrived in Greece in person, you probably know that the Greek government will need a loan in the near future due to the two wars," Prime Minister Venizelos said first.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Greek government's external loans have good credit, and we at Rothschild Bank are happy to serve such outstanding customers." Robert smiled slightly and complimented the two of them.

"In fact, the Greek government faced two wars in a short period of time and could not rely on external borrowing at all. This surprised me."

"In fact, when the war broke out in June (the Second Balkan War), many bankers on the streets of London were looking forward to it, speculating that Greece might need to issue war bonds to survive the financial crisis."

Constantine looked at Robert with a smile on his face and complained in his heart, I am afraid that he was trying to take advantage of the opportunity to issue a high-interest loan from the Greek government, but it did not come true. The vampires in London must feel deeply regretful.

When the Second Balkan War broke out, it was not news that the Greek government was short of funds. Those working in the London financial community would naturally have heard about it.

Greece has always been considered by Britain to be its sphere of influence. If Greece needs to issue bonds, bankers in London also know that they are the first choice.

Although they are all loans, the interest rates for loans at different times vary greatly.

If the Greek government sought to issue bonds from a foreign country during the war, then in accordance with the financial tradition of risk and return, seeking help from bankers in London would naturally be a loan with extremely high interest rates.

After all, with such a loan, once Greece loses the war, the risk of debt default will increase infinitely.

Now that Greece has won the war, seeking a loan can only relieve the government's short-term financial pressure. The interest rate is naturally different from the former.

"Your government entrusted Rothschild Bank with the business of issuing 300 million drachma bonds. There is no problem at all," Robert introduced respectfully.

"But I don't know what the Greek government will use as collateral? After all, 300 million drachmas is equivalent to about 8 million pounds. Such a huge loan cannot be without collateral."

Constantine and Venizelos looked at each other and realized that Robert seemed to have other intentions. They turned to Robert and said, "Mr. Robert, do you have any suggestions?"

Robert did not answer, but changed the subject and said to the two of them: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, there are now more than 300,000 Jews living in Salonika, Greece, and Salonika is now the largest Jewish settlement. district"

"What do you two think of the Jews in Salonika?" Robert said directly without hiding his purpose.

This surprised Constantine and Venizelos. After all, what does this have to do with today's loan?

"Mr. Robert, what exactly do you want to say, what do the Jews of Salonika have to do with the loan we are talking about?" Constantine said in surprise.

This Robert contacted the Jews of Salonika about the loan, which surprised Constantine.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, if you can ensure that the Jews of Salonika are treated fairly, this loan from Rothschild Bank will not only reduce the interest, but also make an exception and allow the Greek government to issue bonds without collateral." Robert hurriedly explained.

Hearing this, Constantine also realized that the Rothschild family who founded Rothschild Bank were Jews.

It's no wonder that Robert has the current request.

"Mr. Robert, what do you think is fair treatment?" Venizelos asked with a frown.

As a Greek nationalist, Venizelos did not have a good impression of the stubbornly conservative and maverick Jewish community.

The Jews living in Salonika were always incompatible with Greek society and acted in their own way.

“The Jews of Salonika hope to receive tolerant treatment from the Greek government, such as allowing the Jews of Salonika, establishing Jewish schools, allowing Jews to freely purchase land, and relaxing the discriminatory policy against Jewish banks in the financial sector within Greece.”

In the field of education, in order to quickly gather people's support, the Greek authorities currently do not allow any foreign language schools except Greek as the language of instruction.

In addition, although the Greek government did not explicitly stipulate when selling land to the people, almost all of the government's land sales were intentionally or unintentionally sold to Greeks.

As for the financial sector, the three major banks in Greece, Royal Bank of Greece, Alfa Bank and National Bank of Greece, are almost all banks run by Greeks.

The three major banks tacitly blockade Jews in the financial field and curb the expansion of Jewish capital in Greece.