Greece to roman road

Lundhart's continuous news caught these new people in this country by surprise. read

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Whether it is agricultural cooperatives or tobacco growing technology, they are completely unfamiliar things to them and have never been exposed to them.

Most of them came from poor peasant backgrounds and were short-sighted. They could not make a clear judgment based on Lenthardt's words.

Everyone looks at me and I look at you, they all look confused.

Lenthardt also noticed his gaffe and seemed a little anxious. Suddenly it was an agricultural cooperative and tobacco cultivation that required certain professional skills. People who had never been exposed to these things needed a certain amount of time to digest them. information.

"Everyone can go back and think about it carefully. Agricultural cooperatives are very common in Greece. You just need to consult other people."

Lenthardt rushed to keep his appointment. After leaving the alley with his colleagues, he hurried to a cafe on the street.

It is said that this important man has a wide network of friends, a profound background, and a high status in the upper class of Athens.

Especially in the army, Lundhardt had seen him from a distance chatting and laughing with senior military officers, so he was deeply impressed by him.

Unexpectedly, after I went to the remote town of Kavala, I was lucky enough to get to know him.

In front of the cafe, Lundhart paused for a moment, smoothed down his black woolen windbreaker and the white cotton shirt underneath, straightened the black felt hat on his head, cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and then entered the cafe.

The person who met him was none other than Constantine's personal economic and financial advisor Yakov, the manager of the Purple Robe Foundation who is well-known among the Greek upper class.

The ever-changing destiny is really wonderful.

The Yakov family was hastily expelled from Poland a few years ago, and the family-run bank was taken away, which was like falling into dust from heaven.

In just a few years, relying on Crown Prince Constantine's relationship, the family not only established a firm foothold in Greece, but also improved their family status and became famous among the Greek upper class.

This time Yakov appeared in Kavala. He was also ordered by Constantine. The Purple Robe Foundation and the Royal Greek Educational Foundation jointly invested in the newly planned industrial city in Greece, the Thessaloniki Industrial Zone. Six million drachmas for the construction of a cigarette factory.

Yakov proved his business ability with the success of Royal Hellenic Petroleum Company. Currently, Royal Hellenic Petroleum Company is the largest and the only oil company with oil fields in Greece. It has established a solid relationship with dozens of refined oil sales companies in Greece. Business relationships and operations have entered a stable stage.

According to accounting statistics, Royal Petroleum's turnover this year will exceed 310 million drachmas, and its net profit will reach more than 40 million marks. It has officially entered the profit stage, instead of being in a state where investment exceeded output like in previous years. Out of money-losing status.

Royal Petroleum Company of Greece produces more than 800,000 tons of oil per year, which can currently meet Greece's domestic oil consumption needs.

Constantine attached great importance to the Royal Petroleum Company. After all, oil, as a booming emerging energy (in this era, oil is indeed an emerging energy, compared to the old energy coal), is directly related to the industrialization process in Greece.

Internal combustion engines and related industries related to internal combustion engines, as an important part of the second industrial revolution, are related to the national destiny of Greece.

It is precisely because of the smooth progress of Royal Petroleum that the current Greek automobile industry, although it cannot compare with Western Europe and North America, is also developing rapidly.

Yakov proved his business ability and demonstrated his value with the Royal Petroleum Company. As a rare elite business talent, Constantine trusted him more. In addition to the manager position of the Purple Robe Foundation, Yakov currently has The husband also holds the title of business and financial advisor to the royal family and provides advice on the royal family’s business investments.

The Thessaloniki Cigarette Factory was another task assigned by Constantine to Yakov.

"Lieutenant Lundhart, nice to meet you." Noticing the arrival of his guest, Yakov stood up without any pretense and invited Lundhart to take a seat.

Yakov's approachability made Lundhardt respect him even more. He did not dare to be indifferent at all. He took off his hat and walked quickly with a smile on his face: "It is a great honor to be received by you, Dear Mr. Yakov."

After the two of them were seated, the waiter who had been staring at the well-dressed Yakov for a long time intelligently served him two cups of coffee. Then Yakov paid a tip of ten drachmas and walked away with the tray with a happy face. .

"Mr. Lundhart, how are you? Have you found an agricultural cooperative whose main crop is tobacco?" Yakov said calmly.

Not daring to be negligent, Lundhart immediately put down the coffee in his hand and said: "Mr. Yakov, you also know that Kavala was a military base where tens of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers were stationed not long ago. Now the war has just ended, everything has changed." It’s a mess and it will take some time for people to return to a peaceful life.”

"Now the government is also promoting mature policies in the newly occupied areas, and agricultural cooperatives are one of them. But Kavala is a newly recovered territory after all. Why are you so eager?" Lundhart asked in confusion.

In fact, Yakov also felt puzzled. Why was Crown Prince Constantine so anxious about the progress of the Thessaloniki cigarette factory?

When Constantine summoned Yakov, he requested that a modern cigarette factory be built within one year and that the imported portion of tobacco raw materials should not exceed 40%.

In other words, the crown prince hopes that Greece can supply most of the tobacco needed by the cigarette factory.

Compared with oil companies, which have complex technologies, large scales, and cumbersome corporate structures, cigarette factories are much simpler.

All technologies are very mature.

It's just that in consumer industries like cigarette factories, the difficulty in operating is not the production process, but marketing.

No matter how much we produce, sales will be poor; the more we produce, the more money we will lose.

This is different from oil companies.

After all, Royal Petroleum Company of Greece is the only company in Greece with the ability to extract oil. Customers have no other choice and they have no worries about selling the products.

Cigarettes are different. In the Greek domestic market, cigarettes are sold from a variety of sources. British cigarettes have the largest market share, followed by Germany, and American cigarettes rank third. The rest of the market share is occupied by other countries, which can be called a universal brand.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not ask about profitability at all. Instead, he oddly emphasized ensuring the stable output and source of raw materials of the cigarette factory. It seemed that he had no worries about sales.

According to Yakov's speculation, Crown Prince Constantine may want to promote the cultivation of tobacco in Greece. After all, tobacco is also a cash crop with high economic benefits.

Not only can it promote the tobacco growing industry in Greece and increase the income of Greek farmers, but it can also replace imports and change the embarrassing situation in which the Greek domestic cigarette market is completely occupied by foreign countries.

Thinking of this, Yakov felt that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had acted too hastily. After all, the situation of foreign cigarettes occupying the Greek cigarette market did not happen overnight and would be difficult to change in a short period of time.

If tough measures, such as administrative measures, are adopted to forcibly ban the sale of foreign cigarettes, it may affect Greece's diplomatic relations with other countries.

However, considering that the cigarette factory has the base of the army, even if there is really no market for the cigarettes produced and there is a large backlog of warehouses, they can still be sold to the Greek army.

Even if you don’t make any money, you can still recover your costs.

The cigarette factory was jointly invested and established by the Purple Robe Foundation and the Royal Greek Education Group. The aristocratic shareholders of the Purple Robe Foundation are themselves powerful officers serving in the Greek army. With this relationship, the army, a major customer of cigarettes, Certainly no one can compete with myself.

In fact, the reason why Constantine asked Yakov to quickly build a cigarette factory was, in addition to Yakov's idea of ​​developing the Greek tobacco planting industry and increasing the income of Greek farmers, mainly because of the upcoming large-scale war in Europe and the price of cigarettes. After the skyrocketing imports of cigarettes are cut off, the Greek army will also be out of stock.

Not only can it be used for personal use, it can occupy the domestic cigarette market, but it may also make a lot of money.

The areas suitable for growing cigarettes in Greece are mainly concentrated in Macedonia along the Aegean Sea, including areas newly recovered from Bulgaria. Purchasing tobacco from the local area will help restore the region's economy and repair local war wounds.

It’s not that Constantine is making a fuss. For the army, cigarettes are indeed an important strategic material.

When fighting on the front line, you face the threat of death every day. The pressure can be imagined.

It is common for soldiers to light a cigarette and relax their tense spirit.

Therefore, if there is wine now, the soldiers will be drunk now. During the war, soldiers will try their best to enjoy themselves without aggrieved themselves if conditions permit.

Cigarettes are said to have been invented on the battlefield.

In 1799, Napoleon led his army to storm the Turkish city of Yak. The public hookah used by the Turkish soldiers for smoking was blown up, and these Turks were addicted to smoking. A soldier on the defensive position suddenly had a whim and used a gun. Gunpowder paper was used to roll tobacco leaves, and others followed suit, and paper cigarettes came into being.

When the Crimean War broke out in 1853, Britain, France and other countries sent troops to assist the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) against Russia. British soldiers learned how to cut paper and roll cigarettes from the Ottoman Empire soldiers, and brought this method back to the UK. , cigarettes have been widely spread in Europe since then, and gradually become popular around the world.

In less than two months of war with Bulgaria, more than 400,000 Greek troops consumed a staggering 15 million cigarettes.

Due to the urgent need and the large quantity, the Greek Army Logistics Department was forced to increase the price to purchase cigarettes in order to prepare a sufficient quantity of cigarettes.

It is this incident that reminds the importance of Constantine cigarettes.

This is why Yakov hurriedly came to Kavala to look for Lundhart, the local snake in the small town of Kavala.

The Macedonian region along the Aegean Sea has a warm climate, abundant rainfall, and mostly sandy soil and light soil, which is suitable for tobacco cultivation.

The Greek government is currently building railways and roads in Macedonia. Thessaloniki will become an important transportation hub in Greece, and the small city of Kavala is located along the planned railway.

After the completion of the railway, the journey between Thessaloniki and Kavala only takes a few hours, so the tobacco produced here can be easily transported to the Thessaloniki industrial area.

Yakov secretly thought that if possible, I don't want to be in such a hurry, but he said: "The machines and equipment purchased by the Thessaloniki Cigarette Factory from Germany will arrive soon, and we urgently need a stable supply of tobacco."

The current agricultural cooperatives in Greece are essentially small and medium-sized companies, and the company's products are the crops grown by the members.

Considering that cigarette factories need long-term and stable tobacco suppliers, Yakov plans to sign long-term tobacco supply agreements with several local agricultural cooperatives to ensure that cigarette factories have a stable source of raw materials.

Looking at the silent Lendhardt, Yakov said in a deep voice: "If you can help me contact several agricultural cooperatives in Kavala and convince them to plant tobacco on a large scale, I will personally remember your help. "

Hearing Yakov's promise, Lundhardt was secretly happy. He had seized the opportunity. The cigarette factory obviously needed a large amount of tobacco. If he could make connections among them and deal with various agricultural cooperatives, he would undoubtedly be able to connect with many local people. establish long-term relationships with agricultural cooperatives.

The suitable climate and environment here are indeed suitable for the development of tobacco planting industry. If the local tobacco planting in Kavala can develop on a large scale, I, the middleman, will naturally benefit a lot.

Then he said his own method: "Mr. Yakov, do you think this will work? Tobacco growing is a new thing locally. Local farmers have almost no experience in growing tobacco, and most of them have never even seen tobacco." plant"

"As an intermediary, I contact several newly established agricultural cooperatives and recommend to them the idea of ​​tobacco cultivation. It is best for you to sign orders directly with them. Then these newly established agricultural cooperatives can submit orders to large commercial banks in Greece based on the orders. apply for a loan"

"In this way, not only will your tobacco suppliers have it, but these newly established agricultural cooperations will also be able to obtain additional start-up capital. They can use this capital to purchase some machinery and equipment to speed up the process of land reclamation and get on the right track as soon as possible. To grow enough tobacco for the cigarette factory”

"With orders from cigarette factories, these agricultural cooperatives don't have to worry about sales. They can also help their members learn tobacco cultivation with peace of mind, getting twice the result with half the effort."

"This is a good thing that has the best of both worlds. They will not refuse it." Lundhart told Yakov the thoughts that had been in his mind for a long time.

"If you agree, I can contact these agricultural cooperatives now"

Lundhart carefully observed Yakov's reaction. Doing so would indeed allow local tobacco cultivation to develop rapidly. However, for cigarette factories, after signing an order, they would need to pay the order in advance to the agricultural cooperative, and the risk would be all Being saddled by the cigarette factory.

At that time, as long as the tobacco is grown, the cigarette factory will need to pay in full, even if the cigarettes are backlogged in the warehouse and will not be able to get out at all.