Greece’s Roman Road

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

In fact, there are many commercial establishments closely linked to 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 a central medium, or loans, or direct investment, the Greek royal family has established interest relationships with many companies.

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

Followed by the Royal Greek Education Foundation, the main work of the foundation has always been in charge of Crown Princess Sofia.

Although the main work of the foundation in name is to provide funds for Greek education, but in recent years, with the increasing investment scale of the foundation, the scale of the foundation is also rapidly expanding, and has in fact become the sovereign wealth fund of Greece .

Thanks to Sofia's efforts, the main source of funds for the foundation has been from the original Congolese colonial government, according to the agreement reached with the Greek royal family, the annual allocation of funds has become the main source of funds now is the income from the foundation's investment.

For example, the Royal Greek Petroleum Company, not only the Purple Pao Foundation has 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 also invested in a large number of enterprises in Greece, especially some mining enterprises, such as the lignite mines in Greece, some thermal power stations, copper mines, gold mines, and rubber fields in the Congo region.

Companies engaged in mineral mining and smelting in the Albania region, the Royal Education Foundation is basically included in the list of major shareholders, 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 for Greek education, have surplus funds for investment appreciation every year.

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

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

Through the Royal Education Foundation, and the Royal Bank of Greece, two commercial institutions, the royal family is implicated in hundreds of Greek businesses.

As Prince George said, aside from Tesla Power Group, there was no other business that caught Constantine's attention like Andros' machine shop.

The reason why Constantine paid special attention to these enterprises is simple. They are all emerging industries with the development of the second industrial revolution.

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

Throughout the world history since the Great Geographical Discovery, those countries that have risen to become world powers have directly grasped the pulse of the times and enjoyed the dividends bestowed by the times.

The first generation of hegemons, Spain and Portugal, led the era of great voyages and gained rich rewards from them.

The method of making money in the two countries is simple and crude. Spain directly mines gold and silver in the New World, and with the power of one country, the silver of the whole world begins to depreciate.

In contrast, Portugal's road to fortune is more technical, and it has become rich through trade.

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

The second-generation hegemon, the Netherlands, finally won the competition and became the "sea coachman".

An innovative financial system that the Dutch rely on.

A lot of people have had this idea: if everyone gave me a dollar, I'd be a millionaire.

The essence of stocks is like this, raising funds, focusing on developing enterprises, sharing profits, and sharing risks.

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

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

The modern financial system of issuing shares, stock exchanges, etc., is the creation of the Dutch.

Amsterdam became a first-generation world financial center.

In addition to inheriting the modern financial system of the Netherlands (after London became Amsterdam, the new world financial center), the world's maritime hegemony, the United Kingdom, really made the British secure the position of maritime hegemony through the first industrial revolution.

Newton, classical physics, steam engine, Jenny's textile machine, train, ship, these familiar products of the world's first industrial revolution originated in Britain.

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

Like the Dutch stock exchange system, the British Industrial Revolution.

It is not enough just to catch up with the countries that are leading the trend of the times and want to rise to the top.

Latecomers need to do better.

And now is the time when the second industrial revolution is booming. Germany and the United States, relying on the spring breeze of the second industrial revolution, have begun to rapidly expand their strength and are qualified to challenge the British world hegemony.

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

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

Tesla Power is currently the largest electricity company in Greece.

With the maturity of alternating current technology, the Royal Education Foundation has also recently invested in a power company in Macedonia, which is mainly responsible for the power supply there.

The most prominent features of the second industrial revolution are the internal combustion engine and electricity.

Since the industrial development of Greece 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 easily promoted through administrative means.

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

In fact, Greek companies have no more options.

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 it is a car, a tractor, or a motorcycle, they are all consumer goods, and they need to directly face millions of ordinary consumers. The situation is more complicated.

It's like a country can easily create a powerful atomic bomb, but it is impossible to rely on the same method to build an excellent automobile manufacturing industry.

Constantine could not have built a car that was popular with the people through direct political means.

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

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

Private enterprises take profit as their primary goal~www.wuxiax.com~ rather than production volume. Except in wartime, the government has no right to force enterprises to order.

The only thing the government can do is to guide and promote, and if the business simply ignores it, then the government has nothing to do.

Just like Andros' machinery factory, of course, Constantine hoped that Andros would produce more cars, preferably tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of cars a year, so that the Greek industry would be stronger.

But is this possible?

If it is produced, who is it if it cannot be sold? Who will pay for the loss?

Therefore, national development plans such as the five-year plan can only be formulated by socialist countries, not by capitalist countries.

Therefore, the Greek auto industry, Constantine can only rely on excellent entrepreneurs like Andros to complete, there is no other way.

Also, automobile manufacturing is closely related to the military industry, such as tanks and aircraft.

In fact, the internal combustion engine used in automobiles, with a little modification, can be used in piston-type aircraft engines.