Greece’s Roman Road

Accompanied by Schmidt, Nobel, who was invited by Constantine, took a boat from the French port of Toulon to the Greek port of Piraeus.

In a café in the port of Piraeus, Constantine met the famous scientist.

After the greeting, Constantine asked Nobel to build a gunpowder factory in Greece.

"There is no technical problem in building a gunpowder factory, but Your Excellency, as far as I know, your soldiers in the Greek army only consume five bullets every year. Can the gunpowder factory survive in Greece?"

Hearing this, Constantine couldn't help feeling ashamed. It seemed that even Nobel, an outsider, knew about the lack of live ammunition training among soldiers in the army.

"Mr. Nobel, precisely because Greek soldiers fire no more than 5 live ammunition per year, your gunpowder factory is more likely to be profitable, if the number of bullets consumed by Greek soldiers is 50 rounds per year, we don't have to talk about gunpowder factories here ”

When Nobel heard this reply, he was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that Constantine meant that the Greek gunpowder market had great potential.

"Greece is undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction, and there are a large number of mountains in Greece. It is common to blow up mountains and open roads, and a lot of gunpowder is also needed in construction."

said Constantine.

This gunpowder factory is indispensable for the modernization and reorganization of the Greek army. Now major countries in Europe are conducting research on smokeless gunpowder, and Greece cannot fall behind in this regard.

"If you can agree to build a factory in Greece, I can now place an order with you on behalf of the Greek army, 300 tons of gunpowder"

"As for the profitability of the gunpowder factory, I can guarantee that if the factory is not run well, the Greek army can take over." Constantine made a promise to Nobel.

After hearing Constantine's assurance, Nobel really felt Constantine's sincerity.

Recently, Nobel has been really tired.

First of all, the double-base gunpowder that he worked so hard to research was obviously more advanced, but it was rejected by the French authorities due to the time lag.

After Nobel's successful research on smokeless gunpowder, considering his long-term work, he settled in France (Nobel's hometown is Sweden), so he first provided this patent to the French gunpowder monopoly agency "Gunpowder and Saltpetre Authority".

It turned out to be rejected.

It turned out that in 1885, two years before Nobel invented mixed smokeless powder, a French professor of chemistry, Vieille, also invented a kind of smokeless powder.

This kind of gunpowder named "B-type Salo-Vieille gunpowder" is far inferior to Nobel's mixed smokeless gunpowder in terms of performance, but due to the relationship between Vieille and powerful figures in the political world, this gunpowder has long been Widely used by the French Army and Navy.

This made him annoyed at the short-sightedness of the French government.

Seeing that Constantine paid so much attention to the fruits of his labor, this kind of respect really made Nobel feel heartfelt.

"Besides, your patent for smokeless gunpowder, if you agree, our Greek army would like to get the right to use it for 500,000 drachmas," Constantine said.

Constantine understood the situation of future wars. Due to the invention of machine guns and rapid-fire guns, the maximum rate of fire of Maxim machine guns was 300 rounds per minute, and the limit rate of fire of French 75mm guns could reach 15 rounds per minute. In this case , the consumption of gunpowder in each war will be astronomical.

It is precisely because of the huge consumption of gunpowder that the factories set up by entrepreneurs like Nobel are naturally intended to maintain the output of profit in peacetime, but in wartime, the output will definitely not be able to supply the consumption of the army.

Therefore, it is necessary for the army to prevent this situation and take precautionary measures. Once the supply of gunpowder factories is not good, they will go out in person to ensure that the output of gunpowder can meet the needs of the army.

Because of this, the Greek army has a need to buy patents.

After the meeting between the two, Schmidt continued to accompany Nobel to France to avoid accidents for this special investor.

Schmidt's identity, Constantine's adjutant, was no secret, which aroused the curiosity of the French media.

As a result, the news of the meeting between the two was reported by French newspapers.

Things took an unexpected turn.

Vieille and his powerful figures in the French "Gunpowder and Saltpetre Authority" also noticed this.

The two are both inventors of smokeless gunpowder, which is a direct conflict of interest.

As the saying goes, peers are enemies.

The French news media began to lash out at Nobel, accusing him of damaging French interests by selling his patent on smokeless powder to the Greeks.

The French Paris Times even began to fabricate facts and slander Nobel, saying that he had set up the Sevran-Lifli laboratory in Paris and stole the technology of the "Gunpowder and Saltpetre Authority", because before that, there was experimenting with the The smokeless gunpowder invented by Ayer, which was used to strengthen the equipment of the French army.

After receiving Schmidt's telegram, Constantine was also stunned when he heard the news. He did not expect that his purchase of smokeless gunpowder for the Greek army would bring such a big trouble to Nobel.

For a while, Constantine also felt troubled.

The French will not take Greece seriously at this time, so it is unlikely to be resolved through diplomatic notes.

This may in turn amplify the incident.

It will add fuel to the already raging public opinion in Paris, just to confirm that Nobel "sells out" the interests of France.

Therefore, Constantine could only inform the Greek ambassador to Paris, Molertova Giorgi, and try his best to take care of Nobel without causing the incident to expand.

At the same time, he suggested that Schmidt~www.wuxiax.com~, if possible, persuade Mr. Nobel to come and live in Greece.

It is located in the Nobel residence on the Avenue Malakoff in Paris.

Schmidt looked at Nobel, who was holding a newspaper and his face was haggard. While feeling sympathy, he was also angry at the dark **** of the French.

In just a week since the pair returned to Paris from Athens, the rumors continued to escalate.

Noble was accused of a crime no less than a spy, and his laboratory was searched by the police and then closed down.

The firing range he used to test the power of rifles and cannons was also closed.

In addition, Nobel's mixed smokeless powder production workshop at the Dana explosives factory in Honfleur, France, was also forced to stop production, and those experimental products that had been made were also confiscated by the authorities.

"Mr. Nobel, according to the current situation in France, you can't stay in France anymore," Schmidt said worriedly.

The public opinion caused by the conflict of interest is becoming more and more unfavorable for Nobel.

Especially in today's newspapers, it was said that Nobel was dead, so Nobel's obituary was published on it.

In fact, it may be that the Paris newspapers got it wrong and confused the "Oil King" Ludwig Nobel (Noble's second brother) and the "dynamite king" Alfred Nobel.

Yes, the house leak happened to rain overnight, and Nobel's second brother passed away.

This gave Nobel another heavy blow.

The obituary mentions that Nobel had invented a thing for war that had caused a great deal of death and destruction, and it was snarky.

He read the evaluation of his life's work from the outside world, and felt extremely uncomfortable.

Finally made his decision to leave the city where he had lived for 18 years.

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