Chapter 108 Raisins

Because the level of the two homemade warships in Greece is really mediocre. The two warships, King George and Queen Olga, are not so much warships as two merchant ships equipped with artillery. Even when they were just built, their speed could only reach ten knots (served in 1867). Due to years of service and mechanical wear, the current speed is about 5 knots - it's not good at all.

Rather than saying that they are warships now, they are two floating sea artillery platforms.

Therefore, when Constantine heard that the Congo region would purchase warships, he rejected the request of the head of the local Greek shipyard to obtain the order.

"Your Highness, whether the Greek Navy needs to add more warships depends on your positioning of the strategic goals of the Greek Navy." After a moment of silence, Kontoriotis responded.

"If you just need the Greek Navy to protect the safety of the Greek coastal areas, then the current strength of the Greek Navy is enough."

Constantine nodded, stopped talking, and ended today's meeting.

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Kiliria, a small town on the Adriatic coast of the Peloponnese Peninsula, is an important grape producing area in Greece due to its suitable climate. Every time the grapes are ripe, the continuous vineyards are always filled with the joy of harvest.

Bees are buzzing among rows of green vines. The breeze blows, and green waves ripple in the vineyards. The grape branches wrapped around the wooden supports are twisted and entangled. Bunches of purple grapes are hanging on the branches. The grapes are large and round. The green vineyards are filled with the fragrance of grapes.

There is no doubt that the vineyards will have a bumper harvest this year.

Under the grape racks in the garden, the Kristo family is having lunch. The hostess Ivya, who is wearing an apron around her waist, takes care of her two children, who are about five or six years old. The two little guys hold wooden spoons in their hands, lower their heads, and bite the bread slices soaked in milk on the plate.

After the two kids finished eating the bread soaked in milk on the plate, Ivy looked at her husband, Cristo, who was silent and worried at the table, sighed, walked behind the two kids, stroked their heads, bent down and leaned between them, and whispered, "After eating, let's go play in the vineyard."

Watching the brother and sister walking hand in hand to the garden, making a childish noise, Ivy walked to the table, sat down in the seat where the child had been, looked at her husband Cristo across from her, and whispered, "Dear, you have been frowning since you came back from the market today, and you don't talk. What happened?"

"Is the price of raisins not good this year?" Ivy looked at her husband who didn't touch the food on the plate, and asked softly.

Kristo looked up at his wife, and his heart was even more sad. His wife was virtuous and kind, and she managed the housework in an orderly manner. The 50 acres of land at home had low wheat yields. Kristo saw that the surrounding farmers had switched to planting grapes, which had good yields and reasonable prices. He also thought about it and switched to planting grapes four years ago.

From planting grape vines to harvesting grapes, there was about three to five years without any harvest, and the grape vines needed time to grow.

In order to make their own grape vines produce grapes early and end the days when the family had no income, the couple got up early and went to bed late in the past three years, and worked hard in the vineyard, weeding and applying pesticides, fertilizers and brackets, and taking good care of them. This year's grape vines are about to usher in the first crop of grapes, and the grapes are growing well, and the grape vines in the garden are full of grape bunches.

Seeing that the couple's three years of hard work are about to usher in the harvest.

This morning, just after dawn, the excited Kristo went to the market to find out about the price of raisins this year, but the answer given by the raisin merchants stunned him.

"Poor Kristo, the price of raisins this year is not high. In the best case, it is probably only half of last year's price." After hearing the news that Kristo's vineyard had received its first harvest, the raisin buyer Marty Reeves looked at Kristo with pity, who was full of disbelief.

"Why, Marty Reeves, why did the price of raisins drop this year?" Kristo asked in a trembling voice, suppressing his excitement.

"The damn French raised the import tariff on Greek raisins, which caused the price of raisins in the London market to drop by 70% at once."

It took a while for Kristo to recover from this thunderous news, and he stumbled along the way home in a daze.

Halfway to a deserted place, Kristo, a grown man, squatted on the ground and burst into tears.

In order to hold on until the grapes were harvested, the family had no income in the past four years. In addition to savings, they relied on loans to survive. The vineyard had just been put on the right track, but the market price of grapes plummeted.

Originally, it was planned that after the vineyard's output was normal, the cost of building the vineyard and the three-year loan would be repaid in two or three years.

But now everything has gone down the drain. Thinking about the efforts the couple had spent on the vineyard in the past four years, Kristo cried even more sadly.

It was not until nearly noon that he returned to the vineyard.

Standing on the road, Kristo looked at the endless vines of his family and had two completely different emotions, infinite joy in the morning and gnashing of teeth at this moment.

After returning home, Kristo looked at his wife preparing lunch and opened his mouth to speak countless times, but he couldn't bear to say it.

Looking at his wife sitting across from him at the table, she looked uneasy, and he probably guessed something.

He rubbed his nose with his left hand, his eyes were red, and he said tremblingly: "Yifa, it's over, the price of raisins has dropped sharply this year"

"I'm afraid we can't count on the harvest this year"

Hearing this, Yifa clenched her hands holding her apron, and her knuckles turned white.

"Is this news certain?" Yifa asked, and two lines of tears rolled down her cheeks. She held her apron with both hands, wiped away her tears, and asked in a sad voice.

Kristo sat with his elbows on the table and his head supported by his palms. It seemed that one sentence exhausted all his strength. He drooped his head, did not answer, but nodded dejectedly.

The dining table under the grapevine was dead silent.

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In the King's office in the palace on Constitution Square, Constantine and Chief of Staff Zhang Emmainol sat on two high-backed chairs in front of His Majesty's desk, reporting to King George on the changes in the army during this period.

With a "creak", Prime Minister Trikupis hurried in and said anxiously: "Your Majesty, there is an emergency"

interrupting the two people's report.