Chapter 118 Public Opinion

When a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire takes the pill of a nation-state, its enemies will not only come from countries with malicious intentions.

The nationalists in the country may be her biggest enemies.

The Ottoman Empire allowed its domestic soldiers to massacre Armenians, which caused an uproar in the international community.

You know, every one of the great powers in the 19th century was a Christian country.

Now a declining empire is openly purging Christians in the country. In this international context, it has naturally become the target of crusade by the international community.

Public opinion in other countries outside of Greece was equally shocked by this brutal massacre by the Ottoman Empire.

It's just that Greek public opinion, with the government's conscious or unconscious support, has been particularly fierce in verbal and written criticism.

Thinking of the recent trade friction between the two countries, discerning people have seen some unusual signs.

When the Greek people read the news about the massacre of Christians by Ottoman Turkey in the newspapers, they were all worried about the Greeks living in the Ottoman territory. The atrocities of the evil empire were widely spread in Greece.

In July 1895, King George held another royal meeting at the Palace of Constitution Square in order to solve the economic difficulties.

It's just that Constantine and Chief of General Staff Emmanuel, who are the main leaders of the Greek army, are among them.

In a quiet conference room, King George, who was sitting on the main seat, frowned and looked through the national economic documents of the past six months. Due to the setback in exports, the Greek economy shrank by 5% in the first half of this year.

This is the first time in recent years that the Greek economy has encountered difficulties, and the country is filled with victims.

"There is really no other way?" King George looked at Prime Minister Trikupis.

"Almost all methods have been used. The Ottoman Empire's market is irreplaceable for Greece."

After a moment of silence, he looked at Emmanuel, who was sitting on the right: "The army should be prepared. We cannot watch the Greek economy collapse and remain indifferent."

There was silence in the conference room for a moment, and he asked Prime Minister Trikupis: "What is the attitude of the senior government officials and members of the parliament towards the possible war?"

"There are some supporters, and there are also many opponents, and the quarrel is fierce," responded the Prime Minister, who crossed his arms and propped himself up on the table.

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After the meeting, Constantine and Emmanuel, who were walking side by side, chatted: "How is the formulation of the Athena Plan going?"

"Based on the recent information from the intelligence office, the plan has been completed, but the risk is still a bit high," Emmanuel shook his head.

After the efforts of the Intelligence Department, which lasted for several years, a large number of intelligence personnel were hired to collect as much information as possible about Ottoman Turkey. So far, all aspects of Ottoman intelligence have been quite complete.

"Recently, the military's strategic material reserves have been completed, including 20 million rounds of ammunition and 1.5 million artillery shells."

"According to the General Staff's plan, in a medium-intensity war, it is not a problem for these materials to last for three months. If the delay is longer, it will..."

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Southern Aegean Sea, Thessaloniki port, warehouse district.

Under a gray sky and the night had not yet faded, Volgaris and Kouros quietly came to the dock area with 30 people and six cargo carriages to take over a batch of special cargo from the Greek Congo Corporation.

For security reasons, these thirty people were completely sent to Salonika from China recently.

Kouros observed these skilled "workers". Based on his experience as an intelligence officer, he felt that these people were more like soldiers, and their behavior was completely different from ordinary people.

Kuros curiously asked Volgaris about the origins of these people, but he was blocked by the other party on the grounds that the organization was secret.

Volgaris was the top person in charge of the intelligence service in Salonika, and Kouros, under the instructions of the other party, spent nearly a year "sketching" around Salonika.

Looking at the mysterious team, Kuros asked quietly: "What if there are customs officers coming to inspect this batch of goods during unloading?"

"Don't worry, I've taken care of everything, they won't be embarrassed."

The people who came to the dock saw that a cargo ship had docked. The warehouse and the dock were connected by wooden planks. Volgaris directed the people to enter the cabin to unload the cargo.

Everyone followed the order, working in pairs, and took turns carrying the cargo in the cabin, the long wooden boxes, and stacking them on the carriage.

The two people around were holding kerosene lamps high to provide lighting for the busy people.

One of the groups accidentally fell to the ground while lifting the wooden box in front of the carriage. There was a muffled "bump" sound, and the mysterious cargo in the wooden box revealed its face: a few things rolled out from the withered yellow thatch. A grenade the size of a fist with a wooden handle.

Kuros, who noticed this scene, was frightened. He was calm on the surface, but inside he was in a state of shock: There are only dozens of people in the Salonika Intelligence Office, why would they send so many arms?

On the other hand, the other people who were moving boxes around them continued their work as if they were not surprised.

Volgaris, who was directing from the side, quickly walked forward, squatted down, grabbed it with both hands, put the straw and the pistol back into the box, stood up, and shouted loudly, "Be careful, you are frivolous, you think... where is this?"

While speaking, Volgaris looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one around him noticed this scene.

Everyone worked together and soon unloaded the goods. After transporting them to the warehouse, Volgaris also directed everyone to store the goods in three warehouses.

Under Volgaris's command, everyone first made room, stacked wooden boxes, and then piled sacks of coffee beans and sugar on top until the wooden boxes were completely invisible.

After the work was done, Volgaris, who relaxed, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Kuros suddenly came up and whispered: "Volgaris, are we taking any action?"

Volgaris said unhappily: "Just draw your map, why bother so much?"

"You don't know, recently those MSLs in Thessaloniki often beat up those Armenians on the street, and even look at me with very strange eyes"

"I heard that the Ottoman Empire is slaughtering Armenians in the Armenian settlements in the eastern region"

After a moment of silence, Volgaris suddenly said to Kuros: "They won't be proud for too long"

But no matter how Kuros asked, Volgaris stopped answering and began to urge Kuros to work: "Detailed map of Thessaloniki, you have to speed up, the headquarters is already anxious"