Chapter 140 The History of Oil Prosperity

In the original time and space, Albania, a small European country, had a very special flag, a black double-headed eagle.

This flag came from Skanderbeg.

Historically, the process of the Ottoman Empire's conquest of Albania was full of twists and turns.

In the process of the Albanians' resistance to the Ottoman Empire, a national hero appeared in Albania, Skanderbeg.

This man was born into an Eastern Roman noble family. In the early days, he joined the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. Later, he rebelled and returned to his homeland, Albania.

Under the leadership of Skanderbeg, Albania was simply the nemesis of the Ottoman Empire. Facing the Ottoman Empire, which was booming in the 15th century, it won many battles.

A legendary battle between the two sides, the "Siege of Kruja", Skanderbeg's 8,000 people fought against the 100,000 people of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II, and won the battle.

After that, during the more than 20 years that Skanderbeg was alive, Albania led by Skanderbeg remained independent until the Ottomans heard that Skanderbeg had died, and then they led 100,000 troops to conquer Albania again.

In order to vent their anger, the Ottomans almost slaughtered all the Albanians at that time, which is why the MSL accounted for the majority in Albania later, because almost all the original Albanians were killed.

The black double-headed eagle in Albania in later generations was not only the family emblem of Skanderbeg, but also the symbol of Eastern Rome.

It can be said that the population loss in Albania did not recover during the 400 years of Ottoman rule.

Albania has an area of ​​more than 20,000 square kilometers and a pitiful population of only 300,000.

Otherwise, why would Italy covet Albania so much? A piece of land right under its nose, sparsely populated, and located in Europe, close to each other, separated by the Strait of Otranto.

For Italy, no colony can compare to Albania.

Italy, with hundreds of thousands of people immigrating to America every year, cannot help but pay attention to places like Albania.

If it weren't for the failure of the Italian expedition to Ethiopia and the chaos of domestic politics, it would be almost impossible for Greece to get this piece of land.

In such a historical background, although the Albanians are the majority of the MSL population, it is hard to say how much affection they have for the Ottomans.

These are the so-called historical factors of Constantine. From this aspect, it is still more advantageous for Greece to assimilate the Albanians.

"In addition, Prime Minister Alexandros, you can also send a resource exploration team to find out the details of Albania's mineral resources and see if there are any mineral resources worth developing," Constantine said to everyone.

Thanks to the scum industrial level of the Ottomans, no matter what minerals there are, they are still buried intact underground.

For Greece now, due to the lack of high-quality hard coal (Greek coal is all lignite), whether it is raw material for steelmaking or thermal coal for trains, the annual import of coal is a huge amount of money, which makes the British happy to make money.

If it weren't for Greece's considerable trade volume every year, the British would not be so easy to talk to at the London Conference.

Apart from anything else, if a high-quality hard coal mine could be found in Albania, the Greek financial community would probably be willing to pay for the investment.

For bankers, nothing can make them feel more heartbroken than the outflow of gold and silver.

For capitalists in a certain country, as long as the money remains in the country, it will continue to generate income for the capitalists. Once the money goes out of the country, it is beyond their ability.

Therefore, when they heard about mineral exploration, everyone's eyes lit up.

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In the garden of the Tatoi Palace, Nobel, who was invited, hurried to the appointment.

This big man has now become a Greek industrial tycoon. Almost all the gunpowder of the Greek army is contracted by the factory opened by Nobel in Greece.

Without Nobel's gunpowder, the Greek army could not win on the battlefield.

In addition, there is also the dye business, which also makes this chemical tycoon rich every day.

At present, almost all the dyes needed by the Greek textile industry, except for imported ones, come from Nobel's chemical factory.

Since Nobel, the scientist + factory owner, came to Greece to open a factory, Constantine, who knew the importance of chemical industry, almost took care of him everywhere and gave him a green light all the way.

And Nobel also reciprocated. Almost all of his business funds in Greece were stored in the Royal Bank of the royal family. He was the second important customer of the Royal Bank besides the royal family.

Such a relationship of interest made the relationship between the two parties more harmonious.

"Your Highness, congratulations on your army's victory," Nobel congratulated Constantine who stood up to greet him personally.

"You also contributed to the victory," Constantine replied, and at the same time welcomed Nobel to the table.

Nobel was stunned for a moment, and then he thought that Constantine was referring to the gunpowder used by the Greek army.

After both parties sat down, the servants brought tea and snacks and retreated.

"Your Highness, you asked me to come this time, what can I do for you?" Nobel said directly.

"It's like this, Mr. Nobel, I heard that your family is engaged in the oil industry," Constantine said directly without hesitation.

"If you don't find it offensive, Mr. Nobel, can I listen to the history of your Nobel family's rise to wealth?" Constantine asked with interest.

Constantine was really curious about the history of the Nobel family, a newly rising wealthy family that started from scratch.

The Nobel Prize known to everyone in later generations came from the Nobel in front of me.

But the Nobel family, where Nobel came from, should not be underestimated either. They were the originators of the Russian oil industry and made their fortune relying on oil.

Almost at the same time as Rockefeller in the United States.

Nobel obviously did not expect that Constantine would ask about his family background, but the relationship between the two was close, and he didn't care about anything else. He organized his words and said: "There is nothing wrong with that."

"That's right, Your Highness."

"Our Nobel family originally came from Sweden. Later, my father brought the whole family to Russia. By chance, my father Emmanuel met the then Russian Tsar Nicholas I. Through this relationship, we initially A military factory was opened to produce mines, steam locomotives, etc."

"But later after the Crimean War, Russia was defeated, and my father's factory also encountered difficulties, and finally sold it."

"My second brother, Ludwig, took the money and opened a factory again to produce firearms."

"Later, my eldest brother Robert went to Baku on the Caspian Sea to purchase walnut wood for guns."

After saying this, Nobel shook his head and smiled bitterly: "I don't know what my eldest brother, Robert, was thinking at the time."

"The money that was supposed to be used to buy walnut wood, 25,000 rubles, was used to buy a small refinery on my own initiative."

"My second brother, Ludwig, instead of being angry, continued to send money to Robert to upgrade all the equipment in the factory."

"Because of the good quality, the refinery's business is getting more and more prosperous"

"The family also made a fortune from the oil business."

"At that time, the oil industry in the United States was the most advanced, but your family's efforts reversed this situation," Constantine interjected.

(The modern oil industry originated in the United States.)

Nobel looked at Constantine and asked curiously: "Your Highness also knows so much about the history of the oil industry?"

Constantine shook his head: "When I was in New York, I met with the American oil tycoon Rockefeller."

"I heard these words from him."

Nobel suddenly realized.

The Rockefeller family and the Nobel family are both engaged in the oil business, so they naturally know each other.

"I see, it's not surprising."

"In fact, Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company and our Nobel family's oil company are business competitors."