Chapter 170 Heading to Congo

Since Europe was at peace, at least on the surface, the possibility of war in the Balkans was minimal without changes in the overall political and military structure of Europe.

Moreover, the King of Greece was still alive after all. King George, who was over 60 years old, was still in his prime as a politician. Constantine, as the crown prince, intervened in political and military affairs everywhere, which was suspected of overstepping his authority.

Therefore, in June 1901, Constantine and Crown Princess Sophie went to the Kingdom of Congo.

Although Constantine was the king of Congo, the monarch had never been to his country since the establishment of the Kingdom of Congo in 1885.

Coincidentally, two Esmeralda-class battleships, Congo and Banning, also needed to be transferred to Congo to continue to protect the smooth flow of Congo-European routes in the Atlantic.

After twelve days of sea travel, the fleet finally arrived at the port of Matadi in Congo.

After a day of rest in Matadi with the entourage, the group took the train from Matadi to Constantinople.

The so-called Constantinople was originally named Kinshasa. After the establishment of the Kingdom of Congo, the colonial authorities changed it to Constantinople. This name was named after Constantine himself, meaning the city of Constantine.

In this way, a city called Constantinople appeared in central Africa, the capital of the Kingdom of Congo.

The train was running on the tracks to Constantinople, and the vast tropical rainforests on both sides of the railway quickly retreated.

"It is a miracle to build a long-distance railway in such a wild place," said Crown Princess Sophie, who was sitting in the box, looking at the scenery outside the window through the window and exclaimed.

The human engineering-railway, running in the vast Congo rainforest, makes people feel incredible.

"This is a miracle created by capital," Constantine replied.

"It is said that thousands of people were killed and injured in the construction of this railway, including dozens of European technicians and engineers, so that in the end, no one was willing to come here to build the railway."

The next morning, the Constantinople Railway Station was waiting for the arrival of the king and queen.

After arriving at the station, the luxurious carriage carried a group of people to the Constantine Hotel.

In order to receive the king and queen, the Congolese government specially built such a luxurious high-end hotel.

On both sides of the hotel door, fully armed soldiers lined up neatly to protect the safety of the hotel. Senior officials of the Congolese government and officers of the army stood in front of the carriage.

After Constantine and Sophie got off the carriage hand in hand, they were surrounded by people and walked into the hotel.

The trip from Athens to Constantinople lasted more than ten days.

The next day, in the conference room of the Grand Hotel, Constantine summoned the main officials of the colony and his entourage.

"This trip to Congo is to solve a series of problems in Congo," Constantine said.

"For example, the currency problem in Congo"

From a legal point of view, the Kingdom of Congo is an independent sovereign state, the king is Constantine, and it has nothing to do with Greece.

Therefore, the currency problem in Congo has not been solved.

In Congo, you can see a variety of currencies, francs, pounds, dollars, marks, etc., which are very confusing.

The uncertainty of currency has led to a very chaotic tax problem for the government.

Moreover, a large number of foreign currencies are circulating in the market, which has also led to the seigniorage that Greece should have obtained from Congo flowing into the hands of other countries.

Recently, the Greek government has planned to take back the right to mint coins from the National Bank of Greece.

Seigniorage is the profit obtained after deducting the cost of issuing currency.

Before, after Greece's independence from the Ottoman Empire, the economy has been in turmoil, the population is sparse, and the issuance of currency is limited. Therefore, the income from seigniorage is also limited, and the seigniorage obtained by the government from issuing currency may not cover the cost.

In the era of the gold standard, the issuance of currency requires reserves, which is not as profitable as in the era of paper money. The printing cost of issuing a hundred-dollar bill is one yuan, and the net profit is ninety-nine yuan.

So the Greek government granted the right to mint coins to the largest bank in Greece, the National Bank of Greece.

With the development of the Greek economy and the existence of Congo, the income from seigniorage is becoming more and more considerable.

When the Greek government obtains the right to mint coins, it can legally collect seigniorage from Congo.

The Greek currency circulates in the Congo market. As the only legal currency, every drachma in circulation can earn Greece some income.

Before going to Congo, Prime Minister Alexandros came to discuss the matter with Constantine.

"After the currency is unified, Congo's tax work is also more convenient, which is a good thing," Banning echoed.

Seeing that no one objected, Constantine continued: "There is also our form of rule in Congo"

"Since its establishment, the Congo colony has always pursued a free trade policy, and we will continue to adhere to this policy"

In the original historical time and space, Belgium was an industrial country when it acquired Congo. From this perspective, Congo under Belgian rule needs to provide cheap raw materials and commodity markets.

Belgium is the second industrial country in the world after Britain.

However, unlike Belgium, Greece is not an industrial country, so Greece does not need Congo to supply a large amount of cheap raw materials, and its urgency for the commodity market is not as hot as Belgium.

Historically, the "blood rubber" under Leopold's rule - the natives of Congo cut off their palms when they could not collect enough rubber, which almost became a typical example of the evil colonial system.

Greece's current pillar industry is the cotton textile industry, but although Congo has a population of 20 million, it seems that a large amount of textiles should be needed.

However, Congo's high temperature of 25-35 degrees all year round makes textiles not so popular in Congo.

Due to the promise made at the Berlin Conference when Congo was acquired, Congo has always pursued a free trade policy, and Greek industrial products other than textiles are not very competitive in the Congo market.

Therefore, until now, Congo has only provided Greece with a large amount of raw materials, and Greek industrial products have a very limited market share in Congo.

"You must remember that Congo is an independent country. When governing Congolese affairs, the means should be more flexible and try to respect local customs and habits," Constantine reiterated.

This is not Constantine's hypocrisy, but the time is already the 20th century, and colonialism has entered its final stage.

The rapid economic rise of the United States and Germany, which do not rely on colonies, and the slow economic growth of Britain and France, which have large colonies, are a very obvious signal.

For Greece, which is in urgent need of industrialization, Congo is more important as a source of raw materials, which does not require high-cost governance.

If Greece encounters the Congolese uprising caused by the Belgians' bone-sucking exploitation in the original historical time and space, it will face a very embarrassing result.