Chapter 300 Strategic Materials

Lundhart's continuous news caught these new people in this country by surprise. read

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Whether it is agricultural cooperatives or tobacco growing technology, they are completely unfamiliar things to them and have never been exposed to them.

Most of them came from poor peasant backgrounds and were short-sighted. They could not make a clear judgment based on Lenthardt's words.

Everyone looks at me and I look at you, they all look confused.

Lenthardt also noticed his gaffe and seemed a little anxious. Suddenly it was an agricultural cooperative and tobacco cultivation that required certain professional skills. People who had never been exposed to these things needed a certain amount of time to digest them. information.

"Everyone can go back and think about it carefully. Agricultural cooperatives are very common in Greece. You just need to consult other people."

Lenthardt rushed to keep his appointment. After leaving the alley with his colleagues, he hurried to a cafe on the street.

It is said that this important man has a wide network of friends, a profound background, and a high status in the upper class of Athens.

Especially in the army, Lundhardt had seen him from a distance chatting and laughing with senior military officers, so he was deeply impressed by him.

Unexpectedly, after I went to the remote town of Kavala, I was lucky enough to get to know him.

In front of the cafe, Lundhart paused for a moment, smoothed down his black woolen windbreaker and the white cotton shirt underneath, straightened the black felt hat on his head, cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and then entered the cafe.

The person who met him was none other than Constantine's personal economic and financial advisor Yakov, the manager of the Purple Robe Foundation who is well-known among the Greek upper class.

The ever-changing destiny is really wonderful.

The Yakov family was hastily expelled from Poland a few years ago, and the family-run bank was taken away, which was like falling into dust from heaven.

In just a few years, relying on Crown Prince Constantine's relationship, the family not only established a firm foothold in Greece, but also improved their family status and became famous among the Greek upper class.

This time Yakov appeared in Kavala. He was also ordered by Constantine. The Purple Robe Foundation and the Royal Greek Educational Foundation jointly invested in the newly planned industrial city in Greece, the Thessaloniki Industrial Zone. Six million drachmas for the construction of a cigarette factory.

Yakov proved his management ability with the success of Royal Hellenic Petroleum Company. Currently, Royal Hellenic Petroleum Company is the largest and the only oil company with oil fields in Greece. It has established a solid relationship with dozens of refined oil sales companies in Greece. Business relationships and operations have entered a stable stage.

According to accounting statistics, Royal Petroleum's turnover this year will exceed 310 million drachma, and its net profit will reach more than 40 million drachma. It has officially entered the profit stage, instead of being in a state where investment exceeded output as in previous years. Out of money-losing status.

The Royal Greek Petroleum Company produces more than 800,000 tons of oil per year, which can currently meet Greece's domestic oil consumption needs.

Constantine attaches great importance to the Royal Petroleum Company. After all, oil, as a booming emerging energy source (in this era, oil is indeed an emerging energy source, compared to the old energy coal), is directly related to the industrialization process in Greece.

Internal combustion engines and related industries related to internal combustion engines, as an important part of the second industrial revolution, are related to the national destiny of Greece.

It is precisely because of the smooth progress of Royal Petroleum that the current Greek automobile industry, although it cannot compare with Western Europe and North America, is also developing rapidly.

Yakov proved his business ability and demonstrated his value with the Royal Petroleum Company. As a rare elite business talent, Constantine trusted him more. In addition to the manager position of the Purple Robe Foundation, Yakov currently has The husband also holds the title of business and financial advisor to the royal family and provides advice on the royal family’s business investments.

The Thessaloniki Cigarette Factory was another task assigned by Constantine to Yakov.

"Lieutenant Lundhart, nice to meet you." Noticing the arrival of his guest, Yakov stood up without any pretense and invited Lundhart to take a seat.

Yakov's approachability made Lundhardt respect him even more. He did not dare to be indifferent at all. He took off his hat and walked quickly with a smile on his face: "It is a great honor to be received by you, Dear Mr. Yakov."

After the two of them were seated, the waiter who had been staring at the well-dressed Yakov for a long time intelligently served him two cups of coffee. Then Yakov paid a tip of ten drachmas and walked away with the tray with a happy face. .

"Mr. Lundhart, how are you? Have you found an agricultural cooperative whose main crop is tobacco?" Yakov said calmly.

Not daring to be negligent, Lundhart immediately put down the coffee in his hand and said: "Mr. Yakov, you also know that Kavala was a military base where tens of thousands of Bulgarian soldiers were stationed not long ago. Now the war has just ended, everything has changed." It’s a mess and it will take some time for people to return to their peaceful lives.”

"Now the government is also promoting mature policies in the newly occupied areas, and agricultural cooperatives are one of them. But Kavala is a newly recovered territory after all. Why are you so eager?" Lundhart asked in confusion.

In fact, Yakov also felt puzzled. Why was Crown Prince Constantine so anxious about the progress of the Thessaloniki cigarette factory?

When Constantine summoned Yakov, he requested that a modern cigarette factory be built within a year and that the imported portion of tobacco raw materials should not exceed 40%.

That is to say, the Crown Prince hopes that most of the tobacco needed by the cigarette factory can be supplied by Greece.

Compared with the complex technology, large scale, and complicated corporate structure of oil companies, cigarette factories are much simpler.

All technologies are already very mature.

It’s just that the difficulty of operating a consumer industry like a cigarette factory is not the production process, but the market promotion.

No matter how much is produced, the sales are not smooth. The more it is produced, the more money it loses.

This is different from oil companies.

After all, the Royal Greek Petroleum Company is the only company in Greece with oil extraction capabilities. Customers have no other choice and there is no worry about sales after production.

Cigarettes are different. In the Greek domestic market, the sources of cigarettes sold are varied. British cigarettes have the largest market share, followed by Germany, and American cigarettes rank third. The rest of the market share is occupied by other countries, which can be called a universal brand.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not ask about the issue of profitability at all. Instead, he strangely repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure the stability of the output and raw material sources of the cigarette factory, as if he had no worries about sales at all.

According to Yakov's guess, Crown Prince Constantine may want to promote tobacco planting in Greece. After all, tobacco is also an economic crop with high economic benefits.

Not only can it promote tobacco planting in Greece and increase the income of Greek farmers, but it can also replace imports and change the embarrassing situation that the Greek domestic cigarette market is completely occupied by foreign countries.

Thinking of this, Yakov felt that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was a little too hasty. After all, the situation that foreign cigarettes occupied the Greek cigarette market was not formed overnight and it was difficult to change in a short period of time.

If tough measures, such as administrative measures, are taken to forcibly ban the sale of foreign cigarettes, it may affect Greece's diplomatic relations with other countries.

However, thinking that the cigarette factory has the army as its basic base, even if the cigarettes produced at that time really have no market and a large number of them are piled up in warehouses, they can be sold to the Greek army.

Even if you can't make money, you can still recover the cost.

The cigarette factory was jointly invested and established by the Purple Robe Foundation and the Greek Royal Education Group. The noble shareholders of the Purple Robe Foundation are powerful officers serving in the Greek army. With this relationship, the army, a big customer of cigarettes, will definitely not be able to compete with themselves.

In fact, the reason why Constantine asked Yakov to quickly build a cigarette factory was not only because Yakov wanted to develop the Greek tobacco planting industry and increase the income of Greek farmers, but also because of the upcoming large-scale war in Europe. The price of cigarettes would soar, and after the import of cigarettes was cut off, the Greek army would also be out of stock.

Not only can it meet self-use and occupy the domestic cigarette market, but it may also make a lot of money.

The areas suitable for growing cigarettes in Greece are mainly concentrated in Macedonia on the coast of the Aegean Sea, including the newly recovered areas from Bulgaria. Purchasing tobacco from the local area will help restore the economy of the region and repair the local war trauma.

Constantine is not making a fuss. For the army, cigarettes are indeed an important strategic material.

Fighting on the front line, facing the threat of death every day, the pressure can be imagined.

Lighting a cigarette and relaxing the tense spirit is a common thing for soldiers.

So, if there is wine today, the soldiers will try their best to enjoy it in the war if they can.

Cigarettes are said to have been invented on the battlefield.

In 1799, Napoleon led his army to attack the Turkish city of Acre. The public water pipes used by Turkish soldiers to smoke were blown up, and these Turks were addicted to smoking. A soldier on the defense position suddenly had an idea to use gunpowder paper to roll tobacco leaves. Others followed suit, and cigarettes came into being.

In 1853, the Crimean War broke out. Britain, France and other countries sent troops to assist the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) against Russia. British soldiers learned how to cut paper and roll cigarettes from Ottoman soldiers and brought this method back to Britain. Cigarettes have since been widely circulated in Europe and gradually swept the world.

In the war with Bulgaria, which lasted less than two months, the number of cigarettes consumed by more than 400,000 Greek troops reached a staggering 15 million.

Due to the urgent time and large quantity, the Greek Army Logistics Department was forced to increase the price of cigarettes in order to prepare enough cigarettes.

It was this incident that reminded people of the importance of Constantine cigarettes.

This is why Yakov hurried to Kavala to find Lundhart, the local boss of Kavala.

The Macedonia region along the Aegean Sea has a warm climate, abundant rainfall, and sandy and light soil, which is suitable for tobacco cultivation.

The Greek government is currently building railways and roads in Macedonia. Thessaloniki will become an important transportation hub in Greece, and the small town of Kavala is located along the planned railway.

After the railway is completed, the journey between Thessaloniki and Kavala will only take a few hours, so the tobacco produced here can be easily transported to the Thessaloniki Industrial Zone.

Yakov thought to himself that if possible, I don’t want to be so anxious, but he said: "The machines and equipment purchased by the Thessaloniki Cigarette Factory from Germany will arrive soon, and a stable supply of tobacco is urgently needed."

At present, agricultural cooperatives in Greece are essentially small and medium-sized companies, and the company’s products are the crops grown by the members.

Considering that cigarette factories need long-term and stable tobacco suppliers, Yakov plans to sign long-term tobacco supply agreements with several local agricultural cooperatives to ensure that cigarette factories have a stable source of raw materials.

Looking at the silent Lendhardt, Yakov said in a deep voice: "If you can help me contact several agricultural cooperatives in Kavala and convince them to plant tobacco on a large scale, I will personally remember your help. "

Hearing Yakov's promise, Lundhardt was secretly happy. He had seized the opportunity. The cigarette factory obviously needed a large amount of tobacco. If he could make connections and deal with various agricultural cooperatives, he would undoubtedly be able to connect with many local people. establish long-term relationships with agricultural cooperatives.

The suitable climate and environment here are indeed suitable for the development of tobacco planting industry. If the local tobacco planting in Kavala can develop on a large scale, I, the middleman, will naturally benefit a lot.

Then he said his own method: "Mr. Yakov, do you think this will work? Tobacco cultivation is a new thing locally. Local farmers have almost no experience in growing tobacco, and most of them have never even seen tobacco." plant"

"As an intermediary, I contact several newly established agricultural cooperatives and recommend to them the idea of ​​tobacco cultivation. It is best for you to sign orders directly with them. Then these newly established agricultural cooperatives can submit orders to large commercial banks in Greece based on the orders. apply for a loan"

"In this case, not only will your tobacco suppliers have it, but these newly established agricultural cooperations will also be able to obtain additional start-up capital. They can use this capital to purchase some machinery and equipment, speed up the process of land reclamation, and get on the right track as soon as possible. Grow enough tobacco for the cigarette factories”

"With orders from cigarette factories, these agricultural cooperatives don't have to worry about sales. They can also help their members learn tobacco cultivation with peace of mind, getting twice the result with half the effort."

"This is a good thing that has the best of both worlds. They will not refuse it." Lundhart told Yakov the thoughts that had been in his mind for a long time.

"If you agree, I can contact these agricultural cooperatives now"

Lundhart carefully observed Yakov's reaction. Doing so would indeed allow local tobacco cultivation to develop rapidly. However, for cigarette factories, after signing an order, they would need to pay the order in advance to the agricultural cooperative, and the risk would be all Being saddled by the cigarette factory.

At that time, as long as the tobacco is grown, the cigarette factory will need to pay in full, even if the cigarettes are backlogged in the warehouse and will not be able to get out at all.