Chapter 62 Steel Plant

After hearing Constantine's question, Trikupis answered calmly; "It depends on your choice. If Your Highness is ambitious and wants to build a steel plant with an annual output of hundreds of thousands of tons, I will definitely pour cold water on you to make you sober."

At this point, Trikupis paused and looked up to observe Constantine's reaction.

Seeing that Constantine was listening attentively, he had no intention of refutation at all, and continued:

"But if it is only a steel plant with an annual output of tens of thousands of tons, I think it is still possible to achieve it."

This sentence made Constantine's eyes light up, and he did not dislike the low production capacity of a steel plant with tens of thousands of tons.

If it were other countries, the production capacity of a steel plant with tens of thousands of tons would probably be looked down upon, but for Greece, such a small country, the scale is already considerable.

On average, there are several hundred kilograms per person, which is enough for use.

"As for the method of obtaining raw materials, Your Excellency the Duke, you know that the Greeks are the leaders in the shipping industry in the Eastern Mediterranean, and there are many ships under the names of Greek shipowners."

"After all, the lifespan of these ships is limited. After the service life expires, they are generally retired. Aren't these ships that are about to be scrapped the best source of steel?" Trikupis said this with a proud tone. This inspiration came to him when he happened to watch the steel ships coming and going at the dock.

"You also know that the displacement of current ships is often thousands of tons. A steel plant with an annual output of tens of thousands of tons only needs to dismantle a few scrapped ships every year, and the output is enough."

Constantine stroked his chin and thought about Trikupis's opinion. The more he thought about it, the more he felt it made sense.

In fact, after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Greeks have always been the leader among the merchants in the Ottoman Empire.

For example, in the Black Sea coast and the Eastern Mediterranean region, after the rise of the Ottoman Empire, there were many Greeks engaged in commercial trade, and the trade in the Eastern Mediterranean was almost monopolized by the Greeks.

In addition, the footprints of Greek merchants have covered almost the entire European region.

For example, Odessa in Ukraine, Kaffa in the Crimean Peninsula, Thessaloniki on the coast of the Aegean Sea, Toulon Port on the Mediterranean coast of France, London in the UK, Berlin in Germany, etc., Syria and Palestine, all have Greek settlements.

It was these Greek elites doing business all over the world who brought back the enlightenment ideas of "democracy, freedom, and fraternity" that were popular in Europe after the French Revolution to their Greek compatriots, and ignited the flames of the uprising in the Greek region that suffered from the feudal autocratic rule of the Ottoman Turks for hundreds of years.

This directly led to the subsequent Greek independence movement.

Of course, after Greece's independence in 1823, the status of Greek merchants changed. The Ottoman Turkish authorities no longer trusted Greek merchants, and Jews took advantage of the situation to rise in the business community of the Ottoman Empire.

But in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in the eastern Mediterranean region, Greek merchants still have considerable influence.

These Greek merchants are engaged in maritime trade, and ships are an indispensable means of transportation.

These Greek merchants usually buy ships in Western European countries.

For example, the Onassis family, the later famous Greek shipping magnate, is a microcosm of Greek merchants.

Building a shipbreaking yard and using scrap steel as raw materials for steel mills is indeed a feasible solution.

"Of course, even so, steel mills still need a lot of coal and a small amount of iron ore. After all, the source of scrapped ships is unstable. Compared with steel mills in big countries, the cost is still not low."

Trikoupis saw Constantine listening to his ideas seriously and continued to talk.

"So, even though Greece does not have high-quality coal and iron ore, it is still no problem to build a small steel mill."

"What you said makes sense, Prime Minister Trikoupis, thank you for your sincere advice. Of course, if you have friends around you who are interested in steel mills, you can let them contact me," Constantine stood up and said.

Trikoupis advocates the development of industry in Greece, so he has some friends in the business community around him. They don't care so much about personal gains and losses, and they are considered patriotic and righteous businessmen in Greece.

Ever since the naval siege, Constantine has always had a sense of urgency, which has given him the idea of ​​accelerating Greece's industrialization process.

······

New York, USA.

After receiving Constantine's telegram, Sanford hurried to Tesla's residence.

A handsome young man with a pair of mustaches and a tall figure opened the door.

"What's the matter, sir?" Tesla looked at the well-dressed stranger standing in front of the door and revealed a puzzled expression.

Sanford looked at the tall man in front of him and couldn't help but be amazed. Tesla's 9-meter tall figure gave people a strong sense of oppression.

"Mr. Tesla?" Sanford responded.

Seeing that Sanford called out his name and came to the door for something, Tesla welcomed Sanford into the house.

"It's like this, Mr. Tesla, I was commissioned by the Duke of Constantine of Greece to hire you to help study modern power application systems," Sanford said.

In fact, this was an idea that Constantine had after he saw Edison's light bulb demonstration when he came to New York last time.

The only energy source in Greece was lignite, which had low calorific value and produced a lot of smoke.

The greatest value of this thing now is to generate electricity after burning it. Apart from that, Constantine couldn't think of any other use for it.

Without the application of energy, all industries are just castles in the air.

Coal-fired power generation and vigorously promoting the use of electricity as basic energy are the only ways Constantine could imagine to break Greece's development dilemma.

So Constantine sent a telegram to Sanford, poaching the Americans.

"How do you know me?" Tesla asked curiously.

"I heard it from Mr. Edison. I am friends with Edison. I once heard him say that a talented engineer came to his laboratory," Sanford replied.

Tesla was a native of Croatia and had just immigrated to the United States for two years. In the past two years, the sharp contrast between the prosperity of the United States and the poverty and poverty of his hometown, Croatia under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, left him with A deep impression.

The turbulent Eastern Europe has limited appeal to him.

After hearing Sanford's words, Tesla, who was sitting on the sofa with his chin in his hands and his elbows propped on the side of the sofa, had no obvious response.

Seeing Tesla's noncommittal expression, Sanford continued:

"You will receive a grant of $100,000 per year and a laboratory, your own modern laboratory."

Tesla frowned upon hearing this condition.

In fact, he and Edison were very unhappy during this time.