Chapter 93 Nobel

Accompanied by Schmidt and Nobel, who received an invitation from Constantine, the two took a boat from the port of Toulon in France to the port of Piraeus in Greece.

In a cafe in the port of Piraeus, Constantine met the famous scientist.

After the pleasantries, Constantine made a request to Nobel to build a gunpowder factory in Greece.

"There are no technical problems in building a gunpowder factory, but Your Majesty the Duke, as far as I know, your Greek army soldiers only consume five bullets every year. Can a gunpowder factory survive in Greece?"

Hearing this, Constantine couldn't help but feel ashamed. It seemed that even Nobel, an outsider, knew about the lack of live-fire training for army soldiers.

"Mr. Nobel, it is precisely because Greek soldiers fire no more than 5 rounds of live ammunition per year that your gunpowder factory is more likely to be profitable. If Greek soldiers consumed 50 rounds of bullets per year, we would not have to talk about gunpowder factories here. "

When Nobel heard this reply, he was stunned for a moment, and then he understood that Constantine meant that the Greek gunpowder market had great potential.

"Greece is undergoing large-scale infrastructure construction, and there are a lot of mountainous areas in Greece. It is common to blow up mountains to open roads, and construction also requires a lot of gunpowder."

Constantine said.

This gunpowder factory is indispensable for the modernization and reorganization of the Greek army. Now major European countries are conducting research on smokeless gunpowder, and Greece cannot lag behind in this regard.

"If you can agree to build a factory in Greece, I can now place an order with you on behalf of the Greek army for 300 tons of gunpowder."

"As for the profitability of the gunpowder factory, I can guarantee that if this factory does not operate well, the Greek army can take over," Constantine promised Nobel.

After hearing Constantine's assurance, Nobel did feel Constantine's sincerity.

Recently, Nobel has been really tired.

First, the double-based gunpowder that I had painstakingly researched was obviously more advanced, but it was rejected by the French authorities because of the time lag.

After Nobel's successful research on smokeless gunpowder, considering his long-term work and settling in France (Nobel's hometown is Sweden), he first provided this patent to the French gunpowder monopoly, the "Gunpowder and Saltpeter Administration".

The result was rejected.

It turned out that two years before Nobel invented the mixed smokeless gunpowder, in 1885, a French chemistry professor, Vieye, also invented a smokeless gunpowder.

Although this type of gunpowder, named "Type B Salo-Vieye Gunpowder", is far inferior to Nobel's mixed smokeless gunpowder, due to Vieye's relationship with powerful figures in politics, this gunpowder has long been Widely used by the French Army and Navy.

This made him angry at the short-sightedness of the French government.

Nobel was truly gratified to see such respect as Constantine valued the fruits of his labor.

"In addition, if you agree to your patent for smokeless gunpowder, our Greek army hopes to get the right to use it at a price of 500,000 drachmas," Constantine said.

Constantine understood the future war situation. Due to the invention of machine guns and rapid-fire cannons, the Maxim machine gun had a firing rate of 300 rounds per minute, and the French 75mm artillery had a maximum firing rate of 15 rounds per minute. In this case , the consumption of gunpowder in every war will be an astronomical figure.

Precisely because of the huge consumption of gunpowder, factories set up by entrepreneurs like Nobel were naturally designed to maintain profitable production during peacetime. Once wartime entered, the production would definitely not be able to meet the consumption of the army.

Therefore, it is necessary for the army to prevent this situation and take precautions. Once the supply of gunpowder factories is insufficient, they will personally step in to ensure that the output of gunpowder can meet the needs of the army.

Because of this, the Greek army has a need to purchase patents.

After the meeting between the two, Schmidt continued to accompany Nobel to France to avoid any surprises for this special investor.

Schmidt's identity as Constantine's lieutenant was no secret and aroused the curiosity of the French press.

As a result, the news of the meeting between the two was reported by French newspapers.

Things took an unexpected turn.

Vieil and his powerful men at the French Bureau of Gunpowder and Saltpeter also took notice.

Both men were the inventors of smokeless gunpowder, which was a direct conflict of interest.

As the saying goes, peers are enemies.

The French news media began to lash out at Nobel, accusing him of selling the smokeless gunpowder patent to the Greeks to the detriment of France.

The French Paris Times even began to fabricate facts and slander Nobel, saying that he had stolen the technology of the "Gunpowder and Saltpeter Administration" at the Saffron-Livli Laboratory in Paris, because it was being tested there before. Ayer invented smokeless gunpowder, which was used to strengthen the equipment of the French army.

After receiving Schmidt's telegram and learning the news, Constantine was also shocked. He did not expect that his purchase of smokeless gunpowder for the Greek army would cause such big trouble to Nobel.

For a while, Constantine also felt extremely troubled.

The French will not take Greece seriously at this time, so it is unlikely to solve the problem through diplomatic notes.

On the contrary, this may aggravate the incident.

It would add fuel to the already heated public opinion in Paris, just confirming that Nobel "betrayed" French interests.

Therefore, Constantine could only inform the Greek ambassador to Paris, Moletova Giorgi, not to try his best to take care of Nobel.

At the same time, he hinted to Schmidt that if possible, he should persuade Mr. Nobel to live in Greece.

Located in the Nobel Mansion on Malakoff Street in Paris.

Schmidt looked at Nobel, who was holding a newspaper and looking haggard, and felt sympathy while being angry at the dark **** of the French.

In the short week when the two went from Athens to Paris, the rumors continued to escalate.

Nobel was accused of crimes no less than espionage, and then his laboratory was searched by the police and then sealed.

The shooting test range he used to test the power of rifles and cannons was also closed.

In addition, Nobel's mixed smokeless powder production workshop at the dynamite factory in Honfleur, France, was also forced to stop production, and the experimental products that had been made were also confiscated by the authorities.

"Mr. Nobel, according to the current situation in France, you can't stay in France," Schmidt said worriedly.

The public opinion caused by the conflict of interest is increasingly unfavorable to Nobel.

Especially in today's newspaper, it was said that Nobel was dead, so Nobel's obituary was published.

In fact, it may be that the Paris newspaper made a mistake, confusing the "oil king" Ludwig Nobel (Nobel's second brother) and the "explosive king" Alfred Nobel.

To make matters worse, Nobel's second brother passed away.

This was a heavy blow to Nobel.

The obituary mentioned that Nobel invented a war thing that caused a lot of death and destruction, and the tone was also very sharp.

He read the outside world's evaluation of his life's work and felt very uncomfortable.

Finally made his decision to leave the city where he had lived for 18 years.