1885, I came to save Greece

Chapter 142 The Cornerstone of the Sandcastle

The first team of British experts arrived at the port of Piraeus aboard a Union Jack-flying cruise ship.

They brought with them the latest turbine generator blueprints, boxes of precision measuring instruments, and the deep-seated pride of the British Empire. The chief engineer in charge was Henry Dawkins, a typical Victorian English gentleman, his hair meticulously combed, his gaze always carrying a hint of scrutiny and consideration.

They were like a group of experienced teachers who walked into a backward and isolated rural school.

The thermal power plant was chosen to be located in the Faliro area on the western outskirts of Athens, while the main telegraph office was housed in a new building near Syntagma Square. Construction of the project officially commenced.

The British were indeed incredibly efficient. Exploration teams, engineers, and construction crews each performed their duties in an orderly manner.

On their very first day at the construction site, Constantine's orders were issued.

One order was sent to the Royal Military Academy, another to the University of Athens, and yet another was sent directly to the major factories in Athens and the port of Piraeus.

The order contained only one thing: to select the smartest, most diligent, and most promising young people to form the "Greek National Industrial Study Group" and to cooperate unconditionally with the British experts.

Constantine had only one requirement for the study group.

"Forget your identities, forget your pride. You are apprentices, assistants, porters. Like dry sponges, absorb every drop of knowledge from the minds of the British."

Ioannis Metaxas was personally appointed by Constantine as the chief coordinator of the Greek study group.

This young officer, who had demonstrated exceptional organizational skills in the Phoenix Mountain Steel Plant project, did not disappoint the Crown Prince. Upon receiving the study group roster, he immediately divided all members into groups with an almost German-style rigor.

"You, the top student in the physics department, will go and work with Chief Engineer Dawkins, responsible for recording every word he says, even his complaints about the weather."

"You three, the top students in mechanical engineering, will go to the boiler installation team. Your task is to draw the installation sequence and connection method for each part."

"And you chemical engineering students, go to the materials lab and figure out their cement formula and steel reinforcement grades!"

In Metaxas's office hung a huge project schedule, marked with different colored lines to indicate the tasks of each team and the progress of each British engineer. He required members of the study group to submit daily work logs and conduct weekly technical summaries.

A peculiar scene has appeared at the construction site.

Each proud British engineer was accompanied by two or three young Greeks. They wore the most ordinary work clothes, their faces were covered in dust, and they carried notebooks.

When the British drink water, they are immediately offered a glass of water.

When the British sweat, they immediately offer them towels.

They asked the most basic and core questions with the utmost humility.

"Sir, what standard is the pressure threshold for this valve based on?"

"Sir, what are the advantages of this wiring method compared to the other one?"

"Sir, could you teach us the empirical formula you used when calculating the load-bearing capacity?"

At first, the British engineers were annoyed by these "followers." But gradually, they discovered that although these young Greeks had weak foundations, their learning and practical abilities were formidable. They could understand blueprints the fastest, execute instructions with the utmost precision, and never complain.

Without realizing it, they began to get used to these clever assistants. When explaining a technical problem, they would subconsciously go into more detail; when drawing a sketch, they would no longer deliberately avoid them.

A stealthy "technology theft" is being carried out in the most efficient way.

Meanwhile, an ordinary advisor named Papadopoulos also joined the study group.

He looked unremarkable, was taciturn, and spent his days wandering around the construction site with a pile of documents in his arms.

This person was none other than Nicholas Dimitrios.

At Constantine's behest, he concealed his true identity.

One afternoon, Chief Engineer Dawkins was in his office, agonizing over a design detail for the generator base. Several alternatives had flaws, leaving him undecided.

Dimitrios happened to be "passing by" and walked in with a cup of coffee.

He "accidentally" saw the blueprints on the table, glanced at them, and then pointed to one of the structural connection points, saying in an uncertain tone:

"Mr. Dawkins, I'm just a novice... but if this area is subjected to the high-frequency vibrations of the turbine unit for a long time, wouldn't it cause metal fatigue? Would it be safer to change this right-angle connection to a design with a buffered curve?"

Dawkins initially paid no attention, but when his gaze followed Dimitrios's finger, he froze.

That tiny structural point was precisely where he had repeatedly calculated, yet something still felt off! This Greek, with just one glance, pinpointed the crux of the problem!

Dawkins looked up and re-examined the unassuming "advisor".

He then received new instructions from Constantine: "Show your talents just right, but don't reveal everything. Become his friend, gain his trust, and get into his core laboratory."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, in the newly established Royal Intelligence Bureau.

Alexandros is playing the role of a "perfect student".

In his office sat two British advisors from MI6. One was a seasoned veteran agent named Crowley; the other was a cryptography expert named Philip.

"Your Excellency," Crowley explained slowly, "the most crucial aspect of a competent intelligence agency is the classification and screening of information. Ninety-nine percent of intelligence is useless noise, and our mission is to find that one percent of truth from that noise."

Alexandros took notes diligently, his posture respectful.

"I've learned a lot, Mr. Crowley."

The intelligence agency under his leadership operated entirely according to the British model. Every day, a large amount of "intelligence" was gathered here, then personally reviewed and screened by Alexandros before the "important intelligence" was submitted to British advisors for review.

The intelligence came in all sorts of forms: how much bread prices had risen in Athens; a certain senator was rumored to be having an affair with an opera singer; the Ottoman Empire had deployed two more Maxim machine guns at a certain outpost on the Thessalian border...

Crowley and Philip were very satisfied with Alexandros's cooperation. The young man was obedient, diligent, and lacked initiative. They reported to Sir Harding that the Greek intelligence system was now completely under their control.

They leave work promptly at 5 p.m. every day and go to the embassy's club to drink whiskey.

they do not know.

Every night, Alexandros would take off his crisp director's uniform and go down to the second basement level of the intelligence agency building.

This is a place that British advisors have never set foot in.

Inside were dozens of taciturn, shrewd men. They were Constantine's handpicked men, handpicked for Alexandros from all corners of Greece.

Alexandros stood before them and recounted exactly what he had learned from the British during the day, then analyzed and practiced it.

"Crowley taught us three methods for developing informants today, the core of which is to exploit human greed and fear. Now, let's discuss in groups how to apply these three methods to our targets in Constantinople."

"Philip's cryptographic logic is interesting; he believes the most secure cryptography is constantly changing. But his thinking has a blind spot: he relies too heavily on mathematics. We can incorporate variables based on Greek mythology. That's our advantage."

The British are teaching them how to use a sieve to sift gold out of a pile of sand.

Meanwhile, Alexandros and his men were silently building their own impregnable fortress, grain by grain, with these sifted sands.