novelSusiti Chapter 77 Open the door! I need to talk to them!
Chapter 77 Open the door! I need to talk to them!
Just as Constantine was quietly concealing his deadly blade, Prime Minister Zaimis's counterattack, like the expected storm, arrived precisely on time.
Overnight, all the pro-oligarch newspapers in Athens, as if by prior agreement, changed their front-page headlines to shocking ones.
The innocent workers are crying!
The Crown Prince's dictatorship is strangling Greece's economic lifeline!
Thousands of families are on the verge of bankruptcy; who will be responsible for their hunger?
Reports, written in the most sensational language, depicted the "human tragedy" at the port of Piraeus. The articles described the port as utterly paralyzed under the "Crown Prince's military control." Merchant ships lined up outside the harbor but dared not dock, and warehouses were overflowing with goods that could not be shipped out. Countless hardworking dockworkers lost their jobs, their wives wept at home, and their children starved on the streets.
Public opinion throughout Athens was ignited by this deliberately created sense of tragedy and anger.
Meanwhile, an even dirtier conspiracy is rapidly brewing in the shadow of the port of Piraeus.
The Skopelos family's henchmen, armed with secret funds provided by Zaimis, slithered like venomous snakes into the slums where the dockworkers lived.
In the dimly lit tavern, at a greasy table, a politician disguised as an ordinary businessman was spitting as he incited a group of drunken workers.
"Brothers! When has that high and mighty crown prince ever cared whether we live or die?"
"He blockaded the port for his power, to spite the Prime Minister! But what about us? Our jobs are being taken away!"
"I heard he's going to import some new machinery from Germany, so we won't even need porters anymore! He wants us all to starve!"
Rumors spread like a plague.
When a worker hesitantly asked what his family would eat if he lost his job and went to protest, the politician immediately pulled out a heavy bag of silver coins from his pocket and slammed it on the table.
"What are you afraid of! Prime Minister Zaimis won't watch us suffer! Tomorrow, just stand in front of the port authority building, shout a few slogans, and everyone will receive this 'compensation for lost work time'! It's more than you'd earn in a week!"
The lure of money and the fear of unemployment instantly ignited everyone's emotions.
The next morning, the sun had just risen.
A large crowd had already gathered outside the port authority building.
At the front of the dense crowd, a one-eyed old sailor was cursing at the top of his lungs. He wasn't cursing for money, but because he was genuinely afraid that if the port closed, he would lose his livelihood.
Behind him, a young thug quietly stuffed the silver coins he had just received into his pocket, shouting slogans louder than anyone else, but his eyes darted around, searching for an escape route. In a more distant corner, a young man in tattered overalls didn't join in the shouting; he simply stared silently at the port authority building, at the broken window, his brow furrowed, lost in thought.
Thousands of dockworkers were organized by some people with ulterior motives, and they held up all sorts of poorly made signs.
"We want work! We want bread!"
"Constantine, get out of Piraeus!"
Their emotions were completely stirred up, and angry slogans rose in waves, echoing through the sky. Soon, some people began throwing stones, rotten vegetables, and stinking fish at the building.
"Bang!" A stone smashed a glass window on the second floor.
The standoff escalated instantly.
A dozen or so Royal Tax Police officers under Costas's command formed a thin human wall in front of the Port Authority building. Carbines hung around their necks, muzzles pointing downwards, their arms linked, their faces grim as they faced the onslaught of the crowd.
Just then, a magnificent carriage, surrounded by a large group of reporters, stopped at the edge of the chaotic scene.
The car door opened, and Dimitrakopoulos, the "observer" sent by Zaimis, stepped out with a beaming smile.
Facing the flashbulbs of reporters, Congressman Dimitrakopoulos even exaggeratedly wiped away non-existent tears with a handkerchief, his voice choked with emotion: "I feel as if I can hear the port of Piraeus crying! I feel as if I can see countless hungry children waiting for their unemployed fathers to bring home a loaf of bread! And the culprit behind all this is His Highness the Crown Prince, hiding in a high-rise building, drinking coffee!" He opened his arms as if to embrace all the suffering people, and the flashbulbs on his "holy" face went off wildly.
"Look, everyone! This is the consequence of His Highness the Crown Prince's 'reforms'!" He addressed the reporters, feigning deep sorrow and making a passionate speech.
"A complete humanitarian crisis! A tragedy of oppression and rebellion! On behalf of Parliament, I strongly condemn this tyranny that ignores the suffering of the people! I demand that His Highness the Crown Prince immediately cease the illegal military control, restore normal order to the port, and give the workers their right to earn a living!"
The flash of the camera captured this "righteous and awe-inspiring" scene forever.
Inside the command center, the atmosphere was heavy and tense.
The shouts and the sound of breaking glass outside the window could be heard clearly.
"Your Highness! We can't wait any longer!" Kostas's eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed a carbine from the table. "This is a premeditated rebellion! Just allow me to fire one shot into the air, and they'll scatter! Then we'll immediately arrest those scum who are leading the uprising!"
Constantine stood by the window, silently watching the dark mass of people below.
He looked at the faces flushed with anger, and at the bodies that looked somewhat emaciated from hunger.
He shook his head, rejecting Kostas's proposal.
"No, Kostas," his voice was unusually calm, "they are not enemies."
"They are just being used, hungry pawns. Guns won't work against them."
Gunfire will only lead to bloodshed, will only allow Zaimis's conspiracy to succeed, and will only push him to the opposite side of the people.
A resolute glint flashed in Constantine's eyes, a glint that others could not comprehend.
He did not choose to hide in the safe command post.
He did not choose to resolve the problem through violent suppression.
He chose the most dangerous and the craziest path.
He turned around and straightened his spotless royal military uniform, meticulously adjusting every button and every tassel.
Then, he gave Kostas an order that left everyone speechless.
"Open the door."
"Then, prepare a megaphone for me."
Kostas was stunned: "Your Highness, what are you doing?!"
Constantine did not answer, but showed everything through his actions.
He took a step, walking steadily toward the gate that led to hellish chaos.
"I want to go down there myself and talk to them."
He decided to turn the tables and transform the "crisis" that Zaimis had meticulously prepared for him into an unprecedentedly grand stage to win over the hearts and minds of the people.
A new and even bigger gamble is about to begin.