novelSusiti Chapter 96 Gentlemen, this is the most solid foundation of power!
Chapter 96 Gentlemen, this is the most solid foundation of power!
The tranquility before the map in the royal study did not last long. Conquering the heart of a Prussian princess was merely an elegant and romantic part of a grand plan. The real battlefield, however, lay in Athens, in the muddy, unforgiving soil of Greece.
Constantine gently moved the white chess piece representing the Queen, placing it side by side with the black knight piece representing himself. This small gesture seemed to foreshadow the establishment of an alliance that transcended national borders. But his gaze quickly shifted from the chess piece back to the cold map, landing on the small marker in the port of Piraeus.
His promise to the workers must be fulfilled. And it must be done quickly and with great fanfare.
This is not only about credibility, but also about the foundation of all his subsequent reform plans. Industrialization needs workers, military reforms need manpower, and all of this requires a stable, or at least non-discriminating, grassroots society.
The royal council convened as scheduled the following morning.
King George I sat at the head of the long table, his expression serene. On either side were several of the most trusted royal advisors and government ministers. The atmosphere, as always, was somber and rigid.
Constantine, dressed in a crisp, dark blue military uniform with a simple medal on his chest, sat quietly to his father's right. He didn't rush to speak, but patiently listened as the Chancellor of the Exchequer reported in a long, tedious tone on the nation's dismal tax revenue situation for the latest quarter.
When the Chancellor of the Exchequer finished his report, King George I habitually turned his gaze to Constantine to ask if he had any additional comments, and Constantine slowly stood up.
"Father, gentlemen."
His voice wasn't loud, but it immediately drew everyone's attention. Lately, every speech the crown prince made at meetings had signaled the coming of a storm.
"What I want to discuss today is not how to squeeze a few more coppers out of our already depleted purses," Constantine said, walking to the center of the room and scanning everyone present. "What I want to discuss is how to inject a completely new and reliable force into our nation."
He paused for a moment, then directly presented his plan.
"I propose that a small portion of the 'National Industrial and Defense Development Fund' seized from Zaimis and others, specifically 500,000 drachmas, be allocated as seed money to establish the 'Royal Loyalty Welfare Fund'."
"The first beneficiaries will be all registered dockworkers in the Port of Piraeus. They will receive a small medical allowance and a pension certificate guaranteed by the Royal Family."
As soon as he finished speaking, the conference room fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone looked at Constantine as if he were crazy.
Pay the workers?
Or should we use that "sacred fund" that was seized from the traitors and is considered the hope for national revival?
This is absolutely unheard of and absurd!
"Your Highness!"
The first to jump up was the Finance Minister, who had just been lamenting the empty treasury. His face, already wrinkled with worry, turned bright red.
"This...this is absolutely unacceptable!" he practically screamed. "This money is a lifeline to pay off the national debt! It's the money to equip the army with new rifles and the navy with new gunboats! How...how can it just be given away to those dockworkers like this?"
The Chancellor's voice trembled with emotion: "This money should be used wisely! Giving it directly to the workers is the most shameful waste! It's like throwing gold into the Aegean Sea!"
His words immediately drew a chorus of agreement.
"Yes, Your Highness, this is absolutely unacceptable!"
"The workers will only use the money to drink and gamble; it will do them no good for the country!"
"We should prioritize military development, not these empty promises of welfare!"
The voices of opposition rose and fell, and the entire conference room seemed to have turned into a noisy market.
Constantine simply stood there quietly, his face expressionless, letting the opposing words crash against him like a tide.
Just then, a gentle and steady voice broke through all the noise.
"Please be quiet, everyone."
The speaker was a member of parliament seated at the very end of the room. He was about forty years old, dressed in a well-tailored black suit, with a lean face, a meticulously manicured beard, and deep, calm eyes. He was Alexius Mavrokodatos, a descendant of the Fanar nobles, who was attending this royal meeting as a "parliamentary advisor."
After Zaimis's downfall, he quickly consolidated the shaken conservative forces, becoming a formidable "invisible" force in parliament.
All eyes were on him.
Alexius rose to his feet and bowed slightly to the king and Constantine, his demeanor impeccably humble.
Then he turned to Constantine with a warm, inviting smile.
"Your Highness's benevolence is admirable. Your compassion for the suffering of the common people is a true embodiment of a monarch's virtues."
He first gave high praise, which surprised even the most agitated opponents.
Then, his tone subtly shifted.
"However," Alexius's voice remained gentle, yet it was like a soft knife, precisely piercing the core of the plan, "if this precedent is set, and people feel that they can receive favors from the royal family even without working hard, then in the long run, it will likely encourage laziness throughout society."
He frowned slightly, a perfectly measured look of worry on his face.
"When the diligent and the lazy receive the same rewards, who will be willing to be diligent? This is likely to erode the traditional virtues of diligence and simplicity of our Greek people. In the long run, it will not be good for the morals of the nation, Your Highness."
What a great move!
The Chancellor's opposition was merely at the level of "money," crude and direct.
Alexius's words, however, elevated Constantine's plan to a moral level of "shaking the foundation of the state" and "corrupting social morals."
His words were mild, devoid of any offensive vocabulary, yet more lethal than any vehement opposition. He didn't even question Constantine's motives, instead praising his "benevolence," which made him appear as a truly wise man concerned for the country and its people, rather than a mere opponent.
The atmosphere in the meeting room instantly reversed.
The ministers who had just moments before merely thought it was a waste of money now looked at Constantine with even greater seriousness. Yes, Mr. Mavrokodatos was right; this wasn't just a matter of money, it was a major issue concerning the social atmosphere!
King George I's brow furrowed deeply.
Constantine finally made a move. He turned around to face the Fanar nobleman whose words were laced with sarcasm.
His gaze was calm as still water, sweeping across the faces of everyone present before finally settling on Alexius.
"Mr. Mavrokodatos, your concerns are quite valid."
He actually agreed with the other person's point of view at first.
Alexius's smile widened, and he bowed slightly, as if to say, "See, I was right."
However, Constantine's next words made everyone's heart skip a beat.
"Now, I would like to ask the gentlemen here a question."
Constantine's voice suddenly became sharp.
How much is loyalty worth?
This question stunned everyone.
Constantine gave them no time to think and continued to press them for answers:
"A fully equipped infantry division requires millions of drachmas. It might win us a battle. So how much money would I have to buy the absolute loyalty of the entire working class to the monarchy for decades to come?"
He stretched out one hand, spread his five fingers, then closed them one by one, finally clenching them into a hard fist.
"Five hundred thousand drachmas! Gentlemen!"
His voice boomed like thunder, echoing throughout the conference room.
"With this paltry 500,000 drachmas—an amount not even enough to buy a third-class cruiser—I have bought the loyalty of a class! I have bought the most precious stability in the future industrialization of Greece! I have bought the workers' spontaneous standing up, with hammers and clubs, to defend their king when those anarchists and republicans try to incite strikes and riots!"
Constantine's gaze was intense, like a burning flame.
"Tell me, is this deal a waste, or an unprecedented bargain?"
He glanced around; the ministers who had just been vehemently opposing him were now silent and pale with fear. They had never considered the issue from this perspective before.
"This isn't charity; it's an investment—a precise investment in the future!"
Finally, Constantine turned sharply to face his father, King George I, who had remained silent all along.
He sheathed all his previous sharpness, and his tone became earnest and heavy.
"Father."
He bowed deeply.
"Believe me. In the port of Piraeus, in those filthy docks and crowded shacks, a force is brewing that could overthrow the entire country. This force, like a flood, is something we cannot stop from coming."
"Rather than wait for the flood to break out and be used by those treacherous anarchists, by those republicans who clamor for the overthrow of the monarchy, to become a tidal wave that destroys our foundations..."
Constantine raised his head, his eyes unwavering and without a trace of malice.
"...Why not build its canal ourselves now, and hold it firmly in our own hands! Let it become the most powerful and loyal driving force propelling Greece forward!"
"Gentlemen, this is not some corrupting benefit. This is power, the foundation of our royal future!"
"This is the cheapest and most stable foundation of power!"
The conference room was deathly silent.
Everyone was stunned by Constantine's resounding words, which sent chills down their spines.
For the first time, Alexius's gentle smile froze.
He discovered that his old aristocratic rhetoric and political maneuvering were like a paper shield, easily pierced by a single punch in front of this young crown prince.
George I looked at his son, whose young face was etched with a depth and resolve beyond his years. He saw ambition, and even more so, a completely new logic of "power" that he had never encountered before, yet which chilled him to the bone.
Constantine remained silent, simply standing there awaiting the king's final verdict.