xymnovel Chapter 109 If they won't accept, we'll bribe them! The Crown Prince's financial powe
Chapter 109 If they won't accept, we'll bribe them! The Crown Prince's financial powe
The meeting room door closed behind Constantine.
From inside the door, the faint, suppressed laughter of General Kolokotronis and his men could be heard, like a group of victorious roosters clucking.
Constantine did not pause for a moment.
His face was expressionless, and his blue eyes were as calm as a deep well, unmoved by the humiliation he had just suffered.
failure?
No.
This only confirmed one thing for him.
Talking about ideals and the future with a bunch of old guys whose minds are only on making money and keeping their positions is like explaining a symphony to a pig.
They don't understand, and they don't want to understand.
Because any change means taking money out of their bulging pockets.
That would be worse than killing them.
Since reasoning with them won't work, let's switch to the only language they can understand.
money.
Back in his study in the palace, Constantine did not sit at his desk as usual, but stood by the window, looking at the neatly trimmed olive trees in the courtyard outside.
"Your Highness."
Professor Andreas appeared at the door. He saw the Crown Prince's tense back and carefully refrained from asking any further questions.
"Andreas." Constantine turned around, his voice devoid of any emotion. "The General Staff meeting didn't go well."
Andreas lowered his head: "I've heard that General Kolokotronis and his men... are as stubborn as ever."
"Stubbornness is not a problem." Constantine walked to the desk, sat down, and placed his fingers on the table.
"The problem is, their hands are so dirty."
He looked up at his teacher.
"I need a report."
"The necessity of army reform?" Andreas asked instinctively.
Constantine shook his head and said something that left Andreas stunned.
"No, I need a financial report."
"Financial report?"
"Yes." Constantine's tone was calm, but his words instantly made the atmosphere in the room heavy. "I need detailed financial information on every officer of the rank of colonel and above in the General Staff. Kolocotronis, and everyone in his faction, is the focus."
"I need to know how much each of them earns as a salary, and what their actual income is."
"Which Parisian fashion boutique their wives ordered the latest dress from, and which casino in Athens their son lost so much money in one night."
"Whose estate has acquired a new stable, whose mistress has acquired even more expensive jewelry?"
"Most importantly," Constantine tapped his index finger lightly on the table, "I need to know who has the most debt, who has the biggest hole, and who is most in need of money."
Andreas felt a chill run down his spine.
He got it.
The Crown Prince has no intention of debating with those people at the military conference.
He wanted to flip the table and rip their underwear off!
"Your Highness, this requires the use of the... Special Investigation Bureau that you just established." Andreas's voice was somewhat hoarse.
“That’s right.” Constantine’s answer was simple and clear. “Let them investigate. I want to see the report within a week.”
"Yes, Your Highness." Andreas bowed deeply, then turned and strode away.
He knew that a storm was about to gather over the military in Athens.
This time, the Crown Prince was not holding a reform plan, but a scalpel ready to cut open a festering sore.
A week later.
In the same study, Andreas placed a thick report on Constantine's desk.
The first page of the report features General Theozolos Kolokotronis.
"Coloctronis himself is very cautious. Most of his illicit income goes through the accounts of his wife's family, a shipping family. It's very difficult to find direct evidence," Andreas explained.
Constantine flipped through the report, unsurprised.
The old fox is always more cunning.
"However," Andreas changed the subject, pointing to another name in the report, "his top ally, General Panagiotis, is a different story."
Constantine's gaze fell on that name.
Panagiotis, the head of the Army Logistics Department, was one of the guys who shouted the loudest about "cavalry honor" at the meeting.
It's clearly stated in the report.
The general himself was extremely extravagant, with a great fondness for imported French wines and cigars, and his wife was known for her extravagance among the Athenian socialites.
To maintain this facade, he not only treated the logistics department's funds as his private treasury, but also incurred a huge debt to a French bank due to failed investments in Paris.
"The interest he has to pay each month is equal to his total annual salary," Andreas summarized. "He's now a powder keg ready to explode at any moment. General Kolocotronis is also having a headache over his debts."
Constantine tapped his finger on the name Panagiotis.
"A perfect breakthrough."
He continued flipping through the report, and the details listed there were shocking.
The entire top leadership of the General Staff is like a giant sieve; of the military funds allocated from above, less than half actually reach the intended recipients.
The biggest hole was the Royal Cuirassier Regiment, which they touted as the "face of the royal family."
The authorized strength is 1,000, but fewer than 500 are actually on duty year-round.
The salaries, food expenses, and equipment costs of the other five hundred "shadow soldiers," amounting to hundreds of thousands of drachmas annually, simply vanished into thin air and flowed into the private pockets of various generals.
Constantine looked at the staggering numbers, but instead of being angry, he smiled.
That smile was cold.
He suddenly stood up, walked to a blank sheet of paper, and picked up a pen.
He did not write down the generals' crimes, nor did he draft any documents to impeach them.
He began to draw an organizational chart.
At the very top, he wrote a name:
Royal Defence Advisory Committee
Andreas looked at him, puzzled.
"Your Highness, what is this?"
As Constantine wrote, he said, "Since they value honor and dignity so much, then I will give them to them. This committee has no real power and will not participate in any specific military affairs. Its sole responsibility is to provide 'strategic advice' to the King and me."
Then, he wrote a line below.
"Members of the committee must be retired generals who have served in Greece for more than twenty years and hold the rank of major general or above."
Then, the crucial stroke.
"Committee member's annual salary: 50,000 drachmas."
Andreas looked at the number and gasped.
50,000 drachmas!
This is several times higher than the annual salary of the Army Chief of Staff!
This is no longer a salary; this is blatant bribery!
"Your Highness, this..."
"Andreas, do the math," Constantine interrupted him. "How much do we pay each year for those five hundred 'shadow soldiers'?"
Andreas did some mental calculations and quickly came up with a figure: "At least two hundred thousand drachmas."
"Very good." Constantine put down his pen. "I plan to start this committee with ten seats. The total annual cost will be 500,000 drachmas. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?"
He turned his head and looked at Andreas, who was speechless with astonishment at his idea.
"However, once they are on this committee, they must retire and relinquish their military command. The Royal Cuirassier Regiment can then be disbanded smoothly, saving the national treasury at least £200,000 each year."
"Let's treat the extra 300,000 as a 'one-time buyout fee.' We'll use this money to ensure the smooth implementation of reforms across the entire army. Do you think this is a worthwhile deal?"
Andreas was completely stunned.
He finally understood Constantine's entire plan.
The crown prince never even considered using the evidence of corruption to bring the generals to court.
Doing so would inevitably cause chaos in the military, or even trigger a mutiny, dragging the entire country into an abyss.
His plan was drastic, yet so gentle that it was impossible to refuse.
He doesn't want to take away these people's livelihoods.
He wanted to give them a more exquisite, more expensive, and more respectable "golden rice bowl."
The price they paid was that they had to hand over the knives they were holding.
This is a calculated scheme they cannot refuse.
For those greedy generals, giving up the money they had to work so hard to get and secretly amassed in exchange for a legal, respectable, and huge "retirement pension" was like a windfall!
Who would turn down money?
"Your Highness...you have crafted the most magnificent chains for them, made of gold, tailor-made for them." Andreas's voice was filled with awe.
Constantine sat back down in his chair and picked up the report bearing the name Panagiotis.
"The chains are ready."
"Now, it's time to find the first person willing to wear it."
His gaze fell upon Panagiotis's staggering debt.
"Doesn't this general like French wine?"
"I think it's time to buy him a drink."