xymnovel Chapter 62 Sharpening the Knives! The Oligarchs' Secret Death Meeting!
Chapter 62 Sharpening the Knives! The Oligarchs' Secret Death Meeting!
The city was in an uproar the day Constantine returned to Athens.
The road from the port of Piraeus to the royal palace was lined with people who had come spontaneously to welcome the crown prince. They waved blue and white Greek flags and chanted his name.
"Constantine!"
"Our future king!"
"Greece's hope!"
The cheers were like a tsunami, engulfing the entire city of Athens.
His Highness the Crown Prince's visit to Germany not only brought back investments from German bankers and boosted the country's economy, but also won him a marriage proposal from a beautiful and noble Prussian princess!
A marriage alliance with Europe's leading power!
This news was like a shot in the arm, injecting a powerful dose of stimulant into the hearts of every Greek who felt inferior and desperate because of the country's poverty and weakness!
At this moment, the prestige of the royal family reached its highest peak since the War of Independence.
The people worshipped this young, handsome crown prince, who brought hope to the country, as if he were a god.
Constantine sat in his open royal carriage, smiling and waving to the crowds lining the road. He basked in the thunderous applause, but he knew better than anyone that the will of the people was both the most precious and the most fickle thing.
He must take advantage of this wave before it recedes to solidify his power into a more solid foundation.
The day after returning to the palace.
Without taking a break, Constantine immediately convened a press conference at the palace, gathering all cabinet ministers and key officials.
Under the flashing lights of dozens of domestic and foreign journalists, Constantine formally announced in an unquestionable tone:
"To ensure the proper and efficient use of the £7.5 million recovery bond funds, the Office of the Royal Economic Advisor is officially commencing operations today!"
"Their first task was, in accordance with the agreement signed with the British Empire and with the assistance of the British financial advisory group, to carry out a thorough and comprehensive 'overhaul and reform' of the entire Greek tax system!"
The news spread rapidly throughout Greece via newspapers and telegrams.
The people were overjoyed, believing that the wise Crown Prince would surely make the country's finances healthier.
But to some people, this news was like a thunderclap, a death knell!
Athens, Kolonaki district.
Inside a luxurious villa hidden in a dense forest, the atmosphere was as gloomy as the sea before a storm.
This is where the true rulers of Greece gathered.
George Strett, chairman of the National Bank and Greece's largest banker.
Andreas Sigros, the "shipping magnate" who owned more than half of Greece's merchant ships.
Constantinos Kalamanos, the great landowner who controlled the most fertile lands of the Sorrento Plain.
And then there's Alexandros Zaimis, the oligarch's most loyal mouthpiece, who just replaced Dereplis as the new prime minister through a series of complex political deals in parliament.
Long cigars burned between their fingers, the smoke swirling around them, but it couldn't dispel the gloomy chill on their faces.
"Fix taxes?" Banker Stretter slammed his cigar into the crystal ashtray, his voice hoarse. "He doesn't just want to fix things, he wants to kill us!"
Everyone present knew perfectly well that their immense wealth wasn't due to hard work or intelligence, but rather to monopolies, privileges, and, most importantly... rampant tax evasion.
They transferred enormous profits abroad through a complex web of offshore companies and overseas accounts. They bribed customs officials to allow ships laden with smuggled goods to pass unimpeded. They used their influence with members of Congress to pass various seemingly legal bills that reduced taxes for their businesses.
Constantine's "tax reform" is aimed at squeezing out every last drop of blood that they have sucked from the country over the years!
"We can't sit idly by any longer!" Shipping magnate Sigros slammed his fist on the table, his weathered face filled with ruthlessness. "We all underestimated this brat! We thought he was just a kid with some clever tricks up his sleeve, but we never expected him to be a real wolf!"
"That's right!" the landowner Kalamanos echoed coldly. "He's rich now, backed by the British, and has that madman Andreas keeping the books for him. Once his 'Royal Economic Advisor's Office' is really up and running, none of us will escape!"
All eyes were on the new Prime Minister, Zaymis.
Zaimis was in his forties, tall and thin, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and looked refined, like a university professor. But behind those lenses lay a pair of eyes as cold as a venomous snake.
Unlike the others, he wasn't excited; he simply and slowly used a small pair of silver scissors to trim the end of the cigar.
"Gentlemen, panic will not solve the problem."
His voice was very soft, yet it instantly silenced the entire room.
He lit his cigar, took a deep drag, and exhaled a thick smoke ring.
"His Highness the Crown Prince is currently enjoying great prestige, and we cannot confront him head-on." Zaimis's voice sounded somewhat ethereal in the smoke. "Directly resisting the tax investigation will only cause us to completely lose the moral high ground in the eyes of the public and the British people."
"What should we do?!" banker Stretter asked anxiously. "Are we just going to watch him hold a knife to our throats?"
Zaimis laughed. It was a cold, vicious laugh.
"His Highness the Crown Prince's strength comes from the 'hope' he brings to Greece."
"It came from those seven and a half million pounds, from the grand blueprint for industrialization he painted."
His gaze swept over everyone present.
"Then let's shatter his hopes completely."
He slowly pressed the cigar in his hand onto the huge map of Greece in front of him.
The burning cigarette butt landed precisely on Athens' most important port.
—Piraeus Port
"Since His Highness the Crown Prince wants to be a reformer and a builder, then let's show him..."
The flickering red light from the cigar reflected on Zaimis's lens was like the infernal fire of hell.
"...Without us, this country couldn't even function for a single day!"
He raised his head and, in an almost judgmental tone, said coldly:
"He wants to marry a princess, he wants to be a hero? Hah..."
"We will give him and all of Greece an unforgettable 'gift' before his wedding."
A financial and trade storm, meticulously planned by the most powerful group in Greece and targeting the entire country, is quietly brewing in this secret room.
They wanted to make the young crown prince understand in the most brutal way possible.
Who is the true master of Greece?