xymnovel Chapter 83 Public Auction! Using the oligarchs' money to distribute to the people!
Chapter 83 Public Auction! Using the oligarchs' money to distribute to the people!
The Royal Tax Police acted with lightning speed.
When Kostas and his men kicked open the oak door of the Skopelos Shipping Company, which was carved with the god Poseidon, the senior staff inside were leisurely drinking morning tea and discussing the "interesting story" of the port being completely empty.
The smiles on their faces vanished the moment they saw the soldiers in black uniforms, carrying carbines.
"Royal Tax Police! By order of His Highness the Crown Prince, this area is sealed off! Everyone, stay put!"
Kostas held up the hastily made certificate, his voice as cold as a Siberian blast, freezing the entire luxurious office hall instantly.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the port, Lagudas was leading his team on a more direct mission.
The Skopelos family's flagship cargo ship, the "Helena," was docked at Pier 3. A dozen armed servants on guard immediately raised their shotguns when they saw Lagudas and his group approaching.
"Halt! This is private property!" a middle-aged man who looked like a butler shouted, his voice stern but his voice weak.
Lagudas didn't waste any words with him.
He simply made a gesture to the team members behind him.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three crisp, rapid gunshots rang out.
The stocks of the hunting rifles in the hands of the three servants exploded, sending wood chips flying everywhere!
Sharpshooter Dimitrios blew on the still-smoking muzzle of his gun, his face expressionless.
All the servants were stunned. They looked at the half-broken hunting rifle in their hands, and then at the dozens of dark gun barrels opposite them. Without hesitation, they made the wisest decision—to throw down their weapons and kneel down to surrender.
Lagudas lifted the steward like a chick, grinning to reveal a set of white teeth. "Now it's ours." He turned to his men and shouted, "Brothers, get to work! His Highness's waiting to use these good things from the ship to exchange for bread for those starving dockworkers! Don't fucking dawdle!"
Huge iron chains were towed over and, in front of thousands of workers, firmly locked the "Helena" and two other cargo ships to their berths. Large seals were affixed to the hulls and the doors of every warehouse.
The seizure operation was like a precise and ruthless surgical procedure, encountering no significant resistance whatsoever.
But Constantine's performance has only just begun.
He did not take the seized smuggled goods into the national treasury.
Instead, he once again stood on the port's podium and, in front of all the workers and Athenian journalists who had rushed to the scene, issued an even more shocking order.
"Immediately! On the spot! Publicly auction off all the smuggled goods seized from these three ships!"
An accountant immediately stepped forward and loudly read out the list of the ship's cargo.
"Three hundred cases of top-quality Bordeaux red wine from France!"
"Five hundred bolts of worsted wool from Manchester, England!"
"A Swiss-made precision watch, two thousand yuan!"
……
Every item on the list was enough to drive the ladies and gentlemen of Athens wild.
The auction was incredibly popular. Independent merchants and minor nobles who had gotten wind of the event waved their banknotes, pushing the atmosphere to a fever pitch.
In just one afternoon, the auction raised an astonishing amount.
Constantine looked at the boxes filled with gold coins and banknotes and made his decision in front of everyone.
He ordered Andreas to distribute half of the auction proceeds directly to every registered dockworker on the spot under the name of "compensation for lost work time due to resumption of production"!
That night, Constantine stood alone on the balcony of the port building. The workers hadn't dispersed from the square below. They had lit a bonfire, sizzling the freshly distributed cured meat and bread. An old sailor with graying hair played his worn-out bouzouki, his hoarse voice singing an ancient heroic epic. The song filled the air, and children, torches in hand, chased and played around the bonfire; their laughter was the most beautiful music the port had never heard before. Constantine knew that from this moment on, what he had gained was far more important than money.
The other half of the funds was solemnly deposited into a public account, which had just been opened at the National Bank and belonged to the "Greek Workers' Pension and Healthcare Fund," in front of everyone!
The workers received real money.
Constantine, however, gained something more valuable than money—the hearts of the people.
From that day on, every corner of the port of Piraeus was filled with Constantine's eyes and ears.
Those self-organized workers' pickets were more vigilant than the most loyal hunting dogs. Any unfamiliar face, any suspicious ship, any disrespectful remark about the Crown Prince would be reported to Kostas's command immediately.
The entire port of Piraeus was completely transformed into an impenetrable steel fortress belonging to Constantine.
……
The message was relayed back to Athens at top speed.
The entire upper class of Greece was greatly shocked.
Inside the Prime Minister's official residence.
The air was deathly still.
Zaimis had his back to the crowd, his shoulders trembling slightly but uncontrollably.
He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles made a soft "crackling" sound from the excessive force, turning a horrifying bluish-white color.
Suddenly, he turned around abruptly and slammed his fist into the bookcase behind him. The glass cabinet door shattered with a crash, scattering debris all over the floor.
He seemed oblivious to the pain, letting the blood drip from his knuckles. His usually smiling face was now as gloomy as the sky before a storm.
He never expected that his carefully planned two-pronged attack—"worker uprising" and "economic blockade"—would not harm Constantine in the slightest.
Instead, they were like two huge whetstones, sharpening Constantine's already sharp knife to an even more dazzling gleam!
What he found even more unacceptable was that Constantine, through his schemes, delivered the most fatal blow—winning people's hearts!
Now, the entire port of Piraeus has become the private domain of that young prince!
The spies he sent out would be stared at by countless hostile eyes as soon as they set foot on the dock, making it impossible for them to move an inch!
"Useless! A bunch of useless trash!" Zaimis roared like a beast at the oligarch representatives in the study, whose faces were also ashen.
For the first time, the spokesperson for shipping magnate Sigros and banker Stretter felt that kind of fear that went straight to the bone.
What the Skopelos family is experiencing today may be their tomorrow.
Constantine's tactics have far exceeded their expectations.
That wasn't just a simple political struggle; it was a struggle involving the people! A struggle they couldn't understand at all, nor could they participate in!
"Your Excellency... what do we do now?" Sigros's representative's voice trembled. "Scopelos is finished... will we be next?"
Panic and suspicion, like a plague, spread rapidly among these once-arrogant oligarchs.
Looking at their bewildered state, Zaimis's anger was replaced by a deeper sense of powerlessness.
He knew that from this moment on, the oligarchic group he had regarded as an impenetrable whole had developed its first irreparable crack.
……
Royal Palace in Athens.
King George I was listening quietly to his attendant's report on everything that had happened in the port of Piraeus in the past few days.
From worker riots to economic blockades, and then to public seizures and auctions...
Every step was thrilling.
Every twist and turn was unexpected.
After the report ended, a long silence fell over the study.
George I walked up to the huge map and his gaze lingered for a long time on the small marker for the port of Piraeus.
He could almost see his son standing alone in the eye of that raging storm.
He single-handedly confronts the entire entrenched old world.
He felt no fear, but rather an unprecedented excitement, a mixture of pride and worry.
After a long while, the old king turned around and picked up a pre-prepared authorization letter from his desk.
He uncapped the pen and, without hesitation, signed his strong and powerful name at the end of the authorization letter.
"George I".
The attendant glanced at it curiously and saw that the authorization letter contained the following:
"The Royal Economic Advisory Office hereby approves the temporary hiring of one hundred senior accountants and auditors to address urgent national economic matters. All expenses will be covered by the Royal Budget."
George I handed the letter of authorization to the aide-de-camp.
"Send it to Professor Andreas immediately."
He decided to increase his bet again in this high-stakes gamble where his son was risking his life and fortune.
This time, he is gambling with the reputation and future of the entire royal family.