Greece’s Roman Road

"And, Your Highness, we, Philip Pharmaceuticals (mainly named in honor of Dr. Philip's contributions, hence the name), are now a public company, and a considerable part of our stock is traded on the stock exchange, and we are Responsible for all shareholders," Nina emphasized to everyone.

"His Royal Highness, as you said, the use of grapes to make alcohol, which obviously loses money, once it leaks out and becomes known to the public, I am afraid that our Philip Pharmaceutical Company will soon cause trouble."

At this time, Constantine reacted and patted his head, forgetting that the current Philip Pharmaceutical Company is already a listed company. Constantine also specifically reminded Nina to sell 10 shares on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Although the Greek royal family still owns a considerable part of the shares and is the major shareholder of Philip Pharmaceuticals, such a thing that obviously damages the interests of the company will undoubtedly be questioned by other shareholders.

Nina looked at the people in the office who were frowning at the overproduction of grapes, and suggested, "Although we Philip Pharmaceuticals can't help you, I personally have an idea."

When everyone heard these words, their eyes instantly focused on Nina.

"You also know that the shipping industry in Greece is developed, why don't you think about it?" Nina looked at everyone and said.

"Nina, the shipping industry and wine have..."

Before Constantine could ask the question, Trikupis, who suddenly realized, said excitedly: "Hi, yes, doesn't the shipping industry need a lot of wine?"

"Ms. Nina means that those sailors who are drifting at sea live all year round at sea and need to consume a lot of alcohol on weekdays."

After Trikupis's reminder, Constantine also woke up.

In this era, navies of various countries, sailors on cargo ships, and wine are all popular and common drinks.

Like the rum that's so popular among the crew.

People's traditional impression of pirates is also that the rum bottle is always inseparable.

There are two reasons for this.

First, wine is not easy to spoil. Because ships need to sail on the vast sea all year round, they carry fresh water in wooden barrels when they leave the port. It is conceivable that this method cannot be preserved for a long time.

In a few days, the water in the bucket will begin to deteriorate, and green algae will grow, which is sticky and slippery, and has an unpleasant smell.

And wine has a longer shelf life.

Therefore, for the sailors who drift at sea all the year round, wine is fresh water.

Second, rum can prevent scurvy.

On the ship, due to the lack of fresh food, the food of the crew is generally dry bread, cured meat, salted beans, etc., which are difficult to swallow.

Such a poor dietary environment causes the crew to lack vitamin C and are prone to scurvy.

While rum has a preventive effect on scurvy, of course, the effect of wine is even better.

Wine is more nutritious than rum.

Thinking of this, Constantine said: "That would allow the naval personnel to reserve more wine, anyway, they also need a lot of wine."

There is finally a way to deal with the grape production crisis in Greece.

"In this way, Mr. Prime Minister, we can only rely on ourselves to solve the problem of excess grapes."

"Your government will find a way to encourage winemaking this year, and of course those shipping companies will also work hard to win their orders," King George instructed.

"Inform the Greek newspapers of these news and release good news. It is best to raise the price of raisins in the international market first."

"The armament department also stores some wine for the soldiers," King George turned to Emmanuel.

“These measures are all expedients. Although it can avoid a large number of bankruptcy of farmers who grow grapes in Greece in the short term, after all, it is impossible to use non-market methods to alleviate the difficulties every year like this year. Since the grape growing industry in Western Europe has begun to recover , then the problem of excess grape production in Greece is the problem.”

"Can some grape growers switch to other crops to fundamentally reduce the future grape production in Greece and solve the problem completely?" King George I asked.

Greece has many hills and hills, and the land is relatively barren. The reason why people plant grapes one after another, in addition to the guiding role of the market, is also an important reason for the lack of suitable crops for planting.

And grapes are precisely a crop that is more suitable for the geographical conditions of Greece.

"Actually, although there are not many other cash crops suitable for growing in Greece, it is not without them," Constantine said.

"mulberry tree"

The reason why Constantine said this is because, although it cannot be compared with Huaxia, the birthplace of sericulture, Greece has the longest history of sericulture, at least in Europe.

Due to the role of the Silk Road, Chinese silk was able to be trafficked to Europe by merchants who traveled long distances.

The appearance of silk has sparked the frenzy of Europeans (of course ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ are those powerful people), Europeans wearing shoddy linen clothes or animal skins, spare no expense to buy silk from China.

Like those portraits of European nobles, businessmen, and religious people that were widely circulated in later generations, they wore colorful and gorgeous costumes, either bright yellow or pure white. No doubt, they were all silk.

Later, the Eastern Roman Empire acquired (stealed) silkworm-raising technology from China.

The place where a large number of mulberry trees are planted is in the Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece.

As for the later sericulture in Italy and France, it was actually passed down from Eastern Rome.

(As an aside, the high-end silk industry is now in the hands of France, Japan, and Italy. Although Huaxia's silk industry has a large output, it is of medium and low grade in the world silk market.)

"Mulberry" Trikupis was hesitant to consider Constantine's suggestion.

"But silk is generally suitable for the luxury goods industry, and consumption in Greece is limited"

"Anyway, it is also an alternative to grapes, and raw silk itself is also useful in military affairs, such as the propellant of large-caliber artillery, you can use raw silk to contain it," Constantine said.

"Can raw silk be used as a propellant for large-caliber artillery? Your Highness, why didn't I know about this?" Emmanuel asked suspiciously.

Looking at the confused expression of the chief of the general staff, which did not seem to be a fake, Constantine couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then reacted, raw silk was used for the loading of large-caliber artillery propellants, which was later discovered by the Japanese, and has not yet appeared. Woolen cloth.

So he changed his mouth and said, "The big deal, is it still exporting to the Eastern Mediterranean like the current cotton? It's all textiles anyway."

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