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As if dissatisfied with her husband's carelessness, Queen Orga turned to George and angrily said, "George, aren't you going to say anything?"

George picked up the napkin, wiped his mouth calmly, and said slowly: "For Constantine, this matter, whether his plan is successful or failure, is a rare experience. From my point of view, there is indeed a possibility of success, although it is unlikely."

Queen Orga was dissatisfied when she heard her husband's supportive attitude, imitated George's tone and shook her head and said, "It's a rare experience whether it's success or failure. George, you are such a good father. So far, Constantine's plan has spent 4 million francs. Depending on the situation, you should continue to spend a lot of money. You'd better be mentally prepared."

The so-called Constantine's plan was to fund explorers in central Africa, where the explorers received honor and money, while Constantine won the colony.

The reason why I took such a dangerous chess is that I was forced to do so.

Greece was independent from the Ottoman Empire in 1830, but the Greek Peninsula was not a suitable place for farming and development. The mountains were rolling and resources were scarce.

The theme of the 19th century was empire and conquest, frequent wars, and the geometry of a country's strength depends on the output of coal and iron.

Greece is not only sparsely populated, but also lacks coal and iron ore.

Lignite has a rich content, but lignite has low calorific value, high dust burning and high sulfur content. It is the lowest-quality coal. In the 19th century, this coal can only be used for combustion and power generation.

As for iron ore, Greece has no iron ore distribution at all.

There was no coal or iron in the 19th century, and such a country could only play soy sauce and had no sense of existence.

Greece is such a country. By 1882, Greece had been independent for 50 years, its industry was still in its original state, and its backward transportation led to the countryside being closed and conservative, its concepts were outdated, and agriculture was also very backward. It even cost precious foreign exchange imported food every year.

It would be fine if she could not become an industrial country, but according to Greece's resource endowment, she could not even be an agricultural country.

The country is weak and can only let the powers arrange it, follow the powers and act as a protector, as well as Britain, France and Greece.

Economic backwardness naturally leads to political chaos. The term of office of the prime minister who came to power is only about a year long, and it is replaced like a marquee.

Due to the long-term backward and barbaric rule of the Ottoman Turks, although the constitution was formulated and universal suffrage was implemented, it was suddenly implemented, and there were many disadvantages in the election process, and corruption in bribery emerged one after another.

Industry cannot be developed, and agriculture is not enough to fill the body.

In order to maintain the country, Greece could only borrow a large amount of foreign debt. In the 19th century, foreign debts could not be obtained in full after borrowing, so it would be deducted. It would be good if 10% of the debt was actually given 90%.

Although Greece has nominally been independent, its policies are always influenced by various imperialist countries. Britain, France and Russia have a deep influence in Greece, and Greece has never been independent.

During the Crimean War in 1853, Britain, France and Turkey, one side, Russia and nearly one million troops fought along the Black Sea coast. The Ottoman Türkiye's attention was almost completely attracted by the Russians, and the Turks had no time to take care of Greece.

When the Greek people saw this situation, they were angry and nationalists shouted to regain their territory and restore their glory. At this moment.

King Otto I at that time was under tremendous pressure from the country and was happy to take this opportunity to expand his territory, enhance his prestige in the hearts of the Greek people, mobilize the army, prepare for war, and prepare for war.

As a result, Otto's move caused great dissatisfaction between Britain and France. The British and French ambassadors came together to severely denounce King Otto and sent a fleet to assemble in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Under the tremendous pressure from Britain and France, Otto could only compromise, but it made the Greek people seriously dissatisfied and believed that they were incompetent and weak. Later, Otto was deposed by the Greeks.

In the original history, in the later battle, Greece once again staged a similar scene, but this time the person involved was Constantine himself.

When encountering a pool of mud like Greece, even if he was a time traveler, Constantine was in a panic of anxiety for a moment.

The mouse pulls the turtle, and there is no place to put it in.

Once, I accidentally heard King George say that European explorers were conducting expeditions in southern Africa, and he often sponsored some money.

Constantine, who heard about this, felt a move. Isn’t this a good opportunity to break the deadlock? The bad situation in Greece will not change in a short period of time. People do not have wealth without fortune, and horses do not have night grass. It is better to try opportunities abroad.

Failure is just a loss of money. If it succeeds, if Greece can obtain a rich African colony, it may not be impossible to seize the tail of the Second Industrial Revolution and develop and grow.

The world at that time was almost completely divided, only southern Africa had inconvenient transportation and was in a wilderness. African indigenous people lived in tribal times and were too backward. It could not provide the cheap raw materials and commodity dumping markets that imperialist countries urgently needed.

Only Britain and France established several strongholds in southern Africa, such as the Cape Town Colonial because of the needs of colonial activities and overseas trade.

Therefore, there are still large areas of blank borderless lands in the inland areas of southern Africa, such as the Congo River Basin.

So, in a river with such a large flow of water, why no one takes a boat to go up the river for commercial and adventure activities?

The reason is also very simple. The water flows in the lower reaches of the Congo River and the river is wide. It flows from the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean. However, if you sail inland for dozens of kilometers (near Matadi) along the river, you will encounter the waterfall area in the lower reaches of the Congo River. There are a series of waterfalls that block people from going up the river. Therefore, until the end of the 19th century, the Congo River basin was still covered with a mysterious veil, and its true appearance was still unknown.

In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic War, the London Geographical Society was surprised that the river was still so little information about it three centuries after the estuary of the Congo River was discovered, so it was entrusted to Colonel Tark to take the Congo sailing ship to investigate whether there was any connection between the Niger and the Congo River.

This expedition was a huge disaster. They were stopped by the waterfall and could only hike through the waterfall area. The sixty-five-person expedition team, including several experts and scholars, were killed one after another.

In the next half century, no scientific expedition team dared to venture into the Congo River.

A series of waterfalls on the Congo River have greatly reduced people's interest in this area. No matter how rich the resources in the Congo River Basin are, the transportation is inconvenient, and the water transportation is not accessible, it is meaningless if it cannot be transported out.

Unless any country is determined to spend huge amounts of money on railway construction in the Congo River basin, bypassing the waterfall areas of the Congo River and other tributaries of the Congo River.

This is almost impossible until scientific research and geographical data are available to clarify the resource status in Congo.

In the original time and space, the early commodities produced in the Congo River Basin were rubber and ivory. Relying on these two commodities, the huge investment in railway construction would have to be earned back, and it would take until the year of the monkey and horse month.

In the original time and space, the Belgian King Leopold II was responsible for this role, but Leopold II in this time and space did not make up his mind after asking geographical experts.

It is precisely because the development of the Congo River Basin requires a lot of investment, geography, society, natural resources and other specific situations are still unclear, and no other country has shown much interest so far.

After Constantine learned about this situation, she told George I about his thoughts. After listening to Constantine's reasons, George I also felt that there was a possibility of success.

This may depend on two conditions:

First, it is difficult for the Congo region to develop and obtain profits.

Great colonial powers like Britain and France have vast colonies. Instead of investing money in the Congo River Basin, which are hot, rainy, and have relatively high returns, it is better to invest in other places with higher returns and lower risks, such as South Africa in the UK and Vietnam in France, which are much more effective than the Congo River Basin.

This determines that Britain and France will not stubbornly fight and fight desperately in the Congo region.

The second Congo River Basin is geographically important.

Open the map and look at it, you will understand that the Congo River Basin is located in the center of Africa. If a strong country occupies this place and has a firm foothold, it will definitely attack everywhere and expand in Africa. Other countries that colonize on the margins of Africa will be very passive.

This determines that even if countries that have the intention to colonize and expand, whether in Britain, France, Germany, or Italy, would strongly oppose it.

Based on these two points, it seems impossible for Greece to have a weak country that can control them at will, but it is the most likely to get Congo.

After figuring out these two points, whether to place a heavy bet on Congo is left is only one decisive question. Is Congo worth a heavy bet?
Chapter completed!