As the horse-drawn carriages drove into the prosperous area of the port, there were more and more two-story Greek-style buildings on both sides of the road, and more and more horse-drawn carriages on the stone roads, silently keeping a distance from the stylish Wang's motorcade.
The convoy parked in front of a hotel with a masonry besieged garden turntable. The porter in a red suit hurriedly ran from the front of the hotel to the car door, opened the door, leaned forward, and hunched forward and said:" Welcome, sir, what can I do for you?"
"I am going to receive a distinguished guest at your hotel today, and give me a seat with a good location," Constantine said.
"Are you going to wait here for the guests to arrive?" the doorman said with a smile on his face.
"Yes"
"Then I will show you the way, sir"
"OK"
After all, the doorman stood by pulling the door with both hands, waiting until Constantine and Nina got out of the carriage, trot to the front, and stretched out his right hand in an inviting gesture.
Nina embraced Constantine's arm with both hands, and looked at the scene in the hotel curiously.
When he arrived at the front desk, a middle-aged man in a black uniform came trotting up, with sweat on his forehead, taking over the position of the doorman. The doorman poked his head and whispered a few words in front of the middle-aged man's ear.
After that, the middle-aged man bowed and said: "Welcome to our hotel. I am the front desk manager of the hotel. You can tell me what you want. Do you need us to send a carriage to the pier to welcome your distinguished guests."
"Yes, it's a gentleman named Stanley who is scheduled to take a cruise from London to Piraeus this morning," Constantine ordered.
While talking, the manager led Constantine and his party to a box and opened two box doors and said, "Your Excellency, this is the best box in our hotel. Sitting in this box, you can enjoy the sunshine. "The beauty of the coast and the busy scene of the pier", he opened the black silk curtains in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the box with a "crash" while talking, and then opened the windows.
In the distance on the sea, sea gulls flew and the ships coming and going with long whistle whistling, the fishy sea breeze blew in, wrapped the curtains, grinning.
The curious baby Nina ran to the window, leaned forward from the window, waved her hands excitedly towards the distant coast, and yelled loudly.
After the manager said, he looked carefully at Constantine's expression, saw that there was no impatient expression, and let out a sigh of relief.
Constantine looked around, and the furnishings in the box were not very gorgeous. They were better than ancient. Two brown sofas surrounded a reception table in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. He was quite satisfied and nodded to the manager.
The manager turned and left, and the four knights split into two rows and guarded the door of the box.
Then the manager turned and left.
Constantine sat on the sofa, quietly waiting for Stanley's arrival, thinking about Stanley's affairs in his mind.
Stanley became famous in the search for the British explorer and missionary David Livingstone.
In 1868, Stanley accepted a commission from the Paris newspaper to find Mr. David Livingston, who had lost contact with Britain in Central Africa. At that time, the latter had been missing for two years. Is David Livingston still alive? At that time, public opinion in European and American countries was very concerned.
In 1871, Stanley's expedition came to Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa (the Indian Ocean coast). This man was very scheming to hide his whereabouts from the society in order to get exclusive news.
The expedition set off from the coast of present-day Tanzania, and finally found Livingstone in Ujiji on the shore of Lake Tanganyika after a long journey of 8 months.
The encounter between Stanley and Livingstone began with a short question that is well-known in the history of exploration. Stanley stepped forward into a clearing in the jungle, where Livingstone was sitting. Stanley stretched out his hand and said, "I guess, you are Dr. Livingstone?"
After finding Livingston, Stanley kept secret and wrote a book "How I Found Livingston" in the UK, taking the opportunity to hype himself.
This book was a sensation.
After Livingston died of illness in 1873, Stanley considered himself the successor of Livingston.
In 1877, Stanley successfully reached the estuary of the Atlantic Ocean and became the first European to complete the entire route from the source of the Congo River (the coast of the Indian Ocean in Africa) to the estuary (the Atlantic coast). Later, he wrote a book "Crossing the African Continent", which recorded the expedition in detail. The book described a large amount of information on the geography, politics, economy, customs, and customs of the Congo River Basin.
There is no doubt that this book detailing southern Africa caused a sensation.
From Stanley's past deeds, it is not difficult to find that this is a man who can keenly seize opportunities and is quite scheming and wise.
No wonder it can stand out from a large group of adventurers.
This series of events also attracted the attention of George I and Constantine. Constantine believed that Mr. Stanley, a veteran who had been engaged in African expeditions for a long time, must be very familiar with the geography and humanities of Africa and was the best choice for the implementation of the African plan. .
At the insistence of Constantine, King George I ordered the Greek ambassador to the United Kingdom to contact the renowned African adventure expert, and to buy Stanley for 10,000 francs before the Belgian king who also had ambitions for Africa. Time of year.
At that time, a worker received a salary of 30-50 francs for a year of hard work. There is no doubt that 10,000 francs is an individual. This is a generous reward.
They reached an agreement. According to the "contract", Stanley worked for George and Constantine in the Congo for 5 years, without the prior consent of the two, not publishing any news, and not holding any report meeting.
From 1879 to the present, Stanley has been implementing this plan in 1882.
Stanley took a large sum of money given by Constantine, recruited a group of desperadoes from Europe, promised generous rewards, and went to Africa mightily.
It should have been almost four years, and Constantine needed a result.
Constantine, who was meditating, suddenly heard a sound of footsteps in front of the door, and it seemed that it was a guest coming.
With a squeak, the door was opened. One was wearing a beige suit and a yellow top hat, with bronze skin leaking from his face and shirt collar. His eyes were piercing, with two fluffy moustaches on his mouth, and his face was flaky. A man in his mid-40s, holding a red suitcase in his left hand and a walking stick in his right, walked in.
A fierce breath came oncoming.
Speaking of it, this is the first time the two have met. Before that, the two had only contacted them through letters, telegrams, etc.
Constantine stood up and stretched out his right hand to Stanley. Stanley put down his suitcase on the ground and shook hands with each other.
"Welcome to Greece, Mr. Stanley," Constantine greeted him, respecting this key figure in the realization of the African plan.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Duke," Stanley replied.
Constantine's title is Duke of Sparta, yes, it is the Spartan warrior who admired force and stubborn folkways, the earliest city-state of Athens in Greece, full of tendons.
This habit was passed down from the United Kingdom, similar to the title of the Prince of Wales as the Crown Prince of the United Kingdom.
To be honest, for a ruthless person like Stanley who was born in the bottom of the UK and put his life on his belt to work hard in order to succeed in his career, he really doesn't think that Constantine was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, I don't know. People who are suffering.
Just think of how much hardships, sins and deaths you have suffered in the barbaric, ignorant and uncivilized Africa, a career that you need to fight for, and the guy in front of you is all born. I got it, and I can't match it in my life.
Thinking of this, Stanley felt aggrieved.