Mediterranean hegemon

[For the second part of the North African trip, please see the official account! It does not affect the plot if you do not watch it. ]

From October 1925 to July 1926, there was a total of nearly 9 months in between. The overall construction in North Africa was still very amazing. The dredging projects of the two ports of Tripoli and Benghazi were completed by 20%. The settlements were built from scratch and exceeded 60,000 people in one go. The latest batch is still under construction and is expected to reach the standard of 80,000 people by September. In addition to the renovation and repair of the houses in the two ports, Libya has increased the standard of accommodating 100,000 people. Of course, the project was not entirely created by the United Group. The army also sent engineers to carry out some repairs, but overall the proportion occupied by the army was very small.

In addition to the houses, the pipeline has been laid for more than 120 kilometers, and the repair of railways and coastal roads is also in full swing. Now the whole of Libya has become an extra-large construction site.

"According to the plan, residential facilities and other supporting facilities for 200,000 people must be completed by the end of this year." Dr. Toth is in charge of the coordination of the North African project. His skin has been tanned in Libya and he has lost a lot of weight, but he looks very motivated. Contini receives a briefing on the progress of the project from him every month. It is said that he has also formulated various management regulations for Libya according to his requirements. He is in charge of civil affairs and engineering, which keeps him busy.

If Contini had come a few months ago, Toth might not have been able to squeeze out time to accompany him for the inspection, but now he is much more relaxed.

"Are there any difficulties? I mean, apart from security issues, what other problems are there?"

"Security issues are not big. The oil guards have set up a defensive formation near the two ports. It is impossible for the tribal armed forces to break through. Moreover, we have a large number of motorcycles and aircraft, and we react quickly. In order to prevent the poor lighting conditions at night from causing a breakdown in public security, we have established a gas street light system. Wherever the settlements are built, the street lights are buried..." Toth smiled, "This obsolete thing is actually shining in Libya again, which is incredible! The Chinese also use this pipeline for gas, which is also very creative."

"I saw it, you did a good job."

"Now the oil guards are still trying to adapt to the weather and environment in Libya... The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and they think the black uniforms on their bodies are not suitable."

Contini nodded : "We have customized the same khaki summer uniforms as the army for them. They should be on the way now and will arrive in a week at most."

"That's good..." Toth said, "We are facing several problems now. First, there are not enough transport vehicles. All our materials are imported from the outside and landed at two ports. A large number of cars are needed to transport them to the construction site and residential areas. As the construction distance becomes longer and longer, the round-trip distance and time are longer, and the daily transportation capacity begins to decline. The most terrible thing is that as the weather gets hotter, drivers are also in short supply. In such hot weather, drivers consume a lot of physical energy and can only be rotated, and..."

Contini nodded: It is impossible to introduce drivers from Italy. Most of those who are willing to work have already come. Those who are unwilling to come to Libya to see the sand are still unwilling to come even if the salary is increased. The money cannot be given too much, otherwise it will cause an imbalance in the company's salary structure.

"Well, I'll give you an idea..." Contini pointed to the Chinese workers working on the construction site outside, "There are a large number of Chinese workers here, you can train them to be drivers, especially the young Chinese guys who are educated and have learned a few words of Italian can be developed into drivers."

"Mr. President, is this really a good idea? After all, drivers are technical jobs. What if..."

Contini spread his hands: "Now we are in short supply of such personnel, why not let them take over? Don't look down on the Chinese, Chinese can also be drivers. Chinese workers in France did it at that time."

"That's not what I mean. In fact, I don't discriminate against the Chinese. Although the Chinese are a little ignorant and a little timid, they still work very hard. I think they work harder than Italian workers! I am worried that after they learn this skill, they will go back to Italy to compete for jobs. At that time, they have the skills and have learned Italian. In addition, they are hardworking and you know that they will be very competitive. I am afraid that it will have a bad impact on you. Jobs are the top priority for any party. "

"No!" Contini said firmly, "My construction period in North Africa will be long-term, not 3-5 years, not 7-8 years, it may last 20 years! We have enough capacity to accommodate their employment without conflicts with Italy. "

When saying this, Contini suddenly thought: Why can't we recruit Chinese who know Italian to participate in the North African war in the future? They don't have to fight, helping to transport military supplies can greatly relieve the pressure on the logistics troops! Yes, this is a good way!

"We can set up a training class and select hundreds of Chinese young people to learn driving. The fees are free, and the salary will be doubled after completing the course!" Contini smiled. "The other ideas are the same, those that are easy to learn but have gaps. After all, the conditions in Libya are too poor and there are too few people willing to work here. To be honest, I also plan to hire a group of Chinese as oil field workers in the future. As for competing in Italy. Stealing jobs? This kind of thing can't happen. We are a fascist country and we will carry out strict management. Who dares to disobey orders and hire Chinese people locally? This president will punish him and bankrupt him, not to mention ordinary companies, even Fiat dares to do this! You're welcome, I won't agree at all! Besides, these workers have signed a supplementary clause with the United Group and cannot work for companies other than the United Group. Otherwise, each of them will be compensated 1,000 US dollars! Even if they sue me, they won't win! "

Toth gave a thumbs up: The president is famous for litigating!

The human problem was solved in this way, and the car problem was easy to handle. Although the Italian Union General Motors had not officially put into production, it shipped a lot of spare parts for assembly. Contini moved 500 vehicles with a stroke of his pen. It was not stable enough. He doesn't care about the purchase cost of Germany or the United States, he only wants progress.

"The second problem is material consumption. There is nothing in Libya except sand and oil. Even water is difficult to get. All food, meat, and water have to be transported. Transportation is a bit difficult, especially in remote areas. Without pipes, transporting water is a hassle.”

"Doctor, I have good news for you! The joint laboratory has completed the innovation of three plastics, one of which we used as a bucket. It is lightweight, impermeable and reusable. We used it to make a 5-liter and a 20-liter standard bucket, which can be used repeatedly.”

In fact, two of the so-called three plastic innovations mentioned by Contini are knock-offs: the first one is phenolic plastic, which was invented in the United States 20 years ago. By this year, the patent protection had expired, and United Plastics Company began to use it on a large scale. Production, the most typical one is the casing of United Radio; the second type is aniline formaldehyde plastic, which was invented 6 years ago. Although it is still within the patent protection period, this is not a problem for the president. He asked the experts to add some messy The material has become a new product, now mainly used in cables, with very good insulation properties; the third type is PVC plastic. As early as 1912, the German chemist Colette had invented PVC and applied for a patent, but it was not until 1925 The patent has expired, and Colette has not been able to think of any uses for PVC. However, in the joint laboratory, chemists from all walks of life use high-boiling point solvents and tricresyl phosphate to heat and mix PVC, which can be processed into soft PVC products. This is not The copycat is improved, and Contini calls it white plastic.

White plastic was quickly used in United Real Estate. They used a large number of PVC pipes, water pipes, and sewers in their residences, and they were all painted white. Because PVC pipes are easy to bend and connect, and there is no rust or water residue in the pipes, they are promoted by United Real Estate as a high-end product like aluminum alloy doors and windows. Now there are three standards for distinguishing high-end residential areas: first, whether the doors and windows are bright or not. The aluminum alloy is very bright; second, whether the water pipes are white, which are high-end products such as PVC, and the black ones are cast iron pipes or galvanized pipes, which are backward. Third, is there a phone line in the unit?

United Film Company also created momentum for this kind of plot: whenever a high-end community appears in the camera, these prominent places must be photographed. Therefore, in movies of that period, we often see the heroine closing the shiny aluminum windows, or having to Running out to answer the phone is a routine taught by the president himself and is called product placement. This is what the Italian bourgeoisie do!

What's even more outrageous is that the United Group refuses to sell these materials individually on the pretext of insufficient supply. They are only available in communities developed by United Real Estate and Leader New Village. This makes people who buy houses feel proud and are willing to pay for them. United Real Estate's residential contribution premium is what the CEO's buzzword calls brand premium.

These routines later became classic views in Italian management and marketing textbooks. Every footnote and example was from United Group. It is not unfounded for future generations to tout Contini as a management master and marketing master. Little did they know that the President's goods were stolen from later generations. What was even more unexpected was that the President would actually introduce large quantities of this high-end white plastic water transport to the barren North Africa.

Of course, using plastic to transport water is not only to solve the current supply difficulties. Contini also has factors to consider for future desert wars: how to quickly form standardized, storable, impermeable, non-deteriorating, small-packaged, lightweight and low-cost water tank materials. He had been trying hard to figure it out for a long time, but now he was finally willing to take it out and use it.

If it is used well, he is also planning to promote packaged mineral water in small bottles. If the advertising is better, it can be sold as high-end goods. Are the people drinking water? What people drink is the mood and unique feeling! Of course, opaque PVC is not of high quality, and new products that are transparent and safer are needed, so the joint laboratory must work at full capacity!

Besides, if we don’t produce so much plastic, who will the president sell his oil to?