Mediterranean hegemon

"Is the information received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reliable?"

"The Governor-General of Algeria has sent people to verify it, and also borrowed an army aircraft to conduct aerial reconnaissance, and found that the situation is correct... In fact, this drawing is still lagging behind, and the oil pipeline has been laid at the border of Libya and Algeria. Next It can be traveled in just a few months, and the construction is done by United Construction, the engineers are German, and the workers are mostly Chinese.”

"Chinese?" Brian was full of suspicion, "Where did he get so many Chinese workers?"

“Part of them are Chinese workers who left us, and part of them are Chinese workers he recruited from China. I heard that there are now 30,000 people working for him (actually there are more than 50,000 people in North Africa now, and more than 3,000 people are still working every month. speed growth).”

"Very good, very good..." Brian lost his temper and said sarcastically, "Our intelligence agency is very good, but it does not report such a major situation. Our Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Governor's Palace are also a bunch of deaf and blind people... …Everyone is asleep!”

People around me didn’t dare to say a word: Aren’t June to August the days for vacation? Everyone is going to the beach for a relaxing vacation. Who cares about the bad things in the Libyan desert? As for May? Sorry, the workers were still in the hinterland and ports of Libya at that time. What does this have to do with France? It’s not too late to react now in September!

"He is preparing to smuggle crude oil and steal France's national interests. This will never be allowed to happen. Please ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs... um..." Brian thought for a moment. After all, the United Group is not a government agency, so he said, "Let's The Ministry of Industry and Commerce came out to condemn him and told him to stop the construction immediately and wait for the negotiations at the Algiers port to be completed before allowing the transportation of crude oil!”

Three days later, on September 17, Minister of Industry and Commerce Rene reported the situation to Briand with a wry smile: "We have communicated with United Group, and the other party flatly denied this matter."

"This is impossible. Do you think I am blind? What are these pipes?"

"Your Excellency, you are right. The other party has openly admitted that these are oil pipelines, but at the same time reminded us that we can receive the goods at the port of Tripoli..." René shook his head, "We went to read the text specifically. I found that the contract was signed for a port, but it didn’t say which port it was. Algeria also had several ports. The other party suggested that they would consider which port to start from after finding the oil field, and then negotiate with us on the details.”

Brian realized it: This was probably the sloppiness laid down by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at the beginning. They planned that once the United Group really found crude oil from Algeria, they would get some benefits from each other on the port issue, so they were confused. We agreed to discuss the port issue later, but it would be better now to shoot ourselves in the foot.

The two were silent for a long time, and at the same time thought about the thorny problem: not only is it closer to France by walking from Algiers, but it can also charge the United Group a considerable amount of port, terminal and other fees, but now if you walk from Tripoli, , France itself will have to pay more tolls for the remaining 32% of crude oil transportation, as well as terminal and port fees. The port is controlled by the United Group, and there is a lot of money difference between coming and going. In other words, the 32% has become less in the hands of France.

"Asshole, we were fooled and let the boy take advantage of the loophole!"

"Yes, what should we do now?" René sighed. The situation reported to him by his subordinates was very clear: the other party said that it would strictly follow the ratio of 68:32, France could send people to supervise it, and the United Group would provide convenience , of course accommodation and other expenses must be borne by the French themselves.

"No, we must communicate with him again!" Brian said, "Tell him that the price will be as they said last time, but we must go to Algiers!"

"Let's go to Algiers? Are the French out of their minds? Now that the oil pipeline is about to be laid, am I stupid enough to lay another oil pipeline to Algiers? Otherwise, let the French lay it themselves. I just gave them 32% of the crude oil." On the day when Contini received the report, he told his subordinates, "Try to be as tactful as possible, but your attitude must be clear, and you must try to buy time for the front. , the pipeline was only laid in October!”

"Brother Calais, the ceremony is about to begin. Why don't you come?"

"I'll come right away, come right away." Contini told his men with a gesture of counting money, "Put some money in if necessary and let them explain to us that it's free to leave from Tripoli. I won't charge a high price. Just charge 20% off the Algiers port charges, I’m sincere enough!”

Under the shining spotlights and the sound of blessings, the laying ceremony of the special cruise ship Ida was officially launched. According to the construction requirements, all construction must be completed and delivered for trial sailing within 4 years, that is, by September 1, 1930. , and then it will be verified in the next more than a month. Contini considered the National Day in October when Fascist came to power as a

【Continue to prevent theft...】

At the same time, the construction projects of United Construction and United Real Estate also surprised them. United Real Estate alone built more than 20 million square meters of residential and other housing. Italy's cement consumption in 1925 was that of France and the United Kingdom combined. The cement consumption related to the United Group accounts for at least half of the country's cement consumption. This is a very scary number.

So from 1923 to 1926, in just four years, Italy's industrial compound growth rate was as high as 11%, which was second to none among the powers, far exceeding the second-placed United States, and far better than Britain and France. Moreover, this growth was not the result of waste. Italy's steel, cement, glass, ceramics, machinery, and metallurgy all achieved rapid sales, and the inventory turnover days were only 71 days, which was astonishingly fast. This rapid development also led to a sharp drop in Italy's unemployment rate, so it is not unreasonable for propaganda agencies to praise the leader and the president.

It is based on this consideration that Wall Street dares to continue to lend to the United Group with confidence. The United Bank, sponsored by several investment banks, is also intensively preparing for the final documents and issuance, preparing to land on the New York Stock Exchange in March 1927. At present, the equity of the United Bank is about 340 million US dollars. The issuers are preparing to increase its valuation to 400 million, and then issue 25% of its shares in New York to make it reach a market value of 500 million. They believe that by the end of the year, it will exceed 600 million at least, which is a very heavyweight IPO.

After listening to Chamberlain's explanation, Baldwin was stunned for a moment: he didn't expect that the business community would have such a high evaluation of Contini. Such a high evaluation means that his original idea of ​​economically tossing the United Group will have to change, because the United Group neither conducts large-scale trade with the UK nor has too many disputes with the British financial community, so it is difficult to attack it. As for spreading rumors and causing trouble in Italy, he didn't even consider that playing this trick in a fascist country would be a waste of time? They have already publicly called for prosperity and strength instead of freedom, openly dealt with public intellectuals, and controlled more than half of the media, so why would they be afraid of a mere rumor?

"How are his oil fields in Algeria? Mussolini actually reached out to the Middle East two months ago and dared to sign an agreement with Yemen. He is a little impatient with life."

"The situation is very clear. The oil fields in Algeria will be able to produce oil before the end of this year. And since the talks between Ciano and the French have broken down, he will not leave from the port of Algiers..." Chamberlain took out a piece of paper from his briefcase, "This is what our personnel got after infiltrating Libya for surveying. Ciano is laying an oil pipeline from Tripoli to the Algerian oil fields. At present, 70% of the project has been completed. I expect it to be completed by the end of the year!"

Looking at the black line on the map, Baldwin thought for a while and finally said: "It seems that the business community is not unreasonable to praise him. I can't think of this idea. Go through the port of Tripoli? Very good Idea, no wonder he has been carrying out the port dredging project, no wonder he has been indifferent to the failure of the French negotiations, it turns out that he has already considered the retreat, what a smart guy, the more I see him, the more I like him, how can we highlight his ability without adding some difficulty to him? Nivelle, we have to help him, let him continue to show a completely different business talent, don't waste it. "

Chamberlain smiled: "I will meet with the French ambassador tomorrow, do you need me to express it?"

"No, this is too direct, we should choose a suitable channel, let the French know but not leak the news from us, do you understand? Briand is as cunning as an old fox, he will not simply regard the intelligence we put out as good intentions, in order to avoid him from worrying, we have to trouble ourselves..."