Mediterranean hegemon

ps: We won’t be guarding against theft today, please relax...

The telegram requesting the French to supervise the oil was lost. The other party simply replied "I understand" and said nothing more. They did not say when they would be sent or what form they would take, as if they didn't care at all. Similar. Contini was a little confused, but since the French were not in a hurry, he was too lazy to worry about this matter. Instead, he instructed the oil fields and tankers to further speed up the transportation. It would be better to transport more. However, in order to prevent the French from causing mischief, the oil guards still Continue to stay on the Libyan side and remain ready for dispatch at any time.

The French did not respond, but Shell was very interested and sent another telegram saying that it could increase the price to 62 million US dollars, but it could not agree to 65 million US dollars.

This makes Contini a little irritated, because the end of the year is coming soon, and many accounts need to be settled at the end of the year. Moreover, this is the last accounting year before Union Bank goes public. Some accounts must be done well, so it cannot be too obvious. Shell’s surprise purchase of shares The method not only made him a little unsure, but also made him unable to make a decision. Should he take it or not?

After thinking about it for two days, he finally made up his mind to get the money, but the 62 million was a bit less, so he decided to drop the price by 1 million US dollars to 64 million.

On November 19, the riots in Algiers continued and tended to spread to surrounding areas. However, the French authorities had promulgated a curfew policy and also announced the dispatch of foreign legions to Algiers to counter the rebellion.

This inconspicuous news made Contini feel a little nervous, because the Foreign Legion is the most powerful force in France. Now that they are going to Algiers to counter the rebellion, will they wait for the counter-insurgency to be completed? Where is the son? At that time, it was too late to catch rabbits. The Foreign Legion's lineup and strength were not small, and they had been in a state of combat readiness in the past few years. If they pounced on the oil fields, the oil guards alone might not be able to stop them. What's worse is that even if he can resist it, he can hit it with an oil guard? This is unwise.

Now not only Sickert is advising him to be cautious, but Blomberg and Enzo are also advising him to be cautious. Inciting the Algerians is already a taboo for the French. If they go up against the Foreign Legion again, no matter whether they can win or not, it will be a big deal. A troublesome thing.

Faced with the unanimous persuasion of his subordinates, Contini could not stand it any longer. Without reinforcements, it would be impossible for Italy's four army divisions to be used by him. The subsequent recruitment of more than 3,000 oil guards will not be deployed in Libya until at least February next year. , during this period he could only rely on the few troops on hand, and it would be very disadvantageous to remain on alert for a long time. Suddenly his eyes lit up, and he had a solution!

"Place mines!?" Everyone was stunned when they heard this incredible request. The oil field is so large, how can it be defended by laying land mines?

"Idiot, who said we can prevent it with landmines?" Your Excellency the President said angrily, "Landmines only serve as an early warning. We still have to rely on our mobile forces to deal with it. We have few people and the other side has many people. We can only fight with speed and attack slowly. , attacking everywhere, and landmines also have the advantage of preventing blind tribal armed forces from intruding..."

Sickert agreed with this method. In any case, laying landmines is a defensive strategy. The French can't say anything more. The key now is how many landmines there are and the manpower to lay them.

"I have a batch of mines on board, and the rest will be urgently sent from China. There are not enough to buy in Germany. The more the better!" Contini thought for a while, "Let the Chinese workers do these things, and the engineers will provide guidance!"

Beginning on November 23, an unprecedented mine-laying war in the Algerian oil fields began: 1,800 landmines were sent to the site and urgently planted on the traffic road facing the north. Contini was not going to go north anyway, and then the Germans based their actions on the oil fields. According to the location of the distribution, more than 40 minefields of various sizes were demarcated and it was considered necessary to lay them. The demand for mines was as high as 70,000.

"Buy! Buy them all for me!" Contini gritted his teeth fiercely, "Shell has initialed an agreement with us to invest 63 million US dollars in shares. This president has plenty of money! How can 70,000 pills be enough? Double that! In addition to targeting Libya Don’t bury them here, bury them all in other areas for me!”

"Are we going to put up warning signs?"

"Let it go!" Contini thought for a while, with a bad smile on his face, "In Italian and English! None of us understand such a noble language as French..."

Sickert shook his head repeatedly. He just couldn't figure out why Contini, a noble boy and the leader of a large financial group, could do things so shamelessly sometimes. It's almost shameless! But he had to admit that the president's tyranny and tricks were still very effective. At least so far, the Italians had not suffered a loss. When he thought of the half of the regiment he had lost in Munich, his heart ached. He was also treated in this way. Play bad.

Since landmines were to be laid, he had no choice but to think of ways to delay time. Contini racked his brains at the map every day to see if there were any other tricks that could delay the massive French landing. It was said that the Foreign Legion would mobilize 30 battalions to bulldoze Al. Gerald, that is at least more than 20,000 troops, and it is said that the leader is Pétain. This is the hero of Verdun, and Contini will never dare to take it lightly. Although he has a dozen future German marshals who can beat the French to their knees and beg for mercy, this is 1926 after all, not 1940. These marshals are bundled together without Pétain's title and prestige, so he has to be cautious.

After two days of thinking, he came up with a new idea: Morocco!

The Moroccan uprising had just been put down by the Foreign Legion, which is why Briand immediately thought of using the Foreign Legion. They were just in combat mode, and the effect was very good. However, although the majority of the Moroccan uprising has been extinguished, it does not mean that the Moroccan armed forces have stopped resisting. They are still making trouble sporadically. If they are given some support, they are guaranteed to ignite the fire again.

But Morocco and Italy are too far apart, and the ports are all controlled by France and Spain. It is very difficult to transport, but this cannot be troubled by Contini. He has two aces: airborne troops and maritime floating. airport!

He immediately issued an order. On the one hand, he asked Ji'an to send people to infiltrate. On the other hand, he asked the Roma and the carrier-based aviation force to prepare. Now the newly produced T1 torpedo aircraft can even carry torpedoes, carry and airdrop some Briand vests. What's a cocktail like Sickert? Isn’t it something that can be easily grasped? The only requirement is that the pace must be accelerated!

At the end of November, the first batch of foreign legions landed in Algiers. They took control of the situation in less than a week and began to strangle the resistance forces in various places. By this time, the United Group had transported more than 80,000 tons of crude oil from Tripoli through pipelines, but the report The amount given to the French was less than 70,000 tons, and the French were not in a hurry and continued to advance the extermination policy unhurriedly.

On December 4, the mines urgently called from Germany and Italy were transported to the Algerian oil fields. Contini quickly buried them all and urged the next batch of goods to arrive as soon as possible. After these batches of more than 20,000 landmines were planted, he suddenly felt that he had a lot of confidence. Of course, we must buy time. It is not wise to go head-to-head with the French. We must find the opponent's weaknesses and fight an asymmetric war. He is even considering whether to bribe a group of Algerians to go to Paris to play a game of mutual destruction. After thinking about it for a long time, he felt that it was too vicious. Big, give up for now. However, sparing Paris does not mean sparing other places. He set his sights on Syria. There was also a tribal rebellion here two years ago. More than 500 people died in the Foreign Legion. If chaos breaks out again, the French will look good.

Now the British are the big troublemakers, and Contini and United Group are the smaller ones. In order to keep their little oil, the whole world is looking for trouble for France. Only he feels the excitement, and his subordinates are all terrified, but the president No one can stop what needs to be done. Maybe Mussolini’s words are helpful, but how did he know these little tricks?

Five days later, Briand ignored the British hints of using economic means to squeeze out the Italians, determined to use force to suppress the Italians, and must regain the lost face, so he gave Pei a clear order: request to send troops Prepare to go to Algeria's oil fields to clean up "suspicious" militants.

This request was written very vaguely, but Pétain understood the inside story: Paris was dissatisfied with the loss of more than half of the colonial regiment last time, and planned to take action on the little Ciano. As for the oil transported by Tripoli, it was all trivial. When the time comes, you can get your principal back with interest. Being a cautious man, he delayed his departure until December 14th. On the one hand, he used the last few days to rest and recuperate, and on the other hand, he questioned the colonial officers and soldiers who had escaped. He believed that they would not lie.

After hearing the news that the oil guards had tanks and armored vehicles, he also frowned. Judging from this posture, the United Group is really not an ordinary person. However, he was a person who had seen the bloody fighting in Verdun, so he would not be simply intimidated by the tanks, and ordered more artillery. Miss 75 had quite a lot of experience in dealing with the tanks at this time. He did not believe that he could not suppress it, but for the sake of future Just in case, he dispatched 8 battalions in one go, with nearly 5,000 troops coming in force.

He never expected that in just half a month, the United Group was desperately trying to lay landmines and clumsily wrapped the oil field like a hedgehog; what he never expected was that the Roma floating sea airport had already packed more than 1,000 sets of landmines. An vest, more than 2,000 Siguette cocktail bottles and French rifles seized some time ago were given to the Moroccan resistance elements. Morocco, which has just been calmed down, will soon be in trouble again!

The British watched the scene with a spectator mentality. Now Baldwin and Chamberlain want to see the French use the Foreign Legion to beat up little Ciano, and then they can jump out to occupy the moral high ground and accuse the French of abusing force to get the best of both worlds. How could you miss it? And then seek some benefits for yourself in the process.

This was their best plan, but who knew that the mine array in the United Oil Field blocked the way of the Foreign Legion...