Mediterranean hegemon

Contini knew very well that the Soviet Union had successfully copied the bottom of the Great Depression in the United States in history. It not only bought a large number of equipment and patented technologies, but also introduced nearly 200,000 American skilled workers and engineers and other professionals. Relying on this batch of equipment, technology and talents, the Soviet Union became the first industrial power in Europe (not horizontal in scale) after two five-year plans. This industrial foundation created the steel torrent of the Red Army. If it was still the industrial foundation of the Tsarist Russia in World War I, it would be easy for Germany to flatten the Soviet Union in World War II.

Considering the future, he must weaken Stalin's power as much as possible. It is easy to assassinate Roosevelt and Churchill, who are not important at present, but he has never thought of assassinating Stalin - this is simply impossible under heavy guards, and Stalin cannot be killed. Who will carry out the Great Purge after killing him? To limit the power of the Soviet Union and the determination of Comrade Steel, he can only start from restricting the industrialization of opponents. He cannot stop the industrialization of the Soviet Union, but he can make things difficult for Comrade Stalin.

The first trick of making things difficult has been issued: the primary products sold by the Soviet Union through the United Group will be subject to a 20% channel tax. The reason is reasonable - the market is not good now, and the United Group may not be able to sell it after acquisition, so it has to make more provisions for losses. The Soviet Union certainly understands and has seen the changes in the international market, and is still hesitating. But this first move actually implies a hidden trick: since the pricing basis is 20% off the international market price, it means that it can be manipulated. Given the current generally pessimistic market, Contini has plenty of ways to continue to bring down the market! If this is brought down and another 20% discount is given there, it will greatly limit the Soviet Union's ability to earn foreign exchange through exports. If Father Stalin wants the same amount of money as before, he will have to spend at least double or even triple the resources.

This is working hard from the source.

The second trick is currently being implemented: before the Soviet Union, the United Group is buying up heavy industrial equipment on a large scale, because the Soviet Union does not have extra foreign exchange on hand, and to apply for foreign exchange, it must go through the United Group or find other financial systems, which is far slower than Contini's direct acquisition in the United States. Moreover, the Soviet Union needed to report, discuss, and make decisions on what to buy. It would take at least three weeks to make a decision. Contini himself was in the United States, and it only took three hours to make a decision. For the bankrupt banks and enterprises that were desperate, one minute earlier was better, which was a big lead. As for those light industrial equipment, if the Soviet Union wanted it, it would be fine to give it to them. Contini was open to this - it was impossible to let the steel comrades buy nothing, right?

Historically, the Soviet Union was able to buy at a leisurely pace because no one competed with it. Now it is different. A joint group has emerged. Whether it is buying assets or immigrating to work abroad, everyone will definitely choose Italy, which is more familiar, more friendly, and closer to the United States, rather than going to the Soviet Union, which is completely confusing. If you are still willing to go to the Soviet Union, you must be an out-and-out red element - Contini does not welcome it.

When Contini first grabbed the cheapest old equipment, if the Soviet Union wanted to buy more, it had to buy old equipment or new equipment that was not very cheap. The effect of the same $1 was completely different, but it seemed to be no problem on the surface, and it was even for the sake of Soviet comrades. After all, no one in this world is stupid. Take tanks as an example. If you put out obviously garbage, people will not pay attention to it. But if you show the new tank prototype with multiple lever suspension and staggered overlapping road wheels according to Contini's idea to Soviet comrades, they will be unable to walk - it's easy to use! Strong load-bearing, stable driving, low center of gravity, good concealment, isn't it a good design?

But the question is, is this design really suitable for the Soviets? During the large-scale war, the Soviet Union needed the simple, durable, easy to produce and easy to maintain T-34 the most. What do you mean by stuffing a Tiger here? Of course it's good, but after a batch of personnel are used up, where can you find qualified repairmen and tank soldiers? Where can you expand production conveniently and quickly? The production quantity is probably not 20,000, at most 2,000 a year. Is it more terrible for Ivan and others to be equipped with 20,000 T-34s or 2,000 KVs (assuming they have the performance of Tigers)? Contini has his own understanding - definitely the former!

So if Father Stalin wanted to buy the new equipment ordered by the United Group, he would definitely not mind - this would quickly drain the Bolsheviks' cash flow!

The third trick to add trouble was to intercept personnel. It was not enough to have equipment alone, there must be personnel who understood the equipment, especially the old equipment needed the original personnel who mastered and used these equipment. Contini recruited in the name of the United Group and brought the best engineers, technicians and skilled workers to Italy. Due to the president's reputation and the United Group's statement that it would not lay off employees during the crisis, the American working class now admired Italy very much. They were very happy to hear that they could work in Italy. People who could go to Italy would never go to the Soviet Union. Of course, Contini could not take all Americans away. He only wanted the best batch, which invisibly weakened the Soviet Union's ability to acquire talents.

At the same time, the Soviet Union's acquisition of technical personnel is also an important way to spread communism. Why did the United States later have so many Bolshevik spies and sympathizers? To a large extent, they were brainwashed at this time, and even a lot of spies were secretly developed. Now there are certain obstacles to spreading it - because the three flags are now louder than the Bolsheviks. For the American elite, although both fascists and Bolsheviks are heretics who should be eliminated, fascists are slightly better in comparison. At least the latter do not oppose private ownership, and have no desire to expand or export revolution - relatively safe.

As for the Soviet Union's direct export to the United States in exchange for equipment, industrial capitalists may be willing, but agricultural capitalists are guaranteed to be in a state of panic. Contini is now negotiating with farmers to purchase agricultural products - this side is exporting domestic agricultural products at a low price, and the other side is further importing Soviet agricultural products. Southern farmers must burn down the White House, and Hoover certainly does not agree with this.

And American banks were also scared by the Soviet Union's history of defaulting on debts in the past when they issued loans to the Soviet Union. Besides, now that the stock market has plummeted and banks are corrupt, who has money to issue loans? If they really want to issue loans, why not issue them to the United Group? Because the United Group has announced that it will continue to issue long-term bonds with an annual interest rate of 5%, and because the status and reputation of the United Bank have withstood the test of the stock market crash, those frightened investors are now ready to buy.

These three measures, especially the funding bottleneck, have limited the Soviet Union's purchasing power - not an absolute limit, but a relative limit.

In fact, although Russia was weak before, it was actually quite rich. During World War I, more than 1,000 tons of gold were transported to Kazan, but unfortunately their whereabouts were unknown. If these more than 1,000 tons of gold could be released for large-scale purchases, the purchasing power would be great - but unfortunately, Comrade Stalin could only use agricultural products, caviar and raw materials to exchange foreign exchange, and occasionally secretly dumped some scrap steel to Marshal Zhang in the Northeast. Unfortunately, Marshal Zhang now has a higher vision and does not look down on Soviet scrap steel. He only wants Italian tractors and airplanes.

Originally, the Soviet Union's scrap steel could be sold to Marshal Chang of Huangpu, but at the turn of May and June this year, Marshal Chang launched a coup in Guangzhou and armed the Communists. This made the Soviet Union suddenly change its attitude and oppose Marshal Chang's rule, but the Soviet Union's scrap steel could no longer be sold.