Mediterranean hegemon

Everyone knew what the word "bastard" meant, but the lawyer insisted on interpreting it superficially and proved from a legal perspective that the word insulted the reputation of Mussolini, Ciano Sr. and his family, without even a scratch.

Sergio said calmly: "Considering that this involves a prime minister, a cabinet minister, a noblewoman, and a noble son who also has a wide influence in Italy, I think the amount of compensation the client is asking for is completely reasonable."

The first debate was completely stopped because no matter what Matteotti and the defense lawyer said, the name "bastard" was set in stone and could not be avoided.

"The second charge is now being made. Matteotti said in his article that my client instructed the police system to raid the newspaper printing plants of competitors, abusing public power, seeking personal gain, and colluding with others. This is typical defamation."

Matteotti sneered: "The outside world is not aware of this matter. As a person with related interests in the media industry, am I not aware of it?"

Contini stood up and shrugged: "Words are not enough. Please call a witness."

Both parties agreed to call a witness, so Rome Police Chief Grandini and his beloved son Poti went to court together.

"Mr. Poti, did you ask the police to go with you to raid certain newspaper printing plants..."

"Yes, this happened in November last year." Poti admitted it very readily.

Matteotti's defense lawyer immediately followed up: "Was it instigated by the plaintiff?"

"Plaintiff?" Botti looked blank, then said, "Galai is the chairman of our alliance, and I am his deputy. If he needs me to do official business, he can just give an order directly, without instigation. I can do it if I can, and I will flatly refuse if I can't do it or I think it shouldn't be done. Now you use the word instigation as if you are insulting me for my low IQ and that I can be easily instigated by words."

Listening to Botti's serious nonsense, the audience burst into laughter, and the judge immediately picked up the gavel and knocked: "Silence!"

Matteotti's defense lawyer held back his breath and said, "Please answer the question directly."

"My father ordered me to do the work of confiscating the printing factory."

"Mr. Grandini, is this really your order?"

"Yes." Grandini nodded to acknowledge.

"Why did you issue such an order? Why did you let Mr. Boti, who is not a public official, execute such an order?"

"Two reasons. First, these printing houses often print illegal publications, and they all take action in the late night, which requires the police to suddenly strike hard. Second, because every time I finish a meeting to deploy operations and assign tasks, I always end up with nothing. I think someone among the participants must be leaking secrets and tipping off the outside world, so I chose Boti to directly convey the order to each branch and strike quickly. He is my son and is absolutely loyal to me. At the same time, he is not a public official and has no conflicts of interest. Facts have proved that my method is very effective and the crackdown has been effective..."

Grandini said calmly: "I don't think it is an act of overstepping or violating procedures to let Boti send letters manually instead of calling. They are all executing my instructions. Boti is just a Messenger."

"But the information I got is that you didn't know anything about it. It was your son Botti who did it behind your back..."

"Mr. Matteotti, I know you have prejudices against the Roman police and me, but that's not a reason to distort the facts. According to you, I didn't know anything about it. It's because Botti is my son and all the police stations have carried out his orders. If Botti can command all the police stations in Rome, then I can command everything better. But I know clearly that you criticized me for being powerless and chaotic in the newspaper in November. Which one is your true words? Or are these two sentences your slanderous words?"

Hearing the witness and the defendant quarreling, there was another round of "snickering" laughter in the audience. Botti took the time to wink at Contini: How is it, brother, did you perform well? Contini didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and just pretended not to see it - now Grandini and Botti are still witnesses, what would the judge think if he saw it?

"The third charge is that the defendant slandered the plaintiff for seeking fame and reputation, seeking improper benefits, and suspected of embezzling state property." Pelle, the second lawyer invited by Contini, stood up calmly, "According to the principle of whoever claims must provide evidence, please explain the reasons." "The defendant is now just a sophomore, with no work experience in government departments and no other contributions, but has been given the titles of Assistant Minister of Aviation and Assistant Minister of Transportation. We believe that this is entirely obtained through improper exchange of benefits; in addition, the defendant recently established United Airlines and purchased hundreds of aircraft from the government for only 10 million liras. In addition, he purchased the former military airport in the suburbs of Rome at the ridiculously low price of 1 million liras. According to the evaluation, we believe that this piece of land is worth at least 5 million liras..." "What does the plaintiff have to say about this."

“First of all, the plaintiff does not deny that he holds the title of assistant minister of two departments, but contrary to common understanding, the title of assistant minister is not included in the national civil service establishment, and the plaintiff is entitled to all salaries and benefits, even transportation and business trip subsidies. It was borne by the two ministers themselves. In other words, these two titles were just names. Secondly, the reason why the two ministers hired the plaintiff as an assistant to the minister was because the plaintiff played an important and active role in the work areas of the two departments. "We hired the minister's assistant based on the selection of talents," Pellet said, "We implore the court to invite Mr. Douhet, the Minister of Aviation, and Mr. Ciano, the Minister of Transport, to testify."

Douhet was the first to appear in court. He said that during the inspection in Germany, Contini volunteered to follow him throughout the entire inspection because he did not have an entourage. He also wrote a report on the aviation industry and the independent air force. After reviewing this report, he submitted it as an official report to the Ministry of Aviation. , highly praised by the cabinet and the Prime Minister, he believes that he is worthy of the title of Assistant Minister; secondly, regarding the theory of air control, he is currently undergoing substantial revisions. The motivations and theories of the revisions are all derived from Contini's imagination. Douhet sincerely Said: "In the field of air supremacy theory, rather than saying that I am his teacher, I am more inspired by him. More than half of the manuscripts I am currently revising have been revised and improved based on his theory. I want to As for the first author, this student is actually quite humble, so I am still the first author!”

Many people can understand Douhet's testimony for the students, but when it comes to this, everyone looks at Contini with admiration.

The old Ciano's reasons for testifying in court were even stronger. He asked someone to produce a summary of the public vehicle trade contract between Italy and Germany: "This report was proposed by the plaintiff and signed by the German side, and the specific products and cooperation partners are also He went to Germany for inspection. So far, due to the sharp decline in the mark exchange rate, the Italian Ministry of Transport only needs to pay a quarter of the original contract price to get all the products, virtually earning US$1.5 million for the country. If anyone can earn US$1.5 million for the Ministry of Transportation in one business and provide convenience for public transportation for citizens in Rome, Milan, Florence, etc., I will not only be willing to hire him as an assistant to the minister, I can even nominate him as a candidate for deputy minister. people!"

There were whispers in the auditorium. Unexpectedly, Contini had done so much work. In addition, the two ministerial assistants were honorary and did not receive salary. Even they were fighting for Contini...