My Italy

The news of Fiat's Model A sales was not only shocking to other car manufacturers, but also gratifying to Carlo. Agnelli is indeed the entrepreneur in Europe who pays most attention to civilian cars. Of course, he cannot do it alone and needs a little push. Carlo came up with the assembly line concept and promoted the low-price automobile strategy, which finally launched the Italian automobile industry.

What else could Carlo be dissatisfied with? While other countries were still building cars by hand in workshops, Italy had already begun to industrialize and build standardized cars. This is the advantage of crushing.

With this first-mover advantage, Italy's leading position in the automobile manufacturing industry can be guaranteed for at least ten years. Even if other countries follow suit, the first-mover advantage is not easy to eliminate.

Once the automobile industry is on the right track, Carlo will no longer care about it. After all, he has found the best leader for it. As long as there are no serious mistakes, let it develop on its own. If it was because of too much control, Giovanni Agnelli might have left in a rage, which was not worth the loss, but he had neither the confidence nor the time to pay attention.

For example, right now, he is exchanging views on Italy's foreign policy in the Far East with the Foreign Minister.

"Your Majesty, the current negotiations between our country and other countries and the Empress Dowager do not seem to be going well. Although she said verbally that there is absolutely no such thing, according to the observations of the ambassadors of various countries, her idea of ​​replacing the emperor has not changed. And the replacement of the emperor will bring The coming turmoil will seriously affect our country's interests in the Far East. For this reason, I would like to send a fleet to visit the Far East to give the necessary warning?"

Ambassador Bacona's words represent the diplomatic department's pessimistic attitude towards Far Eastern affairs. That's right, Italy is no longer that country that doesn't care about the politics of the Far East. The reason is that Italy has too many interests in the Far East, and a non-questioning attitude is not conducive to ensuring Italy's interests. However, the effect of trying to intervene was too poor, and there was a feeling that not doing it would be worse than doing it, which made the diplomats feel a little discouraged.

"What do other countries think of Russia's practice of leasing ports in the Far East?"

Facing Bacona's topic of the Far East, Carlo did not give a direct answer, but asked about Russia's occupation of the Far East ports.

Although Bakona was a little confused as to why the king suddenly asked about Russia's affairs in the Far East, he still answered truthfully. "The Russians' actions have currently aroused dissatisfaction from various countries. In response, the United Kingdom directly leased Weihaiwei across the sea. Japan, which is adjacent to it, reacted even more violently. I heard that they plan to continue to expand their navy and army. as a response.”

Since the Far East is still familiar to him, it is best not to move at this time, Carlo thought for a while. "I don't agree with the practice of sending a fleet unless all countries send it together. Moreover, our foreign policy in the Far East is consistent with that of other countries. We must not let us take the lead and do everything together with other countries."

That's right, Carlo doesn't plan to spend too much energy on Far East affairs. Although the Far East is Italy's largest overseas market, he knows that Europe will be the focus next. Focusing too much energy on the Far East is not conducive to Italy's future interests.

Besides, the Italian Navy currently lacks main warships. Wouldn't it weaken its influence by sending some small boats there?

Bacona, who didn't get the results he wanted in Carlo, left, while Carlo continued to work hard.

After a while he stopped with a report. This is a report from the Ministry of Industry preparing to build a refinery for Libyan oil. There are several refinery sites in the report, such as Genoa and Venice in the north, Palermo, Naples in the south, and even the name of Rome. Obviously it is hoped that Carlo will choose.

"Then choose Naples."

Carlo wrote Napoli's name directly on the report.

There is one reason why Carlo directly chose Naples, because the south needs to solve the population and employment problem and reconcile the industrial gap between the north and the south, which is what the Italian government must do.

While Carlo was working hard, there was a knock on the door, and the voice of the attendant came from outside.

"Your Majesty, Admiral Agil is here."

Upon hearing that the Minister of the Navy had arrived, Carlo put down his work and responded. "Please come in, Admiral."

"Your Majesty, do you have anything to do with me?"

Admiral Agil walked in at a fast pace and asked.

"Admiral, I do have something I want to ask your Excellency about."

Carlo didn't hide it, and directly expressed his intention to invite him.

"Admiral, what do you think of oil-fired boilers?"

"Oil-fired boiler?"

"Yes."

For Admiral Yagir, he certainly knows about these oil-fired boilers. Currently, the Navy has modified two boilers that use oil-injected coal-fired boilers, and the results are pretty good. As for the boiler that only burns oil, I really haven't paid attention to it. Mainly, traditional thinking is at play.

Countries have always used coal as fuel for warships, but coal has many shortcomings. The first is the inconvenience of transportation. Due to the large volume of coal, special coal ships or docks are needed to replenish coal for warships.

The second is that the coaling operation is complicated. It takes a lot of time, manpower and material resources to transport coal into the coal bunker on the warship. The third is that a large number of manpower is required. Large warships require more than ten or twenty boilers. The stoker needs to continuously add coal to the boiler and ensure that the coal can be evenly distributed in the furnace. This requires a large number of experienced stokers to complete. Finally, maintenance is cumbersome. Since coal combustion will produce a large amount of ash, when the boiler stalls, the stoves have to spend a lot of time and energy to remove the ash.

Although coal-fired boilers have so many shortcomings, as the only power source for warships, navies of various countries have no choice.

But now, oil has begun to enter the fuel field, and countries have discovered that spreading heavy oil on coal can improve the efficiency of combustion. The Italian Navy also does this, but I haven't thought about the oil-fired boilers the king mentioned.

"Purely oil-fired boilers are a new idea for fuel supply."

This was not what Admiral Yagir said to deal with Carlo. After the king mentioned it, he really wanted to try the efficiency of a pure oil-fired boiler.

Firstly, it is efficiency. Anyone who knows about coal and fuel will know which one is more efficient. Secondly, there is no comparison with the labor problem. More importantly, the smoke problem of both. Except for a few high-quality coals, coal burning produces thick smoke, which makes the smoke column above the battleship very conspicuous and easy to be discovered.

Fuel does not have this problem. It burns more fully and has lighter smoke, making it less likely to be discovered on the battlefield.

These advantages made Admiral Yagir feel that oil-fired boilers were very feasible, so he planned to ask the Power Research Institute to come up with a plan immediately after returning. He planned to see the effect of oil-fired boilers.

But Carlo's words immediately made him feel a chill.

"By the way, Admiral Yagir, how is your steam turbine development going?"

"Your Majesty, our Naval Power Research Institute is already speeding up the development, and we expect to see the finished product this year."

Carlo was very happy to hear that the steam turbine he had longed for had come to fruition.

"Then after you take out the finished product, I'll go take a look."

"Okay, Your Majesty, Your Majesty will be informed by then."

Embarrassing, this is chapter 431