After listening to these resounding words, Antonio and Leo were silent, and they now understood Contini's mentality: he would rather spend $100 million on oil guards and support for Algerian tribal forces than willing to bow to the French and cede $50 million. This is not the rational behavior of a truly mature entrepreneur, but the pillar on which a politician stands in the political arena.

You can lose money, you can lose, but you can't lose! Should French politicians risk losing popular support to give it a try?

3.5 billion lira invested and 800 million lira lost as a bet so heavy!

"Okay, I get what you mean." Leo sighed, "If that's the case, then the credit budget can be adjusted - with this 1.1 billion lira as a basis, our loan can be reduced by 10 billion (100 million is the expenses to pay Dante), and then the net assets at the end of the year can be increased by 1.1 billion - so that the total assets are 19 billion, the net assets are 5.1 billion, and the debt ratio is a little more than 73%, although it is also high, but it is basically within the controllable range......"

Leo quickly handed over the adjusted debt and credit structure to Contini: it was estimated that in 1926 the United Group would add 7 billion yuan in loans, of which 2 billion lira would be issued through Wall Street with a five-year corporate bond of 100 million US dollars at an annual interest rate of 5%; Another 3 billion lira is financed through debt financing to the US banking system at an interest rate of 4.8-4.9% per annum with a maturity of three years, and another 2 billion lira is issued in China with corporate bonds on a lira basis with a coupon of 6%.

In this way, in the overall debt structure of the United Group, the credit issued by the Italian banking system is about 5.5 billion lira, the American banking system has issued about 3.4 billion lira, domestic bonds of 3 billion lira, foreign bonds of 2 billion lira, a total of 13.9 billion lira of debt structure, due to the different progress of the investment, the overall debt will show a trend of rising before the low and then high, the only good news is that the high-interest loans of the previous years will be gradually replaced by bonds with relatively low interest - the debt interest of the United Group for one year, The dividend expense of preferred shares is almost 800 million, and every 0.1 percentage point reduction in the comprehensive credit cost can involve tens of millions of lira in expenses.

"Next year, the available funds will be about 10.3 billion, 1.6 billion will be arranged for the military, and the construction project is expected to be 5.6-7 billion - 6.3 billion according to the discount, 800 million interest expenses, and 200 million ...... for the president's mobile expenses."

Contini waved his hand: "The project expenditure is calculated according to the maximum, maybe it will be added, and the military will have to set aside a flexible budget of 200 million lira separately, and don't use the president's mobility fee." ”

"In this way, 9.8 billion will be used up, and there is still room for 500 million...... There's little room for manoeuvre. Leo sighed, "Unless we find a new source of funding or save money, even if we can survive next year, we will inevitably face a contraction the year after." ”

"You don't have to be so pessimistic and disappointed about next year." Contini turned his head and said, "Uncle Antonio, after the British (Iranian) company became a shareholder, are the negotiations on the Shell side still continuing?" ”

"It's going on, but Shell seems to be waiting for a wrestle between us and the French government, and they want to buy it at a low price, and I offered $55 million for 10 pips of shares, and they were only willing to pay 45 million."

"Since there is a lack of sincerity, then suspend the negotiations, and wait until I announce the oil pipeline plan to tell them, the price is 65 million, and I can't get in!" Contini smiled, "You are still a little more conservative, next year the credit will increase by another 2 billion lira, but don't raise money domestically, go to the United States to issue bonds, and expand 100 million dollars to 200 million!" ”

"This ...... I'm afraid the collateral is not enough. ”

"How is it not enough, you forgot two things when you were making budget plate estimates, one is the rise of my stock in the stock market, and the other is the Libyan oil fields."

"Libyan oil fields?" Leo was stunned, "You mean?" ”

"Do you really believe that Libya only has such a little oil? If yes, you're fooled there. Contini laughed, "I can tell you that there will be more reserves buried in the Libyan oil fields than in Algeria!" The reason why I chose to underreport in the first place was because I was worried that too many reserves would cause the British to covet them, and now that the two divisions of the army are in place, and the oil guards will be put into the spring after the beginning of the year, I can raise it up, for example, doubling the recoverable reserves from 500 million barrels to 1 billion barrels, so that the issuance of bonds is logical. ”

"But this will create an oversupply in the market, which in turn will weigh on the valuation of Algerian oil."

"Then we need to do something else." Contini thought for a moment, "Part of the additional 2 billion lira will be allocated to build oil reserve bases: Genoa, Venice, Milan, Parma, Bologna, Naples, Livorna and other seven regions will build new underground reserve bases, each of which requires no less than 10 million barrels of reserves; If possible, go to Austria and Germany to acquire part of the land to build a new storage base, and also strive to build 7-8 warehouses. ”

"What is Germany doing with the library?"

Contini, of course, will not give out the real purpose, and excuses himself: "The German warehouse allows German refineries to refine and sell back to China nearby - I found that many times the price of land, transportation and even labor in Germany is lower than ours, and it should be profitable." It's a big gimmick about oil reserves, let's just say that we plan to store 90 days of oil for Italian industrial consumption in the first phase, 180 days for the second phase, 1 year for the third phase, and 2 years for the fourth phase - after the overall completion, Italy can be supported by 2 years of oil cut-off, and Germany's consumption is higher than ours, so we will only prepare for 1 year, and the construction period will be put into the fourth phase, that is, after 1933. ”

If there is a crosser, it can be seen at a glance that this is clearly a posture of preparing for war - how can any country be ready to store oil for 2 years? Burning a lot of money? In addition, the German storage base will start construction after 1933, which is intended to give the Führer a political achievement, and the employment of the new facilities can pull tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands! It's definitely a big deal!

"The second supporting measure, consider the establishment of an oil equalization fund, by the United Group, take the lead in organizing a syndicate of domestic and American syndicates to coordinate, based on the CIF price of Genoa, we will buy when the oil price is lower than $1, and sell when it is higher than $1.25 to prevent oil prices from fluctuating...... "By the way, you can also go to the spot market to harvest a wave, and the discovery of Libyan oil fields will definitely suppress prices, and then we can establish long orders, build up positions, and then release good news!" - This time we do the other way around, go long! At least make a profit for the price of Dante! ”

Leo smiled bitterly and shook his head: "You are now very skilled in using the capital market for speculation...... Exactly, you have already started to manipulate the price formation. ”

"Experiment, experiment, anyway, no matter how much you toss, you won't lose much money......," Contini said to himself: I'm just experimenting with speculation in the future.

After working for most of the day, the budget table was finally adjusted to total assets of 21 billion lira, net assets of 5.9 billion lira, debt ratio remained at 70-72%, annual expenses climbed to 10.7 billion, and mobile funds remained 1.6 billion, which was relatively generous.

After the financial accounts are balanced, the economic work conference will be opened.

On the first day of the working meeting on January 29, His Excellency the President made an enthusiastic report and expressed extreme optimism: "...... We lost 1.24 billion lira this year, which is a big number, I don't deny it, but I would like to mention the achievement:

With the loss of 1.24 billion, we have completed three urban special lines in Genoa, Milan and Rome, and are currently building an extension line from Milan to Genoa;

We have launched the rapid rail line in the main industrial belt of northern Italy, the road and railway construction line in North Africa, and the dredging and expansion of the ports in Tripoli and Benghazi.

We have completed the infrastructure of United Iron and Steel and United Chemical, and will start to complete the trial operation in October next year according to the equipment;

The joint construction has realized the construction of 17 major cities across the country, including two overseas sea and air bases in Tripoli and Benghazi, opened up 7 civil aviation routes and achieved the safe transportation of 200 people;

United Real Estate has built more than 3.8 million square meters of residential and commercial buildings, including 40,000 housing units and 3 commercial complexes;

We have basically completed the first phase of the construction of the workers' new villages in Milan and Rome, where more than 15,000 employees of the United Group live happily, enjoying modern facilities and services such as running water, piped gas, electricity, telephone, etc., and the community has commercial, entertainment, cultural and educational facilities, and careful security forces.

We have completed the reorganization of the small and medium-sized financial sector in the country, and Union Bank has become the third largest bank in Italy;

We discovered the Libyan oil fields, we discovered the Algerian oil fields, and Italy suddenly jumped from an oil-poor country that everyone laughed at to a serious competitor in the European oil market.

We have completed the combing of the national defense system, and United Defense has become the third largest defense supplier in the country;

We helped the government solve its armament baggage and played a significant role in the Corfu incident.

We have also made remarkable achievements in other fields such as culture, education, scientific research, and service......

These investments and losses, looking at the numbers alone, are shocking, and if you look at the actual results, it is doubly encouraging. In my eyes, what is there to lose? It is clearly a portrayal of the rising strength of the United Group and the overall improvement of Italy's national strength! All are quality assets! All projects for the benefit of the people! All are the key foundation for future development! ”

Applause! Applause!

Contini paused and continued: "All these achievements are the result of the conscientious work of the company's management, the result of the joint efforts of 300,000 employees of the United Group, and the vivid portrayal and annotation of the speed of the United Group!" It fully shows that under the leadership of a wise leader, the group is guided by the three flags and the fascist strategic thought, sincerely united, forge ahead, and tenaciously struggled, and has written a strong stroke on the road to the full realization of the great rejuvenation of the Roman Empire. I believe that history will remember our contributions, and future generations will be proud of our efforts today!

In the face of 1926, the core management has decided to increase the investment by 40% on the basis of this year! I only have one sentence to tell you: don't be afraid, keep going, and the dream of chasing victory will never end! ”

Everyone stood up, raised their right hands and saluted: "Long live victory!" ”