The essence of the Ida, Contini made it clear to Mussolini after the keel was officially laid, not that he was worried that the cruise ship would not build an aircraft carrier that would make Mussolini, the future father-in-law, unhappy, but that the aircraft carrier is military equipment after all, and it is extra-large equipment, and if this point is not made clear to Mussolini, it will cause unnecessary political trouble. Mussolini was stunned at first, but was later persuaded by Contini.

Contini's reasons for persuading him are interesting: "Leader, among all the services, the air force was cultivated by the fascists, and its loyalty to the party is unassailable; The Army is basically not the focus of Italy, and we also have the Blackshirts as a counterbalance, so don't worry too much; The navy alone is not only a place where all kinds of nobles and other celebrities gather, but also has a very prominent position, and it has not yet reached the point of complete obedience to the party and its leaders, and in addition, the party has too few cadres in the navy, so I think it is necessary to strengthen control, it is useless to control everything else, and it is most effective to control new warships and military spending! ”

Mussolini nodded in agreement.

"Therefore, I plan to build aircraft carriers, first, because the country has aircraft carrier tonnage to spare, and second, the combat capability of aircraft carriers mainly depends on aircraft, and the pilots are all reliable members of the fascist and youth alliances, so that the image of the party and the will of the leaders can naturally be carried out, which will be very helpful for us to master the navy in the future."

Of course, Mussolini understood that this would also carry out Contini's will, but now that Contini is his right-hand man or the heir to the political cause, he is on his side, so this should not only not be opposed but also encouraged and applauded, so he immediately agreed, and grasped it in his own hands as a little favor to the navy, Contini doesn't care about this - he just wants the aircraft carrier, and he can also pay for it, as for whether it is his own will or Mussolini's will, what does it matter? It's all your own to work well in the future.

Leifell was also stunned: "30,000 tons? It's over the limit...... The Washington Treaty stipulates that only 70,000 tons. ”

Contini waved his hand nonchalantly: "It's not exceeded, there are still 3,000 tons for the purpose of strengthening the defense structure, besides, in the future, it will be hung under the joint group, not counting the navy, and the countries will not be able to say anything." ”

"This ......" Leffel smiled, he didn't know how to take the next half of the sentence, if the navy didn't want to, not moved, it must be fake, but if he took it so hard, he was embarrassed to say it, so he only smiled and didn't speak.

"Of course, most of the personnel must use the navy, and the experts, designers, and officers of the navy can study, study, master, and improve to their heart's content, and lay the foundation for building better warships next time, after all, they are not familiar with building a better warship for the first time......" Contini seemed to see through his thoughts, "Do you think there is a significant difference in the hands of the United Group's strong support and comprehensive cooperation with the Navy?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes, no difference, no difference......"

Once this is explained, the strategy is decided:

First, another Leonardo da Vinci was decommissioned, which was purchased by the United Group for 90 million lire;

second, to request that the third Caracciolo class be updated in 1929, in exchange for agreeing that France would also update its counterparts in advance;

thirdly, after the League of Nations withdrew its complaint against France, the United Group gave some compensation to the French;

Fourth, the United Group will lend to the British, and the interest rate will be high, which can be regarded as compensation for the British.

This attitude was very friendly, and he also seriously considered it when it was reported to Briand, first of all, it was good for the Italians to agree to decommission one more warship, so that the Italian Navy would only have 4 battleships available in the short term, which meant that the pressure on France in the Mediterranean direction would be further reduced; Secondly, France also reaps the benefits of updating a warship in advance; In the end, the coalition said it would concede a two-point oil distribution in exchange for France agreeing to the pipeline from Tripoli.

For the last one, Briand felt that he was still unsatisfied, but the difference between 2% and 3% was not too big, and he could only watch the steady flow of oil to Italy, so he agreed to this request—after all, he still remembered that the British would use economic means to squeeze the United Group out.

On January 9, 1927, the Franco-Italian relations, which had been tense at all, suddenly shook hands and made peace, both sides expressed their attitude of settling economic and political disputes by peaceful means, and the Italian Foreign Ministry also unexpectedly commented that the "non-war pact" proposed by Briand was a good model of peace, Italy expressed its full support, and the coalition agreed to compensate 2% again, which made Briand gain face in French public opinion, and he confidently said that he would restore calm order in Algeria and Morocco as soon as possible.

Although the UK did not reap the benefits on the surface, it reaped the economic value, because the United Petroleum announced that the oil output had increased to 5,000 tons per day, which was equivalent to making money on the newly bought shares, and at the same time, the United Group also borrowed 50 million pounds from a consortium of three British banks, with an interest rate of up to 5%, and the term was as long as 9 years, which made the British side very happy. Because apart from lending to China in the Far East, which can yield such a high and long-term loan, it is rare to find such a high-quality lender who is willing to pay a higher interest rate on such a large loan.

So the three countries quickly mixed up again, the Italian Navy's application for scrapping and France's application for early renewal were approved, and finally agreed that France and Italy could start the construction of a new warship in 1929, France had been considering the design of a fast battle cruiser program since the beginning of the year, and now the time was advanced to 1929, the need was even more urgent (later became the Dunkirk-class battle cruiser), and it was intended to abolish one of the Guba-class ships at the appropriate time, so that there would be more room for maneuver.

In fact, neither the navies of Italy nor France pose a threat to the United States and Japan, the only thing to be concerned about is the attitude of Britain, Britain is not willing to have two opponents in the Mediterranean direction who change warships at the same time, but now France and Italy have reached an agreement, if they insist on obstruction, it is to make do with France and Italy, so Baldwin can only endure it. He now regrets why he did not take Italy's complaint in the first place, and first make a mess of the French in the League of Nations, so that it will be difficult for France and Italy to end up, instead of the two of them shaking hands and making peace as they are now, while Britain is still acting as a villain, which is of course unacceptable. Besides, the United Group has also been loaned, and the oil shares have also been sold, and a lot of money has been made, so it seems that there is no need to insist on it.

So Baldwin complained a little about Chamberlain: Didn't you say that the United Group would not budge?

Chamberlain also shrugged helplessly, who knew that Contini would give in so quickly? This is not the usual style of a domineering president.

But did Contini really give in? On the surface, it seems that an extra 2% of crude oil has been taken out, which is a lot of money, but in fact the United Group has received many benefits, on the one hand, it has forced the French government to acquiesce in the existence and force of the oil guards, and has also successfully deployed minefields - now the minefields seem to be only protected against tribal forces, and in the future everyone will understand who this territory can defend; On the other hand, the French agreed to the oil pipeline to Tripoli, and if Italy and France split up in the future, the French would not be able to get oil out of the oil fields for a short time.

What's more, even if the French get 2% more, they won't necessarily be able to increase production. The president has made a plan to raise the port charges in the future, and then use his own fleet to transport oil, and the capacity from transportation to storage is falsely reported, such a small action as a 95% discount can not be seen at all, and the French will send people to be stationed in the port in the future, how can there be a reason not to get their shoes wet when they often stand by the river? The Italians are better at this than the French!

As the dust settles here, Contini can free up his hand to talk to Whampoa Chang about the price of the Da Vinci, in fact, he also approached Zhang Dashuai, but unfortunately Zhang Dashuai is a conservative prisoner from a bandit, thinking that he already has an ironclad ship on hand, after all, it is too expensive, and one more has the same effect, and it is better to buy more army scrap steel with this money - this thing is in short supply now.

He didn't understand it at all, he didn't want it, the Italians could sell it, and he could sell it......

ps: Originally, there was a better one more, but it turned out that my head hurt so much, so I rested first, and I'll talk about it next time......