"Is the information received by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reliable?"

"The Algerian Governor's Office has sent personnel to confirm this, and has borrowed army aircraft to conduct aerial reconnaissance, and the situation has been found to be correct...... In fact, the drawing is still behind, the pipeline is already laid on the border between Libya and Algeria, and it may be crossed next month, the construction is a joint building, the engineers are German, and the workers are mostly Chinese. ”

"Chinese?" Brian was full of suspicion, "Where did he get so many Chinese workers?" ”

"Some of them are Chinese workers who have left us, and some of them are Chinese workers he has re-recruited from China, and I heard that 30,000 people are now working for him (in fact, there are more than 50,000 people in North Africa, and the number is growing at a rate of more than 3,000 every month)."

"Very good, very good......," Brian said with a tantrum and a sneer, "our intelligence agency is very good, and we don't report such a major situation, and our Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Governor's Mansion are also a group of deaf and blind people...... Everyone is asleep! ”

The people around don't dare to say anything: isn't June and August a day for vacation? Everyone has gone to the seaside for a relaxing vacation, who cares about all the in the Libyan desert? As for May? Sorry, but the workers were still in the Libyan hinterland and the ports at that time, what did this matter to France? It's not too late to react in September!

"He is preparing to smuggle crude oil and steal France's national interests, and he will never allow this to happen, please ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ...... ......" Briand thought for a moment, the United Group is not a government agency after all, and said, "Let the Ministry of Industry and Commerce come forward to condemn him, tell him to stop the construction immediately, and only allow the transportation of crude oil after the negotiations at the port of Algiers are completed!" ”

Three days later, on September 17, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, René, reported the situation to Briand with a wry smile: "I have communicated with the United Group, but the other party flatly denies that there is such a thing. ”

"This is impossible, when I am blind? What are these pipes? ”

"Your Excellency, you are right, the other side has generously admitted that these are oil pipelines, but at the same time reminded us that we can receive ......the goods at the port of Tripoli," René shook his head, "We went to look through the text and found that the contract was signed for the port, but it did not say which port - there were several ports in Algeria at the beginning, and the other party proposed to wait until the oil field was found to consider which port to depart from, and then negotiate the details with us." ”

Briand reacted: this is most likely the sloppy eye laid by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce at the beginning, planning that once the United Group really finds crude oil from Algeria, they will get some benefits on the port issue, so they also agreed to discuss the port issue in a daze.

The two men were silent for a long time, and at the same time thought of the thorny problem: from Algiers, not only is it closer to France, but it can also charge a considerable amount of ports, terminals and even other fees to the United Group, but now, on the other hand, if it goes from Tripoli, France itself will have to pay more for the transportation of the remaining 32% of crude oil, and also pay for the cost of the terminal and the port, which is controlled by the United Group, and it will be a lot worse to come and go. In other words, the 32% has become less in the hands of France.

"Bastard, we were fooled and let the kid take advantage of the loophole!"

"yes, what now?" René sighed, and the situation reported by his subordinates to him was very clear: the other party said that it would be distributed strictly according to the ratio of 68:32, France could send someone to supervise, and the United Group would provide convenience, of course, the accommodation and other expenses would definitely have to be borne by the French.

"No, we have to communicate with him again!" "Tell him that the price will be as they said last time, but it will have to go to Algiers!" ”

"Let's go Algiers? The French have a bad brain, right? I'm about to put the tubing in place now, I'm stupid to lay another tubing to Algiers? Otherwise, let the French do it themselves, and I'll give them 32% of the crude oil. On the day of the report that it was the Ida construction ceremony, Contini told his men, "Be as tactful as possible, but be clear, try to buy as much time as possible for the front, and the pipeline will be laid in October!" ”

"Brother Calais, the ceremony is about to begin, aren't you here yet?"

"I'll come right away, I'll come right away." Contini explained the gesture of counting the banknotes, "Stuff some money if necessary, let them explain it for us, it doesn't cost to go from Tripoli, I won't charge a high price, just charge 20% off the port fee standard of Algiers, I'm sincere enough!" ”

In the shining of the spotlight, in a blessing, the laying ceremony of the Ida special cruise ship was officially launched, according to the construction requirements, within 4 years, that is, by September 1, 1930, all the construction and delivery of sea trials, and then the next month to be verified, Contini considered the National Day in October - the day when Fascist came to power

【Continue to prevent theft......】

At the same time, they were surprised by the construction of the United Buildings and the United Estate, which alone built more than 20 million square meters of houses and other houses, and that in 1925 Italy consumed more cement than France and England combined, and that the United Group accounted for at least half of the cement used in Italy. That's a terrible number.

Therefore, in just four years from 1923 to 1926, Italy's industrial compound growth rate was as high as 11%, which was second to none among all the great powers, greatly surpassing the second-place United States, and far better than Britain and France. And this growth is not the result of waste, Italy's steel, cement, glass, ceramics, machinery, metallurgy have all achieved rapid sales, and the inventory turnover days are only 71 days - an astonishingly fast. This rapid development has also led to a sharp decline in the unemployment rate in Italy, so it is not unreasonable for propaganda agencies to blow up the leader and the president.

It is based on this consideration that Wall Street dares to continue to lend to the United Group with confidence and boldness. The Union Bank, which was sponsored by several investment banks, was also in full swing in the final preparations for the issuance of the New York Stock Exchange in March 1927, and the current share capital of the Union Bank was about $340 million, and the issuers were ready to raise its valuation to 400 million, and then issue 25% more shares in New York, bringing him to a market value of 500 million - they believed that by the end of the year it would exceed at least 600 million, which was quite a heavyweight IPO.

After listening to Chamberlain's explanation, Baldwin was stunned for a moment: he didn't expect the business community to rate Contini so highly. Such a high evaluation means that his original idea of tossing the United Group economically will be changed, because the United Group does not engage in large-scale trade with the United Kingdom, nor does it have too many entanglements with the British financial community, and there is no way to crack down on it. As for spreading rumors in Italy, he didn't even think about it - isn't it boring to play this set in a fascist country? People have already openly shouted that they want to be rich and strong, not freedom, openly deal with public intellectuals, and control more than half of the public opinion media, how can they be afraid of a little rumor?

"What happened to his oil fields in Algeria? Mussolini actually reached out to the Middle East two months ago and dared to sign an agreement with Yemen, and he lived a little impatiently. ”

"The situation is obvious, the Algerian oil fields will be able to produce oil by the end of this year, and since the talks with the French have collapsed, he will not go ...... from the Algiers port" Chamberlain took out a piece of paper from his purse, "This is what our personnel got after mixing in Libya mapping, and the little Ziano is laying the oil pipeline, from Tripoli to the Algerian oil field, the project has been 70% completed, and I expect it to be completed by the end of the year!" ”

Looking at the black line on the map, Baldwin said thoughtfully: "It seems that it is not unreasonable for the business community to tout him, and I can't think of this idea." Walking to the port of Tripoli? Very good idea, no wonder he has been carrying out port dredging works, no wonder he has been indifferent to the failure of the French negotiations, it turns out that he has already thought about the way out, what a smart young man, the more I look at it, the more I like it, how can I highlight his ability without adding a little difficulty to him? Neville, we need to help him and let him continue to show a completely different business flair – not to waste. ”

Chamberlain smiled: "I am going to meet with the French ambassador tomorrow, do you need me to express it?" ”

"No, that's too straightforward, we should choose the right channel, let the French know but not leak the news from us, you know? Brian's cunning guy is like an old fox, and he doesn't simply take the information we put out as a good intention, so we'll have to trouble ourselves to keep him from getting too careful......"