Ps: I went to see "Darkest Hour" today, and the other good thing is that Churchill is portrayed as too old, he was only in his 60s in 1940, and the screen clearly shows that he is in his 70s, even older than Chamberlain - the latter is obviously 5 years older than Churchill.

After chatting about submarines, Contini originally wanted to continue to talk to Dönitz about torpedo boats, Italy successfully used MAS torpedo boats in World War I, and at the same time he was also very interested in the S boats used by Germany, and more importantly, Contini clearly knew that compared with the main fleet of the Italian Navy, which had a bleak prospect and almost no major results, the results achieved by small and medium-sized warships and even special weapons were very eye-catching: the Italian submarine force had a good record, and the torpedo boats had sunk capital ships, The man-operated torpedo even attacked Alexandria and directly damaged 2 British battleships (although they were later recovered).

He had repeatedly pondered the question: Aren't the Italians on capital ships the same race as Italians on small warships? Later, after more information, it was convinced that the Italian navy, because of its superior position, was crowded with nobles and bureaucratic disciples on its capital ships, and it is fair to say that, with very few exceptions, most of these officers were inferior to those of civilian origin in terms of fighting spirit and dedication. So Contini made up his mind to reduce the number of aristocratic officers in core positions as much as possible.

Although he himself is a nobleman, he has no compassion for these treatments.

It's not that no one tries to mix seniority under Contini, it's not okay to drive it simply and roughly, Contini usually puts it in the training team, and if he can survive the hard training of the commando team in the morning and evening, such as cross-country and wilderness survival, he will consider taking it in, and many people have retreated in the process, and it would be good if one out of ten can stick to it.

Many people don't understand his approach, and even the old Chiano reluctantly said a few times, don't be too serious, sometimes you can pretend to be confused, but Contini's words are loud: I have the final say in the United Group! If you can't even obey my orders, what is such a person going to do? If you want to mix qualifications, you can arrange to go to the Ministry of Transportation......

Old Chiano didn't say this loudly: he couldn't command this group of uncles when they were all installed in the Ministry of Communications, so he had to stop in the end. So this matter caused a lot of opinions in the aristocratic circle about the Ziano family, but Contini didn't care, Mussolini thought it was right after knowing - he was not an aristocrat, and he was very disgusted that the aristocratic forces were too close to his subordinates, thinking that this was a huge threat to himself, and Contini was so serious that he was very appetizing.

But as soon as the torpedo boat conversation began, Jia An came over anxiously: "President, something happened!" ”

Contini had no choice but to let Dönitz take the submarine officers and technical engineers to study the submarine first, and then listen carefully to the report.

"What's going on?"

"There are two pieces of information, the first is the eyeliner report we planted in Egypt, the Egyptian side has recently carried out a large arms deal with the Libyan tribal forces, the specific details and inside story are not yet known, but it is certain that the British are making trouble behind their backs - whether it is the intention of the British government or the intention of some powerful is unknown; The second is the news I just received...... "Gian's face was nervous," the leader was assassinated on the streets of Rome! ”

"Assassination?" Contini was also anxious, "How about the others?" ”

"The person is fine, the pistol bullet is flying past the nose, as long as it is a little more off, the leader will definitely be shot, and he will still be shot in the head." "The Leader's Guard has caught the Assassin, but it's a problem—the Assassin is a woman, and it's an Englishwoman!" ”

Contini recalled: "You suspect that the two incidents are related. ”

"It's not good, but it's very suspicious."

"Go to the Prime Minister's Office immediately, I want to see the leader!"

Hearing that Mussolini had just been assassinated, Enzo was also anxious, and immediately summoned the guards to escort Contini to the Prime Minister's Office.

The identity of the assassin was quickly identified as the Englishman Violet Gibson, but it was an isolated incident - and if it was really British intelligence, there would not have been such an obvious flaw. But in Contini's eyes, there's a lot to be done.

"Leader, when I heard that you had been murdered, I immediately rushed to ...... non-stop"

Calais...... I'm fine! I'm fine, this trick can't hurt me, I have a destiny to protect me! Mussolini was in a good mood, "Didn't you say you were going to North Africa to inspect?" Why didn't you go? ”

"I was about to leave in a few days, but I didn't expect this to happen." Contini pondered for a moment and said, "My men have received some information that the British have provided weapons to the North African tribal forces!" You may be able to equip 2-3 companies! ”

"Bastard! Bastard! Mussolini scolded angrily at the word "British", "The assassins are also British!" ”

His roaring voice was clearly heard throughout the Venezia Palace, but he quickly calmed down again: "Calais, it may be true that the British are playing tricks on the North African affairs, but the assassination of me should have nothing to do with the British—at least the British are not so stupid at the moment." ”

"So, who do you think it has to do with it?"

Mussolini was about to speak, but suddenly closed his mouth again and took the topic in another direction: "Calais, what do you think of the effectiveness of my governance of the country in the past few years?" ”

"It's great, it's great, it's unique in the world." Contini did not hesitate to send all his compliments to the leader, "In just three and a half years since Fascist came to power, we have achieved outstanding political achievements, achieved rapid economic development, rapidly reduced the unemployment rate, put forward a whole set of statecraft politically, and won a major diplomatic victory...... It's all because of your leadership. ”

"But now there are people in the party who are dissatisfied with me, for example, some of the heads of the local party organizations who do not obey the magistrates, some who still insist on violent measures, and some people who think that we are wrong to compromise with the Pope and deliberately accuse me of inconsistencies with some of my previous statements attacking the Church...... I'm deeply distressed by this. ”

Contini understood that Mussolini was venting his dissatisfaction with Farinaci, the fascist secretary not only declared himself to be the number two person in public, but also insisted that the power of the party was higher than that of the government, and that he should continue to maintain the "revolutionary spirit" - in fact, it was to maintain the violent special forces of the black shirts, which was completely different from Mussolini's attitude of maintaining stability. Mussolini made a political compromise with the traditionalists and aristocracy, and on the other hand, he formed a military understanding with the Wehrmacht officer corps, not wanting them to feel the power of the Blackshirts.

Contini also did not like to be such a secretary, on the one hand, he always put on the face of an old revolutionary to teach himself, and on the other hand, he tried to reach out to the youth alliance on the grounds of grasping the reserve and the organization, which Contini could never tolerate.

"Leader, this matter is actually very easy to handle, as long as you grasp a principle." Contini said slowly, "The important idea of the three flags is the party's program written into the party constitution, one leader is one of the banners, there is only one leader in the whole of Italy and all fascism, there is no second, and at the same time, since the current government and local institutions are the embodiment of the party's philosophy of governance, they should be completely subordinate to management...... Some people are actually tarnishing the party's reputation by flaunting the party's signboard and the signboard of permanent revolution. The Italian Revolution has been victorious, and our Party is not only the ruling party, but also the largest party in the country, and it is very suspicious to propagate the motives of the continuation and permanent revolution. Whose life are you going to kill? Whose rule is it to overthrow? This is not a normal theoretical debate, this is obviously an anti-party ideology! ”

With the complete defeat of the Social Democratic Party and the absorption of the Catholic Party and the Nationalist Party by Fascist, the influence of other political parties in Italy has been greatly reduced, and the Liberal Party was regarded as a force in the past, but now the Liberal Party and the Socialist Party are not as good as the previous Social Democratic Party, even if they add the prestige of the Communist Party, not to mention that there are still very deep-rooted contradictions between the Liberal Party and the Socialist Party.

Five months earlier, in November 1925, the First Council had promulgated and passed the "National Defence Measures" (special law) and the "Law on the Duties and Privileges of Heads of Government and Cabinet Members".

Mussolini knew this, so he was very straightforward in his conclusion that the assassins would not be from the British, but Contini's persuasion just now reminded him of the intra-party struggle, and he showed hesitation.

Soon he jumped and changed the subject: "Calais, you're graduating this year, right?" ”

"I graduated in June this year, and my thesis is almost ready." Contini wondered why he was asking this.

"Ida is also graduating from high school this year, and she told me that she doesn't want to go to senior high school and then university, she doesn't think she is engaged in academics, she wants to go to a secondary college or vocational and technical school, and she will be able to work after graduation." Mussolini said, "You are familiar with the education system, and you know Ida's situation, you give me ideas, what should she read?" ”

Contini groaned, Ida is very self-aware, her grades are indeed not good, just below the middle level, and it is very difficult to go to high school and take the university entrance examination, it is not impossible to be stuffed into the university, with Mussolini's face, no school in Italy dares not to accept it, but this will change the taste, if you can't keep up with the university and lead to failure or dropout, then Ida herself will not be able to stand it.

"How about going to a medical college? You can study nursing ......"

Mussolini's eyes widened, and he complained dissatisfiedly: "You want my daughter to be a nurse in the future to serve those patients?" I can't accept this! ”