"What do these wooden signs say? I don't understand."

"Sir, there are mines ahead, dangerous ......"

"Hmph, let's keep going." With a sneer from the officer, the entire force moved on.

But the "boom" sound soon sounded, and three people were blown away in one breath, and everyone gasped, stopped and did not dare to move again, circled from the outside, and used a horse to make a second test, but the result was still reimbursed by the mine.

The minefield of the United Group had already taken shape, and looking at the oil fields in the distance, the officers were furious but had no choice but to report the news to Pétain, who was sitting in Algiers.

Petain also scratched his head and was speechless, he was a veteran of the last war, and he knew how difficult it was to clear mines, not to mention the terrain was similar, and from time to time there was sand rolling around to bury traces in the desert area, which was almost incomprehensible. He had to find a way to send a telegram back to China first, and then let the country contact the Italian side, and then Italy contact the United Group, and this big circle came down, and another four days passed.

While instructing the workers to continue the planting, Contini engaged in a verbal war with the French: according to the contract, he insisted on the clause that "the United oil field may take necessary measures, including but not limited to employing armed security guards to guard the oil field", and believed that mines were defensive weapons, and as long as they did not offend the oil fields, they would not cause harm at all, let alone violate the contract.

As for the demands of the French to purge the oil fields of suspicious militants, thank you, we will purge ourselves.

What the? You have to see for yourself, you can! Put down your arms and come in, I'm afraid you're pretending!

These replies made René and others anxious, but there was really no way, Briand couldn't figure out what to do, he consulted the military, and insisted on breaking through the mine array, then he could only use artillery to shock and fill with human lives, but his purpose was not to destroy the oil fields, he just wanted to teach the Italians a lesson, he couldn't afford to spend so much effort, as for attacking with the army, it was really going to cause an uproar, the last time the Italians made a movie, it was enough to make people embarrassed, that time it was still bayonets, what to do this time?

What's more, the military also said very clearly that there are mines, and I'm afraid that the guards of the United Group really have tanks - anyway, they have inquired about it, and the United Defense produces tanks!

In these days of the war of words, both sides were not idle, Petain sent planes to investigate, Continy kept letting people plant mines, and at the same time oil tankers kept taking crude oil from Tripoli, and now the oil volume has stabilized at 5,000 tons a day, but Contini is still more than 3,000 tons a day on the accounts registered with the French, anyway, you French don't come, naturally I say how much is much.

"Do you see clearly, the Italians are laying mines in large numbers?"

"Yes, sir......" the pilot swallowed and reported to Pétain, "I have found that at least 2,000 people are laying mines, and the minefields cover a very large area, blocking almost all the passages. ”

"And how do they get in and out of it themselves?"

"There are no mines on this side of the demarcation line facing Libya."

Petain shook his head with a wry smile, there were no mines on the Libyan side, but he couldn't let his troops get around Libya - that would be if he crossed the line, and in case the other side used an army ambush, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.

"And ......," said the pilot cautiously, "the Italians have many more planes than we have, and when I reconnoitre, three fighters followed me inseparably and made maneuvers against me with malicious intent, but did not fire." ”

"Fighters?" Petain was furious, "The fighters of the Italian Air Force actually violated the airspace? ”

"It's not the Italian Air Force, it's the United Aviation under the United Group." Someone explained, "United Aviation was single-handedly pulled up by little Ziano, and the so-called Second Air Force, which has a full set of militarized equipment, is all civilian personnel and company establishments, but the equipment is all first-line military equipment - the United Group has its own aircraft factory, and the scale is still very large; By the way, they have the United Rifle Company, they have the Bereda military-industrial complex...... The last time I saw a report that the United Group is the fifth largest armed group in the Mediterranean, it seems to me that according to the current ranking, Greece can be squeezed out of fourth place. ”

Needless to say, the first three were the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Colonial Forces, the Italian Fleet and the Army, and the French Mediterranean Fleet and the Army, and the problem was that Petain now had only 30 battalions of the Foreign Legion, which not only did not have many tanks and aircraft, but also did not have enough machine guns and artillery.

"That can't violate the airspace either!"

"The other side explained that this part of the force was under oil guards, and they only flew in the oil field area to expel and warn the militants with bad intentions."

Petain was furious, clearly treating the Foreign Legion as a militant with bad intentions

It became clearer to him that Ziano the Younger could use these forces directly, because he did not need the authorization and funds to be given to him in Italy, but he could not do it, and he had to have clear orders. But did Brian dare to give such an order?

In the back and forth, the situation in Morocco, which had just been suppressed, broke out violently again, this time in a completely different style from the last time, and changed to the same routine as Algiers, waistcoat suicide bombings, Sickert cocktail bottles, and only to tell the French that I was the-stirring stick.

Is there any evidence?

Of course not!

The Roma floating airfield has slipped away a long time since it was delivered, and now it has returned to the Italian port, where can I find someone to settle accounts?

was so angry that Briand cursed in the prime minister's office every day to break Contini's body into pieces, but even if he cursed a hundred times, he couldn't hurt a single hair of the other party, and the information from Petain made him more and more shocking the more he looked at it:

…… According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 5,000 oil guards active in the oil field area, with 40 tanks, more than 70 armored vehicles, with motorcycles, trucks as the core of the fast marching column, the number of artillery is unknown, but it has a large number of heavy machine guns and other army equipment, as well as more than 200 first-class fighters and bombers, and the strength of the foreign legion forms an overwhelming advantage. Add to that the mines and defensive fortifications, and winning the battle requires a significant cost and the deployment of superior forces.

At least 30-40 battalions of troops will need to be added to the existing base, including 50 tanks and 50 armored vehicles, and more than 150 aircraft......

At the end, Pétain almost told Briand that the other side had more people than us, better equipment, and a defensive posture, and I couldn't beat it, and even if we didn't consider the political risks, the casualties would be very large.

What's even more of a headache for Briand is that now Morocco is in chaos like this again, how can he let Morocco worry about the oil fields? Little Ziano is just to protect his own economic interests, even if he has a strong army, he will not come to overthrow the Algerian regime, but Morocco's affairs are life-threatening.

But he can't swallow the breath of the United Oilfield, as the leader of a big country, he can't even restrain a small consortium, how can he be willing?

At this time, it was suddenly reported that Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands had sent an emissary, the main focus of concern was the problem of the joint oil fields. Now that Algeria's oil fields have become the focus of attention of European business people, although they do not recognize Contini's unscrupulous actions, this does not mean that they can accept that the French want to unilaterally tear up a contract with a conglomerate by force - everyone has a contract, and if the French can tear up the contract with the conglomerate at will, does it mean that they can also tear up the contract with other companies in the future? This head can't be opened, at least not yet.

Contini was hard top in front, Antonio was trying his best to mediate in the rear, and one of the things he insisted on was that the contract must be fulfilled, and the French could not use force to force the coalition to accept, so the Queen of the Netherlands came to be a peacemaker, of course, the Netherlands had a close relationship with the United Kingdom, so he implicitly had other purposes.

"As a minority shareholder in the Algerian oil fields, we regret the current status quo and the current intensifying Franco-Italian conflict...... We believe that while the United Group's placement of the pipeline in Tripoli is an erosion of French interests, it is also unpopular for the French Government to attempt to change it by administrative or military means, and we would like to propose a compromise approach. ”

"Tell me about ......"

"The United Group will cede another 1% share of crude oil to the French side, and France will admit that crude oil is exported from Tripoli." The other party said slowly, "Now the pipeline can output more than 3,000 tons of crude oil a day, and it is expected to reach more than 5,000 tons or even 8,000 tons in a few months, and you can get an additional 25,000 tons of crude oil quota a year, and this is a net income." ”

Briand was very unhappy, pulled down his face and said, "Could it be that France's status as a great power is so worthless?" Just 25,000 tons of oil will buy us? ”

The other party smiled: "We don't really care who owns the joint oil fields, but what we care about is that they can't be destroyed by force, and the British side once had a plan to squeeze out the Italians by economic means...... I think it may be easier to gain the understanding and approval of European countries. ”

Now Briand finally remembered the plan given by the British, at that time he thought it was too troublesome, too long-winded, and too time-consuming, but now it seems that it is impossible to use force to fight a quick victory, so he has to capsize, so he can only retreat to the second best thing and switch to the soft knife plan of the British.

"1% is not enough, at least give us 3%, and besides, he must stop me from those little moves, don't think I don't know who the rebels' stuff is coming from......" Brian said through gritted teeth, "I can promise not to use force, but it must not be counted like this." ”

"Of course, the dignity of a great power cannot be challenged!"