During their stay in Japan, representatives of the Italian Navy had an in-depth understanding of the situation of the battleship Michinoku, and also boarded the aircraft carrier Akagi to observe, and they made an astonishing discovery: although the president's bathtub ship looked ugly, it was because of the halfway reconstruction, and it was really similar to the Akagi in terms of technical details, and of course many details were handled better by the Akagi.

The most distinctive feature of the Akagi is the arrangement of the flight deck, which has a total of 3 sections of three-level distribution, the upper deck is a dual-purpose deck, with a total length of 190 meters and a width of 30.5 meters, the middle and lower two floors are connected to the double-decker hangar for aircraft to take off directly from the hangar, the middle deck is for small aircraft to take off, about 15 meters long, and the lower deck is longer for large aircraft to take off, 56.7 meters long and 23 meters wide. Some people think that this arrangement maximizes the utilization efficiency, while others think that it is not as neat as the president's bathtub boat, and this three-layer arrangement will only fight layer by layer.

The Japanese themselves also have a lot of discussions about this, and when they receive answers, the Italians are clear: Japan seems to think of the design and the application of the encounter is not the same thing, which is also an inspiration for the construction of Italian aircraft carriers, no wonder the president has no idea of building an aircraft carrier, only let people around the bathtub ship every day to summarize, by the way to Japan to learn from experience.

Only Contini laughed: the Ida will soon finish the construction of the bottom compartment and enter the deep water, and everyone will soon see the truth.

Horikichi accompanied the Mutsu throughout the tour, while Isoroku Yamamoto, who had just returned from the United States, accompanied the Italian delegation to visit the Akagi, and also took everyone to see the Kaga, which was about to be completed and put into service. Since Contini has transferred the most practical carrier-based fighters and carrier-based torpedo planes in Italy at present, the Japanese side has also decided not to hide their secrets and let them watch, and it is a big deal to see the Caracciolo-class made by the Italians in a few years.

Yamamoto knew Contini much more deeply than Horiyoshi, and during his tenure as military attaché in the United States, he relied on limited public information and gathered intelligence to come to the conclusion that the coalition was consciously and purposefully modernizing the country's armaments. Of course, Italy also has an advantage, Italy's cost of building ships is probably cheaper than Japan's, so it can sell scrap steel cheaply and Japan can't sell it, but he thinks that Contini's idea is right, the old warships that burn coal really have little combat effectiveness and should be disposed of quickly.

He did not report this conclusion except for communicating with Horikiyoshi, because Japan's eyes are mainly on the United States and China, the navy is mainly on the United States, the army is mainly on China, and occasionally a little bit of attention is on Britain and France, Italy? It has nothing to do with Japan at all.

Yamamoto also regarded Italy's sale of scrap steel as an important part of Italy's armament innovation, and he even came to the conclusion that the United Group was not profitable at all, and the reason why it was gaining momentum was that the company had borrowed a lot of money and issued huge debts, and that it needed to build this image in order to boost market confidence. But he couldn't understand it - if this was a Ponzi scheme, why would the shrewd Wall Street not recognize it and encourage it all the time? Later, when Union Bank's shares were listed, he vaguely understood: even if Wall Street knew that it was a scam, it would not do it until the other party showed its flaws, but would instead fuel the bubble and get the huge profits they wanted from the expansion of this bubble.

As it turned out, he was right, and by 1928 the Union had received more than $2.4 billion in loans from the United States, with an annual interest rate of more than $100 million. Of the $2.4 billion, at least half of it turned into industrial orders from the United States to enter Italy, and the remaining $1.2 billion became cash outflows, but because of the huge interest repatriation, nearly $400 million of the $1.2 billion has actually been repaid, in other words, Wall Street has obtained $2.4 billion in debt from the United Group with 1.2 billion industrial equipment and 800 million in cash, and also has more than 100 million dollars in annual earnings - this transaction is very profitable. As long as it takes a few more years, the principal will be fully recovered, and the rest will be net profits, even if the United Group is not on it, it doesn't matter, can't you offset it with oil fields and bank shares?

This incident shows from another side why the president has to buy and buy every time he goes to the United States, and every time he has to make a big show to cause a sensation, this is not that the president himself likes to make big news, but his position and market confidence need him to maintain it, this is a rich man who relies on loans and capital means, not a rich man who is down-to-earth and runs a real business - so he will be so high-profile, while other rich people are very low-key.

Since the money is all borrowed, he can understand the advertising slogan of the United Group, what is "suffocating for dreams", "creating a better life", "believe in yourself!" e can！ ", "United House Integrated Ecology", "New Bourgeois World" can be understood, the president is emboldening himself! This is a blindfolded and crazy world, and the bold are starved to death, and the president is obviously the former. Of course, the president's luck is also very good, and his courage is even more amazing, and the two big oil fields are at least real - without these two oil fields, Yamamoto 56 thinks that the president's "scam" will not last for 5 years, but with these two oil fields, plus a pair of wars, the Algerian oil fields must be maintained, and the lake will be drained to fulfill the reserve obligations.

Experts who were originally very sober are now also getting involved, and instead they have begun to advocate the exceptionalism of the United Group, the innovation theory of the United Group, the president is a management genius, and so on, and even more so in Italy, where the president is almost the object of attention of young people, and only the president is known except for the leader.

So it's not surprising that he's making a bet with Horiki, and it's not even surprising that Contini is willing to accept such a gamble - he can build momentum even if he loses. To understand the essence of the operation of the United Group, it must not be measured from the perspective of account balance, but must be understood from the perspective of prestige, confidence, and influence, and all stock price growth is not based on down-to-earth creation and work, but on building momentum. I heard that the United Group has 14 strategic plates, it is said that soon there will be 15 (textile), 16 (logistics), 17 (education) three major plates, logistics Yamamoto 56 is understood, the United Group has aviation, railways, highways, and now I heard that it is contracting shipbuilding on a large scale, and logistics and transportation can be launched with a little integration, but the textile is not a mature competitive industry, how can the United Group enter? Is it just for the sake of Japan's raw silk to open up a new industry? As for education, it is even more puzzling, what does an industrial group do to engage in education? Have nothing to do when you're full?

He believes that only by waiting for the deception of the United Group to fall in the future can we fully analyze the experience of the United Group and its original assumptions, but in the short term, it seems that the United Group will not be able to collapse -- Italy has recently been so rich in building new warships, replacing them with new rifles, machine guns, and new aircraft, and this is not an increase in military spending at all, and this is all the foundation laid by the president, and at this time he can only envy: It is also the ability to cheat money to build armaments, why does Japan not have such people?

So one of these two diehards thinks that Contini is "stupid and rich", and the other thinks that Contini is "the only big liar in the world", and they are eager to make bets. Before leaving by boat, under the deliberate or unintentional teasing of Horiyoshi, Contini finally made a bet with Yamamoto Isoroku.

The gambling time is still 12 years, Contini believes: "In 12 years, the aircraft will have the ability to sink any battleship, and if the next war breaks out in 12 years, the aircraft carrier will become the core warship!" "Yamamoto 56 agrees with Contini's recognition of aircraft and aircraft carriers, but disagrees with the judgment of 12 years, even the best aircraft now, the speed is only more than 300 kilometers, the load capacity is very small, and what is even worse is that the hit rate is extremely low, so he thinks that this statement will not become a reality until 20 years later!

This gamble came to be called: the gamble of the main military of aviation!

As for the bet, if Contini loses or 1 cruiser + 100 planes, if he wins, Yamamoto Isoroku said: "Then I will be the same as Hori-kun......"

Contini shook his head: "This is not good, I think you can be the commander of the Combined Fleet, we will change the conditions, allow me to import a certain technical weapon or ship design of your navy at the cost of 1 million US dollars, or allow me to select 20 officers below the rank of lieutenant general to serve in the Italian advisory group." ”

This bet stumped Yamamoto Fifty-six, because Horiyoshi's bet was something he could say, and Contini's bet had to be approved by the top, but Contini provoked him: "You just report it to the top...... For example, Kanji Kato and King Hiroko Fushimiya, aren't they battleship-centrists? If it weren't for Marshal Togo's old age and inconvenience, I would suggest you communicate with him. ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six was surprised by Contini's understanding of the internal situation in Japan, so he really reported it, and the result was not as Contini expected, both Kato Kanji and Fushimi Miyahiro agreed to bet with Contini!

King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong also patted Yamamoto Fifty-six on the shoulder: "Don't be afraid! Yamamoto-kun, you can bet on it is famous, everyone is optimistic about you, it is not a big deal to lose, the $1 million technology introduction fee is here, and it is not for nothing that we want! ”

When leaving, Horiyoshi and Yamamoto Isoroku both came to the dock to see them off, and Contini waved goodbye to them happily: after these two gambles, the naval adviser and the 93 oxygen torpedo were in hand, and there was no need to worry that the Japanese would not pay the bills, and as long as Japan wanted to continue to import aviation equipment from Italy, it would not be able to bypass this hurdle......