After a night of planning, the father and son decided on the idea of "two horizontal and two vertical" for the Italian rapid rail network, the first of which is on the northern border, starting from Trieste in the east, then Udine, Venice, Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Milan, and ending in Turin, with a total length of about 800 kilometers.

The second horizontal direction is actually more southeasterly, starting from Ravenna in the east, then Bologna, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, and finally turning to Genoa, with a total length of about 500 kilometers, of which Piacenza also has a branch line to Milan, which is almost 600 kilometers.

The first column starts from Venice in the north, then Bologna, Florence, Sienna, Rome, Naples, Bari and finally Taranto, with a total length of 1,200 kilometers;

The second column starts from Naples, then goes to Crotone and Messina, crosses the Strait of Messina and divides into two branches, one along the northern coastline of Sicily to Palermo, and the other along the eastern coastline of Sicily to Catania and Syracuse, with a total length of almost 1,200 kilometers.

PS: Students who are familiar with Serie A will be able to smile when they see these familiar names, and almost all of the above names are frequent visitors to Serie A with a few exceptions - after there is a fast rail line, it is convenient to play the national league.

This route is clearly visible that the transport hub in the north is Milan, the hub in the center is Bologna, and the hub in the south is Naples, although Naples is not very south, but the dividing line between the north and south of Italy is traditionally drawn on the Naples line.

According to Contini's vision, the expressway network in the north is mainly undertaken by the United Group, and the road network in the middle and south is to be financed by the state. The father and son made a calculation that if they were to build a high-speed railway with a speed of about 80 kilometers per hour, the total investment would exceed at least 500 million US dollars, and the time would not allow it, and finally made strategic adjustments: the northern road network is dominated by fast railways, and the speed of trunk lines is set at more than 70 kilometers per hour, and the southern road network is dominated by standard railways, with a trunk speed of 40 kilometers.

According to this standard, the total investment of about 3-350 million US dollars can be won (Contini knows that this is impossible, with the depreciation of the dollar, it will definitely exceed 500 million US dollars in the end), but this nearly 3,000 kilometers (a total of more than 4,000 kilometers, some of which are now successful, only need to be improved) After the construction of the railway network, the overall transportation level of Italy can be improved.

"In addition to Italy's two vertical and two horizontal, the coalition may also consider building a railway in Libya."

"Is there really oil?"

"I believe there is." "The route runs mainly along the coastline, starting from Tripoli in the west, then Sirte, Port Brega, Benghazi, Al-Bayda and finally Tobruk...... This railway does not need to be built according to the expressway network, only according to the standard road network, and at the same time, the coastal road should also be expanded and repaired, and the direction should be basically the same as the railway. I estimated that the railway is about 1600-1800 km, and the road is about the same. ”

"This route may not be affordable by the Ministry of Transportation in the short term, in fact, the construction of the road network you just mentioned is exceeding the budget of the Ministry of Transportation, and you have to count on construction bonds."

"I'm coming for the Libyan railway!"

"You're coming?" Old Ziano looked at his son suspiciously, "This railway will cost at least more than 100 million dollars!" With the addition of roads, I'm afraid that there are no 150 million that can't withstand it. ”

"Not enough...... I'm going to put together a budget of $200 million. "I also need to prepare to dredge and expand the ports of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte, and Tobruk, of which Tripoli and Benghazi should be able to accommodate at least 70,000 tons of ships." ”

"You're crazy! What do you want 70,000 tons? Old Ciano cried out in horror, "Do you know that it is difficult for these two ports to even accommodate 10,000 tons, and they will be expanded to 70,000 in one go?" Do you know what 70,000 tons is? Bigger than the best 2 battleships out there! ”

"Can you believe it?" Contini said word by word, "In the future, there will be 50,000, 60,000 or even 70,000 tons of giant ships!" ”

"I ......"

"I study history, and I see the data very clearly: during the Battle of Trafalgar, the tonnage of capital ships was only 2,500-3,000 tons, and it took almost 70 years before the tonnage of capital ships entered the 10,000-ton class; From the beginning of the 90s of the 19th century to the commissioning of the Intrepid at the beginning of this century, the tonnage of the capital ship stepped into 20,000 tons, which took about 25 years; Since then, almost another 20 years have passed, and the Navy's capital ships have entered the era of 35,000-40,000 tons. Contini sighed, "According to this time and development rate, in 15 years, the tonnage of capital ships will reach the level of 6-70,000 tons!" ”

"You must not forget that now there is a treaty on naval armaments, and none of the countries can break through."

"Treaties are meant to break through, have you ever seen a treaty that has always been adhered to?" Contini smiled coldly, "Besides, we Italy have done less to break through the treaty?" How did we switch sides in the last big war? ”

Ciano the Elder was speechless, but still argued: "Nevertheless, it is impossible for Italy to build a 70,000-ton battleship, it is too big and too expensive for us to afford...... You know what? Two days ago, over the resumption of work on the Caracciolo, the Admiralty and the Ministry of Finance quarreled again. ”

The Caracciolo, the first ship of the class, was planned to be built during World War I and continued after October 1919, but due to Italy's lack of finances, it certainly left it unfinished. At that time, the Royal Italian Navy considered converting it into a flat-deck aircraft carrier like the British Cyclops, but as the Italian economy continued to deteriorate and Operation Rome was launched, the conversion plan did not bear fruit. The Ansaldo company wanted to turn the Caracio into a seaplane carrier, which was much cheaper than the previous scheme, but still too expensive for the Italian Navy.

Of course, in addition to the budgetary problem, the direction of the Italian navy after the war was also a big problem: one group favored the traditional surface fleet, the other group believed that a fleet of aircraft carriers, torpedo boats and submarines was more ideal, and finally the Caracciolo was sold to a shipping company on October 25, 1920, and then temporarily sealed in the harbor outside Naples, and the two factions of the navy continued to quarrel over this matter, and with the money for the sale of several Queen-class ships, this quarrel was even more fierce, and now not only the Admiralty quarreled, The Admiralty and the Ministry of Finance also quarreled - the money for the three Queen-class ships was obviously not enough to cover the subsequent construction of the Caracho.

"I know about this, and the leader has approached me and asked me to help me find a way to advance money...... I agreed. ”

"Agreed?" Old Chiano looked at his son suspiciously, "How much money do you have to play like this?" Don't forget, your money is all from loans, and the annual interest will cost more than $8 million! ”

"So there's no pressure to lend a few million to the Navy." Contini smiled, "I communicated with Admiral Lefel once, and I could support the Navy in completing the Caracciolo, but I made a personal proposal, a commercial condition. The private suggestion was to build the Caracciolo into a fast battleship, not to be further armed and armoured, but to increase the design power from the current 28 knots to 30 knots; The commercial condition is to sell Dante to us as a scrap ship next year, and make up the difference with the difference. ”

"What's the use of this broken ship?"

"It's useless, it's a matter of maintenance and painting, and then sell it......" Contini smiled slightly, "There are people in the Far East who need it!" Otherwise, where do you think the scrap steel of the Navy and the Army has gone? ”

"Useful? What's the use? 5 Dante can't beat the Nagato......"

"Why did you call the Nagato number? The goal is to unify the country...... The Naples played an unparalleled role in this round of warfare, the Northern Army not only bombarded the positions of the Southern Army, but also disintegrated the small navy of the Southern Army, and now the Northern Army has taken control of the city of Beijing, as if it were the central power - the desire for reunification is more urgent than anyone else! "By selling the old warships, the Italian Navy doesn't have to worry about building new ships or upgrading old ones...... Then build a new one, the original plan of the Caracciolo class was 4 ships of the same class, do you think the United Shipyard can win the contract for the construction of one? ”

Although Contini was fully aware that aircraft carriers were the main force in future naval warfare, as far as the mid-1920s were concerned, aircraft and aircraft carriers had little deterrent power, far less important than battleships, and the Caracciolo class itself was positioned as a fast battleship, and if the speed could be increased to 30 knots, it would be extremely beneficial to the formation of an aircraft carrier formation in the future, so he encouraged Lefe to throw away the old warships and build new ones, and also said that he would turn around the funds. This is exactly what Lefeer wants, and Dante will soon be turned into "garbage" to be disposed of by the United Group.

Another reason is that Italy has no experience in aircraft carrier construction at all, and blindly building and modifying it is completely a blind toss, and Contini's Roma in his hand will soon complete the reconstruction of the aircraft carrier, and he believes that the Navy will not fail to see this result, once the Navy grasps the law and experience from the rebuilt Roma, the United Shipyard is the preferred builder, and the carrier-based aircraft will also choose the products of United Aviation - the 9-cylinder air-cooled engine introduced from the United States is currently being used to build new aircraft.

So Contini now supports the Navy in building the Caracciolo in order to better build aircraft carriers in the future - there is no conflict at all.

Old Ziano was speechless: "Well, you said that there were 70,000 tons of battleships, I believe that there were, but ......"

"But before construction, I will only dredge these ports to the level of 35,000 tons!"

"That's pretty much it...... Greed for speed will definitely cause tension in the capital chain, although the credit problem last time let you solve, but I still sweat a little, the next time I encounter it will not be so easy to deal with, you still have to be safer. ”

"So I'm not going to take out the last horizontal construction plan, and I won't announce the construction of a port until Libya finds oil, which will be more secure......"