"President, the Libyan exploration team has sent a telegram that oil has been produced," Zakaria entered the office with a happy face, pinching the telegram and reporting, "Three high-quality and high-production oil wells with reserves of no less than 2......00 million barrels have been discovered. ”

Contini was overjoyed and laughed: "Sure enough, the $1 million was not spent in vain." ”

"There was a telegram from the exploration team that they intended to continue exploration around the area, as they suspected that there was more to this field than what they had discovered......"

"Telegram let me see ......" After reading the above, Contini suddenly calmed down, knocked on the table and said, "Let me think about it...... Things may not be so simple to deal with yet. ”

Zakaria wondered, isn't the more exploration, the better? Why does the president have concerns, he is afraid that the leader will increase the money if he explores too much? Although there is likely to be a problem, the leader is still easy to talk about here, and even if he adds money, the United Group will not lose.

"Send a telegram to the liaison and ask him to explore more around, but be careful not to explore again after the reserves exceed 500 million barrels...... Keep it for the rest and take your time! Contini suddenly gave such an answer.

"This ...... Why? ”

Zakaria is not only the backbone of the youth league, but also a henchman, and Contini did not want to hide it, saying: "Who controls the Mediterranean now? ”

"Great Britain!"

"Who controls the supply of crude oil to Europe?"

"Great Britain and the Netherlands?" Zakaria asked incredulously.

"Yes, Great Britain controls Iran's crude oil supply, Romanian oil fields also have British influence, and Dutch Shell controls East India crude oil – both countries wear the same pair of pants after all." Contini asked with a grim expression, "If we only discovered a small number of oil fields, they might not take it seriously, if they found oil fields with large reserves, good quality, and close to Europe, what do you think will happen to the British?" ”

"War! Rob Libya! ”

"If Britain starts from Egypt now, whether it is the army or the navy, we are not opponents, Italy will see all this lost......," Contini smiled, "so the Libyan oil fields should be controlled to a certain scale, and as Italy's strength rises, it will be slowly revealed!" As long as we control Libya, sooner or later the oil in the ground will be ours, and if we can't run away, what are we afraid of? ”

Now that Zakaria finally understood, he immediately nodded and went to execute, and now he finally understood that the president was going to use the backbone of the Youth League as a liaison, and he also had to send Roman guards - his own people were easy to control.

This arrangement alone is not enough, soon Contini went to meet Mussolini and reported to him the discovery of Libyan crude oil, Mussolini was still thinking about how to ask Contini for the original shares, and the next sentence of the other party had followed: "Leader, the situation in Libya is unstable, the tribal armed forces are rising one after another, and we must send more forces to exterminate them, if we do not eradicate them, there is no way to successfully achieve exploitation." ”

Mussolini nodded solemnly, this is not an exaggeration by Contini, but a fact.

"I have another concern...... Contini whispered the concerns he and Zakaria had elaborated, and Mussolini became nervous when he heard it - although the British are not willing to fight now, and the relationship with Italy is not bad, but he knows very well in his heart that the British are absolutely interests first, and if the interests of Libya attract them, this is definitely not a problem, but if they fight with the British, they will definitely not be able to fight with Italy's small body, and once they lose the war and lose Libya, the fascist will immediately fall.

So he asked, "What do you think of it?" ”

"First, to send more troops to Libya, not only to send regular troops, but also to increase the dispatch of Roman guards and volunteers; Second, limiting the reserves and scale of oil fields to a relatively low level made the British feel unprofitable...... Third......" Contini muttered for a long time, looking embarrassed, "I don't know what to say. ”

Mussolini hurriedly said: "You say, you say, what else is there to hide between us." ”

"I have another piece of information that shows that there are oil fields in Algeria and I want to take this place and exploit it...... Of course, I believe that the French must now know that there are oil fields in Libya, and if I want exploration rights, it is estimated that it will be difficult to loosen up, but whether it is loosened or not, as long as France also has oil fields in North Africa, what do you think? ”

Mussolini's brain immediately spun into action, and this was really important, and it would certainly be unpleasant to give the French an oil field for nothing with his personality, but Contini was right, if Italy had oil fields in Africa, and the French had oil fields in Africa, Britain would not be able to make a big fight - it would provoke public anger! This would balance the sense of crisis that Italy would be attacked by the British after the discovery of oil fields.

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally thought that the safety of Italy and Libya was overwhelming, and the French had oil fields, and they didn't expect to do the French oil business anyway. After figuring it out, he said with a painful face: "This thing must be done well, and it will feel like a miracle in business as much as possible......"

Contini's knowledge of the French oil field is the Hasimesau oil field in northeastern Algeria and the northern tip of the Sahara Desert, which is the largest oil field that can squeeze into the top ten in the world, although the quality is not as good as the Libyan oil, but the scale is large, which should be more eye-catching.

He was also hesitant to reveal the news, because in this way the history may go in a completely different direction, but he did not dare to bet that the British were indifferent after the discovery of Libyan oil, so he had to seek a balance, in addition to the United States, the only one who can balance Britain at present is France, and France happens to have no oil fields, so he will be very concerned, and finally he gritted his teeth and made up his mind to give the French an oil field for nothing - of course, the United Group will have interests, otherwise the French will not want to know the exact location.

On 29 May, Antonio sent a telegram to the ambassador with whom he was familiar with the French Foreign Ministry, who had now been promoted to director of the European Department because of his meritorious handling of the German question, and who might become deputy minister in a certain time, expressing the group's interest in exploring for crude oil in Algeria and hoping that he would be able to make a match.

Mr. Director is very happy, and his matchmaking is naturally indispensable; Second, if the United Group can really discover oil, the situation of France's energy lifeline being controlled by others will definitely change - France's failure to control the Ruhr area has made France's search for a stable coal supply base in vain, if it can be solved with oil, he believes it will be of great help to his career - why can't I be foreign minister; Although the news of the discovery of oil in Libya by the Sanlai United Group has not yet spread, the top management has a point, and he believes that the other party is not telling the truth.

As Contini expected, the French government is very concerned about oil field exploration and energy supply, and wants to come by itself, and is not willing to intervene in the United Group at all, but he doesn't know how to start when he comes by himself, because France has not explored in Algeria and has been in vain for many years, and there is no domestic consortium willing to continue to play venture capital, so in the end, it knocked on the bamboo bar of the United Group - the exploration fee is 1 million US dollars for 5 years, and if it cannot be found within 5 years, the French government will take 1 million for nothing; If oil is found, the United Group will be given the right to exploit it for 30 years, and the crude oil extracted will be divided between the two parties, and after 30 years, all the equipment in the mining belt will be returned to France.

Contini naturally refuses to suffer: even if the exploration fee of 1 million is calculated, the French will be too ugly to eat if they are divided into five or five accounts - the United Group has invested so much, equipment, sites, and exploration, and in the end, it can only take 5% like the French government that does nothing? Isn't this a wedding garment for another?

Finally, after three weeks of negotiations: the exploration rights remain unchanged, the mining rights are finalized for 40 years, the two sides share the account ratio of 62%: 38%, and the crude oil taken by the United Group does not need to pay export tax - the last two points are completely grinded down by Antonio, and Contini really can't do such a laborious thing as negotiation.

Of course, Contini had other ideas: after the Algerian oil fields were exploited, according to the French urine, they would definitely invest in other aspects, maybe Algerian oil would be developed earlier, and the presence or absence of this oil field would not change France's military power - because France was not plagued by oil shortages during World War II. But the Axis is different, when Germany pushes France, in the face of this large area of crude oil in North Africa, will Hitler continue to go to the Balkans and fight with the Soviet Union or come to North Africa? He didn't believe the French would blow up the oil wells themselves.

The second strategic level is to change the energy structure of Europe, at present, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands control the supply of oil in Europe, only a small part of the US crude oil can be transported to Europe, the overall energy is still dominated by coal, but if several large oil fields are developed, the price of oil will fall rapidly and increase the supply, so that the energy structure will change drastically - for Italy, the lack of coal is almost incomprehensible, even if there is Contini's crossing, it can't be changed out of thin air, but if there is more oil to a certain extent, Why can't you replace coal with oil?

This was a key part of changing the strategy, and he thought about it for a long time before he slowly made this move! If we continue to follow the time-space strategy of the original history of the Axis, even if Italy can be a little stronger, I am afraid that it will inevitably fail in the end, and we must provide a new variable for history, and expect history to take a different fork in the road!

Will it end up being out of control?

It's not impossible, the butterfly effect is not a joke, but Contini's president has a temper and makes up his mind: Lao Tzu will do it first, and then talk about it, what if you are addicted to it?

So, in July, there were two pieces of news circulating in European diplomatic circles: first, the Italians had discovered medium-sized oil fields in Libya; Second, the United Group went to Algeria for exploration, where oil is also said to be there, and a contract was signed with the French.