The demonstrations reached a climax on the third day, with protests by the citizens of Rome, including students, organized by Contini, and the embassies of Greece, Britain, and France attacked with unbridled rotten eggs and tomatoes - in fact, after dropping leaflets, the ambassadors of these countries realized that the situation was not good, that the mood in Italy was even more intense than they thought, that Mussolini obviously did not choose to send troops to Corfu because of his emotions, that there was a popular base behind him, and that the Socialist Party, which advocated "prudence", was even worse. was directly pulled out by someone to criticize him by name, and he almost betrayed the enemy.

In addition to the overt protests, Goebbels, the newly appointed official, was also quick to intervene in the media and public opinion, and the voices of the Socialist Party and the so-called centrist faction were completely drowned out in a frenzy, especially after the newspaper published the news that the defenders of Corfu had taken the oath on the spot after receiving leaflets.

Among so many people, the only criticism that has enough weight to listen to Contini has to listen to is from the United Aviation Adviser Duhei. He disagreed with the use of planes to drop leaflets, arguing that Contini's use of United Airlines as a political tool was a dangerous thing to do, indicating that the student was sliding towards politicians, which was contrary to his original intentions.

"Teacher, you're too worried." It was impossible for Contini to ignore Duhey's opinion, explaining, "It was actually a real combat exercise. ”

"Drills?"

"After a night of preparation, United Airlines set off in full swing the next day, spread all over the country, and even went to Corfu, which shows that the organization, response, and training of the aircraft fleet are effective, and that it can drop leaflets today and hang bombs tomorrow. Don't you think that United Airlines, under my management, is more effective and responds faster than the current Air Force? ”

This sentence is really not bragging, because Mussolini attached great importance to the air force and personally served as the minister of the air force, a large number of opportunistic elements who saw the wind and steered the rudder drilled into the air force, trying to find a shortcut to promotion and wealth, although the overall order of the air force was acceptable under Balbo's management, but it could not be done to the air force up and down.

In United Airlines, because Contini has repeatedly emphasized iron-fisted management, there is no room for drill camp elements, promotions and salary increases all depend on hard work, even if there is a background, it is almost equal to nothing in front of Contini's background, everyone is very happy, and the efficiency is naturally good.

Du Hei was silent, he knew that the student was quibbling, but he had to admit that the quibble was still very convincing - political factors aside, United Airlines did respond well!

"What do you do next? Really want to push for war against Greece? ”

"It's impossible, I didn't think about fighting, and the leader probably didn't want to, this is a war brinkmanship, using war to scare the Greeks, of course, more importantly, to scare Britain and France!"

"Scare the British and French? No kidding. Du Hei sneered, "Don't talk about scaring Britain and France, you can deal with any of the British and French can be considered very remarkable." ”

"I can handle it."

"Less bragging."

"I'm not bragging." Contini smiled, "Teacher, you are an authority on aviation theory, but you are far worse than a leader when it comes to conspiracy and means......"

He originally wanted to say that he was far worse than himself, but after thinking about it, he thought it was too arrogant to say this, and immediately focused the spearhead on Mussolini, and sure enough, Du Hei didn't care, and only snorted from his nose: "This time the scene is so big, how do I see how he ends?" ”

Contini smiled: "Teacher, things will be resolved, and I don't think it will last long." As soon as the leader gets what he wants, he will withdraw his troops immediately. ”

After the victory in the first battle, Mussolini was so confident in Contini's ability to stir up the situation that he invited him to discuss what to do next. Of course, he already has the general direction himself, and he called Contini just to verify the correctness.

"I believe the leader should have a full and mature plan, right?"

Mussolini smiled: "I do have some ideas, but I have just received protests from the British and French governments, and many people have different ideas. ”

"Leader, this is the country you lead, you can't always care about what they think, if a party has an idea or even a politician has an idea, is there any hope for Italy?"

Mussolini was suddenly a little fluttering, and he barely controlled his emotions and said, "This ...... I don't really have to go to war with Greece...... I actually...... This one...... It is still necessary to listen to everyone's opinions, especially young people's opinions. ”

Such a few simple words have basically exposed his hole cards, Contini smiled, did not hide it, and analyzed: "Britain and France will definitely stand up for the Greeks, but at most, diplomatic protests and cannons, don't even think about expecting them to fight for Greece...... They have just lost millions of people, and the war-weariness is so strong that it is impossible to fight again, so we need to be positive.

We have to put on a posture of not hesitating to fight, and the primary target is Greece, in terms of strength, we are much stronger than Greece, if Britain and France do not want them to lose face too much, they must pressure Greece to accept our conditions. ”

"What conditions? Give us Corfu? ”

"I'm afraid it's unlikely." "I think three conditions will be sufficient: first, punish the murderer; second, an official apology; Third, compensation for losses. The most important of these is the third one, everything else is false, and this is the real one. The offer should be ruthless, such as $50 million in one go. ”

Mussolini was also taken aback by this figure: now you can buy a very good 2-hand second-class battleship for 6 million dollars on the market, and 50 million is equal to 8 second-hand battleships, which is even larger than the capital ships of the Italian Navy. Although the purchase cost is only a small part of the navy's expenses, and the follow-up use, maintenance, maintenance, and personnel are the majority, it cannot withstand the huge figure of 50 million.

"Ask for a sky-high price, pay back on the spot...... Contini smiled, "We dispatched the navy, dispatched more than 10,000 soldiers, and also paid a lieutenant general, if we only ask for a small amount of compensation for such a big situation, Britain and France must think that we are not confident enough!" The ask price is also part of the strategy. ”

Mussolini nodded: "Your idea has a point. ”

"Britain and France are actually cowards, that is, they are fierce in their mouths, don't care too much, as for Greece...... Leader, I suddenly had a great idea. ”

"What's the idea?"

"I think you can make an offer tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and after the pressure from Britain and France, announce a diplomatic decision to invite Turkish leader Kemal to visit Italy, and even we can reach some agreement that Italy will build warships for Turkey!"

"Turkey?" Mussolini was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and laughed wildly, "Yes, yes, yes! This is good, this is good! Calais, you have a lot of ideas. ”

Ottoman Turkey was defeated in World War I, and Greece, with the support of Britain and France, attacked Turkey in a big way, and soon occupied large swathes of Turkish territory. Kemal and others then launched a revolution, fought fiercely with Greece, and drove all the Greek troops out of the country in the Battle of Izmir in August-September 1922, achieving a complete victory in the War of Independence. In July 1923, Turkey and the Entente signed the Treaty of Lausanne, which achieved relatively equal terms of peace, and on October 29, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, and Kevel was elected as the first president of the republic and concurrently served as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Although the war between Turkey and Greece ended, the hostility between the two countries was not alleviated by the Treaty of Lausanne, and if Italy extended a helping hand to Turkey at this time, it could create a strategic situation of sandwiching Greece from both sides.

Although Turkey and Italy fought for Libya more than 10 years ago, the Italian-Turkish war broke out over Libya, but now that Italy has changed its government, there is an independence movement in Turkey, and everyone is a new revolutionary government, with no historical baggage on each other.

ps: It's my birthday today, so thank you for your support.