By early October, with the French $100 million in place, United Oil had nearly $170 million in cash assets on its books and a valuation of $500 million, and although its stake was inevitably diluted from 100% to 65% in the process, it still had an absolute controlling position.

Of course, this is all an algorithm on the surface, and the business behind it is not clear to the outside world: Standard Oil and Texaco Oil, which were the first to bid up the market price, received large orders - exploration services, drilling rigs, tubing, machinery and equipment, etc., worth more than $20 million. The United Group not only sent orders for oil field facilities in Algeria, but also sent orders for Libyan oil fields and even equipment from the Soviet Union.

In other words, although these two companies ostensibly took out more than 60 million US dollars, more than 20 million of them were offset by their respective company's products and services, and the actual payment was not so large, but after going around in this way, the capital market looked very good - the valuation of United Oil has increased, the value of the shares of the two shareholders has increased, and the orders obtained have made the annual financial statements of these two companies look a lot better, and their own valuations have also improved.

This is the reason why everyone carries a sedan chair, and of course Contini and Antonio will choose this win-win model.

Although Petronas did not get the order, because its shares were backed by the three major French banks, it had to obey the instructions of the three major banks - this is the secret of the French financial oligarchy's control of the lifeblood of industry, and French industrial and commercial enterprises could hardly escape this fate.

The French banking community got the results they wanted: the Union Group borrowed an additional $100 million at an annual interest rate of 5 percent, secured by shares in the oil fields, and at the same time purchased more than $15 million in machinery and equipment from other industrial groups controlled by the three major banks, a small part of which the Union used for its own use, and most of it was exported to the Soviet Union – and it was under this system that Zakaria solved the problem of insufficient equipment.

The United Group, which received the loan, also had the spare strength to repay the interest and principal to the New York banking community, and the loans for the trip to the United States were almost a year, and they needed to repay part of the loan and a total of more than $6 million in interest for a year. Wall Street, of course, was pleased to receive the interest and some of the principal, indicating that the United Group's finances were completely healthy and sustainable, and soon renewed the loan, pledging some of the increased shares — which continued to rise over the course of a year, and the bankers agreed to increase the size of the collateral, and partly to use the United Group's remaining shares in United Oil as collateral.

By mid-October, with the suspension of negotiations between Shell and Anglo-Iranian oil, most of the shares held by the United Group had been mortgaged to the U.S. and French banking systems, in exchange for more than $200 million, a quarter of which became orders to stay in the country where the loan was issued, and three-quarters of the money was put into the Union Bank to prepare to return to China to help. Interest on the bonds needs to be repaid, at least $30 million will be spent.

Fortunately, starting with this loan, together with the cash in the accounts of United Oil, and removing all kinds of interest and expense holes, Contini still has nearly 250 million yuan on hand, which is unprecedentedly rich, which provides sufficient funds for the construction of the Sanheng Railway.

But behind all this good news, there is also bad news: another task of France's three major banks, to open up rail links with Algiers, the laying of oil pipelines and the expansion of the dredging of Algiers' ports have been met with resistance - the French government does not disagree with these projects, but takes the opportunity to demand high tolls, privileges and construction fees, the first negotiation news is 30 million US dollars, and the second round of negotiations offers 5% of the amount of transit crude oil.

"Have you asked the director? What's the problem? ”

Antonio explained: "He told me privately and secretly that there were two reasons: first, because of the large scale of the oil fields and their considerable economic value, the French government was dissatisfied with the distribution ratio of 62:38 last time, and wanted to take more, but there was no suitable reason, so it proposed this restriction; Second, it is the British who are colluding with other French conglomerates in order to use their desperate desire for a piece of the pie to erode our interests. ”

"What is the attitude of the three major banks? They also have a stake in it! ”

"The three major banks are suggesting that we make some concessions to the French government, such as conceding two more points, and then pay a symbolic $5 million, and they can function."

"I think it's boring."

On the one hand, they are shareholders and have the desire to seek benefits for themselves, and on the other hand, they are inextricably linked with the French government, and they need to give the government a little sweetness; On the other hand, they did not want the British to meddle in the French oil base. ”

"The attitude of the British is not entirely for economic gain......," Contini sneered, "the British originally controlled the supply of oil to Europe, and the United Oil Discovery and the introduction of crude oil from Baku made a huge gap in the European oil supply system, and the leader told me that they had reliable information that the British sent people to Libya to incite trouble, and also sent people to Algeria to incite trouble, in short, I hope that the two main producing areas of United Oil will not be able to start work smoothly, Even if we start working, we won't be able to supply crude oil on a large scale! ”

"This Britannia-stirring stick!" Antonio scolded indignantly, "Algeria, we are still out of reach for the time being, do you want to entrust the three major banks to dredge it up, 2 points can still be allowed, it's really not good, 3 points." ”

Contini shook his head: "Uncle Antonio, I can't afford it...... The Algerian oil company can extract nearly 2 billion barrels, 2 points is 40 million barrels, 3 points is 60 million barrels - these are all big deals worth at least 50 million dollars, if I casually let 2-3 points out, believe it or not, tomorrow the French War Department will come to the door again, on the grounds of helping us exterminate the Algerian armed forces and maintain law and order in the oil fields, this one will come today, that one will come tomorrow, how much can we let out? ”

"But......" Antonio paused, "didn't you agree to give the Italian Army an additional two points of funding to provide them with a bonus for their operation in Libya?" ”

Under the hustle and bustle of Algeria, the Libyan exploitation contract was also signed with the Italian government a month ago, and the two sides distributed crude oil output in a 60:40 ratio, and the United Group took out an additional 2% of the crude oil for the Libyan bandits, and Mussolini obtained 60 million lira of original shares, and the United Group, Mussolini, and the War Department were all happy. In the case of the balance of forces and the competition between the various parties, the fascist veteran Attilio Truz became the governor of Libya and will lead two divisions to reinforce Libya.

"Italy is different, this is our own army, it will be my army in the future, these rewards, it doesn't matter if you give them early or later......," Ziano spread his hands, "But I don't want to give it to the French, I pay for the French to update their equipment and improve their combat effectiveness, and threaten Italy in the future?" It's a stupid idea! ”

Antonio was speechless, now the young master took a mouthful of my army - as if he must be the Italian prime minister in the future, he felt very funny, but if you think about it carefully, the young man probably only the young master has the confidence to shout, right?

"And what about Algeria? Without laying pipelines, dredging ports, and building railway lines, how can the extracted crude oil be transported? You'll go crazy with trucks, and how many trucks are not enough! ”

"Of course you can't ......use trucks," Contini smiled, "but with pipelines and ports, but in a different direction." ”

Antonio watched dumbfounded as Contini pulled out a map and sketched it out — an oil pipeline that crossed the border between Algeria and Libya and then stretched north to Tripoli.

"You mean, go from Libya and leave from Tripoli?"

"I thought about transportation when I delineated the mining blocks, so they were all concentrated near the border between Algeria and Libya. To Algiers is one road, but to Tripoli is also a road, the distance of the two roads is almost the same, and the cost is about the same in my opinion, and if the French do not want to, we will go from Tripoli. Contini laughed, "Do you remember how the agreement we signed?" Port delivery, but not a dead port, the French are full of thought that it is Algiers - this is their thinking mistake, who told them that they must go to Algiers? ”

Antonio was amazed: it is much easier to take the Libyan route - this is not just a matter of words, even if you have to pay money, that is, the symbolic meaning, the young master will definitely take out the theory of the left pocket and the right pocket again.

"There's another benefit: when the mining rights expire in 30 years, if the French want to continue producing oil, they will still have to use the Libyan pipeline, and then they will have to weigh whether to pay us to use the existing pipeline or start from scratch?"

Antonio nodded yes.

"Actually, there is another hidden benefit...... "Contini knocked on the map quietly, "The information shows that there are also oil fields under this area, and when the port route from Algeria to Tripoli is completed, this oil field can be directly connected to the existing pipeline to Tripoli, and the oil production speed will be very fast!" At that time, the oil in the Gulf of Sirt will go through the Benghazi line, and the rest of the region will go through the Tripoli line...... Is it an exaggeration to say that I want to build these two ports into 70,000-ton berths? ”

Antonio was amazed and brought up one last topic of concern: what if Britain and France incited tribal disturbances? He was not very optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the Italian army.

"I will form an army and expand the number, and the leaders will agree to it when the time comes, and as for the personnel ......," Contini smiled, "Someone will come and talk to me tomorrow and the day after tomorrow." ”