With these two promises, Mussolini was satisfied, patted the "prospective in-laws" on the shoulder, gave a meaningful smile and ended the meeting.

As soon as this incident came out, the old Ciano sent a 100,000 urgent telegram to Contini, telling him that he had to come back: he stayed in Switzerland for a month and a half, and he only accompanied Vivian, and the leader couldn't do it without giving an explanation here.

Contini patted his head and finally remembered this incident, regretting that he should not have spoken too quickly last year, but it would definitely not be possible to go to the Far East, it would take too long, and it would delay a lot of things, so he calmly thought for a while and replied to the telegram: Please tell the leader that he plans to visit the Soviet Union and take Ida with him! The time is set for late July, and I will return to Japan next week!

"You're going to the USSR? Why" Mussolini was a little strange in the face of Contini who came from Switzerland to report, but he was very interested not to check Contini's whereabouts during this time, let alone to investigate the matter of illegitimate children, the leader of the relationship between men and women is still very open-minded, and even he thinks that this is in line with Contini's temperament and image - if such an excellent young president is not chased, no one pesters, then the Italian girls are really blind. He bet that as long as he released the news tomorrow that he did not plan to ask for this son-in-law, other high-ranking officials would definitely flock to old Ziano's house to propose marriage.

Isn't that what politics is all about?

"Two reasons. First, after the end of the Russian Civil War, Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy, and last year invited me to invest in Russia, but I didn't agree, and now that Lenin has died, the supreme power in Russia has become Stalin, and he once again sent an invitation through other channels, I think it is okay to go, to give the new red tsar a little face; Second, apart from the fact that we and the Russians do not deal with each other ideologically, in fact, there are no political, historical, and military entanglements, and we can develop bilateral relations very purely, which is beneficial to the expansion of Italy's international space, and Turkey, which has fought more than a dozen Russian-Turkish wars in a row, and Turkey, which has a deep blood feud between the two sides, can establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, so why can't we? Britain, France, and the United States were certainly hostile to the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union still existed, and it was best to face it squarely if this kind of existence was not subject to will; The third and most important point is that Italy has the industrial technology that the Soviet Union needs and lacks resources, and the Soviet Union has abundant resources but lacks an industrial system, and I think there are mutual benefits and complementarities between the two sides. ”

Mussolini nodded in a deep voice, but still raised a concern: "If we are the first to approach Russia, what will the other great powers think?" ”

"Actually, it is not us who is approaching, but Germany...... At most, we have normalized relations, and besides, our relations with Russia are not very stiff, otherwise the last meeting with Russia would not have been held in Genoa. ”

Mussolini was reminded by Contini's reminder that Fakda's cabinet had convened an international conference in Genoa in April and May 1922 to discuss European economic problems. The ostensible discussion of the European economy was in fact a meeting on the unification of Russia's policy line towards Soviet Russia after the failure of Russia's international intervention, which was held in Genoa, but was dominated by the British. Britain's real intention was to use diplomatic means to force Russia to return to the capitalist camp by taking advantage of Russia's economic difficulties and desperate need foreign aid, so as to achieve the reconstruction and revival of the capitalist economy in Europe, provided that Russia recognized and repaid the foreign debts borrowed by its pre-war and wartime tsarist governments.

The Russian side cleverly did not use the term "direct repayment", but raised the issue of counter-compensation for international intervention -- that is, countries interfering in the internal affairs of the Russian Revolution need to pay reparations, and the reparations are no more or less, just as much as Russia's debts to foreign countries, which is certainly impossible to talk about. The only result was that Germany, which was also isolated by Europe, reached the "Treaty of Raballo" with the Soviet Union on the sidelines of mutual debt cancellation and mutual recognition between the two countries, which opened the prelude to the proximity of the Soviet Union and Germany, so Contini would have just commented.

"You mean you can establish diplomatic relations?"

"I think it's okay, Italy, as a big country, can't always follow Britain and France as a small follower, right? The establishment of diplomatic relations does not mean that we recognize Bolshevism, and the British themselves have established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union (the MacDonald government of the Labor Party)......" Contini smiled, "Doctrine is doctrine, business is business, and there are still people in the United States who are not used to us?" But when did they get used to green tickets? ”

Mussolini felt the same way, and the conversation turned to the economic benefits of Soviet Russia.

"I won't go to invest in the factory, Italy itself is in ruins, and recently because of the Libyan oil fields, I discussed with a group of experts about future mining ideas and road construction. Standard Oil Company's extraction equipment has been shipped, and it is expected that Italy will be able to use Libyan oil by the end of this year at the earliest, and with complete port dredging and road construction, Libya will become our energy base and lifeblood in the future. "This is a great achievement of the Leader's administration, under your wise leadership, Italy has shed the label of an oil-poor country, and it has also allowed you to implement the instructions that you have always emphasized to focus on the development of overseas territories, which is a welcome breakthrough politically, economically, and in terms of national security." This is also the core and key to the group's foreign investment in the coming period. ”

"However, other businesses in the Soviet Union can be done, such as iron ore, coal, agricultural products and other raw materials are materials that we urgently need, and before the large-scale production of oil in the Libyan oil fields, there is also a need for trading, and the United Group decided to import coke, steel ingots, aluminum ingots, crude oil, etc. from the Soviet Union in the form of barter trade, these things are shipped from the Black Sea, through the Turkish Strait to Italy The Mediterranean Sea is not far away, the price is certainly cheaper than the accompanying market, and it can also get rid of the control of the British on market prices."

"What do we have to offer the Russians?"

"Part of the machinery, but also the vehicles - I believe that Fiat's cars, United motorcycles will be the products that the Soviets need, and the other is the technology." Contini lowered his voice, "The Russians are very interested in reviving maritime power, I think this business can be done, in addition to that, they are also very interested in aviation power, I think it can be exported......"

"To build a warship for Russia?"

Contini shook his head: "This is impossible, at most we will export the design for the Russians to build themselves, and give appropriate technical guidance, not to mention shipbuilding, even if we want to sell the old ship to the Russians, it is also very difficult at present......"

Although building ships for Russia does not violate the regulations - the Soviet Union is not a signatory to the Washington Naval Treaty, but Contini believes that this matter is very sensitive, and he does not want to challenge the nerves of Britain, France, and the United States, as for selling ships, the Soviets are not China, and they have 4 Gangut-class battleships, which are a little better than Dante, which the Italian Navy is considering abandoning next year, and the current Count Cavour, the main force of the Italian Navy, is barely on par, so there is no market for selling ships, and the Soviets will not want it, But he believed that the resumption of construction of the Caracciolo-class battleships would be attractive to the Soviets - both the warships themselves and the 381mm Ansaldo guns carried on them.

In fact, even if the Soviets were dizzy and wanted to buy an old ship, Contini would not dare to sell it, selling a ship to China and selling a ship to the Soviet Union are completely different in nature, the former powers can pretend not to know, and the latter must cause an uproar.

Mussolini quickly understood the intention of Contini's package deal: many Italian companies had these technologies, but they had little interest in Soviet supplies, they wanted tickets, and the Russians couldn't get them, so the United Group, which could receive installment payments for Russian supplies, assumed the role of lubricant and guarantor of installment credit.

"Are you sure that the export of naval artillery technology to Russia will not cause other problems?"

"As long as the Russians are willing to pay, even if we don't sell, others will sell - does the Czech Republic with Škoda sell or not? Does Germany with Krupp sell or not? Does France with Schneider sell or not? Ansaldo's 381mm naval guns are not a great unique weapon, isn't it good to exchange some money? ”

"I think I can ......"

"The second thing is that I would like to report to you on the follow-up issues of Libyan crude oil extraction...... "The contract signed by the United Group and France will definitely be known by the Italian high-level, and it would be naïve to want to take all the Libyan oil fields for only $1 million, Contini never thought so, and he didn't want to take advantage of the country - there is no need, it will be all his in the future, is the left pocket embarrassed to take advantage of the right pocket?"

So the price he gave to Mussolini was not low: 50 years of exclusive mining rights, 6:4 share of oil production, Libyan road construction, port dredging by the United Group itself! However, the government has to promise to sweep away the destabilizing factors in Libya, and he has also made an additional demand that oil field guards be placed in Libya before large-scale construction begins - 3,200 people! The reason is quite good, Libya is not peaceful, and tribal armed forces are emerging one after another......

Mussolini closed his eyes and thought about it, thinking that the price was fair: after all, Contini's proposal for dredging of ports and the construction of roads and railways would cost a lot of money, and the government would just have to sit back and enjoy its achievements.

Seeing that he was a little moved, Contini whispered in his ear: "Leader, there are still 60 million lira of raw shares, do you want to think about it?" I've been deeply disturbed by the trouble I've caused you, and I can't help you with any other favors, but it's okay to help you improve your life...... For many years, you have devoted yourself to national affairs, working hard for the Italian people, never thinking about your family, never thinking about your personal enjoyment, never caring about personal gains and losses, and I am very sorry that you will not go. ”

Mussolini wanted to bargain for 55:45, but when he heard this, he couldn't open his mouth and hesitated: "This is not very good, right?" ”

"Leader, we came out to make a revolution, of course, for the country and the people, but the family must also be stable, your children are getting older, you must also have your own career, and your wife must match the image of the first lady of the European powers, this is not a trivial matter. It is only without worries that a leader can serve the Italian people wholeheartedly, and I especially hope that there will be an opportunity to serve the leader's family...... Poverty is not the essence of fascism, if the leader wants to lead the whole Italian people to take the road of common prosperity, there must be some people who want to get rich first, if even the leader cannot make a fortune, how can he convince the Italian people? ”

Mussolini nodded and patted Contini on the shoulder: "That's a big trouble for you." By the way, I will help you settle the affairs of Switzerland with Ida, you are still young, you must pay attention to your image, and the burden of the country will be lifted by you in the future......"