Tripoli is known as the pearl of North Africa, and it's not the Italians who boast about it, but this 2,000-year-old city lives up to its reputation.

The land was once occupied by the Phoenicians, Romans, Vendalls, and the Byzantine Empire, and after the fall of Byzantium, the territory, known to the Arabs as Terrabrus, remained under Ottoman rule.

Twenty-eight years ago, the Italians suddenly declared war on the Ottoman Turks, citing the encroachment of the Turks on their own rights to Morocco, and finally the modern Italian army defeated the decaying Ottoman Empire and seized the land from the Turks.

However, this was already 28 years ago, and the subsequent outbreak of the Great War fundamentally changed the colonial situation in North Africa, the defeated Germany was expelled from Africa, the colonies owned by the great powers were carved up, and after the disappearance of the power that could contain France in North Africa, all the pressure was concentrated on the shoulders of the Italians, and the original plan to try to suck blood from the colonies also came to a standstill with the sudden European war.

Although the Kingdom of Italy gained some of its benefits by defecting in the First World War, the ensuing worldwide economic crisis not only caused it to consume all its dividends, but also lost most of its savings. Italy's industrialization was not as high as that of the top powers, but because of its poor resources, heavy dependence on imports and exports, and a bloated and unresponsive government agency, the Kingdom of Italy, which should not have been hit hard, suffered heavy losses in the wake of the crisis.

The crisis laid bare the fragile political and economic structure of Italy, and to the horror of those in power, the unemployed and the working class at the bottom were uniting from the industrial depression, and that the labor movement was growing rapidly, and that if it was not suppressed, it was very likely that a revolution would emerge, in which the Italian aristocracy and parliamentarians would be killed, and the lessons of the Normanov dynasty were in sight.

In order to get rid of the predicament at home, the fascist movement in Italy came into being, and Mussolini's rapid rise and rise to power was not behind the secret support and promotion of the Italian high-level forces, and the Caesar of the new century was just a cover for the original power class, and the ultimate goal was to suppress the progressive ideas of the domestic labor movement and divert the dissatisfaction and contradictions generated by the incompetence and corruption of the traditional forces of the empire.

Mussolini is not stupid, he also knows that he must rely on these deep-rooted traditional forces to take power safely, the interests of the two sides are deeply entangled, Mussolini can also get a lot of benefits from it, so he is happy to cooperate with those old power elites, of course, the other party also generously gave Mussolini a huge return, the entire Italian power class is on his side, Mussolini's orders in this land no one can refuse.

"It's Mussolini's order, you know, it's Mussolini! He doesn't care what difficulties we have, he just wants to see the results. With Our Lady above, can't you people use your brains! I don't want to see any of you dragged out and shot by the gendarmes, for this has not happened before. Major Giordano, the head of Italian military intelligence in Tripoli, roared at the mouth, whipping the smooth top of the sixteenth-century antique round table in front of him.

"But Major, it's Baron Anthony, and he's insisting—" An intelligence officer wanted to explain to his superiors.

"Don't mention this to me, it's not a reason to explain your dereliction of duty. Where exactly are Baron Anthony and his elite detachment now? Was there an accident or not, why was the contact cut off for two days, and the person in charge remembered to report it to his superiors. Where was the support unit that was assigned to them at the time, don't tell me those bastards were all drunk again. Giordano asked as he threw his horsewhip down the table and pointed his finger at the tip of the intelligence officer's nose.

"We have sent a search force, but the trail was interrupted when it reached the border line, and according to the commander of the local checkpoint, there was indeed a unit that passed through their line led by a local guide, who also recognized the picture of Baron Anthony." Another intelligence officer hurriedly stepped forward to relieve his colleagues.

"Why did he cross the border? Didn't the original plan wait for the target to enter our zone of control and then intercept it according to the situation? Giordano asked loudly.

"Maybe something has changed, and now we don't have first-hand information."

"Then go and check, you have to find this team, if you are still alive, bring this group of fools back, if something happens..... Then try to find their bodies as much as possible. I only hope now that the French don't find them first, otherwise we will become very passive. Giordano covered his forehead with his hands, and the explosion in front of him was so intense that he now felt his brain swell.

"The French should not have discovered them yet, otherwise they would have protested to us by now." The previous intelligence officer offered his opinion.

"Captain Marhimer, it seems to me that this is only a matter of time, we can only hope that the search team will find the Baron and his party first, although Baron Anthony has a disguised identification document, it is difficult to guarantee that he does not carry other sensitive documents with him, if our people can find them in advance, then we can also dispose of those items that may cause trouble in time, so that even if the French pursue it, we can explain the whole thing by the reason that we accidentally got lost and strayed into French territory.

On the other hand, if the French had discovered them first, they would have caused a diplomatic dispute, and in the end someone would have been thrown out to blame for the incident, not someone in the Venetian Palace, but one of you and me. Giordano sat down at the table, rubbing his temples with both hands.

"The search party has crossed the border disguised as a caravan, and the French are said to have suddenly increased the density of patrols along the border, and they should have sensed something." Malhimer reported.

"The intelligence services of the French are not fools, they are also tracking the target. Now I hope that the search party will be able to find Baron Anthony, but as you know, this is the Sahara Desert, and I don't know how many caravans mysteriously disappear here every year, leaving no trace afterwards. Another intelligence officer said.

"If that's what you say, that's fine, Giuliano." Malhimer shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, let's deal with Baron Anthony's problem like this first, we don't have any other way now, remember to sort out the previous investigation records, if the above really wants to hold them responsible, we can also have a reasonable explanation." Major Giordano continued to rub his temples, feeling much better than he had just been.

"However, the Roman order must be carried out, and if it fails again, it will not be possible to prevaricate it with a few reports of inquiry. Our leader will not tolerate failure, especially when he is personally involved. It's really incomprehensible, since the task is so important, why the superiors are unwilling to support us more, and instead send an inexperienced boy over. Giordano couldn't hide his frustration when he said this.

The head of intelligence sighed to himself, the Italian intelligence agencies did not know when it had become so erosive. Before Giordano joined the Military Intelligence Agency, the Italian Military Intelligence Service was the leading intelligence agency in Europe, and it was extremely active in the war, and had obtained many classified information from the Allies. For a time, Italian spies were present in every corner of the globe, and even small countries in the middle of the world were plagued by Italian agents under the guise of commerce and diplomacy.

But when the new century Caesar came to power, the situation became worse and worse, and a group of Mussolini's henchmen were installed in highly professional command positions, while a number of front-line personnel who they considered unreliable were fired. The intelligence apparatus within the army is now filled with the backbone of the fascist party. The funds of the Italian military intelligence were deducted and misappropriated, the overseas agencies were abolished and streamlined, and the personnel were recalled or simply dismissed on the spot.

The root cause of these problems is a change in the philosophy of the top of the intelligence agency, who tried to curry favor with Mussolini, so they had to cater to the "strategy" of the leader, who saw the world as only the Mediterranean coast.

Italy is a country with a long tradition of espionage, and when the Apennines were still in a period of juxtaposed city-states, a large number of spies of various types emerged in Italy, who unscrupulously stole political and commercial intelligence from European countries, bribed officials with money and beauty, and sometimes assassinated some targets that employers regarded as a threat.

At that time, the Apennine spy assassins were notoriously unscrupulous, they had no discipline to accomplish their tasks, and the industry norms followed were to recognize money and not people, and they could do whatever it took to meet their employers, even if they met their closest relatives and friends.

Although the current Italian military intelligence personnel cannot be compared with the secret agents of the past, they also follow the concept of their predecessors, and the spies adhere to their professional ethics, are loyal to their own country and the promises they have made, and are equally undisciplined and have no bottom line when performing their tasks.

"Do we still have a trail of the target?" Giordano also knew that it was difficult for his subordinates to complain, so he turned back to the topic.

"There is no news yet, but according to the original estimate, he should have entered the Libyan border by now, and we have arranged eye-linking in several important towns on the border, ordering them to report to headquarters as soon as they find traces of their targets." Malhimer replied.

"Once the target is found, immediately monitor it, don't act rashly, don't let the other party notice, to prevent the other party from being frightened, destroy the intelligence information he carries, in addition, I plan to dig out some hidden enemies from him, he can't rely on the strength of one person to act alone, there must be a group of accomplices in various places to receive support, the opinion of the Roman side is the same, if there is a condition, we can take this opportunity to dig out the relationship network that the enemy has built in the colony, this involves top secrets, you don't spread it, The future and destiny of all of you are at stake, and you two must keep that firmly in mind. Giordano patted the table and stood up.

"I have to go to the headquarters in the afternoon to attend a meeting, and you will first formulate a plan for how to act, and then hand it over to me for signature and approval."

"Yes, sir." The intelligence officer saluted the supervisor.

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