Benito Mussolini, who is now prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy, came to power by leading the uprising, and the party that supported him was called the National Fascist Party, whose main supporters were veterans of the world war and nationalists, and the party's doctrine was militarism, somewhat similar to that of Japan today, and it was bent on building a strong army and navy, dominating the Mediterranean, and restoring the former glory of the Roman Empire. The Fascist Party also has a military organization called the 'Black Shirts', and the main force of the 'March to Rome' in October last year was the Black Shirts. However, the king and army of Italy actually supported Mussolini, mainly because they feared that the coming to power of the GCD would threaten their interests......"

Huang Yan was pale in the cabin of the heavy cruiser Haitian, dutifully introducing the situation in Italy to Chang Ruiqing. It has been 0 months since he was assigned to Italy as ambassador after the German Revolution was suppressed, and the scene of the Black Shirts seizing power that he witnessed in October last year can be regarded as half of Italy. However, listening to his tone, it seems that he does not have the slightest affection for Mussolini and the fascist party.

Although he had long been aware of what Huang Ying said, Chang Ruiqing was still listening to the other party very carefully - this seasick and dizzy ambassador was on board the Haitian in Alexandria, Egypt, and when he got on the ship, he was already in very bad spirits, and he lay in his cabin for almost two days, and it was not until the Haitian sailed into the port of Naples that he recovered a little, and he came to tell Chang Ruiqing about the situation in Italy.

"Italy has been very weak since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, and for more than a thousand years it was fragmented, ruled by foreign rulers from France, Germany (referring to the Holy Roman Empire), Spain, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Italian aristocracy itself, until it was barely unified a few decades ago. But in Europe, it is still a second-rate country, not comparable to Britain, France, Germany and the Soviet Union. And the Italians are not good at war, they like to live in comfort, and they probably have little interest in the things that Mussolini declared......"

This Huang Yan knows a lot about the situation in Italy. Chang Ruiqing nodded slightly in his heart, and glanced at this "Jiang Department" figure. In fact, he did not know that what Huang Yin was talking about now was not at all the result of his personal observations of Italy. It was the law recognized in the circle of Roman diplomats. There is no real great power in Europe that takes Italy seriously, and there are probably many religious and historical reasons why they are now able to unite and maintain their status as a second-rate power.

But for this "weak European country", Chang Ruiqing is still willing to make friends. Because no matter how poor Italy is, it is also an industrialized country in Europe, and it is at a relatively leading level in steel, shipbuilding, aviation, and chemistry. In particular, Italy's technology in the construction of submarines was very attractive to Chang Ruiqing - Germany was unwilling to provide any help in this regard. They are now under tremendous pressure on land. Therefore, for the time being, the development of the navy will not be considered, so as not to cause any irritation to Britain. Even when it came to exporting naval technology, the Germans were very cautious. Therefore, it is not realistic to cooperate with Germany to develop a navy, and Britain and the United States have very strict restrictions on the export of submarine technology. As a result, Italy became the only possible source of submarine technology.

Moreover, because of Italy's fascist system, Mussolini can make a decision on the issue of technology export, so the friendship with Mussolini, the great leader of Italy, should be strengthened.

At a time when Chang Ruiqing was pondering what method should be used to bring China and Italy closer together. A long whistle sounded, accompanied by the clattering of anchors and the roar of a salute. Then there was the sound of clattering footsteps outside the officer's room. In the blink of an eye, I saw Chen Shaokuan, the captain of the heavy cruiser Haitian, striding in a snow-white naval uniform. Towards Chang Ruiqing is a military salute: "Chairman of the Committee, the Haitian has safely arrived at the port of Naples in Italy, and there is a greeting team organized by the Italian side on the wharf, the scale is very huge!" ”

Chang Ruiqing stood up, straightened his military uniform, and smiled at Huang Yin: "Brother Yingbai, it's finally time to set foot on the land of Europa, let's go down together." ”

……

Naples, Capodimonte Palace.

"Honorable Mr. Chairman. You know, I used to be a socialist, a Marxist, and Marxism is actually an economics, and of course most of it is unfounded -- I broke that. So I went the other way. But there is some truth in a small part of it, such as the Marxist contempt for gold. This metal does not have much value, and I do not understand why gold has become the basis of the currencies of various countries around the world, and it has become a tool for international trade settlements. Why is that? A country does not live on the face value of money, but on real production. It is production that gives money its value. Production is the real preparation of money, and it makes no sense that a bank safe is full of gold. Gold should not be an obstacle to international trade and production.

For example, we in Italy need China's resources, and you China need Italy's advanced industrial equipment, which is enough for our two countries to carry out interconnected trade...... What does this have to do with gold? What does it have to do with the US dollar and the British pound? Why should trade between our two countries be restricted by gold? This is really a ridiculous thing, it is so ridiculous, I don't think we can let this kind of thing continue to exist! ”

The one who spoke was a middle-aged Italian man who was very small, not much taller than Sun Yuexun, and was wearing a blue-gray naval uniform. He was Benito Mussolini, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy. Although he did not personally go to the port of Naples to greet Chang Ruiqing, he still rushed from Rome and entertained Chang Ruiqing to eat Italian-style meals in the royal palace of Naples. At the meal, the Italian leader began to gush on and out his economic views in English, clearly with an Italian accent.

"Neither of our countries is a big producer of gold, China has more gold mines, and Italy basically doesn't produce gold. Most of the world's gold production is controlled by a few countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union, with the largest share being the United Kingdom. Britain controlled gold, and most of the world's currencies were pegged to gold, and world trade was also pegged to gold. Therefore, controlling gold is equivalent to controlling the currencies of all countries in the world! It is equivalent to controlling the world trade and the economies of various countries! They can manipulate gold production to drive up the price of gold, and thus exchange useless stones for our wealth. Nowadays, they don't even have to pay for gold, they just use banknotes that are linked to gold...... It's a total hoax, we all know it. It's a scam. No central bank in the world has enough gold to recover the currency it sends! So it's a kind of plundering, producing gold that has already generated high profits, and then issuing guò banknotes linked to gold to plunder more wealth! And we, the countries that do not have gold, no matter how hard we try, can only be poor countries, and can only become the object of their exploitation! Standing Chairman. Can you see what I mean? ”

Seriously. Chang Ruiqing didn't quite understand. In his previous life, he was well versed in history, but in this life he was a soldier. I can only say that I know a little about the set of things in economics. Mussolini is now talking a bit like a "currency war" point of view, except that the dollar has been turned into gold and the pound.

And the reason why he and Mussolini talked about gold was because of the economy and trade between the two countries. Mussolini's Italy was already a relatively developed capitalist country. According to the Marxist point of view. Italy now needs to export surplus products, such as surplus Masadila sports cars, Prada handbags, Bulgari jewelry, Bologna leather shoes, etc. Of course, there is also the machine qì, the machinery industry in Italy is still very developed, not much worse than the Germans. Moreover, the Italian machinery industry did not serve mainly heavy industry and the military industry, but light industry. This is exactly what is urgently needed by the rapidly developing Chinese industry, which does not have enough foreign exchange and gold to pay Italy. But Italy now also needs to import large quantities of industrial raw materials, which China can provide almost all of them, so Italian leaders, eager to open up overseas markets, have found another way of trading that does not require gold as a means of settlement - barter. In fact, this trade method was proposed by Dr. Jármarschacht, the German Minister of Economy, who had just visited Italy, and Mussolini thought it was good, so he used it to solve the problem of settling trade between China and Italy.

Of course, barter is not as simple as it should literally go up. It's not like exchanging eggs for rice at a rural market or something. It's a bilateral trade between two countries, so it's impossible for importers and exporters to exchange things for things themselves, otherwise the trade can't be done. The so-called barter trade is actually a means of international settlement, which requires two countries to sign a "remittance settlement agreement" based on the principle of a rough balance of bilateral trade, which is a new thing that Dr. Yar Ma Shacht came up with. The general meaning is that the trade between the two countries will be settled in their respective currencies, and the importers and exporters of the two sides will not be able to directly obtain the currency of the other country, and the entire settlement will be carried out through the central banks of both sides.

Specifically, after the Chinese exporter sells the goods to the Italian importer, the Italian importer pays the lira to the Chinese central bank. The central bank of China, on the other hand, pays renminbi to its exporters, and the lira obtained by the central bank cannot be exchanged for gold and foreign exchange from Italian banks, nor can it be carried out of Italy, but can only be used as a payment instrument for Chinese importers to buy Italian goods.

It's a bit complicated to do that. And neither China nor Italy will have a surplus because of trade with each other. However, it can allow China and Italy, two countries with certain economic complementarity, to expand the scale of trade between the two sides in the shortest possible time, and allow Italian production to seize the Chinese market. At the same time, it also allows China to obtain advanced foreign equipment without consuming precious gold and foreign exchange!

"Mr. Mussolini, do you mean that China can buy Italian equipment, but not pay for gold and foreign exchange?" The question was raised by Song Ziwen, now Minister of Commerce of the Nationalist Government, who is also an attaché to Chang Ruiqing's delegation to Europe, and who will be in charge of the planned business negotiations with Germany and Italy.

Mussolini's face was covered with exaggerated Italian smiles, and he nodded his head vigorously. "That's right, it's basically like this, China doesn't have to pay for gold and foreign exchange, and the RMB obtained from Italian exports to China will be deposited in a special account opened by the Central Bank of Italy in the Central Bank of China, which will be used exclusively to pay for Italian imports from China."

Song Ziwen helped his small round glasses and nodded lightly at Chang Ruiqing - Mussolini's proposal was feasible. With the current means of economic supervision by the national government, it can basically ensure that this plan will be carried out smoothly.

"But what can Italy buy from China?" Chang Ruiqing frowned slightly, as if he was still hesitating. "Your Excellency, China's main export commodities at present are soybeans, pig bristles, tung oil, silk and other agricultural products. The market for this type of goods in Italy is very small......"

"That's not a problem. Not a problem at all. The Italian dictator knew that Chang Ruiqing had already moved, he took a sip of champagne, and then said: "China has many things to export, such as oil and all kinds of non-ferrous metals, manganese, black, zinc, lead, and so on." This is what is urgently needed for the development of the Italian economy. By the way, you're building a big oil field, right? ”

"Yes, Manchuria in China." Chang Ruiqing said. "However, the mining of non-ferrous metals is still in the early stages of preparation, although many mines have been discovered. But there is still a process before large-scale mining. ”

"There is no problem, we can provide a large lira loan to China first, but these lira must be used to buy Italian equipment." Mussolini proposed another one more to build yì. "Wait until China's oil fields are put into production, and then use oil to pay back."

Chang Ruiqing glanced at Song Ziwen, who nodded. In Chinese, he said to him: "Yes, Monsieur Mussolini's proposal is feasible, and this method of barter trade can be used not only between China and Italy, but also for our trade with other countries." ”

"...... with other countries," Chang Ruiqing smiled excitedly. That's good news. Ziwen, can you be in charge of negotiating with Italy in this regard? ”

Song Ziwen thought for a while, nodded affirmatively, and replied: "There is no problem, the economic delegation led by me can be responsible for the negotiation." ”

"Similar negotiations with Germany are likely." Chang Ruiqing said again.

"No problem." Song Ziwen said. "The Germans would be willing to barter into the vast Chinese market."

Chang Ruiqing nodded and turned to Mussolini. In English, he said: "Your Excellency, I am fully in favor of using barter to expand trade cooperation between China and Italy. And the cooperation that I expect is not just about trade, but about the broader cooperation between our two countries, especially on military projects. ”

Hearing about military cooperation, Mussolini did not show the slightest belligerent expression. This shrewd little man was well aware that his Italy was actually a weak country. He pondered for a moment before he spoke with a solemn face. Chang Ruiqing listened to what he meant, and he was very well aware of the threat of the Soviet Union to the whole of Europe and even the world, and Italy was willing to provide certain help to the anti-Soviet cause of China and Germany. But the current Italian government still has to focus mainly on the country. Saving Italy's effectively bankrupt economy was his main task as prime minister.

"Economic development is also China's top priority." Chang Ruiqing was slightly surprised by Mussolini's sober mind at this time, but there was no expression in his face. "The Sino-Italian military cooperation I expect is not directed against any third country. It was just some military-technical cooperation, such as the transfer of state-of-the-art submarine manufacturing and torpedo manufacturing technology from Italy to China, and the help of China in designing a medium-sized submarine suitable for breaking up diplomatic relations with the ocean. ”

"Can I understand that China wants to acquire the latest submarine manufacturing technology from Italy?" Mussolini said with a frown.

Chang Ruiqing nodded. "Yes, that's understandable." In fact, he did not want to cooperate too much militarily with Italy.

Mussolini closed his eyes and muttered for a moment, then nodded and opened his eyes. "Ah, I can meet your requests, we can secretly send engineers to China to instruct your people in the production and design of submarines, and I promise to send quite professional engineers. However, this cooperation can only be carried out in the strictest secrecy. Mr. Chairman, I think you know that Britain and the United States are not very appreciative of the development and export of submarine technology by other countries, and Italy's economic revival depends on their loans. He then said to Chang Ruiqing in a very sincere tone: "In addition, I personally propose that when China builds its submarine force, it is best to keep a low profile, after all, the world's major naval powers do not like this weapon very much, and your plan to build 50 submarines has already worried them." ”

"Thank you very much, I'll keep an eye out." Chang Ruiqing speculated that China's search for submarine technology during this period may have upset some naval powers, even though they themselves sold two submarines to China. But two and fifty and a hundred are not the same thing after all!

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