Although the state of war between Germany and France caused by Morocco has been subsided with the mediation of various countries, the impact is very far-reaching. For countries, the Moroccan crisis has accelerated their sidekicks. Anyone who is smart can feel the smoke that is currently wafting over Europe, so all countries have begun to make some necessary preparations.

Other countries aside, Italy, as one of the main participating countries, can certainly feel this breath even more. So, just after the easing of relations between Germany and France, a parliament on national defense and security is being convened.

"Your Majesty, colleagues, at present, our army has 18 divisions, 6 brigades, and several regiments, with a total strength of only 193,000. Its troops, weapons and equipment are the weakest among all countries, which also leads to a very high pressure on our land. And as the situation in Europe becomes more and more uncertain, to the east of us is Austria-Hungary, which has a strong force of 410,000 troops. Although our country and Austria-Hungary are allies, we cannot pin our hopes on our allies. Besides, there is a conflict of interest between our country and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, and it cannot be ruled out that our country will cause a conflict in the future.

To the west of us, France is currently the main threat to our land, which has an army of 530,000, more than 300,000 more than ours. Thankfully, the French were focused on the Franco-German border, so we were able to withstand the pressure. But given the current complex diplomatic situation, our country cannot exclude the attention of the French on our country.

In addition, our country currently has military needs in the Balkans, North Africa, East Africa and the Far East, so the army in these places is also indispensable. Therefore, our army believes that the strength of our army must not be less than 60 percent of the strength of the French army or 80 percent of the strength of Austria-Hungary, so as to meet the basic defensive tasks. ”

In the conference room, an army officer was talking impassionedly about the pressure on the Italian Army, but there was one word in and out of his words, lack of funds.

In recent years, the army has been Wang Xiaoer's New Year, and every year is not as good as the year. Although the Army's funding has not decreased or even increased over the years, the proportion of funding has been decreasing year by year.

The proportion of army spending in military spending has fallen from a peak of 79 per cent (the Tunisian crisis) to 39 per cent now. So far, the Italian Army still has some early rear-loading guns that have not been decommissioned.

Looking at the red-hot movements of the navy next door, who in the army said not to show envious eyes. There was even a small spread of rumors among the army that the king was dissatisfied with the army, so he ignored the army that had paid silently all these years.

And these rumors can also be seen as the Army's complaint that it has not been taken seriously in recent years. But now his Majesty finally remembered the Army, and this meeting is proof of that.

Because this meeting is the Army issue that is being discussed.

In fact, over the years, the government and Carlo have known that the army has had a hard time. But who makes the army not like the navy, can not escort the Italian economy. Therefore, it is difficult for the Italian government, which focuses on economic development, to pump money to the army.

After all, Italy is not financially rich, and in order to develop the economy, it can only reduce military spending. And as an army that cannot escort the Italian economy, it is naturally at the point of priority compression.

However, in the face of the army's complaints, the government has long been prepared, although the army is suffering, and His Majesty also intends to increase military spending for the army, but how much to increase is a university question. You must know that at present, the total military expenditure of the navy and army is nearly 400 million lira, which already accounts for more than 20 percent of the fiscal revenue, which is not a small amount.

So I saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Antonín Aldini, stand up and speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just listened to the Army's speech, and I have been touched by it from the bottom of my heart. We all see the Army's contributions, so the issue of increasing the Army's expenses is also imminent. I propose to add 50 million lira a year to the army to help the development of the army. ”

Aldini's words surprised many people. In particular, the Chief of the General Staff, General Simone, who was the representative of the Army, showed a shocked expression. He also knew how difficult the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Tejera was when the Navy wanted to build ships two years ago. And the new Aldini actually doesn't pinch the government's money bag tightly?

It's normal for Simeone and others to think this way, and people who have always been in charge of finances are not easy people to deal with, because leniency and strictness are the thoughts of everyone in charge of finance.

In fact, for Aldini, who has been in office for more than a year, he must have his own ideas to be able to give 50 million lira a year.

First of all, as a newcomer, although Aldini has worked in the bank and the Ministry of Finance for more than 20 years, he has only been a senior member of the Ministry of Finance for only four or five years, and his prestige is not high compared with his predecessor Tejela. In addition, as a candidate recommended by the Prime Minister and hand-picked by His Majesty, after receiving almost explicit hints, how could Aldini go against His Majesty's temperament.

Grain

In addition, perhaps because of his experience in the bank, Aldini is not as perverted as Tejera when it comes to money bags, and he will be willing to allocate money as long as he is sure that it is urgently needed.

Of course, there is actually a core problem, that is, Italy's fiscal revenue has increased significantly, and to put it simply, the Italian government has money. That's right, that's the key to the new Chancellor's generosity.

As for why the Italian government has money, it is very simple, because the rapid development of Italy's internal combustion engine industry has led to the great development of Italy's petrochemical industry and related industries.

Many of these industries are run by the government, such as Petroitalia, and the Naples Machinery Factory, which has a monopoly on diesel engines and related manufacturing. For example, Petroitalia extracted 4.73 million tons of oil last year, and the vast majority of Europe's oil is currently supplied by Italy. And the profits and taxes paid by Italian oil companies have exceeded the 100 million lira mark in one fell swoop.

As for the Naples Machinery Plant, not to mention, it monopolizes the production of diesel engines in the world, and the plant also uses the characteristics of diesel engines to produce various special vehicles, and life is prosperous. Although the profits and taxes paid are not as large as those of oil companies, they are still more than 30 million lira. This is still to ensure the development of the company, the government only siphoned off half of the profits.

As for Fiat, the largest private enterprise in China, it also pays a lot of taxes, and the tax of 15 million lira is also the highest among private enterprises.

And it is the large-scale development of these enterprises that has made Italy's finances grow very rapidly in recent years. So much so that Aldini, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, was jokingly called by many people as picking up a political dividend.

However, in the face of Aldini's increase in military spending of 50 million lili, although Simeone was excited for a while, he did not agree, but continued to speak. "50,000 lire is still not enough for the current army. Among them, it is necessary to expand the army to more than 390,000, and its expenses on the purchase of equipment and personnel funds are not small at all, so our army believes that an increase of 100 million lira per year is a very realistic figure. ”

Simeone's words startled everyone present. This one has a good appetite, isn't it? As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked for 100 million lira, and he was not afraid of the wind flashing his tongue.

And Simeone's words also frightened Aldini, although the Ministry of Finance's revenue has increased a lot, but the army's appetite is too big, how can this be accepted.

"No, the Ministry of Finance can't take out 100 million lira, at most 60 million lira, and there will be no more."

"Our army owed too much debt before, and it couldn't be done with less funds."

"It's only sixty million lira, and it's impossible to increase it for you."

"Sixty million is not enough, we ......"

"Only 60 million lira ......"

"Our Army ......"

"60 million ......"

After a war of words, Simeone had to accept this condition on behalf of the Army when the Chancellor of the Exchequer bit 60 million lires to death.

Well, the Italian Army has finally come to an end!