Mediterranean hegemon

"Is the Socialist Party restless again?" Antonio asked curiously, "It has only been quiet for a few days!"

“This time it’s not domestic.”

Contini explained the whole story: Army Lieutenant General Enrico Tellini was murdered by Greek extremists when he visited Greece in September and discussed certain disputed territorial topics. This incident caused an uproar, comparable to the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary by Serbia. Mussolini immediately used this as an excuse to put pressure on Greece.

"I know that, but haven't we been negotiating a diplomatic solution?"

"False!" Contini shrugged. "The leader never had the idea of ​​peaceful solution through diplomatic channels from the beginning. He wanted to show force. The reason why he kept talking was to give an impression to the outside world and make us look bad. So aggressive; on the other hand, it’s because the Pope doesn’t want this negotiation to go wrong at this juncture. After the treaty with the Pope was officially signed a few days ago, the leader who has no worries can take action!”

Antonio was startled: "The leader wants to prepare for war?"

"Didn't father tell you just now?"

"No!"

"It's not preparation, it's already a war!" Contini said, "The leader suddenly dispatched a naval fleet and an army to attack. Not only did they bombard Corfu, they also sent more than 7,000 people to land and fully occupy it... Of course, the Greeks were there There is no defensive force on the island, and a few dozen border guards are nothing, so there was no formal exchange of fire between the two sides."

"When did it happen?"

"Yesterday afternoon to early this morning."

“What does that have to do with the Socialist Party?”

"On the one hand, Greece immediately mobilized its own troops, and on the other hand, it complained to Britain, France and the League of Nations. Britain and France expressed close concern, and the ambassadors of the two countries have put pressure on the leaders. The Socialist Party is terrified, thinking that this will lead to a war against Greece and even against us. The war between Britain and France now has no allies in Italy. They think it is extremely dangerous and attack the leader in parliament. "Contini smiled helplessly, "The leader was already very annoyed by the attitude of Britain and France, and the Socialist Party was behind it. Legs, I'm angry. You just called me to find a way to put these barking old dogs back and stop them from causing trouble!"

"Master, you have become the fire captain."

"Everything can involve me, really," Contini curled his lips dissatisfied, "Of course the action of sending troops to Corfu can be discussed, but those people from the Socialist Party have suffered from rickets again, and they actually accused the leader of not launching troops indiscriminately. , I have no choice but to destroy the hard-won good situation - which socialist party are they? Now that the leader has given me the task of counterattack, I will probably be asked to be the villain again!"

"What should we do? We agreed to go to Venice to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the dock construction."

"I'm sorry, Uncle Antonio, I can't get away now, but the shipyard is being built urgently, so I can only ask you to take charge of it."

The United Shipbuilding built in Venice was not completely built from scratch. Antonio used all his strength and gold to open a way, taking over 3-4 small shipyards nearby, and then built the United Shipbuilding on this basis. There is also a large shipyard across the Adriatic Sea - the United Adriatic Shipyard in Trieste. This is a large company with 20,000 employees and can build Italy's highest level battleships. In comparison, this is United Shipyard, and United Group Shipyard can only be called Little United.

Because the docks and slipways owned by the shipyards acquired by Xiao Lianhe are generally small, and they can only build cargo ships of up to 5,000 tons, Contini is very dissatisfied with this, although it is too difficult to catch up with the level of Da Lianhe in one step. However, he requested that at least 20,000-ton ships be built - whether commercial ships or warships - and that the potential for further expansion to 100,000 tons should be retained - ships of 50,000 to 60,000 tons must be built in 100,000-ton shipyards to be more secure. .

When Antonio asked where the personnel came from, Contini blinked: "Isn't there a Grand United Shipyard nearby? Whenever there is a shortage of people, we go to them. The reason why the arrangement is so close is that this factor has been taken into consideration. No matter how much salary they give to their employees, I can add half of it! Also, I will recruit designers, engineers and technicians from various shipyards in Germany. Anyway, Germany’s economy is almost half paralyzed now. Keep them for me and help Germany. Reducing the burden on the people - there is an inexhaustible treasure trove of talents.”

"Master, if you do this, the ship we build will be competitive and the cost will be too high."

Contini smiled at that time: "It's fine if my price is the same as others or even slightly lower. I don't care if I lose money. I can afford to lose this little money! Besides, I don't expect to make money from shipbuilding for the time being. Whether I make money or not doesn't matter to me." Words are secondary, bringing up the entire industrial chain is a big deal, and my promise to build a blue ribbon cruise ship named after her is the serious matter!”

This "serious thing" was so reasonable that Antonio actually didn't know how to respond. After thinking about it, he figured it out. When the time comes, the steel company will provide the steel, and the power system may also be made by oneself. After thinking about it this way, I'm afraid it's really You can't lose much money.

Contini did not attend the groundbreaking ceremony, and Antonio didn't care. He was more concerned about the present: "You are really working hard with the Socialist Party. What can you do this time?"

"I have initially thought of some ways, but we still need to discuss it. Let Dr. Goebbels come quickly. I need his ideas!"

Originally, Antonio didn't care about these political shit, but today he also wanted to see what Goebbels was capable of, so he stayed to listen to what the latter had to say.

After listening to Contini's introduction to the whole story, Goebbels began to think deeply. After thinking for a long time, he only asked one sentence: "Can it be bigger?"

"Yes, the bigger it is, the better, and the more it prevents the Socialist Party from coming to power, the better."

"Then let me talk about some immature ideas." Goebbels quickly said three points:

First, Youth Daily, other newspapers that support the government, and the IBC are going all out to attack the socialists as traitors to the country, having no patriotic feelings, turning a blind eye to the suffering of the people, turning a deaf ear to the damage to the dignity of the country, and being a conspiracy group colluding with internal and external parties, and criticize them;

Second, use the Youth League as a breakthrough point to mobilize young students from secondary and higher education institutions to protest and demonstrate at the Socialist Party headquarters and the residences of Socialist Party members. It is best to injure one or two important people - don't kill them. If you can, set a fire. It would be even more perfect, as students’ patriotic enthusiasm will not be held accountable;

Third, the United Group and other business leaders organized a series of strikes to put pressure on the government and demand that it maintain a tough stance and cannot compromise with the outside world or take orders from foreign proxy parties.

"I believe the leaders will understand this. We can declare the route of the demonstration in advance and let the government send police to protect us. On the way, we can go to the British, French and Greek embassies to throw some rotten eggs, tomatoes and so on, so as to make a fuss. The bottom line is to cause a diplomatic incident, let the government feel that public opinion is fierce, let them straighten their backs, and let Britain, France and Greece feel our strong national sentiment.”

After hearing these ideas, Antonio was stunned. He finally understood why the young master wanted to reuse Goebbels - this is almost a line of troublemakers!