Mediterranean hegemon

"President, the Libyan exploration team sent a telegram saying that oil has been found..." Zakaria entered the office with a happy face, holding a telegram paper and reporting, "Three high-quality and high-yield oil wells have been found, with reserves of no less than 200 million barrels."

Contini was overjoyed and laughed: "Sure enough, the $1 million was not wasted."

"The exploration team sent a telegram saying that they plan to continue exploring around because they suspect that this oil field is not just what they have discovered so far..."

"Let me see the telegram..." After reading the content above, Contini suddenly calmed down and tapped the table and said, "Let me think about it... Things may not be handled so simply."

Zakaria was puzzled. Isn't it better to explore more? Why would the president have concerns? He was afraid that the leader would ask for more money if there was more exploration? Although there might be problems, the leader was still easy to talk to. Besides, even if the money was increased, the United Group would not lose money.

"Send a telegram to the contact person and ask him to explore more in the surrounding area, but be careful. Don't explore again after the reserves exceed 500 million barrels... Leave it for later!" Contini suddenly gave such an answer.

"Why is this...?"

Zakaria is not only a backbone of the Youth League, but also a trusted subordinate. Contini didn't want to hide it and pointed out: "Who controls the Mediterranean now?"

"Great Britain!"

"Who controls the supply of crude oil in Europe?"

"Great Britain and the Netherlands?" Zakaria asked uncertainly.

"That's right. Great Britain controls Iran's crude oil supply. The UK also has influence in Romania's oil fields. Dutch Shell controls East Indian crude oil. These two countries are in the same boat after all." Contini asked grimly, "If we only found a small number of oil fields, they might not take it seriously. If we found oil fields with large reserves, good quality and close to Europe, what do you think the British will do?"

"War! Grab Libya!"

"If Britain sets out from Egypt now, we are no match for the army or navy. Italy will lose everything..." Contini smiled, "So the Libyan oil fields must be controlled to a certain scale, and then slowly revealed as Italy's strength rises! As long as we control Libya, the underground oil will be ours sooner or later, and it can't run away, so what are we afraid of?"

Now Zakaria finally understood, and he immediately nodded to execute. Now he finally understood that the president wanted to use the backbone of the Youth League as liaisons and send Roman guards - it's easier to control his own people.

This arrangement was not enough. Soon Contini went to visit Mussolini and reported to him the discovery of Libyan crude oil. Mussolini was still thinking about how to ask Contini for the original shares, but he was surprised when he heard the next sentence: "Leader, the situation in Libya is unstable, and tribal armed forces are rising one after another. We must send more forces to suppress them. If we don't suppress them, there is no way to smoothly realize mining."

Mussolini nodded solemnly. This was not an exaggeration by Contini, but it was true.

"In addition, I have another concern..." Contini whispered the concerns he and Zakaria had expressed, and Mussolini became nervous after hearing it. Although the British were unwilling to fight now and had a good relationship with Italy, he knew very well that the British were absolutely profit-oriented. If the interests of Libya attracted them, this would definitely not be a problem. But if they went to war with Britain, Italy would definitely not be able to win with its small body, and once it lost Libya, fascism would fall immediately.

So he asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

"First, send more forces to Libya, not only regular troops, but also increase the Roman guards and volunteers; second, limit the oil field reserves and mining scale to a relatively low level, so that the British will find it unprofitable... Third..." Contini pondered for a long time, showing embarrassment, "I don't know what to say."

Mussolini hurriedly said, "You tell me, what else is there to hide between us."

"I have another piece of intelligence showing that Algeria also has oil fields. I want to take this place to mine... Of course, I believe that the French must know that Libya has oil fields now. If I want exploration rights, it is estimated that it will be difficult to give up. But whether they give up or not, as long as France also has oil fields in North Africa, what do you think?"

Mussolini's brain immediately turned rapidly. This matter is really very important. With his personality, he would definitely be unhappy to give the French an oil field for free, but Contini's assumption was also right. If Italy had oil fields in Africa, and the French also had oil fields in Africa, Britain would not have to fight again - it would anger the public! This can balance the sense of crisis of Italy being attacked by Britain after discovering the oil field.

After thinking for a long time, he finally decided that the safety of Italy and Libya was paramount. The French have oil fields, so they have oil fields. Anyway, he didn't expect to do oil business with the French. After thinking it through, he said with a painful face: "This matter must be handled well, and people should try to feel that it is a miracle in business..."

The French oil field intelligence that Contini has is the Hassi Messaoud oil field located in northeastern Algeria and the northern end of the Sahara Desert. This is a large oil field that can squeeze into the top ten in the world. Although the quality is not as good as Libya's oil, it is large in scale and should be more eye-catching.

He was hesitant to reveal this news, because the direction of history might be completely different, but he did not dare to bet that the British would be indifferent after the discovery of Libyan oil, so he had to find a balance point. Apart from the United States, the only one who could balance it was Britain only had France, and France happened to have no oil fields, so he was very interested. Finally, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind to give the French an oil field for free - of course the United Group would have interests, otherwise the French would not know the exact location.

On May 29, Antonio sent a telegram to the ambassador whom the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs was familiar with. Because of his meritorious service in handling the German issue, this ambassador has now been promoted to the director of the European Department. He may even become the deputy minister in the future. , expressed the United Group’s intention to explore for crude oil in Algeria and hoped that he could match up.

Mr. Director is very happy. Firstly, the benefits of his matchmaking are inevitable; secondly, if the United Group can really discover oil, the situation in which France's energy lifeline is controlled by others will definitely change - France fails to control the Ruhr area, which makes France seek a stable The coal supply base is in ruins. If it can be solved with oil, he believes that it will be of great help to his career - why can't I be the foreign minister? Although the news that Sanlai United Group discovered oil in Libya has not yet spread, The senior management had some ideas, and he believed that the other party was not just talking nonsense.

As expected by Contini, the French government is very concerned about oil field exploration and energy supply. It really wants to do it on its own and is not willing to involve the United Group at all. But it doesn't know how to start on its own, because France is not there. Algeria has been exploring for many years without success, and no consortium in the country is willing to continue to engage in venture capital, so in the end it took a hard blow from the United Group - the five-year exploration fee is US$1 million. If no discovery is made within five years, , the French government will receive 1 million for free; if oil is discovered, the United Group will be given 30-year mining rights, and the extracted crude oil will be split 50-50 between the two parties. After 30 years, all the mining equipment and equipment will belong to France.

Contini naturally refused to suffer a loss: 1 million exploration fees would be fine, and it would be too ugly for the French to split it 50-50. The United Group invested so much in equipment, sites, and exploration, and in the end it ended up with the French government, which had nothing to do. Can you only get 50%? Isn’t this making wedding clothes for others?

Finally, after three weeks of negotiations: the exploration rights remained unchanged and the mining rights were finalized for 40 years. The two parties shared accounts at a ratio of 62%:38%. The crude oil taken by the United Group did not need to pay export taxes - the last two points were completely forced by Antonio. Come down, Contini really can't do such a time-consuming thing as negotiation.

Of course, Contini has another idea: after the Algerian oil fields are exploited, the French will definitely invest in other aspects of exploration. Maybe Algerian oil will be developed earlier. With this oil field, it would be different without this oil field. It will change France's military strength - because France was not plagued by oil shortages during World War II. But it's different for the axis. When Germany pushes France away, and faced with the large amount of crude oil in North Africa, will Hitler continue to go to the Balkans and fight to the death with the Soviet Union, or will he come to North Africa? He did not believe that the French would blow up the oil wells themselves.

The second strategic level is to change the energy structure of Europe. Currently, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands control Europe's oil supply. Only a small part of U.S. crude oil can be transported to Europe. The overall energy source is still dominated by coal. But if several large oil fields If it is developed, the price of oil will drop rapidly and the supply will increase. In this way, the energy structure will undergo drastic changes. For Italy, the lack of coal is almost unsolvable. Even if Contini passes through, coal cannot be produced out of thin air, but if There is so much oil, why can't we use oil to replace coal?

This was a key step in changing his strategy. He thought about it for a long time before slowly making this move! If we continue to follow the original historical time and space strategy of the Axis, even if Italy can be a little stronger, I am afraid it will inevitably fail in the end. We must provide history with a new variable, and we hope that history will take a different fork in the road!

Will it eventually become uncontrollable?

It's not impossible, the butterfly effect is no joke, but Contini's CEO's temper got worse, and he made up his mind: I'll do it first, what if I die after having fun?

Therefore, two pieces of news were circulating in European diplomatic circles in July: the first was that the Italians discovered a medium-sized oil field in Libya; the second was that the United Group went to Algeria for exploration. It is said that there is oil there, and it is also working with France. The person signed the contract.