Mediterranean hegemon

Leo frowned: "Why are we holding on so hard? We have already spent 300 million U.S. dollars, and even some of the foreign exchange we had in the early stage has been used. In fact, it exceeds 400 million U.S. dollars. Add an additional 200 million U.S. dollars. Loans are of no benefit to us at all!”

"You don't understand, you don't understand! Leo!" Contini shook his head. "Is this an economic problem? Is this a purely foreign exchange rate problem? No! This is a government credibility problem. Leaders have stated their stance on many occasions. The lira will neither appreciate nor depreciate, and will remain stable. If he says this before, there will be a huge depreciation later on? Where do you want the leader's reputation to go? The government's credibility and fascist prestige will inevitably depreciate along with the currency. And become worthless! Then the party will fall and the leader will step down. Will the United Group be able to survive this war alone? "

"But adding 200 million more is useless... Judging from the current momentum, let alone 200 million, it may not be possible to add another 1 billion."

"No! 200 million is useful." Francisco interjected, "We have calculated that the total amount of large lira dismantled by Italian banks is 18 billion, and it is only a short-term dismantling of 3 months. So far, two days have passed. Month after month, as long as it lasts for another three weeks, the borrowed capital must be returned. Without the lira, what can they use to exchange for foreign exchange? Foreign banks can’t get any lira!”

"But..." Leo was just about to say that the loan cannot be renewed when it expires, but suddenly he remembered the rules set by Contini. Italian banks cannot lend large amounts to external parties, otherwise they will be severely punished and not lend! As long as we survive these three months, we can declare victory like crude oil.

Just as I was talking, someone called: "President, I got news from Siena Bank that they are preparing to lend 3.5 billion lire!"

Contini was furious when he heard this: "Who made the decision! What's Volpi's attitude?"

"President of the bank! Volpi is working on a long-distance phone call, but the other party is arguing that the interest rate is relatively high. Now that Siena Bank has a surplus of lira, we can't just watch the money lying around and pay interest in vain, right?"

If it were the former Contini, he would have loaned it out without hesitation. What would the interest be? But this time he was really angry and slapped the table: "You are such an ignorant bastard, it seems I am too polite to them!"

He made a phone call to Mussolini: "Leader, I want to report to you an extremely urgent situation. The Bank of Siena dared to ignore your instructions and make large-scale loans to foreign countries in violation of regulations, in an attempt to increase the number of international hostile elements attacking the Italian financial system." Ammunition, this phenomenon must be punished!”

"Calais, you're right! What do you think we should do?" Mussolini has been wandering around the Prime Minister's Office for the past two days. Foreign exchange is bottoming out day by day. He also knows that the situation is serious. This may cause the financial system to collapse. This Five years of hard work have been in vain, not to mention that he will also step down. So this time, Mussolini has not dared to use the 100 million US dollars quota given to him by Contini. Compared with money, his own The political future is more important.

He was also extremely anxious when he heard that crude oil purchasing and storage had also been attacked two days ago. Although he did not understand purchasing and storage, he was not lacking in political sensitivity. Open purchasing and storage is the external commitment of the United Group, and it also symbolizes Italy's national credit. If it does not accept or give up, it proves that Italy's national credit is completely a piece of waste paper. Following this inference, the lira currency value will remain The promise of stability was definitely a waste of paper, so when Contini said he wanted to commandeer the lake to store crude oil, he agreed without hesitation and even sent engineers to help. Although the lake incident is over now, the Siena Bank incident cannot just be let go.

"Liberating foreign countries and betraying the country's financial sovereignty is tantamount to treason. Arrest them immediately!" Contini gritted his teeth and said, "Use planes immediately and dispatch the leadership guard to arrest the president and board members of the bank! Anyone who resists arrest will be shot to death on the spot!"

"Is this good?" Mussolini was shocked, "These members have quite a lot of background behind them!"

"Leader, in troubled times, heavy punishments should be used. This is digging into the foundation of the party and your governance. If you can tolerate this, you can pay it back in the future!" Contini advised, "Besides, it is just an arrest, not a conviction. , it depends on the later performance! It’s not up to you to decide whether to kill or release?”

"Okay, then it's settled! I'll send troops right away! I'm going to give these bastards some color!"

After putting down the phone, Leo and Francisco were stunned, "Really want to arrest people? Arrest people for such a thing?"

"This is no small matter!"

“The problem is this is a private bank!”

"Private banks must also accept the leadership of the party. What is unified management? Private banks can do whatever they want regardless of national security?"

"But this violates free economic and market principles."

"I have never agreed that what we are practicing is free economic and market principles." Contini waved his hand, "What is the sentence I said? We want to be rich and strong, not free! Public intellectuals talk nonsense and we need to regulate the banking industry. Capitalists’ nonsense must also be controlled. No one has authority beyond the three flags. All individuals must obey this principle and the overall national interests of Italy!”

The reason why Contini was worried about using the local police force was that he was afraid of leaking the news, so he had to use the Leader's Guard at this time. If he hadn't been concerned about the political influence, he would have sent out the black paratroopers. Mussolini was also in a hurry, and after 15 minutes, he sent out the black paratroopers. All the troops gathered together and pulled Balbo's transport plane to the airport. The United Airlines transport plane was ready for departure and headed directly to the Siena Bank headquarters...

That afternoon, the Siena Bank was infiltrated and everyone was detained. After investigation, it was found out that it was going to be dismantled to a Jewish consortium in the UK. The annual interest rate was as high as 24%, which was an amazingly high rate. No wonder they were crazy about it.

"Did you arrest people? Arrested all the senior executives of Siena?" In the evening, Volpi called and asked angrily, "I am doing ideological work, why did you arrest people? The impact is very bad. Do you know?"

"Count, I know more about politics than you. Is it useful to just rely on you to do your job without arresting people?" Contini retorted back unceremoniously, "With high interest rates on one side and repeated orders on the other, do you think these black-hearted capitalists can Do you think I am helping you? This is how the authority of the Ministry of Finance is established."

"I...I'm going to the leader..."

"Don't be stupid...it's the leader's guards who are going! Haven't you understood?" Contini said coldly, "This is a time when the life and death of the party and the government are related. If the leader steps down, you may still have a chance to continue to be the minister of finance. , but do you think the leader is willing to step down?"

Volpi was speechless.

"Now you can tell the top executives of the major banks that if anyone dares to take risks, don't blame the leaders for being rude. Today they are just arresting people, next time they will be directly shot with machine guns!" Contini said coldly, "The party and the leaders The authority of the government cannot be challenged. All foreign lending will be terminated. All loans may not be extended, extended or renewed. Domestic lending and loans exceeding 10 million lire must be approved by the Ministry of Finance on an item-by-item basis. If they don’t believe it, let them try! The power of the iron fist of fascist dictatorship!”

Francisco looked at this "son-in-law" who was gritting his teeth with complicated emotions, and felt that he was indeed suitable to be a youth leader. At least he couldn't muster the courage to fight to the death with such ferocious tricks!

"All banks in Italy have stopped lending to foreign countries and are very cautious about loans. They also rejected the extension and extension of previous payments!"

"This is impossible! We offer an annualized interest rate of 24%!"

"Nothing is impossible. Yesterday afternoon, the top executives of Siena Bank were all arrested by the army just after they approved our loan of 3.5 billion liras."

"Arrested by the army? What crime!"

“Selling out the country’s financial sovereignty is tantamount to treason!”

"Mussolini really dares to do this..."

"Mussolini didn't dare to do it. This was his good son-in-law's idea! No, he's the guy who wants to drain the lake and inject crude oil into it."

"Little Ciano?"

"Public opinion should be mobilized to allow members of Congress to impeach the head of government and step down..."

"Come on... that's an American trick, and it doesn't work in Italy! 70% of the media in Italy is controlled by the Fascist family. Ciano himself controls newspapers and radio stations. Who will mobilize public opinion? As for the Parliament ? Sorry, I've never heard of them having any major power. They're all Mussolini's yes-men."

"Isn't anyone protesting that he is destroying freedom?"

"Of course not...it would be useless if he did. Little Ciano's slogan is to be rich and powerful but not free! Not long ago he has silenced hundreds of intellectuals, including many heavyweight scholars."

"This is a fucking dictatorship..."

"You just know?"

"Forget it, prepare to retreat, there is no hope..."

On August 24, although the army of foreign exchange exchanges for many consecutive days still existed, it was more of an influx of demand for foreign exchange settlement. The total settlement amount on this day exceeded 80 million U.S. dollars. After the income and expenditure were balanced, a net account of more than 20 million U.S. dollars was recorded. , the second day, and the third day, the net return volume is rising every day.

"It seems that the opponent is retreating," Francisco said. "The exchange of foreign exchange is sporadic, but the settlement of foreign exchange is relatively concentrated."

"Raise the exchange rate by 1% and the local currency will appreciate actively!"

"What, that's too risky?"

"Don't be afraid, just keep an eye on it. The more the local currency appreciates, the more foreign exchange the bank will have tomorrow..."

On August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and sure enough, on August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and as expected, on August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and as expected, on August 27, the exchange price increased 1%, as expected, "Don't be afraid, just watch it. The more the currency appreciates, the more foreign exchange the bank will have tomorrow..."

On August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and sure enough, on August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and as expected, on August 27, the exchange price increased by 1%, and as expected, on August 27, the exchange price increased 1%, as expected, it won’t come out