Mediterranean hegemon

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The crude oil terminal has also built a new oil depot, but the capacity is not large, with only a capacity of 2 million barrels. Toth said that another 5 million barrel depot is under construction and will be completed by the end of 1929. By then, Tripoli will be almost It can store 1 million tons of crude oil, which is almost equivalent to 45 days of oil production. He believes that this scale is basically enough.

Following Toth's pointer, everyone also saw the factory area. Several new factories have been built in Tripoli recently, all under the auspices of the United Group: One is a power plant with an installed capacity of 450,000 kilowatts, which can supply nearby areas. The power required, the special feature of this power plant is that it uses a natural gas and oil mixed combustion boiler. This is also the first thermal power plant in the world to use this energy for power generation. It is not that the United Group has money to use up the bag, but It was Libya that discovered a large amount of natural gas during the oil extraction process. Except for the Chinese laborers and lighting street lights, some of this natural gas was wasted. In order to make effective use and reduce costs, natural gas was used as the main energy source. At present, the regulating ability of natural gas is not strong. In order to ensure the combustion intensity, some crude oil is introduced. Since Libya does not produce coal, coal must be imported forcibly, so crude oil can be used directly. Of course, the power plant still has Phase II and III projects, and the installed capacity will be expanded to more than 1.2 million kilowatts in the future. This number may not sound like much, but it is actually the same as the electricity consumption in Italy 10 years ago.

One is an aluminum processing plant under construction for the production of aluminum ingots. The design capacity is to produce 40,000 tons of aluminum per year. However, it is still in the preparation process. The factory building has been basically completed and the electrolytic aluminum equipment is waiting for it to be in place;

Another one that is only beginning to take shape is the refinery. At present, Italy has built new refineries in three cities: Genoa, Venice, and Naples. The fastest Genoa refinery is already capable of external production, but the output is very low and the annual refining capacity is However, it is only 1.6 million tons, and the other three cities are only 5 million tons. Contini believes that refining should be done nearby, and plans to set up a medium-sized refinery in Benghazi and Tripoli, with a scale of roughly 1.5-2 million tons. Due to the construction Due to capacity constraints, the factory would not be completed until at least 1931.

In addition to several key large-scale factories, there are also some small supporting factories, such as brick and tile factories, repair shops, machinery factories, etc., all paving the way for subsequent construction.

Agnes laughed: "That's because Monica is so beautiful, and they really don't trust you. If you don't believe it, you can change her to an uglier secretary. Let's see if they will still be like this."

"But the ugly secretary is inefficient at work. Your son is making hundreds of thousands of li in business every minute. Who can we turn to if he is inefficient?"

"You talk to them about this, don't talk to me, I don't care about it anyway... I don't care whether you have one more or one less!"

"You have a wrong attitude..." Contini laughed playfully, "What does this imply?"

"I think Monica is a pretty good kid. She has worked so hard to serve you, so she has to give you a little bit of sweetness." Agnes said, "She knows your situation. If you don't control this kind of person, If someone else gets her next to you, tell me what dangerous things will happen. She is a woman, and I am also a woman. We need to understand each other. Her heart is all about you now. Even if you let her die, she will be afraid. She is willing to do so, but on the other hand, what if one day she gives up and her thoughts are not with you but with someone else, will she want you to die? "

Contini was speechless. Only then did he remember that among these people, his mother and Monica were the most congenial: they could not control their ambitions and used various methods. It seemed that Monica accompanied them when choosing clothes and shopping. There was no shortage of efforts to please Agnes on various other occasions. Otherwise, how could such a strange thing happen where the mother spoke for the secretary?

"Isn't this difficult to arrange? Something will happen if the grape trellis falls over..."

"So we need to give some sweeteners...Does it mean that a man can't please a woman when he gets married?" Agnes said angrily, "If you can't give me shares, you can't give me a house or some jewelry? Although she The salary is high, but her job is worthy of the salary, and now she needs something extra to compensate for her feelings. House jewelry can solve some problems, and other problems can be solved appropriately, of course not according to Vivian and Adriana. It’s up to you to solve the problem, I’m here for your own good!”

Contini understood, and walked up behind Agnes obediently. While rubbing his mother's shoulders, he said: "You have to speak...you have to state the pros and cons to others. I always feel like saying this I’m making excuses for stealing food. What should I do if the grape rack falls down and I can’t pick it up?”

He had just rubbed it a few times when Agnes was already baring her teeth and yelling: "Okay, okay, I don't want you to rub it. You can't even keep up with your father's level, let alone compare with Monica." ”

"I understand. It turns out that she still has the ability to rub her shoulders. I can ask her to rub it for me anytime."

"You can do it anytime, but you have to wait until after you get engaged! After getting engaged, the little girl will definitely be the most disappointed. Let me come out and tell you..." Agnes said, "Now you just need to tell me, what do you have?" No thoughts? Do you have feelings?”

"How do you expect me to answer this? Say yes, it seems that I have a bit of that... Say no, it seems that I am too inhumane."

"Stop being so gloomy. You're just a secretary. You can do whatever you want. No, what do beautiful secretaries of big conglomerates do?"

On September 27, Contini, as the special envoy of the Italian state, visited the Far East aboard a fleet with the Count of Cavour as its flagship. In addition to this battleship, the fleet also included the newly commissioned heavy cruiser Trieste. Due to the initial funding from the United Group, these warships started construction earlier than the same period in history. They were all completed and commissioned from June to July 1927. They just needed a process to carry out long-distance voyages. This time, by the way, On a diplomatic mission to the Far East.

As usual, the first stop of the visit was North Africa: 7 days ago, new news came out about Libyan oil field exploration, and the prospected recoverable volume increased by 30%. This suddenly pushed the valuation of Libyan oil fields upward, and even promoted the Now everyone knows that if any new project is developed in Italy, the first choice is to find Union Bank for financing. After opening the branch in New York, the US dollar deposits absorbed by Union Bank have expanded like a balloon.

In the last foreign exchange war, Contini used stocks and crude oil shares to pledge the last 200 million U.S. dollars to get 100 million, and then the U.S. branch of United Bank provided the remaining 100 million. The two parties had a prosperous relationship.

Up to now, the number of Chinese workers and their families working in Libya has exceeded 150,000. Huang Xinguo’s education has also been booming. Not to mention primary schools, even junior high schools have been established. In order to show their integration with Italy, primary and secondary schools have been established. Italian courses are offered and must be mastered as a compulsory course. At the same time, the tradition of military-national education in Contini was followed, and military-national education was promoted in all schools for the children of Chinese laborers in North Africa, and Boy Scouts were organized and trained, requiring obedience to commands, respect for teachers, and love for leaders. Who is the leader? Huang Xinguo naturally did not dare to put himself in the position of leader. The leader he introduced was Contini.

I believe that the President is not only a good friend of the Chinese people, but also the spiritual leader of all Chinese workers in North Africa. The President is also the boss! Of course, he arranged a new role for himself: the president's Chinese assistant, and the chief principal of a school for the children of Chinese workers in North Africa.

Since he was very effective in managing the Chinese workers, was familiar with the situation in Italy, and was a sincere member of the Youth League, Contini also ratified this fait accompli and assigned him a new position: General Representative of the Chinese Workers in North Africa.

Therefore, Huang Xinguo now has two titles: mud-legged people call him Mr. Huang, and educated people call him General Representative.

The General Representative is still very cautious and does not dare to form a political party. He only dares to mobilize among North African intellectuals and establishes the "Three Flags Important Thought Research and Study Association" and emphasizes the need to spread fascist and nationalist ideas into the country. However, people There are really not many, there are only 26 people in total, but they are all intellectuals, and they are all teaching intellectuals. The first and most valuable consensus they reached was to prepare to implement this idea in a subtle way in the classroom.

Mudlegs and laborers may not be able to learn what the "three flags" are, but these grown-up students will definitely understand them in the future. Huang Xinguo has received a promise from Contini that as long as Chinese workers are qualified, Chinese will be able to serve as presidents in some technical positions in Libyan factories, docks, and ports in the future. He will not discriminate against Chinese people, and even said that they can be employed after a certain number of years. A special policy is to issue "green cards" to allow Chinese workers who meet the conditions to live in Libya. Huang Xinguo doesn't understand what a green card is, but he understands it. This shows that Italy is ready to conditionally recognize the right of residence of Chinese workers. This is an amazing achievement.

Contini couldn't help but be shocked, because Chinese workers actually grew vegetables in pots in the non-oasis area of ​​Libya. The soil inside was all silt dredged from the port. What they grew was not potatoes, but pure green vegetables. vegetables, and the scene is not small, with signs of being spread on a large scale. This ability is said to have frightened the Italians. Toth admired it very much and thought it was a "miracle on earth". He stated that the UNRWA charges as much as the vegetables that Italy eats are shipped from the mainland, the Soviet Union, and Turkey. The price Not only is it expensive, it often goes bad in the summer, so it is not as good as the current harvest.

So the Chinese workers have another way to make money, and the vegetable gardening women can make money.