Mediterranean hegemon

Seeing his son's fearless look, Grandini was also a little puzzled. He knew his son better than his father, and he knew Poti's character best. He had never had this look when he got into trouble before, so he asked coldly: "What's going on?"

"Aren't we just sealing down a few printing plants and detaining some workers and newsprint? What's the big deal?"

"You still dare to be so stubborn!" Grandini was furious, slammed the table and shouted, "Do you know what you are doing? There were more than ten phone calls in the early morning, all questioning me, but I If you don’t know yet, do you know that you have stirred up a hornet’s nest?”

"A bunch of cowards only know how to get angry at you, but why don't they dare to confront the leader?" Poti sat down swaggeringly, "The leader sent someone to instruct me to do this. The leader is very dissatisfied with the newspapers that spread rumors and slander. Originally, the black shirt army wanted to destroy them directly. Considering that we are now in a critical period of forming a government, it is not wise to use force rashly, so we chose this civilized method. Father, don't you read the news published in these newspapers? How do they criticize the leader? Don’t you know that if you can tolerate this kind of thing, will the leader still have authority and dignity?”

"My silly son, do you know that you are being used..." Grandini was heartbroken.

"Good use! It shows that I still have value." Poti crossed his legs nonchalantly and actually mentioned Grandini, "Dad, why did you put me in the alliance? Isn't it just to catch up with me? Is Mr. Ciano going to take advantage of the leader? Now that the leader's meaning has been clearly expressed, are you going to pretend to be deaf and wait? What do you want the leader to think? Your ability to do things will also be questioned, and your loyalty and reliability will be doubted. When the time comes, you will offend not only the Socialist Party and the Liberal Party, but also the leader, and you will not be able to please both sides. Will your position still be secure? "

"You..." Grandini, who had been scolded by his son, was about to get angry when the phone rang unexpectedly. He didn't bother to teach Poti a lesson, so he picked up and asked: "Hello, I'm Grandini. Who are you……"

"I'm Italo Balbo!"

Upon hearing that he was an important member of Fascisti's four-man group marching into Rome, Grandini immediately straightened up and said respectfully: "It's an honor to receive your call. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"The leader is very happy to know that you destroyed the reactionary newspaper printing house. Now is a critical moment for forming the government. Newspapers that slander, spread rumors, and cause trouble cannot be allowed to be published. This will aggravate the chaos! You only destroyed the printing house and did not attack the newspaper office. The strategy is very good. Today, these newspapers are completely invisible in the market. They have achieved their goals without causing greater backlash. They are highly recognized by the leaders. Please continue to strengthen supervision and severely crack down on their arrogance!”

"Yes, I understand."

Grandini put down the phone and sighed. Now he was completely tied to Fascisti's chariot. Although Poti didn't hear the whole conversation clearly, he understood that it was the big shot next to the leader who called. He thought to Conte Ni really didn't lie to himself - the person who added fuel to the fire came at the critical moment, and the fire was well stoked. His father, who had been so stern with him just now, suddenly had nothing to say.

Contini wanted to kill three birds with one stone in this matter: the first was, of course, to use Poti to solve the paper and printing problems for free; the second was to control Grandini and force him to hand over a surrender certificate. Completely on the side of Fascist; the third thing is to make the Black Shirts pay more attention to Grandini. Of course, the police chief of the district is nothing, but the police chief of Rome is very important. Whether there is someone to cover it will decide "Youth News" 》The future in the short term. Making this call at a critical moment is not only for Amboji's sake, otherwise this young man will not be willing to do things next time, but also shows the importance that the party's top leaders attach to Grandini and his Contini energy.

Old Ciano was well aware of his son's intentions, but he did not come forward. Instead, he asked Balbo to make the call for him - how could Mussolini have time to care about such trivial matters now?

At the critical moment, the old Ciano's popularity played a decisive role. Under Mussolini, the four giants (Micebo Bianchi, Italo Balbo, Emilio De Pino; Dino G Landi) are fighting overtly and covertly with each other, but old Ciano has a good relationship with them. In order to win old Ciano's support, this kind of face must be given.

So Contini's tightrope walk on three sides was maintained again by taking advantage of the situation.

"Father, what's up, am I right?" Poti looked at Grandini's face and teased, "Your son has done a great job for you!"

Grandini suddenly cursed angrily and funnyly: "Get out!"

Bo Ji was overjoyed. Saying this meant that the matter was over and the old man would take care of the follow-up matters. It was just that his face was not up and down. He seemed to have won a big victory and walked out happily.

"return!"

"Anything else?"

If Grandini still couldn't see that it was Contini who was causing trouble at this point, he wouldn't be worthy of being the director of the Roman police. But if he could see it, so what? He still wanted to curry favor - who would let him? Are you much closer to the leader than yourself?

He said sincerely: "Learn from Calais and don't do shameless things all day long!"

Poti was smug: "Of course, didn't you see the news that I was received by the leader along with Calais and it was published in the newspaper?"

Grandini was speechless: "Okay, just follow me closely and don't give me any more trouble."

"I know, I know." Poti ran away quickly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

In the evening, the members of the alliance council had a dinner together to celebrate the "victorious" return of Mr. Boti - the newsprint he got was enough for the Youth Daily to deal with for a month. Everyone talked and talked, and soon Boti was so happy that he was overwhelmed and drank three glasses of wine in a row. With this incident as a foundation, everyone finally accepted Boti as a comrade in the same trench.

Someone said happily: "Now the manuscript is ready, and the paper has been found. It can be printed tomorrow. The Youth Daily will definitely be a hit."

"Yes, as long as we pay another printing fee, the newspaper will be published immediately. Now we need to arrange the staff of the distribution department."

Contini smiled: "You don't have to pay for the printing fee."

"Why?"

"The police station has detained workers from four printing factories in total. Today I went to their bosses and finally reached an agreement: as long as I can bail them out intact tonight, they are willing to print for the newspaper for free for a week - of course We have to provide our own paper. "

The bosses who can open printing factories are all people with connections. They found out who did it early in the morning. Although they all wondered why the director's son did such a thing, they couldn't find Botti. In addition, after receiving Balbo's call, Grandini gritted his teeth and insisted on not releasing the workers. He insisted that these workers admit to "assisting in printing illegal publications". The bosses also knew that being caught between the two factions would be a big problem. It is not impossible to smooth things over. First, time is tight. Second, since Grandini said so, he is obviously fearless. If you don't spend money to arrange it, you will definitely not get through.

But after Contini appeared and negotiated, the bosses had a plan in their minds - they had seen Contini and Botti in the newspaper together, and they also knew that this person who organized the welcoming ceremony for Roman students was a powerful figure. The two sides quickly reached a condition: as long as Contini bailed out the people, each of them would be willing to print for Youth for free for a week - just a little labor cost, electricity cost and ink cost, which is more economical than arranging things up and down.

At night, the workers of the printing factory who had been detained for a day and a night were finally bailed out by the Youth League - it was Boti who ordered the arrest, and it was also Boti who ordered the bail!

The overjoyed workers promised to help print the "patriotic newspaper", showing that they were also patriotic workers, not accomplices of the "reactionary newspaper".

The bosses were inevitably heartbroken, because when they asked the police station for the seized paper the next day, the other party said lightly: "I'm sorry, there was a fire yesterday, and all these papers were burned. How about you register it and see how to deal with it later? Oh, I almost forgot, you also need to register the matter of assisting in printing illegal publications to see how much fine you will be."

This is clearly an attitude of not returning the paper. After muttering for a while, several bosses thought they were unlucky. Fortunately, the machines were still there, and the loss of paper was nothing. Soon, this batch of newsprint that disappeared in the "fire" changed its vest and returned to the printing factory in a dignified manner, becoming the "Youth Daily" that was continuously produced.

On the morning of November 12, "Italian Youth" was finally officially published. Even Contini himself did not expect that his inaugural speech would trigger an open confrontation between the left and right wing public opinion in Italy!