Chapter 20 The Great Leap Forward (4)

Goering and Goebbels looked at each other, with uncontrollable excitement on their faces: Although they said they were cooperating with the Youth League, they both knew what they were doing, whether it was the Youth League, Fascist, or Germany. Whether it is the National Socialist Party or the National Socialist Party, there is no obvious difference in the ideological field. If you insist on saying there is, it is the difference between three flags and four flags. There is no problem of national unity in Italy, because there is almost no Italian race around Italy, and speaking German, Countries recognized as the German nation include several parts of Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Poland, all of which are like this... The so-called cooperation actually means tacit permission that the National Socialist Party can also spread in the army.

Of course, tacit understanding always complements each other. Italy will not ask Germans to be loyal to Italy, and the National Society will not ask Italians to be loyal to Germany. We are comrades and brothers, and the level of loyalty is a bit low.

"To make revolution, you must be armed. Judging from the current situation, the spontaneous establishment of stormtroopers and SS forces cannot replace the National Defense Forces, just like the Black Shirts cannot replace the Italian Defense Forces. We still have to base ourselves on arming the army with revolutionary ideas , keep them high-spirited and energetic, and at the same time let them subtly accept the party and its ideas. This is the first prerequisite for you to carry out your work." Contini paused, "Of course you two are too attention-grabbing, so you can't. To come forward frequently, you should properly discuss and formulate an effective method to promote and disseminate. Don't worry. The tribal armed forces in Libya and Algeria are not that easy to eradicate. It may take 3 to 5 years, 10 to 8 years. , everyone, play it safe!”

"Herman, Sickert will come to see the carrier-based aircraft tomorrow. You have to perform well. If you can make him recognize your efforts, things like that in Munich will be easily overturned..."

"Yes!" Goebbels and Goering replied in unison.

Before the start of the next day, Sickert got directly into Contini's car and unexpectedly introduced him to a businessman named Muller.

“You want to ask us to buy oil?”

"To be precise, it's not buying, it's exchanging..." Muller looked very honest and harmless, but the transaction was watertight. "Germany lacks crude oil resources, but is rich in coal and steel, while Italy lacks these. Two things, but now we have oil and we want to make a package deal with you similar to the barter package deal you have with Russia.”

"How much credit do you need?"

"How about 3 million barrels a year? We trade in coke, thermal coal, crude steel or other products."

"That's okay, but why do you have to be so mysterious? I cooperate with six major consortiums. Why don't you just send a telegram or tell Uncle Antonio about this kind of thing?" Contini smiled, "I Normally I don’t care much about the specific business, I will let the president’s office implement it for you later.”

Sickert, who had been silent all this time, suddenly added: "He is not from the six major consortiums. If the six major consortiums intervene, what will happen to them?"

"Huh?" Contini was surprised, "Who are you?"

Mueller squeezed out a smile on his fat, round face: "It has something to do with the palace. I forced General Sickert to help."

"Oh..." Contini suddenly realized that these were the white gloves of the Hohenzollern family. When he suddenly thought about it, he immediately remembered the reason why Sickert stepped down in history. He invited Crown Prince William to visit the exercise without official consent. He was kicked off by Hindenburg, another royalist. There have been different opinions on whether Hindenburg had to get rid of Sickert under pressure or because Hindenburg and Sickert disliked each other. However, according to Contini's understanding, he would rather believe in the latter explanation.

The reason is very simple. Hindenburg himself was a royalist, and the Weimar Wehrmacht was also filled with royalists from top to bottom. If Hindenburg wanted to protect Sickert, then he could achieve his goal by reprimanding him. Why did he insist on getting rid of him? ? This is a very intriguing story. Now that Hindenburg has come to power, in future dealings with the German government, the old marshal will have to be avoided. However, Sickert is still a very capable person. Contini suddenly felt that it would be good to create an atmosphere to recruit him to his staff. .

When he thought of this section, he smiled all over his face: "Since it was introduced by General Sickert and it is related to the Hohenzollern family, I must give you the face. I am also a nobleman. Why don't you turn it over for you?" Times, 6 million barrels?”

"Really?" Mueller immediately became happy.

In fact, during this period, the German business community viewed United Oil with mad envy. Among the major European powers, Russia had oil for a long time, and the United Kingdom also had crude oil from its colonies. Germany could barely accept it, but now even France and Italy They all have oil fields, and they seem to be quite large in scale. Unfortunately, Germany, which has the most developed industry in Europe, does not have any oil fields at all. Every time it relies on others, its mentality is extremely unbalanced.

The importance of oil has become increasingly clear. Ships and warships need oil, aircraft and submarines need oil, vehicles and tanks still need oil. In addition to these, other basic chemical raw materials can be extracted from crude oil. It turns out that Germany is proud to own the Ruhr area, one of the top coal production bases in Europe, but God made a cruel joke with the Germans. Germany has been given enough coal, but not a drop of oil. Before the war broke out, Germany might have been able to look for oil in the colonies, but now it was better. Not to mention the colonies, even the mainland had shrunk a lot.

So finding a high-quality and stable source of crude oil became Germany's top priority, and it would be best if it didn't have to pay for foreign exchange. Romania's crude oil was within reach, but the other party insisted on accepting pounds or dollars, which made Germany very helpless. Although the German economy began to bottom out and recover after the implementation of the Dawes Plan, it was still seriously injured, so how could it have so much money to buy crude oil.

The transaction between the United Group and the Soviet Union opened a window for them. The six major financial groups also tried to cooperate with the Soviet Union in exchanging industrial equipment for crude oil, but this secret and monopolistic business was impossible for small forces to intervene. It was very hopeful to open a gap from the United Group.

The plan clearly announced by the United Group pointed out that the steel production would reach 400,000 tons in 1926 (pig iron and steel were calculated together), which would require about 200,000 tons of coke, and at least 300,000 tons of coking coal could produce so much coke. In addition, the United Group also announced the construction of a power plant with an installed capacity of 2.4 million kilowatts. The equipment can be purchased from the United States, but the coal cannot be purchased from the United States. Nearly 5 million tons of thermal coal are needed here. Another hidden benefit is that the United Group can affect the coal supply of the Italian transportation system, especially the railway system, which is another consumption of several million tons a year.

There are rumors that Italy will use oil-fired boilers to replace coal-fired boilers for power generation in the future because of the discovery of oil fields. The German industrial community believes that it is unreliable. The reason is simple. Mixing oil and coal is feasible and can improve operating efficiency. Purely burning oil? The cost will go up immediately, and the United Group will probably not spend so much money. Besides, whether it is Libya or Algeria, the light and low-sulfur crude oil currently mined is of relatively good quality. It is a hot commodity in the oil market and is much better than Iranian oil. Such a good thing is used as fuel? That is really a waste of resources. Even if you have money, you can't play like this.

The shrewd consortium has long been eyeing this piece of fat meat. They all know that Contini has reached a coal import agreement with the Soviet Union, but this does not mean that the Soviet Union can meet all of Italy's needs. The Soviet Union actually has only one large coalfield in Donetsk, and it has to produce steel on a large scale. It is also tight for itself to use it, and it is impossible to export all of it. Moreover, the United Group is now so large that it is said that it will also start aluminum smelting. These are all large electricity consumers, and they will expand sooner or later.

So Contini is assured that it is not a big deal to hand over 6 million barrels. It is less than 1 million tons, just a drizzle. The United Group will control at least 30 million barrels of crude oil next year (including production and imports from Baku)!

Hearing that Contini gave him such a big face, Sickert, who had been serious and tense, smiled: Although this president's ability to make trouble is a bit too strong, he has the ability after all. When he thought of the young people in the royal family, he felt that in addition to identity and title, the gap in ability was too big.

After getting the note from Contini, Mueller went to the President's Office to confirm it, while Sickert entered the Milan base with his entourage.

The first manual rifle presented to the two is familiar to everyone: the KA prototype!

In fact, it is an improvement made by Mauser based on the G98 rifle. The main changes are that the length of the whole gun is shortened from 1.25 meters to 1.11 meters, the barrel is shortened to 600 mm and a new sight is adopted. Other systems are basically the same. Sickert knew the technical data after a few glances.

After the length of the new rifle is shortened, the effective range is also reduced. Basically, it can only deal with targets around 800 meters, and the accuracy is also reduced compared to the G98. Of course, the benefits are obvious. The shortened rifle is lighter and more convenient to carry. As for the loss of range and accuracy, Sickert is not a conservative person. Everyone understood it in the last war. It is difficult to hit the target at 500 meters unless it is a specially trained sharpshooter. Not to mention hitting it, even if the eyesight is slightly worse on the battlefield, it is impossible to find the opponent. After all, most of the time they are lying down and the cross-section is very small...

Since you can't hit it, why insist on hitting the target 800 meters away? Besides, Mauser has also proposed a solution, which can prepare 4x and 8x optical sights for special shooters. With this weapon, you can hit 800 meters and cause effective damage.

Sickert has no opinion on the performance of this gun, but he is curious why Italy also uses 7.92mm caliber.

Contini said: "The 6.5mm currently used in Italy has been proven to be not powerful enough. The Army Department is bidding for improvements. Many plans have been proposed, including 7mm, 7.35mm, 7, etc. I personally prefer 7.92mm, and it can be used with your country. Bullets."