Chapter 76: Secret War (8)

"What do these wooden signs say? I don't understand"

"Sir, there are mines ahead, dangerous..."

"Hmph, you're just being mysterious, keep moving forward." With the officer's sneer, the whole army continued to move forward.

But the "boom" sounded soon, blowing away three people in one breath. Everyone gasped, stopped and dared not move again. They circled from the outside and tried a second time with a horse, but they were still killed by mines.

The minefield of the United Group has been initially formed. Looking at the oil fields in the distance, the officers were furious but had no way to report the news to Pétain who was in charge in Algiers.

Pétain also scratched his head and said he was speechless. He was a veteran who had fought in the last war and knew how difficult it was to clear mines, not to mention the desert area with similar terrain and landforms, where sand rolled from time to time to cover the traces. It was almost impossible to solve. He had no choice but to send a telegram back home, and then let the country contact Italy, and then Italy contacted the United Group. After this big circle, another 4 days passed.

Contini instructed the workers to continue burying, while arguing with the French: According to the contract, he firmly grasped the clause "United Oilfield can take necessary measures including but not limited to hiring armed security guards to guard the oilfield", believing that mines are defensive weapons. As long as they do not offend the oilfield, it will not cause any harm at all, let alone violate the contract.

As for the French request to clear out the suspicious armed elements in the oilfield, thank you, we will clear them out ourselves.

What? You must come and see it yourself, you can! Put down your weapons and come in, I'm afraid you are pretending!

These replies made René and the others jump with anxiety, but there was really no way. Briand couldn't think of what to do. He consulted the military. If he insisted on breaking through the minefield, he could only use artillery fire and human lives. But his purpose was not to destroy the oil field. He just wanted to teach the Italians a lesson. There was no need to spend so much effort. As for attacking with the army, it would really cause an uproar. The last time the Italians made a movie, it was embarrassing enough. At least it was bayonets. What should we do this time?

Moreover, someone in the military said it very clearly. There are already mines. I am afraid that the guards of the United Group really have tanks-anyway, they have already inquired about it. United Defense produces tanks!

During these days of verbal battle, both sides were not idle. Pétain sent planes to investigate, Contini kept people laying mines, and tankers kept taking crude oil from Tripoli. Now the oil output has stabilized at 5,000 tons a day, but Contini still registered more than 3,000 tons a day in the account registered to the French. Anyway, you French people are not coming, so naturally I say how much is what I say.

"Did you see clearly that the Italians are laying a lot of mines?"

"Yes, sir..." The pilot swallowed his saliva and reported to Pétain, "I found that at least 2,000 people are laying mines. The minefield covers a very large area, almost blocking all the passages."

"Then how do they get in and out by themselves?"

"There are no mines on the side facing the Libyan demarcation line."

Pétain smiled bitterly and shook his head. There were no mines on the side facing Libya, but he couldn't let the troops bypass Libya - that would mean he crossed the border. If the other side did something bad and used the army to ambush, he wouldn't even have a place to cry.

"And..." the pilot said cautiously, "The Italians have many more planes than us. When I was conducting reconnaissance, three fighters followed me closely and made malicious moves towards me, but they didn't open fire."

"Fighters?" Pétain was furious. "The Italian Air Force's fighters actually violated the airspace?"

"It's not the Italian Air Force, it's United Airlines under the United Group." Someone explained, "United Airlines was pulled up by Ciano Jr., the so-called Second Air Force with a full set of militarized equipment. All the personnel are civilian personnel and company staff, but the equipment is all first-line military equipment - the United Group has its own aircraft factory, which is still very large; by the way, they have the United Rifle Company and the Bereda Military Industrial Complex... I read a report last time that said the United Group is the fifth largest armed group in the Mediterranean. In my opinion, based on the current ranking, it can squeeze out Greece and rank fourth."

The top three are of course the British Mediterranean Fleet and Colonial Forces, the Italian Fleet and Army, and the French Mediterranean Fleet and Army. The problem is that Pétain now has only 30 battalions of the Foreign Legion, not only do they not have many tanks and planes, but even the number of machine guns and artillery is not sufficient.

"That can't violate the airspace!"

"The other party explained that this part of the force is under the oil guards. They only fly in the oil field area to expel and warn armed elements with bad intentions."

Pétain was furious. It was clear that the Foreign Legion was also regarded as armed elements with bad intentions.

He understood more clearly: Ciano could use these forces directly because he did not need authorization and funds from Italy, but Pétain could not. He must have a clear order. But did Briand dare to give this order?

At the moment of back and forth wrangling, the situation in Morocco, which had just been suppressed, broke out violently again. This time the style was completely different from the last time. It was replaced by the same routine as Algiers, vest-style suicide explosions, Sickert cocktail bottles, and the only thing missing was to tell the French that I was the troublemaker.

Is there any evidence?

Of course not!

The Roma floating airport had already slipped away after delivering the goods, and now it has returned to the Italian port. Where can I find someone to settle the account?

Brian was so angry that he cursed in the Prime Minister's Office every day and wanted to tear Contini into pieces. But even if he cursed a hundred times, he still couldn't hurt him. And the information reported by Pétain made him more and more confused. The more shocking:

...The United Group Oil Guard is said to be a security force, which is no different from the army, and its equipment is better than that of the general Italian Army. According to incomplete statistics, there are about 5,000 oil guards active in the oil field area, with 40 tanks and 70 armored vehicles. It has a fast marching column with motorcycles and trucks as its core. The number of artillery is unknown, but it has a large number of heavy machine guns and other army equipment, as well as more than 200 first-class fighter jets and bombers. Its strength has an overwhelming advantage over the foreign legions. Installing mines and defensive fortifications requires paying a heavy price and deploying superior forces to win the battle.

It is necessary to increase at least 30-40 battalions on the existing basis, including 50 tanks and armored vehicles each, and more than 150 aircraft...

At the end, Pétain almost told Briand clearly that the opponent had more people than us, better equipment than us, and was still in a defensive posture. I couldn't beat him. If we fight hard, even if we don't consider the political risks, the casualties will be huge.

What makes Brian even more troubled is that now that Morocco is in such a mess, how can he leave Morocco alone and worry about the oil fields? Little Ciano is just trying to protect his own economic interests. No matter how strong the military force is, he will not overthrow the Algerian regime, but things in Morocco cost lives.

But he couldn't swallow the tone of United Oilfield. As the leader of a big country, he couldn't even restrain a small consortium. How could he be willing to accept it?

At this time, someone suddenly reported that Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands had sent an envoy. The main focus of concern was the joint oil field issue. Now Algeria's oil fields have become the focus of European business people. Although everyone does not approve of Contini's unscrupulous actions, this does not mean that they can accept the French's desire to unilaterally tear up the relationship with a business group by force. Contract - everyone has a contract. If the French can tear up the contract with United Group at will, does it mean that they can also tear up contracts with other companies in the future? This head cannot be opened, at least not now.

Contini is in the front, and Antonio is doing his best to mediate in the rear. One thing he insists on is that the contract must be fulfilled. The French cannot use force to force the United Group to accept it, so the Queen of the Netherlands is here to be the peacemaker. Of course, the relationship between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom Very close, so he obviously has other purposes.

“As a small shareholder of the Algerian oil fields, we regret the current situation and the intensifying French-Italian conflict... We believe that the United Group’s setting up of the oil pipeline in Tripoli has certainly eroded the interests of France. But the French government’s attempt to use administrative or forceful means to make changes is also unpopular, and we hope to come up with a compromise approach.”

"Tell me about it..."

"United Group will transfer another 1% share of crude oil to France, and France recognizes that crude oil is exported from Tripoli." The other party said slowly, "Now the oil pipeline can output more than 3,000 tons of crude oil a day, and it is expected to reach 5,000 tons or even more in a few months. If you exceed 8,000 tons, you can get an additional 25,000 tons of crude oil quota a year, and this is a net benefit.”

Brian was very unhappy and said with a low face: "Is France's status as a great power so worthless? Just bought us with a mere 25,000 tons of oil?"

The other party smiled and said: "We actually don't care who owns the United Oilfield, but what we care about is that it cannot be destroyed by force. The British once had a plan to use economic means to squeeze out the Italians... I think this may be more important. It is easy to gain understanding and recognition from European countries.”

Now Brian finally remembered the plan given by the British. At that time, he thought it was too troublesome, too long-winded, and took too long. But now it seems that it is no longer possible to use force to win a quick victory. In that case, the ship will have to capsize, and he can only The next best thing is to switch to the British soft knife solution.

"1% is not enough. Give us at least 3%. Also, he must stop those little tricks for me. Don't think that I don't know from whose hands the rebels' things are flowing out..." Brian gritted his teeth and said, "I can promise not to use force, but I can never let it go."

"Of course, the dignity of a great country cannot be challenged!"