Chapter 18 Help (2)
"What mission do you need help with?" Old Ziano asked suspiciously.
"Miss Ada is coming to Rome..." Contini's first sentence shocked Old Ziano, and then he said slowly, "The leader asked me to take Ada to have fun and go shopping during the summer vacation. Father, you must know the logic behind this, right?"
Having said this, Old Ziano could only nod awkwardly: "Uh... this... this... The leader did tell me this, I thought he was joking."
"Father, this is true, the leader will not joke with me like this, and a father will not joke about his daughter's future life." Contini sighed, "Do I have a choice in this matter?"
Old Ziano wanted to nod directly, but after thinking about it, he felt that it was inappropriate. Isn't this a trap for his son? He said quickly: "Galai, things are not as set in stone as you think. The key is still up to you. If you don't like it, I can help you turn it down. Our family doesn't have to rely on this means to get to the top. No matter who you like in the future, as long as I think it's suitable, I will definitely try every means to win it for you. Of course, you should also understand the leader. From a father's perspective, he did nothing wrong. He wanted to choose a son-in-law who was excellent in all aspects for the future happiness of his daughter. He didn't directly force Ada to you and force you to accept it. He just let the two young people get to know each other. Even if there is no such consideration, based on the relationship between me and the leader, can't you take his daughter to play and go shopping during the summer vacation?"
Old Ciano's words are still objective. Accompanying the Prime Minister's daughter to play and curry favor with her is an opportunity that other flatterers can't snatch. This is not only the case in Italy, but also in Britain. If Winston Churchill hadn't curried favor with Asquith's beloved daughter Violet, who was about to become the Prime Minister, and pretended to be in love with her, how could he have jumped out of the cabinet all of a sudden? As for Churchill's abandonment of her and his new love, that was only after his position was consolidated.
Hearing what old Ciano said, Contini was at least half relieved: his father didn't seem to trade his children's happiness.
Although Contini didn't know how Ada saw him now, he was sure of one thing: in history, Ciano and Ada were not only a perfect match in the eyes of outsiders, but they were also true love. Although they had a little disagreement in the middle, they finally reconciled. When Ciano was about to die, Ada pleaded for her husband at all costs. After Ciano was shot, she took out the "Ciano Diary" with a lot of precious information and published it with her pregnant belly.
In a sense, he was very grateful to Ada. Although he had traveled through Ciano, the fate and feelings of historical figures could not be easily betrayed or ignored.
The father and son discussed for a long time and had a relatively clear understanding of the whole matter: just as Ciano had originally thought, Dai Vicky's advice was just a fuse. The deeper reason was that Mussolini wanted to consolidate and expand his power. He was very optimistic about Contini's performance and ability in the past year, so he wanted to recruit him as a wing. It was easy to recruit others as confidants, but it was not easy to recruit Contini as a confidant. Mussolini wanted to tie the two families together through marriage. Before making this decision, he had to test Contini's loyalty again, so he tried to merge the Youth League into Fascism.
In the final analysis, Mussolini did not really care whether the more than 10,000 people in the Youth League could join Fascism. He cared about Contini's attitude towards him. From accepting the order without hesitation at the beginning to putting forward these ideas and opinions the next day, he was very satisfied with Contini's performance - he was not only loyal, but also smart and flexible, and not blindly loyal, which made him very satisfied. This impression score ultimately determined two things: first, according to Contini's revised requirements, let the members of the Youth League voluntarily join the Fascist; second, Contini was included in the priority list of son-in-laws and allowed to contact Aida.
From Mussolini's perspective, he also had to guard against someone approaching his daughter and threatening him in the future. Although this kind of threat would hardly work for a politician who was truly cold-blooded and ruthless, Mussolini did not want to give others this opportunity yet.
Once the matter of accompanying the play was settled, many political forces and patterns would be reshuffled - high-level politics is so subtle.
Contini thought for a moment and smiled, "It's okay. I'll just accompany Miss Ada to go shopping and have fun. She's still a little girl. If I make her happy, she'll go back and tell the leader, and some people will be in trouble."
Old Ciano naturally knew who would be "unlucky": if Mussolini got positive feedback from Ada, as a reward for the goodwill of Ciano and his son, the noisy Dai Vicky would definitely be sent away by him - this is the routine and secret of political transactions.
The next day, through Rossi and Marina's mouths, the news of the "future prince consort" was secretly spread among the top leaders. This was very important news to many people - it not only meant that the relationship between Mussolini and the Ciano family was closer, but also involved the arrangement of the future successor and the second generation of leaders. Those present were all shrewd people who could see the big picture from the small details, and a little clue could allow them to deduce the huge movement behind.
On July 16, more important news came out: the top leaders of the Youth League collectively voluntarily joined the Fascist Party, and Contini himself was personally introduced to the party by Mussolini and Balbo. The day after the oath of joining the party, the Fascist Party issued a document announcing the establishment of the Youth Department, with Contini as the Minister of the Youth Department and the leader of the Fascist Youth. At the same time, other backbones of the Youth League were arranged to work in the Youth Department, and only an old Fascist backbone who was also the liaison officer of the Youth Daily was arranged to serve as the deputy minister.
At the same time, the Fascist official newspaper published a long editorial article, repackaging Contini's theory that day that "only Fascists can save Italy, and only loving Fascists and supporting the leader is true patriotism" and solemnly launching it.
This gave the top leaders a clearer signal: the second-generation successor selected by the leader has officially surfaced! Although the political successor is the most unreliable position in the world, there are still many people who are willing to fight for this position. Of course, no one in Fascism could compete with Contini for the position, because everyone else was too old. Before the establishment of the Youth Department, the youngest deputy minister was 34 years old, while Contini was only 20 years old! In terms of family background, ability, and achievements, no one could compete with Contini for this position!