Contini's visit was to some extent Stalin hoped to use outsiders to prove the correctness of his theory, so he gave him a high courtesy. Not only did he clean the municipal appearance of Sochi many days in advance, but he also cleaned up several of the best vacation villas. When Contini arrived at the Sochi Pier by boat, he not only let the People's Commissar (Minister) of the Foreign Affairs (Minister) Chechelin personally greet him, but also held a grand welcome ceremony. Several Young Pioneers in brightly dressed in costume salutes and presented flowers to Contini and Ada. Chechelin also accompanied him on the red carpet, inspected the guard of honor, and fired a salute.

In terms of level, this is treating Contini as Italian Foreign Minister. Although Contini is close to this level in Italy, he has no government status after all, and this has to be said that the Soviet reception staff is very attentive.

Since Comrade Steel is so polite, Contini naturally wants to repay his kindness and lies. When he opens his mouth, he smiles and says: "From the enthusiastic smiles of these Young Pioneers, from the clean and clean and spotless urban appearance of Sochi, I have drawn a preliminary conclusion that under the leadership of the Russian Bolsheviks with Comrade Stalin as the core, the Soviets have indeed undergone earth-shaking changes..."

All the reporters, officials, including Chechelin, were stunned after listening to the translation introduction, because now the Communist Party of the United Nations (Bolsheviks) still emphasizes collective leadership, and there is no such thing as "Comrade Stalin as the core". Soon a reporter from Pravda reacted and raised his hand and asked: "Your Excellency the President, you just called General Secretary Stalin as a comrade. Do you also agree with our revolutionary theory? Do you also agree with Marxism-Leninism?"

After hearing the question, Chechelin breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the reporter was a little politically conscious. He did not ask the "core", but asked such a somewhat "tricky" question. As we all know, Contini is a young revolutionary theorist and an anti-Bolshevik theorist. Now, as soon as this "comrade" is spoken, this matter is very big. Of course, he will not embarrass Contini. As long as he is willing, this news will definitely not be reported tomorrow.

Contini smiled slightly: "The so-called comrade is my heartfelt name to Mr. Stalin. If you only define comrades as people who agree with the Bolsheviks' proposition, then Mr. Stalin and I are probably not comrades; but if you define comrades as the country and the people according to my proposition, and are full of hope to develop your own country, get rid of the oppression of international power, and let the vast majority of the people live a good life, I believe that Mr. Stalin and I have a common language, our party is committed to the great cause of revitalizing the economy and realizing the great cause of national rejuvenation in Italy. Mr. Stalin worked hard in the Soviet Union to restore the economy and realize the noble cause of building socialism for a country. Is this passion and mission of fighting for the country and the people worthy of a comrade?"

Chechelin took the lead in applauding: This sentence is very well said, which not only explains the differences between the two major powers of the Soviet Union, but also shows that there is a common language and common interests between the two, which lays a good foundation for the next step of negotiations.

Contini arrived at Stalin's desk that afternoon. In addition to Chechelin, the person who reported to him personally was Jagda, the second deputy director of the Soviet State Political Security Administration. The Security Administration had a terrifying name, Chika. Derrensky was the head of Chika, and Stalin's close comrade-in-arms and staunch supporter. When dealing with the old and new oppositions, he stood on Stalin's side without hesitation. Therefore, all the Cheka key members from him were from the Stalin system, so he attached great importance to Contini's arrival. The seemingly ordinary people on the dock, except for the Young Pioneers who presented flowers and a few reporters, were all pretended to be in plain clothes. Even these carefully selected Young Pioneers were also second-generation fathers who were well-known and were usually loyal cadres of the party and the government.

"Interesting... Interesting..." Stalin laughed after hearing this and asked Chechelin, "What do you think?"

"The surprises may be more than these..." Chechelin smiled, "I accompanied them to have dinner at noon. During the meal, I inadvertently talked about Italy's repair and modification of the Goben for Turkey. I took the opportunity to ask Italy to improve the Gangut-class battleship for us. What do you think he said? He said, Mr. Minister, why should we improve the Gangut-class? The design of this level of warship is old, and no matter how much it is improved, it cannot catch up with the progress of the world. Now a new warship should be built. The Soviets are not the signatory of the Washington Arms Treaty, and are not bound by this..."

Chechelin intentionally asked this question to see if he could get some cheaper from Italy, and Contini intentionally or unintentionally promoted the construction of Soviet battleships, Mao Bear put more power on the sea, and he had less energy on land, so he enthusiastically promoted the Caraciolo-class battleships, indicating that he could export to the Soviet Union.

"Italy want to build a battleship for us?"

"No, it's better than construction... He said Italy can output drawings, technology is built in the Soviet shipyard, and even send people to help and guide us."

Stalin suddenly became eager: construction and helping to construct are two completely different concepts. The former can allow the Soviet Union to obtain a powerful warship, but the technical level of the military industry is limited; the latter can obtain a slightly worse power (there must be a level difference between self-built and foreign construction), but it can make the technical level rise rapidly. With this foundation, it will not be a problem to build more battleships in the future. This is a fatal attraction for Stalin, who is full of expectations for the large navy.

"What is his request?"

"Money!" Chechelin smiled, "He said that the warship design and the 381mm naval gun technology above can be output to us, and the preliminary price is 3.6 million US dollars."

"This price is not cheap...How much does it cost to build a new Caraciolo class?"

"About $10-12 million, but I think there are still many advantages to this transaction..." Chechelin analyzed, "First, Italy has produced technology and experts in the Soviet Union to undertake construction, and the cost of shipbuilding we invested should not be so much. Overall, it may cost 1-2 million to 2 million more than simply buying warships. The additional $1-2 million is equivalent to getting patents and technology; secondly, he knew that we could not afford it, so he gave a compromise method, and could use agricultural products.

, the primary industrial products offset, and are converted according to the fixed price agreed by both parties, and paid back in 3-4 years, which is exactly equivalent to a shipbuilding cycle, so we don’t have to worry about Italy making trouble in drawings and technology. If they make trouble, they will not get the subsequent money; finally, I think this kind of barter trade is a good way to effectively solve the current difficulties of the Soviet Union’s foreign exchange shortage. We use primary industrial and agricultural products to exchange other industrial equipment, vehicles and other urgently needed materials from Italy, which is conducive to breaking the imperialist blockade."

"Not bad, very thoughtful and creative. You can talk to Comrade Bukharin about this idea. If it works, we will follow this method."

"clear."

Stalin suddenly asked Yagda: "He is only 22 years old, right?"

"Yes, 22 years old, and not graduated from university!" Jagoda took out Contini's complete file from the briefcase he carried with him and respectfully handed it over. He knew that Comrade Stalin must want to see this.

Chika's energy is still quite large. Contini has collected and sorted out all things big and small. Except for the illegitimate child, many other aspects are published in great detail. Stalin glanced at ordinary social relations and let it go, focusing on the United Group. After a few glances, he asked a little disbelief: "His United Group is at least more than 200 million US dollars? Is this what he has torn in three years?"

"Yes, a genius, and has a surprisingly good luck..." Jagoda said in a sentimental tone, "Justice just got the news today. United Group announced that it had discovered large oil fields in the Algerian exploration block, with medium-term reserves of 1 billion barrels and long-term reserves of 2 billion to 5 billion barrels. Although the quality of crude oil is not as good as that of Libyan oil fields, the scale will reach more than 4 times! According to the agreement, in the next 30 years, the United Group can take away 62 barrels of oil per 100 barrels of oil, and the entire capital market is crazy!"

Stalin thought, how can you not be crazy? The oil price is more than 1 USD. If the United Group takes away 620 million barrels in the next 10-15 years, at least 700 million USD is equivalent to the 50 best battleships or the sum of the main battleships of the five countries of Britain, France, the United States, Japan and Italy (only referring to the cost of shipbuilding)!

Chechelin smiled and said, "The interests are so great that the French will not let him be as good as he wants. They will definitely use all kinds of tricks to prevent him from mining smoothly..."

Jagoda shook his head: "It's hard, there's a desert there. What's the reason for not allowing United Group to mine? The spokesperson of United Group also revealed two points: Algeria United Petroleum will be established soon, and next year, we will consider going to the United Bank to go to the United States to raise funds and list. There may be a way to deal with a joint consortium. Once the listing is successfully made, it will be a multinational giant, and facing several or even a dozen top consortiums, the French government will also consider one or two capitalist countries, isn't that the case?"

Stalin nodded slightly and then sighed: "This will cause certain trouble for the Soviets. After a large number of new oil fields are exploited, international oil prices may drop, which will affect our foreign exchange sources. Alas, let Comrade Bukharin deal with these headaches."

Chechlin also reacted: Now the Soviets are relied on exporting industrial and agricultural products for a little foreign exchange. If the oil price falls, it will definitely affect the source of foreign exchange. This is a great challenge to the socialist construction cause, but there is nothing we can do about it. Who made the United Group so lucky?
Chapter completed!