My Italy

In fact, for Foreign Minister Aoki Shuzo, what can be achieved in negotiations with the Italians? Can they talk about lowering interest rates, or can they allow Italians to borrow money without collateral.

If these fail, what can we talk about? Is it possible to allow Italy to limit its loans to domestic products?

This is certainly impossible. It can be said that Italy would rather lower interest rates than give up this requirement.

In this case, what Aoki Shuzo is talking about is of course the scale of the loan. Can 200 million lire be the same as 300 million lire?

Since it's different, doesn't it need to be discussed?

So Aoki Shuzo instructed the Ambassador to Italy Teppei Osawa and the Italian Foreign Minister Bacona to discuss how much to borrow.

For Teppei Osawa, Japan's ambassador to Italy, he would of course go all out to negotiate with Italy on this issue.

So every day, Teppei Osawa could be seen rushing towards the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with high spirits, as if he was going to attack to the death.

However, Osawa Teppei felt a little baffled about the subsequent negotiations. It was nothing, but the talks went very smoothly, which made the high-spirited Osawa Teppei feel a bit unreal.

But if you want to be untrue, then if you propose that you want to modify interest rates or no longer limit your purchases to Italian goods, you will immediately be slapped hard by reality. Italian Foreign Minister Bacona, who was negotiating with him, told him directly that the two were non-negotiable. If it doesn't feel right, you can terminate the negotiation.

Faced with such a tough attitude from the Italians, Osawa Teppei dared not continue to test. He could only negotiate within the framework set by the Italians.

After all, this matter is more beneficial to Japan, so how can we not talk about it.

This "extremely difficult" negotiation took half a month to basically reach an agreement. Italy provided Japan with a loan of 300 million lire, and Japan used salt taxes as collateral. The loan interest rate is one cent, and it is repaid in ten years. Japan needs to repay at least 50 million lire of principal and interest every year, which is quite high.

But Japan is very willing to borrow this loan because it can ensure that the Italians will not interfere in the Far East.

Wrong, to be precise, in the exact words of Italian Foreign Minister Bacona. "Our country will not interfere in the dispute between your country and Russia, no matter what method you use to resolve it. But if the dispute occurs within Shanhaiguan, then it is related to Italy's interests, and Italy will definitely intervene."

That's right, Italy made it clear directly that the battle between Japan and Russia can only be guaranteed in the Northeast region, and will intervene if it exceeds the limit.

In fact, this is not just Italy, but also the British Empire, the boss behind it. Of course, the British Empire dared to give a guarantee because it relied on its own strength, but Italy's guarantee was a bit opportunistic, because Italy knew that the Russians would not enter Shanhaiguan.

Well, in any case, the loan agreement reached between the two countries is unanimously supported by both countries.

Of course, Italians are also very resourceful. The money is already in place and placed in an Italian bank designated by the Japanese government. It can be used and withdrawn at any time, which is quite satisfactory.

One more thing needs to be said here: the Italian government has already made money from this loan to Japan.

First of all, this loan with interest of up to 1 penny has attracted the covetousness of domestic banks in Italy. 10% interest rate, where can I find such a high interest rate? Of course, it is impossible for the government to let banks make money away. Directly offering an interest rate of 5%, banks also went crazy. You must know that this kind of loan between countries has a very high repayment ability. It is an absolutely high-quality loan and there is basically no possibility of defaulting on the loan (Spain, take two steps). This is a business that is sure to make money without losing money. For banks, this is their favorite business. After some competition, four banks, including the Bank of Florence and the Bank of Savoy, obtained the qualifications to lend to Japan.

Can I get a loan at this time? Don't be busy yet, because there is still one more step, and that is the issue of material procurement. Because this loan from Japan can only be used to purchase goods in Italy, this money is also a small supplement for Italian industry.

Especially for the military shipbuilding industry, Japan will definitely spend 70% of its loan amount in their industry.

The reason is very simple. Since we are preparing for war, there is no reason not to buy guns, artillery, and ammunition. Moreover, Japan is here to buy ships this time. It is reasonable to have money to add a few other warships at this time.

So after the money was deposited into the designated trading account, the purchasing army from Japan also arrived in Italy. For this loan of up to 120 million yen, the Japanese government is also vigorously promoting procurement plans in various industries.

From mining, metallurgy, transportation, electric power, textile and other industries, Japan has spent a lot of money purchasing equipment and technology. Of course, these civilian facilities and equipment have a significant role in promoting the growth of Japan's national power.

Inexpensive Compared with civilian purchases, Japan's large-scale purchases in Italy using loans are more reflected in the military.

For example, in terms of artillery, Japan has a deep understanding of the power of the God of War, so it purchased more than 400 cannons of various types in Italy, and of course also introduced many technical drawings of artillery.

In addition, a lot of guns are also purchased, especially the Italian Carcano rifle, which is favored by the Japanese. They believe that this Italian rifle is better than their latest 30-year-old rifle, so I hope to obtain the technology of Carcano rifle and improve my own rifle.

Faced with Japan's request, Italy certainly would not refuse and proposed that if Japan purchased 50,000 rifles, it would give away all the drawings of the rifle.

Yes, although the Carcano rifle has been finalized for more than ten years, the Army's improvement requirements for this rifle have not been lowered over the years. Therefore, this year, the Army is preparing to propose a plan to improve the rifle. Therefore, Japan is not afraid of giving the Carcano rifle drawings, and the latest model is being designed.

In addition to rifles, Japan has also purchased some of the currently popular Maxim heavy machine guns. However, given the extremely high rate of fire of the Maxim, it is not particularly popular with the Japanese Army, which likes to save ammunition with one shot.

Of course, Army equipment and so on are all clouds. For the navy, Italian battleships were well-known and were the most beneficial complement to the Japanese navy (if loans were available).

In view of this, the Japanese Navy will certainly not be polite. The warship procurement plan for two Garibaldi-class cruisers, one Genoa-class battleship, and eight other various warships simply failed to pass the review of the Japanese government. The battleships were directly cut off because the British ambassador had already informed them about the issue of purchasing battleships. There is no need to offend your boss for some things.

Therefore, in the end, the Navy only received two equipment and patrol ships, ten other warships, and some procurement of warship equipment and technology.

Of course, if you load all these things together, you can easily spend 100 million lire.

This money is not spent, especially when Japan needs to prepare for war.

The 300 million lire loan provided by Italy this time did not stay in the hands of the Japanese government for three months before it was spent. The remaining 67 million lire was reserved by Japan for emergencies.

Of course, the Italian industry is also developing well, stimulated by this order from the Japanese government.

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