When Iwasaki Yahisa took office, he was actively expanding his armaments and preparing to invade China. In July 1894, Iwasaki Yahisa and Shibusawa Eiichi, Fukuzawa Yukichi and others, who were the leading figures in the financial world at the time, initiated the establishment of the "Newspaper Congress". The "newspaper to the National Assembly" preached the "spirit of loyalty to the monarch and patriotism" to the people through this media, and demanded that all the people donate everything for the "victory over China." On August 1 of that year, that is, when Yahisa Iwasaki officially declared war on China, Iwasaki Yahisa and five others held a conference to support the war against China and raise military spending. They appealed: "On the occasion of the start of the war in the Qing Dynasty, people with lofty ideals throughout the country should raise military funds, donate political axes, and fulfill the obligations of the people." ”

The "newspaper to the Congress" not only frantically instigated war fanaticism, but also issued 80 million yuan of military bonds for the political axe, which was a staggering figure given the economic situation of the country at that time. In the end, Ben forced China to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, and the "Newspaper Congress" was called "the greatest merit."

Iwasaki's "contributions" in the Sino-Japanese War did not stop there. At that time, he also handed over the steamship of his subordinate ship called the Mail Shipping Company to the political axe, which was responsible for transporting troops and delivering food. When the Yue army attacked Weihaiwei, the ships of "Mitsubishi" were responsible for reconnoitring the deployment of the Qing army in Weihaiwei and helping the Yue army successfully capture Weihaiwei. After the war, Ito Yuhiro, commander of the combined fleet of the Navy, expressed his gratitude and removed the rudder of the Dingyuan, the main ironclad ship of the Qing army, as a trophy and gave it to Mitsubishi.

Iwasaki Yahisa is so dedicated to the political axe, but in fact, it is not because of how patriotic he is. You must know that before and after the First Sino-Japanese War, there was a total of 250 million yuan in temporary military expenditures, which was equivalent to more than twice the peacetime fiscal revenue. This piece of fat meat finally went to the mouths of chaebols such as "Mitsubishi" and "Mitsui". "Mitsubishi" and "Mitsui" found that it was so stupid to "fight in the nest" in the past to obtain so many benefits from the outside world. Since then, they have feared that there will be no war.

During the First Sino-Japanese War, he received an indemnity of 200 million taels of silver, and he used most of the indemnity to expand the army, and "Mitsubishi" embarked on the road of weapon manufacturing. In particular, since the beginning of the 20 th century, "Mitsubishi" has made great gains in the two wars of aggression against China, and after the end of World War I, "Mitsubishi" has actively participated in the naval arms race between major powers, and "Mitsubishi" has won a large number of orders. Among them, battleships such as "Kirishima" and "Musashi" are masterpieces of "Mitsubishi". "Mitsubishi" relied on arms orders to achieve explosive growth.

For a war-keeping enterprise like Mitsubishi, it certainly won't be idle in peacetime. They sent a large number of intelligence officers to investigate the resource wealth of China and the Far East under the guise of "academics". At present, the most urgent need is the metal used for the development of industry and the manufacture of munitions, and the intelligence of "Mitsubishi" will be of great help to the future of the capital of Asian countries in a targeted resource plunder.

In order to deal a blow to China's economy and help the military realize its dream of conquering China, "Mitsubishi" went so far as to buy opium from all over the world and sell it to China, and make a lot of money on drugs together with the political axe, the military department, and the secret services. In the year when the military's poisoning institutions -- the "Hongji Shan Tang" and the "Guang Ji Shan Tang" opened in China, even though the profits of the "Mitsubishi" increased greatly and for a time became the main source of income for the "Mitsubishi" in China, they did not expect that the good times would not last long, and they were banned and confiscated by the Chinese government in less than a year now.

The world economic crisis caused by the "Great Depression" in the United States has spread to the country, and a financial panic has also broken out in the country, making the economy miserable, a large number of workers have lost their jobs, and carrying "tools" with them to Nanyang to "work" has become a major choice for the women of the country, and the emergence of this situation has brought an extremely adverse impact on "Mitsubishi."

In this unprecedentedly dangerous situation, where should "Mitsubishi" go?

Iwasaki Yahisa stood in front of the portrait for a long time, staring closely into the eyes of his father Yataro Iwasaki on the portrait, as if waiting for his father's revelation to him.

Just then, the door to the conference room opened, and a man in a black suit walked in.

Iwasaki Yahisa recognized the identity of the other party, and he couldn't help but be stunned, and the muscles on his face twitched a few times involuntarily.

"Long time no see, Fujita-kun." Iwasaki Yahisa said, "When did you come back from distant Siberia?" ”

It was the famous industrialist Isamu Fujita who came.

"I have nothing to do but go to the Three Treasures Palace." Isamu Fujita smiled and bowed deeply to Yahisa Iwasaki, "I'm here to bring good news to President Iwasaki. ”

"If you are courteous to others, you will ask for something." Iwasaki Yahisa stepped forward with a smile and moved a chair for him, "Fujita-kun needs my help in any way, just ask." ”

"I'm here to borrow money." Isamu Fujita said, "After the deed is completed, double the return." ”

"Oh?" Iwasaki Yahisa listened to the price offered by Isamu Fujita, and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, "There is such a good thing?" ”

"Of course." Isamu Fujita said with a smile, "I think President Iwasaki won't let go of such a good opportunity to make a fortune, right?" ”

"What is a good opportunity to make a fortune, tell me about it?" Yahisa Iwasaki asked.

"Real Estate in Shanghai." Isamu Fujita replied.

"Shanghai is a great place." Iwasaki Yahisa immediately understood what Isamu Fujita meant, and nodded, "But ......"

"'Mitsui' has already started, President Iwasaki may not know yet, right?" Isamu Fujita knew Iwasaki's worries and said, "If Mitsubishi doesn't do it, there won't be many opportunities left." ”

Listening to Isamu Fujita's words, Iwasaki Yahisa couldn't help but chuckle in his heart.

October 12, 1933, Shanghai, Jiaotong Building, Headquarters of the Bank of Communications.

"The changes in Shanghai are even greater than those in Yanjing." Yang Shuoming stood in front of the glass window, looked at the tall buildings rising from the ground in the distance, and sighed.

"Yes! Take our traffic building as an example, it is now the tallest building in Asia, and there is nothing higher than this. Liang Shiyi said with a smile on the side.

"But I'm worried that this prosperity will become empty because of the relationship with the United States." Yang Shuoming said.

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, the smile on Liang Shiyi's face couldn't help but stiffen.

For Yang Shuoming, the young "God of Wealth", Liang Shiyi has always admired him, and in his impression, Yang Shuoming has never said such deflating words, so his face turned blue for a while, and he looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"So, the incident that Han told me a while ago is about to happen?" Liang Shiyi asked in a trembling voice and looked around, although there were only two people in this hall, Yang Shuoming and him, he was still afraid that someone would know about the conversation between him and Yang Shuoming.

"Look at it." Yang Shuoming handed a letter to Liang Shiyi and said.

What was contained in the envelope was the secret about the US political axe that Zhang Yating, who was far away in the United States, transferred to him through secret channels as quickly as possible.

After reading the letter, Liang Shiyi was already a little untenable.

"Europe and the United States have successively abandoned the gold standard currency system, and it turns out that they are so attentive." Liang Shiyi returned the letter to Yang Shuoming with a trembling hand, "But what should we do in China?" Do you want to be like them? ”

"We Chinese people still don't know much about the catty in this currency system, which is the same as Britain and the United States, but I'm afraid that you and I will have to fall to the ground." Yang Shuoming sneered and said.

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Liang Shiyi took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead, as the "Liang God of Wealth" in China's financial circles, of course he knew that Yang Shuoming's words were not alarmist.

Because until now, China has been a silver standard country, and it is the only silver standard country in the world.

From the late 19th century to 1931, with the exception of the First World War and the early 20s of the 19th century, the gold standard constituted the basic framework of international monetary relations. Most countries can exchange currency for a certain amount of gold when they are required to pay and form cross-border links on a fixed exchange rate basis. For historical reasons, China is the only country that uses silver as the basis of a country's monetary system, which makes China unique in the international monetary system, but it is not incompatible with it. On the one hand, outside of China, the price of silver, as an international trade commodity, is affected by many factors and does not take into account the Chinese economy, and on the other hand, China's foreign exchange transactions, that is, the trade between Chinese currency and foreign currencies on the silver standard, are not subject to any control. In this way, China's financial market is closely linked to the world's silver market, and China's exchange rate is inevitably affected by changes in international silver prices.

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, China's unique experience in it underscores China's unique position in the international monetary system. From 1929 to 1933, when most of the world was suffering from severe deflation, only the silver standard China did not experience a massive price decline, because the price of silver on the international market fell sharply relative to the gold standard currency, allowing China to avoid the adverse effects of the first two years of the Great Depression.

Since the middle of the 19th century, the gradual adoption of the gold standard by major countries in the world has led to a continuous increase in the supply of silver, and the price of silver has shown a downward spiral. It is worth noting that one of the main reasons for China's economic prosperity is that China has gradually integrated into the world economic system since the Opium War, and by the 30s of the 20th century, China's economic openness was very high.

The international silver price fell for four consecutive years beginning in 1929, and its value fell by almost half. Since China is a silver-standard country, the decline in the price of silver relative to the price of gold is equivalent to a depreciation of the exchange rate of the Chinese currency relative to the country on the gold standard, and the price of Chinese products measured by the price of gold is cheaper than before, thus benefiting China's net exports. During this period, when the major Western countries returned to the gold standard (in 1929 almost all the market economy countries joined the gold standard, except for a few Latin American and Asian countries), China was the only major country in the world to implement the silver standard, which isolated itself to a certain extent from the depression of the world economy and experienced a brief period of prosperity. However, the brief boom that the silver standard brought to China's economy from 1929 to 1931 was reversed in the fall of 1931, and by 1931, the countries around the world had abandoned the gold standard one after another due to the impact of the Great Depression. In 1931, Britain took the lead in abandoning the gold standard, in September of that year, the pound sterling broke away from the gold standard, in 1932, the yuan broke away from the gold standard, and in 1933, the United States abandoned the gold standard.

For the consequences of the rise in silver prices, whether it is Yang Shuoming, a traverser, or Liang Shiyi, who is in this era, they all know it quite clearly.

On the one hand, the rise in silver prices will lead to the loss of competitiveness in China's commodity exports, the bankruptcy of the smallholder economy, the depression of urban industry, and the massive outflow of silver, gradually forming a trade deficit. On the other hand, a large amount of capital has withdrawn from the industrial economy and poured into the banks and the property market, resulting in a superficial boom in the real estate and financial industries, and as asset prices plummet, the bank credit supported by the superficial prosperity will fall into the black hole of asset bubbles, and the collapse of real estate will violently shake China's financial market.

Silver Surge - Exports Hurt - Silver Outflow - Business Closures - Falling Prices - Shrinking Assets - Bank Credit Collateral Insolvency - Real Estate Collapse - Rent Collapse - Collapse of the Real Estate Bubble - Financial Turmoil - Bank Collapse - Economic Crisis Intensifies - Social Crisis Intensifies...... This dangerous link will become a noose on China's head and strangle China's modernization in the short term!

"Isn't there an agreement to buy and sell silver? How can they just go back on their word? Liang Shiyi shouted a little frantically.

Due to the bankruptcy of the major countries in the crisis of the gold standard, a large amount of monetary funds hoarded in the gold market were transferred to the silver market, and silver speculation caused sharp fluctuations in the price of silver. In order to stabilize the world silver price, eight major silver-producing or silver-using countries, including the United States, China, and India, signed an "International Silver Agreement" at the World Economic Conference in London in July 1933. It stipulated that the United States should buy no more than 35 million ounces of silver per year, and China promised not to sell the silver obtained from the destruction of silver dollars in the late Qing Dynasty. But with less than a year to go, the United States is in breach of its international obligation to stabilize the price of silver.

In the information sent back by Zhang Yating, it is clearly indicated that the US political axe, under the pressure of the "silver group" in Congress, is about to prepare to pass the "Silver Purchase Act". It stipulates that the United States government will try to raise the price of silver to $1.29 per ounce by means of purchases, or increase the share of silver in the United States monetary reserves to a quarter. These policies will cause the price of silver to rise quickly and sharply. Some Americans also have objections to the possible impact of rising silver prices on China, but the "silver group" said: The purchase of silver by the United States will increase China's purchasing power and stabilize its own silver mining industry, and it will increase the burden of other Western powers in purchasing resources and raw materials in China, and the silver produced by the United States for the state can also purchase resources in China to control China's finance, so that the products of the United States, as a major resource country, will have a more competitive advantage in the international market. It can effectively help the United States out of the crisis. Fueled by these plausible rhetoric, the U.S. political axe has begun to work out the specifics of the Silver Purchase Act.

Zhang Yating's intelligence also mentioned that Britain, under the pressure of the American silver policy, for its own financial interests in China, even suggested pushing China to change the silver standard to issue paper money, because China must also be linked to the most financially powerful Britain and the United States, which controls the most silver.

"There is no free lunch in the world, and it is impossible to succeed if we want to truly achieve monetary autonomy and not be controlled by others, without special historical opportunities and additional huge costs." Yang Shuoming said in a deep voice.

"But as you said, we're all going to be guillotined!" Liang Shiyi hissed and howled, completely losing the demeanor of the "Liang God of Wealth" who was dominant.

"There are two sides to everything, and sometimes bad things can turn into good things." A strange smile suddenly appeared on Yang Shuoming's face, "Does Liang Gong know that since the late Qing Dynasty until now, China's finance has never been autonomous?" ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Liang Shiyi couldn't help but be stunned, he thought about it, nodded, and shook his head again.

Seeing Liang Shiyi's plausible expression, Yang Shuoming sighed in his heart.

The knowledge of this "Liang God of Wealth" is actually far from a real banker.

In order to better exert his strength in this era, Yang Shuoming deeply studied the history of China's financial development. According to his estimates, China's national income in 1880 was about 2.78 billion taels of silver, and the taxes of the common people accounted for about 3.2% of the national income of the Qing Empire at that time. Based on this tax rate, based on the estimation that China's gross national income in 1903 was about 3.28 billion taels of silver, the total debt of 650 million taels of indemnity for the First Sino-Japanese Indemnity and Gengzi Indemnity was about 20% of the national income in 1903, which was a little lower than the proportion of China's 2.9 trillion yuan of national debt to GDP (21.6%) in a certain period of later generations. From this point of view, the fiscal and national debt situation of the late Qing Dynasty was no worse than that of later generations. Therefore, in terms of the amount alone, defeat in foreign wars will not cause China to collapse. But the problem is that because China did not have a modern financial system and corresponding financial derivatives at that time, all the silver in circulation in China was only 6 to 1.1 billion taels, so under such a huge foreign debt, the silver depreciated externally and appreciated internally, and the currency invasion of the Western powers greatly plundered China's resources, so that China's annual outflow of wealth amounted to about four "Treaty of Shimonoseki" indemnity. This is why China has not been able to effectively build its own financial system.

Asking the Western powers to give up such huge interests and make China gain financial readiness to integrate with the world financial system is tantamount to seeking the skin of a tiger.

(To be continued)