Beiyang reactionaries

Song Hanzhang nodded.

Seriously: "Shanghai was the first city in China to auction land, and the first buyer was Jardine Matheson. Jardine Matheson began hoarding land in Chinese cities seven or 80 years ago. After that, they successively purchased land in Chinese cities. A large amount of land. The headquarters of Jardine Matheson was in Guangzhou in the early years, and later came to Hong Kong. So they have a lot of land and properties in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. In addition to these, Jardine Matheson has offices in Qingdao, Tianjin, Chongqing, Hankou, Cities such as Nanjing, Yichang, and Jiujiang all have land. And they are all in the center of the city, which is a very valuable location. The land and properties owned by Jardine Matheson in these cities in China are estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”

"Ah."

Duan Xun was surprised.

Jardine Matheson is indeed very rich.The old-fashioned opium merchant has a profound background.In addition, riding on the east wind of China's economic development, assets have expanded even more.When they took over those lands in China decades ago, they probably cost hundreds or thousands of silver dollars.But now it's millions, millions.Even the land in the center of Shanghai is estimated to be in the tens of millions.

real violence.

"The third core industry of Jardine Matheson is their shipping company. Jardine Matheson's shipping company is one of the earliest shipping companies in China. It currently has more than 170 ships. It mainly goes to Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Freight and passenger transportation. And they have terminals in eight cities in China, and the location of the terminals is also very good. And the land around the terminals is also under the control of Jardine Matheson.”

Song Hanzhang introduced the core industries of Jardine Matheson.

Just for the three core industries of Jardine Matheson, the assets of Jardine Matheson are amazing.However, Song Hanzhang did not end, and continued: "In addition to these three core industries, Jardine Matheson also has many important industries. Jardine Matheson has Hong Kong Airlines in Hong Kong, with 77 aircraft of various types. Before my country took back Hong Kong, Many cities in China allow Hong Kong Airlines to land."

"Jardine Matheson has a Jardine ship repair yard in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In particular, their ship repair yard in Shanghai is not small. Among the large and small shipyards and ship repair yards in Shanghai, the scale can be ranked in the top ten, and they can simultaneously Two [-]-ton rounds were repaired. Moreover, the technical force of Jardine Shipyard is also very high, and even the British Far East Fleet cooperated with Jardine Shipyard in the early years."

"There is also an elevator factory invested and constructed by Jardine Matheson, which is the first elevator manufacturer in China. At present, 90% of the elevators used in my country are produced by Jardine Matheson's elevator factory. Moreover, the elevator factory of Jardine Matheson manufactures elevators are also sold to other countries.”

"Jardine Matheson also has cotton mills and wineries, and is well-known in China's textile and wine industries."

Duan Xun asked Jardine Matheson, but not Bu Neimen Matheson, because Bu Neimen Matheson may not be as large in assets as Jardine Matheson.But in terms of fame, Duan Xun is also very clear about Bu Neimen.

Because of Bu Neimen Co., Ltd., it has now changed its name to ICI Group.

Compared with Jardine Matheson, ICI Group is more well-known among the top Chinese executives.Because ICI Group is a top chemical company in the world. The products of ICI Group are all chemical products, such as caustic soda, soap, crystal soda, glass, as well as fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, paints, and daily cosmetics.

Originally, ICI Group mainly engaged in the import and export trade of chemical products in China.

As a trading company, sell things to China, and then buy items from China, sell them to other places, and strive for profits.However, with the development of China's chemical industry and the development of China's economy, ICI Group began to invest in the construction of factories in China.

Choose local production, local sales.

The effect is still very good.With the increase of China's urban population, the Chinese people's demand for cosmetics and soap has greatly increased.Including the demand for fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, paints, glass is also increasing.

Let ICI Group's profits in China soar.

Not to mention that ICI Group, as the world's top chemical company, is also the best in the world in terms of technology.Although China's chemical industry is developing rapidly, it cannot fully meet domestic demand.Moreover, there are no outstanding chemical companies in other Asian countries.The result is that the profits of ICI Group's factories in Asia are very good.

ICI Group and China National Chemical Corporation, the two companies are the biggest competitors in Asia.Fan Xudong, an alternate member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is currently the Minister of Industry of China. When he developed the chemical industry in his early years, his biggest opponent was ICI Group, which was also the goal that Fan Xudong wanted to surpass. ICI Group currently owns more than 80 factories in China. Among the foreign capital invested in China, ICI Group is the largest industrial group.It can be compared with General Motors and Ford Motors in the United States.

It can be compared with Swire Matheson and Jardine Matheson, one of the British consortiums in China.

"What do you think?"

"Chairman, during the last European war, Britain also lacked funds. As a result, a large amount of funds were withdrawn from other countries to support the mainland. But even this is not enough, so the UK can only sell their excellent assets in various countries around the world. Overcoming the difficulties. Especially in the US, they sold a lot of important assets to US capital. I think it is just a reincarnation. The UK is besieged by Germany, Italy and Japan, and it is in a very difficult situation. They need to support the mainland at the moment, and they can only be As in the last war, once again chose to sell good assets in their hands. I think this is a good opportunity, and now the UK is asking us. The price of our arms is rising, while the price of assets they own can only be depressed .Especially like Bu Neimen Co., Ltd., they have the top equipment in our country and produce the best chemical products. If you take this opportunity to take down the assets of Bu Neimen Co., Ltd. in China, the chemical industry in our country will definitely be able to improve One floor. Even China's chemical industry will be at the top of the world. Including the assets of Jardine Matheson, we can buy them at half or even lower prices. This is simply impossible to happen in peacetime."

Dai Kan immediately nodded in agreement.

This is a good opportunity.

If there hadn't been a war, how could British assets in China be sold to China so cheaply.Now is the most difficult time for the UK, and it is the right time to buy these assets at the bottom.Seeing that Duan Xun was thinking, Dai Kan continued to work harder and said: "Chairman, there are a lot of British businessmen in our country, and they have a lot of assets. Although I am not sure how the British government persuaded these British businessmen, this is just the beginning. .Once the Anglo-Indian Army and the Japanese Army started fighting in Burma, it would not be possible to end the war in a day or two. After fighting for a year or two, the British-Indian Army will need more arms and logistical supplies. The British and Indian troops will need a large amount of weapons and equipment, ammunition, means of transportation, food, and medicine. The current situation in the United Kingdom is difficult to support the British and Indian troops in a short period of time. At that time, the British and Indian troops will need to continue to purchase these from China Things. If that time really comes, we can recover the assets of those British businessmen in our country at a low price."

In fact, Duan Xun prefers gold.

Moreover, these British businessmen have indeed made a lot of money in China, but there will also be more capital inflows.Duan Xun is not worried about foreign businessmen making money in China. Duan Xun is more concerned about the overall development of the Chinese economy.

Duan Xun doesn't care too much about British businessmen earning tens of millions of dollars a year in China, or even hundreds of millions of dollars.Because compared to China's GDP of [-] billion US dollars, these are nothing.British businessmen doing business in the country will make the money in their hands flow.What is economic development is to let the money in hand flow.As long as the money in hand flows, it can promote the development of China's economy.If their assets in China are recovered, it may not be able to promote China's economic development more than they operate these industries.

But obviously.

The gold of the British and Indian troops has begun to run short.Although the British and Indian troops were collecting private gold in India, they needed too many arms, and the gold was consumed too fast.Otherwise, the British and Indian troops would not adopt such a cooperation model.In any case, China now produces a lot of arms, and selling them to make money is the best way.

It is also a good way to offset with British assets in China.

So nod.

"Yes. I agree with the British and Indian Army's proposal. But gold is the priority, silver is the second, and this is the barter model. At present, the United Kingdom is more anxious to lower the price of British businessmen's assets in China. .”

"Yes."

647

"Prime Minister, there will be no results in negotiating with the United States. Can we stop the war now and make peace with the United Kingdom? Even if we want to, is the United Kingdom willing? And our long-prepared Burmese strategy and Australia plan must be stopped. ?”

1940 4 Month 21 Day.

Japanese cabinet meeting.

Since Tanaka Yoshiichi retired from politics due to an attack and injury, the Tanaka Yoshiichi cabinet completely collapsed.Hirota Koki served as the interim cabinet prime minister, but Hirota Koki only served as the interim cabinet prime minister for more than a month, and he was not able to become the official prime minister.

Fummaro Konoe is succeeding Yoshiichi Tanaka as Prime Minister of Japan.

This is from the top family in Japan, even known as the family second only to the emperor's family, and is well-known in Japan's political and military circles.After Konoe Fumimaro became the Prime Minister of Japan, all the Japanese radicals who entered the Konoe Fumimaro cabinet.

Just like Yosuke Matsuoka, who served as Japan's foreign minister, served as a representative of the Japan Federation of Residents in his early years.Later, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, and Yosuke Matsuoka assisted Hirota Koki in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Whether it was when he was in the League of Nations or when he was assisting Hirota Koki, Matsuoka Yosuke's views were very radical.Yosuke Matsuoka was active in the alliance between Japan, Germany and Italy, and he completed the early negotiations.In the Japanese political arena, Matsuoka Yosuke is the most active figure in maintaining the German-Italian-Japanese alliance and competing for hegemony with Britain and the United States.

There is also Lu Xiang, who is the most radical figure in the army.Hideki Tojo was transferred from Nanyang to China and served as the head of the first department of the General Staff Headquarters of the base camp for only half a year.In addition, Sugiyama Moto, who is currently the Chief of Staff of the General Staff Headquarters, is also the most radical boss of the Japanese military.

And Sadajiro Toyoda, who served as Minister of Commerce and Industry, and previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Navy.When Tanaka Yoshiichi promoted the Triple Alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, the army was very supportive, but there were many people in the navy who opposed it.The navy believes that the British and American navies are powerful, and Japan should not use Britain and the United States as opponents.The navy looked down on Germany even more, and did not want Japan to form an alliance with Germany.However, Vice Minister of the Navy Sadajiro Toyoda jumped up and down, fully supporting the German-Italian-Japanese Alliance.

Such a combination made the Konoe Fumimaro cabinet's propositions radical.

But even if it is a very radical cabinet, the views of these cabinet members cannot be completely consistent.When Yoshiichi Tanaka was there, his idea was to continue to strengthen cooperation with China, and it would be best to make China a military ally of Japan.Pulling China to one's side, establishing an Asian alliance with China, and expelling Western countries are mainly British forces in Asia.As for the United States, it tries to avoid conflicts as much as possible, and more is to adopt deterrent methods to let the United States dispel the possibility of military conflict with Japan.

China still plays a big role here.

With China's support, even the United States must consider their actions in Asia and how to deal with Japan.Therefore, in Yoshiichi Tanaka's diplomatic strategy, although the German-Italian-Japanese military alliance is very important, it is only to use Germany and Italy to attack the United Kingdom and contain the United Kingdom.Tanaka Yoshiichi's final goal is Asia, or Southeast Asia.

Therefore, the relationship with China is no less important than the German-Italian-Japanese alliance.On the contrary, the cooperative relationship with China is more important than the German-Italian-Japanese alliance in some respects.

This is Yoshiichi Tanaka's diplomatic strategy.

After Konoe Fumimaro came up, his attitude towards China was not as enthusiastic as Tanaka Yoshiichi.Konoe Fumimaro, who was born in a big family and aristocrat, looked down on China in his bones.Konoe Fumimaro didn't want to waste Japan's years of hard work.People like southern Sakhalin, Taiwan, and southern Korea don't want to give up.Therefore, the negotiations between Tanaka Yoshiichi and China were all over after Konoe Fumimaro came up.Of course, Konoe Fumimaro does not want to conflict with China, but he no longer regards China as the most important part of Japan's diplomacy like Tanaka Yoshiichi.

As for the treatment of the United States, Konoe Fumimaro has inherited some of Tanaka Yoshiichi's strategies and does not want to have an armed conflict with the United States.

Therefore, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Yoshisaburo Nomura, was secretly ordered to contact the United States to see if a peace agreement could be reached.The two sides first let people from both sides meet and reached a "Japan-U.S. Understanding Plan." On this basis, U.S. Secretary of State Hull and Japanese Ambassador to the U.S. Yoshisaburo Nomura met.

The main clauses of the Japan-U.S. understanding plan include that the U.S.’s recognition of Japan’s interests in Nanyang will lead to Britain’s recognition of Japan’s interests in Nanyang, and mediate the war between Japan and Britain in Nanyang.Japan, on the other hand, agreed to guarantee the interests of the United States in Nanyang and give the United States most-favored-nation treatment in Nanyang.

The U.S. side also stated that as long as Japan withdraws from the German-Italian-Japanese Alliance and promises not to use force against the Philippines, Myanmar, and Australia, the U.S. will recognize Japan’s substantive rule over southern Sakhalin Island, southern Korea, and Taiwan.Once there is a conflict between China and Japan because of these places, the United States will support Japan.

This is the Japan-U.S. understanding plan.

But this plan was opposed by Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka.