Beiyang reactionaries

"Yes. And they are all made by Japan themselves, completely standard gold bars and silver ingots."

The trade volume between China and Japan is growing.

But now it is mainly Japan that imports from China, not China that imports from Japan.At present, China basically does not import much from Japan.Because what Japan can produce, China can produce, and there is nothing that cannot be produced.Moreover, in terms of industrial technology, both China and Japan are in the second echelon of the world's industrial countries.Don't look at Japan's industrial development earlier than China, but Japan's current industrial technology is really not China's opponent.

Just like the technology of China's steel industry in the early years, many of them were learned from Japan.Now many well-known steel factories in China are all built with Japanese loans and Japanese technology.But up to now, China's steelmaking and metallurgy have completely surpassed Japan.Because China's current steelmaking and metallurgical technology has softened the technologies of countries such as the United States and Germany.Moreover, China's steel output is increasing. The greater the output of this kind of thing, the more experience it has accumulated, and the stronger its technical reserves.At present, China's crude steel output is nearly 4000 million tons, and this kind of steelmaking experience is very rich.

And the chemical industry.

In the Chinese market in the early years, the chemical industry products were all British and Japanese products.But up to now, China's chemical industry is number one in the world, completely crushing Japan.Don't talk about exporting to China, on the contrary, China is exporting various chemical products to Japan.Even because of the war, Britain transferred all their chemical factories in China.

The same is true for the machine tool industry.

Japan's machine tools are technically the same as China's.Some precision machine tools need to be imported from European and American countries.One of the reasons why the output of many machinery industries in Japan cannot increase is that their machine tools are not good enough.

Even now, China's machine tools have surpassed Japan's in technology.This kind of experience is very important.At present, China produces [-] machine tools a year, which is many times that of Japan.And because China can import machine tools from the United States and Germany on a large scale, Japan sometimes needs to import these precision machine tools from China.

The only thing Japan is stronger than China is the shipbuilding industry.

This is because Japan has been developing its navy for many years, so its technical reserves are relatively strong, but it is only such a small advantage.But with such a small advantage, Japan also needs to import warships from China.Japan's industrial strength is limited, as is the size of its navy.Without China's help, how could the Japanese navy maintain its current size.So in the past few years, Japan has almost unilaterally imported things from China.

This includes various resources, including various light industrial products, and of course many arms.And because the currency was not guaranteed during the war years, countries do not recognize paper currency very much.With such a large amount of yen issued, it is impossible for China to accept yen.In the past, Japan could use some technology to make up for it, but now Japan has no technology that can make up for it.Therefore, Japan can only spend a large amount of gold, silver, and previously reserved dollars and pounds to buy Chinese products.

Duan Xun needs to know the current economic situation in Japan.

However, judging from Chen Guangfu's words, the Japanese government still has no shortage of gold and silver.Gold bars and silver ingots are all made in Japan.

"However, this is the Japanese government's settlement method. We also cooperate with many large Japanese consortiums and many trading companies. Their settlement methods are varied and have everything."

"Tell me."

"Recently Japanese arsenals have begun to purchase our steel. In addition to gold bars and silver ingots, there are other things at the time of settlement. In a business we completed not long ago, Japan took out four tons of platinum and 40 carat ([-] catties) industrial diamond."

"Platinum and industrial diamond?"

"Yes."

Japan is importing more and more steel.

But also understandable.At present, Japan's steel production is limited, and the annual steel production is only 600 million tons.No matter how hard Japan works, their steel output will not increase after it reaches about 600 tons.Because of the limited industrial scale in Japan, it is impossible to have a leapfrog development in steel production.Now that the scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger, this bit of steel is not enough.

Just look at the Soviet Union.

Since the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, more than 200 million tons of steel have been used for the production of shells this year.There are also tanks, airplanes, firearms, and cannons, which consume more than 150 million tons of steel in one year.

Of course Japan is not comparable to the Soviet Union.

However, Japan has been at war for the past year. It produces a large number of tanks, aircraft, firearms, and cannons. In addition to various ammunition for war, it needs millions of tons of steel even if it is not as good as the Soviet Union.

Moreover, Japan is vigorously developing its navy, and the amount of steel consumed by the navy is also staggering.

Of course, other aspects of steel consumption are also very serious.Especially the production of auxiliary war products, such as the production of trucks, tank trucks, motorcycles, engineering shovels, bulldozers, bayonets, helmets, tank trucks, radars, radios, etc., all of which consume a lot of steel.

These are the steels needed for war.The steel consumed for war alone directly accounts for half of Japan's steel production.

In addition to war, a lot of steel is also needed in daily life.Including the production of a lot of machinery and equipment, the replacement of production lines, and those maintenance factories are also large consumers of steel.Even the daily thermos will consume steel at this time.Therefore, Japan's steel production is not enough at all, so Japan now needs to import crude steel from China.

Duan Xun did not expect Japan to use platinum and industrial diamonds to offset the debt.Of course, there is no problem with these offsets, because these are also things that Chinese industry needs.

"anything else?"

"Currently, some trading companies in Japan pay their bills in various ways. Some trading companies even took out jewelry, antique calligraphy and paintings. Some trading companies also took out gold Buddha statues. The weight of Buddha statues is not light. According to our estimation It should have been snatched from a Nanyang temple."

"Antiques in prosperous times, gold in troubled times. Those antique calligraphy and paintings, unless they are extremely cheap, we will never accept them no matter how valuable they are. The same is true for those jewelry, unless they are low prices, otherwise we will not accept them. And those golden Buddha statues, According to the weight of gold, don't mix any other factors. Of course, these Buddha statues have history and value, so they can be slightly higher than the price of gold. Do you understand?"

The Japanese have robbed many good things in Southeast Asia.

But those antique calligraphy and paintings are very valuable in peacetime.But in the war now, including the establishment of the post-war world order, these antique calligraphy and paintings are not bullshit.For Duan Xun, gold and silver are the most important.

Maybe Duan Xun is a bit tacky, but it's true.For Duan Xun, money is the most important thing.

Of course, if the price is low, Duan Xun can accept it.After all, as the so-called flourishing antiques, after the development of the world economy, these antique calligraphy and paintings are also of high value.But at this stage it is not so necessary.

"Yes."

"Director Chen (Chen Guangfu), haven't you found anything? How long do you think Japan's foreign exchange can last?"

"Chairman, we have also discussed this issue. We have also communicated with other departments. I heard that Japan has set up a department in Southeast Asia with many experts in charge of searching for property in Southeast Asia. Those temples and those in Europe and the United States will suffer the most. A merchant's bank. There are many treasures in the temples of Southeast Asian countries, especially the Buddhist ornaments made of various golds. However, judging from the current situation, the Japanese government has a lot of gold and silver reserves, and it seems that it can still hold on. .Including those Japanese consortiums, there should be a lot of reserves in their hands. But ordinary trading companies, they probably lack foreign exchange in their hands. That's why they use those antique calligraphy and paintings to pay the bill."

"No no no."

Duan Xun shook his head.

He smiled and said: "Those trading companies seem to be private companies, but they have the support of the Japanese government behind them. Those trading companies began to use antique calligraphy and paintings to offset their debts. In fact, the Japanese government is short of money. Press down, press down the price. Nothing Whether it's jewelry or antique calligraphy and paintings, those things are priced to my death. If they are not willing to lower the price, then we only want gold and silver, not these things."

"Yes."

Duan Xun gradually had a new idea in his heart.

Originally, I wanted to use the Korean Peninsula to force Japan, or the negotiation broke down and the relationship between everyone gradually became bad.I didn't expect Hideki Tojo to be smarter.But now it seems that the money in the hands of Japan will definitely run out.

What will they use to buy things from China?

"Chairman, Myanmar Prime Minister Bhamo wants to visit you."

695

"Chairman Duan, you are the flag of the Asian national liberation movement, and it is my honor to visit you."

On September 1941, 9, the fourth day of the Asian Joint Conference, Duan Xun met with Burmese Prime Minister Bhamo.This is the request of Myanmar Prime Minister Bamo, and Duan Xun agreed to meet after that.

Bhamo is 48 years old and has received a very good education.

He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge, UK, and received his doctorate at the University of Bordeaux, France.After getting his Ph.D., he has been working as a lawyer in the UK.Bhamo's battle of fame was in 1931 when he defended the then leader of the Burmese uprising army, Saye Shan.Although Sayeshan was hanged by the British in the end, Bhamo became famous in Myanmar because of his defense.

After that, Bhamo started to engage in politics in Myanmar.

When the British divided India and Burma, Bhamo initially opposed it.But soon Bhamo changed his mind, and instead actively promoted the partition of India and Burma.After that, he became more and more active in Burmese political circles. In 1934, he served as the Minister of Education of British Burma, and in 1937, he served as the first Prime Minister of British Burma.During this period of time, he actively fought for the independence of Myanmar and actively fought for more power in the UK.During this process, his relationship with the United Kingdom has also become worse and worse.But in 1940, that is, last year, he was arrested and imprisoned for sedition.

At that time, Japan launched the Burma campaign, and Britain needed the support of Burma.So I had to let Bamo go, hoping that Bamo would organize the Burmese army to support the British and Indian troops.Unexpectedly, after Bamo got out of prison, he ran away soon, found Japan, and cooperated with Japan.Bhamo himself has a high prestige among the Myanmar National Liberation Movement.After Bhamo chose to cooperate with Japan, the leaders of the Burmese national movement followed him and defected to the Japanese.

Including Aung San, known as the "Father of Myanmar", who was later the father of Myanmar Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, currently serving as the Minister of Defense of the Myanmar government established by Bhamo, and the deputy commander of the Myanmar Independence Army.

There is also U Nu, the first prime minister after Myanmar's independence in history, and currently serves as the foreign minister of the Bamo Myanmar government.The personal relationship between these three people is also very good, especially Aung San and Wu Nu are still classmates.In the early years, they followed Bamo in the British Burmese government. Later, after Bamo cooperated with Japan, they also followed Bamo.

This is Bamo.

After seeing Duan Xun, Ba Mo was very excited, and the flattery came as soon as he opened his mouth.Duan Xun smiled slightly and said: "Prime Minister Bamo, our Asian countries and nations are troubled by many disasters in modern times. European and American powers entered our Asia with bayonets and brought us great harm. It is a history of blood and tears for our entire Asian countries and nations. Therefore, all countries and nations in Asia are looking for a road to national independence and national liberation. I dare not say that I am the banner of Asian national liberation. Our China is just It’s just a step forward. I believe that Myanmar can also usher in the day of national independence and national liberation.”