1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 539, who are you fighting for?

MacDonald’s conditions are very demanding. For example, they require the prospecting and mining rights for the entire Korean Peninsula for thirty years. During this period, they must provide them with national treatment in North Korea. Japan must provide them with national treatment so that they can compete fairly with Japanese companies.

However, the matter of fair competition is the most beneficial thing for monopolistic capital. There is no monopolistic capital that does not like fair competition in this world. Because they can always win in such a fair competition. Because no matter in terms of capital, technology, or all aspects of the market, small capital cannot compete with large capital. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan’s internal squeeze and external plundering over the years after the Meiji Restoration led to the creation of some monopolies by allowing Japanese farmers to starve to death, allowing Japanese women to work as prostitutes all over the world, and allowing the Qing country to repay its national treasury and dump goods to the Qing country. Big capital. But the so-called “monopoly capital” is just the monopoly capital in Japan. It is just a monkey behind closed doors to dominate the king. If you get the world, let them compete fairly with those world capitals. It’s like asking a child to go in a 100-meter race with Bolt, and the result is self-evident.

When the Qing Dynasty was engaged in the Westernization Movement, the Hanyang Iron Works, the largest steel company in Asia, was built. But this steel plant has been losing money year after year almost since it was established. Naturally, its scale and technology will not continue to expand until the “Golden Decade” of the Republic of China. It probably closed down simply because it did not produce gold. NS. Naturally, there are some reasons for internal corruption, but the most fundamental reason must be to face the competition of international monopoly capital without protection. With a larger scale, better technology, and better iron ore, the CIF price of steel produced by international capital is even lower than the cost price of Hanyang Iron Works. Of course, in theory, Hanyang Iron Works can reduce costs and lower prices, but even so, it is completely impossible for it to be an opponent of big international capital.

Therefore, the development of industries in less advanced countries almost all require high tariff protection for a long period of time. To give up this and give the country’s big capital a chance to compete fairly is almost indistinguishable from suicide. In order to make the fish swim, it might be okay to put a small catfish inside, and put a big shark inside, it would be a fool.

Therefore, Japan could not agree to such a condition. When Takahashi reported McDonald’s opinions to the country via telegram, Japan quickly responded: A higher interest rate can be agreed, but it must not be against United States companies. Open the market. It is said that some large domestic businessmen, such as Mitsui, directly expressed: Who is our locust army fighting for? Is it for the United States? Besides, is the locust army unable to fight because the opponent has poisonous gas? Is that still a brave and fearless locust army? The Great Japanese Locust Army should never be afraid of poison gas or death. Even if it is piled up with corpse mountains and blood, it will definitely win, and it must not agree to such a condition of humiliating power and humiliating the country! Anyway, the Japanese are worthless, and the cost of levying a mobilization force is no more than a stamp!

After getting a response from China, Takahashi found Paul again.

“Mr. Paul, it is really difficult for us to accept the requirement of having complete prospecting and mining rights in North Korea. Because if we accept such conditions, our chance will be for your company, not for Japan. The country is fighting. So I hope you can offer some more sincere conditions.” Takahashi said to Paul.”To be honest, we believe that if you provide your country with enough funds, your country will still have a chance to defeat Russia.” Paul said, “but even if your country defeats Russia, it is difficult to get a large sum of money like defeating the Manchus. The British Empire plus France, the world’s top two powers joined forces, and invested so much in the Crimean War. The number of Russian soldiers killed was as high as 200,000, and the most important land was captured by the coalition forces. Even under such circumstances, the British and French failed to cede the Russians for compensation. At most, it is to admit that the disputed areas in the past are no longer disputed. Then, with your country’s power, how can it be possible to get Russia? What is the result of the cessation of land compensation?”

Having said this, he raised his eyes and looked at Takahashi again. He found that Takahashi’s mouth moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he held back. So he just smiled slightly, and went on to say to the back:

“After such a war, your country has not received any compensation, but also has huge debts and high interest rates. Under such circumstances, it will be difficult for your country to come up with money to develop new controlled areas. Your country will enter a vicious circle, won’t it? So I personally feel that this is really not a good decision.”

“But it is true that our domestic companies cannot compete with rivals like McDonald. Therefore, it is really difficult for us to agree to such conditions. If you must insist on it, we can only borrow usury from others. “Takahashi said firmly.

“In this case, it’s a shame.” Paul said, “Why don’t we take a step back.”

“What are your thoughts?” Takahashi asked immediately. He knew that MacDonald must have done a lot of work in this war, and they would definitely not let go. If, as he estimated, there is still a way out.

“We can promise not to mine fresh coking coal and iron ore in North Korea. Are you actually worried that our mines will overwhelm your original iron ore and coal mines? In addition, we can also promise not to sell them in Japan or North Korea. Freshly mined ore from North Korea. In return, we need you to increase the interest rate on our loan by 0.5% and allow us to build a wharf dedicated to transporting ore and mining machinery in Incheon. Of course You can send someone to supervise this terminal and we guarantee that this terminal will not be used for any purposes other than those specified. What do you think?”

Takahashi thought for a while, he knew that MacDonald must have taken a fancy to all kinds of non-ferrous metals from North Korea. The Japanese did some exploration in North Korea, knowing that North Korea rarely has a lot of non-ferrous metal resources. However, compared to steel, the market for non-ferrous metals is much smaller. Of course, copper, gold, and silver are still very important. However, the reserves of these three kinds of fresh food in North Korea seem to be still limited. As for the others, the market is limited, and secondly, Japan also lacks the technology to mine and smelt these things. Therefore, Takahashi feels that McDonald’s request is not impossible to consider. However, such a thing was not for him to decide, so he stood up and said:

“I can convey this proposal to the imperial government.”

“Well, I will wait for your reply.” Paul also smiled and replied.

In the afternoon, Takahashi visited again, saying that he had been authorized and hoped to sign the loan agreement with McDonald’s representative immediately.

“In addition, I have a personal request.” Takahashi said, “A friend of mine in the economic world hopes to purchase a pesticide factory from your place.”

“Is this part of the agreement?” Paul asked.

“No, this is not part of the agreement, it was just mentioned incidentally.” Takahashi said.

“I can help you convey this intention, but I don’t guarantee the result.” Paul replied.

“Then everything is up to you.”

…

The next day, the two parties formally signed a contract for the sale of Japanese government bonds. The European branch of MacDonald Ventures Bank purchased up to 150 million yen of Japanese government bonds at an interest rate of 6.5 percent. This transaction immediately restored the market’s confidence in Japanese government bonds…

In fact, the money from the McDonald Venture Bank did not enter the hands of the Japanese even for a second, because it immediately became a large number of orders: gas masks, weapons and ammunition, various foods, in short, McDonald’s The venture capital bank’s money is nothing more than a place in the account.

A week later, the Japanese soldiers who had received the first batch of gas masks regained their morale and began to attack Lushun, but Nogi Hitori’s attack on Lushun still did not show much improvement, and there were many dead. The above had no choice but to send Chief of Staff Kodama Gentaro to assist the brave God of War Nogi Nogi, which actually temporarily deprived him of command. As a result, under the command of Kodama Gentaro and the support of 280mm special concrete blasting bombs purchased from United States at a high price, the Japanese army finally conquered the crucial 203 Heights outside Lushun City. The whole war situation once again turned out to benefit Japan.

…

“Grey Stone, you did a good job this time. Immediately organize people to start meticulous mineral exploration in North Korea. It will be based on the information we have obtained before.” Scrooge replied.

“Dad, does Chao Xian really have as many tungsten mines as the intelligence said?” Gray Stone asked.

“Yes, the reliability of that information is quite high.” Scrooge replied.

As a traverser, Scrooge certainly knows that although the reserves of North Korea’s tungsten ore are not as large as those of China, they can also be ranked seventh in the world according to the reserve ranking. Of course, in terms of reserves, it cannot be compared with China, or even Jiangxi, but there is one point, that is, the location of the Chaoyang Fresh Tungsten Mine is closer to the sea and easier to transport.

“In addition to tungsten ore, there are also molybdenum ore, as well as magnesite and fluorite.” Greystone continued to look at that piece of information. Steel, without this, it is not easy. At the beginning, we tried to control most of the molybdenum mines in the United States, but it took a lot of effort. There are also molybdenum mines in the entire Japanese control zone. There are few molybdenum mines, but they seem to have not found them yet. We Keep it under control. For at least a few decades, when the Japanese need to use high-grade steel, they have to import from us…”