Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 744 The happy time of profiteers (fourth update, please subscribe)
It's very safe in the security zone.

There are thousands of policemen here to maintain law and order, so there is no need to worry about Western soldiers coming out of nowhere, and there is no need to worry about Westerners breaking into the house in the middle of the night and dragging women out, or being raped in front of men's eyes .

During the war, such a place is simply a paradise, but this paradise is very crowded. After all, this place only occupies less than one-third of Tokyo, but now it is crowded with more than [-] people.Hundreds of thousands of refugees can only live in shacks on the side of the road, enduring the biting cold.

Although Takahashi Shiqing earns more than [-] yuan a month, when he was looking for a place to live, he was still taken aback by the high rent.

"It's really a dealer, but it's just an attic. It used to be only one or two yuan, but now it costs ten yuan."

"Oh, there's no way. There are so many people squeezing in, so of course they want to take the opportunity to raise the price."

"Hey, the guy who makes the country rich is really devoid of conscience!"

"Or go to school to see!"

When Takahashi Shiqing and his students were looking for a place to live, in a courtyard by the roadside, Sun Zhenzheng was discussing business with several people with a lively personality. After I evacuated, many houses became vacant, and some expatriates who evacuated into the safe zone could take those vacant houses as their own and open shops with the permission of the consulate.

Sun Zhen, a businessman, also made a temporary guest appearance. He was originally in the "leading labor" business, that is, he recruited female workers from Japan to Daming. After Tokyo was occupied by Britain and the United States, he saw a business opportunity.

In fact, there are business opportunities everywhere in the safe zone. After all, there are too many people gathered here. Moreover, in order to ensure the safety of residents, entry is usually not allowed in the safe zone, so as to prevent resisters from using the safe zone as a shelter. .

And this has also led to the extreme shortage of Japanese necessities in the safe zone. Food and various supplies are all needed by the Japanese in the safe zone. At this time, only expatriates can enter and exit the safe zone with their passports.

"Mr. Sun, as long as you bring in the grain, I will give you an increase of [-]% according to the purchase price!"

Harada Taro gave his offer directly.

"Double, Mr. Harada, the price of grain in the market is three times what it used to be, give me [-]%... Your profit far exceeds mine!"

Sun Zhen repeatedly shook his head and refused.

"I will take a great risk to leave the safe zone!"

"Mr. Sun, you can go directly to get the food with the purchase order, just borrow your identity..."

Harada Taro looked at Sun Zhen enviously. He obviously had the same appearance, but he had a Daming passport.

"A Ming passport is worth ten thousand gold!"

Sun Zhen said with a sigh.

"If it doesn't work, then Mr. Harada should change someone else. I believe there will be quite a few people here who are willing to do this business."

There are more than a few, and they can fill a street. After all, the Ming Dynasty expats in Tokyo do not exceed three digits. Now they are the only ones who can freely enter and leave the safe zone with their passports, and they don't need to worry about being attacked by foreigners.

"Oh, Mr. Sun, you're embarrassing me like this! Or else... what do you think about four or six?"

"Five or five, besides food, I can also bring in other goods. At that time, we will trade directly on the Edogawa River. You can earn at least tens of thousands of yuan for a shipment of goods!"

You earn more!

Harada Taro said with envy and hatred in his heart.

But no matter how envious and jealous he is, it's useless, because he doesn't have that passport!
For small merchants and hawkers, they just rely on the convenience of their passports to stock up on supplies there, but for big merchants, Li Chenggong is actually not a big merchant. The Japanese seller of Ming Dynasty goods, after Tokyo was occupied, he increased the price of the goods in the warehouse by [-]% and credited them to Ming employees, and the employees then sold them to Japanese businessmen at a higher price. After everyone made a windfall .

They dumped the yen there again. In the safe zone, yen banknotes could not buy anything at all, and no merchant was willing to accept yen banknotes. After all, when the Restoration government escaped from Tokyo, the credit of banknotes was naturally It plummeted, but the pockets of the Japanese were full of yen notes.

When the government almost completely collapsed, most Japanese people thought these banknotes were like waste paper, so Li Chenggong specially set up an exchange office to buy yen at a low price, and reduced ten yen to two or three yen. Then trafficked back to Yokohama.

As usual, Li Chenggong, who was carrying a box of Japanese yen banknotes, was followed by six Japanese as soon as he left the safe zone. These were his hired bodyguards.

"Mr. Li, please get in the car."

After getting on the rickshaw, Li Chenggong asked.

"Have you bought your train ticket yet?"

"Yes sir, it's already bought."

Ichiro Muto, who was racing along with the rickshaw, replied while running.

Although there are trains between Tokyo and Yokohama, not everyone can buy train tickets. After all, those Westerners now control the station, and only foreigners with passports can leave Tokyo by train. Of course, those Westerners For their own safety, they feared that the Japanese would leave here by train after killing their soldiers. ,

So only foreign nationals are free to buy tickets, otherwise a special pass is required.

It was also under these restrictions that Li Chenggong was able to do this business.

This business is very simple. He only needs to exchange those Japanese banknotes at a very low price in the exchange office in the safe area, and then bring them to Yokohama, where the bank can exchange them at a one-to-one ratio. Exchange Ming paper money or silver coins.

This is blatant currency speculation.

Why now that the Restoration government has collapsed, and the yen is freely convertible in Yokohama?
This is the subtlety of the international economy, because Japan has not collapsed economically, that's it. As long as those in the safe zone only have daimyo passports, they can become upstarts overnight with a little brainstorming.

Of course, everyone knows that there will always be an end to all this, so every time he boards the train from Tokyo to Yokohama, Li Chenggong always has a thought in his heart.

"Perhaps this is the last time!"

Why do you think so?It is because everyone knows that there will always be a day when the war will stop, and the safe zone will also be dismantled one day.

When everything is over, it is naturally impossible for this kind of speculative business to continue.

But what is certain is that the spring of 1875 was definitely the happiest time for profiteers. In just less than two months, hundreds of thousands of profiteers sprang up in the safe zone of Tokyo. Millionaires, they are basically Daming people.

So decades later, some famous businessmen of the Ming Dynasty will recall this short day in their memoirs full of nostalgia. For them, this seemingly short day is undoubtedly happy... …

(End of this chapter)