Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 185: Pearl Harbor Attack, Taiping War Begins

Since invading French Indochina, the Japanese army has finally had a few days of good life.

Because it was a colony, and it didn't matter who was colonizing it, after the French army left, except for the Chinese who were specially targeted, other indigenous peoples and ethnic groups did not suffer too much oppression, so there was actually no resistance.

Although the Japanese colonization was more brutal than that of the French, they were all Asians after all. The concept of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was still quite attractive to some indigenous elites.

Even with Thailand's deliberate cooperation, Phraya Phawong's "Greater Thailandism" still has a certain number of supporters.

Although oil and steel are still completely insufficient, at least we can breathe a sigh of relief in the rice sector. Finally, the people can eat rice again.

You have to know that before this, Japan's total food reserves were only enough to feed the entire nation for two or three months. Japan was really forced into a desperate situation, so it attacked Southeast Asia. It was like a gambler who lost all his money and bet his entire fortune in a last ditch effort.

What is slightly different from history and more interesting is actually the situation of the local Chinese.

Because the local consortiums that were trying to seize French mines, even top consortiums like Sumitomo, had secretly colluded with Zheng Yi, and even secretly joined the Southern Alliance and exchanged secret shares.

The navy has indeed become a little more restrained. After capturing Chinese people, most of them will be directly expelled and driven away.

Objectively speaking, the Chinese in the French East Indies did not have that much power, and they did not provide much help to the domestic anti-Japanese work. They had no money, so naturally they had less benefits.

As for those who insist on not leaving and are hoping for a lucky break, they will naturally become very miserable after the army takes over the navy. It is impossible for Zheng Yi to take care of everyone.

Those idiots in the army have relatively less contact with Zheng Yi, and they don't even give much face to the Japanese chaebols.

Now that Minei no longer holds an official position, he is freer and has turned his full attention to the affairs of the Southern Alliance.

To some extent, Hirohito is really similar to Chongzhen. He is obviously pro-British and American. He has been constantly supporting pro-British and American factions to enter the cabinet. However, when those pro-British and American factions were forced to step down by the idiots below, he immediately pretended to be dead.

Mine is such an unlucky guy, but his mentality is okay. After ignoring political affairs, he has become more and more entangled with the domestic chaebols, especially with the Sumitomo Group. Recently, he has been personally supporting the migration of Japanese farmers to Vietnam.

There are even ambitious plans to turn Haiphong into a city dominated by Japanese.

As for the Sumitomo Group, it was very domineering under the blessing of militarism. It took over all the assets of the French and bought local land at low prices to develop agricultural planting.
They even developed some mineral processing industries and light textiles, and brought many textile industries that could no longer operate in Japan to Haiphong City.

There are also some sugar and wine industries.

If it weren't for strong opposition from the government, Sumitomo would even want to move its headquarters from Tokyo to Haiphong City.

To put it bluntly, this is actually a city built for Zheng Yi. Minai even went to Penang several times in person to inquire about some industrial planning issues in Haiphong City.

The more tense the front line becomes and the more frequent the exchanges of fire, the more prosperous the construction of Haiphong City becomes. The secret and even overt exchanges with Penang become more and more frequent, which seems particularly strange.

Throughout the city of Haiphong, the middle and lower class people and soldiers were still immersed in the Japanese army's "great victory" and the beautiful dream of "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". They seemed to have seen Japan's strong rise and become a genuine world power, and their faces were full of joy.

Their upper echelons, especially the top tycoons, intensified their plunder and secretly deposited large sums of Japanese yen and even precious francs into Penang, the territory of their biggest enemy.

They were clearly robbing the French people's property, but the expressions on their faces were as if their mother had died.

"Anyway, if we keep this money in Britain or the US, it will definitely be confiscated. If we keep it in the country, it will definitely be liquidated in the event of our defeat. It would be better to keep it in Penang and trust Mr. Zheng's character and vision."

This is what Minai said when he visited Penang.

He even deposited several million yen in Penang, saying that it was all his assets.

Mine said: "I believe that Mr. Zheng's hatred for us Japanese is serious, but after all, we are the only Asian city with a certain industrial base, and the Japanese community is also an important part of Penang and even the entire SAARC."

"Mr. Zheng, if you hope to one day develop an independent industry and break free from the industrial and technological control of European and American multinational capital, no matter how much hatred you may feel towards the Japanese."

"Rationally, Japan's industrial base and technical talent are still the best choice for SAARC. Tokyo's large population base may provide you with sufficient labor, but it will never provide you with a sufficient number of skilled workers."

"We believe that Mr. Zheng is a first-class politician with absolute rationality. Otherwise, you would not have built such a large Japanese community in Penang. I believe that our Japanese companies will definitely become the most important component of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in the future, right?"

"Hatred is not conducive to economic development. We believe that Mr. Zheng, you must have already made plans in your mind, waiting for Japan's defeat, and then using super-low prices to acquire or empty out Japan's essence, right?"

As the saying goes, the person who knows you best is often not your friend, but your enemy.

In fact, Zheng Yi really thought so.

Hitachi, Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Toyota Motor, Nissan, Kawasaki, etc., how should I put it, Japan's industrial level before World War II was not advanced, and the technical content was indeed not high, but the categories were still quite complete.

Zheng Yi had been thinking about it for a long time, just waiting to "extract the essence" after Japan's defeat.

In fact, the Japanese may have the highest level of understanding of the SAARC format in the world.

After all, the Japanese themselves also play the conglomerate economy, and in fact the four major conglomerates are tied to each other and form an alliance. There is no competition at all, and they all have cross-holdings and internal marriages.

Zheng Yi's Southern Alliance, after all, is just an upgraded version of Japan's four major conglomerates. It is just that it is based on the Japanese conglomerates, but is larger in scale, more diversified, and not as closed.

Rather than saying that they were betting on Zheng Yi's character, it would be better to say that they were betting on Zheng Yi's rationality.

"Of course, but what I like and what I can accept is a defeated Japan."

"Of course, we are just leaving ourselves a way out. If possible, we certainly hope that Japan will win the next war and that the money we deposited in Penang will be completely wasted."

"Until the war is won or lost, we remain enemies."

In fact, Mine was just being tough. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been begging for mercy from the enemy before the fight even started.

In Japan, the more pro-British and pro-American people are, the more they understand the huge gap in national strength between Japan, Britain and the United States.

If they were only fighting against Britain alone, then with the help of their German allies, they would still have some confidence to face the United States, haha.

The United States is currently the world's largest oil producer, more than 200 times that of Japan. In terms of industrial output value, the United States is $2000 billion, while Japan is $90 billion.
Except for coal, Japan is not self-sufficient in almost every strategic material, and the United States' production is more than ten times that of Japan.

Only ordinary people, ordinary idiots, will indulge in the victory that their government has fabricated with false lies.

How the hell do you fight this?
What worries them more is actually the post-war settlement.

The reason why Japan has gone so crazy is closely related to the Imperial Way Faction. The essence of the Imperial Way Faction is actually a Japanese version of Soviet ideology with overly sharp class contradictions, excessive gap between the rich and the poor, and a certain degree of Soviet ideology.

Once Japan fails to win the war, the pressure cannot be released externally and will inevitably be released internally.

The experiences of the Soviet Union, France, and even Germany told them that once they were defeated, there would most likely be no need for the victorious countries to settle accounts with them, as the angry Japanese people would spontaneously hang them from street lamps.

This is also the reason why they are so eager to cooperate with Zheng Yi.

This is also the reason why they had to support the army even though they knew they could not win. Of course, who could have imagined that the victorious countries in history would not only not settle accounts with them, but instead chose to support them under a series of subsequent coincidences, allowing them not only to avoid settlements at home and abroad, but to become even greater than before the war?

Over the past few months, the fighting has become increasingly fierce.

Although there was indeed enough rice to eat, the entire upper class of Japan, both civil servants and military generals, were already in a desperate situation and had unknowingly reached a dead end.

Although the French East Indies did produce a certain amount of rice and oil, it was certainly not enough to meet the needs of the Japanese army.

Moreover, the battlefield of the University of Tokyo is now increasingly showing signs of being stuck in a quagmire. The wealth of the United States is beyond Zheng Yi's reach. Not only did it give the University of Tokyo a loan of 100 million US dollars in one go, but a large part of these loans was also delivered to Zheng Yi.

Because the US military factories are now busy, they are a bit overwhelmed by the military supplies in Europe and the military expansion in the United States. It just so happens that Yangon itself has the ability to produce guns and artillery, and US Steel has a branch in Yangon.

It just so happened that after the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Railway, the utilization rate of American steel production capacity in Yangon was insufficient, so all the orders were outsourced to Yangon.

In order to take care of his American arms dealer colleagues, Zheng Yi had to make a little profit.

Sumitomo and Yasuda, two of Japan's four major financial tycoons, have been secretly colluding with him, and it can almost be said that they have defected to him.

Among the remaining two, Mitsubishi invested in a mining area in Haiphong Port and even invested in a paper mill here. It also secretly deposited a lot of US dollars and British pounds into the Yasuda Bank in Penang.

As for the most powerful Mitsui, he has not had much contact with him, but strictly speaking, Toyota Motor is also one of the subsidiaries of the Mitsui Group. As far as he knows, the brothers Kiichiro Toyota and Risaburo Toyota have been secretly communicating quite frequently recently.

"Mr. Mine, have you eaten yet? A very good Japanese restaurant recently opened in Penang. The owner just fled Japan last month, bringing his wife and children with him. I heard he used to be a top chef in Tokyo, specializing in serving the nobility. I'll treat you to dinner."

Mine smiled, glanced at her watch, and said, "Okay, I've always heard that in the Japanese community in Penang, many Japanese things are made better than those in Edo. Since it's Mr. Zheng's invitation, I won't refuse."

Zheng Yi was slightly surprised when he heard this.

After all, although Minai has stepped down, he is still a celebrity. Zheng Yi specifically mentioned that the chef came from Japan and is a famous chef who specializes in serving aristocrats. It is very likely that he has served Minai.

Isn't he afraid of being recognized?

After all, although what Minai is doing now has not provided Zheng Yi with any military help for the time being, based on his identity, he is secretly communicating with himself. In Japan, this should be considered treason, right?
"If you don't care about your reputation, do you not care about your life either?"

But he didn't think much about it, because it was indeed time for lunch. He didn't have any parties today, so it didn't matter who he ate with. To be honest, he was quite looking forward to having lunch with Minai.

It would be funny if the shop owner, or even other customers in the shop, really recognized Minai.

"Then let's go. It's perfect for you to come and recommend something to eat."

After that, Zheng Yi led Mine into the store with a relaxed expression, and asked casually, "Why haven't I seen Yoshida lately? Wasn't he also dismissed? Why didn't he come to Penang for a visit?"

"If you ask me, you should just give him a house in Penang and let him stay there. He's a pro-British and pro-American person, and he's not welcome in your country. He has no place in the diplomatic system, so why is he still hanging around in Japan?"

Mine said, "Of course, he can't really stay in Japan. Recently, Yoshida has been in the United States, trying every possible way to restore the trade agreement with the United States. It is said that he kneels down to the Americans every day, and his knees are swollen."

Zheng Yi: "Really? He's quite dedicated."

As he was speaking, Zheng Yi had already brought Minai to the newly opened Japanese restaurant.

The shop owner was also surprised to see Zheng Yi coming. Although they didn't have a reservation, he still found a way to add a table for them. But when he saw Minei behind Zheng Yi, he was completely stunned.

"Mi, Mi, General Mi Nei?"

"It's Ono-kun, are you in Penang too? Even you are a traitor, eh~"

Ono: "…………"

I thought to myself, after all, I'm just a cook, and not being sentenced for treason will not have any impact on society.

It's wrong for you to come here!

Is this surrender?

"I'm no longer a general. Now I'm just an ordinary, retired old man."

"Ono-kun, Mr. Zheng came here specifically to taste your cooking. I remember that the scallops and sushi you made were very good. Why don't you prepare them for Mr. Zheng?"

"Hi! I'll make it for you two right away."

"Please bring two more bottles of good wine. Today is a good day worth celebrating. I want to have a couple of drinks with Mr. Zheng."

"Hi!"

Zheng Yi couldn't help but say, "I usually don't drink at noon."

Minai shook his head and said, "You should drink. Today is a good day for both you and me."

Zheng Yi: "What do you mean?"

Minai raised his watch, glanced at the time again, and said, "It's almost... time."

"What time is it?"

"If my timing is correct, within ten to twenty minutes, our Japanese planes will launch a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Zheng, do you think this is good news for both you and me?"

"Ok?"

Zheng Yi was stunned. "Pearl Harbor attack? Now? Why tell me now?"

Miner: "Because if I tell you now, you should have enough time to send a telegram to the US military to alert them, but this information should no longer be of any use. Just think of it as me doing you a favor and you doing the Americans a favor."

Zheng Yi narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this.

"You guys are really fast..."

Zheng Yi snapped his fingers, summoned Ma Kui, and instructed, "Find Li Lili and have him send a telegram to Marshal Mai, and another to Tao Jun. If I'm not mistaken, the Japanese army will launch a simultaneous attack on Malaya, and it won't be a small-scale attack, but a large-scale one."

"The war between Penang, and even the entire Southeast Asia, and the Japanese has begun."

　There's only one chapter left today. Sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)