Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 201 Quarrel
"As for the Japanese, I heard they've made some new moves and are going to implement a new version of military currency."

"Again? Shanghai's economy has been brought to a standstill by military scrip several times, proving that military scrip is ineffective. Aren't they afraid of another economic collapse?"

Gu Yansheng raised an eyebrow. "When did this happen?"

“Just in the last few days.” Luo Junqiang glanced at Gu Yansheng, then looked back at Minister Zhou. “This is information that came out of the mouth of a few employees from Xingya Institute when they came to my place for drinks and fun.”

When the military last implemented military scrip, large Japanese corporations took the opportunity to raise prices and use commodities such as rice to create inflation, thus buying back large amounts of military scrip from citizens at extremely low prices.

Then, while the Economic Department still had foreign currency reserves, it used a large amount of military bills to exchange for foreign currency at the unadjusted market price, thus depleting the reserve funds prepared by the military and causing the credibility of military bills to completely collapse.

When Kobayashi Nobuo, the head of the Economic Section of the Shanghai Military Police Command who was held accountable for this incident, returned to his headquarters to report on his work and, wanting to go to a military court, simply revealed the whole thing.

The General Staff's investigation has now yielded results, ordering the Japanese company that made the exchange to return the money and compensate the military for its losses.

According to Nobuo Kobayashi, Japanese companies received military scrip from the Economic Division on IOUs, and did not fulfill the agreement that the Economic Division must provide foreign currency to withstand the run on the bank.

On the contrary, it was these Japanese companies that fueled the fire and accelerated the collapse of military currency.

However, these Japanese companies will definitely not admit it and are unwilling to take such a big blame. The military has already paid 80 million yen in compensation. If this accusation is attached and some losses are added, they will have to pay at least 100 million yen.

After mediation by the Asia Development Institute, the final solution was that these Japanese companies would each contribute real money to establish a bank to lend to the military for operation.

It was called a loan, but it was actually a loss.

The total capital was 5000 million, and the banknotes issued were called Huaxing Commercial Bank.

"Hiss." Minister Zhou had been frowning the whole time. Something was off about this. He asked as he thought, "Yansheng, don't you think it's strange that this is happening at this time?"

“That’s not right.” Gu Yansheng nodded firmly. “Logically speaking, if a new government is to be established and the negotiations go smoothly, then it is only natural for the central bank of the new government to open, and the power to issue currency should belong to the central bank.”

Minister, in your negotiations with them, you must have already mentioned the preparations for the central bank. The Japanese are aware of this, aren't they?

Minister Zhou nodded.

Gu Yansheng continued, "But now the military wants to issue military notes privately, which conflicts with the functions of the central bank. This action is really unreasonable."

Unless the bank exists solely to compensate the military and has no intention of issuing military scrip on such a large scale as the previous two times, then there's no problem; the Japanese can just play around with it internally.

Otherwise, it can only mean that the Japanese military is not prepared to grant the central bank the right to issue currency in the short term. Otherwise, if the market in Shanghai is seized by Japanese military currency, what will the central bank do?
"If military scrip isn't mandatory, I estimate that citizens won't voluntarily exchange it. There's precedent for this; they've learned their lesson twice. The fools have already lost everything."

Minister Zhou nodded, let out a long sigh, and frowned, saying, "Yes, there are quite a few problems here."

Gu Yansheng was talking about the issue of currency issuance rights. He was thinking about the issue of negotiation. If it were just a matter of the central bank, it could be set aside.

But the Japanese military chose to issue military scrip at this particular time. Does this mean that the Japanese military does not want or believe that the negotiations will be completed quickly?
If we think about it one step further, the question is whether the military is truly in the right to negotiate.
Are they still trying to lure them in and force the Chongqing government to get anxious?
It's terrifying to think about it all. Many things that seemed to be on the verge of reaching their end have now become unpredictable and uncertain.

Minister Zhou pondered for a moment and said, "Junqiang, keep an eye on the Economic Department and this bank recently, and see what they do."

"Okay," Luo Junqiang replied.

"Yansheng, you have a wide network of connections, why don't you look into this matter and see if you can find out anything?"

Contacting Luo Junqiang was just for comfort; if Minister Zhou wanted to inquire about things in Shanghai, he would have to contact Gu Yansheng, as the information would be obtained much faster that way.

"Okay." The bank is in Shanghai, so it shouldn't be difficult to find out anything.

"Come on, let's drink." Minister Zhou raised his glass. "These are all trivial matters. Let's live for today and worry about them tomorrow. We're already here, so let's relax a bit. Who knows what will happen when things get busy later?"

"Yes."

Gu Yansheng raised his glass. "Cheers."

"cheers."

"You guys stop jumping around and come drink with the minister."

afterwards.

Gu Yansheng escorted Minister Zhou back.

Hasegawa has informed them of the accommodation arrangements for the several leaders of the Wang faction. Since they are all large families, the luxury residential area around Gu Yansheng's house has been allocated to them.

As for those of slightly lower status, there are also villas available as alternatives.

So Gu Yansheng was indeed going the same way.

After letting Minister Zhou out of the car, Gu Yansheng politely declined Minister Zhou's invitation to come inside for a cup of tea, saying he was already feeling unsteady on his feet and should hurry home to get some sleep. Minister Zhou got out of the car, in a good mood, and glanced at the guards at the villa entrance. Inside the villa, there were also internal guards, clearly arranged by the Japanese since they had just arrived.

The environment is not bad, but the location is a bit of a letdown.

Minister Zhou had just reached the door when he heard Yang Shuhui scolding her daughter inside.

"What's wrong?" What Minister Zhou saw was his stubborn daughter standing there, looking unhappy. Several dresses were scattered on the coffee table and the floor in the living room, and Yang Shuhui looked even more unhappy.

Both of them are troublesome and give me a headache.

"what happened?"

Yang Shuhui grabbed the skirt from the living room and showed it to Minister Zhou. "Look at this brat! She already knows how to seduce men! She's so young and already knows how to flirt with men. On her very first day in Shanghai, she went out with a man without permission. Like mother, like daughter. If others find out, they'll think the Zhou family is bad at parenting. She'll make the Zhou family lose all face!"

"Who I go out with is none of your business! You're accusing me of seduction, but who knew he had a wife and still insisted on going to his door! Give me back my skirt!"

As he spoke, Zhou Shuhai went to snatch it.

"What did you say! How dare you talk back!" Yang Shuhui's expression changed drastically, and she turned her head to ask, "This country bumpkin has no manners at all, aren't you going to do anything about him?"

"Shuhai, how can you talk like that? Be nicer to your mother. Even though she's not your biological mother, I'm your father and she's my wife. You still have to call her 'Mom'."

"I won't shout," Zhou Shuhai retorted, then reached for the skirt, "Give me back my skirt."

"Alright, stop fighting." Minister Zhou stepped forward and separated the two women, saying to Yang Shuhui, "It's just two dresses, what's the big deal? Is this worth arguing about?"

"Is this just about the dress?" Yang Shuhui glared at Minister Zhou and said to Zhou Shuhai, "It's this bastard who's seducing other men. He's ruining our family's reputation. Your Zhou family may not care about our family's reputation, but my Yang family does!"
"A skirt? What woman goes shopping with a man on her first day out, and the first thing she buys is a skirt? Who are you trying to seduce?"

"Anyway, it's not for you to see, and it didn't cost you any money, so why are you in such a hurry?"

"Alright! The insults are getting worse and worse. What do you mean by bastard? Am I a bastard man too?"

Minister Zhou shouted, "And you, watch your attitude!"

Both of your names contain the character "淑" (shū). Do you know how to write the character "淑"? It means virtuous and kind!

The two of them were behaving like shrewish women yelling in the street. It's one thing if it's their own home, but do they know that this house is full of Japanese people? Are they trying to make a fool of themselves in front of the Japanese?

You too, she bought the dress, I know she bought it, Gu Yansheng gave it to her, I asked her to go. You grew up in Shanghai, so Shanghai isn't new to you.

It's perfectly normal for her, a recent arrival from the countryside, to be interested in the glitz and glamour of Shanghai. Wanting to see the world is perfectly reasonable.

"It's reasonable to get to know men after staying here for a while. But on your first day in Shanghai, you went shopping with a man, specifically to buy a dress. Do you think that's reasonable?" Yang Shuhui retorted.

"Well, you've run into him. Gu Yansheng is a section chief, not an ordinary person. He's going to be promoted to minister after the new government is established. Do you think Shuhai is at a disadvantage by going to him? Women who want to get close to him won't even get a chance!"

"Oh, so you want to play matchmaker again? Have you forgotten what you told me back then? I hated feudal arranged marriages, I wanted free love, and now you're playing matchmaker again?"

"Who's acting as matchmaker? This is just the beginning, isn't it? Gu Yansheng is a good person, a talented young man with a bright future; he's definitely a dragon among men."

Minister Zhou glared at her and asked Zhou Shuhai, "When you went out with Gu Yansheng, how did Gu Yansheng treat you? What do you think of him?"

"Nothing's wrong, give me back my clothes." Zhou Shuhai snatched the clothes and ran upstairs.

"What kind of attitude is that?" Yang Shuhui scolded. "Country folks have absolutely no manners."

Minister Zhou shook his head and sighed, "Even an upright official finds it hard to settle family disputes."

Fortunately, they broke up.

Continue comforting the next person.

He turned and grasped Yang Shuhui's shoulder, comforting her, "Alright, you should watch your attitude towards her too. If she really gets together with Gu Yansheng, how will you face Gu Yansheng after this attitude?"

"Would anyone actually want a country girl like her?" Yang Shuhui scoffed.

"That's hard to say." Minister Zhou felt that the pursuit of power could change a man's aspirations and choices.

Especially now that Gu Yansheng's attitude towards Zhou Shuhai is quite good.

Just then, Yang Shuhui suddenly sniffed, stared at Minister Zhou with a frown, and said, "The smell of rouge? Where did you go?"

Minister Zhou's eyes widened. "Damn it, it's coming for me."

(End of this chapter)