Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 400 Three Shots to the Face! (First Update!)

Do you think the so-called free trade agreement negotiations between the EU and Japan will be able to proceed normally?

In the archives of special metal alloys, Lin Yi was flipping through documents when Gao Hai casually handed him a breakfast and calmly asked a question.

Looking back, Lin Yi noticed that Gao Haidai's breakfast was glutinous rice shumai. He rolled his eyes and politely declined the breakfast.

He didn't understand why shumai in the north was filled with meat, but when it spread to the south, it became filled with glutinous rice.

Carbs with carbs, I wonder who would like to eat that.

He put the documents back on the shelf and canceled another document. "Whether they initiate the free trade agreement or not doesn't seem to concern you, does it?"

Gao Hai stuffed the glutinous rice shumai into his mouth:
"I heard from colleagues at Jiangnan Shipyard that if they enter into a free trade agreement, the increased trade between the two sides will cause Japanese shipyards to be unable to meet demand, and then Jiangnan Shipyard can snatch some orders from them."

After figuring out that it was the people from Jiangnan Shipyard trying to steal the order, Lin Yi casually waved his hand and said, "It's nothing!"

"Once this aircraft carrier is ready, their civilian sector can be disbanded."

"Orders will be plentiful!"

"Moreover, there are many old scoundrels within the Japanese government. As long as these old scoundrels are alive, it will be impossible for a free trade zone between them to be established."

After saying these words, Lin Yi opened the documents in his hand, picked up a pen, and calmly wrote and drew on the parts that needed to be modified, revising the contents of the previous experimental data.

In my previous life, the formal agreement between Japan and the European Union on a free trade agreement was reached in 2017.

The reason Japan made concessions was due to various events that occurred between 2010 and 2017.

In 2011, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake with far-reaching impacts, and there was an urgent need to revitalize the economy after the disaster.

Furthermore, the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis caused by the earthquake severely damaged Japan's energy and agricultural exports, leading to a rapid decline in international trust.

Therefore, Japan urgently needs to restore its food exports by establishing a free trade area with the European Union.

In addition, Japan joined the TPP negotiations in 2013, during which America demanded a significant opening of its markets.

Then Japan opened up.

Practice makes perfect, and Japan naturally cannot continue to do the same thing as before when negotiating with the EU, pretending to be virtuous while being a hypocrite. It can only choose to back down in the agricultural market.

In agriculture, besides this impact, the next Japanese prime minister also introduced a series of restrictive policies on agricultural cooperatives, effectively removing those meddling old geezers from the decision-making circle.

Ultimately, the factor that forced Japan to back down in free trade agreement negotiations was England's exit from the European Union.

Japan has numerous investment projects in England. If England were to completely leave the EU, it would mean that products from these investment projects would have to pay the same high tariffs as Japan, which has not signed a free trade agreement, if they wanted to enter the EU market.

That would mean their investment in England was wasted.

Under the influence of a series of factors, Japan ultimately chose to back down to the EU and agree to its conditions, which led to the signing of the free trade agreement.

and so……

Instead of waiting for the free trade agreement to be signed, we should hurry up and build the ship, then put it at their doorstep and ask them for orders.

Seeing Lin Yi speak with such certainty, Gao Hai wanted to ask a few more questions, but then suddenly remembered that he didn't understand economics and that asking more questions would just be a waste of breath.

He simply stopped asking questions and instead focused on waiting by Lin Yi's side, waiting for Lin Yi to adjust the data.

As golden sunlight streamed into the archives room through the windows, the door was pushed open from the outside, and Cao Bin, holding a document, walked from the doorway to Lin Yi:
"Boss, the last file!"

Lin Yi turned around and pointed to the filing cabinet: "Just leave it there, I'll look at it later!"

"You all take a good rest. Once you're rested, go to the lab and try refining materials using a small furnace."

"Okay!" Cao Bin nodded, then turned and led his men out of the archives room, leaving it to Lin Yi and Gao Hai.

After looking at the files for a while, Lin Yi put them away, locked the door, and walked to the cafeteria with Gao Hai.

As the two entered, the large television in the cafeteria was broadcasting the results of negotiations between the EU and Japan.

"After two days of negotiations, Catherine Abbotton, Director General of the European External Action Service, expressed her appreciation for the work done by the Japanese side. She believes that Japan is a very good partner and she would be very happy to have the opportunity to cooperate with Japan."

"At the same time, Japanese Prime Minister Masashige Date also expressed his appreciation for the work of Catherine Abbotton, Director General of the European External Action Service."

He believes that the day when the EU and Japan establish a free trade area will come in the near future.

After getting his food, Gao Hai returned to Lin Yi with his plate and asked, "They must have broken up in negotiations, right?"

"Guess so!"

"Economic development is really troublesome!"

"People need to eat, and even machines need to drink oil."

The explanation was somewhat ambiguous, but Gao Hai still understood. Just then, the television screen switched to an AFP interview with the Japanese Prime Minister. He glanced back, leaned closer to Lin Yi, tilted his head, and asked:

"By the way, if you had a super bomb and you were tasked with taking down Japan, where would you place it?"

"Mariana Trench!"

"?Why?"

"Because it can trigger earthquakes! Earthquakes can trigger tsunamis!"

"You guys are ruthless!"

"Eat your food!"

…………

Tokyo.

Two consecutive days of pointless negotiations had brought Catherine's positive impression of Japan to rock bottom. As soon as she returned to her hotel, she couldn't wait to have her entourage contact South Korea to prepare for picking her up at the airport the next day, while also preparing for the upcoming negotiations.

When she came out of the bathroom after taking a bath, her attendant delivered a response from the South Korean side—they were ready to welcome her at any time.

After giving South Korea a reply, the attendant did not rush to leave. Instead, he placed a connected laptop in front of Catherine, opened several mainstream social media websites, and searched for Japanese public reactions to the negotiations.

There is only one reaction.

A march, a march, and another damn march.

Watching the crazy people in those short videos, Catherine felt completely overwhelmed. Suppressing her anger, she finished watching and then looked up at her attendant:

"Make a note of this!"

“We need to increase the EU’s outreach efforts in Japan, especially moving beyond cities and reaching rural areas.”

“Let those media outlets that received our money go to the countryside and tell all the Japanese people that the EU has no ill intentions towards them and that the establishment of the free trade zone will only benefit them and not harm them.”

"Secondly, we need to cultivate our own spokespeople in Japan and let them put their own people in a power struggle with those old bastards in Japan."

"Finally, find some reasons to target Japanese industry."

The attendant noted down Catherine's words, and only after confirming that there were no further words or instructions did he get up and leave. After the attendant left, Catherine took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet, poured herself half a glass, and stood in front of the French windows with the glass in her hand.

Looking at the city outside the window, her thoughts began to wander.

If only England or France had gained control of Japan when the Potsdam Declaration was signed.

The moment the idea popped into her head, it made her laugh.

If England or France had dared to lay a hand on Japan at that time, the Soviet Union would have immediately launched a blitzkrieg from East Germany.

And America would stab him in the back.

She chuckled, downed the red wine in one gulp, and lay back down on the bed, closing her eyes to sleep.

…………

"According to our country's ancient legends, by climbing Mount Fuji and lying in the snow that never melts, one can cleanse one's sins and gain divine power!" At the foot of the northwest side of Mount Fuji, Date Masashige raised his hand and pointed to the distant mountain peak, facing Catherine, and loudly spoke about the legends of Mount Fuji.

Because the road wasn't closed, Catherine could still see quite a few people driving up the mountain from her vantage point.

Her gaze was naturally drawn to the people driving up the mountain, and she unconsciously looked over.

Just then, a car on the mountain road in the distance suddenly stopped, the door opened, and four or five people got out.

These people stood by the fence, gazed into the distance for a while, and then, without hesitation, crossed the fence and plunged into the dense forest at the edge of the cliff.

After finishing speaking, Date Masashige turned his head and saw this scene. He quickly explained:
"That's the legendary Aokigahara Forest! Legend has it that even those who die there, burdened with sins, can be reincarnated in the underworld."

"So there are often people who feel they are deeply sinful who come here to commit suicide, hoping to get a chance to be reincarnated."

"Ms. Catherine, please don't worry about it!"

After staring at the car parked by the roadside in the distance for a while, Catherine looked away, hesitated for a moment, and asked:

"Isn't this really due to your country's economic downturn and the resulting unemployment?"

"No!" Date Masashige waved his hand dismissively. "Absolutely impossible!"

Seeing that the guy was stubborn and wouldn't admit it, Catherine stopped arguing, turned around and changed direction, had someone take a few photos, and then suggested continuing with the afternoon's itinerary.

Knowing that Catherine did not want to stay here, Date Masashige did not waste any more time and immediately ordered a return trip.

The convoy set off, heading towards Tokyo.

Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.

Yoshida parked the car on the side of the road and turned on the walkie-talkie in front of him. "I'm in position. When will the target arrive?"

"Phew... The target has left Mount Fuji. Judging by their speed, they should arrive in Chiyoda Ward in about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Our church members have already led the marching group out. They are controlling their speed. If nothing unexpected happens, they should meet in front of the shrine. Those bastards, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, and the Minister of Industry, will all be there. It'll be up to you two, Yoshida, then."

After listening to the message on the walkie-talkie, Yoshida picked it up and calmly pressed the switch: "Received!"

After replying to the other party, he put the walkie-talkie aside, got out of the car, then climbed into the back seat and opened the box that was placed on the back seat floor.

Inside the box were two shotguns with severely chipped paint and barrels that had been sawed off in half, extending from the trigger to about a foot long. However, the classic design of these two shotguns still told Yoshida their origin—the Browning 725.

The Citori series, a high-end product from Browning Company, is designed for competitive shooting and high-end hunting, and is renowned for its precision craftsmanship, balance, and reliability.

It has a two-round capacity, a single-trigger design, and requires ejecting the spent cartridge case and reloading after firing.

The margin for error is almost zero, but the way he loads bullets after firing is very cool.

Besides the gun, the box also contained 20 slug bullets.

Yoshida picked up the gun, took out ten bullets and stuffed them into his pocket. Then, he kept taking bullets out of his pocket, loading them into the chamber, raising the gun to aim, pretending to fire, and then unloading the bullets and reloading.

He practiced this movement countless times.

Today, it can finally be put to good use.

During the 20th practice load of bullets, someone knocked on the car window, and then his partner Nomura's voice rang out:

"Move the car to another spot. This place isn't good; the view around here is too open."

Yoshida stopped what he was doing, put his gun away, got out of the car, and parked it in another location as instructed by Nomura.

The view from this position inside the car isn't great, but other positions are even worse. Even if you see this car, you might give up on looking at it because of the poor visibility.

After locking the car, the two of them climbed into the back seat, stuffed bullets into their pockets, picked up the gun, and kept loading and unloading bullets, trying to practice their loading speed to the maximum.

Finally, as they loaded another bullet into the chamber, the walkie-talkie on the control panel crackled to life:

"Yoshida, the target has passed through the main gate of the Ministry of Defense and is 1.5 kilometers away from you. Get ready!"

Upon hearing the sound, Yoshida and Nomura exchanged a glance, gripped their guns tightly, and gently closed the chambers.

The gun barrel snapped shut with a crisp click, and the two men, who were staring at each other, smiled slightly, revealing a set of snow-white teeth.

There was no laughter, only suppressed laughter.

Meanwhile, on the main road outside, a parade slowly approached from the east.

Less than 5 minutes later, the convoy carrying Date Masanari arrived at the shrine gate, while the other parade also arrived at the shrine gate.

The two groups stood facing off in front of the shrine.

No one spoke.

Inside the car, Catherine looked at the location of the shrine, wanting to curse, but the words stuck in her throat.

The attendant tried to speak, but she stopped him with a raised hand: "It's nothing!"

After a while, Date Masanari, along with the Minister of Agriculture and several others, got out of the car and slowly walked towards Catherine's convoy. "Ms. Catherine, the road ahead has been blocked by some rude people."

"But it's alright, they've been stopped by the bodyguards!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Catherine nodded to the people outside the car window and then got out of the car.

About twenty meters away from them, a bodyguard dressed in black, who looked exceptionally reliable, had his back to them, his eyes fixed intently on the outside.

In the corner of the car, Yoshida and Nomura got out. They didn't show their guns, but instead held them inside their clothes, tucked their hands into their sleeves, and hunched their necks. As they walked forward, they looked around furtively, like petty thieves who had just stolen something.

The security personnel spotted them.

But seeing how cowardly they were, I didn't pay much attention.

And so, the two of them naturally approached the convoy that was not far away.

Then, the two men took off, and before the bodyguards could react, they broke through their defenses and rushed to a position about 10 meters away from the crowd, where they pulled out guns from their pockets.

Both guns were simultaneously pointed at Ita Masashi's face.

Bang bang bang!
(End of this chapter)