1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

He was well aware that he was initially merely a "transitional cabinet" used to appease the frenzied military, with constitutionalists intervening to prevent the military from completely taking over the political arena and to assist in the revival of party politics.

Therefore, the fundamental task of such a cabinet is to maintain the balance of Japanese politics. It is impossible for it to really gain too much power. Even though he is an admiral, he cannot even be too biased towards the navy.

However, after today's meeting, Saito Minoru was shocked to discover that as long as he relied on Fujiwara Kanezane and gained his support, he actually had the possibility of suppressing the army and gaining real power!

Young, capable, well-connected, wealthy, armed, and popular, he has strong connections with the reformists (new bureaucrats), the Seiyukai, technocratic groups, and the military...

He can almost unite all the political forces in the top echelons of Japanese politics!

Logically speaking, such a person should be very dangerous, but His Majesty the Emperor trusted him and repeatedly reprimanded those who secretly spread rumors!

Why was Koichi Kido not allowed to attend the meeting this time?

Because I spoke too much bad about Fujiwara no Kanezane, I was given the cold shoulder by His Majesty the Emperor!

Faced with such a young man who would benefit from their support but would be in trouble if they opposed him, Saito Minoru and others, who had already benefited from him because of the "Inukai Tsuyoshi murder incident", naturally would not do anything stupid.

However, Fujiwara Kanezane's calmness, intelligence, and reserved introspection still exceeded everyone's imagination:

"No, Prime Minister, His Majesty has already said that you will preside over the meeting. How can a child like me take over?"

How can someone in their early 20s have such a calm and composed mindset?

"Your Highness..."

"It goes without saying, Prime Minister. If even I don't respect the Prime Minister who received orders from His Majesty the Emperor and was selected from the nation's best talents, then what use is there for the national system?"

Everyone was solemn, and Saito Makoto was so moved that tears were about to flow. He took a deep breath and officially began to perform his duties as prime minister.

The first topic was the finalization of the "Three-Year Solution to the Agricultural Crisis" proposal. It's well known in Japan that the "Meiji Restoration," much praised by later Chinese academics, actually didn't bring about any fundamental changes to Japan.

In fact, the bad things are still as bad as before, because the "opening up and opening up the country" has created connections with the outside world, bringing more new problems, especially for the farmers at the bottom.

Without going into details about how hard their lives were under the economic crisis and the oppression of the upper class, at the beginning of the year, the Japanese government finally realized the danger of the situation and discussed providing subsidies or relief programs to farmers.

However, this rescue plan always remained in words and was never realized, and even led to the killing of former Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi to a certain extent.

The naval officer who assassinated him publicly stated during his trial:

"The devastation in the rural areas devastated by the Showa crisis was horrific... (We) believe that without helping farmers, we (Japan) will have no way to survive."

This statement not only slapped the emperor in the face, but also posed a threat to party politics, turning the issue of rural relief into a major issue concerning the survival of the Japanese government and party politics.

However, even so, the rescue plan remains in the air and difficult to implement. (Faced with the collapse of rural areas, the Japanese government actually proposed the slogan of "eliminating the negative emotions of farmers and awakening the awareness of self-reliance," calling on farmers to "be self-reliant" and "spiritually save themselves.")

Putting aside factors such as the insects' unwillingness to give up their vested interests and the domestic factions fighting and hindering each other, the most important reason is:

Poor imperialists have no money.

Why no money?

The answer is that between 1931 and 1932, most of Japan's new annual budget expenditures were used to cover the high operating expenses and military expenses for invading Northeast China;

Budgetary fiscal expenditure has exceeded one-third of revenue and is heavily dependent on deficit bonds. If large-scale relief is carried out on the issue of clothing villages, the government budget for 1933 may fall into a huge crisis.

It's an easy choice: to rescue the people of your own country, who can be easily suppressed even if they rebel, or to protect the interests of your own country, which has guns ready to blow their heads off at any time.

So, save the farmers? Save them!

However, things were different when Fujiwara no Kanezane took control of the Northeast.

Withdraw the army, control the situation, stabilize Manchuria, restore production, expropriate landlords, develop new industries...

Each of these factors caused "Manchuria expenditures" to decrease exponentially while the revenue they brought increased rapidly, which in turn led to a rapid reduction in the financial pressure on the Japanese government.

As a result, the rescue plan, which had been delayed due to funding issues, began to take shape rapidly and entered the final drafting stage of the imperial conference in just a few months.

The Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and other institutions were certainly grateful to Fujiwara no Kanezane, and the Constitutional Seiyukai (Liberal Party), which was planning to use the poor rural relief as a political tool to question the cabinet, was also very happy.

Putting aside their relationship with Kimmochi Saionji, they can use this opportunity to jump around and push the rescue plan to gain popularity!

Everyone knows who the biggest contributor is.

"...Then, Your Highness, this is the final plan. Do you have any comments?"

The biggest contributor's mouth twitched and he cursed in his heart.

Damn, a bunch of insects.

Because, all the "rescue measures" in this plan seem good on the surface, but actually have big problems.

For example, regarding "real estate-backed loans," everyone knows that the farmers who need assistance the most don't have any real estate of their own. How can they obtain low-interest loans from the government using their real estate?

For example, the "work-for-relief" policy for civil engineering projects. Guess what? Are those who can get the local government-delegated projects actually farmers who need to rely on side jobs to get relief?

For example, the average debt of rural Japan is 80 to 100 months of income, of which only one-third is productive loans;

Since the end of the Taisho era, most of the lower-class farmers had already become "financial serfs" who relied on loans to maintain their daily necessities and support themselves due to chronic agricultural crises. The economic depression made the debt problem even worse.

At this time, the bailout bill you introduced restricts farmers to using loans only for production. Are you going to allow them to take out loans or not?

So, after all this manipulation, the actual situation is probably that the lower-class farmers don't get any benefits, while the landlords can obtain low-interest loans and contract projects, and incidentally, they can exploit the farmers further.

In other words, after the "rescue plan" is introduced, not only will Japan's lower-class farmers not receive any assistance, but their situation may even become worse.

(From this we can see how bad the Kuomintang government was at that time - because the equally bad Japanese government could beat them to the ground)

Fujiwara no Kanezane doesn't believe that the Japanese elites are unaware of these problems (because they are all written in the report). From a historical perspective, these bastards are doing it on purpose:

On the one hand, he gained enough fame for himself, on the other hand, he did not have to offend local powerful groups and even made a profit from it (many of whom were landlords themselves or their spokespersons).

No wonder after the "Fujiwara Rescue Plan" was introduced, farmers who received the news flocked to Kyoto and Osaka in waves.

Ordinary people really can't understand the complicated plans made by the elites, but they are not stupid and can feel who is good and who is bad!

Damn it! How can we run a good country if we hang out with this bunch of insects?

Forget it, I have no intention of establishing a country with them anyway.

Fujiwara Kanezane scanned the plan, sighing inwardly, pausing again and again. Finally, he couldn't help himself and decided to give the Shiramoto farmers a chance to survive:

"The plan is very good. I don't have much to say, but I would like to add one more thing. Is that okay?

"Your Highness, please speak."

"Well, in order to quickly increase the population of Manchuria and the number of Japanese, any lower-class peasants willing to go to Manchuria to develop it, as long as they promise to abide by my orders and laws, can have their debts forgiven and the Emperor will pay on their behalf..."

After thinking for a while, Fujiwara Kanezane added:

"Of course, just like last time, it's actually my Fujiwara clan that's paying. The farmers will gradually repay this debt after arriving in Manchuria, with priority given to farmers with families. I'll have someone give you the real plan when the time comes..."

To put it bluntly, this policy is about "freezing and transferring debts for later installment payments." In reality, many farmers aren't afraid of going into debt; they fear the interest compounding, which can lead to a never-ending debt and the impossibility of paying it off even for nine generations.

The impact of hopeful days and hopeless days on people is earth-shaking;

The former can be persevered, but the latter may make people despair to the point of committing suicide or letting the landlords drive their own family members for generations.

Now, the Fujiwara family directly "freezes" the debts of the farmers and pays them on their behalf, and then slowly repays them every year or every month. One day, they will be able to pay it off. This is much more reliable than the Japanese government's "rescue plan."

Don't worry, if they stay in China, it will be fine. But if they go to Northeast China, these people will not be grateful to the illusory "His Majesty the Emperor" or the Japanese who have never helped them, but will only be grateful to the "King of Northeast China".

By then, they would be Fujiwara no Kanezane's base. "...This..."

"Why? Is it not possible?" "No, Your Highness is merciful." "No, it is Your Majesty who is merciful."

He's not kind at all.

Many people noticed the pity in Fujiwara no Kanezane's eyes, knowing that the other party might have seen the problem with the plan and therefore proposed this, but everyone thought that Hachimangu was being kind again and did not take it to heart.

After all, this wasn't the first time he'd done something like this. As a young man, it was understandable.

When he was young, Lord Konoe Fumimaro wanted to abandon his noble status and become an ordinary person!

Besides, it was the Fujiwara family that was defeated, so it has nothing to do with me! If we really think about it, we have to thank him.

Who wouldn't be happy with such a big spend?

The first plan was passed.

The second topic was another one that put Fujiwara no Kanezane in a difficult position: the amendment to the Rice and Grain Law.

The Rice and Grain Law was a bill enacted by the Hara Takashi Cabinet after the "Rice Riots" to implement a policy to stabilize grain prices. Initially, it was only intended to stabilize soaring grain prices and curb disorderly grain speculation.

However, the bill does not impose any restrictions on how much food prices can fall, resulting in a frequent phenomenon in Japan where "the government purchase price is lower than the actual market price, farmers are suffering, but the government does not intervene."

For example, after last year's frost-induced harvest failure, the government's rice purchase price, according to the bill's calculation method, was only 16.31 yen per koku, while the average production cost that year was 20.11 yen!

In other words, farmers work hard all year to grow crops, and then sell them to the government or other grain merchants, but not only do they not make any money, they actually have to pay 20% of the cost!

Then can I not sell the food and keep it for myself?

No, you have to pay taxes.

Not selling?

Not handing over?

Selling it to others illegally?

Then you will have to taste the iron fist of a mixture of capitalism, feudalism and slavery.

(In fact, this was a loophole deliberately left by the drafters of the bill at the time in order to further exploit the lower-class farmers)

So, do the landlords who are also victims have any objections to this? The answer is yes, but not much.

Because they mainly make money by exploiting farmers, and food income is secondary.

Moreover, for most landlords, they have the ability to purchase grain from farmers at the government-guided price and then let the local grain collection committee purchase their grain at the market price. What is there to be afraid of?

This is also one of the main reasons why the "American relief food" was delayed in reaching the farmers after arriving in Japan, while everything went smoothly in Northeast China.

One, there are a large number of landowners who influence the execution;

One, the landlord was killed completely.

Your Majesty Fujiwara has fed the peasants and they no longer borrow money at high interest rates. So what will we eat?

Therefore, the entry of US relief grain into the Japanese market will cause a sharp drop in Japanese grain prices, ultimately hurting farmers.jpgo

This time, the Seiyukai Party acted as a leader - it demanded the repeal of part of the bill, allowing the government to intervene in the food market at any time.

Of course, "allowing intervention" is one thing, but whether they will intervene when farmers really need to intervene in grain prices is another matter.

In response to this, Fujiwara no Kanezane, who was also a great contributor, remained silent.

He had already thought it through. Since he couldn't overturn the table for the time being, he would just give the American relief food directly to the army to feed the elk, otherwise it would all be resold and wasted by these bastards.

The third topic concerns dispatching Fujiwara no Kanezane to the United States to attend the enthronement... ascension... ahem... inauguration ceremony of the President of the United States.

This was decided long ago by His Majesty the Emperor, and it was just a formality according to convention. If it weren't for the fact that the Homecoming Corps was so unruly during the Northeastern counterattack of the National Army, which triggered the counterattack of the 386th Brigade, Fujiwara no Kanezane might have arrived by now.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs naturally wanted to get involved and take credit for it, wagging its tail like a hawk. Fujiwara no Kanezane was short of people to do the work, so he didn't refuse, but just said:

"...In addition to establishing a personal friendship with President Field, I also hope to achieve cooperation with the US in various areas, including political, military, and economics. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact me later."

When these words were spoken, many people's eyes lit up and they kept thinking about it in their hearts.

If we can reach a cooperation with the United States, it will be a great achievement no matter how you look at it. And His Highness Kanezane said it publicly, clearly not intending to take all the credit for himself.

In other words...

what!

What a great and broad-minded Majesty!

The fourth topic is a report on relevant matters regarding the Sino-Manchuria Trade Agreement and the Chengde Agreement.

Lord Fujiwara stood up.

The fifth topic was about the plan to relocate Japanese factories and some industries to Manchukuo.

Lord Fujiwara stood up.

The sixth topic was about the navy... His Highness Fujiwara no Ten stood up. The seventh topic...

As the topics were discussed one after another, everyone's mouths twitched as they realized that everything seemed to be related to this young prince.

You know, this is the imperial meeting!

Which of the topics eligible for this meeting is not of great importance? Which one does not need to be submitted to Congress and the Cabinet for final decision?

For an ordinary person to participate in such an event is enough to be regarded as the "future talent reserve of the empire", let alone if almost all of them participate, it is not an exaggeration to call them the "most important minister of the empire".

In the past, such an important official would have been envied and besieged by many people, but Fujiwara no Kanezane was not like that. Instead, he was supported and loved by many people.

After all, who would be willing to easily create a conflict with an imperial official who has stayed in "another country" for a long time, can continuously bring benefits to his country, and has a status far superior to others?

It would be even better if this important official knew how to restrain himself, be kind to others, and often create "little surprises" that would benefit most people.