1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

"...Commander, why don't you choose some more gentle means to seize power?"

The agent rubbed Mark's shoulders and neck while curiously asking:

"You are a human being, and you are so intelligent. There must be a better way, right?"

Although he didn't care, the agent could still feel some undercurrents within the Fujiwara family.

"Yes, I do, but aren't you tired of all the intrigue?"

Mark ate a fresh winter jujube grown in the greenhouse and waved his hand impatiently:

"Life should be enjoyed while it lasts. I only care about whether the effect and purpose can be achieved. I don't care about the means. Anyway, you will clean up my mess for me."

I was exhausted enough in the workplace in my previous life. Now that I have finally traveled through time, shouldn’t I enjoy myself?

It is better to convince others with virtue than to think hard; it is better to argue with reason than to be exhausted and worried.

"...yes."

The agent nodded and sighed inwardly.

It seems that I have to fill in the gaps for the commander.

Although he easily gained control of the Fujiwara clan's inner court by relying on his absolute military strength, the agent was not a reckless man who could only rely on force to solve problems.

Sweeping the floor and wiping the windows?

Not only is she cleaner, but her speed is also three to four times that of an ordinary servant.

Cooking meals?

Under limited conditions, she directly raised the Fujiwara family's food standards to the 21st century level.

Etiquette reception?

Even if it was a foreign country's rules, she could learn them quickly and do them so well that no one could find fault with them.

Income and expenditure accounts?

She can use "quantum speed reading" to find all the problems in a 3cm thick account book within one minute.

All kinds of things.

Don't forget, the agent is a super-powerful commanding humanoid who has received various instructions from humans and has tens of thousands of past case data stored in the cloud map.

So, within just a few days, the agent successfully gained the admiration, respect and trust of everyone in the Fujiwara family.

Including Fujiwara Shinichi who was once frightened by her.

In fact, the head of the family was a sensible person. He knew that the agent was only following orders from Fujiwara no Kanezane, so after a brief period of anger, he did not blame her anymore.

If she wasn't so capable, how could she, as the head maid in charge of the harem, have the time to massage her master's shoulders and back and do things that only a personal maid could do?

Oh, she also worked as Mark's personal maid.

There are also personal bodyguards.

In a sense, this man is not someone who is easy to serve...

Back to the point.

In short, the appointment of the new head maid of the Fujiwara family and the internal power change did not cause any disturbance in the outside world like the injury of Fujiwara Kanezane.

The party that seizes power doesn’t care at all, and the party whose power is seized is too embarrassed;

Therefore, both parties chose to keep silent at all costs.

As for those ordinary guards and servants?

If they dare to go out and talk nonsense, they will die in minutes.

So, the Fujiwara family spent a few days in peace.

Perhaps it was a benefit of time travel, but Fujiwara Kanezane's body recovered quite quickly. After discovering that the skin injuries he had sustained did not affect his movements, he excitedly said:

"Come on, let's go! Agent! Let's go out and have some fun!"

"...yes."

He wrote a few notes at lightning speed and left them for the hostess, Fujiwara Ranko;

He called a few servants and guards and quickly arranged the subsequent work;

The agent then accompanied Fujiwara Kanezane out of the door in an orderly manner.

----

This was the first time Mark stepped out of the Fujiwara family's inner residence since coming to this world.

Although Tokyo in 1932 was in the middle of the "Great Depression", the streets were bustling with people and cars, and it did not seem particularly bleak.

A considerable number of Japanese men dress in Western style, wearing suits and trousers, ties or bow ties, tall hats, and sleek hair.

Women usually wear a wrap skirt or a long skirt, a shirt and shawl on the upper body, a small hat, and their hair is often curled in a Western style.

Of course, there are also people who still wear old-style kimonos, but even they often choose some Western-style pendants as embellishments.

Round-nosed cars, trams, yellow school buses, horse-drawn carriages, and bicycles, which Fujiwara no Kanezane considered antiques but were very modern in those days, were running around aimlessly at the traffic lights.

In addition to the gray trash cans on the street, there are also cement or wooden telephone poles or street lights, with words such as "Venereal Disease Hospital" painted in bright red on the poles.

In terms of architecture, it is somewhat similar to Mark's impression of Chinese towns in the 1980s and 1990s. Most of the houses are square, and only a few have some Western artistic embellishments.

For example, the rows of cinemas behind the glittering billboards and flags exude an atmosphere of "It's fun here, come and have fun."

Japan has been westernized for decades. Not to mention how the countryside is doing, at least Tokyo can be called a "modern international metropolis."

"...This is Ginza, Tokyo..."

Sitting in a row with his agent, Fujiwara Kanezane looked at the scene before him and sighed:

"It's really fucking interesting."

"...Indeed, even in my database, such a scene is extremely rare."

"Oh? You mean..."

"When I was in Europe, apart from the big cities, the whole of Europe was in ruins, with collapses and pollution. After I came to China, the whole country had already entered the primary stage of communism, so I didn't see such ancient scenes at all."

"Wow... tell me more about this when you have time... Oh, we're here, let's get off!"

"Yes, Master."

Fujiwara Kanezane jumped out of the rickshaw, and the agent followed;

As a result, the rickshaw tire that had just been flattened suddenly bulged.

This time, the rickshaw driver finally confirmed:

The one with the surprisingly heavy weight was not the handsome young master, but the lady who was so beautiful that he dared not look up at her.

what's up?

Could it be that this lady was carrying something heavy?

The rickshaw driver touched his rickshaw with a distressed look before bowing to the two important figures in his eyes.

"Well, Master, Madam, I'll give you 50 coins."

This price was not low, so the driver was quite cautious when asking for it.

Nowadays, the profession of rickshaw puller has almost become a rarity in Tokyo, Japan.

People usually only choose it when they want to go to places that cannot be reached by buses, subways or cars.

For example, from Asakusa to Ueno, the subway ticket is only 0.1 yen (10 sen), but the rickshaw ticket is also 0.1 yen;

But the question is, are the two comparable in terms of speed and comfort?

On rainy days, you have to get wet in the rain; on sunny days, you have to be exposed to the sun; on cold days, you have to be blown by the cold wind; on hot days, you have to smell the driver's sweat...

Then why don’t I take the subway, bus or even a horse-drawn carriage?

Today, the driver finally managed to pick up this couple in Chiyoda District, where wealthy families gather. Just by looking at their appearance and skin, it was obvious that they were either rich or noble, so he boldly asked for more.

Of course, one of the reasons was that the car seemed to have some problems due to being pressed by these two guests.

"Hehehehe..."

Hearing the driver's asking price, Fujiwara Kanezane jumped in front of him and said with a half-smile:

"It's such a short distance, and you still need fifty coins?"

"Um... you can give 40 coins... if that's not enough, how about 30 coins?"

"Don't worry, I'm not short of money."

Fujiwara Kanezane waved his hand:

"I'll ask you some questions. If you answer them well, I'll give you more."

"..."

In Tokyo and even in the whole of Japan, displeasing the powerful is a sure way to die.

The driver had no choice but to lower his head and bend his body to chat with the nobleman.

From this humble citizen, Fujiwara no Kanezane roughly understood the price situation in Tokyo during this period (there were fluctuations, but not much):

One kilogram of chicken, 1 yen;

One kilogram of pork, 1.2 yen;

An eel bento, 2 yen;

A serving of curry rice/ramen from a small shop costs 0.2 yen;

A cup of coffee, 0.5 kg of inferior rice, or half a portion of ice cream: 0.1 yen;

Bicycles ridden by students in knee-length sailor skirts, 60 yen;

Those cars with American flags just passed by, I guess they cost around 10000 yen...

Strictly speaking, if the driver only wants to fill his stomach, the money he earns from running for a day is enough to support himself;

But people can't just eat.

In addition to feeding himself and his family, he also had to pay various fees to various evildoers (including the landlord);

A rickshaw driver can earn about 1 yen a day if he is lucky, but usually about 0.5 yen.

If it rains, there may be no harvest.

So at the end of the month, I can hardly save any money.

During the Showa Panic, everyone had a hard time.

"...So you earned a day's wages on this trip?"

Fujiwara no Kanezane still had a half-smile on his face and was not actually angry, but the driver was frightened:

"Yes, yes, yes, I'm sorry, Master! I don't want it anymore! I don't want it anymore!!"

He was not frightened by Fujiwara Kanezane, but by the glance from the beautiful woman.

"Hahahahahaha..."

Fujiwara Kanezane laughed heartily:

"Your legitimate income, why don't you want it? Take it!"

As he said this, he took out a folded, unmarked "paper" from the agent's skirt pocket, stuffed it into the driver's hand, and then drove away.

The driver looked at the white paper in his hand with a bitter face, but then he breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as I don't offend the powerful and lose my life, this trip will be in vain...

He knew that some of the powerful people in Tokyo had a bad taste for using their power to torture those who dared to resist without paying;

It is not uncommon to spend a piece of paper as money after making a purchase.

The driver hunched over and was about to throw away the paper in his hand, but suddenly he froze.

He hadn't looked carefully just now, but now he realized that the paper didn't seem to be blank, and he could vaguely see ink marks on the back.

Alas?

He unfolded the paper completely and turned it over, and found some patterns and the seal of the Bank of Japan.