Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 236 Yoshida: Why can’t the Southern Alliance parasitize Japan?

To put it bluntly, Zheng Yi's proposal was the original purpose of his coming to Japan.

It's not like he's really here to play with the little girl.

Although the Japanese girl was indeed very entertaining, Zheng Yi's kidneys couldn't take it.

This is really a bit of a life-shortening thing. Zheng Yi even feels that those who have been playing these days may shorten their lives by one or two years.

Zheng Yi's real purpose is to remove the problem from under the hood and to take away talented people.

When discussing the reasons why Japan was able to rise again after the war, most people say that it was able to relax to a certain extent through various agreements, and gained the entire Southeast Asian market, as well as large orders during the Korean War.
After the 50s, the US military relaxed its control over Japan, and the so-called transfer of American industry and the rise of the semiconductor industry were all old stories.

However, in Zheng Yi's view, these are essentially just adding bricks and tiles. What really made Japan rise again after the war was the first-mover advantage they accumulated in industrialization and the arduous and extraordinary spirit of sacrifice of the post-war Showa generation. At most, they added the sacrifice and collectivism of an entire generation under the background of the influence of Confucian civilization.

Zheng Yi’s plan was very simple, which was to directly remove the backbone of this generation from Japanese society.

Moreover, this group of talents and factories actually represent the so-called first-mover advantage in the industrial field.

You must know that in the field of industrial civilization, the first-mover advantage is often much more obvious than the latecomer advantage. When a country first occupies an industrial advantage, as long as it does not make stupid policies, the latecomer countries have almost no way to catch up.

There is nothing fancy about it. It is just such a simple reason. Unless developing countries are lucky enough to catch up with the new technological trend, they will never be able to catch up with the first-mover countries. In the context of globalization, they will always be sucked dry by the first-mover countries.

Normally, when this round of technological explosion stops, the industrialization path of developing countries will be locked, and they can only make repairs through small measures such as tariffs. Generally, developing countries cannot stop developed countries from doing business with swords. It is really a huge surprise that China can rise after World War II.

Who could have imagined that there are so many idiots among foreign politicians.

And now, Zheng Yi also wants to compete with Japan for this first-mover advantage.

He is different from the United States, because the United States really looks down on Japan's industrial foundation, but he thinks highly of it.

This large base of industrial population with certain skills is the foundation that the SAARC lacks now.

Moreover, it is impossible for anyone to establish a nation-state in Nanyang. Everyone lives in a multi-ethnic community. As a defeated country, the Japanese, who bear the original sin against the Chinese, are much easier to get along with than the Malays and Indians in all aspects.

Is the essence of Japanese a Chinese dialect? As long as the Japanese learn Chinese, they can become Chinese. By the second generation, there is basically no difference between them and the Chinese.

Yoshida's face was ashen. After thinking for a long time, he really couldn't think of any excuse to refuse. Coach Mai and Zheng Yi were so close that they were almost sworn brothers. There was no doubt that he would support Zheng Yi's proposal.

In fact, the strategic goal that General MacArthur informed Japan of was to find ways to turn Japan into a fourth-rate country.

Although by accident, it actually laid a solid foundation for Japan's economic boom in the 60s, this was not his original intention.

It should be said that the original intention was bad, but it went astray during execution.

With Zheng Yi in this time and space, it is hard to say whether this original intention will go astray.

As for Yoshida, he would rather have millions of people starve to death in Japan than have the most elite population of Japan follow Zheng Yi!

If millions of people starve to death, Japan will have a generation of time to start over, but if Zheng Yi takes away one million or even several million people, then it will be completely over.

Japan will truly become a third-rate or even fourth-rate country in the future.

But he could only bite the bullet and thank him: "Hey! Wagada, if you need us to do anything, we will do our best to cooperate."

Marshal Mai suddenly added, "Do you have enough funds in the Southern Alliance? If not, I can help you get a loan from an American bank. 700 million or 800 million US dollars should be no problem, and it will definitely be at a low interest rate. Whether it can be interest-free is hard to say."

Yoshida: "…………"

The loan to Japan is not even 200 million, but the loan to SAARC is 700 million or 800 million.

Zheng Yi didn't refuse and nodded, "Thank you very much, Marshal. Right now, the world's economy hasn't recovered yet, and money is indeed a little tight."

Coach Mai: "Hahaha, we are all brothers, right? This is your original plan, right? Which companies do you plan to acquire, and how will you recruit people?"

However, Zheng Yi gave this opportunity to Toyota Risaburo, and asked Toyota Risaburo to repeat their SAARC's "Japan Reconstruction Plan" in detail to Marshal Mai.

"We really need your help, Marshal Mai. For this acquisition, we Japanese businessmen who have renounced our Japanese citizenship will return in large numbers to publicize the SAARC's recruitment, employment, and investment policies."

"Opening up immigration also requires some cooperation from the US Navy. Of course, the most crucial thing is that the US military loosens its grip on several major Japanese conglomerates. After relocating their industries to places like Singapore and Penang, we hope the US can conduct a thorough review of these Japanese conglomerates."

"As long as these consortiums haven't committed direct war crimes or crimes against humanity, we should still loosen up their international trade restrictions."

General Mai laughed and said, "What kind of problem is that? Those consortiums were sanctioned because they were Japanese consortiums. If they were consortiums from the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation, they wouldn't need sanctions, right? Hahahahaha."

On the side, Zheng Yi saw that Yoshida looked depressed, but when Toyota Risaburo was explaining the plan to Marshal Mai, he took the initiative to pick up the bottle and poured a glass of wine for Yoshida himself.

"You don't have to be so pessimistic. You're an expert on China, so you should know that there's an old Chinese saying, 'A blessing in disguise.' Right now, Japan has been defeated and is facing all-encompassing sanctions from the United States. If it continues like this, it will only lead to a slow death."

"If I drain the industrial base that Japan has accumulated since the Meiji Restoration, the Southern Alliance will be on the right track and develop rapidly, breaking away from the predicament of relying entirely on me as the driving force. But if I don't drain the base of Japan, will our Southern Alliance be unable to develop and achieve industrialization?"

"To put it bluntly, with the help of the Japanese expatriates, the SAARC could have avoided 20 to 30 years of climbing the ladder. Without their help, I would have only needed 20 to 30 more years. But think about it: as a defeated country, Japan has no foundation for development. If I had developed on my own, after 20 to 30 years, Japan would have been completely ruined."

"Back in Penang, weren't you the one who came to me on behalf of Mr. Mine, asking me to leave Japan with a lasting legacy?"

Yoshida smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, it was you who rescued me from an American prison. But back then... haha, maybe that's just my butt. Who would have thought that a marginalized diplomat like me would become the leader of Japan today?"

Zheng Yi: "Each generation has its own tasks. The Japanese leaders of your generation have one and only one mission, which is to ensure the survival of as many Japanese as possible, even if it means they have to survive on my side."

"The bond between the people and the motherland cannot be severed immediately. Not to mention that I can't really drain all the backbone forces of Japan at once. I don't have that much ability. There are always patriots."

"Nationality is important when you say it's important, but when you say it's unimportant, it's just a piece of paper. Take Toyota Risaburo, for example. He's no longer Japanese, but just now on the way here, a woman spat in his face, and he still clenched his fist tightly."

"If Japan's talents and conglomerates can really gain a foothold in Southeast Asia, they will eventually repay Japan. Even if only one out of ten returns, it will not allow Japan to sink."

"If you follow me out, you can still make a name for yourself and have a chance to repay me in the future. Otherwise, you might really sink into despair."

Yoshida's heart skipped a beat, and he said in great surprise, "Mr. Zheng, are you saying that in the future, Japanese expatriates or companies that have gone abroad will be allowed to return to Japan and invest?"

Zheng Yi: "Of course."

Yoshida: “Then, can we ask you to sign a detailed repatriation treaty with us on behalf of SAARC, specifying in detail the terms regarding the return of these Japanese after they go abroad in the future?
Can we in Japan bind our currency to the South African currency and implement a rigid redemption policy? I think this would be very beneficial for your South Asian Alliance to control Japan economically.

As he spoke, Yoshida looked at Marshal Mai cautiously, for fear that even if Zheng Yi nodded in agreement, Marshal Mai would utter the word "NO".

When Zheng Yi heard this, he smiled happily at his old friend.

He truly deserves to be the person who led Japan out of the economic quagmire after the war and the one who brought the dead fish philosophy and the loser's way to the extreme.

It turns out that none of these politicians who can leave their names in history are simple people, and their reactions in battle can be said to be quick.

Of course, what Zheng Yi said was to fool Yoshida.

After all, according to historical trajectory, Japan had basically completely emerged from the shadow of defeat in the 60s, and in the 7s and 80s it was already clamoring that "Japan can say no."

There is no such thing as decades of decline, and there is no such thing as darkness and desolation.

He said this only to get the Japanese government to cooperate more with his plan. After all, if they did not put in any effort or even deliberately made trouble, Zheng Yi would find it very troublesome.

Of course, Zheng Yi had never actually thought about crippling the Japanese with one move, or really breaking the Japanese's spine with this move so that they would never be able to stand up again.

Can't do it.

No matter how miserable Japan is, it will still have the necessary development, it will just be slower than in history and the ceiling of development will be lower.

The lower limit of this country has been set, and it can't go much lower.

There will always be some patriotic people who won't leave.

And to a large extent, he has drawn away the elites of a generation, and those who are left who were not elites originally can also grow into elites again.

No matter how much hatred there is, the foreigners who understand China best must be the Japanese, and the people who understand Japan best must be the Chinese.

The reason is simple: Japan had already vigorously promoted basic education for its citizens during the Meiji Restoration, and by the start of World War II, basic education had been fully implemented. Furthermore, the Japanese, bar none, place the greatest emphasis on language in any education system worldwide. China's emphasis on language in education is a direct imitation of the Japanese.

As for Chinese language, although it was the Germans who first introduced it and enforced its popularization, it was Japan and China that really took it to the extreme.

As long as a country popularizes language in basic compulsory education, the country will not perish unless all its people die.

Because his citizens know where they come from and where they will return, their sense of belonging to their country and nation is more than just a piece of nationality, a language, or even a lifestyle.

To put it bluntly, the greatest significance of learning Chinese is that when one day the nation faces crisis, people will be able to stand up by reciting "Man Jiang Hong" without any mobilization.

For hundreds of years, no one has indeed been able to memorize the "Four Sentences of Hengqu", but the probability of a person who grew up memorizing the Four Sentences of Hengqu and standing up when something really happens is definitely much greater than someone who has not memorized them.

The Chinese language textbooks in Japan also include Japan's "Yongqu Siju" and "Manjianghong". Moreover, modern Japanese junior and high schools all learn Chinese ancient poetry, and Japanese high school students are required to memorize "Liangzhou Ci".

A nation whose entire population can recite Liangzhou Ci cannot be destroyed.

As a time traveler from later generations, Zheng Yi may be able to look at some things from the perspective of hindsight, and he may be clearer and more knowledgeable than the Japanese elite politicians of this era who are at the center of the storm and can only look forward.

However, Yoshida keenly grasped the survival opportunity of this immigration policy for Japan: currency.

Simply put, it is to forcibly bind the Japanese yen and the South African currency together and force the country to become an economic colony of the South African Association for Regional Cooperation.

After all, it is already a colony now. Being a colony of SAARC, or being a joint colony of the United States and SAARC, is better than being a colony of the United States alone.

This is what is called the dead fish philosophy.

It means that the country should be made to lie on the chopping board like a fish, like a dead fish, and be slaughtered as people want. Not only should it not have the spirit of resistance, but it should cooperate with the other party's butcher knife as much as possible, and in the process of being slaughtered, it should seek all the benefits possible.

One of the biggest problems facing the Japanese economy right now is that the original conglomerates are being forced to split up by President MacArthur, and the splitting is being done so brutally that the upstream and downstream supply chains are completely destroyed.

Marshal Mai's original intention was to clean up the Japanese economy. He didn't care whether the demolition was reasonable or not. He just demolished it by force, directly hitting Japan's industrial production system hard.

The second is that Japan was completely kicked out of the international trade system.

After all, Japan is an island country with a small land area and a dense population. Not allowing Japan to participate in international trade and forcing a highly cooperative society that has already completed initial industrialization to forcibly regress to agricultural civilization is no different from playing a game of battle royale.

The more industrialized a country is, the more miserable its people will be when that industrialization is destroyed.

In African countries, even if a major natural or man-made disaster occurs, it is unlikely that a major humanitarian disaster will break out. After all, everyone can survive as long as they have food to eat, and most people may still be able to farm. The country's population density is not that high, and social production does not rely on large-scale socialized production maintained by a set of industrial order.

But if an industrialized country suddenly experiences an economic collapse, it is possible that 70% to 80% of the population will die.

To put it bluntly, with Japan's local resource endowment, supporting a population of 30 million is almost the limit if it relies purely on internal circulation, while it currently has a population of 60 million.

In fact, these Japanese politicians have thought about the worst possible outcome, which is to stage a real battle royale and kill more than half of the population by starving to death or in battle.

If Marshal Mai had not been willing to give them a way out and leave them a chance to survive, this incident might not have happened.

Japan has now completely lost all sources of foreign exchange income.

But if Marshal Mai can agree and allow them to strongly bind the Japanese yen to the South Asian currency, then this problem will be easy to solve. Considering that Zheng Yi wants so many Japanese to develop in Southeast Asia, there must be a lot of economic ties between the two.

Isn't this equivalent to returning to the international trade system with the help of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation?

You know, SAARC is not a country.

At present, this thing is still a multinational consortium that is parasitic on British colonies.

Then why can't we parasitize Japan as well?

Even if we take a step back, Zheng Yi actually dared to ask so many Japanese to join SAARC, then in the future SAARC, the Japanese will definitely be the backbone of SAARC.

They must be second only to the Chinese. Even if it were not for the leader Zheng Yi, the Japanese would most likely become the backbone force that can compete with the Chinese.

To put it bluntly, a snake swallowing an elephant will inevitably suffer from indigestion. Rapid development and stable development cannot be achieved at the same time. So many Japanese have moved to the backbone positions of the Southern Alliance. Even if it is impossible for the Japanese to take over the Southern Alliance because of Zheng Yi, they will definitely have no problem becoming a major shareholder.

As long as Japan and Southeast Asia can be linked, the development of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will definitely drive the development of Japan in reverse.

It’s like in the future, you can’t name any awesome companies in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, but because they are part of the billion-dollar “civilization circle”, they are still developed countries. You can’t find out what industrial advantages Jiangxi has compared to Thailand, but the fact is that they are more developed than Thailand is true.

A driving effect?

The most important thing is that Yoshida’s proposal will also bring huge benefits to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

The way of losers, the dead fish philosophy, all of Japan's development is based on the premise that the person who cuts the fish also benefits.

The strong binding between the Japanese yen and the SAARC currency will only eliminate the last obstacle for SAARC to control the Japanese economy. To put it bluntly, it is a unilateral and complete abandonment of economic sovereignty to SAARC.

You just want to colonize us.

come on.

Not only did I lie down, I even took off my clothes and stuck out my butt.

In the next few decades, the wealth created by the Japanese people can be taken away by you, the SAARC, at will, without any threshold.

In this way, Japan can at least rely on the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation, get through it and survive.

As for asking Zheng Yi to sign a repatriation treaty with him, this guy is just judging others by his own standards.

Could it be that if those Japanese immigrants become rich in the future and want to return to Japan to help their poor relatives or return to their hometown to invest, can he still stop them?
Zheng Yi definitely has no problem with this proposal. As I said before, the SAARC itself is a non-state actor that is dependent on the entire South Seas region and currently exists mainly as a British colony.

It's parasitic, it doesn't matter who it's on.

If the countries in Southeast Asia become independent in the future, although the headquarters of Southeast Asia will undoubtedly still be Penang and Singapore, Japan will indeed be an excellent target for parasitism.

Not only is it highly similar to Chinese culture culturally, but militarily it is a pure colony of the United States. The risk of getting out of control is extremely low, and there is no need to worry too much about rebellion by the main ethnic group that is being parasitized.

It is even very likely that in the future internal conflicts within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the conflict between Japan and China will be less serious than the conflict between Malaysia and China.

"Ah~~"

Just at this moment, Zheng Yi's whole body was shaking.

Yamamoto Fujiko came out from under the table, wiped her mouth, lit a cigar for Zheng Yi and let him smoke it.

"Huh~, that depends on what Coach Mai thinks."

After all, the United States is now the master of Japan, and this matter requires General MacArthur's consent. If General MacArthur does not nod, his nod is of no use.

General Mai suddenly burst into laughter and said, "You and I are brothers. Brothers should help each other. Zheng, you know I'm a Republican. In the United States, the Democratic Party has been in power for far too long."

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "You are not only a Republican, but also the leader of the conservative realists within the Republican Party. If you, or the conservative establishment within your Republican Party, have other candidates willing to pursue that position, I am willing to communicate with those American multinational corporations that have joined the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation."

"Politics is about balance. Now that the war is over, Keynesianism has indeed seriously affected American multinational capital, or rather, the vital interests of the American people."

Marshal Mai smiled even more happily after hearing this and said, "I am a soldier after all. I don't understand economic matters, and I also need to consider the opinions of the civilian officials at home, but I will try my best to help."

"By the way, Zheng, my transformation of Japan mainly consists of three parts: government restructuring, industrial splitting, and, most importantly, land redistribution."

"Industrial splitting, it seems you can help me do it now. Just split these Japanese companies and move them to Southeast Asia. This is clearly helping me."

"This land redistribution... Honestly, I'm a bit confused. Zheng, if you're not in a hurry to go back, why don't you stay and help me?"

Zheng Yi was actually quite anxious to go back, at least it was not convenient for him to stay in Japan for too long.

Anand in Alor Setar still had a gloomy face.

But since it was Coach Mac who invited him, Zheng Yi nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll stay a little longer and see if there's anything I can do to help. Come on, Coach Mac, let's have a toast. And Mr. Yoshida, Mr. Toyota, let's have a toast together, and let's wish for a better tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)