Manhattan Reborn 1978

South-central United States.

Texas, approximately 37 kilometers north of Houston.

Houston Intercontinental Airport.

A Blue Star Airlines flight had just entered the airspace over the airport.

In the first class cabin of the flight.

David fastened his seat belt as instructed by the flight attendant, whispered the details of the cooperation to Gensuke Sawakawa, and wrote them all down on paper.

When a page is full, David will throw it to the "audience" waiting nearby, Carnes, and ask for his opinions and suggestions.

Carnes held the dozen-page record in his hand, staring at it blankly, listening to the voices of David and the others, but his mind had already flown away to who knows where!

. . .

After more than ten minutes, the plane stopped smoothly.

David put down his pen, rubbed his wrist a few times, looked at Gensuke Sawakawa and said with a smile: "We are in Houston, do you want to stay and spend Easter with us?"

"No, thank you!" Gensuke Sawakawa said with a smile, feeling that he had successfully achieved his goal.

"In fact, before I boarded the plane, I had already asked someone to help me book a flight from Houston to Los Angeles."

"Oh?"

"So, you had already anticipated that we could reach a cooperation?"

"Yes!"

"My students, Toshiki Wada and Kaedeichiro Yasuda, both said that you like win-win cooperation the most."

"So this time, in order to express my sincerity, I specially brought two gifts."

"Gift?" When David heard Gensuke Sawakawa mention this word, he suddenly remembered the strange and absurd feeling he had when he saw those "beautiful gifts" sitting in the car outside the Tokyo villa.

Gensuke Sawakawa looked at David with a smile, noticed the "message" inadvertently revealed on his face and in his eyes, and whispered something.

. . .

About half an hour passed.

After walking out of the airport passage, the people who were on the same flight with David boarded several buses arranged in advance by Mr. Tianniu and left the airport.

At this time, David and Carnes were at the exit of the lobby of Terminal A of the airport, watching Gensuke Sawakawa walk towards the VIP lounge in the distance.

"Have you figured it all out?"

"That's about right..."

"Oh? Is there something you don't understand yet?" David asked Carnes softly.

"he!"

"I can't quite understand why you asked him to help you for five years?" Kanes asked with a puzzled look in his eyes, pointing into the distance.

“Hahaha~ So that’s what it is?”

"The reason is very simple!"

"I have too few people available."

"people?"

"Yes!" David took Carnes' arm and turned to walk out of the airport hall. Seeing Mr. Tianniu waiting with a smile not far away, he smiled and nodded in response, and explained in a low voice.

"Sawakawa Gensuke is a senior staff member who has served the Yasuda family for decades. He is one of the heroes who participated in the Yasuda family's resurgence after World War II."

"Therefore, he is very familiar with the complex situation within the major family business alliances in the island country, and is also full of concerns about the slowly changing mentality of these people."

"Worry?!"

"Yes!" David walked to the car and whispered a few words to Mr. Tianniu. After confirming his answer, he felt very relaxed and invited Carnes to get into the car and continued.

"Twenty years later, in 1958, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Co., Ltd. was officially renamed Sony Corporation and formulated an international development strategy to allow more Sony products to truly go abroad."

"In the early 60s, Akio Morita was promoted by Io Daishin to become the president of Sony Corporation's U.S. branch, with full responsibility for business development in the U.S. market."

"In May of the same year, Sony's transistor TV5-8 went on sale in the United States."

"But due to its high price and frequent malfunctions, it achieved unexpectedly high sales, but also had an extremely high failure rate and return rate, causing Sony to lose a lot of money."

"This situation did not last until April 62, when Sony launched the transistor micro-TV TV4-5, which really opened up the US market and gained a certain market share."

"But three years after these two Sony black-and-white TV products entered the U.S. market, they were hit hard by color TVs."

When David said this, he glanced at Kanes who was "daydreaming" beside him and smiled even more.

"In 58, before Sony's stock was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Yasuda family secretly obtained some original shares through an agent."

"In 61, Sony decided to sell 200 million shares to the U.S. market to increase its own popularity, and they quietly took about 12 of them."

"In 71, Sony was officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange. They held about 7.2% of Sony's shares, which was enough to enter the board of directors and participate in the company's major decision-making."

"In the past 20 years, Sony has relied on the financial support of Mitsui Sakura Bank to establish Sony Service Company, Sony Warehouse, Sony Chemical Industry Company, Sony Audio Factory, Sony Precision Machinery Company, Sony Semiconductor Company and other companies, and has separated and independently operated its factories in Sendai, Inai and Ichinomiya."

"Moreover, it had already begun to build factories in various countries outside the island nation more than a decade ago."

"For example, the color TV factories in San Diego, the United States and Bridgington, the United Kingdom, and the semiconductor product factories established in Canada, Mexico, France, Spain, Singapore, Brazil, Hong Kong and other places."

"Sony is now a large-scale enterprise conglomerate that spans the semiconductor industry, logistics and warehousing industry, precision manufacturing industry, service industry and petrochemical industry."

"However, it is precisely Sony's rapid expansion around the world in recent years that has given some people the opportunity to take advantage of the situation."

"That's why the Yasuda family sneaked in quietly and secretly plotted to get more shares of Sony and become..."

"Oh, I understand!" Kanes looked at David with a strange expression.

"On the island country... it's definitely not just the Yasuda family that Gensuke Sawakawa belongs to that's doing this. Other companies and families are also doing this quietly... right?"

"That's right!" David said, looking at Mr. Tianniu who was driving silently.

"You are in me, and I am in you!"

"Only by forming an extremely large community of interests can we ensure everyone's safety."

"Notice!"

"When I say safety, I mean not only the safety of their property, but also their personal safety."

"Uh... do you think they will..." Kanes murmured with an even weirder expression.

"Haha, who knows?" David shrugged and smiled.

"I've seen many people pull out their guns and kill an innocent stranger just for a few hundred dollars."

"Not to mention those bastards who have no bottom line and dare to sell out their friends and family for the sake of profit."

"This kind of thing happened in the past, it happens now, and it will not be uncommon in the future."

"Yeah!" Kanes turned his head to look out the window and sighed in an unclear tone.

"The future is always full of infinite variables, no one can predict it."

"Tsk!"

"You're right."

"But as a friend I must remind you that it's not too late for you to quit now."

"Because the cooperation proposed by Gensuke Sawakawa this time requires the help of the power of your family."

"If you don't want to do this, I advise you to give up immediately!"

"No!"

"But you..."

"I know." Carnes' voice was very soft, but his tone was extremely firm. He shook his head and looked at David.

"Sawakawa Gensuke came to New York and used your help as an excuse to find me, but his real target should be me."

"Norwich Montagu is the man my uncle trusts most."

"He knows me and knows that once I decide to do something, I never give up."

"So..?" David raised his eyebrows exaggeratedly and waited.

Carnes sneered and curled his lips: "So, they think that if I want to practice my swimming skills, I must go to the sea, not in the swimming pool."

"Hahaha~"

David smiled, shook his head and sighed: "My mentor, Professor Bartlett, told me that if a person has an idea, he must be able to realize it through action."

"Otherwise, it is not thought, it is just fantasy."

"Mr. Dreamer Carnes, now it's your turn to show your talents!"

"What are you waiting for?"

"Get lost!" Carnes twisted his butt and gave David a middle finger. After thinking about it, he couldn't help laughing.

The two of them laughed and joked for a while.

Carnes rolled down the car window and asked David while breathing in the fresh air blowing from outside.

"Eh? That's right!"

"What exactly is that conspiracy you mentioned?"

"Hehe~" David found a comfortable sitting position and asked Kanes back.

"You've been to Tokyo, so you've been to an island country."

"If I ask you now, what is the biggest problem that limits its continued rapid development?"

"problem?"

"Um... resources?" Kanes rolled his eyes, thought for a moment, and answered.

"That's right!" David smiled and nodded affirmatively.

“To be more specific, it’s the extreme scarcity of natural resources.”

“Among natural resources, the most important one is national territory!”

"The island nation's territory consists of four large islands and more than 6000 small islands, with a total area of ​​about 38 square kilometers and a total population of about 1.15 million."

"And the state of Texas where we are now is about 70 square kilometers in area and has a total population of about 2100 million."

"It is precisely because the island nation's territory is too small that it has been unable to break through its resource constraints over the past few hundred years and can only rely on external military expansion to occupy more land, plunder resources and then feed back to the country to achieve rapid development."

"Next question."

"Excuse me, after the island nation announced its surrender in 45, what did the US military led by General MacArthur bring to it?"

"Uh..." Kanes raised his hand and scratched his head, thinking without answering.

David didn't seem to want to get an answer from him. He just chuckled and said, "The island nation that was defeated more than 30 years ago was already terminally ill."

"The arrival of the US military has given hope to those who have been unable to break free from the shackles of class and can only endure silently!"

"The series of policy measures proposed by General MacArthur in the island nation just met the greatest psychological demands of those who chose to endure - breaking the monopoly and reshuffle, taking the opportunity to regain everything they had lost!"

"So after General MacArthur left the island nation, various forces in the country went through a deep-level game for more than 30 years, and finally formed the six major monopoly corporate consortiums today."

"The Yasuda family behind Sawakawa Gensuke is also one of the winners who wants to have the last laugh in this ongoing game."