Republic of China: German-equipped divisions massacred as warlords guarded the nation's borders

Chapter 109 The Crisis of Raw Silk! The Comeback of the Japanese Trading Company

April 25, 1925, Longhua Road Headquarters.

Chen Zijun sat in his study, a construction progress report from Jiangnan Shipyard spread out before him. Twenty-five days had passed, and the 40,000-strong construction workforce worked day and night in three shifts, excavating a massive foundation pit in the 10,000-ton dry dock that made Liu Zhenliang beam with pride. Meanwhile, the railway tracks in Ma'anshan were extending deeper into the mining area at an astonishing pace.

Everything is proceeding according to plan.

He habitually looked up and glanced at the system panel that only he could see.

[Host: Chen Zijun]

[Unlimited spending system in operation... Current fund acquisition speed: 1.5 pounds/second]

Current available funds: £3,645,800

[Recent Income: Systemic organic growth (+£45), Third batch of payments received for smuggled medicines from Europe (+£37)]

Just over four million pounds. The pool of funds is still expanding at a rate of 1.5 pounds per second.

Chen Zijun's lips curled slightly. Money was never the problem. The problem was how to spend it, where to spend it, and whether the spending would give the Japanese and the Western powers nightmares.

However, his mood was not much lighter today despite the smooth progress of the infrastructure construction.

The secret telegram from Japan that Moranchi intercepted five days earlier had been like a thorn stuck in the back of his head.

The Japanese have slapped themselves in the face militarily, and now they want to cause trouble economically?

He was waiting. Waiting for the other side to bare its fangs.

……

Meanwhile, in the backyard of the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai within the International Settlement.

A highly secretive meeting is underway.

Japanese Vice Consul in Shanghai, Hideo Inoue, knelt on the tatami mat, opposite a middle-aged man wearing a three-piece suit and gold-rimmed glasses. The man had fair skin, a sinister gaze, and a faint smile that always lingered at the corners of his mouth.

Shotaro Fujiba, head of Mitsui Corporation's Shanghai branch.

The key figure behind the Mitsui family's twenty-year strategic layout in the Far East was now slowly turning his teacup with his slender fingers, speaking as calmly as if he were discussing the weather.

"Mr. Inoue, Tokyo has already reached a consensus that our warships are no match for Chen Zijun. After all, our most advanced battleships didn't come; instead, we sent some outdated ones. Constrained by the Washington Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, we can actually use this opportunity to replace our warships with new ones, which is a good thing, don't you think?"

Inoue Hideo's face was extremely grim. The crushing defeat at Wusongkou remained a source of shame for him to this day.

"But," Fujiba Shotaro raised his head, his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses flashing with a cold, shrewd light, "we fight battles that can't be won with cannons, we fight them with money. That's what Mitsui & Co. excels at."

"How exactly do we do it?" Hideo Inoue asked in a low voice.

"raw silk."

Shotaro Fujiba only said two words.

"What's the most valuable thing in the Jiangnan region? It's not the guns and cannons in Chen Zijun's hands, but the silkworm cocoons and raw silk in the hands of the common people. This is China's largest export earner. Silkworm farmers, silk merchants, and silk reeling factories in Jiangnan, Zhejiang, and the surrounding Fujian and Jiangxi provinces all rely on the price of raw silk twice a year for their livelihood."

"In the past two weeks, Mitsui, together with several major trading companies such as Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, has been frantically buying up raw silk at prices 30% higher than the market price through more than a dozen shell companies set up in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Huzhou. Those Chinese silkworm farmers and small merchants are extremely greedy; seeing the price increase, they've all rushed to moneylenders to borrow at high interest rates to expand production and hoard goods for speculation."

When Inoue Hideo heard this, his eyes lit up.

"Then what?"

"And then?" Fujiba Shotaro picked up his teacup, gently blowing away the foam on the surface. His smile turned cruel. "Once we've bought up over 70% of the raw silk in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang markets, we'll simultaneously dump it on the international markets in London and New York! We'll drive international raw silk prices to rock bottom overnight!"

"At that time, the Chinese silk farmers and silk merchants who borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates to expand production will find their goods instantly worthless. Unable to repay their loans, factories will close, workers will lose their jobs, and the streets will be filled with debt collectors and people jumping off buildings."

"Once prices hit rock bottom, we'll buy up all those bankrupt Chinese silk reeling factories and silkworm breeding farms at the lowest possible prices. At that point, the entire raw silk industry chain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be in the hands of the Great Japanese Empire!"

"No matter how powerful Chen Zijun's army is, it still needs to eat and be paid. Without the tax revenue from raw silk exports, the economy of his entire southeastern five provinces will begin to collapse from within!"

Inoue Hideo gasped, then revealed a sinister smile just like Fujiba's.

"Fujiba-kun, brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

……

Unbeknownst to them, in the shadows of the consulate's backyard wall, an inconspicuous pigeon silently flapped its wings and flew away.

At the same time, inside the secret room of the Military Intelligence Bureau on Longhua Road, Su Guiying's "Night Owl" intelligence network had already presented the core content of this secret meeting to Mo Lanzhi's table in its entirety through four encrypted relays.

……

three days later.

A financial tsunami, which came without warning, suddenly swept across the entire business district of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

On the London International Commodity Exchange, raw silk futures prices plummeted by 70 percent in just two hours after the market opened!

Immediately afterwards, prices in New York also collapsed.

The news reached Shanghai at lightning speed. The headquarters of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce was instantly thrown into chaos, filled with wailing and lamentation.

"It's over! It's all over!"

A silk merchant, dressed in a silk mandarin jacket, slumped in a grand chair, his face ashen. In his hand, he clutched an IOU, which clearly stated that he had borrowed 120,000 taels of silver from the Shanghai Specie Bank. He had just borrowed this money last month, all of which was pledged to him on raw silk.

The price of raw silk has now plummeted by 70%, and the value of the 30,000 dan of raw silk he has is not even enough to repay a fraction of the loan.

"Those heartless Japanese devils!" another old shopkeeper wailed, pounding his chest. "First they tricked us into borrowing money to stockpile goods by buying them at inflated prices, and now they're dumping them on the international market! They're trying to drive us to our deaths!"

Several piercing screams and dull thuds echoed from the corridor outside the hall. Two small silk merchants, unable to bear their enormous debts, jumped from the third-floor window of the chamber of commerce.

Blood splattered on the steps at the entrance, a horrifying sight.

The entire financial sector of Shanghai was in turmoil. Bank counters were packed with money shop owners demanding repayment, and the gates of silk factories were blocked by workers demanding unpaid wages. Panic spread like wildfire; in just one morning, more than sixty small and medium-sized silk merchants declared bankruptcy, involving more than three million taels of silver!

While everyone else was lamenting and wailing, several Japanese trading companies in Hongkou District began to ostentatiously display brand-new signs: "High-price acquisition of bankrupt silk factories!" "Cash purchase of silk reeling equipment!" "Priority purchase of silkworm breeding bases!"

Sima Zhao's intentions!

Those Chinese silk merchants who hadn't completely given up were furious when they saw these signs; their eyes turned red and their lips turned purple, but they were powerless to do anything about it.

"Those Japanese bastards! They dumped the shares first and then bought them at the bottom; they're trying to uproot them completely!"

"Where is Marshal Chen? Is he in charge of this? If the Japanese take over all our silk factories, the lifeline of Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be completely severed!"

Just at the moment when people's hearts were about to completely collapse.

The tightly closed red-lacquered doors of the Chamber of Commerce hall were suddenly pushed open from the outside.

……

Longhua Road, Chen Mansion Study.

At the same time that the Chamber of Commerce was filled with lamentations, Mo Huixin was sitting opposite Chen Zijun.

The table in front of her was covered with data reports collected from various stock exchanges, banks, and money exchanges. The densely packed numbers and line graphs filled the entire table, a shocking sight.

"Young Master, the situation is more serious than I anticipated."

Mo Huixin's voice remained gentle, but her speaking speed was noticeably faster than usual. Her long, slender, white fingers quickly swept across the report, pointing out several key data points.

"The Japanese came prepared this time, spending at least two months from planning to dumping their stock. Their short-selling volume in the international market is enormous, already causing raw silk prices to fall below cost. At this rate, at least two hundred more silk merchants and reeling factories in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will declare bankruptcy within three days."

"Their ultimate goal isn't to make money, it's to acquire them." Mo Huixin raised her head, a cold sharpness shining through her clear eyes. "The Japanese have set up acquisition points in Hongkou and Hangzhou simultaneously, offering prices less than 20% of the normal valuation. Those desperate, bankrupt businessmen either jump off buildings or have no choice but to give away their silk factories, passed down through three generations of their families, to the Japanese for free."

"If they succeed, within half a month, the entire raw silk industry chain in Jiangsu and Zhejiang will be completely under the control of the Japanese. At that time, they will cut off the raw materials and export channels, and the economy and tax revenue of our entire southeastern five provinces will suffer a fatal blow."

Chen Zijun listened quietly the whole time, without interrupting Mo Huixin.

His fingers tapped rhythmically on the table, his face as calm as still water.

But Mo Huixin knew this man too well. The calmer he was, the more it showed that he had already made a decision in his heart.

"Sister Huixin."

Chen Zijun finally spoke.

"Um?"

"If all the bankrupt silk factories, silkworm breeding farms, and silk reeling equipment on the market were combined, what would their approximate value be, based on normal valuation?"

Mo Huixin answered almost without hesitation, "According to normal international market prices, the total value, including the land and equipment, is approximately between three million eight hundred thousand and four million two hundred thousand pounds. But now the Japanese have driven the price down to rock bottom. If we make a move, we can acquire it all for a maximum of two million pounds."

Chen Zijun looked down at the system panel, which only he could see.

The remaining four million pounds sterling was emitting a cold, eerie blue light.

At the very end of that string of numbers, tiny increments are ticking away every second.

£1.50 per second. That's £129,600 a day. This relentless money-printing machine is Chen Zijun's most monstrous, unsolvable, and utterly hopeless trump card.

"Sister Huixin."

"exist."

"What do you mean by the crisis in this raw silk trade war?"

"..."

Mo Huixin knew very well what the crisis was: the crisis was money.

Problems that can be solved with money aren't really problems; the only problem is not having enough money. But does our young master have enough money?

Then we need to remove the word "吗"!

"Go to the vault and get me a promissory note for five million pounds."

Mo Huixin's pupils suddenly contracted.

Five million? That's not just enough, it far exceeds the total amount of funds needed for the entire acquisition!

"Young Master...five million?" Mo Huixin asked softly, her voice trembling slightly. Not out of fear, but out of excitement. She knew all too well what that number meant.

"Not enough?" Chen Zijun tilted his head, a playful smile curving his lips.

"No." Mo Huixin lowered her head, a smile that only she herself could perceive appearing on her lips. "Five million, just right."

"Go." Chen Zijun stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the city trembling in the financial storm. "Tell those silk merchants not to be afraid. Their silk factories won't be sold to the Japanese, nor will they go bankrupt."

"Chen's army has taken over."

Mo Huixin stood up, bowed deeply, turned around and quickly walked out of the study.

Her high heels clicked crisply and quickly on the marble floor tiles of the corridor.

Half an hour later, a black sedan bearing the flag of the Chen Family Army, escorted by two armored vehicles, stopped in front of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

Mo Huixin, dressed in a well-tailored navy blue cheongsam, draped in a pure black cashmere coat, and wearing three-inch high-heeled leather shoes, slowly walked into the Chamber of Commerce hall.

The hall was deathly silent.

The room was filled with Chinese businessmen. Some slumped in their chairs with lifeless eyes, some were still sobbing softly, and some were clutching IOUs tightly in their hands, waiting in despair for the Japanese to swallow up their last fortunes.

The moment Mo Huixin walked in, all eyes turned to her.

Quiet.

A deathly silence.

Mo Huixin didn't waste any words. She walked to the long mahogany table in the center of the hall, took out a neatly folded bank draft from the inside pocket of her coat, unfolded it, and then slammed it heavily on the table!

Snapped!

That crisp sound was like a bullet piercing through the suffocating despair in the hall.

All eyes were fixed on that promissory note.

A number that shocked everyone was written on it.

Five million pounds.

"Chen's army bought up all the raw silk in the market today."

Mo Huixin's voice wasn't loud, but it exploded like a bomb in the Chamber of Commerce hall.