In 1908, Japanese architects were inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France to build a palace for the Japanese crown prince, a work that was not completed until 1913.

This is the largest Western-style building in Dongying, with a single-story area of 15,000 square meters, with two floors above ground and one floor underground.

Although it was built for the crown prince, it was so extravagant that it was uninhabited for more than half of its 100-year history and has been used as a state guest house.

On the day of the opening of the State Guest House, the Tokyo earthquake caused all the surrounding houses to collapse, and only the buildings here did not have a single crack.

For 70 years, the hotel has been a venue for weddings, banquets, and government hospitality for domestic and foreign dignitaries.

Seventy years later, Akasaka Rikyu is no longer the most luxurious hotel in Toei, but it is definitely the most high-end welcoming place.

Entering from the east gate of the State Guest House, there is a garden, a road in the woods, and the car drives directly to the main entrance of the State Guest House.

At the main entrance of the State Guest House, a group of managers of the Mitsubishi Foundation, represented by Masao Iwasaki, were waiting at the gate.

On formal occasions, Prime Minister Dongying holds military parades here most of the time to welcome world leaders.

Only when the weather is bad will it be transferred to the internal auditorium of the State Guest House for a military parade.

Jonas was the first to get out of the car and, surrounded by his entourage, walked towards Masao Iwasaki.

Masao Iwasaki, 52, is the chairman of the Mitsubishi Group, the parent company of the Mitsubishi Foundation. However, his power was not as great as his father's, nor did he have as much prestige, and his power shrank a lot.

In the areas of maritime transportation, oil, minerals, synthetic fibers, chemical products, and shipbuilding, the Mitsubishi consortium has a close relationship with Jonas.

The two sides have cooperated closely in terms of oil in Angola, coal in Rainbow Country, and even real estate investment and stock market investment in Dongying.

"Jonas, welcome to Dongying, I hope the beautiful Dongying does not disappoint you. ”

"Mr. Iwasaki, Higashiei is a beautiful developed country with beautiful girls, and it will never disappoint anyone. ”

Masao Iwasaki, who is thirty centimeters shorter than Jonas, regardless of the height difference, hugged Jonas cordially, and then kept holding Jonas's waist and not letting go.

The crowd applauded all the time, and everyone had a big smile on their faces.

This is not only for oneself, but also for other consortia.

This is to announce to everyone the close relationship between the Mitsubishi Consortium and the Hoffmann Consortium.

Letting go of Jonas, Masao Iwasaki said with a smile, "The girl of Toei is the most beautiful and gentle in the world. I have always believed that living in a country house in the UK, marrying a girl from Dongying, driving a German car, and eating Chinese food are the best enjoyments in the world. ”

Jonas responded with a bright smirk. "Looks like I need to take a good look. ”

Hearing Jonas's response, Masao Iwasaki's right hand made a gesture on the side of his thigh.

In the crowd, a middle-aged man immediately withdrew from the crowd, then took out a satellite phone and dialed a number.

On this occasion, Jonas got to know most of the key shareholders and leadership of the Mitsubishi Group. However, the main members are still important members of Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Bank, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Mitsubishi Petroleum.

Enterprises such as Mitsubishi Chemical, Mitsubishi Military, Mitsubishi Electric, and Mitsubishi Seiko have sent representatives to come, and some have no management at all.

The personnel arrangements are all arranged according to the industry that Jonas is now involved in, otherwise, the thousands of management of the Mitsubishi Group, this guest house will not be able to accommodate it.

Entering the hall, only Jim Rogers, Bennett, and Koenig were left with the only three people around Jonas, and the rest of the personnel were arranged to be entertained by his subordinates.

And by the side of Iwasaki Masao, there is a huge team of more than a dozen people, and I have to say that in terms of heritage, Hoffman is still far behind.

When you walk through the thick iron door of the front entrance, you will see the "entrance hall" with a crimson carpet on the black and white checkered floor.

The floor is made of white marble from Italy and black Genjo stone from Japan, which is almost exactly the same as the pattern of the Palace of Versailles in France.

In front of you is a staircase of Italian marble with a red carpet, and as you go up the central staircase, you can look up at the beautiful vaulted ceiling decorated with gold leaf.

Purple marble columns, oil paintings by famous artists, and exquisite ornaments make up this luxurious world.

After going up the central staircase from the front entrance and continuing through the lobby, you will find the Asahi Hall, which was called the "First Living Room" of Toei when it was founded.

This is the equivalent of the "Audience Room" of a European palace. It is now used as a reception room for guest salons and as a venue for courtesy visits and summits by state leaders.

Among the three living rooms of the State Guest House, this one is more stylish than the Cailuan Hall and the Feather Cloak Hall.

Xiao Yata, who was almost eighty years old, waited at the door of the Asahi Hall with the support of two middle-aged women, and when he saw Jonas appearing, he took the initiative to take two steps forward and stretched out his right hand.

Jonas also walked a few quick steps, took his withered hand with both hands, and said in English: "Mr. Iwasaki, it is an honor for Jonas to be received by you in person. ”

This is not a stutter, nor is it flattery, but just the respect that a young man should have for an old man.

If Jonas arrogantly puts himself in the same position as the other party, it is not impossible, but it is not impossible to live up to the hospitality of the Mitsubishi Group today.

A guest who does not respect the host has turned the original "friend" into an enemy.

Xiao Yata is a fourth-generation member of the family, and he is also a ruthless man who has experienced Mitsubishi's decline from glory to decline, and has been led by him to rise again.

Although Xiao Mitai is almost eighty years old and her health is not good, her thinking is still very clear. He speaks English more fluently than his son, and there is no barrier to communication with Jonas.

"Jonas, to be able to create such impressive results in three years in today's industrial era, which is about to be solidified, your talent can put anyone to shame, including me. ”

"Mr. Iwasaki, you've got a good reputation. I have been able to achieve where I am now, first of all, because I have a good foundation. Without Mr. Richie's support and the existence of an alliance of interests, I would not be where I am today. ”

Mita smiled and took Jonas by the hand as she walked to the middle seat at the end of the room.

"You're too humble. Think about what I was doing when I was twenty-one, and at that time, I was still studying in Armenia, just an ordinary student.

In particular, your layout in the automotive industry has amazed each of us. It's remarkable to use the situation in Eastern Europe to leverage the impasse in the automotive industry and enter this industry. ”

The Asahi Room is decorated with a fireplace-decorated curtain wall with a mirror over six square meters at the end of the room.

The two chairs at the top were the largest in the room, twenty centimeters apart, and two low stools diagonally behind them, apparently for the interpreter to sit on.

The other chairs were arranged against the wall, enough to seat forty or fifty people.

They occupied less than half of the seats, and Jonas personally sent him to sit down before he sat in his own seat.

After the two of them were seated, Masao Iwasaki beckoned Jim Rogers and the others to take their seats.

Jonas took this opportunity to relax his body, organize his language, and said: "The rigidity of the automobile industry comes from the insistence of major automobile companies on patented technology, and the automobile industry should actually be the most active industry in the application of new technologies.

When I couldn't use technology to break through this barrier, I chose to use politics to break down the barrier, and I had to do it as a last resort.

What's more, this industry has been investing now, and if you want to see a return, you also need to see the development of our company in Huaxia. ”

"The predicament of Hoffmann Automotive Group is only temporary, and whether it is Volvo, Steyr, or Opel, they all have strong technical strength. Goto, Mitsubishi Motors, which you manage, should strengthen its cooperation with Hoffmann Automobile Company in the future. ”

Sasuke Goto, the general manager of Mitsubishi Motors, who was sitting in the back seat, immediately stood up when he heard the words and bowed respectfully to Koyata. "Hey, Mitsubishi Motors, will strengthen learning and communication with Hoffmann Motors in the future. ”

Xiao Mitai looked at Jonas again and asked, "Jonas, are you very optimistic about the car market in China?"

Jonas shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm optimistic, but Hoffmann Motors has to find another way in order to develop." ”

This answer is also recognized by the world, the car market in Europe and the United States has begun to stagnate in recent years, and the market is only so big that it can only develop outward.

Today's South American market, Asian market, including the African market, have received the attention of major automobile manufacturers.

Jonas showed weakness and directly announced that in addition to the existing market, he would vigorously develop the Asian market, but in fact, he was competing with Dongying's automobile companies for food.

Dongying Automobile does not have a good reputation in this era, and the current Dongying Automobile is a cheap, fuel-efficient low-end car.

So in the face of Hoffmann, they were like a great enemy.

Armenia's automobiles consume fuel and its share of the domestic market is shrinking.

Toyota began production at the Armenian automobile plant in '83, and produced 50,000 cars in '84, and nearly 100,000 cars will be produced last year.

They sold 130,000 cars in the North American market last year, and their market share is rising.

And German cars are not worried about Dongying Motors, because their prices are basically more than one-third more expensive than Dongying Motors in the same class.

But Opel, a car company that was originally controlled by Armenia, was an outlier, and they started out producing American cars in Europe.

After the seventies, due to the impact of the oil crisis, the price of oil rose, and people began to pursue fuel-efficient vehicles. Opel also transformed at this time, and the cars it produced were very good in terms of fuel economy and cost control.

Now, Opel has the financial support of Hoffmann and has joined forces with Skoda to enter the Asian market, which has become the great enemy of Dongying Automobile.

When he said this, he was courting Jonas. Their Mitsubishi Motors are actually not large, and Opel's entry into the Asian market will not have much impact on them.

For Mitsubishi, the cooperation of oil, minerals, shipbuilding, including banks, is more important than the automobile industry.

After chatting about Huaxia's control over foreign investment in automobiles, Xiao Mitai turned the conversation to oil.

Dongying is a resource-poor country, they have to import almost all the resources, and the only resource they export is sulfur, because they have a lot of volcanoes.

In the early eighties, they began to deploy global resources, whether it is iron ore, oil, copper ore, bauxite ore, they are actively involved in the upstream link.

For example, in Western Australia's iron ore, they have already started to build ports and railways, and are involved in exploration and development.

In later generations, the price of iron ore rose and the impact on China was extremely huge, and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent every year to buy iron ore.

However, the price increase has little impact on Dongying, because although their steel mills buy iron ore more expensive, they actually make profits from the source.

Mitsubishi Corporation took on this part, building railroads, participating in the development of iron ore, and they had already regained rights and interests in the ore from the time it was still underground.

They don't care even if the steel mill has little profit, or even a loss, they have enough profit to keep the steel mill in production.

This is also the role of the consortium, any industry, they have enough funds from the upstream to the downstream to participate in all the participation, no matter that link there is a gap, can rely on the whole to adjust.

Speaking of oil, Jonas of course immediately promised that the next time an oil field is discovered, there will be a share of Mitsubishi Oil.

From oil to minerals, to the mineral resources of southern Africa, and the impact of the situation in various countries on the industry.

Jonas also pledged to speak out more and facilitate Mitsubishi Corporation's affairs within the coalition of interests.

At this time, Masao Iwasaki interjected and asked, "Jonas, our two companies can complement each other in many aspects, I wonder if we can form a closer cooperative relationship?"

In terms of resources, Jonas has a large group of close allies, and Green controls the global mineral and oil transportation channels, and the world's major shipping companies dare not offend him.

The Mitsubishi Group was willing to form an alliance with him, which was also expected by him.

Forming an alliance with the other party, Jonas actually doesn't lose at all, and now it's not the craziest time for Dongying's economy, and Jonas doesn't want to miss the carnival feast of the last four years of Dongying.

However, it is easy to make money now, but it will be difficult to get out later.

In this regard, Jonas also has to make use of the Mitsubishi Bank's distribution channels.

The initial inflow of funds into the Hoffman Group was US$2.8 billion, and now it has exceeded US$5 billion, and with bank loans, it controls more than US$10 billion in related assets.

By the time 90 years come, this number will have to be doubled several times, and Jonas doesn't want to leave a penny to the people of Dongying.

Then, the largest bank in Toei, a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi Group, can play a big role.

Therefore, Jonas did not hesitate and said with a smile: "If the Mitsubishi Group does not think that Hoffmann International is too small, I am willing to form a strategic partnership with the Mitsubishi Group." ”

Shake said