Chapter 119: The Countermeasures of the Imperial Officials

For the entire Japanese business community, Osaka businessmen are undoubtedly the most representative group, which is described in Japanese textbooks as follows - Osaka businessmen's unique temperament of yearning for freedom and hard work! The efforts of these so-called Osaka merchants were nothing more than the industrialization of the textile industry in the country, and the plundering of the wealth of the sleeping country next to them.

But this qiē became the end last year, the Great Qing Kingdom in the East seemed to have created the textile industry overnight, and the raw materials in that huge land were not comparable to Japan, and soon the Mitsui chaebol could only accept the loss of nearly one million taels of silver, as well as the reality of the backlog of a large number of cotton cloth, and gradually launched the huge market there.

However, under the direct intervention of the Secretary of the Interior Ito-kun, cotton cloth and cotton yarn were able to be transshipped and sold to those places in South Asia, but the industrialized textile industry, which was originally hoped to be based on the plundering of raw materials from the Qing Dynasty, still suffered a sudden blow, and only two of the ten textile factories under the Mitsui Zaibatsu are currently operating normally.

However, the local purchase of cotton and silk raw materials in the Qing Kingdom has suffered unprecedented pressure, those Chinese merchants have a large geographical relationship, the cotton and silk of the coastal provinces are firmly controlled in their hands, and the price of raw silk in Shanghai is even higher, under the pressure of the high price of this raw material, even if you want to purchase, it is necessary to consider whether there is a profit space after processing.

The Mitsui chaebol has just been greatly injured, and there is still the courage to continue to try, even if the big treasurer Minomura Rizawei Mén has a heart, the Secretary of Internal Affairs Ito Hirobumi will definitely have an opinion, after all, the domestic economy needs a stable environment, not huge fluctuations, for which the Mitsui family has decided to sell several textile factories to other consortiums interested in participating in the operation, of course, the price can only be the price of cabbage!

And because of the huge setback in the Mitsui family's textile industry, although it will not affect the survival, but the closure of the textile factory, and directly lead to a stricter employee dispute, there are some turmoil in Japanese society, fortunately, after the government came forward, the financial situation of the Mitsui family gradually improved, and the crisis of the Japanese textile industry was temporarily overcome.

But the Japanese textile industry, which had just breathed a sigh of relief, fell into a new nightmare again from June of this year.

The Western trading houses set up in various places, as if with the last cotton price war, can provide finished clothes for the common people in the city to buy overnight, these clothes have a variety of specifications, and the design style is obviously designed for the Japanese, although not necessarily each piece is tailor-made, large and small two or three models, but the price is cheaper.

However, as long as people with a slight sense of price can easily calculate the approximate price of buying their own cotton cloth and then making it, as for whether these clothes fit perfectly, they become insignificant in the face of the price advantage of 50%.

At the beginning of the first batch of ready-to-wear garments, some local Japanese merchants who had a good relationship with Western merchants saw the business opportunities, bought ready-made garments in large quantities, and then transported them to other relatively inland cities for sale.

The first to be hit were not the big cotton and silk producers like the Mitsui Zaibatsu, but the small cotton and cloth processing workshops. The Sato family is one of the most famous garment workshops in Osaka's Tsushima Town, and its proximity to the port is a gathering area for foreign merchants, making it easy for foreign merchants to buy all kinds of new clothing and metal buttons, which is one of the reasons why the Sato family has always been famous in Osaka.

However, this time this geographical advantage has completely become the fate of their family business. After the nearby foreign merchants began to sell ready-to-wear clothes ten days ago, the old shopkeeper of the Sato family, Sato Gyota found that his business had decreased significantly, and in the first day or two, the old Sato thought it was an accidental phenomenon, after all, their family is a well-known good craft in Osaka, and many famous mén families are also customizing clothes in their shops.

But after four or five days, the old Sato felt that something was wrong, and he went to the front of the shop to ask the workers in the store, only to hear some rumors that the Westerner trading house had begun to sell all kinds of ready-to-wear clothes, and the price was so cheap that he went crazy, and that he could buy two, a half or three pieces of cotton clothes in the foreign store for the yen cost to order an ordinary quality cotton robe in his own store.

At this time, there were only two poor customers in the garment workshop, one was the son of the Takemiya family, a wealthy local merchant in Osaka Castle, and the other was Yoshitake Tanaka, an official of the Osaka Honmachi Ministry of Works. ”,

This Tanaka Yoshitake is in his forties, and he is also very familiar with the old Sato, "Sato-kun, your business here is very light, now everyone in Osaka City knows, foreign companies can buy cheap and sturdy clothes, the day before yesterday, the head of our tax office also went to talk to Westerners, but I heard that there is news in Tokyo, Shizuoka, and Nagasaki, and the sales of Westerners' ready-to-wear are very hot!" ”

"Tanaka-kun, are they all the same as the price in Osaka?" Old Sato asked with some reluctance.

"Sato-kun, you haven't looked at the clothes brought by the Westerners, I have seen it, and the style is definitely not as thin as the jīng made by your Sato family, but this needlework and sturdy process dù surpass the ordinary workers of your Sato family!" Yoshitake Tanaka was a little unbearable to tell Lao Sato the true situation.

Old Sato was stunned for a while, and then he was convinced that he had heard correctly, the garment workers in their family were all hired at a high price, could it be that all of them were lost? He turned back to the house in a daze, and immediately summoned his nephews who were helping in the shop, and asked them to immediately go and buy a few clothes sold by foreigners...... He still doesn't give up!

It's always backfired, and this time is no exception, the style of ready-to-wear brought by Westerners is really ordinary, it is estimated that it was a casual peel of a Japanese dress, and then made it the same, I didn't expect it to sell so well...... Although it is possible for these skilled workers to achieve the quality of the other party's cheap ready-to-wear clothes, but to complete such a large number of clothes making, he also understands that there is only one possibility, that is, the machine qì system zuò!

Thinking of this, Lao Sato already felt an inexplicable powerlessness, the industry that he originally founded by himself collapsed at this moment, he already understood the dilemma faced by his workshop in his heart, but the intuition of more than ten years of operation told him, and now it seems that there is still a glimmer of life, after all, he still has a relatively stable customer, to a decent person like Tanaka-kun, that is not going to buy any kind of ready-to-wear!

The elder Sato immediately returned to the workshop and laid out the latest decision to the workers: from today onwards, to serve all customers with a more humble attitude, our Sato family's garment shop must be the most tasteful in Osaka! The Sato family quickly transformed to achieve this goal!

Speaking of this little Japan's hard-working and hard-working is really not built, the workmanship of Sato's garment shop is fine, and the service is also in place, which makes the store's business a little better, old Sato wonders if it is through this difficult time, more small garment shops are far from the old Ito's actions, but people are humane, shrimp have shrimp road, and soon these garment shops found new business opportunities.

They wholesale a large number of ready-to-wear garments from foreign merchants at the right price, and then switch to second-tier traders, processing these ready-to-wear garments slightly or not at all, and quickly selling them to inland counties.

And more ready-to-wear-related Japanese shops and workshops are struggling to support, hoping that this qiē's unfavorable shape can be quickly improved, but they can't know that this is a downward road that will never return, unless they jump out and find a new way out, they can only slide to the final demise and jump out...... Below is a dark and bottomless road.

A few days later, Tanaka of the Ministry of Industry passed by Ito's garment shop, and it was clear that he was very appreciative of Ito's determination to continue the business, but after thinking about it again, he told old Ito about the new news he knew, although it was a cup of news......

The British company in the port has opened a new ready-to-wear store, apparently not for the common people, who make up more than 90% of the population, and the style of the clothes in this is clearly designed by Jīng, and the initial improvement has been made in accordance with the style of various Japanese clothes.

However, it can be seen that the materials and workmanship of these clothes are much more exquisite than the clothes in ordinary garment stores there, and the Japanese employees in the foreign company will be very enthusiastic to tell you that there are only a few dozen pieces of a certain piece of clothing in Japan, which makes the Japanese Chinese and scholars who go to the top society also have a strong desire to buy yù, after all, no one will want to live with their money bags and face.

This news hit old Ito again, but as a strong-willed old man, he finally decided to continue his garment workshop business, although the prospect is bleak, even if he dies, he will ......die with his own industry.

Tokyo Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki is meeting with British Minister Thomson at this time, this time the ready-to-wear turmoil staged at various ports in Japan has obviously shaken the Japanese government, but the principle of free trade in Japanese ports, this is the premise for Japan to obtain limited support from the Western powers, not to mention that these jiāo Yi have paid the agreed tax rate according to the agreement between the two parties, even if the government comes forward, there is no special way to change this situation!

Goro Sasaki first expressed his concern about the situation of the garment jiāo Yi at the port during this time, and hoped that Thomson could carry out some political coordination for this matter.

Thomson, an arrogant Londoner, was already very unhappy with the short Japanese foreign secretary for meeting him over free trade, and he also had shares in two British foreign firms in Tokyo and Osaka, so he was naturally happy to see the ready-to-wear trade come to fruition.

As long as it is in the interests of the empire on which the sun never sets, it must make sense. Minister Thomson protested very solemnly, "Your Excellency Sasaki, I am here to strictly protest against the interference and violation of the principle of free trade by the Japanese government!" As far as I know, every one of our British merchants has paid a reasonable tax at the customs office of your country, and if even such a basic principle cannot be guaranteed, I will inform the Prime Minister of the British Empire to re-examine the political cooperation between the two sides!"

Goro Sasaki also understands that the Japanese politicians cannot break the British in this matter, but the Japanese have always had ways to deal with these changes, and the pains of this change are commonplace in the process of more than ten years of reform.

"Your Excellency Thomson, you are too worried about this, I can assure you here on behalf of the Japanese government that the principle of free trade will never be violated, but considering the stability of Japan, if the social turmoil in Japan caused by this trade is too large, it will also affect the normal trade of your merchants in Japan, you say yes!" Sasaki's small eyes smiled at the arrogant, tall Englishman.

Thomson was obviously satisfied with Sasaki's assurance, and he didn't want any incidents that would affect the British Empire's maritime trade network during his tenure, "Your Excellency Sasaki, our government will be very satisfied with your country's attitude, so what do you have to say?" Perhaps I can propose to the Prime Minister of the British Empire! ”

"Your Excellency Thomson, this is the case, China's Secretary of the Interior Ito-kun proposed the following proposals, which can reasonably resolve this trade conflict, and can create a lot of economic benefits for both sides, presumably this is also what Your Excellency thinks!" The cunning little Japan paid attention to the expression of the British and said with a smile.

"Hirobumi-kun Ito? Let's talk about his construction, I'm a little interested! ”

"The British merchants of Ito-kunjian were able to build factories for garments to Japan, and Japan could provide abundant labor, and His Excellency Thomson should know that these Japanese workers were hard-working, and that the Japanese government was willing to pay for the machines that made the garments...... It is also negotiable that the factory will be managed by British merchants! ”

Thomson naturally understood the calculations of the Japanese government, but it was also a good thing for the British, but it was just ...... There was no shortage of labor for British merchants, and in that land of India, there was free labor! However, the sale of goods from India to the Oriental countries required a huge amount of maritime capacity, and it was clear that it was a good idea to set up factories in Japan, especially those controlled by the British.

After leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo noncommittally, he immediately drove to the trading area where British merchants gathered in Tokyo Bay, and after finding a few familiar British merchants to find out, he was a little puzzled by the situation. The merchants had recently been involved in the jiāo trade, and their clothes had been ordered from the British trading house in Chiba Port, and they didn't know where the goods came from.

Rushing to the Chiba Port Trade Zone again, Thomson finally found the inconspicuous new British foreign firm located in the prime location of the port through his connections, and the other party seemed very surprised by the visit of the minister to Japan, but Thomson did not notice that in addition to the Japanese compradors, there were also some Chinese compradors who were also assisting in the jiāo exchange, and the yellow-skinned people in the eyes of Westerners were exactly the same.

And the belated Smith does not seem to be very welcome to his own minister, this situation is not surprising, these British living abroad have obtained huge wealth by virtue of the international status of the British Empire, but for those British overseas officials with higher status and greater power than them, naturally there is no good face, they only care about maintaining their own official relations, and other officials are a secret threat to them. ,

Minister Thomson tactfully asked Smith about the garment machinery, to which Smith did not hesitate to refuse to reveal a word on the grounds of trade secrets, the most important thing for a merchant is the trade route and partners, and the promise to keep the contract, which is also the most normal expression. Thomson was helpless about this, and he also made a very subtle threat, but Smith didn't buy it.

The British Empire is now in the era of wealth speaking, Thomson has to point to the end, after all, how much background there is after this, he can't figure it out at all, every industry in this era may have the support of a huge consortium, it is hard to imagine that without the support of the consortium, this Smith can have such a huge amount of production capacity support, he did not want to make himself a nose for the social problems of small Japan.

Instead, it was Smith who made a request for cooperation that raised his interest. Smith proposed that Japan should be asked for more treaty ports, so as to expand the scope of the garment trade and obtain greater wealth! Of course, in return, Smith said that Consul Thomson could take a 20 percent stake in the exclusive distributor subsidiary of his company if he was interested in the opening of each treaty port.

Thomson immediately agreed to this kind of good thing that hurt Japan to fill his own money bag, and the two sides signed a secret agreement very happily!

The Japanese Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki, who was waiting for Thomson to bring good news, waited for a few days before he was depressed and got Thomson's response, and the British minister said that he could not meet their requirements, but proposed that this kind of commercial competition is conducive to Japan's acceleration of industrial rejuvenation, and hopes that Japan will open more ports, promote industrial competition, and eliminate backward domestic production capacity.

After hearing the news, Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki went to the Taizheng with a helpless face, this Taizheng is not an official name, but an institution, which is equivalent to the current State Council of China, and the biggest official title of the Taizheng official is naturally the Taizheng Minister, and the current Taizheng Minister is Sanjo Minoru, who did this position from the background of the royal family of the Sanjo family.

It's just that this Taisei minister is somewhat similar to the emperor's horn sè, which is a pure ornament, and the Taisei minister's duty is to send the documents formed in the Taizheng official to the Meiji Emperor to sign and assist the emperor in giving instructions, and the Meiji Emperor generally only writes six words - "read", "agree" or "not allowed", but Sanjo is a person with little assertiveness and strength, and all affairs are handled by his important ministers.

The two important positions under the Taizheng Minister are the Left Minister and the Right Minister, but the Left Minister has been absent for a long time, and the Right Minister is known as the head of the Meiji Four Great Jiān Iwakura in later generations, and under the left and right ministers is the Secretary of the Interior Ito Hirobumi, and Ito-Iwakura is now the pinnacle of Japanese power, although this Secretary of the Interior nominally sounds similar to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of Industry, but in fact there is a great difference, and the Secretary of the Interior is the head of each ministry.

As long as you count the power that Ito Hirobumi now controls, the three major powers of industry, police, and personnel in this emerging dynasty of Japan are in his hands, and they will be put into future generations, that is, the director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, plus the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee and the head of the organization, it is strange that this position is no longer the head of the ministries.

Originally, in the handling of this matter, the Secretary of the Interior Ito Hirobumi originally felt that he was still good, and the British set he and Iwakura had already understood quite a lot when they visited Europe, that is, to maintain their commercial sphere of influence, trade with other countries to obtain maximum profits, as long as they could ensure their commercial trade routes, the British did not want to complete the accumulation of wealth through the geographical occupation that cost huge human resources.

For the British, the fastest money is undoubtedly the one-sided dumping trade, which is vividly reflected in the original cotton, silk jiāo Yi, more than ten years ago, before the Restoration, Japan, the British who came on black ships launched an attack on Japan, through guò force to open Japan's commercial trade routes.

In the nearly 10 years that followed, Tongguò imported a large number of textiles, cotton cloth, cotton yarn, and weapons, which accounted for more than 90% of all Japanese imports, and then obtained huge profits to plunder the purchase of raw silk and tea from Japan, which accounted for 98% of the export value that year.

In addition, the British took advantage of the depreciation of silver and the stupid gold-silver ratio set by the shogunate to plunder Japan's gold, which at that time was 1:16 in the world, and the ratio of silver to gold in Japan was 1:5, and the amount of gold plundered in this trade reached an astronomical .......

After the Restoration, the error in the ratio of gold and silver to huàn was quickly corrected, and the dumping of cotton cloth trade was also completely changed after Japan's large-scale development of breeding and industrial development, and a large number of textile machines were purchased from the British, and a group of Japanese chaebols used the original capital in their hands to rise rapidly, and the Mitsui chaebol was the biggest beneficiary of the textile industry, and the introduction and digestion of the technology through guò transformed the cotton cloth and cotton yarn dumped by the British into a tool for their economic plundering of the Qing State.

From the third year of the Meiji era, after more than ten years, the textile industry became Japan's largest export project, cotton cloth, cotton yarn dumping to the Qing State after the profits, and from the Qing country to plunder the production of raw materials for shipment back to the country for production, the cycle of trade, created the largest industry in Japan this era, although technically speaking, is still a very outdated industry, but the real thing, through the guò this low-level industry, Japan has achieved the advantage of the Qing economic model.

And this time, it is clear that Ito wants to replicate the model of the rise of the textile industry, and the experience tells him that this is indeed a mature model, and for Japan, a small country with a population of 30 million civilians, this huge human resource is undoubtedly a very good industrial base.

After Secretary of Foreign Affairs Goro Sasaki reported on the reply of the British Minister Thomson, Iwakura and Ito were obviously surprised, and the current sales of ready-made clothing by British businessmen have spread to foreign companies in several countries, and they have learned that German businessmen and American businessmen are also involved, and this is undoubtedly a new industry.

So far, however, it has not had a severe impact on Japan's domestic economy, and the small garment workshops, from the perspective of Ito and Iwakura, who fully supported Westernization, were originally to be phased out, while Japan's domestic cotton textile and cotton yarn industries were given a brief respite.

[.b.m]