After the dust settles over the battle for the prime minister, Tang Ning wanted to leave Tokyo, but was kept by Yoshida Keihachi, who claimed to have something to do with him and wanted to invite him to Penglaixuan to eat eel rice.

This is an old store, and the head office is in Nagoya, but this one in Tokyo is also the best place to eat eel rice, and the location is difficult to book.

Seeing the name "Penglai Xuan", Tang Ning couldn't help but think that Sima Qian had recorded in the "Historical Records": Qin Shi Huang, who hoped for "long live, long live, long live", heard that Penglai, the abbot, and Yingzhou had an elixir, so he sent Xu Fu to lead three thousand boys and girls. And "Penglai" is said to be the predecessor of Japan, and the three thousand boys and girls have become the ancestors of Japan's noble "Chinese", and I don't know if this "Penglai Xuan" has something to do with "Penglai".

Yoshida Keihachi had been waiting for Tang Ning inside, and as soon as he saw Tang Ning come in, he hurriedly beckoned the boss to bring the eel rice that had just been made, and then used a wooden spoon to cut the hot and scorching eel rice bowl in front of Tang Ning into four pieces, which is a unique way to eat it here, called eel four to eat.

When eating the first piece, the easiest way to eat it is to taste the "original flavor" and send the fragrant and plump eel rice bowl to your mouth. When eating the second piece, add minced green onions, mustard, and shredded seaweed to the eel rice bowl, stir it and eat it before eating, and taste its overflowing "medicinal taste". When eating the third piece, you should dip it into the tea that has been prepared, make it into an eel cover and pour it with chazuke, and taste a faint "tea flavor" from it. When it's time to eat the fourth piece, diners can choose the "original", "medicinal", and "tea" flavors again, and eat them according to their preferences.

After drinking and eating, Yoshida Keihachi opened his mouth to get down to business: "Tony, I have something I want to ask you for help with today." ”

Tang Ning replied while drinking tea: "I knew that your kid must have something to ask me, otherwise you wouldn't have invited me to a place like Penglaixuan that is difficult to book." Say, what's the matter? ”

Yoshida Keishachi said with an embarrassed expression: "Well, I want to borrow some money from you to turn around." ”

Tang Ning said in surprise: "No, your Eighth Young Master Gui actually has a time when he is short of money?" Which car do you have a crush on or which girl do you fall in love with? Tang Ning is not talking nonsense, Yoshida Keihachi represents that his grandfather has been following Tang Ning in the theater business all these years, and the profits are quite rich every year. Although his grandfather couldn't give him all the money, this kid shouldn't be so nervous that he needed to borrow money from outsiders.

Keishachi Yoshida explained, "Don't get me wrong, Tony, this is the right thing to do, and it's a good opportunity to get rich. I am not only looking for you to borrow money, but also telling you this good opportunity that we will get rich together. ”

Tang Ning said quietly: "You talk about it, I'll listen." In fact, Tang Ning was very unimpressed with this, with the scale of his informant in Tokyo, there were few things that he didn't know and that Yoshida Keihachi, the young master, knew.

Keisai Yoshida glanced around. Then he said mysteriously, "Tony, do you know the Shinkansen plan that is about to start a war recently?" The president of the National Railway, Shihe, is secretly absorbing shares in the name of the National Railway to ensure a return of 15 percent. Well, this is a good opportunity. ”

Tang Ning asked disapprerovingly: "Since this is such a good thing, why did he secretly absorb the shares?" Why don't you publish it in the newspaper, how quickly you can raise funds like that? ”

Yoshida Keihachi replied: "Shouldn't this kind of good thing be cheap for our own people first, once it is made public, then how can we get much share." ”

In fact, this Shinkansen plan that Keisai Yoshida said. Downing had known for a long time. Since the Korean War, Japan's economy has recovered and developed rapidly. Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka soon became the locomotives that drove the entire Japanese economy. At that time, the Tokaido railway line connecting these regions accounted for only 3% of the total length of railways in Japan. However, it is responsible for 24% of the country's total passenger traffic and 23% of the total freight volume. As a result, Japan's Ministry of Transport set up a "Survey Committee on Japan's State-owned Railway Trunk Lines" composed of experts and scholars to discuss how to enhance the transportation capacity of railway lines. In September 1954, the Japanese Cabinet approved the construction of a Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka.

This plan was initially opposed by all sides. In Japanese academic circles, many scholars believe that railway construction is a "sunset industry" that cannot be adapted to the future era when automobiles will be the main means of transportation. There were also some radical intellectuals. For example, Genhachiro Konno, a professor at the University of Tokyo, and Hiroyuki Agawa, a famous writer, simply called the Shinkansen project "the second battleship Yamato," believing that the Shinkansen was as costly as the "Yamato" warship, which was built at great expense in World War II but destroyed in a suicide attack, was of little cost to the people and money. In the railway industry, there is no such railway in Japan. Since the industry has not even conducted tests, and the industry is suffering from the "three major troubles" of deficits, accidents, and strikes for many years, everyone from the chief engineer to the general staff is not convinced of the feasibility of the Shinkansen. European and American countries also ridiculed the backward Japanese for trying to pick up the mode of transportation that had been eliminated by them. At this time, an important person appeared. Shinji Tokawa, the president of Japan National Railways at the time, insisted on building a Shinkansen against public opinion.

As early as the Japanese invasion of China, Shinoji Tokawa had traveled to Northeast China and felt the importance of the railway system on the future economic impact of China's vast black soil. He also suggested the introduction of the "Asia" train in northeastern China with a top speed of 130 kilometers per hour, with a luxury dining car with Russian girls as waitresses. You know, the average speed of most ordinary trains at that time was only 40 kilometers per hour.

It may be that Shinji Tokawa's feelings for railway trains in Northeast China are something that his colleagues in the small territory of Japan can never understand, so he will promote the construction of the Shinkansen in the future.

And Shinji Tokawa knows very well the importance of employing people. After becoming the president of the Japan National Railways, Shinji Tokawa used Hideo Shima, the director of the National Railways Rolling Stock Bureau, who resigned due to the 1951 Sakuragicho Station traffic accident, to make him the chief engineer of the railway. "Without Hideo Shima, Shinji Tokawa would not have been able to complete the first Shinkansen plan", this sentence is an evaluation of Hideo Shima by later generations.

However, for this so-called Shinkansen financing plan, Downing would never participate in it, because in later generations he knew that it was a shocking scam. (To be continued......)