After the Rong brothers left, Chen Yi said with some anxiety: "I also know that this Rong family claimed to have mastered half of China in terms of food and clothing, why is it now that they left Chongqing and came to northern Jiangsu?" ”

Jiang Cheng smiled: "Because the Rong family is not an official." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Chen Yi snorted, "Since ancient times, these corrupt officials and corrupt officials have been the most hateful, from the Yellow Turban Uprising to the forced Liangshan, how can they not be eradicated after so many years?" In my opinion, they are all officials for themselves, not for the sake of the people. ”

Speaking of the rule of officials, Liu Dake also nodded and said, "How long has our base area in northern Jiangsu been established?" We have dealt with several cases of officials violating law and discipline in various localities, and although those things are not big, and most of them are about taking more grain and rice, it can be seen that this problem of official governance cannot be stopped for a moment. ”

Jiang Cheng thought about the practice of future generations and said, "We are all grass now, most of our comrades are with the ideals of the family and country, but in the future, when it becomes peaceful, there will inevitably be many people who will join us for their own interests. I don't think we can just grasp and let go of this bureaucracy, but we must come up with a long-term rectification method. ”

Jiang Cheng and the others were talking here, and in Tokyo, thousands of miles away, at the Imperial Meeting, Hirohito was listening to a report that made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Your Majesty, the results just laid out show that the total amount of public debt is now as high as 25.3 billion yen, compared to 1 billion yen in the 11th year of Showa (1936), and the amount of guaranteed savings of our major banks has also increased from 800 million yen to 4.7 billion yen, the currency circulation has increased from 2.6 billion yen to 7.9 billion yen, and prices have more than doubled."

The new finance minister, Yukio Sakuauchi, bent over and glanced at the newly appointed Prime Minister Mitsumasa Yoneuchi and said, "Since the beginning of the war, Japan's economy has deteriorated, and now there is a shortage of not only rice and other food, but also the coal and iron needed by industry, not to mention oil and rubber. ”

Mitsumasa Yonechi was the original sea minister, due to the bad news such as the fall of Lianyungang and the complete loss of Mongolia, Hirohito finally couldn't bear to kick the original Hiranuma Kiichiro, and because Germany was at war in Europe, Ishihara went to Germany to investigate and came back to vigorously advocate the strength of Germany's military strength, which made the army, which already had a good impression of Germany, want to form an alliance with Germany, Hirohito asked Ishihara and learned that this matter was not a good time to form an alliance. The navy did not support the group that was allied with Germany, so Hirohito chose Mitsumasa Yonechi, who was born in the navy.

At that time, Mitsumasa Yonechi was not ready to become prime minister, and when the emperor loudly announced to him, "I will order Aiqing to form a cabinet", Mitsumasa Yonechi only felt as if he had been electrocuted, and he did not feel excited at all.

This is also the reason why Yamamoto Isoroku dared to retreat after only one day. But also because Mitsumasa Yonechi is from the navy, so that the army has always been unconvinced, especially after the fall of Lianyungang, the conflict between the navy and the army is staged every day, Hirohito who watched it felt a few laps of his head, Mitsumasa Yonechi also felt physically and mentally tired, he thought that the reason for this was because the Chinese battlefield was really a quagmire and had to be solved quickly, and economically because of the extremely tired war, a new way must be found, so the joint Sakurauchi Yukio was ready to tell everyone the details of the empire at today's meeting.

Hirohito rubbed his head and asked, "The economic problem is not a day or two, but if we issue bonds again, will it be okay?" ”

Yukio Sakuauchi bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, bonds need to be bought, and now there is a war in Europe, and only the United States can buy them, but because we have been fighting for a long time, the sales situation is not good, so we can only encourage the people to buy it... But this is not of much use to our country. ”

Hideki Tojo asked, "What about taxes?" Is it possible to increase it? ”

Ishihara squinted at Hideki Tojo and said, "The corporate income tax has been increased by 80%, the personal income tax has increased by 30%, the inheritance tax has increased by 10%, and we have also abolished the provision that the 40% tax amount can be deducted from stock income, and established a property tax. After the outbreak of the 11th China War, a temporary tax increase and the creation of the "North China Incident Special Tax" were implemented, and the "China Incident Special Tax" was created in the 13th year, and the tax was raised? How to add? Increase to 100%? ”

Hideki Tojo said with an expression of agreement, "Why not?" The people of the empire are supposed to serve the empire, and I think there are still many people in the empire who do not have this awareness, I went to look through the trash cans in several residential areas of Tokyo a few days ago, and found that there is still food in them, which shows that the life of the people of the empire is still good, and there is still food to waste. ”

Saying that, Hideki Tojo stood up and bowed to Hirohito and said, "Your Majesty, I propose to increase the tax ratio again, and at the same time call on the people to share weal and woe, in the Meiji period, it was His Majesty the Emperor who took the lead in reducing expenditure and building warships, which made the Nisshin Battle a complete victory." ”

Hirohito couldn't help but feel a headache when he heard this, but he followed the example of his grandfather Emperor Meiji everywhere outside, so he had to say, "Then from tomorrow, let's cut the expenses of the imperial family by one-third again... As for the increase in the tax rate, let's take another look. ”

Sakuauchi said, "Due to the high tax rate in our country, the multi-issue currency will not immediately reflect the harm, but now the exchange rate of the yen in our country is constantly falling, and due to the loss of Shanxi and Mongolia, the empire's coal has lost an important place, and now about half of the empire's resources come from overseas." Among them, iron ore 52.3%, bauxite 100%, rubber 100%, petroleum 80%, salt 63%, cotton and wool 99.9%, scrap iron and steel 67%, copper. Aluminium. Lead, zinc, etc. are half and more than half. And the vast majority of them come from the United States, Britain and France. ”

When Tojo heard this, he suddenly understood the significance of Minei and Sakuauchi Yukio this time, and he said excitedly, "In this case, let's go south, there are a lot of resources in the South Seas that can be used by our empire." ”

Although Ishihara also supported going south at this time, he didn't want Tojo to come out, and he hummed, "Go south? We will fight extremely hard against one China, and then fight Britain, the United States and France? Did you really go to military school? ”

Tojo angrily touched his waist and said, "Ishihara! If you have the ability, go out and duel with me, and we will solve the problem with the samurai method. ”

Ishihara rolled his eyes and said, "I'm a general, so you'd better be a private yourself, my samurai." ”

Hirohito saw that the two were about to fight, and angrily banged on the table with Yu Ruyi and shouted, "Silence!!" Yukio Sakuauchi, tell me your opinion. ”

Sakuauchi nodded and said, "The way of the economy is nothing more than to open up sources and reduce expenditures, first of all, open source, to encourage women to enter the factory, but also to let young people enter the factory for voluntary labor, and at the same time to reform the tax system, I suggest that no matter which country citizens earn money in, they should pay personal income tax, not only domestic ones as now."

Secondly, it is necessary to increase the expropriation of the areas occupied by our country, especially the precious metals, which are vast and rich in resources, and there are many minerals, which are urgently needed by us. Our country has already begun to use strategic reserves, but those will not last long .... So we still have to increase exports... In addition, Chinese women are more popular in Europe and the United States, and women from China and North Korea can also be exported to Europe and the United States. ”

Saying that, Sakuauchi Yukio looked at Hirohito and the others, and found that everyone had a natural expression, and his heart settled down, and he was really a little afraid that something that would run out of his brain abnormally and call it an international convention.

Yukio Sakuauchi continued, "In terms of throttling, we should use a rationing system and stop the production and sale of all luxury goods, including electric fans and radios. In addition to continuing to prohibit the sale of rice in ordinary restaurants and restaurants, it is also necessary to vigorously promote the consumption of substitute foods, such as stipulating that breakfast should not exceed 1 yen, lunch 2.5 yen, and dinner 5 yen, but even so, after my calculations, I found that there was still a shortage, so I had to import it from Thailand and other places.

In addition, we must increase trade with Europe and the United States, Britain, France and Germany have declared war, although there has not yet been an exchange of fire, but the three countries are vigorously producing armaments, which will inevitably make the price of various resources rise, so we must sign long-term contracts with European and American countries to ensure that our resources are sufficient, which we are already doing. ”

As he spoke, Yukio Sakuauchi looked at the crowd and said, "But the most important throttling... It's military spending! ”

Speaking of military spending, everyone sat up straight, and Yukio Sakuauchi bowed his head and said, "The proportion of my country's military spending is too high, in three years, my country's military spending has exceeded 26 billion yen, and it is still increasing rapidly at a rate of 20 million per day... 20 million yen... It's just too high and it has to be reduced. ”

Ishihara first said, "I can understand that the military expenditure is too high to be reduced, but first of all, the military expenditure for the development of new technologies cannot be reduced, the empire's weapons are already lagging behind Europe, and if we do not increase investment, the empire will be defeated in the future war with Europe and the United States, and this point must not be retreated." ”

On behalf of the Army, Shunroku Hahata said, "The Army is at war with millions of troops in China, do you want to reduce their military spending?" Should they reduce their weapons, or their medicines or rations, or their pensions? If that's the case, I'm afraid something unspeakable will happen. ”

Minai and Hirohito both frowned, they both remembered what happened to 226, these crazy people really didn't know what to do.

Yoshida Zengo is the minister of the sea, he pointed to the sky and said, "The empire can lose the army, but it must not lose the navy, the navy is the guarantee of the empire's security, not to mention that the navy has just lost a lot of warships, and is preparing to submit an application for an increase in military spending, we will reduce the amount of increase at most, this is the biggest concession of the navy." ”

Yes, I don't want to reduce, Sakuauchi Yukihiro rolled his eyes in his heart, looked at Hirohito, and his eyes were full of "Your Majesty, you can do it, anyway, the treasury has no money." ”

Hirohito looked at Sakurauchi Yukio, sighed and asked, "Military spending is indeed too high... But both the army and the navy have a point, and I think the key is still in the Shina battlefield, Ishihara... I ask you, how long do you think it will take to end the war on favorable terms for us? Is it possible? ”

Ishihara shook his head and said, "We have communicated with Jiang Intermediary many times, but since the Chinese Red Party defeated Shanxi and Suiyuan, he has been much colder, and I know that this is because he is afraid that he will be used by the Red Party after the news of his contact with us spreads... But I think that Jiang Intermediary has now discovered that the Chinese Red Party tail is too big, and in his heart, we have slowly changed from the first enemy to the second enemy, so it is still possible, but this time.. I expect another two years, or some more places for the Chinese Red Party. ”

In fact, in Ishihara's heart, the best way now is to simply withdraw from China and only occupy Manchukuo, when the time comes, there will be a civil war in China, and Japan can recuperate and sit back and watch the situation, but this is unthinkable for Japan, not only because Japanese casualties have reached hundreds of thousands,。。。 And tens of billions of dollars in military spending have already been spent, and this will lead to a complete explosion of the financial crisis covered by the war, which will lead to the collapse of the economy, which can be understood from the data of Yukio Sakuauchi. Unless.... Japan is fighting a new war.

Ishihara's mind came up with a map of Southeast Asia, but it was only a flash, after all, the time was not yet ripe.

When Hirohito heard that it would take two more years, he snorted, thinking that Konoe had told him that he would be able to end the battle in only three months, and he was even more hateful, and he asked, "If our army wins the Battle of Changsha, can we use this to end the battle on more favorable terms?" ”

Ishihara thought for a moment and said, "There is a certain possibility. ”

Hirohito immediately said, "Then order Nishio to intensify the attack on Changsha, the sea and land phases should cooperate with each other, give them whatever they want, take Changsha first, and then discuss the issue of military spending after seeing Chongqing's reaction." ”

- Buning

Jiang Cheng and Liu Dake and others are watching the mechanical equipment being installed, Liu Dake watched a machine tool work successfully, happily applauded with everyone, Jiang Cheng also smiled and nodded, or it won't be long before the industry in northern Jiangsu will really take shape.

Li Qian's ears moved slightly at this time, and she said to Jiang Cheng, "Dongjia, there is an urgent telegram, I'll go out for a while." ”

Liu Dake looked at Li Qian curiously, not knowing how Li Qian knew, Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "Don't be curious, it's just a small earphone, just in case, but the distance can't be too far." When it is improved in the future, the troops will naturally be deployed, at least to the platoon. ”

Chen Yi asked excitedly, "In this way, does it mean that each row will have its own radio station?" At that time, it will certainly be much more convenient to command operations than it is now. ”

Jiang Cheng smiled, "This is more similar to the telephone, but it is more convenient than the radio." ”

Chen Yi was fantasizing about how such a force could exert its maximum combat power, Li Qian walked in again, handed Jiang Cheng a telegram and said, "There is a problem in Changsha, and it may be lost." ”

Jiang Cheng and the others couldn't help but be shocked when they heard this, Jiang Cheng looked at it and scolded, "When is this, is the Kong family really looking for death?" (To be continued.) )