The last few months of 1866 came to an end with the rapid appearance of electric lights in New York, Cleveland, and other cities to illuminate the night sky, and in the blink of an eye it was 1867.

Just after the New Year, a visitor came to the duck castle. This person is an old friend of Scrooge, who once sold short grain in the grain futures market with Scrooge. He's Warren?? Draenau. Compared to a few years ago, the situation of the two people has changed a lot. This not only means that Scrooge has changed from a child to a high-spirited young man, and Warrendrano's old age is more obvious than it was back then, but also the difference in social status. Warren back then?? Draenor is already a millionaire, and when he pulls out a hair, he is thicker than Scrooge's waist. Now, however, Warrendrano is still rich, but far less than many of Scrooge's, and even far less than the other people who participated in the short sale at the same time.

What's more, Volendrano is a foreign trade merchant engaged in import and export, although he has money, his influence is mainly in the Far East, and in the United States, he does not have the influence corresponding to his assets. When it comes to influence in the United States, and even in Europe, he and Scrooge are completely incomparable.

However, as the general agent of sulfonamides in the Far East, Volendrano's influence in the Far East is definitely not to be underestimated. Although sulfonamides are not selling very well in China, in Japan, sulfonamide sales are unusually hot. Compared with China, which has a more refined traditional medicine, Japan, which has always been foreign to everything, has a significantly higher acceptance of these things from foreign countries.

"Mr. Delanor, do you have anything to do with me?" Scrooge asked.

"Oh, that's right. Scrooge, some Japanese people have found me, and they have heard that I have a friendship with you, so they want to get some weapons from you. ”

"Japanese?" Scrooge suddenly remembered that this year was already six or six years, and if I remember correctly, next year the Japanese Shogunate would go to war with the Tokugawa Shogunate, and then the Meiji Restoration, and Japan would have to embark on the road of capitalism and even militarism from now on. Now, at this critical juncture in history, what should I do?

It seemed like a good choice to support the Tokugawa shogunate, and although there were British behind the shogunate, the British were not particularly concerned about the Japanese issue. Compared with other regions in the Far East, such as India, China, etc., Britain's activities in Japan are basically a casual small copy of the posture. This is because the Japanese market is so limited. No matter how you do it, the income is very limited. For the Western powers, Japan at this time was just a place for diplomats to practice their skills, and it was not worth investing too much effort at all. Therefore, if Scrooge is willing to vigorously support the Tokugawa shogunate, it is still very possible to let Japan continue to divide for decades.

However, it is difficult to say what the consequences will be. For Scrooge personally, this means that the Japanese market will never be large, and the amount of money he can make is very limited. For China, of course, one less invader is a good thing. But if there was no stimulation from Japan, there would have been no Wuxu Reform, and if there was no Wuxu Reform and then it was suppressed, there would have been no Xinhai Revolution or anything, and I would have been able to live for many more years if I didn't do well in the Qing Dynasty. Then China will continue to get by, and it is not impossible to mix up like Ah San in the end.

"Forget it, things like changing history are too complicated and uncontrollable. Let's think about how you can make more money. Scrooge thought.

"Is it the shogunate, or Nagasu or Satsuma who want to buy weapons?" Scrooge asked.

"Scrooge, you're amazing!" "You know something about a country like Japan, which is in a corner of the world. Well, both. After saying that, old Warren laughed very unfiguratively.

"Behind Cheung Chau and Satsuma are the British, how dare they buy weapons from us?" Scrooge asked.

Behind Japan's major powers, there are other European powers. For example, Nagasu and Satsuma, behind them were the British, and behind the shogunate, were the French. As a result, they are not free in arms procurement. Generally speaking, even if the Americans have better things in their hands, the godfathers behind them can still force them to honestly buy high-quality father-made goods. For example, not long ago, the U.S. government sold leftover materials from the Civil War all over the world, but the Japanese shogunate, which was still using the front-loading mini-gun of Papa's country, purchased some newly retired front-loading rifles from the French ** team in order to win the support of Papa's country.

When Li Ao of later generations criticized the Taiwan government's purchase of the US military as Kaizi's military purchase, he said something like this: "Have you ever seen a watchdog buy dog food for himself? "Actually, this is Li Ao's ignorance, in the history of mankind, things like vassal states have always been bought from their masters at high prices. Otherwise, what would a big country do with these dogs? Is it to make them okay and sell themselves a cute?

Like the shogunate, Satsuma and Nagasu, as local powerhouses, could not completely decide which country's weapons to buy. So now these guys are coming to the Americans to buy weapons, which is completely beyond Scrooge's expectations. Although the founding of Japan was made by the black ships of the United States, because the navy was too bad, the United States did not have much influence in Japan, and the interests of Japan's founding fell into the hands of Britain, France, and other countries.

"This is the situation on the shogunate's side." Warrendrano explained, "The French seem to have been abandoning the shogunate lately. Recently, it has been difficult for the shogunate to get loans and other support from the French. Since the shogunate agreed to return the daisei, oh, you should know that the shogunate was the de facto ruler of Japan, but the nominal ruler of Japan was the emperor. Recently, there has been a lot of pressure on the shogunate, and some in Japan have demanded that the shogunate return power to the emperor. The shogunate made some concessions under such pressure, which may have made France less optimistic about his prospects. ”

"Not for this reason. The decline in French support for the shogunate had nothing to do with it. "The changes in the Great 6 in Europe meant that France had to shrink its forces back in order to cope with the rise of Prussia's power." Therefore, the French no longer strongly supported the shogunate, and even possibly let the shogunate finish, what does this have to do with the shogunate's own actions? I do think that the shogunate's concession was in fact the result of France's shrinking power. ”

"In this case, the shogunate will have to find another godfather for himself." Scrooge smiled, "Except for France, there are too few countries in the world that can contain Britain. The Russian maritime power was controlled by the ports, and his military presence in the Far East could not frighten anyone. Moreover, everyone knows that the Russians are poor and have no money in their pockets at all. In contrast, our American navy is also bad, but at least we still have money. So what weapons did the shogunate intend to buy? Oh, and what's going on over there in Cheung Chau Satsuma? ”

"Scrooge, you should know that in the backward countries of the Far East, secrecy or something is a joke. Basically, what decisions are made, sometimes the businessmen in the market know faster than the government officials. The same is true of the shogunate in Japan. The decision had just been proposed, and the merchants of Osaka already knew about it before the decision was made. Many of Osaka's merchants are associated with Nagasu Satsuma. Therefore, before the shogunate could make a move, Nagasu and Satsuma took action first. Warren Sr. explained, "And after I showed the Japanese the effectiveness of the MacDonald's 1857 rifle, both the Nagasu and Satsuma guys realized that if the shogunate was all equipped with such things, the balance of Japan would be upset." At that time, don't talk about honoring the king, don't talk about the fall of the curtain, I'm afraid that I will be completely killed by the shogunate's crusading army. So, as far as I know, they went to the British to negotiate and ask the British to provide them with the same level of weapons. Of course, the British could give them these things, but there was one crucial thing that they did not have in their hands for the Japanese. ”

"I know what you're talking about." Scrooge laughed. It was a military necessity, but it was still in the possession of the United States, even Scrooge. So much so that the British could not sell it to the Japanese to make money. Of course, this thing can only be a strong pill. Well, think about it, as the war between the shogunate and Nagasu Satsuma continued, one American steamer after another continued to sail into the ports of Japan, and boxes and boxes of Mighty pills were constantly moved off the ships, and in the end, not only the soldiers on both sides, but even the personnel in the rear also needed to rely on Mighty Pills to maintain. As a result, Japan as a whole has become the first country in the world where the whole people are addicted to methamphetamine, and the operation of the entire national machinery is inseparable from this drug. At the same time, as the controller of the pill, Scrooge can force both sides to sign a lot of humiliating agreements with him, and in the end, no matter who wins the final victory, they still have to rely on themselves. At the same time, you can also hire a large number of Japanese people to do things that require a lot of cheap labor. Like digging the Panama Canal or something. Historically, more than 100,000 workers have died to build the canal. If all these 100,000 people are Little Japan, well, this picture is too beautiful......

"Mr. Delanor, it's a good deal. How are they going to make this deal? Scrooge asked.

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