Although the Spring Festival is approaching in late December, the castle town of Edo, the de facto capital of Japan, is particularly cold and even a little depressed. The once bustling streets are now mostly deserted, with only sad-faced bosses and listless guys waiting for customers to come to their door. The small industrial area near Edo Bay, which carries the hope of Japan's rise, would not stop work even in the Chinese New Year's Eve in previous years, but this year it was only the month of Layue, and most of them stopped work because there were no orders.

As for the three financial streets that were originally known as Ginza, Kanza, and Ginza, which were originally symbols of wealth, they are now a bit depressed, and on both sides of the open and imposing streets, which are rare in the whole of Japan, you can see the doors closed and the houses are empty!

It is clear that a terrible economic crisis is raging in Japan!

This economic crisis is actually a global crisis, and it may well be the first global economic crisis in history. The cause of this crisis was overproduction caused by the rapid increase in production capacity brought about by the opening of the Second Industrial Revolution - the crisis of excess existed not only in Britain, but also in the Ming Dynasty and the Southeast Asian vassal states under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, as well as Malacca and the East Indies, and naturally hit the economically fragile Japan with a violent impact.

For an industrialized power and superpower like the Ming Dynasty, which has a rich background and leading technology, the crisis of excess can also be alleviated by large-scale construction and military expansion - after all, it is only the initial stage of the second industrial revolution, and even a leading industrial country like the Ming Dynasty still has a huge need for investment in the foundation.

It's just that there are very few "non-payment" credit currencies in the world, and the currencies of almost all advanced countries are pegged to gold and silver, so it is difficult for countries to cope with the lack of demand through large-scale financial expansion.

Moreover, because countries had experienced a period of overheating in investment and a shortage of raw materials before the crisis, many factories that had expanded at high costs and hoarded raw materials at high prices fell into a huge crisis, and a large number of bankruptcies and closures quickly transmitted the crisis to the financial institutions that lent them money.

However, the losses caused to financial institutions due to factory bankruptcy and closure are not unbearable, and it is the financial markets themselves that really suffer heavy losses for financial institutions in various countries.

It turned out that when the economy was overheated before, the securities markets of various countries experienced a round of sharp rises. Among them, the average price index of 100 stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in the Ming Dynasty rose fivefold in the decade after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and the stock price index in London rose more than fourfold. Japan's Osaka Stock Exchange only opened three years ago, and since its opening, it has skyrocketed, and the average stock price of all listed companies has risen more than tenfold in less than two years! When the economic crisis came, the stock markets of various countries experienced a round of plummeting, and the stock market in Osaka, Japan, was no exception, with stock prices falling by 90 percent in less than a month, almost being knocked back to their original shape.

Due to the lax supervision of financial institutions by the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan, almost all of the two-substitute houses invested a large amount of money in the stock market, and a round of plummeting down, naturally suffered heavy losses, and the wave of bankruptcy of the two-substitute houses swept all over Japan.

The large number of bankruptcies of the two houses has further exacerbated the financial difficulties of Japanese industrial and commercial enterprises, and some enterprises that could have survived have been forced to close down. Japan's economy as a whole is in a state of spiral, and it seems that there is no bottom in sight.

Of course, there will always be losers and winners in the financial markets, even in the event of a crash, and this is no exception in Japan!

At this time, on the depressed streets of the lower town of Edo Castle, a luxurious carriage dragged by four tall Western horses, escorted by dozens of samurai dressed in black, was marching in the direction of Edo Castle.

At the head of the procession was a tall samurai carrying a rectangular black flag with two striking white letters, "Big Black."

There were also some pedestrians on the street, and when they saw this flamboyant procession, they all stopped and cast hateful glances - everyone knew that this was the leader of the Daikoku chaebol, one of Japan's "four tengus", who had come to Tokyo.

The leaders of the four major chaebols live in Shanghai all the year round, and only when they encounter important events or important festivals, they will cross the sea to return to Japan to show their faces, go to Edo to meet the shogun, and then give them a generous gift, and then visit a group of powerful feudal lords and shogunate ministers, and give them generous gifts one by one. After the Chinese New Year, these "big tengus" will take their luxury cruise ships back to Shanghai, the most prosperous economic center of the Ming Empire.

In the eyes of most of the samurai in Japan, especially the middle and lower samurai who lived in increasingly difficult circumstances, the Ming Empire, a superpower that ruled the eastern world, was the source of Japan's suffering, a mountain that weighed on Japan's head...... No, it's the mainland! In this way, the entire East Asian continent pressed on the Japanese archipelago, and it was almost all-round and unblind, completely depriving Japan of space for development.

Although Japan has some of the hardest and hardest working people in the world, and the income is extremely low, less than one-tenth of the wages of Ming workers. Moreover, in order to obtain the capital and technology needed for the development of industrialization, Japan did not hesitate to export its own girls as commodities, and Japanese laborers were willing to work as coolies in Nanyang, Sakhalin, the Kikata Peninsula, and New Manchuria under very difficult conditions, doing the hardest, most tiring, and dangerous work. But Japan's industrialization just couldn't get off the ground!

And one of the reasons why Japan's industrialization can't get off is the Zhuge family! The military divisions of the Zhuge family are all very bad, they have already calculated Japan's careful thinking, so they have implemented the "industrial raw material export quota and tariff system" very early and targeted - raw materials are necessary for the development of industrialization, what coal mines, iron ore, rubber, soybeans, oil, cotton, and other miscellaneous non-ferrous metals, etc., all implement export control!

It's control, it's not that you don't sell Japan, or if you don't sell it, the Japanese will die, so they will lie flat and not toss. The policy of the Zhuge family is to sell raw materials to Japan, but they have to sell them at a high price, and they have to get stuck. Japanese factories can only buy expensive and scarce raw materials, and they cannot form international competitiveness at all, so they can only pour high prices to their own people.

What? Daming doesn't sell other houses?

I really can't count on it!

In those years, there were no people in western North America, and they did not belong to the United States, and the Panama Canal was not dug, so the resources of the United States were counted on. Australia also has no population...... There are hundreds of thousands of white skins, which cannot support the large-scale mining industry at all. Moreover, the British Empire implemented the "White Australia Policy", and the Japanese couldn't help develop it if they wanted to!

Although the resources of Malacca and the Dutch East Indies were administratively not controlled by the Ming Empire, the companies controlled by the Zhuge family had a firm monopoly on the sale of rubber, tin, and coal, and the Japanese trading companies could not buy them at all.

The only one that could supply Japan with coal, iron ore, cotton and other raw materials in large quantities was India under the British Empire...... However, the commercial routes from India to Japan were under the control of the Ming Empire, so India's suppliers of coal, iron ore and cotton had to sign a "parity contract" with the Zhuge family, and could only sell a small amount of coal, iron ore and cotton to Japan at a high price.

Under these circumstances, Japan can only develop a little heavy industry, which can only be said to be very hard.

But sometimes, trying hard won't solve the problem!

In the face of such a situation, two diametrically opposed lines emerged in Japan, one was the "pro-Ming faction" represented by the "Four Heavenly Dogs", hoping to soften the Ming Dynasty's position by currying favor with the Ming Dynasty in exchange for Japan's development space.

On the other hand, the "arbitrary faction" was dominated by the vast number of middle- and lower-ranking samurai, hoping to break the suppression of the Ming Dynasty through war and gain enough space for Japan's development.

And now sitting in the carriage of the Daihei family is the leader of the pro-Ming faction, Daihei Chang is and his daughter Daihei, both father and daughter are dressed in costumes, sitting in the carriage, frowning, looking out the window at the depressed street.

"Father," Daikoku suddenly said at this time, "it's too depressed...... Isn't Edo a metropolis with a population of 1.5 million? ”

Da Hei Chang just smiled slightly: "Ah Kong, no matter how depressed Japan is, it is also the root of our Da Hei family!" The reason why Michiko Gong is willing to accept you as a side room is also because of the status of our Daikoku family in Japan. ”

"Daozi...... Public? A hint of surprise flashed on the big black sky's snow-white face, "Father, he ......"

"Hmm!" Da Hei Chang nodded, "After the New Year, he will become the military advisor of the Zhuge family!" Akong, you're so lucky! Not only can it become the side room of Zhuge Military Division, but it can also become the adopted daughter of Lord Gongfang. ”

"What? Lord Gongfang ......" Da Kuro looked at his father.

"Yes," Daikoku said, "Akong, you're about to become Matsuhei Sora...... It's not Tokugawa, but it's a great honor! Moreover, this move will also bring the relationship between the Zhuge family and the Tokugawa family closer, and help resolve the Ming Dynasty's containment of Japan, which is especially beneficial to our Daikoku family. ”

Daikoku also laughed: "That's great. ”

Just as the father and daughter were talking, the carriage in which they were riding had already turned a corner at an intersection. At this crossroads, a group of ronin, dressed in white-washed kimonos and carrying katana swords at their waists, were holding their hands in their wide sleeves, all holding their heads high, looking at the carriage and guards of the Daikoku family with a grim expression, and the leader was a one-eyed man with a disheveled beard, which was a vicious curse: "Yaga, national thief!" ”