Chapter Nineteen Enthusiasm
The meeting at the Matsunoka Pavilion ended an hour later. Except for not understanding how Yang Rui can effectively deal with US bombers in the Philippines, both sides reached a consensus on other matters. Based on this consensus, Hirohito finally promised to assist in promoting the process of China-Japan currency integration, that is, to agree to put the issue of Asian dollar on the agenda.
In the current political landscape of Japan, Hirohito's promise is important, but it is just a passive approval. He cannot directly issue an edict to require the cabinet to implement monetary integration. The matter of the Asian Yuan still needs to start from the Japanese parliament. This involves the chaebol. The Duke of Nishiyuanji hopes that the Duke of Nishiyuanji will see it.
On the way to the hotel, Yang Rui smoked easily, but Bei Shoutong was thinking. After all, he had retreated from the position of Chief of General Staff for several years. The General Staff, under the current Chief of General Staff, General Xu Jingxi, had formulated nothing about the US combat plan. Only then did he realize that the plan Yang Rui mentioned was the "Snake Plan" of that year, that is, the "Snake Plan".
As I said just now, the key to the plan is whether it can stop the bombing of US bombers. If not, the advantage of rapid shipbuilding cannot be reflected, and it is only a matter of time before it is defeated. Therefore, he also had the same concerns as the Japanese, but unlike the Japanese, he saw some hope that Taiwan and the northernmost end of the Luzon Peninsula were about 500 kilometers apart, just within the range of the cruise rocket. If the navigation problem is solved, then something that costs less than 3,000 yuan can shoot at the US airport.
"Sir, can the navigation problem of cruise rockets be solved in five years?" In the hotel, Bei Shoutong asked his worried questions. He felt that navigation was the key to the plan.
"I don't know!" Yang Rui's answer was beyond his expectations. Yang Rui didn't plan to use cruise rockets to solve the US bomber. "Maybe it can, but no one can tell what's so advanced... this kind of thing is that there is a coupling between light. To put it simply, one light is fighting with another light, and you won't work once you fight."
Hearing Yang Rui’s extremely personified navigation problem, Bei Shoutong couldn’t help but laugh, but he didn’t understand the technical stuff, so he had to give up. He remembered another question: “Mr. I just said that if the US Treasury bond exceeds 70 billion, what will happen? If they don’t plan to get rid of the New Deal with war.”
"What will happen?" Yang Rui smiled. "The result is that it is a good thing for us, and it is definitely a bad thing for the United States. So either the United States that does not start a war will bankrupt the federal government because its national debt exceeds its affordability. It will eventually change the domestic political structure and power structure; or the United States that start a war will be defeated by us, causing a more serious domestic political crisis, and thus completely decline."
"But we can't land on the American continent!" said Mr. Bei Shou. "The United States doesn't have to worry about sea blockade, even if we can bomb his shipyard with cruise rockets. If the navigation problem is solved."
Seeing that Bei Shoutong's understanding level was still on the military level, Yang Rui shook his head and said, "You are a typical military thinking, so it is right to say that soldiers are not allowed to interfere in politics, especially if they have not experienced a complete aristocratic education.
It is difficult to defeat many countries, but it is easy to destroy them, and some are the opposite. The key lies in their culture and finances. The former is the ruling software and the latter is the ruling hardware. Because of this, all sinologists in Europe and the United States are banned and expelled by the Ministry of Rites. Because if they understand our culture, it is easy to find cultural loopholes, which can facilitate the creation of procedural conflicts and then destroy our country and even the entire nation. Therefore, it is extremely important to maintain belief and targeted public opinion control.
There are cultural dangers, and financial problems can also destroy a country. Didn’t the former Ming Dynasty perish like this? But usually the destruction of a country is a combination of the two. Finance causes a political crisis, and political crisis causes a cultural crisis. After the cultural crisis, some angry young people who dare to challenge the current regime and the current order emerge. The final revolution or coup rewrites the original political power structure, and the result of the rewriting is to shorten the lifespan of the entire country or nation. This is the goal we want to achieve."
Yang Rui, who convinced the Japanese, had a rare leisure time. When he said this, he suddenly asked: "Ji Mei. Do you know who the Japanese ruling group is? What is the ruling culture?"
"This..." Unexpectedly, Yang Rui would ask back. After pondering for a moment, Bei Shoutong said: "The foundation of Japan's rule should be the emperor and the nobles and chaebols under the emperor's system. The ruling culture is the theory of imperial power."
"What about the Soviet Union?" Yang Rui asked again after applauding.
"I am a member of the Bolshevik Party, that is, a cadre. The ruling culture should be Max and Li Ningism." Mr. Bei Shou.
"What about the United States?" Yang Rui asked again.
"Just just now, the gentleman said he was a capitalist, and as for the ruling culture..." Bei Shoutong originally wanted to talk about the US Constitution or the Declaration of Freedom, but he felt that it was not that simple, so he had to say, "I don't know this."
Yang Rui did not delve into this question. He asked again: "What about us?"
As a core member of the ruling group, Bei Shoutong was a little embarrassed when answering this question. He said, "We, and the gentry..., culture is the national quintessence compiled by the Ministry of Rites, and the theory of civilization of Mr.
Bei Shoutong answered most of the time, and Yang Rui stopped asking. He said: "The ruling group of the United States is said to be the capitalist, but in fact, it was the Anglo-Saxon family who arrived in the American continent in the early days and believed in Protestantism. Her ruling culture was not the American Constitution and the Declaration of Freedom, but the Protestant Bible. The constitutional equality is essentially that everyone is equal before God, and the inviolability of property rights is just a part of Protestant ethics. This ensures that the capitalists' property is protected, and thus creates a prosperous industry and commerce, creating the current capitalist society.
From this point of view, the basis of American rule was devout white Protestants, but influenced by brainless literati and weak European civilization, especially French secular civilization, only equality for devouts was abused to any person born in the United States. This result was disastrous. Another disaster was that the development of industry and commerce led to the continuous self-growth of capital, which further destroyed the ruling culture. In addition, the differences in industrial development in the north and south of the United States eventually led to the civil war between the north and the south. The victory in the north was beautified by brainless literati to become freedom and equality. The victory of the liberation of black slaves was really brainless! Even now, black people have not been liberated.
Have you read ancient Roman history, Ji Mei?" Yang Rui asked suddenly.
"I have read some, sir." Beshou said, again, he felt that he could never reach the height of sir.
"It's good to read it," Yang Rui nodded. He did not regard conversation as a matter of business, but only as a kind of chat between teachers and students. "Ancient Rome was a complete civilization cycle from birth to death, and because European civilization directly inherited from ancient Roman civilization, he was very similar to the United States. If you understand ancient Rome, you can understand the United States and then judge how the United States perished.
Although the history of the United States is only more than two hundred years, don’t forget that his children and youth were spent on the European continent, and landing in the Americas can only be said to be a family and a career. Although Rome is a citizen election system like him, what is different from the United States is that Rome’s rule was not a devout Protestant, but a soldier of the Roman legion in Rome only had civil rights, and the others were slaves or civilians.
If Rome had always followed the principle that only soldiers had the right to vote, Rome would not decline, but large-scale wars changed this point. Around 100 BC, after the Romans destroyed Carthage and their allies, because most of the soldiers originated from farming farmers went bankrupt and the army had no soldiers to conscription, Rome carried out military reforms, from conscription to recruitment. This was a key turning point that affected Roman history. Because according to Roman laws, only warriors had civil rights. In the past, all soldiers were proletarians and legions were organized according to the amount of property. Now, because they were recruiting soldiers, those who came to serve in the army were proletarians. These people obtained citizenship, which was a disaster for the Roman constitution.
When the source structure of the votes changes, the political power structure will change. Just like us, in the early years of the founding of the country, the voters were mainly farmers. Now the farmers do not pay taxes, so the gentry was all gentry. It can be said that in the Marius era, the policy of resumption of the conscription system to recruiting the army eventually prompted Rome to go from a republic to an imperial system to have votes. Since there were votes in the hands of proletarians who were in the army during the campaign, they shouted slogans to buy them, such as welfare, insurance, work, money, beauty... As long as they wanted, they promised that they could not go to power, and they would be taxed on those with proletarians when they came to power. Not paying taxes was illegal.
This is Rome, what about the United States? She was an important event that influenced history like the Roman military reform, which began with the Declaration of Independence issued by the thirteen British colonies of North America on July 4, 1776. It said: 'They think the following truths are self-evident..." Yang Rui smiled at this point, "... Everyone is born equal, and the Creator gives them several inalienable rights, including the right to life, the right to freedom, and the right to pursue happiness.' It sounds so nice!" He teased.
"I think the industry and business people who are extremely afraid of Roosevelt's tax increase must be extremely hated by this sentence, and regretted not adding the limiting term "Before God..." at that time. It is estimated that everyone was devout Protestant at that time. I forgot that many American citizens will not be devout believers, and even many of them are Catholics and pagans in the future.
The Declaration of Independence was only the beginning of the American Roman military reform, followed by the American Constitution, which stipulated in the form of law that as long as Americans were elected and elected, and then the Civil War provoked by Lincoln. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution confused the devouts and non-confessions, and this time it confused the whites and blacks. Although the situation of blacks afterwards was worse than before the Civil War, they were an important asset to the farmers' eyes. A black slave was worth 1,800 dollars at the time, but in the eyes of factory owners in the north, they were worthless, especially in the economic depression, no one cared about his life or death. The so-called freedom was only the freedom of the more ruthless slave owner, and that's all..."
Yang Rui finished smoking at this time. When he paused to take out another cigarette from the cigarette box, Bei Shoutong asked: "Sir, who will Roosevelt be? Sura?"
The United States is still a republic, and if the Marius era in the United States was the War of Independence to the Civil War of the North and South, then the United States was at this time between the Marius era and the Anthony, Libida, and Octavian era. According to Roman history, Sura was the ruler after Marius, and Sura was Crassus, Caesar and Pompey after Sura, and he felt that Roosevelt was Sura.
"How could Roosevelt be Sura?" Yang Rui lit the cigarette. "Although Sura was the first person to the Roman dictatorship, his dictatorship was to safeguard the interests of the Senate aristocrats and attack the democrats. Not to mention anything else, just by abolishing the system of rationing cheap food to urban vagrants, it can be seen that he is definitely not Roosevelt."
"Then..." Bei Shoutong thought of something. He shook all over and said in a daze: "Is it Caesar?!"
"Well, it's Caesar!" Yang Rui laughed, as if he was happy for his guess.
"Sir, this..." Bei Shoutong could not connect the well-known disabled person Roosevelt and Caesar. In his impression, Caesar was a warrior, but Roosevelt was just a paralyser.
"Don't look at appearance, look at substance. The essence is the role he played in Roman history." Yang Rui said, "Now the unemployed workers in the United States are similar to the homeless class in Rome at that time. They make a living by relying on free rations distributed by the state. Caesar is indeed not a disabled person, but he and Roosevelt both have the characteristics of changing with the wind. They are good at using public opinion to come to power, but will abandon some civilians after they come to power, which is the kind of people who please both ends and betray them.
They also have another common characteristic, which is that they like deficit finance. It is said that when Caesar was in office, they left a lot of debts, and they had to rely on their father-in-law to pay it back several times. What is the money used for? It is not to develop industry and commerce, but to build public works, such as arenas, and then they invite proletarians with suffrage to watch the athletic performance. This is equivalent to...haha..." Yang Rui couldn't help laughing, "Just like when we used to be able to vote, the gentry invited them to see the show in order to attract votes, and some people asked them to go to the kiln...haha..."
Yang Ruile was unsupported, and felt that democratic elections were really funny, with silver bills, drama bills, and meat bills. Many farmers worked hard to achieve the tax payment line and became voters. Others who were already voters hanged their strongest sons to join the army, so as to represent the township or county sceptics.
Yang Rui laughed at Yang Rui, and Beishoutong recalled the history of Rome. After Caesar, Rome fell into a civil war again. Then Anthony, Li Bida, and Octavian formed an alliance to rule Rome. Later, Octavian defeated the other two and was named Augustus by the Senate for quelling the civil strife that attempted to split Rome. After his death, he was respected as a god by the Senate.
Thinking of Octavian's life, Betshou and Yang Rui laughed and asked: "Does the changes in the American political landscape mentioned by the Mr. Wang talk about the Roman political reforms during Octavian's administration?"
"This is just one of them. The changes in the entire political situation include all political reforms from Caesar to Octavian." Yang Rui nodded. "This is actually a repair to the Roman constitution after the Marius military reform. Sura, who was previously known as the dictator, also wanted to repair this constitutional loophole, but after several wars at that time, not only was the source of troops gone, but the toxins accumulated by the development of civilization also made the proprietors generally tired of war and pursue pleasure, so there was no way to fix this loophole.
In fact, in summary, there are two factors that will accelerate the decline of civilization. One is a large-scale, long-term, and cruel war, because too many people are mobilized. Civilians and even slaves who are not citizens should be enlisted in the army. Bleeding and tax payment are acts of fulfilling their obligations for the country and nation. In normal countries, rights are equal to obligations. If people shed blood and paid taxes, they naturally have to give people corresponding political rights. However, changes in the voter base will cause a political crisis and eventually accelerate the decline of civilization. The history of Britain here is very unique, because it is mainly a navy and has a small number of naval personnel, so she can maintain a stable political structure;
Looking at Germany again, before the war, because there were not enough noble officers and insufficient army, but once the war started, it was impossible to conscription, and victory was more important between nobles and victory. Therefore, before the war ended, the influence of the Social Democratic Party increased greatly. Although Britain defeated, she also dispatched the army. The war was long-term and tax increased. Therefore, the political arena after the war was in chaos and the Labor Party, which could not enter Taiwan, began to rule. Another factor was rich spoils. Don’t look at others, just look at the people of the world.
We and Japan are deteriorating the fiscal situation of the United States with low prices and high-quality industrial products. In the seventeenth year of Shenwu before the economic crisis, the United States exported as high as US$4.7 billion [Note 152], imports of 4 billion, and the surplus of 700 million. What about now? Last year's exports of 1.9 billion, imports of 1.8 billion, and the surplus of 100 million, last year should be the last year of her balance of payments. And we must not forget that his import tariffs averaged 40% and the world's number one. If her tariffs are at the same level as us and the United Kingdom, then her balance of payments statement will have a huge deficit.
Our industrial products are snatching her market, and our agricultural products, especially cotton and cloth, are also snatching her market. The result of her ever so high tariffs is that the United States' industry and agriculture have completely lost their international competitiveness, and they cannot reduce it when they want to reduce the tariffs. At that time, domestic agricultural groups and industrial groups will find ways to persuade lawmakers to reject the reduction of tariffs, or reduce tariffs but implement huge trade subsidies, both of which will worsen the finances.
If the finances do not improve, workers will continue to lose their jobs, and the domestic political situation will be very bad. There will be more and more populist politicians like Roosevelt until there are opposition parties to stop them. If nothing unexpected happens, the person who stops must be the Republican Party. He comes from a bankrupt family but has the opportunity, and has an ideal and devout Republican Party, but he cannot change the financial situation, and the result can only be an amendment to the Constitution.
Next is the long-term struggle between populist politicians and increasingly dictatorial Republican politicians. During the Civil War in the North and South, the South, which had no independence, would take the opportunity to demand independence. They were already in conflict with the greedy Yankees, and there was probably an Octavian figure who, Lincoln, stopped this division the second time, and then the time for the US imperial system."
Speaking of the imaginary United States, Yang Rui thought of the United States in later generations. If the United States did not win World War II and established a US dollar-oil bundling system to obtain the world's dollar seigniorage tax, this country that was born with problems would decline as quickly as those in Southern Europe. The reason why she could be supported without losing the constitutional crisis during the Roosevelt's New Deal was that Americans, especially poor Americans, were supported by slave workers all over the world. Now, Yang Rui decided to prevent her from establishing a US dollar-oil system, and at the same time, she would use high-tech commodities to squeeze American goods in the international market, worsening his balance of payments, and allowing her to enter the imperial era early.
The world will be a diverse world, the British Empire is still a symbolic hegemon, and the colonies of the world still exist. The great powers will rely on the alliance of the international community. Suppress democracy, welfare and the Bolsheviks to continue Yu Guang in the 19th century. I believe that the civilization of such a world will last longer than that of the later world. In this way, the foundation of China's rule will become stronger. After the Soviet Union finally disintegrates, the entire Siberia will be connected with Guanxi. Thanks to the harsh environment, it will be a religious reserve. If the world civilization is finally destroyed like the disappearing civilizations in history in hundreds of years, the devout Trinity believers outside the pass will be the spark that China will rise again...
Taking advantage of the inertia opened by the topic of Rome and the United States, Yang Rui seemed to see the end of world civilization. But he quickly let himself out of this line of thought. This is not what he is thinking now. The two most important things at the moment are preparing for war and suppressing Germany to start war. If neither of these two is done well, China will be involved in the path of civilization that accelerates its decline.
"Ji Mei..., if you have time, please accompany me to travel around the world." Yang Rui said to fellow Bei Shou.
"Traveling around the world?" Yang Rui used Rome as a metaphor to explain the United States, which was equivalent to opening up a new world for Bei Shoutong, allowing him to analyze other countries, including China. He did not expect that Yang Rui would still want to travel around the world.
"Yes. We want Britain and France to endorse us on the Naval Disarmament Treaty. If Britain refuses, another way is to form an investigation team to supervise the construction of our ships and Japan. The investigation team is composed of personnel from various countries, who will check the docks, the docks and airports on the Pacific islands and the underground fortifications that are purely defensive in nature, and then issue communiqués regularly. I think this is enough to put pressure on Roosevelt.
If Americans don't believe it, we can also invite U.S. senators to visit our docks and the Pacific islands to see if there are shipbuilding in the docks, and see if there are large docks on the island for large fleets to berth. I believe these are enough to give isolationists and pacifists reasons to oppose Roosevelt's expansion of the army." Yang Rui said a suggestion that Yang Du once mentioned, and felt that the League of Nations was becoming more and more useful.
"Sir, don't our dock have super heavy cranes? Will this not be exposed?" Mr. Beishou. He knew that there was no need to worry about the underground fortifications of the island, and it would be fine if the fleet did not cheat, but he was worried about the dock.
"Then we don't need superheavy cranes, we use large hydraulic cylinders." Yang Rui explained, "There are two ways to build a ship in sections. One is to lift the gantry superheavy crane from the air, and the other is to push the large hydraulic cylinder from the bottom from outside the dock. After welding, it will be pushed one after another. After welding, the dock will be full, and then the ship can be launched. Besides, although the gantry crane is conspicuous, who can see how heavy the crane can be? What they want is whether there are warships in the dock, and there are large aircraft carriers with a construction period of two or three years. They just need to glance at the dock. Don't get close if there is no ship."
"This is a good idea!" Bei Shoutong nodded with a smile. "Then Roosevelt, and those who want to start a war, can't find an excuse now."
"It doesn't matter if you don't make excuses. The key is whether you want to fight." Yang Rui said. "The other thing you do when you go out is that Germany will still suppress it. Europe starts a war in the United States will naturally get out of the trap."
"Sir, are you going to Germany?" said fellow Bei Shou.
"Yes, I'm going. I wanted to go more than ten years ago." Yang Rui suddenly thought of Leo, and his voice was a little low. "I don't care whether Germany has the final say or Gorene has the final say. They will definitely not be allowed to go to war, otherwise we will send troops again."
"Sir, I'm afraid..." Thinking of the current situation in Germany, Bei Shoutong couldn't help but shake his head. Whether it was the restoration of the German Emperor or the Prime Minister Gorene, they were both worried about the last defeat.
"They will be unhappy, but so what?" Yang Rui said arrogantly, "Besides, we need to prepare for the war. We will probably have to purchase hundreds of millions of machine tools and equipment, which is also a benefit to the German economy. The last one to go to the Soviet Union, who has been with Stalin for nearly twenty years, should see it. There is also the canal that has been dug for several years. I heard that it is about to be connected, so I want to go and take a look."
Britain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, and in addition to the United States, this really swam the world. However, when I think of Italy, which is fighting against the Chinese and Japanese fleets, Beishoutong said with concern: "Sir, are you going to the Mediterranean? There is Italy..."
"What are you afraid of Italy!" Yang Rui smiled disdainfully, "We and Italy have not declared war with each other yet. I want to go to Skimayu first, then go to France, then go to Britain, then go to Switzerland, Germany, and finally the Soviet Union. After meeting Stalin, go to the canal to check it out. This will probably take more than half a year."
Yang Rui had already thought about the itinerary, and fellow Bei Shou, "When did you leave?"
"This is not a matter of attention. Whether it is before or after the negotiations in London, the international situation is mainly important in the next few years. Whether it is Lianheng or Hezong, it is necessary to move." Yang Rui said, his eyes ignited with enthusiasm for being young. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!