Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 178

After thinking it over carefully, Nakano finally nodded and said, "You're right, a decision does need to be made at this time. I'll write a letter to Mr. Yasukawa, and you can sign it with me."

Although Nakano's words were nominally a request, his tone was commanding. Sato hesitated for only a moment before nodding in agreement. If he backed down at this point, wouldn't he be offending Nakano for no reason?

The sleepless nights surrounding the heavy industry plan proposed by the Navy are not limited to the coal mining giants of Kyushu; the Mitsui zaibatsu, known as Japan's number one zaibatsu, is also embroiled in a heated debate over the matter.

Inside the Mitsui patriarchal residence in Imai-cho, Tokyo, the tenth head of the Mitsui family, Mitsui Takato, was listening to Masuda Takashi, Dan Takuma, Mitsui Takaki, and others analyze and discuss the heavy industry planning proposal put forward by the Navy.

The mansion covers a total area of ​​1.6 tsubo, almost encompassing an entire block of Imai-cho. It even has a stage for Noh performances, making it virtually indistinguishable from a medieval noble estate. However, the place where Mitsui Takato and his group held their meeting was quite simple, or rather, this simplicity concealed its luxury, as the teahouse was a product of the Edo period and could be considered a national treasure.

Chapter 605

By this time, Mitsui had formed an industrial cluster centered around Mitsui Bank, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsui Mines. Mitsui Mines grew steadily under the leadership of Takuma Dan and became a major industry comparable to Mitsui Bank and Mitsui & Co. in 1908, surpassing Mitsui Bank in profits. As a result, Takuma Dan's status within Mitsui rose sharply, and he became the second most important person after the head manager, Takashi Masuda.

Although Mitsui Takato had studied abroad, he became involved in Nakagami Hikojiro's reforms at Mitsui Bank during his brief tenure after returning to Japan. As Nakagami Hikojiro was forced to step down due to pressure from internal and external forces, he simply withdrew from daily operations and went into seclusion.

Although Mitsui Takato has withdrawn from daily operations, he still has considerable say in major matters for Mitsui, which is why Mitsui's senior executives gathered at his residence today to discuss the heavy industry center planning scheme.

Compared to the conservative head manager, Takayuki Masuda, Takatomo Mitsui actually trusted Takuma Dan, who also had overseas study experience, more. This was because he was a supporter of Hikojiro Nakagami, who advocated for industrial Mitsui. When he was the head of the personnel department at Mitsui Bank, he helped Nakagami recruit a large number of students from Keio Private School into Mitsui Bank. This was the fundamental reason why he was able to maintain control over Mitsui Bank even after he went into seclusion.

Although Takashi Masuda, the head manager who defeated Hikojiro Nakagami with the support of Inoue Kaoru, was triumphant for a time, with the rapid growth of Mitsui Mining, Mitsui & Co.'s position in the Mitsui zaibatsu was not as secure as before. The alliance between Mitsui Bank and Mitsui Mining was forcing Mitsui & Co. to make more concessions to these two related companies.

With the development of Japanese industry, the traditional business model advocated by Takashi Masuda could hardly withstand the onslaught of the emerging zaibatsu (financial conglomerates). The era when Mitsui & Co. could monopolize import and export trade simply by obtaining government support was gone. Through the Democratic Party's attack on the feudal system, the emerging zaibatsu politically abolished Mitsui & Co.'s monopoly on Japan's import and export trade. As a result, Mitsui & Co.'s profits in traditional commerce continued to decline, while its involvement in emerging industries increased.

Unlike the hoarding and speculation model of traditional commerce, emerging industries require more support from capital and industrial talent. This means that although the conservatives who advocated maintaining Mitsui's commercial operations defeated Hikojiro Nakagami, who attempted to reform Mitsui's business model, they had no choice but to follow the industrial path that Nakagami had pioneered for Mitsui.

By this time, Takuma Dan had become a leading figure in Mitsui's industrial strategy, and naturally had a greater say at the meeting. The Mitsui & Co. representatives from Koichi Masuda's faction could only speak generally about personnel issues in the Navy and the government. They could obtain inside information from Inoue, the elder statesman, about the Navy's impending rise to power, but they could not offer any constructive suggestions on how to integrate Mitsui's management with the Navy's heavy industry center plan.

Masuda Takaya could only talk about how to get closer to the navy so that Mitsui could gain an advantageous position in this navy-led heavy industry center plan. However, as Japan's number one zaibatsu, Mitsui's every move would be scrutinized by outsiders. Mitsui's move to get closer to the navy would inevitably provoke dissatisfaction from other political forces. Moreover, some people within Mitsui did not want Mitsui to have too close a relationship with the political world. Nakagami Hikojiro's reforms were aimed at cutting off the political world's interference in Mitsui's internal affairs.

Although Nakagami Hikojiro's reforms failed, some of his achievements were preserved. At least now, Inoue and Ito can no longer directly issue orders to the Mitsui family through any single individual; instead, they need to reach a consensus before these orders become Mitsui's management policies. While Inoue Kaoru's new family rules curbed the Mitsui head family's dictatorship over the Mitsui business, they also restrained the autocratic power of Masuda Takashi, Inoue's representative within Mitsui.

Therefore, Takashi Masuda's proposal on the traditional relationship between government and business did not gain the support of others, while Takuma Dan offered his own perspective based on the heavy industry center planning proposal itself: "Generally speaking, the steel industry should be located near coal mines or iron mines in order to obtain a stable supply of raw materials and reduce transportation costs."

However, the heavy industry center plan proposed by the Navy does not, in principle, rely on a domestic coal mine or iron mine as the main source of raw materials, nor does it sell its steel products primarily to the domestic market or the military.

In other words, the navy needed to solve three major problems to complete its plan to become a heavy industrial center. First, how to ensure a stable supply of ore and coal from abroad? Once the blast furnaces were lit, smelting could not be stopped. Second, how to sell the manufactured steel overseas? Japan was only just starting out in the steel industry, and its quality and price were difficult to compare with industrialized countries like those in Europe and America. Third, how to conduct international settlements? Did we have enough gold to pay for the ore, and did Asian countries really have enough gold to buy our steel products?

These three problems are beyond Mitsui's ability to solve, even with the combined efforts of Mitsui and Mitsubishi. Furthermore, Japan's national strength cannot guarantee the long-term sustainability of this steel and coal trading system. Frankly, this solution is more suitable for a globally dominant British Empire than for Japan. I cannot imagine how the navy would possibly resolve these issues…”

Mitsui Bank representative Senkichiro Hayakawa agreed with Takuma Dan's analysis, but he immediately added: "The Navy's plan is indeed somewhat unrealistic, but if this plan can really succeed, then Japan's industry will rapidly grow into the leader in Asia, resources from China and India will continuously flow into Japan, and the markets of both countries will open their doors to Japan."

The reason why the Ministry of Finance was willing to support this plan was precisely this: if we could open up the Chinese and Indian markets through industrial trade, it would be better than wasting money on the military. Even if the plan failed, at least we would have something left behind, and wouldn't have been wasted on the battlefield.

Hayakawa Senkichiro was recommended to Mitsui Bank by Inoue Kaoru, who had selected him from the Ministry of Finance after Nakagami Hikojiro stepped down. Interestingly, Nakagami Hikojiro was also recommended by Inoue Kaoru. However, while these technocrats wanted to rise through the power of the elder statesmen, they did not intend to blindly obey their orders. Unlike the feudal bureaucrats of the past, these technocrats simply wanted to use the elder statesmen's influence to achieve their own governing philosophies, rather than viewing their official positions as a political reward for loyalty to the elder statesmen.

Although Hayakawa Senkichiro was more flexible than Nakagami Hikojiro and showed more respect to Inoue Genro, Hayakawa shared Nakagami's views on removing government control over Mitsui Bank. However, he did not act as radically as Nakagami, or rather, Nakagami's personnel reforms at Mitsui Bank cleared the way for him, so he no longer needed to show a tough stance when he took over Mitsui Bank.

As the maker of monetary policy for the Ministry of Finance, Hayakawa Senkichiro maintained a close relationship with the Ministry of Finance and was naturally well aware of its inclinations. This war caused officials of the Ministry of Finance to lose confidence in the war economy, which aimed to generate high reparations through war to promote national economic development.

The Treaty of Shimonoseki, signed after the Sino-Japanese War, gave the Japanese business community a misconception that they could promote the growth of the national economy by prioritizing the development of the military industry, then make the defeated pay the bills through war, and then start the next round of investment in the military industry. This investment-war-reparations model is called war economy.

However, the outcome of the war greatly disappointed officials in the Ministry of Finance. Although Japan won the war, Russia refused to pay for its defeat, and the rise of China deprived Japan of even the opportunity to transfer its war debts. Therefore, officials in the Ministry of Finance said that allocating funds to the military was tantamount to throwing money down the drain.

Since war-based economics was no longer viable, the business community naturally sought other ways to develop the national economy. The navy's proposal to strengthen the industrial base was actually quite in line with the expectations of the business community. Even if the navy hadn't proposed it, the business community believed that investing in industry was a fast track to developing the national economy. Although the war had not yielded reparations from Russia, the enormous consumption of military supplies during the war had shown the business community the high profits of industrial products.

In traditional agricultural societies, the market consumption of commerce is actually very small. Traditional commerce, which revolves around food and clothing, is unlikely to suddenly increase consumption. However, the demand for industrial goods in war is a bottomless pit. No matter how much you produce, war can consume all of these industrial goods, only complaining that you haven't produced enough.

Therefore, Japanese business leaders, including established conglomerates like Mitsui, turned their attention to the industrial sector, believing that expanding the scale of industry would be the way to develop the Japanese economy. The navy's proposal for a heavy industry center, submitted at this time, naturally received rapid support from the government and the business community.

Dan Takuma could understand Hayakawa Senkichiro's thoughts. Although Hayakawa was slightly inferior in industrial technology and management, he was far superior to conservatives like Masuda Takashi in terms of financial concepts. In Hayakawa's view, the key was not whether the heavy industry center plan proposed by the Navy could succeed, but whether it was possible to use this model to find a new path different from the war economy, so that the government would not be controlled by the military.

Although Takuma Dan expressed great doubts about the success of the plan, his doubts were not intended to negate the heavy industry center plan, but rather to find a solution. Therefore, he quickly echoed Hayakawa's statement, "Indeed, although the realization of the heavy industry center plan requires solving three major problems, the Navy's approach to formulating the plan is good. By combining the raw material production areas and sales markets of China and India, and with Japan's advantages in shipping and financing, if the three countries can truly cooperate sincerely, then the trade pattern in Asia will be completely transformed."

Upon hearing this, Mitsui Takato asked, "If the Navy is capable of solving these three major problems, what changes will occur in the domestic economic landscape?"

Dan Takuma blurted out without thinking, "Then whoever controls the center of heavy industry will become the leader of Japanese industry, and it will be difficult for others to compete with them."

Hayakawa Chikichiro nodded in agreement and added, "Even if others can raise enough capital, they will not be able to secure a stable supply of overseas ore or access the internal markets of China and India, thus creating a monopoly in heavy industry."

Mitsui Takatomo paused for a moment before saying, "In that case, we can't just sit idly by and watch this project fall into the hands of others, especially Mitsubishi, but we also can't completely bear the risks of this project. Mr. Masuda, what do you think?"

Although Takashi Masuda advocated maintaining Mitsui's priority position, the war also made him realize that the speed at which emerging industrial sectors could create wealth was simply too astonishing. If he continued to oppose increased investment in the industrial sector, Mitsui would only gradually fall behind the rising stars. Moreover, the Navy's proposal had been approved by Inoue and Matsukata, and politically, he could not stand by and watch.

After much deliberation, Masuda finally stated: "Mitsui cannot be isolated from the plan to be located in the heavy industry center, nor can the plan be allowed to fall into the control of other conglomerates."

However, for such a high-risk project, we cannot allow the various conglomerates to stand idly by. If something goes wrong, it would only give these uninvolved conglomerates an opportunity. Only when everyone is involved can we unite and put pressure on the government if problems arise…”

While Masuda Takashi's proposals were conservative, this idea of ​​sharing risks and benefits was precisely the consistent practice of the merchants employed by the shogunate. After all, facing the shogun, who was not bound by laws or morality, they could only restrain the shogunate by banding together. Although Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and other zaibatsu were competitors in business, they were still able to maintain unity in matters involving conflicts between merchants and the government.

Mitsui Takatomo, unusually, agreed with Masuda Takashi's conservatism. This conservatism on this issue was a sign of responsibility to the Mitsui family. Dan Takuma and Hayakawa Senkichiro also nodded in agreement. When the future is unclear, it's natural to drag friends and rivals down with you. Although this might mean losing some benefits, it also avoids greater risks.

However, Mitsubishi's internal problems were much more complex than Mitsui's at this time. Although Nakagami Hikojiro's reforms caused chaos within Mitsui, the organization of Mitsui was not without reason. Thanks to the good organization within Mitsui, the chaos brought about by Nakagami Hikojiro's reforms disappeared after the new family rules of the Mitsui family were established.

While there were no issues with the generational transition at Mitsubishi, the brothers Yataro Iwasaki and Yanosuke Iwasaki were indeed rare talents among businessmen. One founded Mitsubishi Corporation, and the other expanded it. Yanosuke Iwasaki handed over power to his nephew Hisaya Iwasaki, which once again ensured a stable transition between the second and third generations of the Iwasaki family.

However, Mitsubishi, which is known for its people, is not as well-organized as Mitsui. Although its leadership transitions have been smooth, each generation of leaders has its own ideas, which means that Mitsubishi's management policies change every time the leadership changes.

Yataro Iwasaki amassed his fortune by acquiring assets from the Tosa Trading Company. With the support of Restoration nouveau riche such as Shojiro Goto and Yuzo Hayashi, he purchased a large number of government properties established by the Restoration government at low prices. He was a new political businessman in the Restoration era.

Iwasaki Yanosuke shifted Mitsubishi's focus to a new direction combining mining and shipping by acquiring Takashima Coal and the state-owned Nagasaki Shipyard. Of course, his ability to acquire mines and shipyards at low prices was also due to the influence of political figures, mainly the support of his son-in-law Matsukata Masayoshi.

After Hisaya Iwasaki took over as head of Mitsubishi, he wanted to implement organizational reforms similar to those of Mitsui to reduce political interference in Mitsubishi's operations. Depoliticization was a common understanding among the sons of zaibatsu who had returned from studying abroad. After all, the West was in the process of transitioning from free capitalism to monopoly capitalism at that time, and capitalists actively intervened in politics but did not want politics to interfere in business.

Hisaya Iwasaki's ideas naturally strained the relationship between Mitsubishi and Matsukata Kōjirō. As Iwasaki's son-in-law, Kōjirō Matsukata, seeing Iwasaki's attitude towards his family, naturally harbored no goodwill towards Mitsubishi. Under Shibusawa Eiichi's influence, Kōjirō Matsukata quickly abandoned Mitsubishi and focused on his own political future.

To be honest, Matsukata Kojiro, in his capacity as president of Kawasaki Shipbuilding, joined a group of industrialists in publishing an article in the Toyo Keizai Shimbun calling for Japan, China, and India to first negotiate an agreement on issues such as intra-Asian trade and economic development, in order to set standards for future trade in the Greater Asia region. This startled both Matsukata Masayoshi and Matsukata Iwao.

Matsukata Kojiro shouldn't have expressed any political opinions. Even if he wanted to, he should have asked his father and brothers first, since the Matsukata family was represented by Matsukata Masayoshi and Matsukata Iwao, not him, the second son. After hearing his secretary's report, Matsukata Masayoshi summoned his second son, Kojiro, to the mansion and asked him what the purpose of publishing this article was.

Matsukata Kojiro didn't confess to his father, only stating that he had proposed this idea from the perspective of Kawasaki Shipyard's management within the context of the Navy's heavy industry center plan, and that it wasn't just his opinion. Matsukata Masayoshi, having not found out from anyone else, felt relieved; his only worry was that someone wanted to use his son to drag him down.

However, before Matsukata Kojiro left, his elder brother Matsukata Oshi warned him not to speak recklessly in the newspapers to avoid damaging the Matsukata family's reputation. This instantly dispelled any lingering guilt Matsukata Kojiro felt. He realized that from now on, he would be himself, and the Matsukata family would be the Matsukata family, and he would never again be subservient to his elder brother.

Chapter 606

The Sumida River Fireworks Festival was beautiful, and Ms. Muzi was very gentle. So Lin Xinyi didn't arrive at the Shinagawa Military Headquarters until almost noon the next day, because there was a meeting at the Military Headquarters that he couldn't miss. Fortunately, the meeting was in the afternoon.

However, not long after he sat down in his office, Domoto Keiichi brought in Lieutenant Colonel Kubo Kurofumi, the head of the Ninth Section. Kubo Kurofumi and Akiyama Saneyuki were classmates in the Marine Corps, and he was from Nagano. Therefore, after he was transferred to the Ninth Section as head, he became close to Hayashi Shinji and did not put on any airs of a senior.

Of course, for Lieutenant Commander Kubo, being promoted from the fleet and taking on departmental responsibility in the central government for the first time was a burden, as it was different from his position on a warship. On a warship, officers had only two responsibilities: preparing for war and conducting war. They were absolute in front of the marines, and their superiors' orders were straightforward, leaving no room for ambiguity.

However, in central government departments, unless you have a close relationship, your superiors won't tell you what to do and what not to do. This means that if problems arise at work, it's attributed to your incompetence, not to flawed orders from your superiors. The relationships between colleagues aren't as close as on a warship, because everyone is a competitor, not comrades in arms.

Therefore, officers from central government departments often feel that officers from the fleet are arrogant and rude, and have no idea what organizational procedures are, while officers from the fleet feel that officers from central government departments are too bureaucratic and do not act like soldiers at all.

To be honest, the bureaucratic style of the Ministry of the Navy is the most criticized aspect. Because other central departments have relatively little power and don't interfere so much with the fleet, the officers of the Ministry of the Navy treat the fleet almost like their subordinates, completely disregarding the differences in rank. A lieutenant commander would dare to yell at a major or lieutenant commander, only being polite to the captain of a capital ship.

Although the fleet faction seized many official positions in the central provinces and ministries based on their merits in the war, this does not mean that the fleet faction has suppressed the bureaucrats in the central provinces and ministries. After all, these officers with practical combat experience are novices when it comes to handling administrative affairs and can only be manipulated by their subordinates.

From one perspective, the reason why the Naval General Staff's proposal for naval professionalization was supported by most section chiefs and ministers was precisely because most of these section chiefs and ministers had been promoted from the fleet, and they were eager to break the bureaucratic circles of the central ministries and ensure that they would not become rubber stamps.

As for Kubo's closeness to Hayashi Shin'ichi, there were many factors at play. One was that the 17th Marine Class began to unite around Akiyama Saneyuki and Yamaji Kazuyoshi, and Akiyama and Yamaji's friendliness towards Hayashi Shin'ichi directly influenced the 17th Marine Class's perception of him. Another factor was that Hayashi Shin'ichi's talent impressed the Naval General Staff, especially his colleagues in the 9th Section, which was also part of the 10th Division.

When Hsin-Yi Lin established the Cultural Section and took over as its head, Kubo Kurofumi had not yet taken office in the Ninth Section. At that time, the Ninth Section had almost no presence. The management of specific factories and research institutes was in the hands of the Ministry of the Navy, while the planning of communications projects was in the hands of the Second Department of the Naval General Staff. Therefore, the Ninth Section was almost an appendage of the Second Department, specifically responsible for transmitting plans to the Ministry of the Navy and research institutes on behalf of the Second Department. The credit went to others, but when problems arose, the Ninth Section could not escape responsibility.

As the problems with the communications business came to light, the Second Department Chief, Tsaibe Hideaki, was merely transferred elsewhere, but the head of the Ninth Section was held responsible for inadequate guidance and was forced into reserve duty. Since Hayashi Shin-ichi was the main person responsible for pointing out the problems with the communications business, he took over the Ninth Section and reorganized it before Kubo Raifu was transferred.

If the establishment of the Cultural Studies Department demonstrated Lin Xinyi's political acumen, then Lin Xinyi's reorganization of the Ninth Department, however, gained the approval of these officials. Most officials in the central government and provincial ministries did not recognize the Cultural Studies Department as part of their official duties, viewing it as a conspiracy by the Military Command to suppress the Navy Ministry.

What did Lin Xinyi do to the Ninth Section? In fact, he completely took over the communications business from the Ministry of the Navy and the Second Department of the Naval General Staff, giving the Ninth Section complete control over the management of the Navy's communications business. The Ministry of the Navy and the Second Department of the Naval General Staff could only discuss communications issues with the Ninth Section and could no longer issue any instructions on the communications business on their own, nor could they start their own system.

For bureaucrats in central provinces and ministries, this power struggle between departments is a testament to the capabilities of department leaders. Soldiers who cannot fight for the interests of their departments and only yell at their subordinates will naturally not earn their respect. The power of central provinces and ministries is acquired through the organization, not granted by it. This is the difference between the work of central provinces and ministries and that of the fleet.

The organizational struggle method adopted by Lin Xinyi is precisely the kind of power that central provincial and ministerial bureaucrats respect. Those officers from the fleet can do nothing if they are stripped of the power granted to them by the organization. But when faced with a figure like Lin Xinyi, who can create his own organization to fight against the organization, there is no need for anyone to provoke him.

After Kubo took office, he found that the work of the Ninth Section was much simpler than he had imagined. The office politics that had given him a headache had been reduced to a minimum in the Ninth Section. As long as he exercised the power of the section chief in accordance with the system set up by Lin Xinyi, he would not have to worry about encountering any problems of outward compliance but inward disobedience.

While Lin Xinyi was quite concerned about the work of the Ninth Division, he didn't have much desire to control it. After all, he was busy enough with the cultural studies class. Therefore, Kubo was willing to ask Lin Xinyi for advice on the work of the Ninth Division, intending to avoid making a fool of himself.

Although Kubo Raifu was not as outstanding as his contemporaries Akiyama and Yamaji, he was not a stubborn conservative. He was well aware that the communications industry represented the most cutting-edge technology and industry of the time, and he worked hard to learn about it. However, in actual work, he still could not come up with a future direction for the communications industry that Lin Xinyi could summarize in just a few words.

Having learned his lesson the hard way, he naturally preferred to humble himself before Lin Xinyi rather than lose face in front of his subordinates. Today, he came to see Lin Xinyi about work-related matters. Upon entering, he cut to the chase: "Why does our funding for university research in this technology reserve project include a topic about why seaweed soup is so delicious? Now, a businessman has approached us, wanting us to transfer the research results of this project. Should we agree or not?"

Lin Xinyi put down the document he was signing and explained to Lieutenant Colonel Kubo: "The reason I established the technology reserve project under the communications technology class was because the current technology is developing rapidly. Many technologies have been researched but have not found a practical application direction. So we need to adopt a wide-ranging approach, and then when we encounter actual obstacles, we can first search for similar technologies from the technology reserve to solve the technical problems we encounter in practice."

While most naval problems are related to mechanical technology, future industrial development will depend on research in physics and chemistry. For example, alloy steel and petrochemicals have not only opened up new application markets but also determined the performance of future warships. A country lagging behind in physics and chemistry research is like trying to fight machine guns and cannons with a bow and arrow.

Therefore, the Navy must pay attention to any research topics that may lead to advancements in physics and chemistry, and not just military technologies that enhance immediate combat capabilities.

"Although Professor Ikeda's topic has little to do with military matters, it is closely related to our country's chemical and steel industries, and I have already given it full consideration. Who is this person who came to discuss technology transfer? Arrange a time for you and me to meet him, and then you'll know what I intend to do with this technology. This way, you'll be more prepared to handle similar issues in the future."

Kubo hesitated for a moment, then said, "Actually, he's at a teahouse nearby right now. Why don't we go see him now? We're about to have lunch anyway..."

While waiting inside the teahouse, Suzuki Saburosuke was flirting with a waitress when he heard the proprietress say that two naval officers had been invited. He quickly released the waitress's hand and, while straightening his clothes, said to the proprietress, "Quickly clear these away and bring out a sumptuous feast. Bring out the finest sake, and also invite four geisha—the very best..."

Saburosuke Suzuki waited at the door of the room. When he saw two officers in naval uniforms appear at the gate, he quickly stepped forward and introduced himself: "I am Saburosuke Suzuki of Suzuki Pharmaceutical Factory. This must be Lieutenant Commander Kubo."

Kubo nodded to him and stepped aside to introduce him, saying, "This is Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi Shin-yi. He knows much more about your request than I do, so I invited Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi to come and listen to your request."

With a beaming smile, Suzuki Saburosuke invited the two into the room and seated them. He treated them with the utmost hospitality, as if they were old friends rather than strangers meeting for the first time. Lin Xinyi observed him for a while and concluded that this man was a competent businessman; at least he was good at building relationships. Lieutenant Colonel Kubo had clearly lowered his guard against him.

However, when he saw the proprietress bring out a sumptuous meal and large bottles of sake, he finally spoke up to stop her, saying, "We have a meeting this afternoon, so there's no need to serve sake at noon. Just bring up a few bottles of beer, chilled with well water. Also, we have some things to discuss, so please don't let anyone disturb us for now."

The proprietress hesitated for a moment before looking at Suzuki Saburosuke, but Suzuki reacted quickly and said, "Do as Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi says. If those geishas come, let them sit on the side for a while, and let them in after we finish talking. You won't be shortchanged."

The proprietress smiled and agreed. After she and the maids left the room, Lin Xinyi casually asked Suzuki Saburosuke, "How did Suzuki Pharmaceutical know about Professor Ikeda's research topic?"

Saburo Suzuki immediately explained, “It was a complete coincidence. We originally planned to extract iodine from kelp, but we encountered a lot of trouble with the process. So we went to the Imperial University to ask for help from the Chemistry Department. We happened to hear that Professor Ikeda was also researching what to extract from kelp, so we took the liberty of asking Professor Ikeda for advice.”

Later, I discovered that the professor wasn't trying to extract iodine from seaweed, but rather a type of glutamate that could make even plain water taste like chicken soup. I thought it would be very popular with the public, so I planned to collaborate with the professor to extract it. However, the professor said that this research project was funded by the Navy, and the Navy owned half of the patent rights. That's why I came to request that the Navy transfer the patent to Suzuki Pharmaceutical Research Institute.

Suzuki spoke calmly, but in reality, he was far from calm. As a businessman, he believed that the substance Professor Ikeda had discovered would definitely lead to great sales. After all, soup is the most important thing in Japanese cuisine, and a good bowl of soup can even determine the level of a restaurant. In addition to good ingredients, a good bowl of soup also depends on the chef's skill.

The substance extracted from kelp now doesn't require any special ingredients or chef's skills to turn plain water into chicken soup. This will greatly impact the skills of those high-end restaurants that were once popular with the public. Therefore, he felt that this business was much better than selling medicine, which is why he was so eager to come to the Navy to discuss technology transfer.

What made him nervous was that if these two naval officers were inflexible and stubborn, preferring to leave their patents gathering dust in a filing cabinet rather than sell them, wouldn't he be looking at a mountain of gold that was out of reach?

Fortunately, Lin Xinyi didn't seem to be the kind of person who was stubborn. After listening to Suzuki's explanation, he chuckled and said to Kubo, "This Mr. Suzuki is indeed a businessman with a keen sense of smell. He actually jumped from the idea of ​​pharmaceuticals to the idea of ​​the catering industry so quickly. In comparison, many of our soldiers lack this kind of leapfrog thinking, so they are a bit rigid in their work."

Lieutenant Colonel Kubo glanced at Lin Xinyi and shook his head seriously, saying, "Following the rules and regulations is the first priority of a soldier. I think it's better to rigidly follow the rules and regulations than to flexibly circumvent them. After all, we are soldiers, not businessmen."

Lin Xinyi nodded slightly in agreement, then turned to Suzuki Saburosuke and said, "You think Professor Ikeda's discovery of monosodium glutamate has commercial potential, so how do you plan to develop its commercial potential?"

Although he wasn't sure why Lin Xinyi was asking this, since the other party hadn't given him a direct refusal, Suzuki Saburosuke cautiously replied, "I plan to invest in this business with a friend and sell it as a high-end condiment. The name monosodium glutamate is difficult for the public to understand, so I plan to name it Ajinomoto. That way, everyone will know what it's used for just by hearing the name..."

Lin Xinyi listened and realized that Suzuki Saburosuke was still hiding quite a bit. However, judging from what he had said so far, this man had indeed given serious thought to how to sell monosodium glutamate, and his ideas were somewhat ahead of the times for businessmen. If he were looking for someone to run this business, then Suzuki Saburosuke would obviously be a good executor, since he couldn't possibly do all the work himself, even for such a lucrative project.

After a moment's thought, Lin Xinyi frankly said to Suzuki, "Mr. Suzuki is indeed talented, and your business plan should be feasible. However, would you like to hear my opinion on this project?"

Suzuki naturally expressed his willingness to listen attentively, and Lin Xinyi bluntly said: "There are actually three angles to approach this project. The first angle is how to benefit individuals. What you just said belongs to this angle, so I don't need to repeat it."

The second perspective comes from the chaebol's point of view: how to monetize this technology as quickly as possible and recoup costs before others imitate it. Granting patents to open up markets in other countries is the fastest way to do this.

The third perspective is from a national standpoint: how can this technology elevate our country's industrial level? The answer is to provide industrialized extraction equipment and technical solutions to other countries, allowing them to profit from the products, while we profit from the manufacturing and upgrading of the equipment.

Glutamic acid was actually first discovered by the Germans, but when combined with other substances, it has a metallic taste. Professor Ikeda's brilliance lies in discovering that when glutamic acid combines with sodium, it retains its umami flavor while removing the metallic taste. What does this mean? It means that it's very easy for industrialized countries to manufacture monosodium glutamate (MSG), and we cannot block them through technological barriers.

Therefore, for an industrialized country, the way to maximize this patent is to provide professional industrial extraction solutions and complete technologies. In this way, companies or individuals interested in investing in this industry will not try to develop purification solutions from scratch, but will directly order equipment from us, and the subsequent technology upgrades will naturally be in our hands.

The large-scale manufacturing of monosodium glutamate (MSG) purification equipment will directly boost the steel and equipment manufacturing industries, which means Japan will have the opportunity to improve its industrial level…

Chapter 607

Saburo Suzuki originally thought that even if there were outstanding talents in the navy, they wouldn't know much about business. After all, these soldiers thought about fighting 24 hours a day, so they didn't have time to care about business. Therefore, he was only worried about encountering rigid and stubborn soldiers, not so much about encountering soldiers with flexible minds. At most, the most flexible soldiers would think that monosodium glutamate was good, but they wouldn't think about how much money they could make from it.

However, it was clear that Lin Xinyi was not the kind of soldier he had imagined. This man's thinking was too flexible. Not only had the other party thought of the things he wanted to hide, but the other party had also considered the market, which he had not even thought of. It felt as if he was sitting in front of Shibusawa Eiichi and the other party had easily seen through his cards.

Suzuki was momentarily at a loss for words. At that moment, Lin Xinyi picked up his glass, took a sip of cold beer to moisten his throat, and said to him, "It's an instinct for businessmen to want to make money. A businessman who doesn't want to make money isn't a good businessman. But for the Navy, the interests of individuals and conglomerates cannot interfere with the overall national strategy. You can cooperate with the Navy, but you need to come up with a plan that satisfies the Navy. Trying to take this technology and make a fortune for yourself is something we can't agree to."

Saburo Suzuki immediately picked up on the implication in Shin-Yi Hayashi's words. He quickly realized that the officer might know how to maximize the benefits of this technology, but the Navy obviously couldn't personally promote the commercial application of monosodium glutamate. Therefore, the Navy also needed a civilian partner.

He immediately stepped back a few paces, then respectfully performed a dogeza (a deep bowing gesture) before the two officers, pressing his forehead firmly to the tatami mat, and earnestly pleaded, "If Suzuki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. could be involved in this business, then whatever your requests may be, I will agree to them..."

Lin Xinyi thought that this person was indeed a talent for being able to express the bribery hint so subtly. However, he didn't take Suzuki's hint to heart. He only cared about whether Suzuki could carry out what he wanted. So he said, "Suzuki Pharmaceutical Institute certainly has this opportunity. After all, the Navy can't go to the market to sell Ajinomoto."

However, I'd like to hear your full plan first. We've already collaborated with the University of Tokyo's Chemistry Department, Shibaura Manufacturing Co., Ltd., and Kawasaki Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. on research into how to industrially extract monosodium glutamate. However, we currently lack a company with the capacity to commercialize it. If Suzuki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. can provide a satisfactory solution, then the Navy will naturally choose to cooperate with you.

This time, Suzuki Saburosuke dared not hold back any longer and revealed his entire business plan. He knew that if he could not impress the other party at this moment, then his seemingly perfect business plan would be useless, because he would not be able to produce any products to sell.

Lin Xinyi was indeed more insightful than he had imagined. He raised several questions about his so-called perfect plan and made adjustments before nodding and saying, "The Navy and Imperial University can invest in the company through technology. Once Suzuki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. opens up the market, it should start preparing for listing and then use the funds obtained from the stock market to expand production."

Next, Suzuki Pharmaceutical could seek to open branches and find partners in China and the United States, and after opening up overseas markets, commission Kawasaki Shipbuilding to produce and process equipment, exporting the production equipment overseas. Both China and the United States have large-scale wheat cultivation, and producing Ajinomoto locally can reduce costs. Ultimately, Ajinomoto should become a widely used seasoning like salt, rather than just a cheap soup base to replace chicken broth in restaurants.

Furthermore, the use of Ajinomoto in the food processing industry can also be explored. Compared to Eastern countries, industrialized countries in Europe and America are obviously more accepting of processed foods. Therefore, we can sell Ajinomoto to Westerners by selling processed foods…”

During the lunch conversation, Kubo Raifu barely spoke. In fact, towards the end of the conversation, he couldn't even understand what the two were saying. It wasn't that they weren't speaking Japanese, but rather that the two had greatly omitted the content of their conversation. However, Hayashi Shin-yi and Suzuki Saburosuke were able to instantly understand each other's meaning and proceed accordingly.

Kubo could only admit to himself that he was right to bring Lin Xinyi along. If he had made the decision on his own, Lin Xinyi would probably have stopped him from giving the technology away for free. According to his previous thinking, it was almost the same as giving it away for free. What was scary was that he didn't think that way before, but after listening to the conversation between the two, Kubo realized that he was indeed a novice in business.

Putting everything else aside, while he was still thinking about making money by selling the products at high prices, Lin Xinyi was already planning to go public and raise funds directly from shareholders after Ajinomoto was accepted by the market. Suzuki Saburosuke obviously had the same intention, but he didn't think as thoroughly as Lin Xinyi. He only considered that it would be easier to raise funds and expand production after going public.

So, when he was doing business with these two, he probably felt like he'd gotten a bargain even if he'd been sold out. Lunchtime ended quickly, and Suzuki Saburosuke had completely forgotten about the geishas waiting outside. This was the first time he'd ever seriously discussed business at a dinner table, and he found it much smoother than his usual dinner conversations. If Lin Xinyi hadn't gotten up to say goodbye because of the time, he would have liked to talk to them a little longer.

So much so that when seeing him off, Suzuki Saburosuke couldn't help but say, "If Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi ever decides he doesn't want to work in the military anymore, please come to Suzuki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. I'm willing to give up my position as president."