NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 286



Only Noblemtl

Episode 286

Promises should be kept carefully (5)

Fall 1929.

Since the Great Depression, a massive nuclear explosion that originated in the United States late last year, has left enormous scars on the global economy.

Economies around the world are mired in a low-growth swamp.

No, the economy has not simply fallen into a low-growth swamp; it has declined significantly.

Last year alone, in just a few months, the United States lost half of its GDP, and the situation in Europe was not much different.

Even if the incident had ended here, it would have been a major event that would have been recorded in economic history, but unfortunately, the Great Depression had only just begun.

The nuclear bomb called the Great Depression exploded, and the fallout that followed was deflation that fell all over the world.

What is deflation?

There are many causes, but to put it simply, it is a problem that arises due to problems with the country’s cash flow.

In the current Great Depression, a large-scale liquidity crisis occurred as long-accumulated bubbles burst all at once, causing the capital market to collapse.

If this were the modern era, governments around the world would rush to lower interest rates while simultaneously increasing the amount of currency issued to resolve the liquidity crisis facing their countries.

However, the economic structure of this era revolves around the gold standard.

What is the gold standard?

It is a system in which the value of currency distributed in the market is guaranteed by gold stored in the central bank.

Originally, the gold standard stabilized the national economy in normal times, and at the same time, the fixed exchange rate system based on the gold standard greatly reduced the risks associated with currency exchange.

So, the gold standard is a stable economic structure like a strong castle.

But there is nothing perfect in the world.

The gold standard also had one drawback, which was that there was no clear solution when a liquidity crisis like the one we are facing now occurred.

In order for gold standard countries to increase the supply of cash in the market, their central banks had to have enough gold to back the value of their currency.

However, gold is a mineral that must be mined.

So, this means that the government is not aware of any noticeable increase in mining volume.

This is where the problem arises.

In order to resolve the situation where there was a shortage of cash in circulation due to a liquidity crisis, the best solution was to increase the amount of cash issued, but in this situation, there was a limit to the amount of cash that the government could issue.

Gold was needed to print money, but squeezing all the gold in the world today would not solve the deflation caused by the Great Depression.

So what is needed in this situation?

It’s gold.

That too, a lot.

However, countries that were hit by the fallout of the Great Depression and deflation that swept the world rushed to suspend gold convertibility and block their own gold exports.

Demand has skyrocketed, but supply has become scarce.

Thanks to this, the international gold price went crazy.

It was a time of chaos and confusion, with the world in turmoil.

But in times of trouble, heroes emerge.

In this difficult situation, the whole world was turned upside down by one word from Yoon Deok-yeong, who was the president of the largest mining company in Asia, Dongyang Mining, and also an aristocrat of the Japanese Empire and advisor to Crown Prince Hirohito of the Japanese Empire… … and so on.

* * *

[Asia’s largest mining company, Dongyang Mining, opens the world’s first gold futures exchange!]

[Asia’s Largest Mining Conglomerate Rolls Up Its Sleeves for the Global Economy!]

[Yoon Deok-young – I will fix the chaotic economy.]

Our great strategist, in an attempt to overcome the great economic depression, pulled out the card of gold futures trading.

In name only, it aims to correct the crazy gold price fluctuations and revive the capital market… … .

“Kekekeke… … The money will start rolling in soon! Hahaha!”

The only thing in Daegal Daegam’s mind was to fill his own stomach by preying on speculators from all over the world.

In the first place, there was no gold in the gold futures market created by Daegal Daegam.

All he had in his hands was the reputation of Dongyang Mining, the largest mining company in Asia, and some gold stored in a warehouse.

In such a situation, Daegal Daegam called together speculators from all over the world and sold off Dongyang Mining’s 1929 gold mining volume in advance.

As I have said many times, Dongyang Mining has been closed indefinitely for several months due to a miners’ strike.

In other words, Daegal Daegam had no intention of selling them gold in the first place and simply exchanged a piece of paper for various foreign currencies.

Of course, the speculators who flocked from all over the world to buy gold were unaware of this fact.

They thought that if they bought gold from the Great Goldsmith now, they would be able to sell it at a higher price later, so they took a kind of buying position.

But alas… … Our great lord had no intention of dealing with them from the beginning.

“What a conman… … .”

“Haha, a swindler? Strictly speaking, I have never swindled them. What can I do when the miners go on strike demanding better treatment?”

“What company in the world pays the striking miners their salaries on time?”

“Oh, this is the advanced corporate management that allows companies and workers to coexist.”

Initially, half of the miners at Dongyang Mining were recruits to be sent to the Korean Independence Army in the North, and the other half were people with no place to go who were connected to the independence army and were put to work.

So, even if he was the great general, he could not treat them carelessly.

In any other place, the workers would have been fired as soon as they went on strike, or the military or police would have been called in to forcibly disperse the protesters.

But the great lord Daegal did not touch them even a little.

No, I couldn’t touch it.

Because if he messed with them the wrong way, the ghost of Gyeongseong, whom he was terribly afraid of, might come and do something.

That is why the great lord Daegal treated these miners well and won their favor.

Daegal Daegam tried to ensure the safety of the miners by repairing and improving the outdated mines, and he also paid them generously.

Fearing that something inconvenient might arise there or that a strange seed might come in from somewhere, Daegal took the lead in forming a miners’ union and listened to the miners’ grievances. Among the miners of Dongyang Mining, Daegal’s popularity was almost god-like.

In such a situation, our great leader, who is also the president of Dongyang Mining and the head of the Dongyang Mining Union, thought.

They say that the treatment of the miners at Dongyang Mining, who receive a lot of money compared to other miners who work in poor conditions and risk their lives, is unfair.

Thinking so, Dae-gal incited the miners to go on strike at his company.

At first, the miners also opposed the strike.

In the first place, in this era, going on strike was seen as a terrible crime that only communists would commit.

For miners, most of whom live hand to mouth, going on strike and taking a break for several weeks, or even months, could have caused serious problems for their livelihood.

However, Daegal, who had been close to the miners and listened to their grievances, knew exactly what they were worried about.

That is why they led the miners on strike by promising to guarantee them employment during the strike and pay them their regular wages, and by promising to raise their wages after the strike.

“I find it a bit funny that you say you’re not a conman when you planned it to rip off those people in the first place.”

“Oh, you think that’s funny? Do you find the rights of a worker who works hard and sweats funny?”

“Don’t worry. The only person I find funny is Lord Daegal.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Daegal Daegam laughed heartily at the words of his bodyguard and watcher, Uiyoldan member Kim Ik-sang.

Then Kim Ik-sang asked him.

“But is it really okay to be like this?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a fraud. It’s a fraud.”

“Fraud? When did I say I was a fraud?”

“Well, when the end of the year approaches, those investors will show you their receipts and ask you for your share of the gold. What are you going to do about that?”

At Kim Ik-sang’s words, Daegal Daegam laughed heartily once again.

Kim Ik-sang’s forehead wrinkled as he felt slightly offended when a smile came back instead of an answer.

“Your Majesty, don’t you know what those damn speculators will do when they lose their money? They’ll all roll their eyes and try to rob you somehow.”

“Haha, I guess so… … But what can I do if the miners are all on strike? And if I remember correctly, the contract stated that instead of handing over a certain unit of gold, a certain percentage of the entire year’s mining volume would be handed over.”

“If you can’t suppress the strike, your credibility may suffer.”

“If you want to fall, fall. Then I’ll just stop selling gold to them.”

It was a thought worthy of a great lord who owned one of the world’s best gold mines.

“Then we can move the Japanese government to send troops or police to suppress the strike.”

“Haha, who’s moving whom?”

Confidence flowed from the whole body of the great general.

“If I wave my hand and make the Japanese Empire tremble, what can they do?”

“her…….”

It was just as the great lord Daegal said.

The person who is currently the confidant of Crown Prince Hirohito, who rules the Japanese Empire in place of his ailing father, and who saved the empire’s economy from collapse, is none other than Daegal Daegam.

His presence in the Japanese Empire today literally symbolized the empire’s economy.

His every word shook the capital markets of the Japanese Empire, which had completely collapsed and then been rebuilt, and even a rumor that he had invested somewhere caused stock prices to rise and fall sharply.

“If I make a decision on this earth, it will be so even if I make soybean paste out of shit.”

“… … No matter how I look at it, it seems that no one can match the greed of the great man.”

“What’s wrong with being greedy? If humans didn’t have greed, do you think they would be able to live like this?”

“I don’t know about that, but I think that if there were only people like Daegal Daegam in the world, humans would have gone extinct long ago.”

“Haha, then that would be a very enjoyable extinction.”

The great lord Daegal created a huge trap.

A giant trap that will trap and hunt speculators from all over the world.

They laughed at the great tyrant, calling him a dreamer who only had ideals in mind when he proposed trading gold futures to stabilize the market.

They don’t even know that the real Daegal Daegam is the worst of the worst, with a darker heart than them.

They were like fish swimming in the net spread by the great tyrant.

Now their fate lies in the hands of the Great King.

“But what happens when it becomes known later this year that the gold futures trade has failed due to a strike?”

“What do you mean?”

“No, isn’t it because the economy has stabilized a little bit now that Daegal Daegam has taken the lead in stabilizing the global gold price?”

“It may not be all, but it will have some effect.”

“But if all the investors lose their money in Daegal Daegam’s futures trading here… … .”

Kim Ik-sang trailed off.

It was difficult for him, a layman in economics, to imagine what would happen next.

“Hahaha! That’s a fun imagination.”

And the same was true for the Great King.

“Well… … Let’s think about that when we get there.”

It was none of his business whether the world economy was in shambles or not.

There is only one thing he thinks is important!

It was just a question of whether money would come into my pocket or not.

In that respect, his plan was perfect.

Anyway, money ended up in his pocket.