Lost and Spy

Meng Shaoyuan finally got what he had coveted for a long time:

Labor certification!
This means that he controls one of Manila's most important financial revenues.

Although, the money is nothing to him.

But who cares about money?

Moreover, for Meng Shaoyuan, who aspires to become a corrupt official, this is undoubtedly a big step forward!

It is said that President Osmina was furious when he learned that he wanted to give away labor taxes and personally summoned Durkom and asked him to explain the matter.

All Durcombe said was: "What else can I do?"

What else can I do?
As soon as these words were spoken, President Osmina fell silent.

Yeah, what can he do?

If Colonel Charles continues to refuse to cooperate, then there will be big problems not to mention the reconstruction of Manila, even its operation.

President Osmina sighed deeply.

so be it.

Everyone is willing to be the puppet of the Americans.

Meng Shaoyuan, who had obtained labor tax rights, also began to become busy.

He promoted Xiang Haizhong, who had been alone overseas for a long time and was determined to not change, to be solely responsible for the issuance of labor certificates.

Therefore, Xiang Haizhong instantly became a popular powerful man in Manila.

Meng Shaoyuan also did not forget those US military officers.

He asked Lieutenant Nate to assist Xiang Haizhong.

Obviously, the benefits should be shared by everyone.

In this way, a lot of trouble can be avoided.

And it can earn the gratitude of these US military officers.

After all, the Raider battalion is currently stationed in Manila, far away from the battlefield.

Their task is to be responsible for the security of Manila and the port, and to receive the wounded soldiers sent from the front line.

Under such circumstances, allowing these American soldiers to earn a little more money will definitely earn their "loyalty."

The American officers and soldiers in the Raider Battalion liked their commander very much.

Because, no matter what the benefit is, Colonel Charles will always be happy to share it with everyone.

The gold that Xu Zhu and Gan Ning were responsible for transporting was also being carried out in an orderly manner.

No one outside the Meng Shaoyuan Group would have thought that there is a huge amount of gold hidden in Manila Port!
In the morning, Meng Shaoyuan met with three groups of representatives from American companies.

They were all American companies involved in the Philippine reconstruction plan, and of course they would come to visit the powerful man in Manila, Colonel Charles Meng.

Meng Shaoyuan was very tired.

After lunch, just when I was about to take a rest, Coston and Peng Bilan came again.

They also brought a well-dressed middle-aged man.

Meng Shaoyuan's head is as big as three.

If I had known that this job was so hard, why would I bother to do it?

But when Couston made an introduction, Meng Shaoyuan immediately paid attention to it.

Doyles Wilkinson.

Nominally, he is a financial advisor to Citibank, but he also has another identity:
Plenipotentiary representative of the Philippines for the First Citibank Group, the Bank of America Group and the Texas Group!

This is amazing.

Before World War II, the U.S. economy was basically controlled by eight major financial groups, and they also controlled the U.S. state power.

After the end of World War II, the emerging First Citibank Group, Bank of America Group, and Texas Group quickly squeezed out the Kuhn-Loeb Group, which was originally one of the eight major financial groups.

Meng Shaoyuan immediately had a smile on his face.

This guy is interested in rich people now.

Moreover, he had saved a large amount of deposits in Citibank since he was in Shanghai.

He is a big customer of Citibank.

These three consortiums are also involved in the Philippines' reconstruction efforts, providing loans to participating American companies.

So, as the plenipotentiary representative of these three major consortiums, Wilkinson holds an astronomical amount of funds in his hands.

Wilkinson first complimented him, and then talked about the purpose of his visit.

"Colonel, thank you very much for meeting me." Wilkinson said: "I have been in Manila for a few days, and during this period, the current situation in Manila has made me sad.

Manila, and indeed the Philippines as a whole, must quickly restore order.And now the Philippines is most lacking in funds. Therefore, on behalf of Citibank, Bank of America and Texas Money Management Company, I am willing to provide loans to all classes in the Philippines to help them quickly get out of their current predicament. "

I rely on!

This is coming in advance to suck the blood of the Philippines.

Meng Shaoyuan immediately understood their intention.

Wilkinson is right. The most scarce thing in the entire Philippines now is actually funds.

But where does the money come from?
The U.S. government provides limited resources.

So, these American consortiums appeared at the most appropriate time.

Ordinary Filipinos don’t need to think about getting funds from them.

Their targets are naturally the Philippine governments at all levels and the upcoming Philippine companies.

While controlling their financial lifeline, they also control the political lifeline of the Philippine government.

In the future, the Philippines will become a cash machine for these large American conglomerates for a long time.

The progress of history also fully illustrates this point.

In 1932, in order to reduce the burden, the U.S. government passed the "Haile-Harveys-Gatin Independence Act", allowing the Philippines to become independent.

Unexpectedly, however, the bill was rejected by the Philippines on the grounds that some provisions were harmful to its interests and demanded that the United States enact another independent law.

Can you imagine the mother country allowing the colonies to become independent, but the colonies flatly rejecting it?

Then, the United States approved a new independence act in 1934, the Tydings-McDuffie Act, granting independence to the Philippines on July 1946, 7. During the transitional period before that, the Philippine Autonomous Government was established. During the 4 years of self-government, all Filipino citizens and officials were loyal to the United States, and the United States provided certain care for the Philippines.

But before the transition period had passed, the Pacific War broke out, and the Philippines was occupied by Japan. Naturally, independence was postponed.After the end of World War II, the United States demanded the independence of the Philippines in accordance with the agreement previously reached with the Philippines.Thus, in 1946, the Philippines gained full independence.

Although the falling of the Stars and Stripes and the raising of the Philippine flag announced the official end of the more than 40-year colonial rule of the Philippines by the United States, this end was only formal, and the United States' political control over the Philippines did not relax.

Apart from politics, the core of US economic control is to make the Philippines dependent on the United States for survival.

The United States provided massive aid and huge loans to the Philippines.

But the decision on how to use these funds does not lie with the Philippine government. Every plan to use these funds must be submitted to the United States for review and approval.

Therefore, these aids are mainly used to restore agricultural processing industries, such as sugar mills, mining and coconut processing plants, so as to better export primary products to the United States.

Basic industries that are urgently needed by the Philippine economy, such as the textile industry, fertilizer industry, metallurgical industry and other industries, have been selectively ignored.

Therefore, providing economic assistance is not "developing the Philippine economy" and "laying an industrial foundation for the Philippines" as claimed by the United States. The Philippines' economic structure is still stuck in the colonial stage and is deeply dependent on the United States.

Secondly, in order to "make good use" of these aids, the United States established a number of US aid management agencies in the Philippines and dispatched more than 200 experts and consultants to the Philippines. They were dispersed in various key departments of the Philippine government and were responsible for supervising the use of US aid. It became the starting point for the United States to openly interfere in the internal affairs of the Philippines.

At the same time, their average annual salary reaches US$6.5, while the salary of Filipino employees is only US$0.46. This, coupled with the huge administrative expenses, has caused a heavy economic burden on the Philippine government.

Judging from the aid recipients, most of these economic aids have fallen into the pockets of American capitalists and Philippine big landowners and big compradors.

The United States used independence as a threat to force the Philippines to sign the Bell Trade Act.

Under this unequal bill, the United States receives an average of 3.64 million pesos in tariff exemptions per year, while the Philippines only receives 6900 million pesos.

Therefore, the Philippines’ annual losses from zero-tariff free trade alone are as high as 3 million pesos.

Secondly, the bill also makes the Philippines a place where the United States can freely plunder raw materials and dump goods.

Unrestricted "free trade" would be a disaster for backward agricultural countries.

A large number of American industrial products poured into the Philippine market without restriction, severely squeezing the living space of the Philippine national industry. The already weak national industry was simply unable to compete with imported products, which in turn led to the bankruptcy of a large number of factories.

Even the few surviving industries that process primary products are mostly controlled by American capital and Philippine compradors.

What's even more egregious is that before the war was over, American capital groups provided huge loans to the Philippines, burdening the Philippines with heavy interest payments.

As late as 1974, the Philippines was still repaying these loans.

And the interest they paid has far exceeded the principal dozens of times!
This is an out-and-out loan shark!

After the war, industrial enterprises sprung up in the Philippines.

And these industrial enterprises, without exception, have received loans from American consortiums.

But they would never have dreamed that they would just become a money-making machine for the American consortium.

For every peso they earned, they had to pay back heavy interest.

In the end, high interest rates completely crushed these Filipino national enterprises.

The Philippines, which once had a false economic boom, has completely burst its bubble.

It was not until 1975, when the Philippine economy was about to collapse, that the American consortium made a "generous" offer to forgive the debt owed by the Philippines.

The Philippine government and people are grateful to the United States for this.

But they have not calculated that over the years, every peso loan provided to them by the American consortium has been exchanged for thirty, fifty, or even a hundred pesos in return!
And the appearance of Wilkinson is the representative of American vampires!
Meng Shaoyuan knew this well, so how could he let go of this opportunity?

Wilkinson had no idea that Meng Shaoyuan had seen through his thoughts and was still talking: "The funds we provide will be the guarantee for the Philippines' revival. At the same time, we will also provide them with all-round guidance. Fully assist the Philippines in its own industrialization process!”

Well, what a "kind" person.

The United States wants market for the Philippines. In fact, the U.S. and European markets lack supplies and need cheap Philippine goods to enrich the market.

We need technical assistance for technical assistance, because without assistance, the Philippines itself will not be able to provide the various products that Americans want.

A smile appeared on Wilkinson's face at this time: "Colonel Charles, you are a good friend of Mr. Cawston. At the same time, your wife Julia also enjoys a high reputation in the American financial circle and a huge financial guarantee. Therefore, we strongly invite you to join our aid program to the Philippines!”

This is because he has been recognized by American capital and invited himself to join this blood-sucking plan.

It's a win-win situation.

The existence of Meng Shaoyuan can provide protection to these American consortiums, and at the same time, his capital participation can also ensure that the American consortium forms a monopoly in the Philippines.

After all, everyone knows that "Julia" Peng Bilan holds huge wealth from the Far East.

This is a sum of money that no one can ignore.

And for Meng Shaoyuan, it has all the benefits and no harm.

He has also joined the blood-sucking plan for the Philippines, which will bring a steady stream of profits to his group.

Meng Shaoyuan has long said that although he has a huge amount of money and a dizzying gold reserve, he must not rest on his laurels.

The fund that Peng Bilan is responsible for has already joined in the reconstruction work of the Philippines.

Now, with the olive branches extended to him by these American financial groups, Meng Shaoyuan's money empire has begun to take shape!

There's also a little benefit.

With the support of these consortiums that are all-powerful not only economically but also politically, Meng Shaoyuan's status will be unshakable.

At least before the Philippines gained independence, Meng Shaoyuan was the real King of Manila!

Even if the Philippines becomes independent, he can still exert his influence.

At the same time, Meng Shaoyuan thought further.

MacArthur will definitely be the king of the Philippines in the future, and will soon become the father of the Japanese.

So, can I use MacArthur and the support of these American consortiums to fully penetrate Japan's power?

Very difficult.

Because Japan's economic development after the war was completely different from that of the Philippines, they did not care about meager profits and had to engage in production on their own.

But you can definitely give it a try.

After all, the despicable nature of the Japanese nation means that they cannot be willing to admit defeat.

And I can also make plans in Japan in advance.

Meng Shaoyuan also smiled: "Mr. Wilkinson, I accept your invitation. From now on, every dollar of funds entering Manila will be protected by the US military.

At the same time, you can discuss other financial issues with my wife, Ms. Julia.Financially, she represents me. "

Wilkinson held out his hand: "Thanks, partner."

"For common interests, partners." Meng Shaoyuan shook his hand vigorously.

Partner?

Well, at this time, Meng Shaoyuan seemed to have seen his huge money empire! (End of chapter)