Cicada Moving

Chapter 815 Why go to all that trouble...

 A few hours had passed since Gui Youguang successfully captured Oyama Kyouichi. In a dark basement, a printing press was running non-stop.

Pieces of paper printed with legal currency banknote patterns fell on the paper delivery table. After reaching a certain number, someone immediately stacked them neatly and began to cut them.

 “Kacha~Kacha~”

Yamamoto of the Japanese Navy Military Command and Kusumoto Shitaka, the head of the Japanese Army's North China Intelligence Agency, stood aside, listening to the sound of the machine running and smiling together.

“Yamamoto-kun, what a pleasant voice. With these counterfeit banknotes, the shortage of supplies on the front line will be replenished as quickly as possible. As long as there is money to be made, those Chinese businessmen will not care who they do business with.”

Kusumoto Shitaka gently stroked the surface of the machine, just like stroking the skin of a lover, and said to Yamamoto without raising his head.

He couldn't help but be excited. Although the imperial army successfully occupied the Chinese capital, the goal of quickly forcing the Chinese to surrender was not accomplished.

 The leader and all government agencies, schools, important commercial institutions, etc. moved to Jiangcheng, more than 500 kilometers away from Jinling, and to mountain cities more than 1,400 kilometers away.

 This is a desperate number. Based on the advancement speed and casualties of the Shanghai and Jinling battles, they would have to pay at least millions of people to attack the mountain city.

If you can really control this huge country, the human losses will be acceptable. The problem is that fighting a war requires money.

 Before the war, Tokyo prepared a war fund of 4 billion yen. The military and the Ministry of Finance originally thought that this money was enough, and they could even allocate part of it for post-war reconstruction.

 As a result, by the end of the Songhu War, all the funds were spent. The top management had no choice but to add an additional 2.5 billion yen. It is said that it was exhausted again when it reached the outskirts of Jinling.

Without new financial resources, let alone defeating the Chinese, the fact that the army did not mutiny would be regarded as the soldiers' appreciation of His Majesty's painstaking efforts.

Now with this machine and legal currency that is the same as real banknotes, they can extract large amounts of supplies from the areas controlled by the government to maintain the frontline fighting.

As for whether merchants will doubt the authenticity of the banknotes, there is no need to worry about this. Even if the merchants know that the legal currency is printed by the empire, they will pretend not to know.

  To paraphrase a passage from the red book:

 Capitalists are afraid of no profit and too little profit, just like nature is afraid of a vacuum. Once there is appropriate profit, capitalists will be bold.

 If there is a 10% profit, he will be ready to make a move;

 With 20% profit, he becomes active;

 With 50% profit, he will take desperate risks;

 With 100% profit, he dares to trample all human laws;

With a 300% profit, he would dare to commit any crime, even risking hanging.

He will encourage unrest and strife if they bring profit, as evidenced by smuggling and the slave trade.

 In fact, not only capitalists, but also any organization and individual need money to meet their most basic needs, and the military is no exception.

Just like this counterfeit banknote plan, Navy Red Deer gave up its inherent contradictions and actively participated.

Thinking of this, Shitaka Kusumoto turned to look at Yamamoto, whose eyes were blurred. He felt extremely proud and shouted the other person's name loudly again.

 “Yamamoto-kun?”

 “Nani?”

 Yamamoto, who was in a trance due to stacks of banknotes, came back to his senses when he heard the call. He looked at Kusumoto who was smiling but not smiling. He blushed, bowed slightly and apologized.

"I'm really rude. This is the first time I've seen so many banknotes. I can't help but feel a little rude. Please don't mind, Colonel Kusumoto."

He didn't hide anything, he directly told the reason why he was distracted. He was honest and aboveboard, and then pointed at the counterfeit money and asked a question.

“Colonel Kusumoto, these French coins are somewhat similar to those printed by the Chinese. If there are nine points, our plan will be considered a success.”

“Nine points? Hahaha, Yamamoto-kun, you underestimate the empire’s scientific and technological strength. Let professionals answer this question for you.”

Kusumoto laughed and said politely to a lean man next to the printing press: "Shinoda-kun, you just heard it, how is the quality of the legal currency we produce?"

 “Nature is the best.”

The technical expert Saburo Shinoda, who was lowering his head to adjust the scraper over there, replied proudly after hearing this.

“We obtained the original engraving and ink formula from the port city, the latest gravure printing machine from the United States, and the codes compiled by the mathematicians at the Imperial University.

With such careful preparations, if the legal currency cannot be completely restored, Shinoda will jump into the Huangpu River himself to apologize to His Majesty Tian Locust without you two doing anything, but..."

 At the end of the story, Saburo Shinoda, who was originally talking eloquently, hesitated for a moment.

 “Just what?”

 Yamamoto and Kusumoto Shitaka were shocked, the smiles on their faces instantly faded, and they secretly prayed that nothing would go wrong at this time.

“There is still a big gap between the banknotes produced by the empire and those of the United Kingdom and the United States. This batch of counterfeit banknotes is safe to be used in small batches when mixed with real banknotes, but it is easy for the Chinese to find flaws when used in large quantities.”

Saburo Shinoda frowned, reached out and picked up an unprinted banknote, shook it, and gave the two intelligence officers some popular science and explained the reasons.

“Paper carries more than 75% of the anti-counterfeiting function of a banknote, because when we hold money in our hands, our first feeling is not sight, but touch.

 In daily use scenarios, people will carefully identify whether a banknote is counterfeit only if it feels wrong to the touch, especially businessmen who often come into contact with banknotes.

  Banknote printing paper is more like a kind of cloth than paper. The components of ordinary paper are wood and grass fibers, while the components of banknote printing paper are cotton fibers or flax fibers. Cotton fibers are more tightly bonded than grass and wood fibers and are basically not affected by water, resistant to dirt and stains. Even if they are soaked in water for a short time, they will not have much impact, and they give banknotes a special texture.

With the Empire’s papermaking technology, we can currently only restore 80% of the texture of legal currency paper. This requires the military to find ways to obtain relevant technologies from European and American countries. These technologies can also be applied to the Empire’s currency, please. "

Saburo Shinoda bowed deeply after speaking. The Ministry of Finance sent him to China. In addition to the military's orders, he also planned to obtain British and American money printing paper technology through the other party.

Although the Japanese yen is difficult to imitate due to its unique bark pulp, it is not afraid of ten thousand, but it is not afraid of the eventuality. Using technology to make it more difficult to imitate the yen will be of great benefit to the empire without any harm.

Hearing this, Yamamoto and Kusumoto Shitaka breathed a sigh of relief. Papermaking technology is not advanced military equipment information, and it is easy to obtain it with the empire's overseas intelligence capabilities.

Kusumoto immediately assured Shinoda Saburo that they would send the technology to the other party as soon as possible, but only asked to continue printing legal currency during this period.

After all, the Imperial Army is almost as poor as its trousers. At worst, they can use a mixture of genuine and fake banknotes to defraud as much as they can.

As for things like face, the Japanese Empire has long since abandoned it. The guns are in their hands, and those businessmen have to agree even if they don’t agree.

 Compared with him, Yamamoto's performance was much calmer. There were many ways for the navy to make money, such as "allocating" scarce supplies from overseas and the empire to each other, bypassing customs.

With this confidence, the navy would rather wait until the perfect legal currency comes out before using it. That is to say, the poor army and the red deer will be so hungry that they will not choose what to eat.

After slandering the army, Yamamoto looked at his watch and told Saburo Shinoda: "Shinoda-kun, please remember to stop printing immediately after dawn.

The black sewage discharged into the Sioux City River is very conspicuous. Once the surrounding residents notice it, they are likely to report it to the public settlement.

 The dead fish incident a few days ago has attracted the attention of the newspaper. If it had not been dealt with in time, we might have to move to another place. "

 “Yes, Shinoda-kun.”

Shitaka Kusumoto also straightened up his expression: "Houtoku Middle School was supposed to reopen, and we used an important intelligence officer to borrow this suitable printing location.

 In order to maintain confidentiality, water for printing and diesel for power generation are secretly transported in batches from the outside world, which costs a lot of money. All efforts must not be wasted because of a little sewage. "

 After emphasizing the army's contribution to the counterfeit banknote plan, he patted Yamamoto on the shoulder and assured him.

 “Don’t worry, Yamamoto-kun, I’ll keep an eye on you.”

At the same time, in a factory building not far from Houde Middle School, Gui Youguang was also beating his chest and saying the same thing.

“Don’t worry, Deputy Director, no one found out that this guy was caught.”

Zuo Zhong stretched out his hand to lift the unconscious Dashan Kyouichi's chin, looked at him for a while, then let go and glared at the bald man.

"Next time, put less ether. This stuff is poisonous. If you make the target a fool, see how I deal with you. Wake him up quickly. I want to ask about the enemy's situation."

Unexpectedly, Gui Youguang not only did not reply immediately, but instead muttered.

“Deputy Director, these spies are all tough-talking. I don’t know when it will take until he opens his mouth, so you might as well use my method.”

 “Your method?”

Zuo Zhong, Wu Chunyang and Song Minghao, who had just arrived to meet up, were confused. What good idea could the other party have? It wouldn't be to rush into the school carrying dangerous goods and fight the Japanese to death.

Seeing that everyone didn't believe it, Gui Youguang immediately became anxious. He quickly walked to a mysterious object he brought, lifted up the outer layer of oilcloth, stepped on it, and said proudly.

 “That’s enough, why bother?”

 What a sissy!

 Where did the cannon come from?

Zuo Zhong's eyes almost popped out. Under the light, a Japanese-made Type 92 infantry gun shone dimly, and there were several golden cannonballs on the ground.

What is frightening is that the fuse on the head of the shell has been installed. With just a little collision or friction, everyone present will be blown up into the sky.

Everyone took a breath and took two steps back in unison. They were not afraid of death, but they could not accept being killed by one of their own.

“Damn..., there is light, come on, come over slowly and tell me where you got the infantry cannon.”

Hiding behind a solid pillar, Zuo Zhong suppressed his anger and forced out a smile to ask Gui Youguang kindly.

"Where else could it come from? Of course it's from the black market. Those defeated soldiers would dare to sell anything. If I couldn't get it, I would have to buy a 105mm howitzer."

 In the horrified gaze of everyone, Gui Youguang kicked the cannon and cannonballs and walked over in a swaggering manner, speaking nonchalantly.

As a result, as soon as he reached Zuo Zhong, he received a slap on Shining's forehead. He widened his eyes and shouted in extreme aggrievement.

“Ouch, deputy director, why are you hitting me?”

 “Hit you! I can’t wait to kill you!”

Zuo Chong was furious, pointing at this bad boy and scolding: "Why don't you just buy a bomber and blow up the concession?

 Let me say it again, I want to catch anyone alive, especially the counterfeiting expert, go and hide those crappy things for me right away.

If the operation fails because of you, believe it or not, I will send you to the Japanese mainland. "

 An angry scolding sounded in the factory, frightening a wild cat away...

 (End of this chapter)