Chapter 58 Yen off the gold standard, plutocrats fall into the trap

Saturday, December 12, 1931. Three months after the "September 18th" Incident, the Japanese government suddenly announced the abandonment of the gold standard and officially implemented it from Monday.Immediately, a magnitude 8 earthquake occurred in the Japanese financial market, the political circles were shocked, the business circles were in an uproar, and the Japanese people fell into a day-long panic. Yen, a strong yen issued with gold as collateral, will become "unsupported" from now on! Although there were already rumors in the market a month ago, the official announcement from the government still made ordinary people scurry.The salespersons in the Tokyo department store are working overtime to adjust the prices of various commodities; the housewives in the market are frantically buying the necessities of life, and the housewives feel palpitations when they think that the prices of various commodities will generally increase in two days.During the Great Depression, ordinary people's income was very unstable, and the pressure of life was increasing.At this time, the news that the yen lost its gold exchange guarantee undoubtedly pushed the public's uneasiness to the brink of panic.

But not everyone is in a state of panic, and a few are celebrating. In the ornate offices of Mitsui and Mitsubishi in Tokyo and New York, currency traders are celebrating with champagne.More than two months ago, relevant government officials who have been "supported" by the chaebols for many years have revealed to them the inside information that Japan is about to follow Britain in abandoning the gold standard. The yen will depreciate by at least 30% against the US dollar after Japan abandons the gold standard! Of course, the chaebols will not miss this big pie that fell from the sky.

The Mitsui chaebol alone immediately hoarded 100 million U.S. dollars and shorted the yen in the foreign exchange market.Mitsubishi and other chaebols were not far behind, and everyone bought dollars and dumped yen wildly.For a while, the Tokyo foreign exchange market was full of smoke and confusion. The chaebols have been looking forward to the earth-shattering news that the government announced the decoupling of the yen from gold, and now their wish has finally come true!They make a lot of money.The Mitsui family made a net profit of at least 20 million U.S. dollars, and the traders' year-end bonus must be indispensable!

At this moment, the office of the Sumitomo Zaibatsu, the third largest chaebol in Japan, was silent.For the past two months, the foreign exchange traders have been holding back their breath, watching helplessly as the huge profits within easy reach are not allowed to be made, and they don't know whether the executives at the company's headquarters have taken the wrong medicine.Although Sumitomo also obtained the same inside story through relationships, the headquarters issued repeated orders not to allow foreign exchange traders to participate in yen speculation. Two months later, on February 9, 1932, the former finance minister who announced the abolition of the gold standard was shot dead three times. On March 5, the president of the Mitsui Zaibatsu was assassinated.People finally realized that there was something strange about it. It turned out that the huge amount of money earned by the Mitsui Zaibatsu was exchanged with blood!Why didn't Sumitomo, who was also well-informed, take this muddy water?

It turned out that the Sumitomo Zaibatsu had heeded the advice of Saiyuanji Gongwang-don't get involved in dollar speculation, because this is a trap carefully designed by Emperor Hirohito! This Xienji Gongwang is not an ordinary person. He was born in the prominent Fujiwara family. In Japanese history, he was honored as the "Meiji Nine Elders" along with Ito Hirobumi, Matsukata Masayoshi, and Inoue Kaoru.When the "Nine Elders" withered day by day, Xiyuanji Gongwang finally became the most powerful figure in Japanese politics.In the Taisho and Showa eras, the power was even more powerful. Although the successive government cabinet prime ministers needed to win the general election, they had to be recommended by him in the end.His descendant Xiyuanji Gongyi was once hailed by Zhou Enlai as the "Chinese and Japanese folk ambassador".The three generations of Saiyuanji Gongwang's family have had political influence in Japan for a hundred years, and they have become the most respected noble family in modern Japanese history.

At the age of 19, Xiyuanji Gongwang served as a close minister of the emperor and held an important position in the "counselor" in the Meiji government.Facing the aggressive "Qing Emperor's side" army of the Tokugawa shogunate, he resolutely refuted the compromise views of some ministers and advocated unity to fight against the enemy.Afterwards, he participated in countless battles of the Tui Shogunate, and made outstanding achievements repeatedly.After the Meiji regime was stabilized, Mr. Saiyuanji went to Europe to explore the way of Japan's long-term stability.He stayed in France for ten years, inspected the French political system, local customs, got acquainted with many liberals and constitutional scholars, and was deeply influenced by Western liberal and civil rights ideas.From a political point of view, he opposed the deification of the emperor and insisted on the road of legal system and constitutional government.He assisted his teacher Hirobumi Ito in drafting Japan's first constitution and served in its cabinet.

Later, Gongwang Xiyuanji and Ito Hirobumi founded the Political Friends Association to restrict the imperial power, and served as the president of the Political Friends Association.The funds of the Political Friends Association mainly come from the Mitsui Zaibatsu, and the brother of Saiyuanji Gongwang was adopted by the Sumitomo Zaibatsu, so the Sumitomo Zaibatsu also sided with Saiyuanji Gongwang. It was Saiyuanji Gongwang who first had insight into Emperor Hirohito's "dollar arbitrage trap" and promptly warned the Sumitomo chaebol not to be fooled, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

Why is the yen off the gold standard, and the arbitrage by the plutocrats through the appreciation of the dollar and the depreciation of the yen is a huge trap set by the emperor?