Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 88 Kiichiro Toyoda: Mr. Zheng is a pacifist
The subway's statement is actually pure nonsense. It is really inexplicable, so they just made up an excuse.

Engineer Kiichiro Toyoda wants to get him a tunnel boring machine from Japan, which is great. It will make digging the tunnel much easier for him then.

Zheng Yi dug the tunnel purely for the purpose of resisting the Japanese. Penang has a special geographical location. It is not on the Malay Peninsula, but an independent island separated from the Malay Peninsula. The Japanese army also needs to land to attack Penang.

This was the basic premise for him to dare to fight the Japanese army to the death in Penang. If it was on the Malay Peninsula, facing at least three divisions of Japanese army, Zheng Yi would have no other choice but to go into the mountains and fight guerrilla warfare.

Then Zheng Yi may have to study the matter of moving to India and start making plans for himself in India.

Penang, which later became George Town, happened to be located closest to the Malay Peninsula and could be reached by building a bridge.

If war really breaks out, we can just get some explosives and blow up the bridge, and the Japanese army will not be able to get across, or at least it won't be easy.

If they landed by navy, directly from Penang Harbor, the waters here are narrow, and heavy artillery and heavy machine gun positions can be easily set up. With some mines and other things, they can completely engage in a sea-to-sea bombardment with the Japanese until one side can no longer hold on.

The boat definitely can't pass through here.

Then the Japanese army could only land from other places on the island.

As for the island, its terrain is actually similar to that of Xiaowanwan and Little Japan. The middle of the entire island is a continuous mountain range. Due to its relatively late development, it is almost a primitive jungle.

Only a small area surrounding the mountains is suitable for human life. Most of them are Malay villages, and there are no roads between the villages. Only in the northeast corner is there a single city, Penang.

If the Japanese land from other areas and want to attack Penang, the number of troops that can be sent at one time will definitely not be too many. The more the better. As long as Penang is defended, they can be starved to death.

Therefore, the biggest threat posed by the Japanese army to Penang is the air force.

Even if the army lands from other places, it will inevitably be a Gaza-style battle where light infantry mince meat.

Light infantry is like minced meat, and tunnels are the magic weapon of the defending side. Moreover, if the air force comes to bomb, he can also organize the people to hide and organize reproduction like Gaza.

As long as they can hold out for a year, by which time the offensive and defensive situation in the Pacific battlefield will change and the Japanese will lose their control of the sea in the South Pacific, Penang will actually be safe.

If it's just one year, he's really confident.

It seems that Gaza has been defended for more than a year. The gap between them and the Japanese army is definitely much smaller than the gap between Gaza and the Israeli army.

This was Zheng Yi’s entire plan to split Penang.

However, the subway excuse sounds completely different to other people.

Whether it was Kiichiro Toyoda or those distinguished guests from Europe and the United States, the same thought popped into their minds almost at the same time: This guy is a pacifist.

After all, in their eyes, Zheng Yi is no longer just a pure scientist and entrepreneur, but also has some politician aspects.

For a politician, especially one with a slightly authoritarian streak, under what circumstances would he start to build large-scale infrastructure?

That would only happen when we are certain that war will not happen in the next few years!
In this era, the subway is still a very advanced thing. Only Japan has it in Asia, and the cost is extremely high.

A politician who is willing to pay a high price to build a subway in the city he governs will certainly be extremely cautious and try to stay away from war or even disputes.

In Kiichiro Toyota's opinion, Zheng Yi was clearly a guy who was wholeheartedly pursuing peace, just like himself.

Kiichiro Toyota, who was originally quite hesitant, is now much more determined to invest in Penang.

Zheng Yi came to him to buy textile machines, and he asked for a huge sum of money, a large-scale one with an annual output of one million spindles, and he had no money at all. It was normal for him to have no money. After all, it wasn't just Zheng Yi. All the wealthy Chinese in Southeast Asia had invested their money in the Penang petrochemical project. Even if they had some spare money, it would definitely be invested in the construction of Penang.

Zheng Yi's idea was that the textile machines could be sold on credit and paid for in installments, which was the best for him.

Then Kiichiro Toyoda would definitely not agree. Besides, his purpose in seeking cooperation was not to make money, but for chemical fiber materials.

So what he wants to discuss now is Toyota providing enough textile machines to Penang to set up a textile factory.

Penang is responsible for providing land, electricity, and labor. It does not need to contribute any capital, but it must provide the most important chemical fiber materials.

The cloth produced must be printed with the logo of Toyota or other Japanese textile companies. Is he the chairman of the Japan Textile Association?

In general, Penang is outsourced, and the sales and management rights belong to the Japanese side.

However, this project still puts some pressure on him. After all, Japan is already in an economic crisis and the unemployment problem is very serious. People at home have no jobs, but they have to go to Southeast Asia to do OEM and create employment opportunities for others.

With the scale of OEM being so large, textile workers in Japan will inevitably suffer further unemployment in large numbers.

Therefore, the entire Japanese Textile Industry Association, represented by Toyota, actually has some concerns about this. Penang is a Chinese city after all.

Zheng Yi wanted to get something for nothing and eat for free without paying.

How could it be that easy? These Japanese entrepreneurs are all veterans who have made their mark in the domestic and international markets.

So we have been discussing this matter for several months but there is still no result.

However, now, Zheng Yi's casual remark about building a subway made Kiichiro Toyoda even more determined:
Mr. Zheng is not only a great partner, but also, like me, the cornerstone of peace and friendship between China and Japan.

What else can we say? This cooperation must be achieved. It is for the sake of peace.

Objectively speaking, Kiichiro Toyoda is by no means a fool. Although Zheng Yi was fishing, his strategy and layout were not very deep.

After all, the reason why he got so excited was not because Zheng Yi was smart, but purely because he himself still had unrealistic fantasies about the so-called Sino-Japanese peace.

For this, we have to thank a certain leader named Wang in the Nanjing government who did not want to reveal his name. It is precisely because of their existence that many peace-loving people and entrepreneurs in Japan truly feel that there is still a great possibility for China and Japan to maintain peace and friendship.

On the other hand, the Americans didn’t think so much, but they were also very excited when they heard that Zheng Yi was going to build a subway in Penang.

There is no doubt that this is not the kind of politician who is content to "rule the garbage dump" and make a fortune and has no ideals, but an ambitious politician.

As long as there is ambition, we can all work together, right?

Although the Far East is still a British colony, it has long been regarded as the Americans' sphere of influence.

Penang.

Nanyang Chinese.

Isn’t this also a way to completely tear open the Far East?
And this was really an unexpected gain for Zheng Yi.

(End of this chapter)