HPDBC Chapter 233 The Illusory Throne
Chapter 233 The Illusory Throne
The overseas call was cut off.
Ichiro Osawa slowly placed the receiver back into its base.
He walked to the coffee table and picked up the still-smoldering cigar again. He put the cigar in his mouth and took a deep drag.
For the past two weeks, he has seen reports in the newspapers every day about the Saionji family's predicament overseas.
A billion dollars locked up. Equivalent to 140 billion yen in pure cash evaporated. This level of loss is an absolute devastation, even for a conglomerate of Saionji's size, like having its carotid artery severed.
Osawa Ichiro, a cigar between his fingers, gazed through the swirling smoke at the bustling Tokyo street scene outside the window.
He was well aware of what a billion dollars in losses meant, but he was even more certain that the Saionji family would not collapse because of a mere billion dollars.
The Saionji Group's physical footprint in Japan is truly enormous. It includes S-Mart hypermarkets throughout Tokyo, S-Food central kitchens that monopolize the fresh food supply for the three major convenience store chains, Saionji's logistics fleet that permeates every corner of the city like veins, Uniqlo, currently the number one selling affordable clothing chain, and even Saionji Entertainment, which reportedly has recently produced several wildly popular artists.
These entities generate an enormous amount of cash flow every day, sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people across Japan.
It's unrealistic to bring down the Saionji Group. Even if the Saionji family does nothing and lets themselves be slaughtered, the people in his companies will fight you to the death.
If Ichiro Osawa wants to secure his position as the de facto ruler of Nagata-cho and continue to receive a steady stream of political donations and local votes in future elections, he cannot bypass the Saionji family's massive physical money-printing machine.
He never naively expected that a mere ban from Washington would completely destroy the Saionji family. To drive the Saionji family to the brink of ruin would be tantamount to destroying his own future financial resources.
This is by no means the logic of a mature politician.
His true purpose was to tame.
He intends to use the administrative hegemony of a superpower as a whip to lash the back of this arrogant behemoth. He wants to inflict pain and weaken it, thereby forcibly reversing the master-servant relationship within the alliance.
For the past two weeks, Osawa Ichiro has outwardly appeared to be performing flawlessly.
He not only expressed strong "regret and condemnation" in public for the US government's "brutal interference in legitimate business," but also personally made a half-hour phone call to Executive Director Endo the day before yesterday to express his condolences.
On the phone, Osawa sounded concerned and distressed. He assured Endo that he had used all available channels within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pressure Washington in an attempt to unfreeze the funds through diplomatic mediation.
He pretended to be completely unaware that he was the mastermind behind the sanctions.
The alliance on the surface continues to maintain an extremely harmonious facade.
But faced with the seemingly endless legal battle in the United States, the Saionji family had no other choice.
They had to bow their heads and seek the political asylum of Ichiro Osawa—the ruling party leader who had established direct ties with Washington.
"Shuichi-kun... and that proud little girl."
Ichiro Osawa took the cigar out of his mouth and looked at the flickering dark red embers on the tip.
"When you've all been through the wringer in Manhattan, you'll understand who really calls the shots in this political jungle."
From this day forward, the reins of this alliance will be entirely in the hands of Osawa Ichiro.
Ichiro Osawa leaned back in the deep red leather chair.
He exhaled a thick smoke ring, savoring the intoxicating feeling of power—trampling the top tycoons underfoot while simultaneously posing as their savior.
"Once we've completely taken control of the alliance..."
As Osawa watched the bluish-gray smoke slowly spreading in mid-air, a calculating glint flashed in his eyes.
"That troublesome little girl from the Saionji family is almost of marriageable age. When that time comes, I'll just pick a local political family that's affiliated with me and arrange a marriage for her."
He tapped the leather armrest of the sofa lightly with the fingers holding the cigar.
"Send her far away and let her be a good wife and mother in a wealthy family. That way, she won't stay in Tokyo and cause me any more trouble."
"Knock, knock."
Two soft knocks on the door interrupted his reverie.
Chief Secretary Hirano pushed open the heavy, soundproof oak door, strode quickly to the coffee table, and bowed slightly.
"Teacher Osawa."
Hirano's voice was very low, and his expression showed a clear hint of anxiety.
"The faction headquarters' special hotline just received several emergency calls for help. Several key real estate tycoons in the Kanto region were suddenly subjected to a joint forced withdrawal of loans by the city bank today."
Osawa Ichiro paused slightly in the hand holding the cigar.
"Loan withdrawal?" He frowned. "What exactly is the situation?"
"Because March is the fiscal year-end settlement period, the banks rejected all their loan extension applications, citing a decline in the net value of the collateral and the need to avoid bad debts at the end of the year." Hirano swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. "Those major investors' funding chains are facing a complete collapse. They said that if they can't raise the cash to fill the gap by tomorrow morning, their construction projects and headquarters building will be directly seized by the court."
Hirano's fingers gripped the hem of his clothes tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging.
"They implore you to intervene immediately with the Ministry of Finance and the Banking Bureau, forcibly pressuring the banks to release the loans. Otherwise..."
Hirano dared not say what followed.
The factional donations, the election funds for young lawmakers, and even the enormous expenses that Ōsawa himself incurred to maintain his political position all depended on the support of these key financial backers. If they went bankrupt, the Ōsawa faction's base would vanish overnight.
After listening to the report, Ichiro Osawa's brows relaxed.
He reached out, picked up the bone china teacup on the table, and took a sip of the tea that had long since gone cold.
"I thought it was some kind of catastrophe."
Daze chuckled softly, not even changing his posture in the slightest because of the urgent call for help.
He slowly put down his teacup and leaned back into the deep red leather sofa.
"During the fiscal year-end closing period in March, banks balance their books and close their accounts to meet the Ministry of Finance's audit of financial statements. This has been a routine operation for decades. Those financial backers are getting more and more senile. When they encounter a tight fund situation at the end of the year, they panic and come to me to beg for forgiveness."
Daze took out a pure gold lighter from his pocket and relit the cigar that had almost gone out with a "click".
A bluish-gray smoke rose up.
"Furthermore, the Saionji family is currently mired in legal troubles with the United States, and that 140 billion yen cash shortfall is enough to give them a run for their money. How could they possibly have the energy to stir up trouble in the domestic financial markets to suppress my financial backer?"
Osawa didn't look at Hirano's face, which was soaked in cold sweat.
He turned around and picked up a draft of the "Annual Special Fiscal Budget" that the Ministry of Finance had just submitted from his desk. His thick fingers tapped the paper, which represented the flow of trillions of dollars in national funds, twice, producing a crisp, trembling sound.
"Hirano, go and call them back."
Osawa held the cigar between his fingers and waved it casually in mid-air.
Tell them the sky isn't falling. Let them figure out how to raise the money themselves and hold on for another half month.
"Once the repeal of the Large Stores Law is successfully passed next month, I will take full control of the cabinet and party affairs. The Ministry of Finance's printing press and credit gates will be directly opened to them. At that time, they can have as many low-interest loans as they want."
Osawa Ichiro shook off a bit of cigarette ash.
"Tell them not to spoil my fun at this time."
Hirano stood frozen in place.
He looked at Osawa's confident face, the back of his shirt completely soaked with cold sweat.
As the secretary responsible for handling the day-to-day affairs, Hirano understood the cold reality at the bottom of society far better than the high-ranking Osawa. This was not some year-end accounting. What he had just heard on the phone was the desperate howls of the financiers, a death signal that the entire interbank lending market was facing a complete liquidity crunch.
Those big spenders won't last until next month.
However, faced with Osawa's unquestionable and arrogant command, Hirano opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only forcefully swallow his fear back down.
"Yes... I understand."
Hirano bowed deeply and left the room.
Osawa Ichiro watched Hirano's departing figure and took a satisfied puff of his cigar.
Inside the warm office, bluish-gray cigar smoke slowly swirled and diffused in the air.
The thick smoke completely obscured the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
The politicians sitting on their warm thrones, along with the dying patrons outside the door, and the street scenes outside the window being mercilessly washed by the cold spring rain, are separated into two separate worlds.