Mitsui Yasuki believed that Ishiwara was indeed the representative figure of 'He Studies' in Japan. If someone else answered Mitsui's question about 'what will happen next,' they would naturally start from their own perspective of observation and recount some kind of chaos. Under emotional excitement, the description of the terrible future would probably be...

He Studies believes that the economy is the foundation of social operation, and predictions about the future are based on predictions of the future economic situation. Ishiwara Kanji's answer was, "Next? Next, Japan's economic demand cannot increase until a certain market is obtained, which will change the economic situation."

Mitsui Yasuki did not oppose this view. As a *zaibatsu*, he naturally prioritized economic concerns. "Ishiwara-kun, is this the basis for the Control Faction wanting to restore the Anglo-Japanese Alliance?"

Ishiwara shook his head. "Restoring the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is not just the demand of the Control Faction. As long as people still have path dependence on Japan's past external expansion and plunder, they will eventually choose to restore the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. However, as I discussed with Mitsui-kun before, economically, this is no longer possible. All of Japan's past victories were built on Japan's industrial advantage in the Far East. Now that Japan's industrial advantage is gone, Japan will naturally return to its past status in the Far East."

At this time, the owner had served the food. Neither Mitsui nor Ishiwara spoke, but buried their heads in eating. After their moods were adjusted, Mitsui picked up the teacup and took a sip of weak tea. "Ishiwara-kun, many people appreciate your economic views very much. These days, we visited Your Excellency Takahashi Korekiyo and also received Lieutenant General Nagata Tetsuzan. Everyone has a very high evaluation of Ishiwara-kun."

Ishiwara smiled slightly but didn't respond. For the conglomerate, their evaluation criteria were closely related to their interests. Since they gave Ishiwara such a high evaluation, they naturally hoped Ishiwara would bring them more benefits.

Sure enough, Mitsui continued to ask, "Ishiwara-kun, where do you think Japan's future market lies? Is it with He-kun? If Japan wants to obtain the market, what price does it need to pay?"

If he hadn't learned the news of MP Ishii being killed, Mitsui might not have been willing to ask such a fundamental question. However, Ishii had been dead for two days, yet there was no publicity in the newspapers, which showed that someone was demanding the newspapers to keep quiet. This was unacceptable to conglomerates like Mitsui.

If the current economic situation continued, the Japanese market would only shrink continuously, eventually shrinking to the level of 3.3 billion yen. Ishii's proposal created a brand-new Japanese domestic market, at least in theory. As long as it ensured that the Mitsui Conglomerate would benefit from Japan's future economic recovery, a certain amount of land loss in the short term was still acceptable. When he first learned that MPs Ishii and Shibata proposed such a plan, Mitsui appreciated and looked forward to it.

With MP Ishii killed, Mitsui found that the only person he could choose was Ishiwara, who indeed controlled some military power.

Ishiwara Kanji fully understood Mitsui Yasuki's thoughts. He had been waiting for this opportunity to explain the future to Mitsui. Now that the opportunity had arrived, Ishiwara answered readily, "Mitsui-kun's view of He-kun is incomplete. He-kun hopes to establish an East Asian Customs Union and integrate East Asian industries, not simply to constrain Japan by opening up the market."

Mitsui was startled and lowered his gaze. He didn't ask immediately but picked up his chopsticks and continued to eat. Various thoughts emerged in his mind. After digesting Ishiwara's statement, he raised his head. He saw that Ishiwara had already swept away his portion of food like a whirlwind and was sipping tea slowly with a teacup.

Mitsui asked, "Is the customs union Ishiwara-kun mentioned the kind of customs union like the North German Customs Union established by Germany before the Unification War?"

Ishiwara nodded slightly. "It is indeed that kind of customs union." After speaking, he continued to drink tea and did not try to lobby Mitsui as before. The concept of this 'customs union' was indeed one of the reasons why Ishiwara had been unable to fully recommend Sino-Japanese union. Any customs union requires ceding a little sovereignty, which is unbearable for current sovereign states. Among the comrades in the Japan Future Society, many had already raised the question, 'Is the future of the customs union a Sino-Japanese merger?'

For Ishiwara, he had great confidence in He Rui, believing that He Rui would never act for the purpose of national merger. But for Japan, the association with a customs union was naturally the annexation of Ryukyu and Korea.

Ishiwara wanted to avoid awkward questions, but he heard Mitsui ask, "He-kun's customs union should be different from the North German Customs Union, right?"

Being asked this question, Ishiwara was not embarrassed. "There is no essential difference in the customs union; it is all for industrial redistribution. China and Japan will adjust the industries of both countries according to the overall industrial plan. Japan currently has many industries, many of which are completely uncompetitive and are built only to avoid being strangled by others. After completing the customs union, there is no need to maintain these industries. The raw materials Japan needs can be obtained from the industrial layout, and the technology and labor China needs can also be obtained from Japan. China opens its market to Japan, and Japan also opens its market to China. Japan's domestic labor surplus and underemployment can also be solved through orderly migration to China. Both countries develop their economies under the same rules."

Mitsui was quite interested in this and discussed it with Ishiwara. What Japan lacked most was undoubtedly raw material production areas and sales markets. These problems could be solved after the establishment of the Sino-Japanese Customs Union. Mitsui never thought He Rui was a benevolent man or a faithful believer; the questions he asked Ishiwara were more about China's future industrial layout and development.

Ishiwara explained the industrial layout. There could be countless statements and explanations for industrial layout, but the simplified explanation was just three short phrases: 'lowest cost, largest market share, agglomeration effect.'

While the two were engrossed in chatting, there was suddenly some commotion on the street outside. Not long after, the shop owner, feeling something happened outside, went out to check, and Mitsui's attendant also followed. Soon, Mitsui's attendant ran back, looking uneasy. He whispered to Mitsui, "Mr. Mitsui, someone fell to the ground outside; he should be dead."

In Japan, people collapsing on the road was not a rare thing. Mitsui knew his secretary didn't have a glass heart and waited calmly for the following content. The attendant said somewhat hesitantly, "I looked at that person; he seems to be MP Shibata."

Mitsui and Ishiwara were not surprised. Both lowered their gazes, thinking in their hearts, 'Did someone deliberately kill Shibata at the entrance of this shop?'

As for Shibata's death, the two felt somewhat emotional but not surprised. Up to now, neither of them had heard that MP Shibata was desperately looking for connections to avoid death, nor had he fled in fear of death. Since MPs Ishii and Shibata jointly proposed the "Japan Land Restoration Plan," and Ishii was already dead, Shibata, who did not flee death, naturally had no reason to escape alive.

The biggest impact of this matter on the two was that Shibata died right at the shop entrance; could it be someone trying to stir up trouble?

Unlike the two MPs Ishii and Shibata, the best way to kill Ishiwara and Mitsui was to send someone to assassinate them suddenly. As long as it wasn't such a straightforward method, whether using connections or playing tricks, both had ways to deal with it.

Since it was so chaotic outside, Ishiwara and Mitsui were in no hurry to leave. The two sat in the shop discussing industrial layout and the division of labor in the industrial chain.

The concept of the industrial chain had been discussed by Ishiwara and Mitsui when they met He Rui. Although the Mitsui Conglomerate did not have the economic concepts of the 21st century, the so-called advanced level of the 21st century was also achieved relying on reality. He Rui couldn't create it, and Mitsui couldn't create it either.

The secret of Mitsui's success was to obtain a long-term price control advantage over resource products by relying on equity participation and shareholding of generally no more than 10% in upstream resource enterprises of the industrial chain as a lubricant; at the same time, with the help of a huge logistics and trade network, Mitsui further consolidated this advantage. Such a path was replicated to the maximum extent on the map of the Mitsui Empire, encompassing almost all imaginable industries from nuclear power plants to eggs.

Therefore, very few people knew that Mitsui influenced the world economy more and more widely through various hidden channels, especially China, separated by a strip of water—for example, the rare functional sugar industry. If Chinese enterprises had not caught up, the chess game laid by Mitsui seven years ago would have strangled the throat of 1.3 billion Chinese people's future healthy sugar consumption.

Whether it was crops, mineral resources, or consumer goods, whether raw materials, intermediate parts, or terminal commodities, in all production, trade, and logistics links, Mitsui played the role of a "behind-the-scenes promoter," pushing its subsidiary companies and affiliated enterprises to the front stage, constantly expanding markets, resources, and territories, seeking profit maximization, while hiding itself, very much like the king in a "Shadow Empire."

Mitsui's business strategy was to stand behind enterprises like a shadow, using its abundant capital, developed trade system, and occupied rich resources to promote the development of enterprises while infiltrating every corner of the world's micro-economy. The Mitsui Empire, hidden behind large and small enterprises by breaking up into parts, actually had its own set of "action logic"—resources, trade, finance, and information were the keywords. Looking at them one by one, the global trade network, the integration of industrial capital and financial capital, the logistics system characterized by comprehensive supply chain management, and the powerful information gathering system were exactly the key to the efficient operation of such a huge business empire.

Precisely because the Mitsui Conglomerate developed in this way, Mitsui Yasuki admired He Rui very much.

He Rui was not regarded as a soldier in Japan, although He Rui himself was indeed a soldier. In the eyes of most Japanese upper echelons, He Rui was an extremely outstanding scholar who could found a school of thought and systematically explain the world. This was also the reason why 'He Studies' could gradually be established in Japan.

Mitsui could vaguely feel that He Rui did not approve of his conglomerate's expansion method. If it were in China, this model would definitely be suppressed. But Mitsui did not feel surprised.

After all, those in power could not accept complete control of the situation by others. Like those long-established Japanese business families, the Mitsui family had a very clear positioning for itself; the Mitsui family would never jump out to guide Japan's future direction.

While Mitsui and Ishiwara were talking, the matter outside had been resolved. The patrol police didn't know that Mitsui and Ishiwara were in this shop in Akihabara. The patrol police were just acting according to their duties.