CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 214: OPEN THE DOOR, DO BUSINESS!

Harano couldn’t quite make sense of Wanjin’s sudden transformation. He was simply following the usual pattern, habitually supporting industry and commerce, and never expected such a dramatic reaction from the masses—in his estimation, signs of this kind wouldn’t have shown up for another three to five years.

Maybe this was some sort of "factor agglomeration effect"?

Once certain conditions are all in place, without further intervention, these conditions naturally undergo a "chemical reaction," producing the corresponding outcome?

Now, with Wanjin stimulated by policy and expectations of an expanding market, labor demand has surged, further triggering rural population shifts, resulting in a multiplier effect. A vast number of "zero marginal productivity" workers have shifted into emerging industry and commerce, causing a jump in overall labor efficiency across society?

And with this surge in labor efficiency, workers’ incomes rise, further driving expansion on the demand side, so that a large volume of wealth goes through "premium redistribution"; this then leads to an upgrade in consumption structure, with many rural households starting to shift from "subsistence consumption" toward "developmental consumption," which in turn boosts industry and commerce even more?

The next step is capital accumulation and technological expansion? Expanding production or improving technology and techniques, further raising productivity to form a healthy "profit-investment-growth" cycle?

Until the expected market is finally fulfilled?

In essence, this is a reallocation of labor, land, and commodity production between urban and rural areas, using a vibrant market to maximize efficient use of resources?

Harano didn’t really understand, and now he deeply regretted slacking through his political economy classes back in the day—just using them to catch up on sleep. When you need the knowledge, you find you never really learned it. Now he can’t even describe the basic urban-rural dualistic development model—just making wild guesses. But Wanjin’s development is, after all, a good thing. Probably he just needs to beware of...

The Malthusian trap, and be on guard against man-made famines? Or excessive urbanization leading to massive slums? Or be careful about the price scissors effect driving rural areas into extreme poverty?

Social issues like economic disputes also need more attention. At a minimum, the relevant laws and regulations should be improved, and ideally a dedicated department should be set up to handle all these affairs.

As Wanjin’s current No. 1 "economist," Harano observed the city’s sudden surge of energy with caution, constantly making notes and sparking new ideas in his mind. It felt like this year’s tax statements were going to look pretty nice.

Of course, at the core of all this is whether the "expected market" can be realized.

If the expected market doesn’t materialize, then all of this is just an illusion shimmering in a mirage—it will all evaporate in no time. Every one of these workshops, you name it, probably 80% of them will go under, and half the masters will hang themselves.

So this "merchandise expedition" can’t be taken lightly—there might not be much gunfire and not too many deaths, but this economic war will still determine the future of Wanjin.

If they lose, Wanjin will be knocked back to square one, and won’t recover for the next five to ten years.

If Wanjin can’t get back on its feet, Harano will have no strength to land in Northern Ise and grab territory. No territory means no development, and if he can’t grow, the endgame plan is dead. Then all the suffering from this time travel will have been in vain!

......

Things always develop in layers. Harano had originally just intended to support Hirajima Yoshichiro and the others to go out and explore, using this voyage to tick off another side mission. But with circumstances changing so fast, he now realized he’d have to commit way more resources to make sure absolutely nothing could go wrong.

At this point his own accumulated capital was obviously not enough, so with no hesitation, he quickly sought help from two allies, asking to borrow ships.

Yeah, at this time in Japan, warships and merchant ships were made from the same mold—it’s all Anzai ships, Customs Ships, and small Kobaya boats. He didn’t need soldiers; he just needed to borrow the ships and regular sailors—that was enough. He planned to refit these ships and organize a large armed merchant fleet that could haul goods and also offer combat support.

The thing is, there’s too many small and medium industrialists participating in this sale, and they’re all working overtime like crazy; the demand for transport suddenly skyrocketed. The Wanjin Shipyard couldn’t possibly produce enough suitable ships in a short time, so all he could do was borrow.

Just get past this bump and it’ll be fine—Wanjin Shipyard is expanding, give them a bit of time and they’ll eventually make up the numbers on the boats.

Meanwhile, Oda Nobunaga was still pretty generous. He was using Harano’s construction team over at Komakiyama to help build a castle, and when he saw even Harano’s wife was sent over to borrow ships, and then found out it was to sell goods, he just waved his hand and lent him more than a dozen Customs Ships, not caring at all whether trade at Atsuta port would take a hit.

Actually, he would love it if Harano stayed as far from Atsuta port as possible, didn’t constantly have people coming and going, and he really didn’t believe Wanjin could steal all of Atsuta’s business anyway.

Matsudaira Mototaka was just as amenable. With Harano’s attention shifting to the sea, spending time and effort far away to sell goods was a hundred times better than stockpiling troops at the northeast tip of the Chita Peninsula and drooling over Sanhe. Without hesitation, he fulfilled the alliance agreement, scoured Sanhe for a batch of odd-sized old boats, and came up with over twenty for Harano.

But he wasn’t as generous as Oda Nobunaga—these ships weren’t lent for free: Wanjin had to offset the rent with goods, and if any ships sank, Wanjin had to pay for them.

Harano didn’t mind. Once all the ships were acquired, he openly auctioned the fleet to Hirajima Yoshichiro and other workshop owners to use. He also gathered up all the guards they’d recruited, gave them unified training for a while, and, by the way, issued and enforced the "Sword and Gun Management Method" to put some checks on high-powered weapons.