Chapter 1206: The chaotic island political arena

After all, the profits from lending by Sunshine Credit are too high, and they are targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises and ordinary people, so there will always be overdue payments, and at this time, it is inevitable that special means will be needed to collect the money.

Therefore, in the island country, if the consumer credit industry wants to develop smoothly, it must definitely have a certain connection with the community.

It is very common for all six of the island's major conglomerates to support the associations.

As for the associations, Xia Yu does not lack power. Not to mention the support behind the scenes of Luo Wang and Aegis Security, Xia Lei alone has considerable power.

Now Xia Lei is becoming the godfather of the island's literary and artistic movement, and he has heated up Tokyo a little.

...

Xia Yu has considered many aspects of his own layout on the island.

The foundations are the consortia, there is no doubt about that, and the associations are only a marginal supplement.

But there is another aspect that requires strong support, and that is the power of the political world.

Each of the six major consortia in the island country has an advocate and a supporting faction in the political arena.

When it comes to the political world of the island country, it is called a complex.

The island country's parliament is the island country's highest authority and the only legislative body, established in accordance with the island country's constitution, and consists of the island country's House of Representatives and the island country's Senate.

The House of Representatives has 465 members, each serving a four-year term. The Prime Minister has the power to dissolve the House of Representatives and call a general election. The Senate has 242 members, each serving a six-year term. Half of the Senate is elected every three years and cannot be dissolved mid-term.

In terms of power, the House of Representatives has precedence over the Senate. The ordinary session of parliament is held from January to June each year, with a duration of 150 days. Extraordinary and special sessions can be convened at other times as needed.

Members of Parliament in the island country can also serve as cabinet ministers. The Prime Minister is also elected by the Parliament. The method is that the political party nominates and the members of both houses of Parliament vote to elect the Prime Minister. Therefore, the president of the majority party that controls more than half of the seats in Parliament can become the Prime Minister.

There are currently many political parties in the island country, the most famous of which are the Liberal Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Japanese Communist Party, the Civic Party, the Minzhu Party, etc., and then there are a bunch of small parties.

The vast majority of these parties have split off from the Liberal Democratic Party over the years.

At the moment, the Liberal Democratic Party is the dominant party. Since the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party merged in 1955, all the prime ministers of Japan have come from the Liberal Democratic Party. The current Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone is from the Liberal Democratic Party.

The Liberal Democratic Party represents the interests of the island's monopoly bourgeoisie, advocates liberalism, opposes radicalism and socialism, and maintains and develops the current capitalist political, economic and social system.

After the LDP was founded in 1955, it controlled the majority of seats in the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives until the 1960s. However, in the second half of the 1970s, there was a confrontation between conservatives and reformers, and the LDP's influence in both houses declined.

In particular, now, in November last year, the previous Prime Minister, Suzuki Yoshiyuki, announced his resignation due to the global economic downturn and setbacks in fiscal reconstruction policies. Nakasone Yasuhiro took over and has not yet been able to stabilize the island's political scene.

The influence and reputation of the Liberal Democratic Party have declined considerably.

In December of this year, the House of Representatives will hold a general election, and the current situation of the Liberal Democratic Party is very dangerous.

In the previous life, the Liberal Democratic Party also suffered a defeat in this House of Representatives election, failing to win half of the seats and being forced to form a coalition government with the New Liberal Club. This was the first time that the Liberal Democratic Party had been in power as a single party since its establishment.

However, in the next term, since the New Liberal Club only won six seats, it was dissolved and reincorporated into the Liberal Democratic Party.

The situation of the Liberal Democratic Party in the island country is now very bad, which is the best opportunity for Xia Yu to take action.

Of course, it does not mean that Xia Yu intends to support other parties to seize power. This idea is not realistic, and he does not have this idea either.

Not to mention the fact that the Liberal Democratic Party is the largest party in the island country, with the largest number of people.

The key is that other parties are also not in the interests of Xia Yu, a capitalist.

The Liberal Democratic Party is a conservative political party that advocates economic freedom and the maintenance and development of the current capitalist political and economic system. It represents the interests of capitalists and large corporations.

The Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party are revolutionary political parties that oppose the Liberal Democratic Party and advocate breaking with the status quo and reforming the political and economic system. However, there are ideological differences between the Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party, and their policy positions are very different. The social base of the reformist political parties mainly consists of trade union groups, intellectuals, employees and some small and medium-sized business owners.

Then there are the centrists, also known as centrist political parties, which advocate the establishment of centrist politics. They mainly include the Komeito Party and the Social Democratic Party. Their references to centrist politics are very different, but their common goal is to break the '555 system' centred on the Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party and end the one-party rule of the Liberal Democratic Party.

It can be said that the enemy of the LDP is all the political parties in the island country. Even so, they have been able to dominate for a long time, which shows just how powerful they are.

The LDP has many external enemies, and internally there are also numerous factions and conflicts. Because of interests and political views, the struggle never stops. Every few years, someone leads a faction to become independent and establish a separate small party.

Xia Yu's main goal is precisely to support a faction or multiple factions within the LDP, in order to gain a foothold in the island country.

In fact, the factions within the LDP can also be divided into three major factions in terms of general direction: the left, the right and the neutral faction.

The neutral faction is the weakest, while the left and right are of equal strength. However, since Prime Minister Suzuki from the left faction was forced to step down last year, and Yasuhiro Nakasone, who is now in power, is a right-winger, the morale of the right-wing faction of the LDP is currently high, while the left faction is relatively keeping a low profile.

Among the centrists, the most typical example is the Miki faction, which has the smallest faction. It is headed by former Prime Minister Takeo Miki and has 20 seats in the Diet. Takeo Miki had an ambiguous attitude towards China while in office. The force behind the Miki faction is mainly the Sanwa Foundation.

The Nakasone faction was originally the Kono faction, but after the death of Ichiro Kono, Yasuhiro Nakasone led the majority of the forces to split off. It is now gaining momentum and is a typical right-wing faction, backed by the Mitsubishi conglomerate.

Other major right-wing factions include the Kishi faction and the Fukuda-Tsumoru faction, which are supported by the Fuji and Mitsui conglomerates.

The left-wing faction is also quite influential, with the Tanaka faction being the most powerful.

Unfortunately, Tanaka Kakuei resigned as Prime Minister due to internal struggles within the party, and was then arrested in the Lockheed bribery scandal in 1976. He subsequently withdrew from the Liberal Democratic Party and was elected to the House of Representatives as a non-partisan after being released on bail.

Although he no longer had the status of a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, most of his original followers rallied around him.

However, since he had stepped down and was not a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, his influence had decreased considerably, and many of his former followers had left him.

Xia Yu was not interested in the Tanaka faction, which was too powerful. Even if he attached himself to it, he would not necessarily benefit.

However, the Tanaka faction was also very complicated internally. What Xia Yu valued was the mainstay of the Tanaka faction today, the incumbent Nakasone Yasuhiro's cabinet finance minister (finance minister), Takekami Noboru.

Although Noboru Takeuchi is a Tanaka faction member and belongs to the left wing, he is also a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and has outstanding abilities. He has unique insights into financial work, and in addition, he also needs to stabilise the major factions within the party. Therefore, Yasuhiro Nakasone gave Noboru Takeuchi the position of finance minister in order to consolidate his position.

According to historical trajectories, after Yasuhiro Nakasone stepped down in 1987, Noboru Takeuchi successfully ascended to the throne of the prime minister.

Nakasone Yasuhiro gave up his position to Takeuchi Noboru not because he had a change of heart or was grooming a successor, but because he had to do it to keep the Liberal Democratic Party from splitting up.

The reason for this was that Takeuchi Noboru himself wanted to be prime minister and reach the pinnacle of politics, but was restricted by Tanaka Kakuei.

Now Takeuchi Noboru has the heart to run for president of the Liberal Democratic Party, but Tanaka Kakuei has been restricting Takeuchi Noboru.

Tanaka Kakuei did not agree, and the power of his faction naturally did not give Takehita votes within the party.

So Takehita was forced to rise up and establish the Sosei Association in early 1985, with more than 40 members of parliament, and took advantage of Tanaka Kakuei's illness in February of the same year to expand his own power.

Then in July 1987, he formally established the Takeshita School of Political Economy, luring over everyone from the Tanaka faction and rallying others to form the largest faction in the party.

With the greatest power, if he was not elected, he would choose to split from the Liberal Democratic Party and become independent. Yasuhiro Nakasone could only designate him as the 12th president of the Liberal Democratic Party, and in the end, he gained the support of the Liberal Democratic Party and successfully took office.

At this point, Takeuchi Noboru had ambition, but he still lacked the necessary firepower. He was still under the thumb of Tanaka Kakuei, and he didn't have enough resources to cultivate his own faction and win over allies.

Without the support of major consortia and capital, even if Takeuchi Noboru became finance minister, it would still be time-consuming and laborious to accumulate resources. There were also huge political risks, and the risk of corruption would increase with each passing day.

Therefore, at this time, Xia Yu's think tank judged that Takeuchi Noboru was also waiting for someone to give him strong support, but he had been waiting in vain.

If Xia Yu jumped out and supported him, Takeuchi Noboru would find it hard to refuse!

Unless he has no ambition!

But how could someone without ambition become the prime minister of the island country?

...

However, although Xia Yu had made up his mind to support Takeuchi Noboru, he did not plan to show his face at the beginning, as this would easily make Takeuchi Noboru vigilant and he might even be afraid to bite the bait.

Moreover, his island conglomerate was not yet formed, and was unable to provide Takeuchi with sufficient deterrence, so he would not bite the bait.

Therefore, at this time, someone else had to step forward.

The most suitable person was undoubtedly Junpei Hirata, the president of Nomura Securities!

...

According to the plan, in order to remain covert, Junpei Hirata did not contact Takeuchi, the finance minister, at the beginning, but instead contacted the incumbent Keizo Obuchi.

Keizo Obuchi was Noboru Takeuchi's most loyal disciple, and Noboru Takeuchi regarded him as both a teacher and a father.

Keizo Obuchi's father, Mitsuhei Obuchi, was born on the same day as Noboru Takeuchi and was his best friend. Even Keizo Obuchi's house was built next to Noboru Takeuchi's house in Kawaguchiko at Noboru Takeuchi's suggestion, and the two families had been neighbours for decades!

Before Takeuchi's son grew up, Takeuchi devoted a lot of resources to Obuchi and took good care of him. Obuchi was also Takeuchi's loyal confidant.

That night, in a quiet private room of a Japanese restaurant in Tokyo, Junpei Hinata and Obuchi Keizo sat face to face, enjoying a fine dinner amidst the music and dance of courtesans.

After half an hour of listening to the music and watching the dance, Junpei Tominaga waved his hand to indicate that these people should go down. Obuchi's eyes cleared of the charm, and he secretly thought to himself, 'Here it comes,' and he roused himself to full alertness.

'Obuchi-kun, I've asked you to come out tonight to waste your time because I want to tell you something good.'

'To be more precise, I want to tell you, and you are to tell the Minister of Finance,'

Junpei Hirata placed his hands on his lap and said with a solemn expression.

Keizo Obuchi's pupils shrank slightly, and he was greatly surprised.

As a very young member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was approached by many people, and he thought that Junpei Hirata was looking for him, but he never expected that it was his master Noboru Takeshita.

The detailed information about Nomura Securities that he had read in the afternoon flashed through his mind, and when combined with his master Noboru Takeshita's position, he became very cautious.

Nomura Securities had previously been caught up in a storm, and although most of it had subsided, there were definitely problems within the company. Could it be that Noboru Takeue was being used to do something?

Keizo Obuchi asked cautiously, 'Tadashi Junpei, although I am familiar with the Minister of Finance, I have no right to interfere with any of his decisions, nor do I have the qualifications to do so. I can only pass on the message.'

Tadashi Junpei smiled faintly and said, 'Keizo-kun is worrying too much. For Noboru Takeue, this is indeed a very good thing.'

Keizo Obuchi's heartstrings remained taut, and he said concisely, 'Please go on!'

Hiyori Tsunehira said slowly, 'Nomura Securities has no problems. What the outside world sees is only the appearance. In fact, our company is very healthy.'

'Takeshita-kun first entered the government in 1964, starting as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, and has served in the cabinets of many prime ministers for a total of sixteen years!'

'Although he is currently the Minister of Finance, he has been in this position for more than three years, and there is very little room for him to move up.'

Obuchi Keizo had already realised the problem at this point. Could it be that Junpei Hiruma was actually talking about Takekami Noboru's political career?

At this moment, his breathing became slightly rapid, and he was highly concentrated, afraid of missing anything.

Observing the change in Obuchi's expression, Taira was confident and slowed his speech down a little.

'I also know that Takekami-kun is under a lot of constraints within the Liberal Democratic Party. He is a very capable person, but he is bound by chains.'

'Breaking free from these chains requires tremendous support.'

'After breaking free from the chains, if there is no greater support, it will have a huge impact on the present and the future.'

'We at Nomura Securities and some other companies happen to have a lot of resources that are going unused, and we are considering it.'

Having said that, Junpei Hirata stopped talking, deliberately keeping Keizo Obuchi in suspense.

Keizo Obuchi knew Junpei Hirata's intentions, but as the future of Noboru Takeshita was involved, it was also his future. Therefore, after a moment's hesitation, he took the initiative to ask, 'Junpei-kun, I wonder which companies are involved in addition to your company?'

Junpei Hirata gave a mysterious smile and shook his head, saying, 'I can't tell you that.'

'I can only say that the resources we jointly own are beyond your imagination.'

'The quadrennial House of Representatives election is coming at the end of the year. If this opportunity is missed, we will have to wait until 1987...'

'Four years, how many four years does one have in life...'

At this point, Obuchi Keizo's thoughts were in a complete mess.