Japan had once been prosperous too. At its peak, some people had even boldly declared, "If we sell Tokyo, we could buy the United States..."
Back then, Japan's men had been full of high spirits as well. Unfortunately, the Americans only needed a small trick to bring Japan crashing down completely, bankrupting countless people in the process...
Having narrowly escaped disaster, the Doma Family learned for the first time what it meant to be pigs waiting for slaughter. Japan was, at the end of the day, merely America's little brother. Looking back, their boast of buying the other country was simply laughable...
Yet in the Celestial Empire, Keiryu Doma saw a different side of things. Japan's economy had stagnated, while the Celestial Empire's economy continued to soar, as unstoppable as Japan had once been. But unlike Japan, the Celestial Empire was not America's little brother. In fact, in this world, the only power that could vaguely stand against the United States seemed to be the Celestial Empire!
More importantly, unlike the relationship between the United States and Japan, capital could not represent everything in the Celestial Empire. The people were the masters...
After realizing this, Keiryu Doma understood why Sogo had not panicked after triggering a stock market crash that ravaged multiple countries, yet had backed down before the Celestial Empire and chosen to withdraw...
A stock market crash on that scale might even damage the United States. After all, America was a federation, and the administrators of certain cities even dared to ignore the White House—but that colossal giant, the Celestial Empire, stood united as one!
Keiryu Doma even suspected that the Celestial Empire had long possessed the strength to surpass the United States...
Otherwise, how could the United States announce a 3nm lithography machine, only for the Celestial