After trampling Mount Fuji, the journey through Japan came to an end. The main goal was to empty Japan of its gold and silver.
Investing in the Qing court required a massive amount of capital, and next year there was still a need to invest in Prussia—the funds were already stretched thin.
The most important tactic was still exchanging Japan's silver for the Qing court's gold, a strategy England had been orchestrating all along.
At this moment, Gusu had yet to recover from the war, with remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's forces and the doomed Nian Army still causing havoc everywhere.
After being plundered time and time again, Jiangnan's wealthy families gradually abandoned their ancestral lands and migrated to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Songjiang.
The rich fled, and the poor descended into madness. Society as a whole had collapsed into a state of chaos, and the local government offices had adopted a laissez-faire attitude.
