One of the key points in determining whether long silk threads can be extracted lies in whether the silkworm moth has bitten through the cocoon to emerge. Except for silkworm breeds cultivated on a large scale by the agricultural technology department, the base area would not give these little lives the chance to continue. Each sericulture farm directly boils the silkworms to death while they are still in the pupal stage.

So in September 1910, when the technical personnel of the silk reeling factories in the base area saw baskets of Jiangsu cocoons, their eyes went straight. "This won't do! The cocoons are all bitten through. We won't be able to extract much silk. What can we do with short fibers?"

Zhang Yu had frantically studied silk reeling technical issues before the negotiation, and he firmly supported this seemingly picky action.

The Jiangsu representative felt sick to his stomach hearing this. For thousands of years, everyone had done it this way, but the People's Party was just so troublesome. If it weren't for the fact that they really couldn't find a buyer, he wouldn't be willing to suffer this bird's anger here. Forcing a smile, the Jiangsu representative said: "Gentlemen, the cocoons are all good cocoons. Everyone, please be kind and don't be so picky."

"It's not that we are picking. If the silkworm cocoon hasn't been bitten through, basically one thread can be reeled to the end. How many times do we have to reel the silk from this one cocoon of yours? This is really too much trouble!" The technical staff was very dissatisfied with this. Reeling silk from cocoons is skilled work. Silk is expensive mainly because finding the silk end and reeling it must rely on human labor. Machines can wind the silk, but they cannot proactively find the silk end. This is also why the silk industries in the United States and Europe ultimately abandoned raw silk production. It wasn't that they didn't have enough mulberry trees to raise silkworms, but that the wages for large-scale silk reeling personnel were too high.

Although the wages in the People's Party were not low, by relying on scale and efficiency, and eliminating the layers of exploitation in the middle, they forcibly lowered the costs. Under such a situation, if they processed the Jiangsu silk on a large scale, the costs that had been lowered with great difficulty would immediately skyrocket.

Cost accounting is a magic weapon of the People's Party's economic work, and Zhang Yu paid special attention to this issue in his work. The little bit of tax revenue at the current stage of the People's Party was simply insufficient to support the huge expenditures. The economy in the Southern Anhui region was not bad, but relying solely on the tax revenue of Southern Anhui was simply insufficient to raise funds to the extent of building railways. Not to mention the troubles that would be encountered in building these railways in contact with foreign countries, if it were not for the trade surplus of several large industries, building railways would merely be a fantasy.

The Jiangsu representative naturally could not stand on the People's Party's position. He advised pitifully: "Gentlemen, we have already suppressed the price of these cocoons to the lowest. We are already selling at a loss."

"Selling at a loss?" Zhang Yu felt a wave of disgust when he heard this. He laughed: "Then we can't let you lose money. Moreover, using these cocoons to reel silk, we would also lose money. How about this, you take the cocoons back. You don't have to lose money, and we don't have to lose money. Is that good? Someone come, send them back."

Seeing Zhang Yu's firm attitude, the Jiangsu representative hurriedly changed to an expression of accepting a loss and resigning to fate, "Wait, wait. Lord Zhang, exactly how much are you prepared to pay? Give us a straight answer. We'll accept it."

Zhang Yu said somewhat helplessly: "This isn't a question of how much we pay. Wages have to be paid as soon as work starts. If we produce a pile of products that simply have nowhere to be sold, what are we after? Besides, don't call me Lord or whatever, we address everyone uniformly as Comrade here."

"Oh, Comrade Zhang. What you're saying is different from before." The Jiangsu representative began to muddle things, "At that time you said you would buy our cocoons, how come now you're saying you don't want cocoons where the moth has emerged? Isn't this cheating us?"

Zhang Yu looked at the Jiangsu representative coldly. He slapped a contract in front of the representative. The representative saw Wang Youhong's seal on it, and his heart immediately turned timid. In fact, this representative also had selfish motives. He was entrusted by his peers in the sericulture industry in Jiangsu. He originally thought that a high official like Zhang Yu would certainly not understand sericulture production. He wanted to make Zhang Yu verbally agree to purchase this batch of cocoons. As long as Zhang Yu agreed, the people working under the People's Party naturally wouldn't dare to oppose it. As for how much to purchase, that was just a question of how much money to stuff for the people below. The style of doing things in the official-run enterprises on the Qing side had always been like this.

But the situation before him far exceeded his imagination. First, a few people who were obviously subordinates dared to gesture and criticize in front of Zhang Yu, giving the feeling that they were leading the situation, and Zhang Yu was extremely indulgent towards these subordinates. Could it be that these subordinates had great backgrounds?

Moreover, from the conversation, the Jiangsu representative could clearly hear that Zhang Yu was not clueless about the silk reeling industry. It could even be said that he was quite familiar with it. What merchants hated most was running into this kind of buyer. A big shop bullies customers, a big customer bullies the shop. A high official who knows the trade, doesn't care about face, is very serious about matters, and firmly holds the power to do business—this is the hardest to deal with.

This contract indeed stated clearly that the People's Party only bought cocoons where the moth hadn't emerged. Wang Youhong had also explained clearly to the Jiangsu assemblymen. However, the kickbacks promised by the Jiangsu sericulture peers were really impossible for the Jiangsu representative to refuse. For cocoons where the moth had emerged, three0% for autumn cocoons, 40% for summer cocoons, and as high as 60% for spring cocoons. With thousands of catties of cocoons on this ship, the kickbacks would be at least thousands of silver dollars. Even if only for this money, the Jiangsu representative had to struggle with Zhang Yu to the end.

"Comrade Zhang, you say long threads can't be extracted from these cocoons where moths have emerged. Some can't be extracted, but some can be. You can't generalize. Our price is so low, no matter what, quite a few long threads can be extracted. Anyway you look at it, you can make a lot of profit. Or maybe we don't understand the People's Party's rules, could you give us some guidance?"

Zhang Yu least wanted things to develop to this stage. The silk reeling factory has to boil the cocoons in hot water. After boiling to a certain degree and the silk ends begin to appear, these cocoons are placed in low-temperature water to start reeling. The hotter the water, the better the reeling effect. But the hotter the water, it becomes inevitable that the silk reeling workers will get scalded. To protect the silk reeling workers from being scalded, the People's Party had adjusted quite a few process flows. This had already greatly increased costs. Even just this one link put forward many requirements for the entire production chain. For example, unified silkworm breeds, rearing methods for silkworms, and cocooning times. Including the timeliness of various transportation. This requires a complete arrangement for the entire industrial layout.

To speak slightly exaggeratedly, Zhang Yu didn't need to go out at all. Just by looking at those documents, he could know whether there was anyone at a certain equipment post in a certain silk reeling factory hundreds of miles away on a certain morning or afternoon. Because equipment maintenance was also periodic. Under this situation of large-scale industrial production, the People's Party had spent tremendous effort to clear away the mindset of handicraft workshops. He no longer had the patience to tangle with the Jiangsu profiteers. Not to mention that this profiteer had nakedly sent out a signal for "bribery".

"Business is business. We have a contract, so let's handle it according to the contract. If there's nothing else, let's leave it at this. I'm still busy," Zhang Yu said.

The Jiangsu representative completely misunderstood Zhang Yu's meaning. He thought Zhang Yu would send someone to privately ask him for a bribe later. So he set his mind at ease. When the People's Party urged him to hurry up and transport the cocoons where moths hadn't emerged, this representative didn't take it seriously. However, after three consecutive days without any movement, the representative was dumbfounded. Three days meant that moths would emerge from quite a few cocoons.

Going to find Zhang Yu again, Zhang Yu simply wouldn't see him, only sending someone to tell the Jiangsu representative to handle it according to the contract.

Not soliciting bribes, not accepting bribes, knowing the trade, and acting completely according to the contract—this was the first time the Jiangsu representative had seen such an official. He also harbored the thought of giving it a try and looked for the cadres below. No one paid any attention to him. The attitude of the People's Party cadres was completely consistent: "We don't want cocoons where the moth has emerged."

Only at this point did the Jiangsu representative realize that he had encountered a group of people he had never seen before. The People's Party genuinely wanted to get things done. "Could it be that these factories are opened by the People's Party's own people?" The representative was very puzzled about this. But at this moment, he simply didn't have time to consider so much. The wasted few days had a major impact on the Jiangsu cocoons. Before leaving, this representative had patted his chest and guaranteed that he could definitely sell the cocoons where moths had emerged. He had even accepted gift money from quite a few people. Now that he hadn't accomplished the matter, he had spent quite a bit of the gift money. How was he to explain this after going back?

The gift money could be kept, but his reputation couldn't be salvaged. The Jiangsu representative didn't say that he was blinded by profit, but instead deeply hated Zhang Yu. Hate aside, there had to be an explanation for the matter. Fortunately, before the Jiangsu representative went back, the first batch of cocoons Wang Youhong received in Nanjing had already been transported to Anqing. The People's Party's reaction was extremely rapid. After checking the quality, they immediately transported the cocoons to the factory. Settlement of the account was also straightforward.

Carrying the payment and hatred for the entire People's Party, the Jiangsu representative embarked on the return journey.

Regarding this matter, Zhang Yu wrote a report to the Anhui Provincial Committee, "...We must use advanced production methods to replace backward production methods. Forcibly pushing the progress of social technology seems arrogant, but the results are actually better. Taking Jiangsu as an example, quite a few common people will have their families broken and lives destroyed because they couldn't reel silk smoothly. The base area has no such problems. However, regarding the dissatisfaction among the masses due to lack of understanding, suggest the Provincial Committee pay attention..."

And the Jiangsu representative's embellished evaluation of Wang Youhong didn't make Wang Youhong angry at all. Instead, because the Jiangsu representative's personal intent was too obvious, Wang Youhong actually saw the true process from it. The attitude of the People's Party cadres being loyal to their duties really made Wang Youhong quite envious. However, at this time, pure envy was meaningless. Wang Youhong had to borrow this incident to further achieve his own goals.

Nodding seemingly gently, Wang Youhong said: "You've worked hard. Prepare yourself, report this matter to the assembly tomorrow."

"My Lord? I report to the assembly?" The representative was very surprised.

"That's right. You are the representative selected by our Jiangsu Assembly, considered an Imperial Envoy. If you don't report this matter to the assembly, what is this?" Wang Youhong laughed.

The Jiangsu representative was startled. He absolutely hadn't expected Wang Youhong to actually use this move. But what Wang Youhong said made sense. The assembly sent someone to do a job, the person doing the job always had to report back. With alpaca-llamas stampeding in his heart against Wang Youhong, the Jiangsu representative agreed timidly.

Wang Youhong let the Jiangsu representative go down to prepare, while he himself considered the problem before him. The Jiangsu assembly representatives had all returned to Nanjing. Promoting the "Rural Land Society" was indeed a major event. But relying solely on the efforts of the assemblymen for these matters was useless. Wang Youhong was very clear that the People's Party's land reform relied on natural disasters and the People's Party's powerful military force. Landlords and gentry were simply powerless to resist either of these two. If there wasn't the army in Wang Youhong's hands as a backer, the Southern Jiangsu landlords simply couldn't change the situation in the countryside either.

Now the assembly representatives had all run back to Nanjing, the purpose being to discuss the tax issue. Dealing with civil problems, this bunch of gentry were powerless. Dealing with the government represented by Wang Youhong, this bunch of people were actually quite able to unite as one. Since this bunch of people had this plan, Wang Youhong also felt he might as well have a good round of dealing with the gentry, to see whether it was Wang Youhong who could dominate the situation, or the landlord gentry who could dominate the situation.

The hearing was Wang Youhong's first step. The reason he didn't send his own man to be this representative, but let the assembly provide someone, was not a spur-of-the-moment idea. The report the representative made to the assembly naturally wouldn't tell the truth, and the representative didn't dare to tell the truth. Quite a few assemblymen were burning with anxiety preparing to sell cocoons. If the representative could make the People's Party purchase the cocoons where moths had emerged, that could be said to be a great merit. Now that he hadn't succeeded, the assemblymen who paid bribes might not come out to expose the representative's background, but the other assemblymen who hadn't participated would absolutely not let the representative off.

Wang Youhong knew this clearly in his heart. It wasn't that there weren't Wang Youhong's people inside the assemblymen. Although this bunch of people couldn't be talked of as Wang Youhong's running dogs, they were a batch of people who relatively identified with Wang Youhong. They had already received news from Wang Youhong here. Learning that the representative actually dared to delay for four days for private gain, the assemblymen burned with rage. At the hearing, they got to the bottom of it, questioning why the Jiangsu representative wasted four days in Anqing.

This was a very difficult problem to explain. The Jiangsu representative could only defend himself saying that Zhang Yu tried to solicit a bribe from him, but later this matter wasn't accomplished.

"Soliciting a bribe?" Zhang Yutong had worried about selling cocoons until a few of his hairs turned white, "How come the news I heard is not quite the same?"

At this point, the Jiangsu representative could only resist desperately in a corner, "That Zhang Yu indeed solicited a bribe. I didn't understand the People's Party's rules, so I delayed for a few days."

Zhang Yutong slammed the table fiercely, "Who are you fooling? How come what the two deputy representatives said is completely different?"

After shouting, Zhang Yutong turned to Wang Youhong, "Lord Wang, please bring the two deputy representatives for questioning."

The two deputy representatives naturally wouldn't be willing to carry the black pot themselves. Once inside the assembly, facing Wang Youhong and a group of local prominent figures, these two spilled the beans on the sequence of events like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

The assemblymen all changed their expressions. Some were because the matter was exposed, their faces turning somewhat pale from fright. Some were because the representative actually dared to delay after taking money, thinking of their own losses these few days, their faces turned pale from anger. Regardless of the representative's intentions, the matter wasn't accomplished, instead making everyone suffer losses in vain. Already some assemblymen couldn't hold back and started cursing loudly.

Seeing the situation had reached such a stage, and hearing quite a few assemblymen angrily demanding Wang Youhong to punish him, the Jiangsu representative looked with pleading eyes at those few assemblymen who had stuffed him with quite a few benefits. Seeing that this matter had already incurred public wrath, those few assemblymen turned their faces away to protect themselves.

Knowing that he was probably doomed, the representative didn't dare to make a sound anymore. He looked at Wang Youhong, only to see Wang Youhong sitting steadily in the chairman's seat with the presence of an old god, not even looking at him once. A thought flashed through the Jiangsu representative's mind, "Officials are all unreliable!" First he was tidied up by Zhang Yu, then skillfully used by Wang Youhong. People holding real power were never any good thing. How did he get possessed and listen to the words of those few assemblymen?

The Jiangsu representative looked at Wang Youhong with pleading eyes. This was his last life-saving straw. If Wang Youhong wasn't willing to save him, the Jiangsu representative feared he would be eaten by the assemblymen before he could get out of the assembly hall door.

This gaze actually had some effect. Wang Youhong finally spoke to those assemblymen shouting for beating and killing, "Everyone quiet down, quiet down."

The assemblymen also had no backbone at this time. After all, this representative was selected by themselves; Wang Youhong hadn't interfered at all. The assemblymen also had no legal reason to punish this bastard. Even if they used underhanded methods to kill this bastard, it would only vent their anger and be of no help at all to the sericulture crisis before them. Hearing Wang Youhong shout like this, the assemblymen also gradually quieted down.

"Gentlemen, this matter involves everyone's interests. The harvest this year is not good, we can only accept it. But if next year's harvest is still like this year, how will everyone's days go on? That's why we had to send someone to negotiate with the People's Party. Looking at it now, the person we sent didn't tell the truth. Let's not shout for beating and killing, just letting him tell the truth will do. What does everyone think?"

The Jiangsu representative was a smart person. Wang Youhong's words were the last chance. If he didn't tell the truth at this time, the subsequent matters simply couldn't be resolved. Not waiting for the assemblymen to question further, the Jiangsu representative simply explained the matter clearly from beginning to end. Upon hearing that the current situation was caused because more than a dozen other assemblymen were involved, the other assemblymen, regardless of whether they knew beforehand or not, all began to denounce it. Some with impatient tempers even started shoving these assemblymen next to them who only cared about themselves.

Looking at the chaotic assembly, Wang Youhong's face was indifferent, but his heart had blossomed with laughter. To subdue this bunch of people, this was the only method. Let them create chaos themselves first. If the assemblymen were completely of one mind, where would there be a foothold for Wang Youhong? At this time, the assemblymen who messed things up were also made angry by the surrounding scolding, accusations, and even shoving. They couldn't hold back from refuting and counterattacking. Once this physical altercation started, the situation began to get out of control.

Wang Youhong seized the opportunity and slammed the gavel fiercely. The loud sound finally deterred the assemblymen.

"Gentlemen, we are engaging in constitutional government, which stresses the legal system. Since such a big thing has happened this time, how it should be handled, I feel everyone shouldn't act on impulse. Let's just set a rule. How to handle it in the future, we just follow the set rule. Everyone is a respectable person, how about doing it this way?"

As soon as Wang Youhong's shout fell, Zhang Yutong already shouted, "Lord Wang, killing these people is useless in this situation now. How exactly to resolve this matter, Lord Wang, you have to come up with a way."

Zhang Yutong had figured it out. Up to now, the only person consistently and unremittingly pushing for the resolution of the problem was Wang Youhong. In all fairness, Zhang Yutong originally wasn't willing to let Wang Youhong control too much power either. But looking at it now, if without Wang Youhong's management, who knew how bad the Jiangsu matters would become.

With someone taking the lead, quite a few assemblymen with similar thoughts also expressed their stance to Wang Youhong, willing to support Wang Youhong in solving these problems.

Wang Youhong didn't decline either, "Gentlemen assemblymen, if you let me personally handle this matter, I will naturally do my best. But I'll say this upfront, whatever the final result is, everyone has to accept it. If everyone doesn't accept it, I won't go negotiate."

The Jiangsu assemblymen certainly didn't accept it in their hearts, but at this point, they no longer had anyone they could trust to be responsible for this matter. Zhang Yutong couldn't help shouting: "Trusted or not trusted, Lord Wang, let's vote!"

These words triggered a tremor in the hearts of the assemblymen. Yes, the assembly reached decisions through voting. The power to decide their own fate was expressed in this ballot. "Vote!" "Vote!" The shouts became more and more numerous, and a consensus was soon reached.

The voting result was that less than seventy percent of the assemblymen agreed to entrust the sericulture industry matters to the team led by Wang Youhong, while the remaining assemblymen cast opposing votes.

Seeing that under such a situation there were still so many assemblymen opposing him, Wang Youhong didn't know whether he should be happy for his success, or feel uneasy that there were still so many people flagrantly opposing him.