"Our railway sleepers are sinking too severely. The soil is soft, and with the constant groundwater pumping, we often encounter issues with the tracks tilting."

"The transportation for the project, especially the supply of shoulder poles and bamboo baskets, is insufficient. Moreover, the shoulder poles aren't as good as wooden levers."

"There are many issues with the masses stealing engineering supplies, and we don't have enough manpower to guard the tools right now."

"Quite a few skeletons have been dug up from the marsh, and the masses are feeling afraid."

...

...

Section Chief Zhang of the Project Planning Department chattered on, listing various problems to Chen Ke. Chen Ke neither nodded nor responded. This kind of "petty bureaucrat" personality—meaning an attitude of lacking responsibility, where the first thought when encountering a problem is to shirk blame—felt quite familiar to Chen Ke. He himself used to be such a bastard. And Chen Ke firmly believed in a saying, seemingly by a psychologist: "When we truly gaze into ourselves, we will discover that all the filthy vices we loathe are actually traits we possess ourselves."

In any organization, doing more means making more mistakes. As long as there are guys like Section Chief Zhang, who seem to see the problems but refuse to lift a finger to solve them, an organization can never be harmonious. regardless of what personal quirks Chai Qingguo might have, he was essentially a comrade who dared to act and take responsibility. Chen Ke could completely understand his dissatisfaction with Section Chief Zhang.

Just as Chen Ke was pondering these issues of organizational construction, he heard Section Chief Zhang ask, "Chairman Chen, what do you think?"

Chen Ke almost blurted out, "I want to fire you." He had to reach up and rub his eyes to barely suppress the urge. At times like this, one shouldn't speak. If you encounter a vile person, the best method is to say nothing. Even if you don't speak, they can still fabricate plenty of things about you; but the moment you open your mouth, whatever you say will fall into their trap. Chen Ke didn't want to forcibly remove people like Section Chief Zhang. What organizational systems fear most is relying on subjective judgment. And the proportion of petty people like Section Chief Zhang is extremely high; one could say they are inexhaustible. If you kill one Section Chief Zhang, ten more will pop up. And they will be even more cunning, acting more covertly. For people like Section Chief Zhang, one can only rely on management to subdue them, relying on education to try and focus their attention on the labor itself.

Seeing Chen Ke remain silent, Section Chief Zhang also fell silent. Petty people have one advantage: at least before they have a clear objective, they know when to advance and when to retreat. Chen Ke also struggled to adjust his mindset; after all, Section Chief Zhang was a colleague working together with him. He had to rely on the power of the organization to constrain them, rather than using his status to forcibly strike them down.

Just then, Chen Ke heard Section Chief Zhang ask, "Chairman Chen, some people say the organization is planning to arrange for Comrade Gu Lu to be the Political Commissar of the Engineering Corps Academy?"

Hearing this, even with Chen Ke's effort to treat issues calmly, he couldn't help but stop in his tracks. Chen Ke could feel the muscles on his face stiffening with anger, a wave of suppressible fury rising in his chest.

*Hold it in, hold it in, don't be prejudiced!* Chen Ke repeated to himself in his heart. The People's Party's promotions required public notice, and the process of promoting Gu Lu this time indeed smacked heavily of "favoritism." Section Chief Zhang was a Party member; he had the right to discuss this issue. Even after admonishing himself like this, it still took Chen Ke more than half a minute to suppress the extreme displeasure in his heart.

"The issue of Comrade Gu Lu's assignment will certainly have to be discussed by the Party Committee. Why are the two of us talking about this here?" Chen Ke said to Section Chief Zhang with a smile. Chen Ke saw Section Chief Zhang's face look quite awkward, a mix of fear and unwillingness. Despite this, Section Chief Zhang still probed, "Chairman Chen, I have always firmly supported the establishment of the Engineering Corps. Having done logistics for so long, I believe that without forming a specialized unit, engineering efficiency simply won't go up. If the organization is going to form an Engineering Corps unit, I hope you can consider me."

Hearing this offer to volunteer, Chen Ke didn't say anything and just continued striding forward. Gu Lu was a candidate with strong backing recommendations. This young comrade, part of the first batch to come out of the Dabie Mountains, was only 21 years old this year. But his resume was already full of ups and downs.

Gu Lu had performed quite outstandingly in the Battle of Nanjing, fighting bravely on the front lines. With the military popularizing education, Gu Lu, who had no prior academic degree but recognized a few hundred characters and knew how to use an abacus, was quickly promoted to Company Cultural Instructor. In the academic exams within the army, he was one of the first batch of soldiers to receive a primary school diploma. This should have been a smooth future, yet it didn't turn out so smoothly. As a "key training target" registered by the organization, Gu Lu, because he obeyed discipline, accepted political training while in the post of Company Cultural Instructor. He was then arranged to be a Cultural Instructor and logistics officer in a newly formed platoon. He ended up doing this for two and a half years, transferred from this platoon to that platoon, and from that platoon to another new platoon. Comrades from his cohort had already risen to be regiment commanders by 1911, and Gu Lu's older brother had become a battalion commander. Yet Gu Lu remained merely a Platoon Cultural Instructor and logistics officer, famous throughout the army.

This wasn't because anyone was deliberately making things difficult for Gu Lu. Logistics personnel in the army and those managing finances in local civil administration were always the key targets of surveillance by the People's Party Internal Affairs Committee, and they were also the group with the highest rate of investigation and execution. No matter how much it was said at cadre meetings—"Don't reach out, if you reach out you will be caught"—people always found it hard to overcome that momentary impulse. The People's Party hadn't gone through the severe tests the Party in history had, so even with the supervision of Soldier Committees, people who liked to take petty advantages continued to appear one after another.

Gu Lu's luck seemed extremely bad; several of his superior quartermaster officers in a row had issues. As their subordinate, he naturally couldn't get promoted. However, this fate had a flavor of "a blessing in disguise."

The person who first strongly recommended Gu Lu to Chen Ke was not the military, but Qi Huishen, the behind-the-scenes boss of the People's Internal Affairs Committee. Chen Ke still remembered that letter from Qi Huishen: "Recently, while reviewing case files, we found Comrade Gu Lu's name appearing multiple times. After our investigation, Comrade Gu Lu himself has never had any issues. This is indeed a very rare case. Originally, I wanted to keep Comrade Gu Lu for myself, but seeing that you've been shouting about lacking capable hands for the Engineering Corps recently, I recommend him to you. From my conversation with Comrade Gu Lu, his character is excellent, and his performance at the grassroots level is outstanding. But facts have proven that overly rapid promotion often triggers tragedy. Therefore, I wish Chairman Chen can use Comrade Gu Lu well, letting him grow faster and healthier under your direct leadership."

In this world, it has always been easy to get a thousand soldiers but hard to find one general. Given the current status of the People's Party, anything scooped into the basket is a vegetable. Even if Gu Lu couldn't withstand temptation and degenerated later, that would be a matter for the future. For the present, naturally, one couldn't let a comrade like Gu Lu slip by. Unexpectedly, as soon as the transfer order went down, Zhang Yu, the Secretary of the Southern Anhui Committee, immediately pushed it back. "I also value Comrade Gu Lu very much and hope the organization will leave Comrade Gu Lu here."

Regardless of what Zhang Yu actually thought, he wasn't a military cadre after all. Following the organizational administrative route, Gu Lu was first promoted to Company Instructor, then transferred to the Preparatory Committee of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army Xuzhou Engineering Corps Command Academy as a clerk. When Gu Lu arrived at the small courtyard where the Preparatory Committee was located, he didn't even unpack his luggage before he was dragged directly to the construction site to serve as an Engineering Liaison Staff Officer.

Organizational operations are like this: "If they say you can, you can; if they say you can't, you can't." Chen Ke hadn't finally determined the specific future use for Gu Lu, but he hadn't expected the masses' eyes to be sharp; someone had already clearly seen the organization's emphasis on Gu Lu. And they also clearly saw the inevitability of establishing the Engineering Corps Command Academy. Chen Ke knew clearly he should continue inspecting the construction site at this moment, but he felt there were some matters that had to be discussed with the Military Commission. On this matter, Chen Ke had indeed gone a bit overboard.

The Shandong Military Region Military Commission meeting was convened quickly. In fact, most members of the Military Commission, except for Pu Guanshui and others in Qingdao, were gathered in Xuzhou.

"Last time I mentioned adding two new branches, the Engineering Corps and the Railway Corps, to the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. We haven't held a meeting to discuss this since then. This meeting will discuss this issue," Chen Ke said straight to the point. As Chen Ke expected, the comrades were not surprised. Everyone looked at Chen Ke silently, waiting for him to continue.

"I imagine some comrades have also heard that I am suspected of promoting the young comrade Gu Lu over others. I admit I have the intention of hoping this young comrade Gu Lu will take on important work. But the use of cadres must ultimately be discussed by the Party Committee. I hope to discuss this within the Military Commission before this matter becomes uncontrollable."

The cadres of the Shandong Military Region Military Commission looked at each other, but no one spoke. In the Party Central Committee and the Military Commission, Chen Ke held the highest power of personnel decision, meaning Chen Ke had the power to appoint and remove cadres. Up to now, no one felt there was anything wrong with this authority. At least no one was prepared to oppose Chen Ke's power in this regard.

Wu Xingchen was the Commander of the Shandong Military Region. While the comrades stayed silent, he couldn't. The rumors about Gu Lu hadn't reached Wu Xingchen yet, so he asked, "How is this Comrade Gu Lu's work ability? Who is his superior officer?"

Chai Qingguo answered, "Comrade Gu Lu is a Liaison Staff Officer under me. I have a very good impression of him. Aside from not having shouldered major responsibilities, he is a very outstanding comrade. In my view, with his current ability, if not for combat command, being a regiment commander would be no problem."

This statement was quite "implicit." Chen Ke didn't make a sound either, simply ordering someone to bring Gu Lu's file for the Military Commission cadres to pass around. Wu Xingchen was fine; at least he remained expressionless after reading it. Many other cadres, such as Pang Zi, frowned slightly.

Up to now, Gu Lu's highest position was Company Instructor. And everyone could see clearly that he had actually always been a Platoon Cultural Instructor, at most equivalent to a platoon leader. And now the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army already had the scale of a field army. Once the Engineering Corps and Railway Corps were established, they would be at least army-level branches. For such a small platoon leader to intervene in such a huge change could only be described as appalling.

"What is the difference between Engineering Corps and sappers?" Chen Tianhua asked. As the Director of the Political Department, he had the right to participate in the Military Commission meetings.

"Sappers are combat troops. The Engineering Corps are construction troops. When fighting, the combat troops go to the battlefield," Chai Qingguo provided the answer.

After understanding the difference between the two, Chen Tianhua stopped speaking. The meeting room fell into a strange silence.

Now that the systems of various departments of the People's Party were gradually being perfected, forming a new military branch was a major event. This wasn't just simply pulling out some people and opening a few new units. It was creating a brand new "fiefdom." The base area was developing so rapidly; the Engineering Corps might only have a few thousand people this year, but next year it might become a massive department of tens or even hundreds of thousands. To hold a position in such a newly established department meant an extremely rapid rise in rank. This was a big deal.

Wu Xingchen broke the silence again, "Chairman Chen, I want to ask, why do you look upon Comrade Gu Lu with such favor? Why do you want to give him such a big opportunity? Why do you believe this comrade can definitely do this job well?"

"Because Comrade Gu Lu has suffered grievances. And after suffering grievances, he never uttered a word of complaint," Chen Ke replied. The organization of the People's Internal Affairs Committee was the Party's sharp sword. According to historical records, the Soviet NKVD had at least three major internal purges, replacing even the gatekeepers several times. Although the People's Party's Internal Affairs Committee wasn't that severe, its internal investigations and work supervision inspections were extremely strict. More than 60% of former members couldn't stand this grievance and left the Internal Affairs Committee.

But this kind of grievance was necessary. Only by being strict to the point of almost "nitpicking" could a capable team be selected, and could these comrades realize the seriousness and importance of the work. Chen Ke had conducted an experiment; once, he didn't bring his pass, and the result was that he couldn't get through the gate of the People's Internal Affairs Committee.

Chen Ke wrote an order on the spot allowing himself temporary entry into the Internal Affairs Committee, and in accordance with regulations, had the accompanying Political Security Department cadre sign it before he could enter. Later, when Chen Ke ordered someone to check the archives, he found his hand-written order had been formally archived. And throughout the entire incident, no one came to apologize to Chen Ke. This satisfied Chen Ke greatly. Without this kind of iron discipline, nothing could be accomplished.

According to the investigation by the People's Internal Affairs Committee, even after suffering grievances, Comrade Gu Lu remained without complaint, working steadfastly. Chen Ke certainly adhered to the political view that everyone is equal, but this didn't mean Chen Ke believed people were born the same. Some people seemed born with extremely excellent qualities in certain aspects. Chen Ke knew that people like Gu Lu had existed in the Party's revolutionary ranks in history. In real life, Chen Ke had also seen them. He was indeed a talent worth molding. This was the reason Chen Ke wanted to promote Gu Lu.

Hearing the words "can bear grievances," many cadres' eyes fell on Wu Xingchen. Up to now, Wu Xingchen was the one among the senior cadres who had "truly suffered grievances." Wu Xingchen simply avoided the comrades' gazes and didn't answer.

It was Chai Qingguo who broke the silence, "Chairman Chen, I think Comrade Gu Lu can be promoted to a regiment-level position first. I feel we should arrange a battalion-level position for now. Recently, many people want to go to the Engineering Corps. As I see it, they obviously can't stand the current heavy work and want to run to the Engineering Corps Command Academy to escape work. I personally like Comrade Gu Lu very much; I've read his file, and he's remarkable. If it were me, I really might not be stronger than him. But I have a question. Right now, I can suppress these comrades who are unwilling to work honestly. Can Comrade Gu Lu do it? In his file, I see Comrade Gu Lu can control himself, but I can't tell if he can struggle against these unhealthy tendencies."

This was indeed a very severe accusation. After listening to Chai Qingguo's words, many comrades couldn't help but nod slightly.