Chai Qingguo undoubtedly pointed out the key to management: simply managing oneself well might create an outstanding individual, but it absolutely could not create an outstanding organization. Chai Qingguo genuinely did not dislike Gu Lu; this young comrade with a somewhat girlish name had a trustworthy temperament, and Chai Qingguo had never heard Gu Lu speak a single word of boasting. Whether a person was honest or not didn't depend on their inner desire, but on their actual execution ability. Gu Lu lacked leadership experience, which was indeed a fatal flaw. Records proved that Gu Lu could manage a platoon well. Chai Qingguo had seen many comrades with this ability, but the problem was that when the organization handed over a battalion or a regiment to them, these comrades often did not perform outstandingly.

"If Chairman Chen insists on having Comrade Gu Lu be responsible for this work, you have the final authority on personnel, so I won't say more. If Chairman Chen wishes to discuss this at the Party Committee meeting, I believe the position of the Engineering Corps should be filled by a comrade with more experience." Chai Qingguo gave his opinion. Chai Qingguo's view represented the thoughts of most comrades. Although the Engineering Corps was a non-combat branch, comrades were still very interested if they could become the general person in charge of an area.

Wu Xingchen coldly watched the emotionally agitated military cadres. He faintly sensed Chen Ke's intentions in his heart. Clearly, Chen Ke did not intend to let these military cadres, who already held high positions, directly take over the newly constructed Engineering Corps and Railway Corps. In the construction of new branches, Chen Ke intended to employ a large number of newcomers, rather than letting existing military cadres take over command in a routine manner. There were certainly many reasons for doing so. The darker interpretation—worrying about the emergence of factionalism—was the one most easily thought of by people. However, Wu Xingchen genuinely didn't want to consider Chen Ke's intentions that way. To guess Chen Ke's thoughts using personnel struggles was to underestimate Chen Ke too much. If Chen Ke decided to do something, there were often more calculations behind it.

Listening to the Military Commission comrades discussing the new department as if they could already treat it as something that should belong to them, Wu Xingchen felt increasingly uneasy. Just then, Chai Qingguo said with a cold face: "I am responsible for this Yunlong Lake excavation project. I feel that many comrades here are fundamentally unsuitable for this job. Many comrades' view of the Engineering Corps is still that 'you can do it just by carrying a shovel.' I feel this is completely not the case. The Engineering Corps must first understand machinery and arrangement. This is not a job that relies solely on manpower."

This statement was truly too far beyond everyone's expectations. Chai Qingguo opposed Chen Ke easily promoting young cadres, so many people thought Chai Qingguo hoped to become the Commander-in-Chief of the Engineering Corps himself. And many comrades also felt they could work under Chai Qingguo. Unexpectedly, Chai Qingguo now made a statement that overturned the whole boat with one pole. Many comrades could no longer figure out what Chai Qingguo was planning.

"Comrade Chai Qingguo, do you mean that you are the only one here suitable for this job?" Even though he belonged to the same faction as Chai Qingguo under Wu Xingchen, Pang Zi couldn't help but question him.

Facing Pang Zi's accusation, Chai Qingguo was completely unmoved. "I am only opposing the direct appointment of a large number of young comrades to assume leadership posts in the Engineering Corps, but I do not think that comrades, including myself, can assume this work. This new branch must be built steadfastly from the most basic level; this has to be learned. Chairman Chen wants to build an Engineering Corps Command Academy; I think this is very correct. This is a field of learning, not something where anyone can just go and be an officer."

Pang Zi and many comrades were stunned, and even Wu Xingchen and Chen Ke showed expressions of surprise. Chai Qingguo took out an engineering construction map and hung it on the blackboard. He simply explained a calculation problem. The area of Yunlong Lake was about seven square kilometers. If dug one meter deep, 7 million cubic meters of earth would have to be excavated. If calculated according to an average depth of about 15 meters, that would be 100 million cubic meters of earth. Calculated based on one person digging and transporting two cubic meters of earth a day, the 140,000 laborers currently employed would need about 400 days to complete this workload.

In fact, this project not only required digging a pit but also building a dam. From Yunlong Mountain in the east to Han Mountain in the west, a dam with a total length of more than 4,000 meters had to be built to block the annual floods from south to north south of the dam.

"This is the project we are currently facing," Chai Qingguo said. Before these comrades, who had participated in the project and had a basic understanding of it, could interrupt, Chai Qingguo drew a line on the engineering map with his finger. "This is just the beginning. I discussed this with those German devil engineers. They suggested excavating a flood diversion tunnel here. The water storage capacity of Yunlong Lake is certainly large, but with so much water hanging over Xuzhou's head, if it rains continuously one year and the dike collapses, it would be a catastrophe for Xuzhou. Therefore, a Yunlong Mountain flood diversion tunnel must be excavated to guarantee Xuzhou's safety. This flood diversion tunnel designed by the German devils is 621 meters long from east to west, 7 meters wide, and 6.5 meters high. In an emergency, opening the floodgates can drain the lake water through the tunnel to the east in three hours. Who among us here thought of this project?"

The comrades who originally thought their understanding of this project exceeded Chai Qingguo's were stunned by this flood diversion project. No one had considered this issue. Even after Chai Qingguo clearly and plainly explained the flood diversion tunnel engineering, many comrades still had foolish looks on their faces. They had not even fully understood this very important project.

Chai Qingguo did not stop there. His finger drew another circle on the map. "The flood diversion tunnel drains water to the east. Where should this water be injected? It must be into those few rivers. During the rainy season, these places are already full of water. What will be the result of diverting floods into them? Has anyone considered this? The Engineering Corps doesn't just have to work; it also has to conduct overall design. Those who understand this line of work are now basically all in Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi. We have no one in Shandong who understands this."

Pang Zi frowned and looked for a good while before asking, "Comrade Chai Qingguo, what exactly do you mean?"

Glancing at Pang Zi, Chai Qingguo said openly and uprightly, "My meaning is simple. I think if there are comrades who want to work in this field, they should start learning from the beginning and start working from the grassroots level. Don't always think about transferring over laterally and starting from a leadership position."

Wu Xingchen scanned the circle of Military Commission comrades who were temporarily in a state of shock. He suspected that Chai Qingguo was making the above statement under Chen Ke's orders. However, this thought only existed for a moment. Chai Qingguo was not the kind of person who echoed others, nor was he the kind of guy who would easily jump out to play the good cop or the bad cop. Since he spoke so decisively, he definitely had his own thoughts. It was just unknown what exactly he had encountered that made Chai Qingguo actually make such an intense statement.

Chen Ke had the same doubts as Wu Xingchen, but after all, Chen Ke had seen Chai Qingguo's attitude towards Section Chief Zhang. Chen Ke could understand that profound dissatisfaction with petty people. For Chen Ke, he had, after all, received more systematic training and education. As the Chinese saying goes, "Interlaced mountains are like different worlds" (Different trades are separated as by mountains). In the 21st century, the professional gap between various industries was even greater. In order to find opportunities to "get rich overnight," Chen Ke had participated in many different industries. Those failures left a deep impression on him. Just like a friend of Chen Ke's who opened a barbershop once said during a chat, "Give you a head, and you can't even touch it right."

But now was not the time for this kind of reflection. Chai Qingguo had already intensified the contradiction to a considerable degree. After the brief shock, the participating comrades fell into a mood of annoyance. It was just that Chai Qingguo had a high position and deep seniority. He had always been considered a staunch supporter of Wu Xingchen. Now that Wu Xingchen didn't make a sound and Chen Ke didn't make a sound, although everyone was annoyed, they couldn't think of any words to respond for a while.

"Then you..." Pang Zi stopped after only saying two words.

Chai Qingguo knew what Pang Zi wanted to say. He replied, "I am only willing to fight wars. I will absolutely not get involved in the construction of the Engineering Corps. I can't do this."

Seeing that things were not going right, Wu Xingchen hurriedly interjected, "Chairman Chen, what is your view on this?"

Chai Qingguo had said all of Chen Ke's thoughts for him. Chen Ke cared very much about "mountain-topism" (factionalism). The characteristic of factionalism was not that a certain group of people tried to control a certain field for a long time, but that a large number of factions would emerge. Fierce struggles would take place between various factions to compete for more positions. This kind of factionalism was quite harmful to work. Now the comrades in the army already had factional tendencies. Chen Ke did not want this group of people to spread into the newly established departments like mercury spilling on the ground.

Chai Qingguo grasped this issue very accurately. Chen Ke was originally still considering how to explain this issue clearly in a mode of "stressing working methods." But he didn't expect Chai Qingguo to actually come out voluntarily and solve this problem.

Since Wu Xingchen asked, Chen Ke naturally couldn't pretend to be the good guy himself and sell Chai Qingguo out. "I think Comrade Chai Qingguo's attitude is very correct. His entry point into this issue has grasped the crux of the problem. The Engineering Corps and Railway Corps are very professional branches. Directly transferring laterally without receiving technical training is obviously unreasonable."

By now, Wu Xingchen naturally understood Chen Ke's meaning. He also immediately expressed his stance. "If the comrades present have plans to work in the Engineering Corps, I think they can propose a change of profession and start from scratch in this new department. What does Comrade Tianhua think?"

Chen Tianhua didn't expect Wu Xingchen to drag him in as well. He was responsible for the work of the Political Department and was in charge of ideological issues. Chen Tianhua deeply agreed with Chai Qingguo's opposition to "lateral transfer." The scale of the base area's expansion was so fast that in order to effectively manage such a vast base area, corresponding departments were also established one after another. Even with the supervision of the powerful People's Internal Affairs Committee and the discussion of the Party Committee meetings of various departments, these rapidly promoted cadres still caused quite a few problems. If lateral transfer became a convention again, it would really cause more problems.

Thinking of this, Chen Tianhua also said clearly and unequivocally: "I think Comrade Chai Qingguo's statement is very good. There is a specialization in every field, and every comrade has their own characteristics. If they don't start from the grassroots step by step, problems will definitely arise. I support Comrade Chai Qingguo's view."

The leaders of the Party, government, and army all expressed their attitudes, and the one who proposed this view was Chai Qingguo, who had a high status. Even if other comrades completely disagreed with Chai Qingguo's point of view, they knew that at least for now, there could be no loosening on this matter. No one raised any objections, so based on Chai Qingguo's suggestion, the basic outline for the establishment of the Engineering Corps and Railway Corps was finally established.

Meeting ended, Chen Ke specifically went back to the construction site command post with Chai Qingguo.

"Old Chai, what do you actually think of Comrade Gu Lu?" Chen Ke asked.

Chai Qingguo was slightly stunned. He thought Chen Ke would ask about the formation of the Engineering Corps. "Chairman Chen, who recommended Comrade Gu Lu to you?"

Chen Ke pondered for a moment. He originally trusted Chai Qingguo very much. After the meeting just now, Chen Ke's trust in Chai Qingguo had deepened a lot. "Qi Huishen recommended him. You know, it's really not easy to go in and out of the People's Internal Affairs Committee's investigations several times."

Chai Qingguo was amused by this. "Aye, that's true. King Yama Qi's place is not easy to get along with."

Hearing the title "Qi the King of Hell," Chen Ke couldn't help but smile too.

Chai Qingguo quickly pulled his train of thought back to work. "Comrade Gu Lu is really a good comrade. Humble, cautious, and not afraid of hard work. Qi Huishen's vision is quite high. However, I think Comrade Gu Lu has a huge advantage: he doesn't care about fame or profit at all. Others care about promotion and holding power. Comrade Gu Lu doesn't care about this; he cares about whether he can do the job well with all his heart and soul. He can endure grievances. But in work, this is also a shortcoming. To put it bluntly, if no one firmly supports him behind his back, Comrade Gu Lu will suffer losses in many struggles. My biggest feeling now is that when the forest is big, there are all kinds of birds. Some comrades are not incapable, but their minds, ah, are just not upright enough. At many critical moments, Comrade Gu Lu can fight against unhealthy tendencies, but if you let him fight to sit in that position, he can't do it."

"It seems you gave him a chance." Chen Ke asked.

"I gave him chances more than once or twice. But Comrade Gu Lu's mind is too upright. I think he should be a political commissar. Letting him engage in these administrative tasks, he can't beat people like Section Chief Zhang." After Chai Qingguo finished speaking, he couldn't help shaking his head and sighing.

"Old Chai, if we systemically force everyone to work like Comrade Gu Lu, will it... offend some people? Will many comrades not understand?" Chen Ke's words were rare in being somewhat hesitant.

Chai Qingguo frowned after hearing this. He stared at Chen Ke for a while before saying, "That wouldn't just be offending *some* people; that would offend a huge batch of people. Quite a batch of people would have to fall off their horses. I thought about this too, and tried it too. But I found that once we do this, not only will those who are squeezed out be full of complaints, but even many comrades who work well can't understand or accept this way of doing things. Speaking of this, I think of Comrade Gu Lu again. He can understand why we need to do this, but if you ask him to think of every possible way (*qian fang bai ji*) to fight against those people, he can't bring out that attitude of 'a thousand plans and a hundred schemes'."

"A thousand plans and a hundred schemes... Haha!" Chen Ke was convulsed with laughter by this exquisite wording. Chai Qingguo's description of this was truly too exquisite. As the saying goes, a gentleman takes revenge ten years later; a villain takes revenge from morning to night. To deal with villains, one must bring out the attitude of "a thousand plans and a hundred schemes." But for those excellent cadres, working with "a thousand plans and a hundred schemes" already felt beyond their ability, so where would they have so much mind to place on haggling with villains?

Chai Qingguo really couldn't understand this humor of Chen Ke's. He was full of difficulty for the sake of work. Chen Ke, on the contrary, laughed so heartlessly. Glaring at Chen Ke with disgusting eyes for a while, Chai Qingguo was gradually infected by Chen Ke's optimistic performance and finally couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Chen Ke finally stopped smiling. He patted Chai Qingguo's shoulder. "Old Chai, at this time, if we don't rectify, something will happen. We have to stand out and clearly oppose some things. I definitely can't do it alone. If it weren't for you today, and I had said those words, everyone's thoughts would definitely be very different."

Chai Qingguo looked at Chen Ke for a while. This time he suddenly laughed heartily. "As long as you, Chairman Chen, can make up your mind, some words that offend people really should be said by us."

Regarding Chai Qingguo's attitude, Chen Ke couldn't help nodding repeatedly. He wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.