"By sneaking off to Shanghai this time, I can finally get rid of those literati who came to me to plead for mercy." At the working meeting of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, Kong Zhang said cheerfully. There were many busybodies by nature, and the People's Party's education emphasized this very much. Plus, in this era where conservatism was still overwhelmingly dominant, the curiosity of the comrades was not enough to make them look for trouble.

"Electric Tyrant Kong, you are going to Shanghai. Do you have anything to say before you leave?" You Gou said to Kong Zhang with a grin.

"Why do you sound like I'm going to the execution ground?" Kong Zhang retorted, but his face was blooming with a smile. Kong Zhang liked listening to storytelling about the Sui and Tang dynasties, so he liked his nickname "Electric Tyrant Kong" very much. Firstly, this nickname reminded him of Li Yuanba, the number one hero of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Secondly, the story of Li Yuanba being struck dead by lightning after throwing a hammer at the sky gave Kong Zhang, who worked in the electric power industry, a special sense of superiority. After all, before joining the revolution, Kong Zhang's nickname in Xuzhou was "Struck by Lightning."

You Gou didn't intend to joke too much. She asked Kong Zhang, "Have you chosen your successor?"

Kong Zhang replied, "Comrade Hei Guofei should be able to take over the work in Wuhan, but personnel issues have to be decided by the Party Committee. My personal recommendation is useless."

After speaking, Kong Zhang couldn't help asking, "Comrade You Gou, I heard you are getting married?"

You Gou blushed, "We are talking about work. What does this have to do with work?"

"Your family is from Shanghai, and Political Commissar He's family is also from Shanghai. And you have to go to Shanghai anyway, so why not go to Shanghai with me and handle public and private affairs together? With the support of you two, won't it be glorious and decent for me?" Kong Zhang said with a grin.

Although Kong Zhang was humorous by nature and liked to joke, he was by no means a frivolous person. The reason he mentioned going to Shanghai was that the People's Party really wanted to do a big job in Shanghai recently. The city of Shanghai already had infrastructure levels exceeding most base area towns, but viewed as an industrial center, that infrastructure was far from enough. Sending Minister of Electric Power Kong Zhang to Shanghai to preside over the work proved the attitude of the People's Party. And the National Defense Science and Technology Commission also had to invest great strength in Shanghai. Other industrial enterprises could be built in other areas of the liberated areas, but shipyards could not. The shipyards in Wuhan were designed for building inland river and coastal vessels. The construction of the four 10,000-ton ships proposed by the US side must use the docks of the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai.

As the boss of the People's Party's industrial department and a native of Shanghai, today, ten years after not returning to her hometown, You Gou had to go to Shanghai personally for on-site inspection.

Mentioning work, the relaxed mood originally from talking about marriage disappeared completely. You Gou's purpose in joining the revolution ten years ago had nothing to do with overthrowing the Manchu Qing. She hoped to be able to display her strengths and become a useful talent. Revolution was a learning process, and You Gou also learned modern Chinese history. During the First Opium War, Britain cut off China's grain transport, forcing the Manchu Qing to surrender. The high-level officials in the People's Party knew that the next war with Japan was only a matter of time. Before the war started, the possibility of important coastal cities being bombarded by Japan must be considered. It would be too uneconomical for huge investments made with hard work to be destroyed by a few shells.

So the investment in Shanghai this time was by no means simply considering construction issues. If it were just to build a few power plants and waterworks, and lay some pipelines, let alone mobilizing a cadre of You Gou's level, even Minister of Electric Power Kong Zhang couldn't possibly leave his work in Wuhan to go to Shanghai for long-term work.

Reclaiming sovereignty and abolishing concessions were the wishes of many aspiring Chinese youths, but after reclaiming sovereignty, one must defend sovereignty. When You Gou chatted with He Zudao, they talked about this matter. Both felt that in this rapidly changing world where the weak are prey to the strong, one must be strong enough to defend the country's interests.

Kong Zhang certainly knew what You Gou was thinking, which was why he dared to suggest that He Zudao go to Shanghai together. As China's most important gateway, Shanghai indeed needed strong construction and defense. The National Defense Science and Technology Commission operated on a model integrating military and administration, and power plants were key units under military control. Kong Zhang had personally held a steel gun to patrol and stand guard not just a few dozen times over these years.

Among the people attending the meeting, the one who truly experienced enemy attacks from the sea was Qin Tongren. His attitude towards building Shanghai was the most conservative. The naval power of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was too weak, and building a navy would not be effective in just a few years. Trying to resist Japan's attacks from the sea by means of fleet warfare was impossible with the People's Party's current assets. So Qin Tongren said, "Judging from the experience in Wuhan, urban construction needs overall planning. Including preparations during wartime, everything must be planned first. I would suggest designing Shanghai's industries in a deep layout."

Hearing this, You Gou immediately got excited, "Urban planning? That still has to be done by Chairman Chen. Not only can we not plan it, but the cost issue is really too difficult to calculate. Wuhan's sewage is discharged directly into the Yangtze River. Look at what the Yangtze River has become. The location for the sewage treatment plant has been reserved, and construction has started. But this also involves a technical problem of using bacteria to decompose filth. We started researching bacteria six or seven years ago, and there are still no fully feasible results. Even if domestic sewage can barely be discharged into the Yangtze River after purification, what about industrial sewage? The stuff in there is even harder to deal with."

Many times, the more knowledge one has, and the wider the coverage of the content considered overall, the more headache the whole problem becomes. Urban construction must take all aspects of the entire city into consideration in advance. Fortunately, Chen Ke was knowledgeable, and Chinese was an extremely scientific system. Many times, even if he didn't know the specific operation, just hearing the term, he could roughly guess the technology and method adopted for the operation.

For Chen Ke, this was the accumulation of countless readings. For the comrades in actual work, it was a process of practice and exploration on an unprecedented scale. Mentioning work, You Gou, who had undergone countless tempering, would become inexplicably excited. Only this time, the direction of You Gou's feelings was somewhat different. She said, "I now feel that peace is a good thing. If there can be peace, we can boldly engage in construction. We don't have to waste so much thought in Shanghai."

"That is peace as you understand it." As a male, Kong Zhang's view of the world was quite different from You Gou's. "If we can defend China's peace, why should we care about what happens to other countries? If they are in chaos, we can watch more jokes."

"I am against wars of aggression." Qin Tongren had participated in wars after all. If he could retaliate against foreign aggressors, Qin Tongren would certainly be happy. But the feelings left by war for Qin Tongren were strong, so he hoped to avoid war more.

Kong Zhang didn't come to argue with his immediate superior about the future route of China. He changed the topic, "If we want to avoid war, we can only rely on offensive power. Currently, the biggest threat to defending Shanghai is the foreigners' fleets. If we can manufacture a large number of offensive weapons in a short time, such as vessels capable of launching torpedoes, it will still be enough to be effective."

It wasn't that Qin Tongren hadn't considered these plans. He replied, "Torpedo boats will be hit by the secondary guns of enemy warships. If we use mine attacks, it will affect Shanghai's normal shipping. As for submarine technology, our current accumulation is not yet mature. Let alone airplanes. Torpedo bombers, the name sounds grand, but current planes can't fly themselves if they carry a torpedo..."

The categories under the National Defense Science and Technology Commission were quite complete, including the national laboratory system, and the "brands" for various basic research were also complete. It was just that complete "brands" did not mean being able to produce results. The foundation of the scientific system was not those equations, but a large number of experiments, the summary of the experimental process, and the analysis and summary of the data after the experiment ended. Even in the 21st century where Chen Ke was from, technical personnel had to go through such a learning and practical process. Not to mention the People's Party, which had just started to truly build a scientific research system.

Seeing Qin Tongren chattering endlessly, Zhang Yu couldn't help interrupting him, "Chairman Chen has repeatedly emphasized not to count on any decisive weapon. Counting on winning by surprise is called writing, directing, and acting by oneself. I am very clear about this. But I always think that to protect oneself, one must first have the ability to attack. If one weapon doesn't work, then build a few more types. Sometimes it is more important to make the enemy feel worried, rather than manufacturing some weapons that have reached a perfect state."

Seeing that everyone was getting heated, You Gou laughed, "It seems that defending Shanghai doesn't require on-site investigation. We can probably solve the problem by holding a meeting here. Isn't that right, everyone?"

Such a calm statement dispelled the hostile emotions between Qin Tongren and Kong Zhang. Both actually knew that nothing could be debated out by debating alone. With You Gou smoothing things over, the two took the opportunity to stop the argument.

On February 10, 1917, the joint team of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission arrived in Shanghai. At this time, Shanghai was completely controlled by the People's Party. The first phase of work was led by Lin Shenhe, a former Shanghai patrolman.

Having had the experience of governing Wuhan, Lin Shenhe knew very well how arduous his work in Shanghai was. The work of the first phase was to completely destroy the old system while establishing a new one. The foundation of destroying the old system was to solve the land and employment problems.

In the past few months, the People's Party had reached agreements with Britain, France, and the United States, the most important of which was reclaiming the concession land. As for Japan, Germany, and Austria, the People's Party simply ignored the existence of these countries. There were many common people begging for food in Shanghai. To unite the masses, one must first find a way for the masses to eat. Lin Shenhe recruited a large number of laborers and took these laborers to start demolishing the concessions.

As a former patrolman of the concession police station, Lin Shenhe knew the concessions like the back of his hand. After reaching a consensus on land replacement with Britain, France, and the United States, Lin Shenhe started to act without even much discussion. The first to bear the brunt was the Japanese settlement. Lin Shenhe sent someone to tell the Minister of the Japanese Legation that the People's Party had taken back all the land. The Japanese side must move quickly within the deadline. Adhering to their consistent style of bullying the soft and fearing the hard, the Japanese, from officials to private individuals, indeed moved out completely within the deadline. Seeing that the Japanese moved honestly, the residents in the concession also honestly signed the demolition agreement. Lin Shenhe immediately invested the large amount of manpower in his hands to raze the Japanese settlement to the ground.

Then it was the turn of the areas around Shikumen and Xujiahui. Chen Ke told Lin Shenhe that any area with a church must be resolved first, and the church must be completely destroyed. If missionaries applied for new missionary sites, arrange them temporarily in the garbage dump. Anyone who believed in foreign religions could be treated as a pariah in policy. This was not Chen Ke's personal attitude alone. The only thing that made the comrades of the Party Central Committee deprive someone of equal status based on their belief was believing in foreign religions.

Although Lin Shenhe's wife was a quite devout Catholic, Lin Shenhe himself did not have the slightest dissatisfaction or unease with the Central Committee's attitude. He even executed this policy with joy in his heart.

After destruction came construction. Following the residential community model experimented with in Wuhan, the People's Party began to build a large number of four-story residential communities in the destroyed concession areas.

Shanghai had many people and little land, and there was the so-called Lilong culture. Chen Ke didn't care at all that he might be labeled as the destroyer of Lilong culture. As for Lin Shenhe, he didn't even have the concept of Lilong culture. According to calculations, the new residential communities could accommodate more than twice the previous population. Who should this extra housing be provided to? When the joint team of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission arrived in Shanghai, the Party Committee meeting of the Shanghai Management Committee was discussing this issue.

You Gou heard about this matter. She didn't care if people said she "started bossing people around as soon as she got off the bus." Without avoiding suspicion, You Gou spoke impatiently, "You can ask first, are these people working in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau willing to exchange their current residences for these communities?"

"Do those people in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau own their own houses?" Lin Shenhe was not afraid of You Gou and asked.

"Only with a stable home can one work happily. I have been in Shanghai for so many years, and I have never seen the homes of ordinary workers in the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau being bigger and better than the houses in our communities." You Gou used her intelligence advantage as a Shanghai local.

"What if they refuse to exchange?" Lin Shenhe asked.

You Gou laughed, "If they refuse to exchange, fire them. And with Comrade Lin Shenhe playing the bad guy, I have confidence in you."

Lin Shenhe was not angry about this at all. You Gou meant she was willing to take responsibility. With the National Defense Science and Technology Commission taking responsibility, what did Lin Shenhe have to fear?

Demolition was a tedious and long task. After giving an emergency suggestion, You Gou left the remaining work to Lin Shenhe to handle. Entrenched in the safety zone centered on the Shanghai Renxin Medical College, the National Defense Science and Technology Commission set up its stall and began its work.

The first thing You Gou did after settling the basic work was to take He Zudao to visit her parents. After He Zudao's brother, whom he depended on, died of illness a few years ago, he had no immediate family members at home. So He Zudao asked Yan Fu to act as his parent.

Yan Fu was of course a highly respected big shot, but He Zudao still felt some regret in his heart. He had always regarded Chen Ke as an elder brother and teacher. If Chen Ke acted as He Zudao's parent, He Zudao would truly feel satisfied.

You Gou's family could be considered truly rich in Shanghai, but compared to He Zudao or Yan Fu, they were at most ant-level existences. You Gou, the "prodigal daughter" of the family, had been away for ten years. At first, she became a member of a famous rebel gang. The You family did business, so they naturally understood the importance of intelligence. After learning this news, the You family once felt very terrified and tried hard to bring You Gou home. As time went by, You Gou gradually changed from a "rebel" to a "capable general of a separatist force," and recently became a dignified founding father. This roller-coaster-like experience made the You family somewhat at a loss.

No matter how You Gou's identity changed, their daughter was still their daughter after all. Upon seeing her daughter, the old lady immediately hugged her with tears in her eyes. After seeing his daughter, the old man first felt joy, then anger surged up, and he almost wanted to rush up and slap his daughter twice. But looking at the fierce and ferocious guard behind his daughter, the master finally held back the impulse.

After taking their seats, the old man let Yan Fu take the seat of honor. After Yan Fu sat down, he said, "Brother You, I am just attending on behalf of someone today. The one who should be sitting here is our Party Chairman Chen Ke. But he is really too busy with work to come in person, so he wrote a letter asking me to propose marriage."

Master You certainly knew who Chen Ke was now; he was an existence equivalent to an emperor. His daughter had followed Chen Ke for more than ten years, and this could be considered a fruitful result. Seeing Yan Fu stand up and hand a letter to him, Master You's hands were trembling so much he couldn't open the letter. Because of excessive excitement, he didn't know what to say, just repeating like a broken gramophone: "I don't deserve this! I don't deserve this!"

The excitement in He Zudao's heart at this time was no less than that of Master You. Apart from encouraging He Zudao to confess to You Gou quickly, Chen Ke had made no other indication on this matter. He Zudao certainly knew that Chen Ke couldn't get away to come to Shanghai no matter what. He had thought about holding a wedding banquet when returning to Wuhan, and drinking a few more cups with Chen Ke then. Unexpectedly, Chen Ke had long arranged for He Zudao's marriage.

He Zudao couldn't help grinning and wanting to laugh. For some reason, his nose soured and tears flowed out. Just as he wanted to wipe his tears with the back of his hand, he saw a handkerchief already handed to him. Turning his head, he saw it was You Gou, looking at He Zudao with an extremely rare soft smile. He Zudao took the handkerchief and wiped his eyes, feeling greatly satisfied in his heart. Even if he died now, he would have no regrets.

For the You family, He Zudao's marriage was considered "well-matched." This threshold certainly did not refer to the You family's status, but You Gou's status. For You Gou, this was just a private matter, and compared to the work she shouldered, it was even a trivial matter.

Destruction also required methods. Even before Lin Shenhe wantonly destroyed the old buildings in Shanghai, he asked the Public Concession Committee to hand over all maps and measurement data. The engineering corps of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had also nervously started survey work. In the plan of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, Wuhan was naturally already an industrial center. Shanghai would be another important industrial center.