The envoy sent by Comrade Lenin couldn't be a high-ranking cadre. In the results of the meeting discussion, the People's Party didn't care much about Comrade Lenin, let alone expect anything from the envoy. Zhang Yu did some preparation, but he soon found that apart from rhetoric like "Protect world peace, let us help you," he had no better way to deal with it.

The Russian Bolsheviks hoped to withdraw from the war together with the People's Party as soon as they opened their mouths. The People's Party had contributed very little to the war, nor did it expect to get more things from the war. Seeing that they could recover the sovereignty China lost after enduring until the end of the war, Chen Ke had predicted that after this great war, countries around the world would definitely learn from the painful experience and establish a new world order. New China was about to truly enter the world stage for the first time. No matter how one looked at it, there was no reason to sacrifice its own interests for the interests of Russia.

As for Soviet Russia shouting about canceling all Russia's unequal extraterritorial rights in China, this made Zhang Yu feel even more ridiculous. Not to mention that Russia currently had no power to maintain its privileges in China at all, even if Russia refused to cancel its privileges in China after the end of the World War, did they think they could really keep these privileges?

The People's Party achieved national liberation relying on the support of the Chinese people. Along the way, they worked hard and endured hardships. The blood and sweat of the comrades were sprinkled on every inch of the liberated areas. Comrade Lenin wanted to fool China just by opening his mouth. Zhang Yu found it interesting just thinking about it.

Even Zhang Yu felt this way, not to mention other comrades. Chen Ke always liked to say that if domestic construction could accumulate a tiny bit more, there would be considerable returns in the days to come. Facts proved that what Chen Ke said was absolutely correct. The comrades of the People's Party completely did not think it necessary to delay China's time for the Russians.

Moreover, the current focus had shifted to the new policy promoted by Chen Ke. The method of commercial banks approving loans triggered a comprehensive backlash from various provinces and many central departments. State-owned enterprises in the People's Party base areas, with strong capital and manpower advantages, easily occupied almost all industries. In such a bustling construction process, suddenly those office workers in the banks took the power of economic construction that could have been owned by party and government organs into their hands. How could the high officials of the People's Party, government, and military be convinced?

The comrades in the Central Committee were probably temporarily persuaded by Chen Ke, while the comrades in the localities could guess without thinking that this must be a bad idea advocated by Chen Ke. Everyone was used to this kind of thing. Comrades found that every time Chen Ke took out a new system and put it on the comrades' heads like a bridle, the comrades felt uncomfortable all over like bound wild horses. Making cynical remarks and complaining loudly were mild reactions. In more intense times, it wasn't unheard of for people to privately shout "re-elect the party chairman next time." Waiting until Chen Ke's rules worked in practice, allowing increasingly complex and expanding work to find suitable execution methods, and spreading from the upper to the middle and lower levels, the comrades would begin to sing praises of Chen Ke's "mature and prudent planning for the country."

After repeated tossing and turning over these years, the comrades were too lazy to scold Chen Ke for blind command anymore. Actual experience told everyone that even if they couldn't understand it now, it wouldn't be long before the comrades would be grateful for how effectively these seemingly outrageous policies protected comrades institutionally, saving them from committing many mistakes enough to be beheaded.

However, the system of commercial banks being responsible for approving projects still aroused great resistance. No one dared to scold Chen Ke, so the fire point shifted to Xu Dian's head, the Standing Committee member of the Politburo in charge of the judiciary. The Politics and Law Committee and the People's Internal Affairs Committee were the two departments that killed the most People's Party members in this world. And Xu Dian, who was responsible for the judiciary, undoubtedly "bore the anger of the world," and getting scolded was also expected. Xie Mingxian, Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee, was undoubtedly one of those dissatisfied with Xu Dian at present.

Xie Mingxian was not in Hunan but on a boat to Hubei. Hunan had abundant water systems, and the People's Party developed the shipbuilding industry desperately. Now more than 30% of the ships traveling on the Xiang River were equipped with engines. Fleets with volumes significantly larger than sail-powered ships either went downstream or went upstream with thick smoke rising from their chimneys. Some large steamships towed long container-style barges behind them, moving on the water surface like a long dragon. It looked majestic and imposing. On the contrary, those sail-powered ships and small boats either gave way or hindered shipping. The water police had to travel back and forth in speedboats to maintain order.

As the Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee, Xie Mingxian should have been happy about this, but looking at the situation before him, he frowned.

Hunan was liberated relatively late, and the local situation was also relatively complex. Suppressing bandits in Western Hunan was not difficult. In an era when bandit groups armed with five or six single-shot rifles could be called fierce bandits, the People's Party's bandit suppression troops were equipped with magazine rifles, light machine guns, mortars, grenades, signal flares, and compasses. There were planes for reconnaissance in the sky, and wolf dogs searching ahead on the ground. After two years of repeated suppression, except for the bandit bones with brain problems, Western Hunan bandits had become a historical term.

For Hunan Provincial Party Secretary Xie Mingxian, Western Hunan bandits had not been a problem since He Zudao took military control of Jiangxi seven or eight years ago. The political propaganda significance of completely eradicating bandits was far greater than the practical significance. What Xie Mingxian needed was investment in Hunan. Only by reducing the cost of living through investment could the people of Hunan be closely united around the People's Party.

This idea was very popular in the newly opened liberated areas. In this beautiful era of flourishing production and sales, there were only problems of not being able to produce, not problems of not being able to sell. Xie Mingxian had a good relationship with Li Shouxian, the current Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee. Back then, Li Shouxian fully understood Chen Ke's instructions. Others felt that it was difficult to engage in production in mountainous areas and were willing to go to the plains. Li Shouxian did the opposite, running almost all over the mountainous areas of Anhui, sparing no effort to help the people in the mountainous areas develop and straighten out the production and transportation channels of various products. As soon as the European war started, the originally poor Anhui immediately took on a new look.

With the income of the people rising, when Li Shouxian called on the masses to build roads, open canals, and build reservoirs, everyone was enthusiastic and devoted themselves wholeheartedly. There was no need to emphasize raw silk anymore. Chestnuts, tea, and bamboo, products that were nothing in the south, became the pillar industries of Anhui. Besides gaining great fame, Li Shouxian actually made Anhui look a bit like the richest place under heaven.

Another successful example was the poor place of Jiangxi. When He Zudao governed Jiangxi, the method adopted was similar to Li Shouxian's. Moreover, He Zudao's biggest success highlight was the development of the deer breeding industry. Velvet antlers, deer skin, deer antlers, deer bones, deer blood, deer meat, deer tendons—these things had absolutely no worry about sales.

Before the outbreak of the war in Europe, deer skin and deer antlers were very popular commodities internationally. Once the European war started, the prices of these products rose with the tide. This pioneered the large profit of the animal breeding industry of the People's Party.

As a late-developing area, Hunan had neither the accumulation of old liberated areas nor the foundation for engaging in industry. The masses in this place were conservative, and local forces were strong. Chen Ke's suggestion to Xie Mingxian was to start by liberating thoughts locally. But Xie Mingxian did not agree with this very much. He believed that Hunan lacked leading products and should adopt the method of the advanced driving the backward. Now that land reform had been completed, the People's Party precisely needed to let Hunan recuperate temporarily and promote changes in the entire Hunan through economic development.

Hunan did not lack water systems. In the late Qing Dynasty, Hunan had an internal impulse to fully develop shipping. As long as the People's Party could increase investment in this area, it should be able to achieve immediate results. After a few years, the driving role of water transport was obvious, but it was far from meeting Xie Mingxian's expectations. Ironically, the regulation that banks were responsible for project approval appeared at this time.

Banks in various places were vertically led by commercial banks, and commercial banks were directly led by the People's Bank of China. The laws drafted by Xu Dian and others stipulated that the People's Bank of China was the central bank of the People's Republic of China and one of the constituent departments of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. According to the "Law of the People's Bank of China of the People's Republic of China," under the leadership of the State Council, the People's Bank of China independently executed monetary policy, fulfilled duties, and carried out business according to law, free from interference by local governments, government departments at all levels, social organizations, and individuals. Even the Ministry of Finance was not the direct leader of the People's Bank of China. After this party organization adjustment, Chen Ke was actually already the leader of the People's Bank of China.

These years, banks and taxation were rectified miserably in repeated rectifications. Many people fell from power, and quite a few lost their lives. With these lessons from the past, even if the desks of the presidents and secretaries of various commercial banks were piled with various notes requesting loans, they strictly abided by the bank's system and persisted in various approval processes that seemed complex and meaningless.

Even if Xie Mingxian was angry out of shame, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't carry a gun to find the person in charge of the bank and demand a loan. If Xie Mingxian did this, first of all, those people in the bank would probably not give Xie Mingxian a loan even if they died. Because dying at the hands of Xie Mingxian could at least earn the title of a martyr. If they lent money not according to regulations, besides a dead end if found out, they would also have to bear the stigma of criminals. Secondly, if Xie Mingxian dared to do this, within a few hours, those people from the People's Internal Affairs Committee would drag Xie Mingxian away with guns.

Even though he had read in books that wise monarchs and virtuous ministers could "clarify laws, set systems, and clarify the world," Xie Mingxian praised this very much. However, when he tried to display his ambitions under such clear systems, Xie Mingxian realized how difficult it was. The system designed and executed by Chen Ke set limits at every level, controlled at every level, and supervised at every level. It was no longer possible for any province to act arbitrarily according to its own ideas like when Chen Ke managed Anhui ten years ago.

What made Xie Mingxian even more annoyed was that Xu Dian, with great power in hand, issued orders to various provinces, requiring them to thoroughly implement the execution of the "Marriage Law," and actually criticized Henan and Hunan by name. Being famous in the central government like this was really not what Xie Mingxian expected. Xie Mingxian's annoyance with Xu Dian was completely imaginable.

In a state of full anger, Xie Mingxian began to arrange the implementation of the Marriage Law intensively, requiring cadres in various places to summarize the local situation. But Xie Mingxian did not drag the comrade in charge of the judiciary over for a fierce criticism. If he only had this level, Xie Mingxian would absolutely not be able to sit in the position of Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Committee.

At this time, Xie Mingxian received a letter from his hometown in Hubei, saying that his mother was critically ill and hoped to see Xie Mingxian before she died. Xie Mingxian was a filial son, so he was naturally burning with anxiety. As the Secretary of the Provincial Committee, Xie Mingxian also understood that many things recently would change. So he asked for leave from the Provincial Committee to go to Hubei to visit his mother.

Xie Mingxian's mother was a concubine, which was also an important reason why Xie Mingxian embarked on the revolutionary road. Because he was smart and eager to learn since childhood and was praised by the teacher when studying, Xie Mingxian was often made difficult or even beaten by his half-brothers. Xie Mingxian's mother was a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of his father's wife, suffering all kinds of difficulties. At that time, Xie Mingxian learned patience and disguise, and also buried hatred deep in his heart.

After the People's Party seized Hubei, Xie Mingxian once took his mother out to live with him. As a result, after living for a few months, his father wrote a letter asking Xie Mingxian's mother to go home. Xie Mingxian certainly knew the reason; his father didn't want to accept land reform and also wanted Xie Mingxian's brothers to get a half-official position through Xie Mingxian's influence. With deep pleasure, Xie Mingxian said to Lu Huitian, Secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee, at the organizational meeting, "Our family cannot have a single bit of special treatment. Our family's children absolutely cannot be taken care of. Old Lu, if you violate discipline, don't say I didn't tell you openly. Be strict rather than lenient with our family."

Everyone was an old comrade-in-arms and knew each other inside out. Who didn't know what Xie Mingxian meant? The comrades were just waiting for a word from Xie Mingxian. Since Xie Mingxian put his words here, everyone naturally did what they should do.

Xie Mingxian certainly refused to let his mother go back to that home to suffer anger again. When he left home and chose to participate in the revolution, he no longer regarded that home as home. Those who bullied him, those who were hostile to him, and those who stood by and watched were already strangers to Xie Mingxian. Being able to take his mother out to live together, Xie Mingxian never wanted to see that home again.

It was just that things were not as Xie Mingxian thought. He thought that from then on he could live a life of working hard, honoring his mother, and serving his mother to enjoy her old age. But there were always people unwilling to let Xie Mingxian get what he wanted.

Xie Mingxian's father wrote many times asking Xie Mingxian's mother to go home, and Xie Mingxian always withheld the letters. However, his father did not give up, and finally sent one of Xie Mingxian's uncles to find them personally. The middle-aged man, frightened into stuttering by the stern atmosphere already initially possessed by the People's Party, finally didn't know which nerve went wrong and actually said to Xie Mingxian's mother: "Big Brother said, if you don't go home again, don't go back in the future, and don't think about being buried in the Xie family's ancestral grave."

Xie Mingxian was a scholar by origin anyway, and also had the title of Xiucai in the former Qing Dynasty, so the consistent view of those comrades from rough backgrounds on Xie Mingxian was "quite refined." But at this time, Xie Mingxian stood up abruptly like a reckless fellow, grabbing his uncle's arm and dragging him out. However, what Xie Mingxian worried about most happened; his mother burst into tears.