The National Day of 1923 was approaching. Construction on the People's Square opposite the Five-Star Building continued day and night, creating a brightly lit scene after dark. The Monument to the People's Heroes was nearing completion, as was the Great Hall of the People. Engineers specializing in acoustics and optics were testing various sound equipment, lighting, ventilation systems, and backup power supplies twenty-four hours a day. The area near Zhengzhou had no shortage of flat land, and various parade formations were stepping up their drills, striving to present a gift for the National Day. The orderly military commands and slogans could be heard clearly from several miles away.

However, in the Prime Minister's office within the Five-Star Building, Shang Yuan was shouting at several provincial governors and party secretaries with a rarely seen high pitch: "Are you offering auspicious signs? Is this a republic or a feudal dynasty? Are you high-ranking officials guarding the frontiers or people's cadres?"

The faces of several provincial party secretaries turned pale. They had never expected that someone as steady as Shang Yuan would have such a violent side. Shang Yuan couldn't be blamed for getting truly angry; even at forty-three years old, Chen Ke hadn't become any more tolerant. With age, he might have even become a bit more acerbic. Before the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan, and before the national situation reports from various provinces arrived in Zhengzhou, Chen Ke had one day said with a tone of malicious cheerfulness, "This time, someone might just launch some satellites for us, engaging in some National Day gift-giving or something."

Shang Yuan hadn't taken it to heart at the time. As the Prime Minister of such a large country, if Shang Yuan took everything everyone said to heart, he would have died of exhaustion long ago. As a result, the day after Chen Ke said that, "victory reports" from several provinces were sent into the Prime Minister's office. Things like vegetables and fruits weighing dozens of catties growing in the fields, or some strange bumper harvest in a certain place. In short, the situation was not just a little good, but excellent. Shang Yuan was, after all, a Juren (provincial graduate) of the former Qing Dynasty; he knew exactly what this stuff was at a glance. The Prime Minister's office and the Chairman's office were very close, so Shang Yuan dropped the reports and stormed into Chen Ke's room.

"Chairman Chen, did you receive some news?" Shang Yuan asked Chen Ke seriously.

"What news?" Chen Ke was confused by the question.

"Didn't you just say yesterday that someone was going to launch satellites?" Shang Yuan's expression became even more serious.

"Oh... that matter." Chen Ke couldn't help but laugh. "That was my guess."

It really was Chen Ke's guess. However, in history, after Comrade Liu Xiuyang became the State Chairman, he immediately launched a round of satellites. Chen Ke didn't have much data, so he couldn't fully understand Comrade Liu Xiuyang's thoughts. But bureaucracy is the same in ancient times, modern times, China, and abroad. A bureaucracy responsible to its superiors has the advantage of quantifiable assessment of bureaucratic work, but its disadvantage also lies in the quantifiable assessment of bureaucratic work. Making the boss happy is one of the best ways to pass the assessment. Seeing Shang Yuan's angry appearance, Chen Ke even found it quite amusing; the Prime Minister of New China seemed to have encountered a problem in this matter.

Shang Yuan really hadn't expected Chen Ke to give such an answer. He naturally couldn't know that Chen Ke had been in contact with so many political struggles, so a casual "guessed it" could absolutely not make Shang Yuan feel Chen Ke's sincerity.

"You can guess that someone is launching satellites just by guessing?" Shang Yuan said, prepared to get to the bottom of it.

"Launching satellites and offering auspicious signs have no essential difference; they are just the same practice under different historical environments," Chen Ke answered solemnly.

"Comrade Chen Ke, what exactly do you want to say?" Shang Yuan asked seriously. He found Chen Ke's attitude of speaking in half-sentences very unacceptable.

Seeing that Shang Yuan was very dissatisfied, Chen Ke didn't dare to continue speaking flippantly. He said seriously, "We are all materialists. There is a saying that I feel I cannot entirely agree with, but I think it still makes some sense: 'Existence is reasonable' (Hegel: What is rational is actual and what is actual is rational)."

"Reasonable? That depends on whose reason it fits," Shang Yuan said. "I have a doubt this time. Chairman Chen, did you know something beforehand, which is why you said what you said yesterday?"

Chen Ke smiled. "We all claim to be believers in Marxism and claim to have read historical materialism. Chance and necessity—how do we explain this matter?"

Shang Yuan frowned. Chance and necessity were, of course, important components of historical materialism. Chen Ke's words seemed to contain more malice. Historical materialism believes that necessity is built upon a definite material basis, while chance merely determines the specific time of its occurrence. Viewing the problem from this angle, the occurrence of "offering auspicious signs" was an unavoidable event. Yet Shang Yuan believed that the occurrence of such things was not reasonable.

However, Shang Yuan was Shang Yuan after all, a tested warrior of the People's Party. Since the event of offering auspicious signs had already happened, Shang Yuan would not think that such a thing was an illusion, or that certain individuals had lost their party spirit and moral standing. For anything to happen, there must be inevitable factors. Accusing comrades without cause was unreasonable, even though Shang Yuan had already decided to accuse the comrades.

So after summoning several comrades to Zhengzhou and hearing them express that the historically breakthrough events were congratulations for the National Day, he still couldn't hold back his anger. "I manage the administrative department; comrades from the Party Committee can go find Chairman Chen. I just want to ask one thing: what exactly do the comrades responsible for administration mean by reporting these situations?"

Rebuked by the Prime Minister like this, the comrades were also stunned. Shang Yuan actually already knew what these comrades meant, which was why he was particularly furious. "I can tell you about something that happened recently in Zhengzhou. A comrade slapped a production team leader in the face in public."

The ins and outs of this matter were simple. Qin Tongren's son worked at the Zhengzhou Machinery Plant. The team leader issued a production task order. This order took the highest daily production output ever achieved by the machinery plant's production team as the standard and required every production team worker to complete this task. After listening to this, Qin Tongren's son first negotiated with the production team leader. The result of the negotiation was that the production team leader required the team members to overcome all difficulties to complete the task. In a fit of rage, Qin Tongren's son slapped the production team leader in the face in public and cursed, "Aren't you harming people?!"

This slap won the secret applause of all the workers in the production team. The highest production volume on an accidental day was by no means the norm. If they had to work according to that highest day every day, who could stand it?

Shang Yuan finished telling this story seriously, then asked the governors a question. "Can you guarantee that the size of every similar agricultural product grown in the fields is the size of that agricultural product you presented as a gift for the National Day? Can you do that?"

The governors dared not make a sound. They actually hadn't lied; there really were agricultural products that suddenly grew to abnormal sizes. But to have every similar agricultural product reach such a huge volume was absolutely unrealistic.

Even without Chen Ke specifically explaining, Shang Yuan quickly understood where the joint lay. New China's industrial and agricultural production were both developing. Improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides were all developing rapidly. The gun steel technology introduced from Germany hadn't been completely put into military use. Under Chen Ke's intervention, the gun steel technology was instead first developed by a joint technical task force with the synthetic ammonia reactor task force to develop a new generation of large-scale synthetic ammonia reactors. The heat and high-pressure resistant gun steel production technology proved effective in civilian industry. With large reactors, the key problem restricting the Republic's synthetic ammonia technology was solved, and the annual production line of 40,000 tons of synthetic ammonia finally achieved a breakthrough. The cost of synthetic ammonia dropped by more than 50%. The Republic's agricultural production quickly popularized chemical fertilizers.

The industrial system commanded by You Gou included seed production, and there were also many statistics on data regarding the massive abnormal growth of plants. The agricultural technology department was very cautious about this. They collected a large number of abnormally huge crops for research, attempting to find the root cause of this gigantism. After collecting more data, You Gou still didn't dare to report good news; instead, she conducted scientific research very cautiously. Yet the governors dared to report good news; this was simply taking science too lightly.

Facing the seemingly aggrieved expressions of some governors, Shang Yuan didn't want to engage in any further discussion. He knew that if he discussed it further, he might lose control of his emotions even more. "I'll just ask one question. When you reported these things, did you consult the person in charge of the agricultural department? Party Committee matters don't involve administrative issues; that is the scope responsible by Chairman Chen. What kind of process have you actually come up with in administration?"

If Shang Yuan's anger could be considered to have awed the governors, Shang Yuan's question surprised them. Why should governors consulting the central government inquire with the agricultural department? This process was indeed quite "novel." Moreover, the governors summoned by Shang Yuan hadn't told lies; huge crops really had grown in the fields. If Shang Yuan had directly launched a heart-condemning attack, they might have been able to argue some reason, but since Shang Yuan didn't attack their motives, they didn't even know what to say.

Shang Yuan looked at the governors who hesitated to speak, his annoyance indescribable. The dark clouds of war not only hadn't left China's skies but showed a trend of becoming even more intense. At this time, the governors were actually playing this game. Shang Yuan had managed to hold back even more intense words with great difficulty. Finally controlling his emotions, Shang Yuan tried to speak plainly: "China wants to rise, and it can only rely on seeking truth from facts. Inviting you here this time was to discuss this very issue. Since you comrades wanted to present gifts for the National Day, then as the Prime Minister in charge of administration, I also feel it necessary to speak with you comrades about this issue."

Those who could mix their way up to being governors were definitely not fools, let alone those provincial party secretaries. "Premier Shang, we were wrong. We reported blindly without properly researching the situation; it was indeed very imprudent."

"You aren't preparing to make the agricultural department the scapegoat, are you?" Shang Yuan immediately replied. Shang Yuan knew the rules of officialdom much better than these comrades. Upon hearing this, Shang Yuan knew that what he had just said had absolutely no effect, so he simply pointed out these people's thoughts.

Now, a quite long silence appeared in Shang Yuan's conference room.