In the official document transferred by the National Security Bureau, the sequence of events was very clear. The wife of the Xinyang Vice Mayor in charge of agriculture had a classmate working in an agricultural technology company. This company was conducting rice seed research and had developed a new type of late-season rice seed. Through connections, this new seed was recommended to the Xinyang Vice Mayor. After the Vice Mayor arranged for a small-scale trial planting which yielded good results, he disregarded the opposition from the Director of the Agricultural Bureau and suggested promoting this rice seed across the two leading bodies of Xinyang City.

There were certainly disputes. The small-scale trial was effective, so finally, with the mindset of presenting a gift to the nation, the two leading bodies reached a consensus to fully promote this late-season rice in Xinyang. By September, the rice had grown, but it did not head, leading to a total harvest failure of the second season of late rice.

Food is the first necessity of the people! Since the revolution in Fengtai County, this has been the foundation of the People's Party regime. Not having enough to eat is a total negation of a regime's governing ability. The massive population of China in the late Qing Dynasty brought social contradictions which were the most fundamental contradictions. The People's Party seized this main contradiction, destroyed the old land ownership system through land revolution, and thus stood out in the late Qing.

Water conservancy facilities, pesticides, fertilizers, improved seeds, soil improvement—the agricultural revolution route pointed out by Chen Ke received the support of the entire party and even the people of the whole country. The heavy chemical industry chain initiated by synthetic ammonia earned massive wealth for China. The technological breakthrough in large-scale synthetic ammonia production lines allowed fertilizers to begin entering rural areas on a large scale.

Fertilizer means soil fertility, and fertility means being able to plant two seasons. Planting two seasons means agricultural output can almost double. In the past two years, agricultural output has increased rapidly. As long as one works, one can eat their fill, and even save some money. The current status of New China has built an indestructible public support for the People's Party.

As one of the old members of the People's Party and one of the founders of the Fengtai County Revolutionary Base, Shang Yuan knew better than anyone the damage a local crop failure brings to the people, and the serious impact on the regime. If it were before, the several leading bodies in this region would have been dismissed and investigated from top to bottom, and shooting people wouldn't be rare.

However, in 1923, Shang Yuan did not immediately fly into a rage, and could even handle this matter with a relatively calm attitude. Shang Yuan did not directly order people to seize the two leading bodies of the Xinyang region, but instead invited the person in charge of the National Security Bureau to his office.

The People's Internal Affairs Committee deals with contradictions between the enemy and us; it is an extremely powerful structure. As the system has gradually improved over these years, the definition of national security is also changing. Security issues are caused not only by enemy invasion, espionage, and secret sabotage. The definition of national security is also vastly different. For example, the food issue. When there isn't enough food, the food issue lies merely in how to produce more grain. Now that the people can eat their fill, food security has turned into how to stabilize grain prices and social sentiment. Other industries are basically the same, so the People's Internal Affairs Committee was reorganized into the National Security Bureau.

"Director Dai, what is this investigation about?" Shang Yuan asked.

The current Director, Dai Qingshan, was from an old political work background. Hearing Shang Yuan's question, he frowned slightly. The National Security Bureau is currently directly under the Military Commission. However, there has been discussion about the positioning of the National Security Bureau. It is said that the latest plan is to place the National Security Bureau directly under the leadership of the Politburo. So, facing the question from Politburo Standing Committee member Shang Yuan, Dai Qingshan did not answer directly but asked back, "Premier Shang, do you feel our investigation overstepped the rules?"

Shang Yuan indeed felt this investigation overstepped. Such matters should have been the responsibility of the two leading bodies of Xinyang. Even if there were problems with the two bodies, it would be the People's Congress's turn to speak. The silence of all three bodies indeed indicated a major problem in the Xinyang region. But this does not mean the National Security Bureau can intervene in this matter as secret police.

The Republic has developed well these years. One of the positive effects of having a large family and business is being able to cope with these "small-scale" crop failures. From this perspective, Shang Yuan did not think it was necessary to act with burning urgency.

What Shang Yuan cared about was Chen Ke's predictions about various unhealthy tendencies within the party. The People's Party naturally cannot consist of all saints. Judging from a realistic perspective, it is easy to reach such a result. What Shang Yuan cared about was how exactly Chen Ke learned of these situations.

Even without being at the Politburo Standing Committee level, comrades at the Politburo member and Central Committee member levels all have a consensus, which is that no one is allowed to use personnel struggle methods to undermine organizational discipline. Chen Ke, in particular, cannot use personnel struggle to undermine organizational discipline. This was something Chen Ke had taught everyone.

The "Presenting Auspicious Omens" incident had already made Shang Yuan somewhat suspicious. This time, the National Security Bureau's intervention in the Xinyang crop failure event made Shang Yuan feel even more uneasy. Organizational resolution to employ secret police is an organizational act. If an individual employs secret police, this problem would be serious, even more serious than a crop failure in Xinyang.

"Our Security Bureau is responsible for rumor issues. While the feudal secret societies are being cracked down upon, mountainous areas, especially tea-producing mountainous areas like Xinyang, as you know, have many feudal superstitious activities. Things like 'Midnight Tea', getting little girls to pick tea in the middle of the night, full of ghosts and spirits. And other gimmicks. We have never ignored the Xinyang region. This matter didn't just come out now; there were signs more than a month ago. Comrades below reported such a thing long ago, and the masses are very afraid." Dai Qingshan dared to send the official document to Shang Yuan, so he wasn't unprepared. As soon as Shang Yuan asked, Dai Qingshan answered very frankly.

The use of chemical fertilizers has greatly promoted agricultural production. Even with the hard work of agricultural knowledge popularization teams, the masses still have a very instinctive reaction to such magical things, which is to habitually mythologize them. Spiritual energy, divine medicine—these traditions cannot be solved in a day or two. The old base areas of the People's Party are considered quite good due to the level of technology popularization. Other regions have had incidents where people thought chemical fertilizers could cure diseases, resulting in deaths from eating fertilizer. There were also incidents of large-scale poisoning using pesticides. Although the National Security Bureau cannot go out in person, it has never relaxed its inspection of intelligence.

After the news of "offending the immortals, so the rice didn't head" appeared in Xinyang, the National Security Bureau intervened in the investigation. The result was finding that the rice indeed didn't head, but they waited and waited without seeing the agricultural department or the two leading bodies of the party and government come out to explain to the masses.

Intelligence work has many methods, and this time no special methods were used at all. Just casually asking cadres and the masses revealed a lot of intelligence. After combing through the intelligence, apart from the specific scientific principle of rice not heading, the entire social operation immediately became clear.

Dai Qingshan waited another half month. The rumors in the Xinyang region became more and more intense, but the local leading bodies insisted on holding their silence. The National Security Bureau couldn't wait any longer. It was only a matter of time before this exploded. When it did explode, the National Security Bureau's investigation couldn't be hidden either. So he simply transferred this report to Shang Yuan.

Shang Yuan originally had considerable wariness towards the National Security Bureau's action. After hearing Dai Qingshan's statement, Shang Yuan didn't know what to say. This matter really had nothing to do with the National Security Bureau; rather, the level of bastardy of the local leading bodies had somewhat broken through the horizon. Shang Yuan's anger shifted from the National Security Bureau to the Xinyang locality.

"Director Dai, who else knows about this matter now?" Shang Yuan asked.

"Are you asking about the masses or the cadres?" Dai Qingshan asked back.

Shang Yuan was nearly 50 this year. Hearing the question from Dai Qingshan, who was less than forty, he couldn't help but blush. The masses in the Xinyang region probably didn't know the specific inside story, but how could they not know that the late rice in the fields had failed? The cadres in the Xinyang region definitely knew more. But in the central government in Zhengzhou, hardly anyone knew about this. At least Shang Yuan, as the Premier, surprisingly didn't know. For some reason, what came to Shang Yuan's mind at this moment was not the Xinyang region, but that indescribable smile of Chen Ke. It seemed like a joke, yet the more he thought about it, the deeper the meaning seemed.

"I asked the wrong question. Based on the situation you've collected, how many such incidents are there nationwide?" Shang Yuan, who originally thought the National Security Bureau was acting recklessly, now had to rely on the intelligence collected by Dai Qingshan.

"In recent years, there have been many incidents involving seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides nationwide. The scales aren't very large. This is the first time for something like Xinyang." Dai Qingshan replied.

"Did Chairman Chen entrust you to investigate such matters?" Shang Yuan asked.

Dai Qingshan frowned. He did not answer this question directly but stared at Shang Yuan. The sharp gaze made Shang Yuan feel very uncomfortable. However, Dai Qingshan did not look away at all; that sharp gaze seemed as if it wanted to pierce directly into Shang Yuan's mind to read his true thoughts. But this gaze did not last too long. Dai Qingshan also felt he had lost his composure. He turned his head and said, "Premier Shang, you should know that our National Security Bureau is strictly forbidden from using 'speechcraft' on comrades, right?"

Shang Yuan was shocked in his heart. The People's Internal Affairs Committee had undertaken the research topic of human behavioral science very early on. 'Speechcraft' is a psychological suggestion and guidance technique extended from human psychology and behavioral science. The People's Internal Affairs Committee and the later reorganized National Security Bureau have been purged five times. In the two more recent purges, many of the purged comrades did not commit any organizational errors or personal malicious errors; they were purged because they used speechcraft on comrades.

Dai Qingshan turned back. "Premier Shang, in terms of party spirit, we all have to learn from Chairman Chen. Compared to party spirit, let's not compare with him; we can't compare."

Shang Yuan suddenly had an illusion. He suspected whether he had been guided by Dai Qingshan's speechcraft. But Shang Yuan actually understood very well that the reason he had this illusion was that Chen Ke's predictions about the internal situation, like his predictions about the struggle against the enemy in the past, had been accurately fulfilled again. During the struggle against the enemy, no matter how magical Chen Ke's predictions were, once they came true, the People's Party would have a great harvest. Now Shang Yuan suddenly felt he could understand the enemy's mentality. Facing a Chen Ke who could see through them, how terrified those enemies who could understand this must be. That really is dying without knowing how one died.

Dai Qingshan looked at Shang Yuan's face, which showed a trace of pain. He deliberated for a moment before saying, "Premier Shang, our National Security Bureau is only responsible for security work. If you ask me what happened, I can realistically answer what we investigated. If you ask why these things happened, I suggest you ask Chairman Chen, and ask those comrades who did those things."

After Dai Qingshan left, Shang Yuan fell silent in his office for quite a while before finally getting up to find Chen Ke. After reporting the problem to Chen Ke, Shang Yuan handed the report to him. Contrary to what Shang Yuan thought, Chen Ke's expression relaxed after reading the report. Chen Ke didn't speak, just quietly waited for Shang Yuan to speak.

"I originally thought our People's Party's administration wouldn't have such major issues." Shang Yuan said.

"This matter isn't big," Chen Ke laughed. Compared to the matter of "10,000 jin per mu", compared to important national cadres standing on top of wheat supposedly yielding 100,000 jin per mu to take photos, and compared to such photos appearing in the People's Daily, the cadres of Xinyang can still be considered good cadres.

Chen Ke looked at Shang Yuan's face, where the muscles were almost twisting. He put away his smile and said, "In this matter, the Xinyang regional cadres acted unscientifically. They arbitrarily launched the promotion work through administrative means without demonstrating it in each village according to agricultural procedures. If there is a fault, it is actually just this one fault. They did not observe scientific laws."

Hearing Chen Ke's explanation, Shang Yuan thought about it carefully and found it was indeed the case. His heart felt relieved.

However, Chen Ke's expression became very grim. "Comrade Shang Yuan, do you know what a careerist is?"

Shang Yuan thought for a moment and said in astonishment, "Is someone trying to use this incident?"

"Hehe," Chen Ke sneered. "We must admit the facts. For comrades who want to be officials, for comrades without revolutionary awareness, what they care about is whether their official positions can be kept. Keeping their official positions is the core of everything they do. I personally guess that even when they make self-criticisms, it will just be one sentence: 'How could I have believed XXX?!'"

At the meeting of the two leading bodies of Xinyang City, the mayor said with regret: "How could I have believed XXX?!"

These words indeed spoke the heartfelt thoughts of everyone. What was originally a good thing to present a gift to the nation has now become a sword over everyone's head. The country is now grasping with two hands: grain and steel. With grain, the people can live and work in peace; with steel, industry can be developed, railways built, mines opened, and water conservancy constructed. If they hadn't believed in that rice seed which had quite good growth and harvest during the small-scale trial, and if they had used the most conservative method and used the most ordinary seeds, two seasons of harvest would have been enough to greatly improve the lives of the masses in the Xinyang region. This merit would have been enough to get a quite good rating for the region's work.

Now everything has come to naught. The cadres present know what terrible punishment they will face for causing such a result. In the revolutionary war years, this would mean losing one's head! Not to mention causing a crop failure in a region, just try stealing a hundred jin of grain as a cadre. The bloody lessons are not just one or two. Timid comrades were already trembling in their legs. Now the Central Government directly administers Henan. The local cadres in Henan once had great excitement: "We are all capital officials now!" Such jokes were not unspoken. Now they finally understand that capital officials are not easy to be! Anything happening in Henan will be stabbed directly to the Central Government.

"Should we report this matter?" the Agricultural Bureau Chief said tremblingly. As the person in charge of the agricultural department, the Agricultural Bureau Chief had no possibility of shirking responsibility. Naturally, no one responded to this. Only the scratching sound of the recorder recording echoed in the conference room.

"Stop recording! Can you?!" The Agricultural Bureau Chief wanted to use a relatively stern voice, but when it came out, it turned into an almost pleading tone.

These words reminded quite a few people. Their eyes fell on the Party Committee Secretary. The Party Committee Secretary couldn't help but shudder. Meetings must have records; this is the regulation of organizational discipline. If a temporary meeting doesn't have time to record, it must be supplemented afterwards. And the municipal committee records definitely already included their discussion on presenting a gift to the nation. When saying those words at that time, the comrades were all full of enthusiasm. However, having received so much training and education, they actually knew that such speeches were extremely unfavorable to everyone.