"The comrades inspecting the autumn grain will be here before long, how am I supposed to report to the comrades from the Ministry of Agriculture then?" The Director of the Xinyang Agricultural Bureau faced much greater pressure than others. The government report could be written slowly, but the autumn grain inspection was definitely not something that could be easily dealt with, "How about we find Commander Chai and talk to him about this first?"

Chai Qingguo had been the Commander of the Henan Military District, and many cadres had transferred from the army back then. Now without a Henan Provincial Committee, and facing unfamiliar central comrades, the cadres in the Xinyang region didn't think they could muddle through. But seeing the clerk still recording, the Agricultural Bureau Director swallowed the rest of his words back into his stomach.

The clerks were managed by the Confidentiality Division, and the Confidentiality Division was responsible for archive management. Theoretically, as long as one could control the archive records, one could resist a large part of the higher-level investigations. However, the system clearly stipulated that any act of tampering with archive records, once discovered, would result in immediate removal from all posts, and accountability would be pursued; serious cases would lead to sentencing or even execution. The current situation, however, would not reach the extent of sentencing or execution. Although every person in the two leadership teams hoped the clerk wouldn't record, if the clerk really didn't record, the next choice for the members of the Xinyang City leadership teams would be to immediately fire this clerk. In any case, if a clerk could dominate the affairs of the two leadership teams, the members of the two leadership teams might as well commit suicide and be done with it.

Finally, the public meeting was forced to end, and the Mayor and the Municipal Party Secretary simply started a small meeting. Among the other comrades, at least three had voted against the decision when determining the rice seeds, and the other comrades were now also at a loss. At this time, it depended on the leaders.

"We can only find Commander Chai to put in a good word for me," the Mayor said.

"Will Commander Chai speak for us?" The Municipal Party Secretary was very uneasy about this.

The Mayor was very helpless, "One of those who voted against it was the Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the other was the Director of the Organization Department. It's already loyal enough of them not to have exposed this matter up to now. I can guarantee that if anyone from the Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department comes down to investigate, they will say everything. If we wait any longer, something will happen sooner or later. So we can only hurry to find Commander Chai. If he knows beforehand, he will speak for us no matter what."

"But Commander Chai is in Hebei now. If he wants to speak for us, he has to find someone else again. With this back and forth, will there be enough time?" The Municipal Party Secretary finally revealed a look of panic. Don't look at how he also tried to arrange the content of the report to the higher-ups, but the People's Party stressed seeking truth from facts. Lies were lies after all; perhaps they could deceive everyone for a period of time, perhaps they could deceive a certain part of the people forever, but they could absolutely not deceive everyone forever. Not to mention that none of the cadres in the Central Committee of the People's Party were fools. There were many guys who practiced fraud, yet in the end, things were all exposed. After things were exposed, no one could escape the organization's punishment.

"We must protect our own comrades," the Municipal Party Secretary said to the Mayor, which was also his own final psychological barrier, "If we can't protect our own comrades, are we still human?"

The Mayor also couldn't help but nod repeatedly. Once this matter blew up, it was very likely that the two leadership teams would be taken out together. The comrades had all made it to their current positions with great difficulty. To completely lose their official positions just because of one mistake was indeed very pitiable.

"Then let's go find Comrade Chai Qingguo. For this National Day, Comrade Chai Qingguo should be arriving in Zhengzhou." The Municipal Party Secretary finally made up his mind. There wasn't much time left for him.

Chai Qingguo was indeed in Zhengzhou. The commanders of the coastal military districts, especially the northern coastal military districts, had all gathered in Zhengzhou. Japan would absolutely not accept that its path to rise would end here, just as China would absolutely not accept that the path of rejuvenation could not be traversed. In such irreconcilable contradictions, time was obviously on China's side. New China was becoming stronger every day, especially the navy. The former General Staff personnel of Germany had exchanged a full set of submarine technology for a large amount of funds, and were improving German submarines together with China. New ideas that Germany itself did not dare to easily adopt, because China undertook the research and development as well as experiments, Germany boldly proposed various upgrade ideas. For example, the snorkel technology used on submarines.

As a Military District Commander, as an army soldier, Chai Qingguo originally didn't want to care about naval equipment, but the geographical situation of Hebei forced Chai Qingguo to care about this issue. When large surface ships could not yet rival Japan, and the air force also lacked the ability to threaten large Japanese naval vessels, submarines capable of launching torpedoes underwater appeared particularly important.

"The biggest difference between the navy and the army lies in that once a naval vessel is damaged, there is no such thing as on-site treatment, dispersing to hide, and planning to fight again. After I took the navy class, I felt that the navy is very fragile." Chai Qingguo was discussing the future situation with the Xuzhou Military District Commander and the Northeast Military District Commander over a map.

"I really didn't know about damage control before. If there is a hole in one place, the combat effectiveness of the entire ship will drop. Submarines are just guerrilla warfare at sea." Mu Husan, the Northern Commander of the Northeast Military District, nodded in agreement.

The Xuzhou Military District also had a very long coastline, so it was particularly sensitive to invasions from the sea. Yang Baogui, the Commander of the Xuzhou Military District, was very uncomfortable with this, "Guerrilla warfare is right, but there are no base areas at sea. Warships can only undergo maintenance and refitting by returning to port. The army's thinking cannot be completely used as experience."

The Military Commission generally welcomed war, although after the Great Kanto Earthquake in Japan, the Military Commission was very skeptical about whether Japan would adopt war measures after its war potential was greatly frustrated. When internally strong, one could take one's time and appropriately show weakness externally; when internally weak, one had to show more toughness instead. However, war was after all a contest of national power. After the overall national power declined, war could not be sustained at all.

While the Military Commission was discussing these issues, Chai Qingguo received news that the Xinyang Municipal Party Secretary had come to visit his old leader. Chai Qingguo didn't want to see this subordinate at all. Now, heaven knows when the war would start. Once Japan jumped over the wall in desperation, the war would expand to Korea. However, not long after the guard went out, he came back again, "The Municipal Party Secretary insists on seeing you, saying there is important business."

Yang Baogui had been a political commissar for a period of time, plus he had a good relationship with Chai Qingguo. Seeing that Chai Qingguo wanted to go out, he couldn't help but say, "Old Chai, I say, don't stir up any trouble."

"Stir up trouble?" Chai Qingguo was somewhat puzzled.

Mu Husan also said, "What big matters can there still be between the army and the government? If there is a big matter, he can go find Gu Lu, what use is there in finding you?"

With the development of productivity, the field armies had gradually decoupled from local governments, and the military system itself was also changing. For a Military District Commander like Chai Qingguo, unless it was a major natural disaster where the army had to be used for disaster relief, otherwise if there were any large-scale projects locally, or if technical support was needed from the troops, they could just directly find the Engineering Corps and the Railway Corps. The Central Government directly administered Henan, and the Hebei Military District Commander couldn't manage Henan's affairs either.

Chai Qingguo was naturally very grateful for the kind reminders of the two Military District Commanders, but he was still somewhat strange. exactly how big of a matter could it be to make the Xinyang Municipal Party Secretary run over to find him?

Seeing the Xinyang Municipal Party Secretary's miserable face, Chai Qingguo's heart shivered. After listening to the situation, Chai Qingguo stood up abruptly, pointed at the Municipal Party Secretary and shouted, "Secretary Wu, you feel that you made it to your current positions with great difficulty, and it's very pitiable to completely lose your official positions just because of one mistake. Then are the common people who had a total crop failure in the autumn harvest because of your blind fucking commanding not pitiable? Who is more pitiable exactly?!"

The Municipal Party Secretary naturally wouldn't think he could easily persuade Chai Qingguo. Even being scolded didn't make him despair, "Commander Chai, we did our work very well. Xinyang had a bumper harvest of summer grain this year. Even if something happened to the autumn grain, the common people's lives aren't impossible to get by. But once something happens to us, then there will be no chance in the future."

"Bullshit!" Chai Qingguo was completely furious after hearing this, "Have you lost your balls as an official? I ask you, no matter how many victorious battles you have fought, if you disobey orders for your own benefit, command blindly yourself, and get people killed, will the military court let you off or not? After daring to do it, how come you dare not take responsibility?"

"That matter really wasn't done by us, it was the rice seed strongly recommended by the Deputy Mayor. It's not like we didn't do trial planting, it was really fine back then!" The Municipal Party Secretary also felt that he was really too aggrieved.

"You... since you have your own reasoning, then go find the Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Agriculture to say it now. What are you telling me for? You want to ask me to plead for you, don't you? Fine, I order you now, go to the Commission for Discipline Inspection immediately to confess and explain. I will order the guards to escort you there, I'm actually afraid you'll run away on the road." After speaking, Chai Qingguo immediately ordered the guards to take the Municipal Party Secretary away. When the Municipal Party Secretary was forcibly taken away by Chai Qingguo's guards, for some reason, he actually felt a trace of relief in his heart.

Watching the back of this former subordinate, Chai Qingguo was so angry that his hands were trembling. He deeply hated that he hadn't listened to the advice of Yang Baogui and Mu Husan just now. No one thought of finding Chai Qingguo for glorious and face-saving things, but they asked Chai Qingguo to help with crooked ways. Chai Qingguo actually really wanted to pull out his gun and shoot this former subordinate.

After a long time, Chai Qingguo barely calmed his anger. He returned to the Military Commission's conference room in a rage. Yang Baogui and Mu Husan were both smart people. Seeing Chai Qingguo's expression, they said nothing, waiting for Chai Qingguo to speak. After listening to Chai Qingguo's introduction, Yang Baogui laughed, "You are preparing to drag us in to be your witnesses. Then you have to treat us to a drink."

Mu Husan sneered, "This kind of thing is becoming more and more common."

The words of the two old comrades-in-arms actually allowed Chai Qingguo's emotions to be relieved a lot. He asked angrily, "You have also encountered this kind of thing?"

"Many cadres in the localities act very disgracefully. Some soldiers suffered grievances in their hometowns, and they said quite a lot of things after returning to the army," Yang Baogui replied.

"Chairman Chen doesn't care about these people either. What has this become!" After all, Chai Qingguo had engaged in military control in several provinces, and his civil administration experience was not necessarily less than that of government cadres.

Mu Husan replied, "Commander Chai, the military and administration are completely separated now. Our army should not intervene in local affairs."

Chai Qingguo had nothing else to say except for a long sigh.