"If you don't want people to know, don't do it." Everyone in the People's Party knew that Chen Ke's chosen successor was Li Runshi. There were no longer any comrades in the People's Party who planned to overthrow Chen Ke and take his place. However, since Chen Ke favored Li Runshi, there were certainly comrades who thought about waiting for Li Runshi to stumble and then replacing him. But there was not a single person who was actively preparing to destroy Li Runshi's political future with all their might. Everyone knew that Chen Ke did not tolerate sand in his eyes. The biggest change was that many people were trying to build a good relationship with Li Runshi and get on his line.

After some probing, these comrades discovered why Li Runshi had been chosen by Chen Ke as his successor. Aside from not tolerating sand in his eyes, Li Runshi was no less strict than Chen Ke in strictly observing the Party's system and discipline. This made many comrades dislike Li Runshi.

As the other successor candidate, Wu Xiangyu, in addition to being able to adhere to principles, had smooth skills and was very decent in dealing with people and things. Everyone actually knew that Wu Xiangyu was no less capable than Li Runshi in maintaining the Party's system, but given the choice between the two, comrades would rather choose Wu Xiangyu.

Of course, it wasn't that there were no comrades who supported Li Runshi. Most of the young comrades valued by the Party, including Wu Xiangyu, chose to support Li Runshi. This puzzled many comrades.

Ever since the United States began its massive military expansion, Chen Ke had also made his choice. He only retained the positions of Party Chairman and Chairman of the Military Commission, and formally resigned from all other positions. Li Shouxian became the State Chairman, Li Runshi served as the General Secretary of the Party and concurrently as the Vice Chairman of the State, and also concurrently as the Vice Chairman of the Military Commission. Wu Xiangyu formally became the Premier of the State Council. Xi Biwu was the Prosecutor General, and Ren Peiguo took over Qi Huishen's position as the Minister of the Organization Department.

The international reaction to this was "bewilderment." The sudden rejuvenation of China's leading cadres was completely unconventional. What was China planning to do?

As for the domestic front, many comrades began to be tempted again. Viewing this change from the perspective of Eastern political struggles, Chen Ke was trying to use the strong external pressure of war to maintain Li Runshi's status. Once the war was over, the "Crown Prince" would have formally ascended the throne, and no one would have the ability to change the fait accompli. At this critical moment, who could become the "Crown Prince" was a very important matter. The calls supporting Wu Xiangyu were actually increasing.

Wu Xiangyu had always been considered a very motivated comrade, but he had never been labeled as "ambitious." The vast majority of comrades believed that Wu Xiangyu was perfect to the point of being impeccable. Not to mention Li Runshi, even Chen Ke could not compare to Wu Xiangyu in many aspects.

After listening to a lot of completely irresponsible remarks, Li Shouxian found that Chen Ke, Li Runshi, and Wu Xiangyu, who were at the center of the rumors, had no reaction to this at all. But such matters could not be brought up at the Party Committee meeting, so Li Shouxian finally found Wu Xiangyu to have a heart-to-heart talk.

Wu Xiangyu's wife hosted Li Shouxian very warmly and decently. Li Shouxian had to marvel at the importance of having a good partner. When Wu Xiangyu's wife stood with Wu Xiangyu, people often got the feeling of a talented woman and a handsome man. In terms of the level of dealing with people and the height of viewing problems, Wu Xiangyu might not necessarily surpass his wife. Many comrades who chose to support Wu Xiangyu did not necessarily really oppose Comrade Li Runshi, but because they trusted Wu Xiangyu's wife very much. Love me, love my dog; everyone couldn't help but be more inclined towards Wu Xiangyu.

Chen Ke's wife, He Ying, was unable to help Chen Ke in this regard. He Ying gave the impression of a traditional lady who always walked in Chen Ke's shadow and was cared for and protected by Chen Ke. Li Runshi's wife gave the impression of an opinionated and friendly intellectual woman. She made people feel that she was a trustworthy, big sister-like woman. In the Party, Wu Xiangyu's wife was really ranked first.

This feeling could also be seen at the dinner table. Chen Ke had made great achievements in the food industry just as he had in other industrial sectors. For example, in the construction process of large-scale frozen food industries including dumplings and glutinous rice balls, Chen Ke contributed greatly. Even for mass chain food such as Roujiamo, Liangpi shops, and fast food restaurants, Chen Ke could be considered to have great credit.

But Chen Ke himself gave people a very outrageous feeling about food. Even if he ate delicacies from the mountains and seas, the feeling Chen Ke gave people was at most eating for freshness, and he forgot about it after eating. No one had seen what Chen Ke liked to eat, nor had anyone seen what Chen Ke disliked to eat. When Chen Ke began to care about food, needless to say, he definitely treated food as an industry in an industrialized society. This terrible attitude of completely being unable to connect life enjoyment with Chen Ke's own true feelings sometimes made everyone feel that even if they served Chen Ke two ladles of pig swill, he could eat it with relish.

Although not as exaggerated as the impression left by Chen Ke, the food at Li Runshi's home could absolutely not be called exquisite. But the food at Wu Xiangyu's home was different; very simple food, very suitable and decent. Just like the style of Wu Xiangyu's wife, which was always just right.

The atmosphere was naturally harmonious during the meal. Wu Xiangyu was relatively fond of wine. When they started drinking and talking about business, his wife naturally left. When talking about business with a smart person like Wu Xiangyu, the more obscure it was, the easier it was to cause misunderstandings. So Li Shouxian brought up some matters within the Party straightforwardly.

Wu Xiangyu's expression did not change at all. He replied: "Chairman Li, a few days ago, Comrade Li Runshi and I discussed why we recently have signs of greatly relaxing armaments and vigorously strengthening infrastructure construction in the South. Comrade Li Runshi explained that the United States' vigorous expansion of armaments is actually the time for them to try their best to avoid direct conflict. Now accelerating infrastructure construction in the South is actually the safest time. Comrade Li Runshi's level in strategy and execution is quite high. The Central Committee's appointment of Comrade Li Runshi is very correct. Since this is the case, I only have to firmly execute the Party Central Committee's resolutions."

Li Shouxian greatly appreciated these words, but he was still a bit worried. After all, there were too many people involved now, and the words of many comrades could not necessarily be considered friendly. Sometimes when external conditions changed, many comrades would involuntarily change as well.

Wu Xiangyu saw Li Shouxian's worry. After taking a sip of wine, he smiled and said: "Chairman Li, some comrades openly said some words with different views on the resolution. The fact that they can say it openly means they may not necessarily truly support it in their hearts, and in a sense, it is just a kind of complaint. The People's Party has begun to carry out the replacement of the old with the new. Everyone is used to Chairman Chen's mode. It is too normal to have doubts, worries, and unaccustomed feelings about the new leadership team. No one in the Party can open up a path and point out the future by their own strength like Chairman Chen. I'm afraid there won't be anyone in the future either. Any new comrade who comes up will probably not be able to do this. Comrades are neither accustomed to the new era opened up by Chairman Chen so far, nor are they accustomed to the era without a leader like Chairman Chen. In the current situation where we are stranded in the middle of nowhere, my image, which is similar to an excellent bureaucrat in tradition, just looks very pleasing to everyone's eyes. This pleasing to the eye does not mean that comrades truly support me to become the Party Chairman. To put it nicely, I am merely an excellent Prime Minister. Everyone may not necessarily not accept Comrade Li Runshi, but temporarily cannot accept Comrade Li Runshi as the standard-bearer of the new Party."

After hearing these words, Li Shouxian's heart churned. Even though Li Shouxian would absolutely not oppose Chen Ke's arrangement, he couldn't help but suspect whether Chen Ke was a bit hasty when making the decision. Even this passage was enough to prove that Wu Xiangyu had the mind of a leader.

However, a moment later, Wu Xiangyu said: "These remarks are Comrade Li Runshi's views. After I heard them, I thought for a good while, and I deeply agree with them."

Hearing the subsequent explanation, Li Shouxian felt his heart drop back into his stomach. He didn't know if his relaxation was because Chen Ke hadn't chosen the wrong person after all, or because Wu Xiangyu expressed his lack of other thoughts with an attitude that couldn't be clearer. In short, the People's Party's transition so far had not gone wrong, which made Li Shouxian greatly relieved.

But having been relieved about this, Li Shouxian began to worry about other things. Why did Chen Ke choose to carry out the personnel handover at this time? In routine checkups, Chen Ke's health was very good. The 60-year-old looked like he was just in his early 40s. The possibility of Chen Ke dying suddenly during the war and causing internal chaos in China was not high. 60 years old was still the golden age of a politician, and Chen Ke did not show signs of retreating behind the scenes.

Combining these contents, Li Shouxian could only come to one conclusion: Chen Ke was preparing for a certain major event in the future. As for what major event it was, Li Shouxian couldn't figure it out.

The words Wu Xiangyu relayed from Li Runshi just now gave Li Shouxian a feeling of sudden enlightenment. Chen Ke created a brand-new China. From a materialist perspective, all people in China lived in this world composed of matter. However, conceptually, the majority of people living in China might not necessarily truly be able to accept such a new world.

The new world is not a simple improvement of the old world, nor can it be said to be a new world just by turning the people's living standards into the current living standards. In the country, it wasn't like people from the old era sourly said, "Doesn't the People's Party just know how to farm and run factories?" This attitude was firstly not materialist.

Now that the level of People's Party comrades had improved a lot, plus there were so many "negative teaching materials," everyone generally believed that if Chen Ke were in the old era, he might not necessarily be considered a talent. He had too many shortcomings that would be enough to be called "fatal" in the old era. What made Chen Ke shine brilliantly was the new era led by Chen Ke. And this new era truly solved the problems of the old era from the root.

If there were no land reform in the new era, it would be impossible for China to solve the problem of mass bankruptcy of the people as soon as there was a famine year, let alone solve the problem of massive hidden unemployment in China that would completely crush China. After the People's Party implemented land reform, the old era completely ended in the countryside. No matter how the upper class of the old era wailed and fantasized, the system they depended on had undergone fundamental changes.

As for the industrial technology development that let everyone eat their fill, Li Shouxian, who had ample work experience, could elaborate with a combination of theory and rich practice that the industrial system and the industrialized era were two completely different things from building a few factories in the agricultural era. This was a fundamental change in the social system. This was a brand-new era.

The problem lay in that the people had not rationally recognized this era. Everyone had to live in this new era. While obtaining a better life, they were also filled with more confusion and uneasiness. Ostensibly it was opposition to Li Runshi, but in reality, it was the manifestation of the uneasiness and confusion brought by this new era among People's Party members and even the public. In the uneasiness and confusion, what everyone needed to see was a base point, the existence of an old era full of positive symbolic meaning. For example, a "Wise Prime Minister" like Wu Xiangyu. The existence of such an iconic figure would make everyone feel that they had temporarily found a foothold where they could rest while running breathlessly. What everyone needed now was very likely to take a rest, slow down, catch their breath, and get used to everything around them and arrange their lives more calmly.

Thinking of this, Li Shouxian suddenly understood why he had that strange feeling about Chen Ke being able to "eat pig swill with relish." That was actually a symbol, that was Chen Ke always standing at the very front of New China, giving people a strong feeling that "everything is possible." That was a certain kind of resentment born towards Chen Ke after everyone felt uneasy and even dissatisfied for a long time.

Even though such huge negative feelings were brewing, no one dared to rise up and oppose Chen Ke. At most, they expressed some dissatisfaction with the successor arranged by Chen Ke. This had already proven what kind of rallying power Chen Ke possessed.

If viewed from such an angle, Li Shouxian could completely understand why Chen Ke had to make such tough personnel arrangements now. Moreover, with Li Shouxian's understanding of Chen Ke, Chen Ke would not choose to pause or retreat in the face of such a situation. With the persistence of storming for thirty years until now, Chen Ke would only use his own method to drag China into a newer era at a faster speed. Because Chen Ke firmly believed that only by living in the new era was it possible to choose to completely break with the old era. Or at least be forced not to adopt the lifestyle of the old era.

Chen Ke must be planning something, and this planning was very likely in a way that even People's Party comrades would find hard to understand.

Thinking of this, Li Shouxian suddenly became uneasy. If even a firm People's Party member like him could clearly feel these things, then what kind of reaction would the comrades below have? What kind of feelings would the people have towards this new era? The answer was estimated to be unlikely to be too optimistic.

The feeling of uneasiness became stronger and stronger. If looking at it according to Li Runshi's analysis, from the perspective of the country, Li Runshi being the successor was the most correct thing. But correctness from the national perspective did not necessarily equal the correctness that the people desired in the short term. If Chen Ke did not handle this matter well, this would be the beginning of a real tragedy.

147 Great Change (6)

As soon as Chen Ke's personnel arrangement was completed, the newly appointed Chinese leaders began to exercise their responsibilities according to their positions. Li Runshi immediately went to the Soviet Union for a visit. Wu Xiangyu was the busiest; he arranged the work of immigration to New Zealand and Australia, and was also responsible for the renaming of Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, he convened an economic conference of China, Japan, and Korea.

Japan itself was an industrial country. After getting a large number of orders from China, its economy was immediately activated. Kita Ikki also enforced technological upgrades and eliminations in Japan, and the development of Japan in the new era was quite smooth.

Korea was slightly more eccentric. First of all, there were problems with internal integration. Secondly, the land reform was done very poorly. Coupled with the low level of industrial development, Korea became the country with the highest operating costs among the three countries. Korea received the least number of orders, and the industrial quality was also the lowest. Therefore, Korea kept staring at Japan's history of aggression, trying to fish for more benefits for itself in the talks.

If this were a comrade within the People's Party, they would have been dragged out and criticized severely long ago. Meetings were for discussing economic issues, not for participants to throw tantrums and roll around. Even knowing beforehand that this was possible, Wu Xiangyu was extremely unhappy when encountering this situation.

The worst thing was that what the Korean side proposed was not a matter of paying some money and apologizing. In terms of apology, the new government of Kita Ikki had sincerely apologized. Regarding the issue of embarking on the path of militarism, the new Japanese government also sincerely reflected on it after coming to power. Through the East Asia Three Countries Mutual Defense Treaty, Japan reduced its standing army to 270,000. After the Chinese army completely withdrew from Korea, leaving the bases and equipment to Korea, Korea did not have a problem of backward army military equipment when facing Japan.

As for reparations, the new Japanese government also expressed willingness to compensate. With China privately subsidizing Japan a little, the compensation could be considered relatively large. The problem lay in that the Korean representatives demanded many privileges. Everyone knew that high-level technology represented higher output value and profits. Korea demanded the technology transfer of the shipbuilding industry as soon as they opened their mouths. Even if the Korean side knew this was unrealistic and China could not possibly dump huge amounts of funds in Korea to help Korea build shipbuilding bases, they still bravely made the request. Nominally, it was demanding Japan to transfer technology as compensation.

If it weren't for the appearance of deep hatred between Korea and Japan now, Wu Xiangyu would even suspect whether Korea and Japan had colluded in private. Korea asked Japan to transfer technology, and Japan would definitely take the opportunity to ask China to transfer technology. At least from the effect, this was not directed at Japan, but at China. Wu Xiangyu considered it and felt that this issue of technology proliferation had to be discussed at the Politburo Standing Committee meeting.

"Does Korea think that our production capacity will encounter problems in the near future?" Xi Biwu, who took over the political and legal affairs, was very puzzled by this. Even as a Standing Committee member in charge of political and legal affairs, Xi Biwu was very clear about how much production capacity China's four major domestic shipyards, as well as the newly planned shipyards in New Zealand and Australia, actually had. "Korea hasn't even finished its internal land reform, and actually thinks about making a big fortune from the outside?"

"Regardless of whether they want to make extra money, has Korea made the preliminary preparations for receiving these industries?" Propaganda Minister Comrade Li Xiangsong came from a background as a Provincial Party Secretary and knew the characteristics of the industrial sector very well. None of the "5+2" Standing Committee members was completely ignorant of the economy. After discussion, Korea's request actually resulted in two votes in favor, two against, and one undecided within the Politburo Standing Committee.

The comrades who opposed believed that Korea was not yet ready. In the earliest economic arrangements for Korea, Korea's focus was on the mining industry. Then there was no need to engage in the shipbuilding industry. This industry required large investment and a long construction cycle, and Korea's domestic market could not digest such a large capacity.

The supporters believed that Korea also had iron ore and relatively large steel production enterprises in its own country. The shipbuilding industry itself did not appear out of thin air without any foundation. As a peninsular country, Korea also had a large enough demand for ships.

Finally, the focus of the discussion slowly became clear: Should China distribute the industry in the West Pacific according to its own interests and will, or adopt a method where each country completely decided its own industrial production categories? In the choices of other countries, should China pay for it?

Li Runshi went to the Soviet Union, and Chen Ke went on a secret inspection. Encountering such a matter concerning the future industrial structure of various countries in the West Pacific, the "young" comrades suddenly felt that they really needed a backbone to be present.

And Comrade Li Runshi, who was visiting the Soviet Union, felt that Uncle Man of Steel's attitude towards the communist camp was not very friendly.

Now the countries in the world that explicitly chose to take the communist path were China and the Soviet Union. The population of these two countries added up to 1 billion. In the West Pacific, many socialist countries including Korea, Japan, and former British colonies had recently emerged. This made the total population exceed 1.1 billion.

In comparison, the capitalist countries, the colonial power Britain and the Nazi countries combined, only had a population of more than 900 million. If India gained independence and autonomy in the near future, the population of this hodgepodge camp would suddenly drop to 500 million.

Uncle Man of Steel hoped to establish a strong communist alliance. The Soviet Union could not command China, so Uncle Man of Steel handed over the dominance of the West Pacific region to China, while the communist organizations in European countries would be commanded by the Soviet Union.

Li Runshi could understand Uncle Man of Steel's idea, but he felt that this patriarchal style was inappropriate. Not only was Uncle Man of Steel's vision inappropriate, but Li Runshi clearly felt that Uncle Man of Steel had a feeling of "ranking by seniority" in treating China's new leadership team. However, these were all rather invisible things. What made Li Runshi feel even more uneasy was that the Soviet comrades appeared quite alert to China's inquiries about the actions the Soviet Union prepared to take in Europe.

Back then, Chen Ke and Uncle Man of Steel had indeed reached a consensus that "China acts in Asia, and the Soviet Union acts in Europe." At present, China's actions in Asia had entered the second phase, and the Soviet Union's actions had also reached a pass. After Germany solved France, the German-Italian Axis group controlled a vast area from Northern Europe to Southern Europe. The Soviet Union's actions in Europe would inevitably face such a colossus. At such a stage, the Soviet comrades obviously did not want to have any discussion with China on this.

If the Soviet comrades didn't want to discuss it, China couldn't do anything about it. The content discussed by both sides was the recent attitude of the United States. The Soviet Union also did not want the United States to participate in the World War, because the Soviet Union believed that the United States would very likely support Germany. In terms of anti-communism, there was no essential difference between the United States and Germany. Uncle Man of Steel also asked if the United States joined the British group, would China send troops to contain the United States in the Pacific region.

On this key issue, Li Runshi stated that if the United States declared war on China, China would definitely not pretend not to see it. During this visit, Li Runshi just showed his face and confirmed that the Soviet Union's economic development was okay, and the Soviet comrades did not have any idea of giving up on liberating Europe.

When he returned to China, domestic disputes were immediately placed in front of Li Runshi. How to build the West Pacific system established using military operations? The Party had also discussed this issue many times. Li Runshi himself was still the person in charge of the southern region. China did not adopt the Soviet "planned economy" model domestically. Li Runshi opposed this model where the government planned all production arrangements. The problem of not planning was also obvious. For example, if Korea established its own shipbuilding industry, the capacity control itself would be a big problem. To make the shipbuilding industry develop smoothly, it required a lot of investment itself. The most critical thing was that regardless of whether the development was good or bad, China would have to foot the bill depending on the situation.

Li Runshi himself did not oppose this practice, but the Standing Committee members of the Politburo opposed it, including the comrades who supported Korea in establishing its own shipbuilding industry also opposed China footing the bill. Especially the comrades in the banking industry were greatly opposed to this. Domestic enterprises were not administratively allocated either. Even the Politburo did not have the power to immediately require banks to invest because of a project that simply did not pass economic accounting. In domestic movies and TV series, there had been films with related content. The leader approved a note, and the bank executed it. As a result, the project investment money was embezzled, and the person in charge of the bank and the leader who approved the note went to jail together. This was not even "this plot is purely fictional, any similarity is purely coincidental."

What seemed like a very ordinary diplomatic dispute directly involved issues in China's foreign relations field.

Finally, Li Runshi could only ask the Japanese side if they were willing to support Korea in the shipbuilding industry. After Japan determined that they had to pay for this project themselves, they unhesitatingly proposed that Japan would only do so if it received support from China in the transfer of shipbuilding manufacturing technology.

This diplomacy, economy, and policy were tangled up like a mess, looking very thorny. But Comrade Li Runshi was not scared by this. When facing tests, he had always been brave to meet the challenge.