Chapter 277: Personnel
The observation results gave Lin Weiyong a heart attack.
These visitors calling at the door didn’t stop all night.
They said such nice things during the day, but at night their true colors were revealed.
Saying to stand with Dean Wen, to advance and retreat together with Chairman Liang.
“All fucking bullshit!”
Two people even collided while delivering gifts and started arguing on the roadside over who would go in first—truly shameless.
With so many people, he didn’t know if his own gift was enough; Lin Weiyong now felt a bit uneasy.
Staring at that villa, frowning in a daze.
Inside the villa.
Gu Yansheng received guests all night long.
These subordinates of Wen Zongyao had quite a bit of family fortune.
The gifts varied in value; gold US dollars were essential, and besides that, they had to add some worthless antiques, ginseng, and the like.
Anyway, not knowing Minister Gu’s preferences, sending a bit of everything was sure to be right.
In terms of value, the least was two hundred thousand silver dollars, the most around eight hundred thousand silver dollars.
For a deputy minister position, it actually wasn’t much; no matter how poor the methods, scraping for two years would recover this capital.
However, getting this money required some effort; there was only one deputy minister position, taking money without doing anything would easily bring lightning strike.
At eleven at night, the sound of a car came from the door; a moment later, Shen Shuyun walked in.
“You insisted on coming; if we had left earlier in the daytime, it wouldn’t have been so late.” Gu Yansheng reproached her, watching the guard put down the luggage and retreat.
Shen Shuyun smiled lightly: “What’s the difference if someone picks me up? I wanted to see you sooner; staying in Shanghai, I had nothing to do.”
“The kitchen has midnight snacks; do you want to take a shower first?”
“Sure.”
“Go upstairs.”
Gu Yansheng took her upstairs into the bedroom.
Shen Shuyun pointed at the room, mouthing silently.
Gu Yansheng nodded, “Safe.”
Shen Shuyun immediately said: “Director Dai sent a secret telegram wanting to meet you; you decide the time, location in Hong Kong.”
“Director Dai wants to see me?”
Boss Dai requesting a meeting was somewhat unexpected for Gu Yansheng.
With the new government established, meeting at this time point must be related to the new government’s follow-up; nine times out of ten, it was to lure.
The Japanese were determined to establish the Wang regime government; for Boss Dai, his value as a minister had greatly increased.
This meeting was likely to intensify the luring.
From Boss Dai’s willingness to meet personally, the trustworthiness was sufficient.
Otherwise, if Gu Yansheng joined the Wang Faction personnel and played both sides, bringing Li Shiqun over, the consequences
would be no big problem to exchange for an award from His Majesty the Emperor at the Japanese side.
“What time do you think is suitable? I’ll relay it to him for discussion.” Shen Shuyun asked.
“No pretext for going to Hong Kong recently.” Gu Yansheng’s travel was no longer so free. “Ding Mocun told me that since Gao Zhongwu escaped last time, the Japanese fear another defection and have strengthened supervision of new government members; now all officials from Chongqing are on the border management list and can’t leave without a legitimate reason.”
Although someone like Gao Zhongwu with Green Gang help to forge identification documents could still get out, Gu Yansheng obviously had no need to take that risk; it wasn’t a real defection.
“Then what to do? Reply it’s not suitable?”
“No need for that; just reply four words: as the host wishes.
He knows about the peace talks; if he wants to meet, he can completely arrange the talks to forcibly create a time opportunity for me to go; with him leading, I can go naturally, so we don’t need to overthink it—it’s tiring.”
Now it was the Japanese who wanted peace talks; Chongqing’s willingness was not strong.
Shen Shuyun nodded, “Okay, then I’ll reply like that.”
One night passed.
The next day, Gu Yansheng began handling the matter of increasing the establishment.
The process still needed to be followed.
Just in time for the Central Executive Committee meeting, where it could be mentioned.
First drive to the Ministry of Finance to find Minister Zhou.
“Hey, Minister, I brought you some gifts.”
“What gifts?” Minister Zhou smiled curiously.
“Bring them in.”
Gu Yansheng had two suitcases carried into the office, then waved them out.
“I plan to add one or two deputy ministers in the Judicial Administration Department; look, last night some people couldn’t wait.” Gu Yansheng opened the suitcases: gold and silver jewelry, medicinal materials, antiques—all prepared.
Eating alone isn’t good; handing over a portion eliminates the risk of being bitten back.
“Adding deputy ministers, what’s going on?” Minister Zhou asked while looking at the contents of the suitcases.
Gu Yansheng explained the game of strategy behind it: “To open up the situation, relying on ourselves is too slow; throw out bait, let them have internal strife, and the fallen will go down faster.”
“Drive the tiger to swallow the wolf.” Minister Zhou nodded instantly in understanding: “If they defect, Wen Zongyao’s legs will be crippled.”
“They couldn’t walk much road anyway; the tiger is a hungry tiger, the wolf an old wolf.”
“Hahahaha, how do you plan to handle it?”
“Promote them; if they can be used by us, it’s better than investigating their corruption and bribery—investigating corruption would twist them back into one rope, and time is key.
I think there’s no need to deal with them now; the main targets are still Wen Zongyao and Liang Hongzhi—cutting off their hands and feet is far more important.”
Minister Zhou hummed thoughtfully and nodded: “Moreover, large-scale anti-corruption would cause panic; the new government just established, better to stabilize; I’ll help you speak at the meeting later—let’s go to the meeting.”
The government’s Central Executive Committee meeting was the highest-level meeting.
Adding deputy ministers was a small matter for such a meeting, but whether small or not depended on how others saw it.
Wen Zongyao and Liang Hongzhi opposed.
The reason was that there were already two deputy ministers; no need to add another, as it would easily cause internal strife, dilute power, and make the original deputy ministers feel neglected.
Opposition ineffective; Gu Yansheng’s own department adding deputy ministers, Minister Zhou’s Ministry of Finance providing extra departmental establishment salaries—neither had objections, so what use were their opinions.
Raise hands to vote, directly passed.
It pissed off Wen Zongyao and Liang Hongzhi; they kept black faces throughout the meeting.
The meeting continued, discussing items one by one; another matter related to Gu Yansheng was the preparation of the Central Reserve Bank.
First discussed the banknote names; just on what to call the banknotes, they discussed for over an hour; Minister Zhou finally decided: name them Central Reserve Notes, Central Reserve Bank exchange vouchers.
“Issuing is easy; have the Bank of Japan make the master plate for us. But the problem is how to make governments of various countries willing to recognize our money, especially in the Shanghai concession, to normally exchange with various countries, to circulate in their systems—that’s the key problem.”
Minister Zhou raised a difficult issue: “Otherwise, this money wouldn’t be much different from military scrip, and you all know the promotion situation of military scrip.”
On this problem, others were powerless; only the Ministry of Finance could solve it itself.
After the meeting, Minister Zhou called Gu Yansheng: “For the Shanghai concession side, we might still need to make a trip; I’ll talk to the Bank of Japan side, the concession’s Britain, America, France banks still need you to step in.”
“Not that easy.” Gu Yansheng didn’t hide the difficulty: “Britain and America’s stance is still with Chongqing; Chongqing’s legal tender can be exchanged with them—if they can exchange our money too, that equals recognizing diplomatic relations, but actually there aren’t any.”
Minister Zhou also knew the difficulty, frowning: “Think of a way.”
Gu Yansheng nodded: “Okay, think of a way; give me one day, I’ll arrange the department’s people in advance; need to send people to North China and Jiangsu, otherwise it’ll delay too much time when we return.”
“Mm, then Shanghai the day after tomorrow.”
Gu Yansheng bid farewell to Minister Zhou and drove back to the Judicial Administration Department.
The government had a high-level meeting today; the people who delivered money to the Judicial Administration Department were watching eagerly—though knowing the process might not be that fast, what if?
What if it really came through.
“Xiao Lou, call Lin Weiyong over.”
“Yes.”
Not long after, Lin Weiyong entered Gu Yansheng’s office, very humble, smiling: “Minister, you wanted me?”
“Sit.”
Gu Yansheng pressed his hand for him to sit on the sofa, sat down himself, and opened with a bombshell: “I proposed you for deputy minister; today’s Central Executive Committee meeting, the vote has passed.”
Lin Weiyong’s mouth could form an O!
An irrepressible excited expression appeared on his face, hands trembling slightly.
In terms of seniority, he indeed had the deepest, but he hadn’t studied abroad; his resume couldn’t beat Criminal Affairs Division’s Shao Jingming.
Now, it really was his turn.
Lin Weiyong stood up sharply, bowed deeply, and solemnly stated: “Thank you, Minister, for the promotion; your subordinate will surely devote himself fully and not fail your expectations.”
“Good.” Gu Yansheng smiled: “Promoting you did have some twists; at the meeting, some still preferred Shao Jingming, but I think you can do well, so I recommended you to Minister Zhou and Mr. Wang, securing this position for you.”
“Thank you, Minister!”
“You know the duties: personnel and external communications, North China and Central China; Central China is easier, and you’re still handling personnel concurrently, so I plan to give North China to you; first straighten out the judicial systems in Jiangsu and Anhui—what the goal is, you know.”
“Yes, your subordinate knows!”
“Good, go; later I’ll issue the official document—you wait a bit more.”
“Okay.” Lin Weiyong stood and bowed, smiling: “Then your subordinate takes leave; Minister, hard work; goodbye, Minister.”
“Mm, go.”
Gu Yansheng waited for him to leave, then called the next.
“Xiao Lou, call Shao Jingming over.”
“Okay.”
“Minister.” Shao Jingming arrived.
“Director Shao, sit.” Gu Yansheng invited him to sit and said straightforwardly: “The higher-ups preferred Lin Weiyong for the new deputy minister selection.”
Shao Jingming’s face instantly turned ashen, unable to hide his disappointment: “That’s good.”
Gu Yansheng: “What’s good about it? Being disappointed at a time like this is human nature.”
With the words said this far, Shao Jingming wanted clarity even in death: “Is it that you think I’m not suitable, Minister?”
Gu Yansheng shook his head: “To me, you’re all the same; I don’t know any of you, no closeness or distance.
But the higher-ups think that as Criminal Affairs Division Director, it proves you’re getting attention from certain people—otherwise, why give you this position?
Now the new government is established; already two old deputy ministers, adding you makes three—this Judicial Administration Department, is it the Judicial Yuan’s or the new government’s?
I’ve said it clearly enough.”
Shao Jingming understood, but still frowned: “Then why can Lin Weiyong? What’s the difference between him and me?”
Gu Yansheng exhaled deeply: “No point obsessing over that; there are many considerations here. Now about you, I just want to ask one question: do you still want to be deputy minister? Or are you not planning to advance?”
“Is there still a chance?” Shao Jingming looked puzzled, not getting it.
“Of course.” Gu Yansheng smiled: “Think about what I just said: whether the Judicial Administration Department is the Judicial Yuan’s or the new government’s depends on what? Depends on the surname.
You missed this new deputy minister spot, but there are still two deputy ministers—not impossible to replace, especially Vice Minister Hu; he’s old, retiring early to live in peace in old age isn’t impossible.
Of course, even if Vice Minister Hu steps down, there will be many candidates; how to select? Still depends on the surname.
You’re surnamed Liang; willing to take the Wang surname? You need to show results, tell others you’re willing to take the Wang surname.”
“What results?”
“Take down North China.”
In his thirties, far from career peak; Shao Jingming had to go whether he wanted to or not—the words were clear; not going, even the director position would soon be taken.
“Minister, I’m willing to go.”
“That’s very good.”
Gu Yansheng smiled: “Wang Kemin in North China has thick skin, but straightening the judicial system under the banner of judicial unification isn’t completely impossible to enter; Wang Kemin won’t openly oppose the Nanjing Government.
You go, get it done, merit will be there, and executive deputy minister will be yours.”
“Then what title do I go with? Criminal Affairs Division Director—will Wang Kemin give any face?”
“I’ve thought of that for you; director level might not be enough.
Didn’t Wang Kemin establish the North China Political Affairs Committee? You’ll go as Nanjing’s special judicial commissioner to North China, join the North China committee as a standing committee member—that raises your level.
And you represent not just the Judicial Administration Department, but Nanjing, Mr. Wang; Wang Kemin will give face.”
Shao Jingming nodded; the path was paved for him, success possible; thinking, he said: “Then I need to bring some people.”
“Fine; you’ve held the Criminal Affairs Division so long, rich experience; bring who you think necessary.”
Gu Yansheng was generous; he didn’t expect this person to achieve much in North China—anyway, to cause trouble for Wang Kemin, disappear from his sight, so he didn’t have to return the money.
If he really completed the cleanup and brought back results, taking down one deputy minister, he’d sincerely promote him.
After communicating with Shao Jingming, next one.
Two directors promoted—one up, one dispatched—vacating two real-power director positions.
Two positions mean not just two; one move, everyone can move.
Marginal directors to real-power directors, division chiefs to directors, section chiefs to division chiefs.
Aside from these two director posts, the new deputy minister needs additional division chiefs to command.
So everyone can rise a level.
Though they sent money but didn’t get deputy minister—their chances were slim anyway, just a gamble.
Now two director positions moved, everyone shifts to better spots.
Gu Yansheng negotiated with these money-sending directors and division chiefs; the result was very satisfactory.
Division chiefs all moved, leaving a real-power division chief spot for Li Shiyu—face given to Chen Gongbo’s side.
Law Enforcement Division, solidly real power.
Judicial Administration Department power reshuffle could stop here for now.
Four million silver dollars could only achieve this much.
Have the Personnel Division confirm the list and issue the announcement.
Some happy, some worried; most were happy—this was promotion.
Just the two deputy ministers unhappy; Gu Yansheng didn’t care.
The Judicial Administration Department only needed one voice.
The next day, Gu Yansheng took Shen Shuyun to Shanghai.
