Chapter 241: Discussion
In the evening, a celebratory wine party was held at the Hua Mao Hotel.
The names of the high-level positions have all been confirmed, so everyone, whether acquainted or not, should get to know each other again, build some rapport, to make future work easier.
The lowest level attending the meeting has to be a vice minister.
Family members can be brought, and some of them even hold positions themselves, like Chen Biqun, who serves as a Standing Committee Member of the Supervision Committee.
“The next work is to prepare for the opening of the new government. The specific time shouldn’t be too far off. We’ll communicate with the Nanjing Reform Government and the North China Provisional Government to resolve the arrangement issues for the original staff after the merger, and then we can officially start work.
In this period before the government opens, everyone should familiarize themselves with their work if needed, and for those who want to recruit people, go ahead and make contact yourselves. For places like Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiangsu, and so on, if you’re not familiar, get familiar as soon as possible.”
Minister Zhou arranged the next steps of work, and everyone nodded.
Someone asked: “Minister Zhou, when will those two governments be dismantled? They seem unwilling, since they didn’t even send anyone to today’s meeting.
If we’re going to Nanjing to carry out work, how can we even get started?”
Minister Zhou smiled faintly: “If they don’t come, so be it. Some people are throwing tantrums in their hearts, wanting to play factionalism with us—it’s really quite childish.
Their Reform Government was just a provisional government set up by the Japanese. As long as the Japanese don’t let them continue, they can’t. I’ll communicate with the Japanese to get them to revoke their positions as soon as possible.”
After answering some questions from below, Minister Zhou had private talks with people, went around the room, and still came over to find Gu Yansheng.
“Others need to familiarize themselves with two places, but you’re a local snake in Shanghai, so just focusing on Nanjing is enough—quite convenient indeed.
I’m planning to go to Nanjing, meet with Liang Hongzhi and have a talk, then make a trip to Beiping to meet with that one in North China too. These are the two thorns in the side—do you want to come along?”
Although he spoke lightly to others, this matter was still quite troublesome. The agreement with the Japanese was for them to handle it themselves, and if Liang Hongzhi just played dead, who knows how long it would drag on to resolve.
The situation was actually quite dire: on one hand, they needed to start work, on the other, they didn’t even have an office—people simply wouldn’t acknowledge them.
It was impossible to count on these ministers from out of town to solve the problem. There was no one he knew in Nanjing, so he still had to consult with Gu Yansheng.
Gu Yansheng raised an eyebrow and said, “Can’t they handle it themselves? This is actually a good opportunity to familiarize yourselves with your own department. Just go to their door and chat. Chat more—could Liang Hongzhi really arrest them?”
Minister Zhou shook his head rather helplessly, “Power has to be in hand before it can be used. These people are all just bare commanders right now, unfamiliar with the place and people. It’s impossible to expect them to have any solutions—they probably can’t even get through the government gates.”
Even giving them opportunities wouldn’t work. They were just too used to being big officials; they didn’t know how to start from zero.
Gu Yansheng now understood why Minister Zhou, upon arriving in Shanghai, immediately tried to win him over along with the real power holders at 76.
The people who came with them from Chongqing had lived too comfortably in the Chongqing Government. A dog on a leash could do their positions there, but they really didn’t have much ability when it came to starting a business.
“I think my going along wouldn’t make much difference. It’d be better if you brought Ding Mocun. Liang Hongzhi won’t yield, but the people in the Nanjing Government might not be so steadfast. I think we can focus the breakthrough on them.
Right now Liang Hongzhi is ranting in the newspapers attacking Mr. Wang’s legitimacy. If at this moment some old-timers from inside the Nanjing Government step forward, refute Liang Hongzhi in the newspapers, defend Mr. Wang, stand with Mr. Wang, and one of their own jumps ship—that scene would be quite the spectacle.”
Minister Zhou’s heart stirred, “Is there such a person?”
“There is.” Gu Yansheng smiled faintly: “Have you forgotten? Back when we were raising donations for the new government, several friends from Nanjing heard it was Mr. Wang establishing the government. Without me even contacting them, they proactively reached out to me about purchasing bonds?
People like that—aren’t they our friends? We can definitely use them.”
Minister Zhou suddenly realized, “Right, I remember now—you did mention this.
Since they were willing to pay back then, it proves they can indeed be used by us. But aren’t there any party members among them? Or were they not invited—why didn’t a single one come to the meeting?”
“I guess Liang Hongzhi suppressed them and wouldn’t let them come. But Minister, this isn’t up to Liang Hongzhi. Even if their hearts weren’t sincere when they paid back then, as long as the preconditions remain the same, their hearts will have to become sincere whether they like it or not.
Once you’re in Nanjing and put this out in the open, I guarantee there will be room to talk.”
“What preconditions?”
“Of course, their businesses in Shanghai!” Gu Yansheng chuckled, “Nanjing’s economy is no good. These officials wanting to cash in on their power will turn their eyes to Shanghai. Which of them doesn’t have some industry in Shanghai?
Back then I laid it all out with all the businessmen in Shanghai for donations. With their information so sharp, rushing to call me to buy bonds—it was all so I would go easy on the merchants they sent out to show face.
Them stepping forward to donate voluntarily is always better than me forcibly taking from random people on the street, and it also earns them a favor with you, helping secure their positions in the new government.
Now Liang Hongzhi is forcing them to take sides, so we’ll force them too. If they don’t side with us, I’ll step in and confiscate all their industries in Shanghai.
If they want war, we’ll oblige—as long as they can withstand this wave of losses.
In the face of profit, I don’t believe they’ll be that tough.
No need to be polite with them.”
Now Minister Zhou fully understood, a smile appearing on his face, “Good. I don’t oppose them doing business—after all, it’s hard to maintain any dignity on just this dead salary—but the premise is they must be wholeheartedly for the Party and State.”
“Exactly. So that’s why I say, send Ding Mocun. I’ll give you the list. Have his people get these folks to step forward and refute Liang Hongzhi. Once it’s in the newspapers, Liang Hongzhi will lose all face, and between you and him, the high and low will be clear.”
Minister Zhou thought for a moment and nodded, “Good, then I’ll go talk to Ding Mocun.”
“Let me say it. If you talk to Ding Mocun too much, Deputy Minister Li might get unhappy now.” Gu Yansheng never missed a chance to put in a bad word about Li Shiqun.
Minister Zhou’s smile faded slightly, “What does he have to be unhappy about? Over a vice minister position?”
Gu Yansheng smiled, “He thought it was Minister of Police Administration.”
Minister Zhou paused and said: “76 already has plenty of power. As deputy director, his days are more comfortable than the director’s. If he got the Police Administration Minister position too, wouldn’t Shanghai become his one-man show?
Vice minister isn’t shortchanging him.
Alright, I’ll go talk to Ding Mocun. You go familiarize yourself with them.”
The more Li Shiqun dared to be unhappy, the more he needed to be put in his place.
Minister Zhou patted Gu Yansheng’s shoulder, gave him a smile, and walked over to talk to Ding Mocun.
After he finished talking, Gu Yansheng went up to claim credit.
Shaking his wine glass, he said, “How about it? This opportunity I found for you to make merit—simple, right?”
Ding Mocun laughed heartily, clinked glasses warmly, “You’re the reliable brother—thinking of me for the good stuff. Rest assured, I’ll handle this beautifully.”
Ding Mocun thought back to knowing Li Shiqun and knowing Gu Yansheng, comparing how the two handled things—it was truly one in the heavens, one on earth.
That bastard Li Shiqun!
Gu Yansheng said softly: “This time you go to Nanjing, set up the Social Affairs Department. Spend some money, recruit some people. Then for our matters, you can route them through the Social Affairs Department—that adds another channel.
Better than 76, the Social Affairs Department will be completely under your control. Once you spread out the Social Affairs Department’s network, my Ministry of Justice will issue the passes—free passage throughout the entire Japanese occupied area.”
Ding Mocun nodded repeatedly, “Got it, I’ll keep it in mind and handle it right away.”
Gu Yansheng hummed in acknowledgment, scanned the room, saw Li Shiqun, and went over to soothe him a bit.
It came off a bit sleazy, but no choice—everyone’s feelings had to be taken care of.
First he relayed Minister Zhou’s comments on him, adding a bit of bad medicine.
Then Gu Yansheng said: “This matter might not be a bad thing.”
Li Shiqun didn’t get it and sneered: “Could it possibly be a good thing?”
Gu Yansheng tsked, “Think of it the other way: what is Minister Zhou considering? Isn’t Ding Mocun being suppressed by you? Most of 76’s power is in your hands. Now he’s promoting Ding Mocun to Minister of Social Affairs—don’t you think Ding Mocun will gradually shift his work focus to the Social Affairs Department?
Then on the 76 side, what was formerly two factions—won’t it become one faction? It’s just a matter of time.”
Li Shiqun frowned slightly in thought. This wasn’t without reason. From the angle of gradually fully mastering 76 in his own hands, it wasn’t without gain.
Li Shiqun raised his wine glass, smiled faintly at Gu Yansheng, “Let’s drink.”
After soothing Li Shiqun, there was one more: Gao Zhongwu.
Running errands got him just a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs—far worse than Li Shiqun.
Li Shiqun’s Agent Headquarters was a real power unit. Even if Ding Mocun kept competing with him, Li Shiqun was still a boss in Shanghai.
While Gao Zhongwu’s vice minister position, to put it bluntly, couldn’t even compare to Wu Sibao in terms of power.
The Wang Government’s diplomacy—who could it even do diplomacy with?
Moreover, Gao Zhongwu’s biggest problem was that he was despised by Wang Ni—his path was completely cut off.
The organization needed negotiation details and intelligence; this man could be used.
Seeing him, Gu Yansheng stayed away—better to keep distance.
The next day, Minister Zhou took people to Nanjing.
Gu Yansheng didn’t go along. He didn’t know how long they’d be gone—Nanjing was one thing, but Beiping was too far to fly.
Now that the minister positions were secured, he could just sit back and enjoy the achievements for the rest—no need for him to exert effort on everything.
No comparison, no gratitude. Let Minister Zhou take the Wang Faction elders to step on some landmines, suffer some hardship, and they’d appreciate him even more later.
Nanjing’s problem wasn’t big, but the North China Provisional Government’s problem was still fairly large. Gu Yansheng wasn’t familiar with that place either and had no advice to give.
Now it was cotton season, and he didn’t have time anyway. Gu Yansheng needed to plan the cotton yarn price hike.
Gu Yansheng called Lu Bowen over for tea.
“How’s the cotton harvest?”
“The first batch has arrived. The rest should take a few more days. This year the temperature was high, so the cotton matured a bit earlier. I sent a telegram to ask—another week and it’ll mostly be in Shanghai.”
“Once the cotton is in storage, we start raising prices. Don’t release any cotton yarn recently. On the contrary, if others are releasing, you can still buy some.”
This had been discussed long ago, so Lu Bowen was mentally prepared. He nodded and asked, “What price are you planning?”
“What’s the current price for a piece of cotton yarn?”
“With the weather still hot, around 70 bucks per piece.”
“Raise it to 300 first.”
Lu Bowen was shocked upon hearing it, “Such a big jump? Can those merchants stomach it?”
“Whether they can stomach it or not, they’ll have to swallow it hard.”
Gu Yansheng had been buttering up Minister Zhou for days, bustling about, and finally secured this minister position—no way was it going to waste.
“I oversee the Ministry of Justice now, so I can supervise legal affairs across the entire Japanese occupied area. All the profits traitor businessmen made, they’ll have to spit them out to me.”
Lu Bowen admiringly cupped his hands, “Minister Gu’s momentum is unstoppable!”
Who could have imagined that this college student back then had now climbed step by step to the core of the Wang Puppet Regime? Lu Bowen found it exaggerated just thinking about it.
Of course, his dream of being the rice king wasn’t realized yet, but the flour king title was already on his head, and his rise was exaggerated too.
Power plus money—invincible.
“I’ll leave the specific commercial operations to you. Buy up from other factories willing to sell. If anyone dares make trouble, tell me. From today, Shanghai won’t tolerate any dissenting voices. Being traitors, we’ll do it thoroughly.”
“Good, leave it to me.”
After meeting Lu Bowen, Gu Yansheng still had to find Fu Xiao’an.
“Mayor Fu.” Gu Yansheng made a trip to the city government.
“Minister Gu.” Fu Xiao’an, all smiles, had his secretary make tea.
In terms of rank, Gu Yansheng was no longer below him now.
Of course, with business cooperation prospects, their relationship wasn’t as tense as before.
Gu Yansheng plopped down on the sofa, legs crossed: “Your cotton should have arrived by now, right?”
“It has.” Fu Xiao’an’s capabilities were definitely greater than Lu Bowen’s—the cotton arrived in Shanghai two days earlier than Lu Bowen’s. But no amount of profit was too much, so this year he ramped up cotton purchases and was still buying hard from out of town.
He mentioned his cotton quantity.
Gu Yansheng interrupted: “I don’t meddle in business matters. I’m here today just to settle the number with you, Mayor Fu. What price for cotton yarn this year?”
“What do you think of 400?” Fu Xiao’an had considered this long ago and named a figure right away.
Ruthless as ever. Gu Yansheng nodded, straightforward: “No objections. Then I’ll trouble you, Mayor Fu. After our cotton is in storage, communicate with all the cotton yarn merchants in Shanghai—no low-price sales allowed. But make sure to wait until our cotton is in storage, or if the Japanese businessmen renege on the cotton, we’ll be in trouble.”
Fu Xiao’an understood the reasoning completely, “Alright, then a week from now, uniform price across all of Shanghai. I can control Shanghai. There are some factories in Jiangsu and Nanjing—those places will need you, Minister Gu, to handle.”
“We’ll handle together.” Gu Yansheng smiled, “My minister position is still just nominal right now. In Nanjing, your connections as Mayor Fu are way more effective than mine.”
Fu Xiao’an smiled, “Good, together then. You don’t take any losses. You’re tight with 76—they’ve got people in the outer areas too, right?”
“Hahahaha.” Gu Yansheng laughed heartily, “Anyway, united effort—this time we’ll make a year’s money in one go!”
“Futures too?” Fu Xiao’an raised an eyebrow, “We’ll empty out these foreigners’ family fortunes.”
“Sure.” Gu Yansheng perked up at that, thought for a moment: “Then issue some negative news in the city government’s name, give me time to build position. Seven days is plenty.”
“Not hard.” Fu Xiao’an said: “I’ll say this year’s cotton had a bumper harvest, output up 70% from usual.”
“That much?” Gu Yansheng smiled in surprise, “Then how to talk up the price?”
“Simple.” A smile tugged at Fu Xiao’an’s lips, “I’ll say the New Fourth Army attacked the big cotton warehouse and burned it all in one fire.”
“Hahahaha, brilliant!” Gu Yansheng gave a thumbs up in praise.
“Come, have a drink.” Fu Xiao’an got excited and took a bottle of whiskey from the shelf behind.
Poured a bit for Gu Yansheng, a bit for himself.
Raised his glass and said: “I’ve heard the European situation is unstable now. We don’t need to give the British too much face. Drinking wine they sent, scheming to empty their wallets. Last time Sha Shun teamed up with those major investors, trying to finish me off while I was down—nearly killed me. I haven’t forgotten. A gentleman’s revenge is never too late!”
