After 1861, Liangguang and Fujian, which had been the source of turmoil in China, settled down entirely. Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian provinces were originally overpopulated and had little land, but after a series of immigration efforts to Lanfang and Luzon, the total number of immigrants in the three provinces exceeded 4 million. After the Dutch East Indies were opened to China, the three provinces found themselves with no people to move.

This is an external condition, and the rise of cities has also led to internal migration, and a large number of military personnel have directly become urban populations after retirement, a change that has greatly reduced the number of rural populations. At the same time, internal and external factors played a role, which directly brought about a great change in the situation in the rural areas of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, and Fujian. The increase in per capita land and the change in social organization led to the explosion of the mulberry tea industry in mountainous areas that were not suitable for growing grain.

There must be a disadvantage and a disadvantage, not to mention that there are so many advantages. There are few people in rural areas, cash crops are developed, and a large number of urban people are out of production. In China's past era, these situations inevitably led to the problem of a shortage of grain.

The central government's previous hard work finally played a role, relying on the purchase of large quantities of rice from Vietnam and Siam, which not only stabilized the grain prices of Guangxi and Fujian, but also was able to supply grain to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In addition, the large import of palm oil, oil residue fermentation, coconut oil, and desiccated coconut triggered an outbreak in the breeding industry. Technically, with the storage of canned food and the full popularization of iron farming tools, the economic shape of the south was maintained at a considerable height like a tightrope.

Wang Mingshan, secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and Pang Congcong, the governor of the province, knew very well what was going on, and with Wei Ze's analysis and summary after reading the situation in Guangdong, they finally knew what was happening. Guangdong's economy is undoubtedly the highest point in the entire southern economy, which is at a high point.

In addition to Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong, the other participant in this discussion was Wei Changrong, the "former" head of the organization and the next secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee. After Wang Mingshan leaves office, Wei Changrong will take over as secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and Pang Congcong's successor will be elected from among the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the vice governor, and the central government has no intention of appointing him. If the two top leaders of the party and government are parachuted, it will not be beneficial to the effective connection work, and the central government, including the Organization Department, has the same view.

The discussion took place on the train. After all, it is a cadre at the level of the secretary of the provincial party committee, and they directly occupy a carriage. The seats in the carriage were removed and converted into a good conference room. Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong were quite excited. The two of them had a deep understanding of the tedious work of the provincial party committee, but when Wei Ze explained the situation they faced from a height that they had never been able to achieve, the two of them immediately had a feeling of enlightenment. The once tedious work once made them feel annoyed, and sometimes they even complained that "the central government is not looking for trouble". Now that feeling is gone, all the work is now revealing its own short-term purpose and long-term effect. When they find that their work is actually a very important part of a larger long-term plan, the executor naturally feels a strong sense of satisfaction.

With Wei Changrong's high rank, he will definitely be present when the long-term plan is formulated. After talking about Guangdong's status in the country for a while, the topic cooled down a little. Wang Mingshan simply asked Wei Changrong directly why he was sent to work in Guangdong. Wei Changrong said with a smile: "If you don't even have experience in governing local areas, and you don't know the work of local cadres at all, can you do a good job in personnel work?" ”

This clearly shows that Wei Changrong still wants to return to work in the Organization Department, and Wang Mingshan will no longer ask this question. As a member of the Standing Committee, probably the second-ranked person, Wang Mingshan was able to accumulate experience in the work of a provincial party secretary, Wang Mingshan admired Wei Changrong's open-mindedness, and decided to take Wei Changrong as his example.

Wei Changrong also had some words not to say, this time he first served as the secretary of the Guangdong Political and Legal Committee, and according to the plan of "sending the horse and helping him for a ride", Wei Changrong first followed Wang Mingshan and others to learn and familiarize himself with the situation in Guangdong. After accumulating experience and making everyone familiar with Wei Changrong, Wang Mingshan and the others can go to the Central Committee. Wei Ze has always been willing to learn from the experience of others, and Wei Changrong also agrees with Wei Ze's method.

After talking about the skills of personnel work for a while, Wang Mingshan felt very tired. The work of introducing Guangdong's difficult situation in the future was entrusted to Pang Congcong.

Pang Congcong straightforwardly told Wei Changrong about the biggest comprehensive problem at the moment. That is the first coal-to-gas supply plan started in Guangzhou.

The economy of an industrial region cannot be dependent solely on the region, and with so many people in the city, the demand for living fuel is enormous. Vietnam's Hongji coal mine area is more than 100 kilometers long and 15-20 kilometers wide, with reserves of more than 2 billion tons. Without this coal mine, Guangdong's fast-growing industry would not have been possible, and even Guangdong's proposed greening project to eliminate barren mountains depended on the supply of this coal mine.

With the improvement of the industrial level, the industrial sector is trying to reduce the cost of hot-dip galvanized pipes, once this cost can be produced in large quantities, the entire city of Guangzhou will begin to supply coal-to-gas, in order to gradually replace the honeycomb coal, which is more wasteful and inefficient.

This is a huge challenge, and it is also the basis for bringing the industry of Guangzhou and even Guangdong to a higher level. According to Weizer's theory, the emergence of new technologies and new industries will lead to the great development of the entire economy, not to mention the coal-to-gas industry, which is bound to lead to changes in the lifestyle of the entire society.

"We have also been working on coal-to-gas for a long time, and there are many technical checkpoints in it, and the number of direct deaths is approaching 100 now. Those comrades are technicians, which makes us feel very distressed! Referring to the price paid, Pang Congcong subconsciously rubbed his temples. Industrial development not only brings convenience and productivity, but the process is far from glamorous, just like the practical actions of other practitioners. The establishment of the industrial sector and the development of industrial technology must be explored in the dark, and in addition to a large amount of investment, the practice of theory has to pay a lot of blood for its technical points and safety standards.

The generator research director was electrocuted, and the coal-to-gas research had to risk gas poisoning and gas explosion. Weeser was certainly able to come up with theories and point out dangers. But when I didn't experience it myself, I didn't know why it came from or how it came.

"There's also a technical secret." Wei Changrong's perspective is still very different from Pang Congcong's, but what he said is a problem from another angle.

After listening to this, Wang Mingshan nodded again and again, "Yes, we checked the leak some time ago and found that the British are stealing everything now." Stealing not only our military intelligence, but also our technical intelligence. I really didn't expect our secrecy work to be full of loopholes. ”

Wei Changrong looked at these two young provincial party and government leaders, and he couldn't help but smile, "These things are not only like this. The British knew our intelligence, what do you think would happen if their fleet blocked our routes to Vietnam and Siam? ”

Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong were stunned, they were not from military backgrounds, and there was a military commission and a military region in the affairs of the army, so it was not their turn to take care of it at all, so they never thought much about it.

"If the coal from the Hongji Coal Mine and the rice from Vietnam and Siam cannot be transported to the southeast, not only Guangdong, but also the entire economy of the southeast will be greatly affected," Wei said. Immediately, the lives of the masses plummeted. ”

With Wei Ze's previous explanation, Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong immediately figured out what Wei Changrong was referring to. The stability of the economy in the southeast is largely based on the rice of Vietnam and Siam, and once the supply of rice is in short supply, the southeast immediately sees soaring food prices. With a population of millions in Guangzhou, Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong really couldn't figure out how to supply the entire city with coal. Cutting down trees? Perhaps this approach can temporarily solve the urgent need, but Guangdong's greening efforts will be completely lost.

Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong went to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission as the chairman of the committee, and the other went to the central bank, because Wei Ze valued the two of them as rich experience in governing the industrial province. Thinking about the fact that the economy of such a huge country as China has such a flawed situation, the expressions of both of them became very stern.

After years of construction, Guangdong has a very strong ability to defend against direct invasion by foreign enemies. The foreign enemy could not defeat the powerful Chinese army, and landing was to die. Such an idea is not only logical in the hearts of Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong, but also in the entire party, government, and military system in Guangdong. However, after careful analysis, the enemy does not need to directly attack China at all, but only inserts a knife at the weak point of China's economic links, and China's economy will have huge problems.

"Don't we have a navy too?" Wang Mingshan asked Wei Changrong half reminding, half puffing up.

"Yes, the Navy has recently been practicing exercises to attack the enemy's shipping routes, the purpose of which is not to fight a decisive battle with the enemy's fleet, but to attack the enemy's merchant fleet along the route and disrupt the enemy's sea transportation lines. We're just starting to rehearse this now, and the British started playing this trick hundreds of years ago. Wei Changrong gave a very clear answer.

The economy has been closely linked to the war, and together it has supported British hegemony. Controlling navigation rights in a region's oceans and excluding the navies of other countries means that the country becomes the hegemon of the waters. To be able to sail freely on all the oceans of the world, and to be able to strike at enemies in various seas at any time, that is the hegemon of the world.

Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong, who were about to go to work in the central government, listened to Wei Changrong's explanation of strategy, and they all understood. Originally, the two thought that Wei Changrong was here to learn from them how to govern a province. Now they finally understand that Wei Changrong also has the responsibility of education. Perhaps Wei Changrong was not familiar with local work, while Wang Mingshan and Pang Congcong were equally ignorant of the work with the central government. Especially at this kind of strategic height at the central level, the two of them are even more inexperienced.

Wang Mingshan suddenly figured out something, he got up and took out a world map, pointing to the "future Chinese territory" that Wei Ze had talked about, Wang Mingshan said excitedly: "If our territory reaches this point, in addition to our core essence areas can be protected, we have a very reliable starting base when we want to enter most parts of the world." ”

Seeing that Wang Mingshan showed his teachable qualifications, Wei Changrong said with a satisfied smile: "The governor said that the solution to the important problems in the world now does not rely on diplomacy and speeches, but on iron and blood!" That's absolutely right to remember. ”