"Recently, some comrades have come up with an experience, saying that lettuce leaf silkworm raising is better than mulberry leaf silkworm raising. The clouds and mountains are covered in fog and fog in the whole article, and they are divine. And in my opinion, the reason why it is used as lettuce leaves to raise silkworms is actually that this is the method recommended by Chairman Chen, that is, good is good. Speaking of this, Chen Ke's tone was already a little bitter.

"I probably didn't make it clear when I proposed lettuce leaf sericulture, but when I was a child, sericulture was a biological homework. At that time, there were no mulberry trees in the place where I lived, and silkworms did not eat elm leaves. Later, I heard that silkworms also eat lettuce leaves, and I confirmed that after the experiment, the silkworm baby eats very happily, and can also spin silk and cocoon normally. Now in the base area, we lack mulberry trees, you have to let the little mulberry tree that has just been planted thrive, everyone has received the basic knowledge of botany, and the leaves of the little mulberry tree are plucked, and the mulberry tree is going to die. Picking a batch of leaves, the small mulberry tree does not grow quickly. However, we now need to export raw silk in exchange for the purchase of machinery and equipment, so I propose to use the method of large-scale cultivation of lettuce to make up for the lack of mulberry trees. Lettuce leaves instead of mulberry leaves are to solve the problem, not to let everyone sing the praises of virtue to me! ”

Several cadres of the Fengtai County Organization Department listened to Chen Ke's criticism with black faces, but no one dared to speak out. Along with the rapid expansion of the base areas, the problem of the shortage of cadres in the People's Party has also erupted more violently. In the ranks of party members and cadres, it was once believed that the base areas would go all out to promote a large number of cadres to work in the localities. But Chairman Chen Ke not only did not do this, but began to strengthen the training of cadres. In the newly expanded base areas, even if military management is maintained in various localities, the status quo is simply maintained, and construction has not been carried out in an all-round way.

It is not without cadres who have performed well in the construction of base areas, and nearly 1,000 outstanding cadres at all levels have been selected by the Organization Department. More than 500 people were selected by Chairman Chen Ke. These comrades were transferred to work in newly opened territory. New cadres have taken over the positions that these cadres had given up in the old base areas. But after a few months of work, the problem emerged. In particular, a large number of reports on "lettuce leaf sericulture is better than mulberry leaf sericulture" in the old base area of Fengtai County were handed over, and Chen Ke, who had been inspecting and arranging work in various places, attached great importance to this matter and rushed back to Fengtai County to deal with the matter.

"Comrades, we have policies in place to solve problems. There are no mulberry trees, only lettuce. When the lettuce is harvested, the silkworm baby eats lettuce leaves every day, and the troops and institutions eat lettuce every day. As far as I know, the comrades have not changed their lettuce for many days, and this is not very willing. In the plains, it is possible to solve the problem by such coercion, and it is bad to grow lettuce in the mountains. There is no suitable land, and there are not so many people who eat this lettuce. In comparison, it is definitely more appropriate to plant mulberry trees. If this method is spread throughout the base area, what kind of trouble will this be? ”

A cadre from the Organization Department said, "Chairman Chen, isn't this also a discussion......

"Of course, it is okay to discuss, but the argument cannot be that of Chairman Chen. Chairman Chen also said that he should seek truth from facts, why can't he hear this now? Chen Ke directly retorted in a stormy tone.

The young cadres of the Organization Department were silent one by one with gloomy faces. They wanted to say something, but everyone knew that saying so would definitely hurt the peace.

Looking at this group of people, Chen Ke really felt helpless. It is no wonder that during the War of Liberation, the Party, with such powerful ability and so many loyal and reliable cadres, still encountered many problems after the liberation. During the War of Liberation, with the violent expansion of territory, the original cadres were simply insufficient. A large number of unqualified cadres entered the revolutionary ranks, but they made a bunch of.

At present, the experienced "veteran cadres" in the base areas have been enriched to the front-line grass-roots units, and Chen Ke once thought that the cadres who remained in the rear areas would be able to do a good job in accordance with the rules set in the past, so that the comrades working at the grass-roots level on the front line would not have to worry about the future.

The reason why the cadres of the organization department didn't dare to say it Chen Ke could probably guess was that he was afraid that he would hurt his face when criticizing education? Moreover, this matter also involves "Chairman Chen", in case someone uses chicken feathers as an arrow and uses "great disrespect" as an excuse to refute, the Organization Department is now a group of young cadres, and they are really not easy to speak.

This is called "bureaucracy", right? Chen Ke thought suspiciously. At this time, Chen Ke understood what it meant to "exhaust the elite, and the backyard caught fire." After calming down his emotions a little, Chen Ke said: "Let these comrades do self-criticism, and in addition, I want to ask, what did the party committee do?" Was this conclusion a collective discussion by the party committee? Or did some people pat their heads and come up with it for me? ”

After saying this, Chen Ke also felt very frustrated. In fact, this should be under the responsibility of the Discipline Inspection Commission, but the Discipline Inspection Commission is also full of a group of young comrades, and it is the comrades of the Discipline Inspection Commission who singled out this matter.

"This is still less labor!" Chen Ke threw down this sentence and asked the comrades of the Organization Department to hurry up and do something.

Chen Ke was still angry, but he quickly regained a certain calm. This is still less work, especially less social work. How can the capitalist countries be stronger than the Manchus, to put it bluntly, the total amount of per capita participation in social labor is greater than that of China. When capitalism destroyed feudalism, the labor force that had been confined to the feudal lords entered the wider society. After the feudal lords and landlords were transformed into capitalists, they also had to intervene in more social labor.

The capitalist system is "no one and no one believes in God". Completely through the bloody battle of quantitative capital, decide who is the winner and who is the loser. No matter what the individual's wishes are, if you don't have enough understanding of society and science, the competition will fail. If these cadres were sericulture capitalists, they would not think that "lettuce leaf silkworm cultivation is better than mulberry leaf silkworm cultivation". Because this is doomed to fail in the competition.

"Seeking truth from facts" is talked about every day and every year in the People's Party. This must not be said to have not been said, but if we want the cadres to open their eyes to face the reality, it is still not enough to talk about it now. The victory of the socialist system over the capitalist system is really an extremely difficult task. The selection and training of cadres and the improvement of the organization are things that require great effort.

Rectification is definitely not so simple, it must be a systematic work. According to the impulse to live in Fengtai County and violently rectify, Chen Ke set off for Anqing to participate in business negotiations with foreign devils.

Since the base areas formed a tacit understanding with foreign devils to "maintain the status quo," the People's Party has begun to do business with foreigners. There are not many large transactions that can be done in the base area, mainly raw silk, tea, pig bristles, and cigarettes. With the resumption of trade routes, Anqing has become a lively commercial port again. Due to the tacit understanding reached between the People's Party and the foreign devils, after the People's Party seized Wuhu, the bulk commodities of the base area went to Chaohu Lake along the waterway, and then went down the river to Wuhu for trade.

Trade revenues seem to be a lot, but compared to the BJP imports, they are extremely insufficient. It was the first time that both the Wuhan and Shanghai Consular Corps had met a Chinese leader in China who had clearly proposed to "expand the trade quota on the basis of the trade balance". Chen Ke made it clear to foreign consular and business groups that the BJP had no intention of creating a trade surplus. Of course, they do not have the guts to borrow large amounts of foreign debt. The BJP is willing to work with foreign countries to promote a trade model in which bulk raw materials are exchanged for machinery and equipment.

Such an enlightened local leader really surprised the foreign devils, of course, they also looked down on Chen Ke, the rebel leader, and the businessmen wanted to trick Chen Ke. Chen Ke's understanding of this era is the First World War. However, before World War I, the economic crisis broke out frequently, and Chen Ke also knew a little. Without this frequent economic crisis, World War I would not have had the internal motivation to fight.

Regarding the offer of foreign devils, Chen Ke directly bargained for one-third. Naturally, the businessmen of the old capitalist countries of Britain, France and Germany would not be blackmailed by a rebel leader. But the United States, the-stirring stick of the early 20th century, saw unlimited business opportunities.

As soon as they arrived in Anqing, the trade representative of the American merchant group was already waiting there in advance. However, Chen Ke did not go to meet the American representative first, but went to meet the British representative as agreed. Iron farming tools are now in demand most in the base areas, and by far they have been one of the biggest factors for farmers to join cooperatives. The four provinces together have a population of more than 50 million. At the very least, that's five million households. Each household needs six catties of iron farming tools, which is 30 million catties of iron. The iron farming tools needed by the farms in the base area were only a lot more than the needs of the private sector. In other words, 30,000 tons of iron were needed for the first round of iron farming tools alone.

Preparations are underway for the construction of railways and mines, and the manufacture of hot-bulb internal combustion engines is basically the track. Compared to the current annual output of 80,000 tons at the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, the demand is far from being met.

Since it was imperative to expand production, the first big deal had to be made with the British.

The British delegates had the air of the British Empire, that is, the poker faces of the Manchu officials they had once laughed at. Chen Ke also became serious. It's serious about talking about money. The price of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, casually fluctuating up and down, is a large amount of hard-earned money in the base area.

The negotiators were Qin Tongren and Wang Bin from Shanghai. Wang Bin has been working in a German comptoir in Shanghai and is very knowledgeable about various prices. Originally, he could only buy small machinery and equipment for the People's Party in Shanghai. Not long ago, Chen Ke asked You Wei to go to Shanghai to persuade Wang Bin to officially join the People's Party. Wang Bin and Chen Ke are also old acquaintances, and have been working with the People's Party since 1905. Anyone with a discerning eye can now see that the legalization of the BJP is only a matter of time. Wang Bin also officially defected to the People's Party in Longley. You Wei became Wang Bin's introducer to join the party, and now Comrade Wang Bin is a probationary member of the People's Party.

At the beginning of the talks, the British representative unexpectedly mentioned something that no one expected. "Mr. Chen Ke, do you know about the Nobel Prize?"

"That Nobel Prize in Sweden?" Chen Ke asked.

At this wealth of knowledge, the British representative's face finally showed a hint of surprise. "Yes, that's it. The Swedish Embassy has entrusted us with the search for you. Congratulations on winning the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Mr. Ulrich of Germany. ”

"Huh?" Chen Ke never expected this kind of thing to happen. He froze.

In 1905, in order to make money, Chen Ke copied Ulrich's historical contributions and took the lead in producing "606" and "914". Chen Ke was alone at the time, and in order to save his life, he published the molecular formula and simple synthesis method in a Shanghai newspaper. This detailed information also spread to Europe with the transportation between China and Europe and the United States. In this year, willow disease was rampant, and the drug immediately caused a great sensation in Europe and the United States.

Chen Ke is a Chinese, and the research was initially questioned, and European universities could not spend too much energy to find Chen Ke thousands of miles away. At that time, Chen Ke had already gone to Anhui for revolution, and there was no trace of him. In Europe, there are not only one or two scientists who want to keep this work for themselves. But Chen Ke made public his research results, and newspapers and other printed materials are available. The molecular formula and the equation are complete. Foreign scholars who want to overturn this concept cannot justify themselves.

In the end, it was Ulrich who conducted a systematic study of Chen Ke's achievements and proved that the drugs produced by Chen Ke were actually two kinds of "606" and "914". Plus Ulrich's "sidechain theory" has also been confirmed. Sweden's Nobel Prize Foundation shared the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Chen Ke and Olich.

The representative of the United Kingdom did not know much about this, and could only describe it in general terms. The Nobel Prize was not such a famous award at that time, and after the explanation, the British representative told Chen Ke that it was impossible to award him again because Chen Ke was absent. The Nobel Foundation entrusted the Swedish Embassy to find Chen Ke, and future medals, certificates, and bonuses would be sent to him.

Chen Ke was originally a "thief", and this stolen honor did not make Chen Keduo excited. He cares about bonuses.

"If the contract is negotiated, can I request that the bonus be remitted to the UK?" Chen Ke asked.

The British representative never expected that the rebel leader and scientist in front of him would say such a thing, and he was stunned before he replied: "Of course, there is no problem. ”

"Then let's talk about the expansion of this factory first, and then talk about anything else." Chen Ke said with a smile.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty invested 5 million taels of silver to build the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, and Chen Ke wanted to expand the steel plant, which was not just a copy. Instead, it is targeted to expand many production departments of Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant. There are many types of equipment in demand, and the thick list of requirements has already been seen by the British.

Perhaps the Nobel Prize proves that Chen Ke is a scholar, and the British representative was really polite this time. Prices have also been lowered. At least the price of a few reverberatory furnaces in the core has been significantly reduced. The factory talks about "matching". The defect of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in industry was that they had no concept of "matching". The equipment cannot be used for generations, and it must be replaced after the service life, and there will be problems if it is not replaced.

The leaders of the industrial sector of the base have always admired Chen Ke very much, because Chen Ke instilled the concept of "industrial chain" into everyone. Everyone finally understands how complex the coal-iron complex is an industrial chain.

After reaching a preliminary consensus with the British on the core equipment, Chen Kecai consulted with the American representatives. The evaluation of American goods in the world market in 1909 was similar to that of Chinese goods in the world market a hundred years later, with inferior quality and low price.

It seems that the US representative also learned about Chen Ke's Nobel Prize, and after congratulating Chen Ke, the US representative wanted to see what Chen Ke was planning to purchase from the United States.

"If I asked you to provide a factory equipment similar to the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, how would you quote?" Chen Ke's question gets straight to the point.

The representative of the United States swallowed a mouthful of saliva. A list of several million taels of silver is a sky-high order for the United States. The method of monopolizing the world market by the British was that if a country made its own efforts to build industry, the British could provide a full set of equipment and even technical support. But if a country wants to intervene in the world market and use its products to compete freely with British goods, then the British will intervene to stop it. The Americans proposed that the great powers "open the door and share interests" in China in the hope that they would be able to get a piece of the pie in China's big market.

The cheap onslaught of American goods directly triggered a strong Chinese revolt against foreign goods, and Americans also had a headache. Now that the pie was about to fall, the eyes of the American delegates immediately became as sharp as the bald eagle that saw its prey.

"Mr. Chen, I can't help but remind you that it is you who strongly demand the trade balance." The words of the representative of the United States are cautionary.

Chen Ke knew very well that what the US representative wanted to ask was, "Is there so much money in the base areas?" His answer was equally clear: "It's a big business, so we're going to try to increase our ability to export commodities." In this regard, our attitude has not changed. ”

"We thought you needed more plants and equipment, and the investment was a bit too big. Everyone knows that you need to expand the production capacity of the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant...... "the American representative advised.

"Hehe, the industrial standards adopted by your country are different from those of other countries. If I buy your country's complementary products on the basis of the existing industry, the screws are not universal. The new steel plant we want to build this time may not be located in Hanyang. Don't you think it's good for everyone to introduce a whole set of equipment from your country? And after this factory is built, we have a bigger technical cooperation with you. If it weren't for this cooperation, I don't think I would have easily believed me if I talked about future cooperation. ”

"What the hell is collaboration?" The American representative came interested.

"The chemical industry, which needs high-temperature and high-pressure equipment, can only say so much for the time being." Chen Ke said with a smile. He wants to cooperate with the Americans in the development of synthetic ammonia, and the importance of synthetic ammonia to China does not need to be emphasized at all. It's not just about fertilizer, it's just about the need for explosives a few years later, when the terrible war of industrialization began. The reason why the British thought before the First World War that the Germans would not last long was because the British thought that the Germans would not be able to get enough gunpowder. As a result, the Germans came up with synthetic ammonia, which completely solved the source of nitro gunpowder. On the contrary, there was a problem with the supply of gunpowder to the British and French.

However, high-temperature and high-pressure equipment can only be imported, and it is better to cooperate with the-stirring Americans than to let Britain and France know this secret. The original ammonia production line had no concept of catalysts, and Chen Ke didn't want to divulge the secret. After using an effective catalyst, Chen Ke's ammonia synthesis equipment can be at a lot lower temperature and low pressure, and he even thought about how to set up a set for the Americans.

"Mr. Chen, did you come up with such a big plan? Or are you really ready to do it? Although the U.S. delegates did not know Chen Ke's plans for the future, they were extremely sensitive to the problems they were facing.

Chen Ke said with a smile: "We are about to start building railways, whether it is rails or trains, a lot of equipment has to be purchased, but we have no money and no assets to pledge." It is true that the quality of the things we make ourselves is not as good as that of your country, but fortunately, we don't need to spend hard currency on imports. When we have money in the future, we will naturally expand our foreign imports. At this stage, we can only invest our money in a limited area. ”

Naturally, the American delegates did not understand the concept of a socialist country of "concentrating on doing great things," but the People's Party, as a traitor, certainly had no money. Chen Ke's real trade balance is not a commercial evil. The direction of the negotiations immediately tilted towards this big list.