Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 204 Function
Wang Ju.

Minister Wang and Minister Zhou entered the room and saw a man in his fifties chatting with Chen Bijun on the sofa.

"Hey, Min-yi, when did you get here?"

"Hey, brother-in-law, you just got here not long ago, Minister Zhou." The man stood up.

"Chu Minyi, hahahaha." Minister Zhou laughed and went up to shake hands. "The last time we met was in Nanjing, right? You, the Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan, just quit like that. What a bold move, hahaha."

Chu Minyi smiled and shook hands with her, saying with emotion, "Yes, more than three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Back then, Nanjing was still Chinese territory, but now it belongs to the Japanese. Things have changed."

Why did you resign back then?

"At that time, my brother-in-law was injured in an assassination attempt in Nanjing by that so-called assassin king Wang Yaqiao. He needed to recuperate, and as a doctor, I had to go with him so that I could take care of him if anything happened. So I resigned from my job."

Later, my brother-in-law recovered, but I was too lazy to go back, so I came to Shanghai to teach medicine at a school, and I've been teaching there ever since.

Whether he was too lazy to go back or had a falling out is another matter. The Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan said he wouldn't do it, and he just did it like it was his own home, putting himself on the level of Wang's servant. You may be shameless, but the Executive Yuan still has its dignity. Of course, it's not good for him to go back. Minister Zhou laughed.

"Look at my memory, I almost forgot that you are a French medical doctor. Actually, it's quite nice to teach in Shanghai. Didn't we teach at Guangdong University back then? Those days were really comfortable."

He and Chu Minyi were both professors at Guangdong University in 1924. However, Chu Minyi was the dean of the medical school, while he was an adjunct professor of political courses. They didn't know each other at all, but since they were from the same school, they could be considered to have some connection.

"Sit down and talk, why are you standing?" Chen Bijun greeted them with a smile, and asked, "How did your inspection go today?"

Wang felt good. He sat down, loosened his tie, crossed his legs, and said, "I have a pretty good impression of the people in Shanghai. Whether it's the people in the municipal government or the people in the intelligence headquarters, they have no objections to peaceful nation-building."

Wang recounted his day's events to his family's strategist and asked, "What did you say to Fu Xiao'an about the request he made?"

"He wants the authority to appoint the police chief," Minister Zhou explained regarding the negotiations.

"You agree?" Chen Bijun asked.

"Not yet, but I think this police station is the only option for him."

"Why should we give it to him? I don't think we need to give it to him at all." Chen Bijun frowned and said, "Fu Xiao'an has connections with the Nanjing Expeditionary Army. It's fine to leave him in his mayoral position, but other conditions should not be met, nor do they need to be met."

The Japanese agreed to our negotiations and the establishment of a new regime. So what if Fu Xiao'an doesn't have this police station? Can he still not be the mayor?
If we lose this police chief, we'll face serious problems in Shanghai in the future.

Now that you've agreed to limit the scope of the Special Agents Headquarters' authority, whether or not ordinary cases in Shanghai are investigated will all fall on the police department's shoulders. He may not be rebelling, but isn't his plan to seize all the power in Shanghai?

How should we operate in Shanghai from now on?

Minister Zhou said calmly, "Isn't there still Gu Yansheng's Ministry of Justice? In the future, the power to appoint officials in Shanghai's judicial departments will be in the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing. Gu Yansheng will definitely keep the judicial departments in his own hands. With him supervising them, even if Fu Xiao'an takes over the police station, he won't be able to control everything in Shanghai. What's there to worry about?"

Chen Bijun was dissatisfied, "Whether the Ministry of Justice will grant Gu Yansheng or not is still undecided. How can you draw such a conclusion about something that is not yet determined?"

"If not Gu Yansheng, then who?"

“Give it to Li Shengwu. He came with us and is a law PhD who studied in Japan. The Japanese will have a good impression of him. If you don’t give him the Ministry of Justice, is it appropriate to give it to someone you’ve only known for a few days? This is the Ministry of Justice, not a general store.”

After Chen Bijun finished speaking, she looked at Wang Ni and said, "Don't you think that makes sense? We don't even know who Gu Yansheng is."

"Gu Yansheng actually seems quite energetic," Wang Ni said, recalling Gu Yansheng's image in his mind before delivering a blow to his wife. He added with considerable interest, "I also took a look at the industrial projects Gu Yansheng is developing in western Shanghai today."

Chen Bijun was furious when she heard this and interrupted her directly: "This is not the time to discuss this. I'm asking you, the Ministry of Justice gave Gu Yansheng to him, what are you going to do with Li Shengwu? The old man who came with us, you're just going to make him Gu Yansheng's concubine, right?"
What will the people who came with us think when they find out about this?
If people who will come to rely on us later find out about this, will they still choose to rely on us?
In the early days of the new government, it needs talented people. You have to offer them a promising future, right?
Gu Yansheng may be a talented person, but does that mean he needs to be promoted to the ministerial position all at once? Wouldn't a deputy minister position work?

Upon hearing this, Wang frowned and hesitated before saying, "What you're saying makes sense. The position of deputy minister isn't actually low, and he's still young. He could take over Li Shengwu's position in the future, wouldn't you say?"

Wang looked at Minister Zhou.

Minister Zhou remained calm. "Since we've started talking, let's get to the bottom of it. Anyway, the purpose of today is to finalize the list of the preparatory committee. Although it's called the preparatory committee, these people will actually be the backbone of the new government in the future."

Regarding the personnel we currently have in mind, not counting those who will come in the future, as far as we are concerned, among the people in Shanghai, Fu Xiao'an must be counted, as he is the mayor.

Why did I give him the police station name?

You just said it's okay not to give it to him, that's fine, and he certainly won't resign even if you don't give it to him.

But will it cause us trouble?
We are doing preparatory work in Shanghai. Just the publicity, putting up banners, contacting the concessions, organizing various activities, etc., are a huge amount of things. If you don't give him the police station, he will use the police station to cause trouble for you now. What can you do?
The appointment is a matter for the future, but don't forget, we haven't been established yet, and we're not his superiors now, so we can't appoint this police chief.

What will you do? Fight against him? Wouldn't that create a huge obstacle to our work?

If you go and complain to the Japanese, who knows how long the lawsuit will take!

Chen Bijun pondered, "Then what if we tell the Japanese now to replace this police chief? We can say that he needs to cooperate with our activities in Shanghai and protect our safety. I think the Japanese will agree."

"There's no need for that." Minister Zhou shook his head and scoffed. "Why must we confront Fu Xiao'an? If he wants it, just give it to him. What's the big deal?"

Once our new government is established, we won't need Fu Xiao'an anymore. Then we can deal with this matter when we have the time.

With the funding issue at stake, are we afraid of Fu Xiao'an, or is Fu Xiao'an afraid of us?
If you don't confront him, won't he be more willing to help us with our publicity? Why not?

Chen Bijun didn't insist on the right thing, and nodded slightly, "Then give it to him, do as you say. But if that's the case, then there's even less reason to give the position of Minister of Justice to Gu Yansheng."

“No, the position of Minister of Justice must be given to Gu Yansheng.” Minister Zhou waved his hand, about to continue, when he was interrupted by Chen Bijun.

Chen Bijun was a little annoyed. She slammed her hand on the small tea table next to her and said loudly, "Why do you have to think about Gu Yansheng? What are you going to do about Li Shengwu? What are you going to do about what the others think?"

Minister Zhou's voice also rose, "Think whatever you want, let Li Shengwu go wherever he wants, but when assigning a position, the first thing to consider should be ability, right?"
Why would you abandon Gu Yansheng, who has so many connections in Shanghai, and choose Li Shengwu? Just because he's one of your people, you're obligated to promote him?

"Who are my people? This is one of Mr. Wang's own people! If you don't make arrangements for him, why do you have to make arrangements for an outsider?"

"What's wrong with outsiders? Have you come here to establish a new government or to form cliques? Is the new government all about cronies? Do you still want to build a peaceful nation?"
Even Chiang Kai-shek, when it came to personnel matters, still had to engage in KMT-CPC cooperation when the time was right. The people from Zengjiayan No. 50 were constantly under his nose; what did he say?

"What stage are we at now where we can get things done just by relying on connections?"

"Then what do you expect Li Shengwu to do? How do you explain this?!" Chen Bijun demanded.

Seeing the argument getting louder and louder, Wang Ni stepped in to mediate, raising his hand to calm things down, saying, "Alright, alright, let's talk about business. Both of you, calm down. You both have your reasons. If it really doesn't work out, we can discuss this position again later."

“No, the ministerial position must be given to Li Shengwu.” Chen Bijun refused to budge an inch.

Minister Zhou let out a deep breath. "Alright, then we'll do as you say and give the ministerial position to Li Shengwu. Now, let me ask you, have you thought about what the situation in Shanghai will become?"
If you don't give this ministerial position to Gu Yansheng, who in the municipal government will suppress Fu Xiao'an?

Chen Bijun asked curiously, "What does this have to do with suppressing Fu Xiao'an?"

"The connection is extremely important!"
The current situation within the SH municipal government is quite clear: Fu Xiao'an is on one side, Ling Xianwen on the other, and Gu Yansheng on the other. Among the bureau chiefs outside, only Lu Ying from the police station is somewhat useful; the rest are all mediocre. You can tell by looking at the person Fu Xiao'an wants: he's willing to give up all personnel authority, but he specifically wants this police chief. He wants to bring Lu Ying into his camp.

"You don't need Gu Yansheng. This situation isn't just Fu Xiao'an's problem; it's the entire municipal government uniting against you. Fu Xiao'an plus Gu Yansheng, the police station plus the judicial department—Shanghai is completely out of control. That's the key point!"

“Even though the Ministry of Justice is in Li Shengwu’s hands, we can still supervise Fu Xiao’an.”

“I’m telling you, it’s impossible!” Minister Zhou said with absolute certainty. “Gu Yansheng will absolutely not obey Li Shengwu’s orders. If Gu Yansheng is the minister, the Shanghai judicial department is under the Ministry of Justice. If Gu Yansheng is not the minister, the Ministry of Justice will not even make a move on the Shanghai judicial system.”

"If he dares to disobey orders, transfer him away."

"He has the consulate backing him, and Hasegawa is watching. Where are you going to transfer him? If he's not promoted, can you demote him?"

"Promote him, make him the Deputy Minister of Justice. It's not that they won't give him the position, it's just that they won't give him the ministerial position."

"When he was the vice minister, Shanghai listened to him. Why would they listen to Li Shengwu? When he was the minister, Shanghai listened to him. When he was the vice minister, Shanghai still listened to him. Aren't you deliberately trying to disgust Li Shengwu?"
"Shanghai isn't even in Li Shengwu's hands. Do you really think Li Shengwu can hold onto his ministerial position comfortably and happily?"

"Is Shanghai really indispensable without him?"

Chen Bijun's temper flared, and her voice rose again, "Transfer him to Nanjing as vice minister. If he doesn't listen, just replace everyone in the Shanghai judicial department, wipe out all his influence, and that will solve the problem."

"Just kidding!"

Minister Zhou's eyes widened. "Who do you take Gu Yansheng for? Someone who would let you wash his clothes?"
I won't even talk about whether Hasegawa Jinchuan will get involved, just look at your people who are washing Gu Yansheng's hands, have you ever thought that Fu Xiao'an might also get involved in this matter?

And is Gu Yansheng's value only in the legal field? You may not have seen the industry in western Shanghai, but I have, and Mr. Wang has also seen it.

And that's not even mentioning his other connections in Shanghai. Have you forgotten that the Narcotics Control Bureau is now under his name, and the power to collect drug taxes is effectively in his hands?

Just by dealing with this drug, you should know that he knows at least one influential figure within the Green Gang.

What kind of place is Shanghai? It's a melting pot of all sorts of monsters and scoundrels. If you make him a minister, wouldn't the Green Gang members also be able to work for us?
Have you considered whether this would greatly contribute to political stability?

Chen Bijun sighed, rested her elbow on the coffee table, and frowned.

Wang said, "In that case, Gu Yansheng's abilities and role are indeed not to be underestimated."

“Of course,” Minister Zhou affirmed. “If he were just a judicial section chief, why would I have chosen him? I chose him based on a variety of considerations. He is the one who can achieve what Luo Junqiang cannot.”

Wang looked at Chu Minyi and asked, "Minyi, have you ever heard of Gu Yansheng during your years in Shanghai? Do you know anything about him?"

Chu Minyi thought for a moment and said, "I don't know much about him, but I've heard his name before. Wasn't I the head of the medical department at the Sino-French Technical School in the French Concession? He helped the French consulate with a case, which caused quite a stir at the time. The French teachers at the school talked about it, and the newspapers also reported on it."

"Did you win?" Wang asked with great interest.

"We won, but who remembers the loser?" Chu Minyi said with a smile as he recounted what had happened.

Wang nodded and looked at Chen Bijun, "How about we use this person? Her abilities seem fine, and she has strengths in various aspects."

Chen Bijun said with distress: "Why don't you understand what I mean? It's fine to use capable people, but it doesn't have to be a ministerial position. If you give it to him, how will Li Shengwu be able to face the consequences?"
You can implement the system of promoting the capable and demoting the incapable in Chongqing, but you need a stable regime, right?

What are we supposed to do here? The stage hasn't even been set up yet, and you're already tearing it down.

If he's like this after following us for seven years, then wouldn't other less capable people be more restless?
Morale is low.

"This is indeed a problem that cannot be ignored." Wang thought for a moment and said, "How about giving another ministerial position to Li Shengwu? What else is he good at? Diplomacy? Wasn't he an advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before?"

"How can you give him the diplomatic affairs position? He used to be a director there, in charge of general affairs. If you give him the diplomatic affairs position, won't he make a fool of himself in his work later?"

And if you give it to him, what will happen to Gao Zhongwu?
Gao Zhongwu was formerly the Director-General of the Asian Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; he's a powerful figure. Now he and Mei Siping are in charge of the entire negotiation process. If the deal is successful, such a significant achievement—should we just give him a vice-ministerial position, letting Li Shengwu, the general affairs officer, overshadow him?"

"Being the head of general affairs is actually quite good, but it seems a bit unfair to give such a great achievement only to the deputy head."

"Oh dear," Wangwang said, frowning, "that makes things difficult. What else can he do?"

“He also served as the chief editor of the Central Daily News,” Chen Bijun reminded her.

"Yes, yes, yes." Wang patted the sofa armrest. "I remember now. To resist foreign aggression, one must first pacify the internal situation. He helped Chiang Kai-shek promote this policy, wrote articles, and even gained Chiang Kai-shek's appreciation."
He has good writing skills and is also adept at publicity. Sigh, Fo Hai, aren't the positions of president and editor-in-chief of the China Daily still vacant?

He remembered that Gu Yansheng had mentioned this matter when he went to inspect the China Daily in the afternoon.

Minister Zhou chuckled and said, "He'd like to be an editor-in-chief?"

“Of course not,” Chen Bijun said. “Or we can make him the president first and put him in charge of publicity. Publicity is of paramount importance right now, and we can rest assured with him here. We can promote him to the publicity department later.”

"Deputy Minister?"

"Minister."

"Ha," Minister Zhou scoffed inwardly. "I knew it. Chen Bijun kept pressing him, scheming and plotting for Li Shengwu. It turns out she had her eye on his propaganda department and wanted to get involved."

"If he becomes a minister, then let me ask you, what about Tao Xisheng who came with him?"
Li Shengwu had at most served as chief editor, and was far from being the president of the newspaper. He was not even an expert in the newspaper's business, but could only be described as familiar with it.

Tao Xisheng was the deputy director of the propaganda department in Chongqing. He knew all about propaganda work. No matter what strategy Chongqing came up with in the future, he could think of a way to deal with it. He could even deduce who the person who came up with the strategy was based on the strategy!

Publicity is important, which is why he absolutely has to be given this position.

"This won't do, that won't do, this is important, that is important, every single person you, Minister Zhou, have appointed is important. So tell me, isn't Li Shengwu unimportant? Where are you sending Li Shengwu?"

Chen Bijun became unhappy, and her voice rose again.

Minister Zhou said unhappily, "What do you mean that none of the people I employ are unimportant? Do you think I'm forming cliques?"
This is the establishment of a new regime!

This is for the great cause of building a peaceful nation!

This is a difficult revolution to save 400 million compatriots!

Of course, I carefully select the best people for each position. Everyone I use is important and irreplaceable!
Otherwise, wouldn't we be betraying our own ideals?
They even formed cliques. Look at the people I chose: Li Shiqun, Ding Mocun, and Gu Yansheng. I promoted them to ministerial positions after careful consideration, taking into account both their abilities and their connections with the Japanese.

I didn't recognize any of these people at first, did I? I'd only met Ding Mocun twice before. But I've met so many people, who would remember such a nobody?

Look at Luo Junqiang again. He's someone who's truly been with me all along, someone I know well, someone safe and reliable. Did I appoint him as a minister? Did I say a single word in his defense?
If people can do it, they can do it; if people can't, they can't. This is a revolution, not a dinner party!
"You've invited all the distant relatives, and everyone has to eat the best food. There are only a few bites of meat and vegetables on the table! How can everyone possibly get enough?"

Chu Minyi listened with a blank expression. You two are talking, why did you bring it up to him? Is this guy surnamed Zhou cursing him?
(End of this chapter)