Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

The Chairman has always supported frontline cadres in using their brains.

I do not agree with strict control over front-line cadres.

The CCP currently controls many areas. Almost everything north of the Yangtze River is in its hands. However, for now, the most stable and powerful liberated areas are still in Northeast China and North China. Now that they can develop on their own, the Chairman is very pleased.

If everything is left to the central government to coordinate and issue orders, how long will it take to build a socialist China?

"The chairman agrees too?"

"I agree. Furthermore, this incident shows that our frontline comrades are very thoughtful and proactive. I think the Central Committee can delegate some power. Aside from matters requiring Central Committee approval, as long as they don't involve major issues, the Northeast and North China Bureaus can completely decide on their own cooperation plans."

The Chairman wrote his name on the report and agreed to the cooperation between the Northeast Bureau and the North China Bureau.

Comrade Xiuyang took the report, thought for a moment, and said, "But there were problems this time. The Northeast Bureau used rail transport to put pressure on the North China Bureau, and in the end, Comrade Wei Hongjun personally went to the Northeast to resolve the problem.

Many comrades in the Central Committee believe that Comrade Gao Gang was somewhat overbearing in this matter."

"I've heard about this too."

This wasn't just between the various local bureaus; even during the joint operations of the Second, Third, and Fifth Field Armies, there were numerous disputes over command of campaigns. Especially when several armies from different field armies, or two or three corps, joined forces, there were numerous disputes over command. No one was willing to relinquish command.

But what Gao Gang did this time was still a bit over the line.

Someone has already reported to the chairman.

Again.

Wei Hongjun, despite his young age and experience, was quickly promoted to one of the representative cadres of the North China Bureau, leading North China affairs, which made many people feel jealous. Gao Gang was actually no different from Wei Hongjun. Gao Gang was also a cadre who rose through the ranks very quickly.

There are those who admire, and there are those who are dissatisfied.

In addition, Gao Gang has a tough working style and offends many people.

"Chairman, there will be a lot of cooperation between local bureaus in the future. But this cooperation should be equal. Otherwise, some local bureaus are located in areas with strong economic strength, while others are located in areas with small populations and poor land.

If we cannot cooperate with each other on an equal footing and instead resort to using our power to coerce others, there will be many problems.

The Chairman greatly admired cadres from northern Shaanxi like Gao Gang and Xi Zhongxun. They had excellent work styles, were not boastful or dogmatic, and preferred to get their hands dirty rather than just talk. However, he was somewhat angered by Gao Gang's arrogance and dominance.

Comrade Xiuyang is right.

Although this time Wei Hongjun went to the Northeast Bureau to solve the problem.

But once, there will be a second time.

The Northeast Bureau controlled the railway arteries, allowing it to consistently suppress the North China Bureau and gain a strong position in the cooperation. This was also the reason Gao Gang stopped the train. Gao Gang was letting Wei Hongjun know that the Northeast Bureau held the upper hand.

"Chairman, although we currently adopt the Party committee responsibility system, the Party committee's role has not yet been fully utilized. During previous wars, many local bureaus needed to centralize power in order to adapt to the war. But now that we are in the construction stage, we should give full play to the role of the Party committee.

Centralization is necessary in times of war.

The central government also intentionally supported the power of frontline leaders, not wanting to see disputes during battles. Therefore, most base areas implemented unified leadership under the top leadership of the party, government, and military. As a result, those frontline leaders held considerable power, becoming true vassals.

But it's different now.

Many liberated areas no longer need to fight. The power of the top leaders, the power of the local central bureaus, needs to be limited. This is especially true for leaders like Gao Gang, who are both members of the Politburo and the top leaders of the Northeast Party, government, and military.

Moreover, Comrade Xiuyang is also wary of Gao Gang.

Gao Gang and Comrade Xiu Yang had a huge disagreement at the National Rural Work Conference and the City and Municipal Work Conference held in Yi County. Comrade Xiu Yang was in charge of the overall economic work of the Central Committee.

But Gao Gang also has confidence.

His confidence comes from his achievements in Northeast China.

The industrial and agricultural data in Northeast China is truly impressive. It can be said that in today's China, the only cadres from the Northeast and North China Bureaus who have truly engaged in large-scale practical work in large cities and in industry and agriculture are cadres from the Northeast and North China Bureaus. Although Comrade Xiuyang is a leader in charge of economic development in the central government, his actual experience in this area is far inferior to that of the cadres from the North and Northeast China Bureaus. After all, the cadres from the North and Northeast China Bureaus have all personally participated in this work.

Gao Gang's aggressive style put him at a disadvantage when he was in the Northeast Bureau, even Peng Zhen, the alternate secretary of the Secretariat, was at a disadvantage. Comrade Xiuyang was wary of Gao Gang, a local tyrant who had come from a Politburo background. It just so happened that Gao Gang's actions this time were truly disturbing. He must be restrained.

The chairman nodded.

The Chairman attaches great importance to party discipline.

Whether it was during the time in Jinggangshan or the Central Soviet Area, Chairman Mao was stripped of his leadership several times by special commissioners and the Provisional Central Committee. However, Chairman Mao never considered using his influence in the army or in the local areas to directly confront the Central Committee.

On the contrary, the Chairman attaches great importance to maintaining the central leadership and maintaining party discipline.

Wei Hongjun has always advocated for Party committee leadership, primarily local collective leadership. This is because the power of the top leader during the war years was too great. Wei Hongjun, having served as a top leader himself, understands the power of those times better than anyone. At the local level, decisions made by the top leader were virtually impossible to implement. Voting within the Party committee was rare. It was precisely to change this situation that Wei Hongjun consistently promoted the Party committee responsibility system, essentially a system of collective Party committee responsibility. Ren Peiguo also valued Wei Hongjun's views and supported them. Most places in North China already implemented the cadre responsibility system under the leadership of the Party committee.

Comrade Xiuyang hopes that the Northeast Bureau will also begin to learn from the North China Bureau.

We can’t let Gao Gang dominate the Northeast.

"Yes. This should be true not only for the Northeast Bureau, but also for the Northwest, East China, and Central Plains Bureaus. They must all implement a true Party committee responsibility system. Important issues must be discussed at a meeting of the local Central Bureau Standing Committee, and larger matters require discussion and approval at a meeting of the local Central Bureau members. We'll convene a Politburo meeting to finalize this matter."

Weakening the power of local princes must be done gradually.

This has nothing to do with suspicion of meritorious officials.

This is a normal political choice.

It's a pleasure to cultivate yourself.

The cadre system in Northeast China is the most chaotic, after all, the sources of cadres are complex.

The current composition of the Northeast Bureau is also the same, with people from all bases. It is impossible for Gao Gang to "cover the sky with one hand" in the Northeast Bureau.

Lin Feng, Li Fuchun, He Kequan, Cheng Zhihua, Zhou Heng, Xiahou Wen and other members of the Northeast Bureau have rich experience, high ranks and outstanding contributions to the development of the Northeast Liberated Area.

The Chairman continued, “I think this kind of thing happened because Comrade Wei Hongjun was not in a proper position to preside over the work in North China.

The Chairman considered Gao Gang's use of force to suppress Wei Hongjun this time.

Besides Gao Gang's own work style, there was also the intention of suppressing Wei Hongjun, the "newcomer." Currently, there are five major local Central Bureaus. The secretaries of the Northwest and Northeast Bureaus are both members of the Politburo, while the secretaries of the Central Plains and East China Bureaus are both members of the Central Committee. Wei Hongjun, currently in charge of the North China Bureau, is not even an alternate member of the Central Committee.

His qualifications and rank within the party are too low.

If it were Marshal Nie or Dong Biwu, would Gao Gang do the same?

Moreover, unlike other local central bureau secretaries, Wei Hongjun presided over the work of the North China Bureau as the deputy secretary of the North China Bureau.

“It should be related to this.”

Xiuyang nodded.

I have seen the cultivation of Gao Gang's "Postscript".

The Chairman thought for a moment and said, "We should still give Comrade Wei Hongjun sufficient trust. I would like to propose that Comrade Wei Hongjun serve as Acting Secretary of the North China Bureau, Acting Commander and Political Commissar of the North China Military Region, and Acting Chairman of the North China People's Government. This way, he will be able to take full charge of North China's work with full legitimacy."

Comrade Xiuyang nodded.

In fact, Comrade Xiuyang's attitude towards Wei Hongjun is rather complicated.

While recognizing Wei Hongjun's abilities and contributions, the two sides also differed significantly on some of his policies in North China, including those on agriculture and urban issues. These differences stemmed from differences in political philosophy.

However, compared with Gao Gang, Wei Hongjun's political status is still insufficient.

Moreover, Wei Hongjun is currently a rising cadre, and many central leaders are very optimistic about him. Therefore, Comrade Xiuyang does not want to suppress Wei Hongjun in this regard.

"Then let's hold a Politburo meeting to finalize these matters."

"Yes."

Chapter 745 Regime Construction

After the Chairman and Comrade Xiuyang exchanged views, a Politburo meeting was soon convened.

All 12 Politburo members currently in Yi County attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed the cooperation plan submitted by the Northeast Bureau and the North China Bureau. If it was just this matter, there would be no need to convene a Politburo meeting.

However, the Chairman and Comrade Xiuyang expressed their great appreciation for the cooperation model between the North China Bureau and the Northeast Bureau.

Comrade Xiuyang believed that the current stage was one of national economic recovery, and that the primary task for the liberated areas was to restore the economy. At this stage, effective resource allocation and complementary strengths among the liberated areas were essential. The Chairman also highly valued such cooperation.

Therefore, the Politburo meeting not only approved the cooperation plan between the Northeast Bureau and the North China Bureau, but also distributed this cooperation plan to various local central bureaus and the various administrative agencies under them.

They were also asked to learn from the Northeast and North China Bureaus. Cooperation between the various local central bureaus and administrative offices was entirely possible if they could optimize resources and complement each other's strengths.

Gao Gang's actions instilled fear and anger. However, his desire to collaborate with the North China Bureau was praised by many central government officials. They all believed that Gao Gang was not only capable of practical action but also exceptional in his strategic vision. Gao Gang's abilities once again impressed the central leadership.

After discussion, the Politburo decided to place the overall responsibility of higher education in North China under the North China Higher Education Committee of the North China People's Government. The North China People's Government was composed of a general office, 11 ministries (one of which was the Labor Bureau), the North China People's Court, the North China People's Supervisory Commission, the North China People's Bank, and four other committees.

They are the North China Water Conservancy Commission, the North China Finance and Economics Commission, the North China Art Work Committee, and the North China Higher Education Commission.

Fu Zuoyi served as director of the North China Water Conservancy Commission, Zhou Bin served as director of the North China Finance and Economics Commission, Zhou Yang served as director of the North China Art Work Committee, and Wei Hongjun served as director of the North China Higher Education Commission.

At this meeting, the central government, having not yet established a Ministry of Education, handed over the management of all higher education institutions in North China to the North China People's Government. Although the North China Bureau had previously been in charge, this time the central government gave the North China Bureau the authority it needed. This gave it sufficient authority to cooperate with the Northeast Bureau.

During this meeting, Comrade Xiu Yang and Comrade Ren Peiguo proposed further strengthening the Party's leadership and deepening the power of the Party Committee, that is, promoting the Party Committee responsibility system to a greater extent.

The local central bureaus must begin to standardize.

That is, the Central Committee needs to clarify how many deputy secretaries, standing committee members, and committee members a local Central Bureau has, including what responsibilities each deputy secretary of a local Central Bureau has.

Previously, many local central bureaus, including military regions and sub-districts, were quite chaotic in this regard. In addition to work-related considerations, some local central bureaus, military regions, and sub-districts also had to take care of veteran cadres. Therefore, they increased the number of committee members to provide support. Previously, this was done to motivate the lower levels, so the central government would not interfere too much in these matters. However, with the victory of the revolution, everything needed to be formalized.

The center needs control.

The Chairman then nominated Wei Hongjun for a legitimate position in North China. After the meeting, Marshal Nie personally visited the North China Bureau to convey the spirit of the Politburo meeting. This Politburo meeting formally appointed Wei Hongjun as Acting Secretary of the North China Bureau, Acting Commander and Political Commissar of the North China Military Region, and Acting Chairman of the North China People's Government.

Although there is a code in front of it.

But it was already legitimate for Wei Hongjun to be in charge of all work in North China.

Wei Hongjun hadn't seen Marshal Nie for a while.

After the Central Committee arrived, Marshal Nie, Dong Biwu, and Bo Shuchun were all transferred to the Central Committee. The Central Committee gradually established a central government in Yi County. Bo Shuchun was assigned to the Finance and Economics Committee, where he worked alongside Peng Zhen, who had also been transferred to the Central Committee, to coordinate with Chen Yun, the former Secretary of the Northeast Bureau, who had also been transferred to the Central Committee. Zhou Bin, currently Deputy Secretary of the North China Bureau, also served on the Finance and Economics Committee, as he was fully responsible for financial affairs.

Dong Biwu is currently responsible for establishing the Central Supervisory Committee.

This is the work of cooperating with the commander-in-chief.

At present, in addition to cooperating with the Chairman in charge of military affairs, the Commander-in-Chief’s main job is discipline inspection work.

Nie Shuai currently has the heaviest workload.

After his promotion to the Central Committee, he was assigned to work with Comrade Ren Peiguo. Ren Peiguo's health wasn't great, but it was much better now than it had been in the past. At this time in history, the War of Liberation was raging, and land reform was also facing many problems. Despite his illness, Ren Peiguo conducted investigations in various rural areas. Later, when the Central Committee evacuated Yan'an, Ren Peiguo followed Chairman Mao and Wu Hao to Shaanxi. As a result, his health deteriorated further. The Central Committee knew of Comrade Ren Peiguo's poor health, so Marshal Nie was promoted to the Central Committee to assist Comrade Ren Peiguo in handling the daily work of the Central Committee and to be responsible for organizational and personnel work.

In addition to these tasks, Marshal Nie was also responsible for establishing the Political and Legal Committee in the Central Committee.

This is a very powerful committee.

He was in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Justice, the Legal Affairs Commission, and the Ethnic Affairs Commission. The Chairman and his colleagues had high hopes for Marshal Nie, as the Jin-Cha-Ji and North China Bureaus had made significant discoveries in public security, judicial work, legal system development, and ethnic affairs over the years.

And their grades are all very good.

Although Marshal Nie had made good achievements in industrial and agricultural construction in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area and the North China Liberated Area, the Central Committee did not assign Marshal Nie to the Finance and Economics Committee, but instead assigned him to the Political and Legal Committee.