Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

As Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Peng Zhen read out the order of the President of the People's Republic of China conferring the rank of Grand Master of the People's Republic of China.

The Chairman stood up and personally presented the order awarding the rank of Marshal of the People's Republic of China to the marshals present.

Of the ten marshals, eight are here today. Marshal Lin and Marshal Liu are both recovering from illness.

Marshal Lin is recuperating in Qingdao, and Marshal Liu is recuperating in Nanjing.

As the Chairman awarded the rank of Marshal, thunderous applause broke out in the meeting hall and lasted for a long time.

But this is not the end. Next is the Chairman's awarding of medals.

Even Wei Hongjun went over. Although Wei Hongjun wasn't awarded a rank, he was honored. The generals who participated in the ceremony, those above the rank of general, were generally awarded the first-class August 1st Medal, the first-class Independence and Freedom Medal, and the first-class Liberation Medal.

Only Wei Hongjun and Wang Qiuyun are exceptions.

Both of them were awarded the Second Class August 1st Medal, the First Class Independence and Freedom Medal, and the First Class Liberation Medal.

Wei Hongjun touched the medal in front of him, feeling very excited. Coming to this time and space, he hadn't wasted time, nor wasted his days in a muddle. Over the past 15 years, he had done a lot for this country and this nation.

With the completion of the awarding of honors, the awarding of titles work in Zhongnanhai officially came to an end.

However, this only marks the end of the awarding of honors to marshals and generals, as well as to the various departments of the Central Military Commission. Next up is the awarding of military titles to the various military regions. However, this awarding of titles to each military region requires a local presence. Therefore, the Premier, on behalf of the Chairman and the Central Military Commission, began to deploy the next steps in the awarding of titles.

It means sending cadres to local military regions to be awarded military ranks.

Marshal Luo was stationed in Beijing and awarded military ranks to the Beijing and Inner Mongolia Military Regions. Marshal Ye was dispatched to Shenyang and awarded military ranks to the Shenyang Military Region. Marshal Liu was stationed in Nanjing and awarded military ranks to the Nanjing and Jinan Military Regions. General He went to Chengdu and awarded military ranks to the Chengdu, Kunming, and Tibet Military Regions. Marshal Xu went to Lanzhou and awarded military ranks to the Lanzhou and Xinjiang Military Regions.

Vice Premier Wei Hongjun of the State Council went to Wuhan to confer titles on the Wuhan Military Region, Guangzhou Military Region and Fuzhou Military Region.

They awarded medals on behalf of the Chairman, conferred military ranks on behalf of the Prime Minister, and conferred military ranks on behalf of the Central Military Commission, including colonels and cooks.

There is also a special title.

That is, Marshal Chen went to Korea to award titles to the volunteer army troops in Korea.

In addition to these awards, the Military Commission also had to confer military ranks on certain branches of the military, including the Air Force, Navy, Engineering Corps, Railway Corps, Air Defense Force, and Artillery. Originally, General Peng was to personally head this delegation. However, General Peng instructed General Huang Kecheng, the Secretary-General of the Military Commission, to confer military ranks on his behalf.

Time is still very tight.

After all, February 1953, 2, was the Spring Festival. The Central Committee and the Military Commission intended to complete the rank awarding process before the Spring Festival. After the Spring Festival, all troops began to work with their ranks.

So on January 1953, 1, Wei Hongjun flew from Beijing to Wuhan with Wang Qiuyun.

The title will be awarded here.

The three military regions will award ranks starting from generals.

The first to be awarded ranks were generals from the three military regions. Starting with the Wuhan Military Region, Political Commissar Luo Renfa, First Deputy Commander Wen Niansheng, Second Deputy Commander Lu Dongsheng, and First Deputy Political Commissar Xiang Zhonghua.

The Fuzhou Military Region is composed of Commander Zhang Zihua, Political Commissar Liu Shude, First Deputy Commander Qiu Wei, and First Deputy Political Commissar Li Tianhao.

On the Guangzhou Military Region side, there are Commander Chen Kaikun, Third Political Commissar Lai Chuanzhu, First Deputy Commander Cheng Zhicai, Second Deputy Commander Huang Yong, Third Deputy Commander Han Xianchu, First Deputy Political Commissar Su Zhenhua, and Second Deputy Political Commissar Wang Daobang. A total of seven people were awarded the rank of general.

There were 15 generals in the three military regions. Not too many, but not too few either. Below that were lieutenant generals.

The Wuhan and Fuzhou Military Regions have fewer generals but a disproportionately higher number of lieutenant generals. The Wuhan Military Region has Xiao Yongshi, the third deputy commander; Kong Qingde, the fourth deputy commander; Zhang Wucai, the second deputy political commissar; and Chu He, the third deputy political commissar.

Then there are Xu Luomin, currently the Chief of Staff of the Wuhan Military Region, Zhang Dahu, Commander of the Hunan Military Region, Ji Yong, Commander of the Artillery of the Wuhan Military Region and Principal of the Wuhan Artillery School, Chen Zuning, Commander of the Air Force of the Wuhan Military Region, Political Commissar Qiao Yu, Li Wanfu, Commander of the 45th Army, and Cai Debao, Commander of the 46th Army.

All of them are deputy corps level and quasi corps level.

After the Fourth Field Army's crossing of the Yangtze River, Deng Guo and Wang Qiuyun no longer served as corps leaders, and directly led the troops under them as deputy commanders of the Fourth Field Army.

Because they had more than just the original corps and some of the troops that followed them under their command, after the reorganization, they had about 30 people under their command. Therefore, Li Fangfu, Cai Debao and others were either deputy commanders of the corps or deputy commanders of the Hunan Military Region.

That is to say, they had little experience, and later they were all classified as quasi-corps level.

But even at the quasi-corps level, the rank should still be Lieutenant General. These officers were already downgraded due to seniority, and their ranks cannot be lowered further. In addition to the Wuhan Military Region, the Fuzhou Military Region's Second Deputy Commander Ding Sheng, Third Deputy Commander Yi Yaocai, Second Deputy Political Commissar Zhang Liankui, Third Deputy Political Commissar Kong De, Fuzhou Military Region Chief of Staff Cao Meng, Fuzhou Military Region Public Security Commander Ma Hongyuan, and Fuzhou Military Region Air Force Commander and Political Commissar Qi Guangwu all faced the same situation.

Many cadres were too low-level when they were assigned ranks. Many had only joined the 1,000-man unit of the Eighth Route Army during the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, they were only assigned deputy corps or quasi-corps ranks. There was no hope of becoming a general, but instead, a number of them were promoted to lieutenant general.

The same is true for major generals. A lot of them came out.

The Guangzhou Military Region, like Yang Dezhi's 13th Corps, also had many of Wei Hongjun's familiar Qian troops, such as Jiang Hebai, currently serving as deputy commander of the Guangxi Military Region, and Wu Pingshan, deputy political commissar and director of the political department of the 40th Army.

Wei Hongjun hadn't seen many of these people for a while, and he was very happy to see these old comrades.

They were also very excited when they saw Wei Hongjun. Because many of them were recruited into the Eighth Route Army by Wei Hongjun. So they immediately stood at attention and saluted, saying: "Political Commissar."

When they were awarded medals, very few people could get the first-class August 1st Medal, many of them only got the third-class August 1st Medal, and even quite a few people could not get the August 1st Medal at all.

Wei Hongjun was awarded medals and titles in Wuhan and did not return to Beijing until early February.

918 Stalin becomes seriously ill

The time for awarding the title was rather rushed.

This project, however, had been in the works for over four years. Even before General Luo arrived at the Central-South Military Region, he had been pushing for it. After all, with so many cadres, each one's revolutionary history had to be compiled, making it no small task.

Only Marshal Luo, who was in charge of the General Political Department and the General Cadre Department, could conduct a comprehensive investigation of the files of those military cadres.

It took more than four years of preparation to finally come up with the current title.

After Wei Hongjun returned from Wuhan after being awarded medals and titles, he mainly discussed the work for the new year with Li Xuefeng.

This was the first time the two of them had worked together, but it wasn't like they didn't know each other.

Li Xuefeng was in charge of land reform in Henan and Hubei provinces under Deng Zhihui's leadership in the Central South Bureau. Wei Hongjun was in charge of the nationwide land reform at the time, so the two had previously interacted several times. However, Li Xuefeng was now in charge of the energy industry, which required him to get up to speed quickly.

Wei Hongjun and Li Xuefeng also need to get used to each other as soon as possible.

Therefore, after the Spring Festival, Wei Hongjun convened a special meeting of the Fourth Office. Officials from the Ministry of Electric Power Industry, the Ministry of Petroleum Industry, the Ministry of Coal Industry, and the Ministry of Geology all attended the meeting.

Although this was the first time he and Li Xuefeng had collaborated in this way, Wei Hongjun, as usual, got straight to the point after the meeting.

"In the First Five-Year Plan, your coal mining industry was to achieve a target of 2.7 million tons. 1952 has already passed. Please report on the situation in 1952."

The country has a huge demand for energy.

Coal is one of them.

The national demand for coal is truly increasing day by day. Industry needs coal, power generation needs coal, urban fuel needs coal, and transportation needs coal. In China's current industrialization, coal is the primary energy source.

The goal set in the First Five-Year Plan was to require the coal industry to achieve a coal production of 1956 million tons by 2.7.

This wasn't just some random calculation by the Planning Commission. It was based on the current development of China's industry, the increase in urban population, and the demand for coal for transportation. The calculation showed that the country would need about 2.7 million tons of coal at that time.

However, demand is demand, and the Planning Commission still needs to discuss with the coal industry to see if the coal industry can meet the requirements.

After consulting with the Ministry of Coal Industry, Wei Hongjun gave a clear answer, telling the Planning Commission that the coal industry could achieve the 2.7 million ton target. He also submitted the Ministry of Coal Industry's First Five-Year Plan proposal to the Planning Commission.

After review, the Planning Committee considered this to be an achievable goal.

Therefore, after making a simple adjustment to the plan of the Ministry of Coal Industry, the plan of the Ministry of Coal Industry was approved.

Li Xuefeng was now the director of the Fourth Office, and Wei Hongjun hoped he would quickly familiarize himself with the work. A year had already passed since the First Five-Year Plan, and Wei Hongjun also wanted to know the development of the coal industry in 1952.

煤炭工业部部长许达本介绍道:“1952年全国的煤炭产量达到1.4亿吨。主要的责献就是来自于山西和河北以及东北。特别是我们在1947年开始从苏联大规模引入煤矿机械改造我们的煤矿之后,煤炭产量是一年比一年高。特别是山西煤爰产量上涨速度最快，1952年产量已经增长到了4700万吨,足定增长了4000万吨。而且山西煤炭的潜力还没有完全挖掘。”

In 1947, the Prime Minister went to the Soviet Union for negotiations and obtained a loan from the Soviet Union to purchase the old coal mining machinery and equipment in the Soviet warehouse. Almost all the coal mining machinery and equipment they had collected during World War II were sold to China.

For a period of time, a large number of coal mining machinery and equipment entered China almost every day through the Soviet Union's Siberian Railway.

These have had immediate effects on China's coal industry.

One was to use this batch of coal mining machinery and equipment to transform those large coal mines. The original plan formulated by Wei Hongjun and Xu Daben was to expand and renovate the old mines. At the same time, they would pool funds and machinery to build new, larger mines.

The most typical examples are the Datong Mining Bureau and the Kailuan Mining Bureau, and the results are very good.

After the old mine was expanded and renovated, the output of the old mine increased steadily. Then the Tianxing mine was built and the coal mining machinery and equipment were used, which greatly increased the coal production.

For example, the Kailuan Mining Bureau, where the Ministry of Coal Industry gathered experts and relied on its own design to build a large mine with an annual output of 230 million tons. The Kailuan Mining Bureau currently produces more than 1000 cubic tons of coal.

Of course, in addition to being used directly in coal mines, many of these old equipment were taken away by various mining bureaus and began to be copied. Now many mining bureaus can produce most of the coal mining machinery and equipment.

Of course, more complex ones still need to be imported from the Soviet Union. But this has greatly increased coal production.

Since we can produce most of the coal mine machinery and equipment, many coal mines can undergo mechanization transformation. Do not underestimate this mechanization transformation, as the output will increase exponentially.

许达本继续道:“目前我国90%以上的煤炭,都来自于东北、河北、山西。其中东北煤炭产量在3700万吨左石，河北煤炭产量2700万吨,山西4700万吨，北京煤炭产量600方吨。”

"What is the next priority for the Ministry of Coal Industry?"

“按照一五计划，山西依旧是发展重点。煤矿工业部准备投入资金在山西打造八个煤矿基地,分别是大同、阳泉、西山、潞安、汾西、轩岗、普城、霍州。在1956年的时候，让山西煤炭产量达到8000方吨到1亿吨左右。东北煤炭产量提高到6000万吨，其中辽宁3000万吨黑龙江2000万吨,吉林1000万吨。”

"We will also focus on developing coalfields in Shandong and Henan. In recent years, our primary investment has been in Shanxi, Hebei, and Northeast China. So, over the next four years, we plan to invest even more in Shandong and Henan. We aim to increase coal production in these two regions from the current 1000 million tons to 4000 million tons."

The First Five-Year Plan was relatively general.

This was because China had no experience in planning, so the First Five-Year Plan was adjusted as it was implemented.

The same is true for the Ministry of Coal Industry.

As development progressed, the original plan was constantly adjusted. In recent years, coal reserves in Shandong and Henan have steadily increased, with more and more coal mines being discovered. Therefore, the Ministry of Coal Industry decided to increase its support for coal mines in Shandong and Henan.

Wei Hongjun looked at the map.

I asked: "Are all these mining bureaus in Shanxi directly managed by the Ministry of Coal Industry?

"Yes."

Xu Daben nodded.

He said, "Currently, all the important mining bureaus in the country are directly managed by our Ministry of Coal Industry. The Eight-day Coal Mine Base that Shanxi is planning to build is directly under the responsibility of our Ministry of Coal Industry."

Wei Hongjun thought about it and said to Li Xuefeng: "Shouldn't we hand over some of the coal mines to the local government?"

Central control has both advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest advantage of central government responsibility is that it can accurately grasp these data, allowing for more accurate planning. However, the downside is that local governments have little to do.

Let's leave it all to the central government. You guys handle it.

What do we local officials need to do?

It is impossible to mobilize the subjective initiative of local governments.

This problem has always existed. However, the central government cannot delegate industries arbitrarily. This is because it can easily lead to chaos. Just like during the Great Leap Forward, when the central government delegated many important enterprises to local governments, the resulting local management became a mess. Therefore, Wei Hongjun's idea is that the central government should still control key large-scale projects.

However, some small industries can be decentralized to local governments to allow them to gain experience.

In this way, any problems that arise can be adjusted in a timely manner.

"I think it's a good idea to hand over some small mines to the provincial government. After all, the central government has many responsibilities, and the Ministry of Coal Industry has many mining bureaus under its jurisdiction. If the Ministry of Coal Industry were to manage everything, there would be many problems with subsequent coal distribution. When the central government distributes coal, it can't take into account some small issues. If the provinces control some coal mines themselves, they can adjust these matters themselves."

Li Xuefeng nodded.

In addition to being in charge of land reform work in the Central South Bureau, Li Xuefeng was also in charge of industrial construction.