Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Although New China was founded, feudal ignorance persisted in rural towns and villages. To address this, a large amount of new knowledge needed to be brought to the countryside. Even more important, a large number of intellectuals with new knowledge needed to be sent to the countryside.

And these students are the best personnel.

They bring new knowledge and new ideas, which will severely impact the feudal and ignorant thinking in towns and villages. In other words, towns and villages need these students.

Wei Hongjun added, "Rural towns and villages are lacking not only doctors and teachers, but also talent in many other areas. Currently, the free market for agricultural and sideline products is developing rapidly, and many rural cooperatives have established rural supply and marketing cooperatives to compete in this free market. The Ministry of Rural Affairs is also promoting the development of rural industry and commerce, building numerous factories in rural areas. However, establishing supply and marketing cooperatives and so many factories requires professional accounting talent simply to maintain these accounts. Furthermore, the development of advanced rural cooperatives itself requires professional accounting talent. Junior high and high school graduates, after basic training, are best suited to support the development of rural industry and commerce."

This problem cannot be solved by relying solely on urban industries to provide the required jobs.

Because the number of jobs provided by urban industries is limited. Even when China's industry developed rapidly and became the world's factory, the number of jobs provided by industry was far less than that provided by the service industry.

At this stage, the most suitable areas for providing jobs are rural towns and villages, as they have large populations and high demand. Besides doctors and teachers, the development of rural industry and commerce can also absorb more students. To solve the job creation problem in the future, we must find solutions in the distribution sector.

The service industry holds the most jobs.

Of course, jobs in towns and rural areas are definitely not as good as jobs in cities, and there are big gaps in treatment in all aspects.

But this is the most effective way at the moment.

As long as towns and rural areas develop a little, it will be easy to provide jobs for hundreds of thousands of people every year.

"Comrades Wei Hongjun, Deng Zhihui, and Tan Zhenlin, since your Rural Work Department is able to provide more jobs, please make a plan to see how many jobs you can create for students each year. Then we can discuss this further."

"Yes."

The reason why Wei Hongjun is willing to help solve student work problems.

First, rural towns and villages truly need these knowledgeable students. Whether developing primary healthcare or primary education in rural towns and villages, there's a shortage of primary care doctors and teachers. These junior high and high school graduates, with a little training, are the perfect candidates.

Another thing is that the development of rural cooperatives and rural industry and commerce requires these students even more.

Many farmers are very intelligent and can easily run small businesses. However, their greatest weakness is their limited knowledge and experience. Problems with the development of rural industry and commerce often arise from the farmers' limited knowledge and experience. Establishing a factory is not the same as operating as a small-scale vendor. However, these students can address this gap. If these students are effectively utilized, they will greatly benefit the development of rural industry and commerce.

Another is to bring new knowledge and new ideas to towns and rural areas, and break the backward and ignorant customs in these towns and rural areas.

Of course, the last one is that towns and rural areas need to help solve the employment problems of so many students. Therefore, during the Second Five-Year Plan, the state should allocate more resources to rural areas. If the Second Five-Year Plan is slightly adjusted and policies are slightly tilted towards rural areas, then life in rural areas will be much better.

After receiving assurances from Wei Hongjun, Deng Zhihui, and Tan Zhenlin, the Premier continued, "It's not just the Ministry of Rural Affairs. Comrades from other ministries and commissions should also give more thought to how to resolve this issue. This isn't just a matter for the Ministry of Education; it's a major issue concerning the stability of the entire city."

Chapter 959 Secretariat Action

After the education work conference ended, the central government began to pay attention to the report of the Ministry of Education and made large-scale adjustments to the development of higher education institutions.

The State Council issued a document.

Clear instructions: All higher education institutions not recognized by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education will be excluded from the ranks of national higher education institutions. No national ministry or local government is permitted to establish a higher education institution without prior approval from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education. Existing higher education institutions must undergo comprehensive adjustments. Those that should be closed should be closed, and those that should be converted into middle schools should be converted into middle schools. The State Council will absolutely not tolerate the blind establishment of higher education institutions without planning.

The Secretariat also issued documents.

Any attempt to establish a higher education institution without prior approval is a violation of national policy and Party discipline. The Secretariat will hold not only the direct leaders responsible but also the heads of ministries, commissions, and local governments accountable.

Now, not to mention colleges and universities, even the country’s enrollment in junior high and high schools is planned.

If central government ministries and local governments disregard the educational development plans of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education and arbitrarily establish various higher education institutions, it will directly disrupt education and enrollment plans. Moreover, the enrollment of these privately established higher education institutions is not included in the national plan, which makes enrollment opaque and full of chaos.

While the central government was tidying up these chaotically developed institutions of higher learning, it began transferring cadres to them and establishing new ones. Similar to the previous major restructuring of departments and faculties, adjustments were being made to many universities. The government system also began transferring cadres to the education sector.

The central government attaches great importance to colleges and universities.

Therefore, this cadre reshuffle is quite significant. The highest-ranking official is Guo Yingqiu, currently serving as Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Yunnan Province, who was appointed by the Politburo as President and Party Secretary of Nanjing University.

This is a groundbreaking appointment.

After all, Guo Yingqiu is a provincial and ministerial-level official in New China and a real local governor.

However, it can also be seen that the central government must be determined to solve the problems existing in universities and cannot allow universities to break away from the leadership of the Party. It has been eight years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In recent years, China's political, economic, and military developments have been very rapid.

It can be said that the past few years of the new China have been the best in the more than 100 years since the Opium War. Ordinary people can feel this firsthand. There are no wars, no bandits, prices are stable, and we have even won victories in foreign wars like the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.

The CCP’s ruling foundation is already very solid.

This is much better than the situation in history. Therefore, the central government has made a ruthless move in this adjustment of universities. It is necessary to adjust the departments and faculties of some universities, splitting them into departments and faculties to establish new universities.

Of course, these have nothing to do with Wei Hongjun, because this is not Wei Hongjun's job.

Although these have nothing to do with Wei Hongjun, Wei Hongjun is really busy.

This year marks the true large-scale promotion of improved varieties, with tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of acres of arable land receiving them. Li Shaocheng is solely responsible for this task. Although Wei Hongjun has great confidence in Li Shaocheng's ability, he cannot help but pay attention.

As the saying goes, if you have food in your hands, you will not be worried. This has been a true saying for thousands of years.

The foundation of all rural work is food.

With enough food, everything else is easy to do. But without enough food, everything else is just a castle in the air.

Therefore, rural grain production was Wei Hongjun's primary concern. After returning to Beijing, Wei Hongjun and Li Shaocheng discussed grain production several times. Besides promoting improved varieties, they also focused on water conservancy projects, cultivating fertile fields, and using fertilizers.

Overall it’s pretty good.

Before the large-scale production of chemical fertilizers, the Ministry of Agriculture vigorously promoted the use of farmyard manure and developed farmyard manure in conjunction with the pig farming industry.

China's grain production has been steadily increasing. While there have been droughts and floods, these have been localized disasters, not nationwide ones. Consequently, grain production has increased by tens of billions of kilograms annually in recent years.

The grain output of 4000 billion jin is just around the corner, and it is very likely to exceed 1955 billion jin in 4000.

Even if food production does not continue to grow in the next few years, as long as we can continue to ensure food security,

If food production exceeds 4000 billion jin, then the national grain reserves, local grain reserves, and rural production cooperatives' grain reserves will have a certain amount of accumulation.

By stocking up on food, we can avoid food shortages even if something happens in the future, including a nationwide disaster.

As long as there is no problem with food, Wei Hongjun can boldly promote many tasks in rural areas.

Then there's the work of supporting Tan Zhenlin's Department of Agricultural Reclamation. Development requires coordination across many sectors. Because the department currently needs support from all sides, and given the large number of people involved, it requires a lot of work.

Then came the development of a free market for agricultural and sideline products.

Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui were both extremely cautious about the free market. Whenever a small issue arose, they would discuss it for a long time, fearing it would affect the overall situation.

Fortunately, the free market for agricultural and sideline products has been liberalized for nearly ten months. Although some problems have emerged, the development of the free market for agricultural and sideline products has been smooth overall.

Of course, Wei Hongjun's most important task at this stage is the development of rural industry and commerce. Besides funding, Wei Hongjun also needs to identify machinery manufacturers nationwide that can provide machinery and equipment for rural industry and commerce. Only with accurate information can rural cooperatives purchase machinery and equipment from them.

Of course, this alone is not enough.

The steel and electricity needed by machinery factories to produce machinery and equipment are now allocated by the state.

Especially steel.

Although China's steel production has increased significantly, there are still too many places in the country that need steel. Once these machine factories start to join the development of rural industry and commerce, the amount of machinery and equipment they need to produce will be huge.

The steel required for these machines and equipment is also in the hundreds of thousands of tons, so Wei Hongjun must increase the allocation of steel to these machine factories.

However, this was not Wei Hongjun's responsibility, so he consulted with Deng Xixian and Li Xiannian from the Planning Commission, as well as Li Fuchun and Bo Shuchun, who were in charge of the steel industry.

After all, the overall situation now is a shortage of steel.

It is not easy to take steel from someone else's pocket, especially steel in units of hundreds of thousands.

A lot of plans need to be adjusted.

Wei Hongjun has been busy with this matter.

Deng Zhihui was responsible for formulating strategies for increasing employment in rural towns and villages and for accommodating students. Rural industrial and commercial development provided the most jobs. Furthermore, once rural industry and commerce flourished, a significant amount of machinery and equipment would be deployed to the countryside. Maintaining this equipment would require a significant number of maintenance personnel.

After attending the National Day celebrations in 1955, Wei Hongjun was busy with these matters throughout May and June. Of course, at this time, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China were also getting their rural credit cooperatives restructured.

Wei Hongjun had already considered promoting rural industrial and commercial development in several provinces after the autumn harvest. While Wei Hongjun was busy with these matters, Li Shaocheng and Lai Ruoyu came to him.

Both of them looked unhappy.

After Li Shaocheng sat down, he said directly, "Vice Premier Wei, there's something wrong with the Secretariat. They're interfering with our work."

"What's wrong?"

Wei Hongjun frowned.

The Secretariat is the department that handles the daily work of the Central Committee. The head of the Secretariat is Gao Gang, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee. The other secretaries are either members of the Political Bureau or alternate members of the Political Bureau.

Historically, the Chairman proposed the division of the Politburo Standing Committee into two main lines. At that time, Deng Xixian, as General Secretary of the Central Committee, presided over the work of the Secretariat and became a key leader of the front line. This shows the importance of the Secretariat in that era.

Li Shaocheng is Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rural Affairs, Deputy Director of the Eighth Office of the State Council, and Minister of Agriculture, making him a high-ranking official in the central government. But it's hard to say the same about the Secretariat.

So Wei Hongjun put down the pen in his hand and asked, "What's wrong?"

Wei Hongjun and Li Shaocheng had known each other for nearly twenty years, dating back to 1937. Wei Hongjun was very familiar with Li Shaocheng's personality. He was known for his calm demeanor, not the type of overbearing leader. Something must have happened to make Li Shaocheng so anxious.

Li Shaocheng said: "The Second Office of the Secretariat just held a joint meeting with the Eighth Office of the State Council. During the meeting, Comrade Rao Shushi asked our Ministry of Agriculture to report to the Second Office of the Secretariat on a daily basis. He also required that important documents of the Ministry of Agriculture need to be signed by the Second Office of the Secretariat before they can be issued. Vice Premier Wei, isn't this just nonsense? Although the Second Office of the Secretariat is in charge of agriculture, it has always only coordinated the relationship between the Secretariat and ministries such as the State Council and strengthened communication with us. But now they regard themselves as our superior department, requiring us to report on our daily work and even require our issued documents to be reviewed and signed by them. This..."

Li Shaocheng was indignant.

The Secretariat is where the Central Committee handles its daily work.

However, its main work is propaganda, organization, and other Party affairs. The Secretariat has four offices under its jurisdiction, responsible for the political and legal, agricultural, and industrial sectors. The Second Office is responsible for agriculture. However, the Second Office under the Secretariat does not directly lead rural work.

After all, the Central Committee currently has a Rural Work Department directly under the Politburo, while the State Council has the Eighth Office and the Ministry of Agriculture. Since the Central Committee established the Rural Work Committee, Wei Hongjun, Deng Zhihui, and others have been responsible for rural work. Therefore, in recent years, neither Premier Wu Hao nor Politburo Standing Committee member Gao Gang, who chairs the Secretariat, has directly intervened in rural and agricultural work, let alone the Second Office established under the Secretariat. Their primary responsibility has always been to communicate with the Rural Work Department and the Eighth Office of the State Council on rural and agricultural work.

In fact, it is to serve as a bridge between the Secretariat and the Rural Work Department, and then cooperate with the Rural Work Department to do a good job in organizing and promoting rural work, rather than leading specific rural work.

But suddenly, the Second Office of the Secretariat actually asked the Ministry of Agriculture to report on its work? And even to review and sign important documents of the Ministry of Agriculture?

What a joke.

Where does this put Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui? Apart from Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui, the Rural Work Department also has a big boss, Tan Zhenlin. What authority does the Secretariat have to bypass these three people and issue orders directly to the Ministry of Agriculture?

Wei Hongjun was also very angry. The Secretariat had overstepped its bounds. Was Gao Gang getting carried away?

Do you really regard the Secretariat as the Central Committee?

The Party Committee departments are Party Committee departments, and the administrative departments are administrative departments. The two are related, but also distinct. The Secretariat handles the Party's day-to-day work and belongs to the Party Committee. It cannot directly issue orders to the State Council, the highest administrative body.

“Who chaired the meeting?”

"Comrade Rao Shushi chaired the meeting, and Comrade Zhang Xiushan, Director of the Second Office of the Secretariat, attended the meeting."

"Comrade Deng Zhihui attended the meeting?"

"No. Comrade Lai Ruoyu and I attended the meeting, along with officials from the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Water Resources. The Secretariat made the same request not only to our Ministry of Agriculture but also to the Ministry of Forestry and the Ministry of Water Resources."

Wei Hongjun frowned.

I didn't quite understand what was happening. It had been almost two months since the union issue ended, and I'd assumed Gao Gang would pursue it relentlessly, but he'd been quiet. But now, as soon as he did, he was targeting Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui.

Wei Hongjun really didn't understand Gao Gang's actions.

Gao Gang was indeed a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and presided over the work of the Secretariat. However, Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui were not cadres without a strong foundation. Gao Gang could not simply do whatever he pleased. Especially in the rural agricultural sector, the Chairman respected the opinions of Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui and rarely overturned their reports. Even if he had a disagreement, he would not directly raise it, but would discuss it with Wei Hongjun and Deng Zhihui individually and persuade them.

It was not Gao Gang and Rao Shushi's turn to interfere. That was why Wei Hongjun was even more confused.