Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

While unifying their thoughts, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam decided to establish the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam to unite all resistance forces in South Vietnam, including all classes, ethnic groups, political parties, social groups and religious groups.

At the same time, all the anti-government armed forces currently in Vietnam will be united to form the South Vietnam Liberation Armed Forces.

In order to strengthen the strength of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the South Vietnam Liberation Armed Forces, the Workers' Party of Vietnam began to send more military cadres and local cadres into the South.

At the same time, the Workers' Party of Vietnam reorganized its Vietnam People's Army. After the reorganization, the Workers' Party of Vietnam sent a telegram to China and the Soviet Union, stating that the regular troops of the Vietnam People's Army currently numbered 32 and were preparing to expand to 50.

However, the weapons and ammunition needed for military expansion, as well as the supplies needed to support such a large number of troops, required support from China and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union requested equipment for 20 infantry divisions. The equipment for other units required the advice of the Chinese and Soviet military advisory groups.

The Soviet Union needed to prepare weapons and ammunition, and also listen to the opinions of experts sent to China's southwestern provinces. Based on their opinions, they would support the transportation and industrial construction of China's southwestern provinces.

Time was running out. After all, the decision by China, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam was to be made at the end of 1960, which was only a year and a half away.

Among other things, transportation between China and Vietnam must be improved as quickly as possible. Truck-friendly roads must be built, and the Kunming-Hebei Railway (Yunnan-Vietnam Railway) must be upgraded to increase transport capacity. China can provide manpower, but lacks construction machinery, capital, and resources like steel. All of these require Soviet support.

In order to resolve these problems, Khrushchev held meetings with various Soviet ministries, republics, and large factories, ordering them to deliver the required goods to China on time.

With Khrushchev's support, Soviet departments became more efficient. The Soviet Union continuously transported supplies to China via railways. Huge amounts of supplies entered China via Mongolia, Manchuria, and Xinjiang. The railways and highways between China and the Soviet Union were practically smoking from the sheer volume of supplies being transported.

Furthermore, to increase the speed of rail transport, Soviet trucks shipped to China were unloaded immediately upon arrival at the border crossing. The Chinese prepared their trucks at the border crossing early, refueling them, and then the truck drivers drove off, taking along a large amount of supplies.

With such a large amount of resources flowing into China, China naturally needed to undertake large-scale construction. Deng Xixian coordinated with various parties at the central level, and the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Transport, and the provinces involved all began to invest.

In just the first two months of this massive construction project, a total of 520 million workers were mobilized nationwide. Many military regions dispatched their engineering corps, and many other provinces also sent engineering teams. This goes without saying that the provinces directly involved mobilized hundreds of thousands of people.

Moreover, the military regions involved along the way directly dispatched their troops. These military regions not only sent engineering troops, but also field army troops to participate.

In addition to these, China must quickly establish a logistics command center. The tripartite joint logistics command center will ultimately be led by China.

Wei Hongjun coordinated this matter with the State Council and the Central Military Commission, drawing on cadres from various parties. Feng Yongshun, Deputy Minister of the General Machinery Department, was appointed Commander of the Logistics Command. Liu Jianzhang, Deputy Minister of Railways, was appointed Political Commissar of the Logistics Command. Sun Daguang, Deputy Minister of Transportation; Jiang Hebai, Commander of the Guangxi Military Region; Chen Kang, Commander of the Yunnan Military Region; Mo Naiqun, Vice Governor of Guangxi Province; and Liu Linyun, Vice Governor of Yunnan Province, were appointed as Standing Committee Members of the Logistics Command.

These standing committee members were chosen to coordinate the military and political departments of Yunnan and Guangxi. After all, after Guangxi and Yunnan became the general logistics base, the joint logistics command had to cooperate with the military and political institutions of Guangxi and Yunnan.

In addition to the logistics command, the team also needed to select candidates for the military advisory group going to Vietnam. Both General Peng and General He recommended Zuo Quan, the deputy chief of staff of a certain department of the General Staff, as the head of the Chinese military advisory group.

Zuo Quan was currently doing some odd jobs in a department of the General Staff because of his "anti-dogmatism" activities. This was a good opportunity to eliminate the negative impact of his "anti-dogmatism" activities.

Wei Hongjun agreed to the proposals of General Peng and General He. He also recommended Deputy Chief of the General Staff Chen Zhonghe as deputy head of the Chinese military advisory group. Chen Zhonghe's advantages were obvious. After all, he was the chief of staff of the Volunteer Army and had faced the Americans face to face.

Two deputy chiefs of the general staff, Zuo Quan and Chen Zhonghe, served as the chief and deputy chiefs of the military advisory group, and selected some veteran generals and young commanders to go to Vietnam to understand both the development of the US military and the situation of the Vietnamese People's Army.

Wei Hongjun's current job is to set up these departments and assign suitable cadres. However, just after coordinating the matters of the logistics command and the Chinese military advisory group, the Chairman called Wei Hongjun from Henan and summoned him to Xinyang.

After the summer harvest, the drought problem persisted. Reports of drought were coming from all over the country, and the affected area was gradually expanding. Therefore, the Chairman chose to travel south to inspect the current situation.

The drought affected a large area of ​​Henan Province, especially Xinyang, one of Henan's granaries. That's why the Chairman came to Xinyang.

The drought in Xinyang is indeed severe. In 1958, Xinyang's annual grain output was 78 billion jin (approximately 20 billion kg), accounting for about 40% of Henan's total. However, this year's grain output in Xinyang is estimated to be less than billion jin (approximately billion kg).

The Chairman spoke with the cadres in Xinyang one by one to understand the current disaster situation in Xinyang. The situation is indeed serious, but overall there are no major problems.

Xinyang's current population is only a little over eight million. Even if the disaster causes a poor harvest, Xinyang still has enough food to last. Furthermore, Xinyang has been a grain-producing area for many years and possesses a considerable amount of grain reserves. With Xinyang's own grain reserves, they can weather this disaster. Of course, this assumes Xinyang is exempt from grain requisitions this year.

One of the biggest problems in Xinyang's history was that the city boasted of producing over 20 billion jin of grain, even though its grain output was only over 80 billion jin. As a result, after the state requisitioned 80 billion jin of grain, the entire city was severely short of food.

The current situation is relatively ideal. As long as the central government does not requisition grain, Xinyang can survive.

But after arriving in Xinyang, something still made the Chairman very angry. It was far more serious than the current disaster in Xinyang. So he called Wei Hongjun over.

It's not just Wei Hongjun, there are also Zhang Dingcheng, Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, Tan Zhenlin, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Deputy Secretaries Luo Qirong and Huang Kecheng, as well as Qian Ying, Minister of Supervision, Lin Dafeng, Minister of Water Resources and Electric Power, and others.

When Wei Hongjun and his team arrived in Xinyang, they found that the main cadres from Henan and Anhui were there.

"Everyone, take a seat."

The Chairman's face was not very good. Of course, the faces of the local cadres present were also very serious, and the whole atmosphere was very depressing.

"Let me hear the details."

Wei Hongjun sat below the Chairman. On the way here, he had a general idea of ​​what had happened, but the details were not clear.

Wei Hongjun didn't recognize the cadre standing next to him. He stood up and said, "Leaders, I'm Shi Shaoju, Secretary of the Huaibin County Party Committee. I'm reporting to the Chairman that Anhui isn't following construction standards when building dams and reservoirs, which has significantly raised the flood storage level. Furthermore, their reservoirs have numerous problems. Last month, we had some rain, and the reservoirs couldn't hold, so they decided to release the floodwaters. However, Huaibin County is located in the middle reaches of the Huai River, in low-lying terrain."

"Before liberation, we were plagued by floods here. But after liberation, we mobilized the people to build dams and reservoirs, which solved most of the problems. There haven't been any serious floods in the past ten years, and grain production has increased year by year. But this time, Anhui released floodwaters, which destroyed our dams and reservoirs, submerging nearly 60,000 mu of farmland. Furthermore, they didn't notify us. So far, we've counted over 180 people killed in this flood, and the death toll is expected to rise as more and more people are added to the tally."

Hearing that such a serious incident had occurred in Huaibin County, Xinyang, many people were shocked.

Especially with so many people dead, this is no small matter.

After Shi Shaoju finished speaking, the Chairman said, "Comrade Lin Dafeng."

"President."

"Doesn't your Ministry of Water Resources have any standards for damming and building reservoirs?"

"Yes, we have detailed standards. The construction of small reservoirs can be decided by county, township, and rural cooperatives. However, medium-sized reservoirs above a certain size require joint approval from the provincial and municipal water conservancy departments. This is because medium-sized reservoirs require more considerations and many technical challenges, requiring coordinated planning. Even the slightest problem in the construction of such a medium-sized reservoir could be a fatal threat."

Lin Dafeng answered immediately.

Building a reservoir isn't something you can do arbitrarily. There's nothing wrong with rural cooperatives building small reservoirs. After all, the capacity is limited, so even if something goes wrong, the consequences won't be too serious.

But large and medium-sized reservoirs are different. They are technically difficult and risky. They cannot be built casually.

Not to mention dams and reservoirs, which require even more consideration. It's impossible to just build them however you want.

"So what's going on here? Comrade Song Shaowen, please tell me what's going on. Was this reservoir approved by your province, or was it built by the local authorities without authorization?"

Song Shaowen, the first secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, Niu Shucai, the second secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and governor, Lu Weisheng, the third secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, and Huang Yan, the fourth secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, were all restless.

The distinction between the First and Second Secretaries of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee is based on the ranking of the Provincial Party Committee Secretariat. The Provincial Party Committee Secretariat is similar to the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, and these secretaries have their own divisions of labor. For example, Song Shaowen's First Secretary is actually the Provincial Party Committee Secretary.

Song Shaowen said, "Chairman, this is a mistake on our part. We only knew how to encourage everyone to engage in production and construction, but we didn't discipline the local authorities. Some places got carried away and repeatedly raised the standards, which is why this happened."

What else can I say at this moment?

Such a serious incident happened, and it was directly reported to the Chairman.

The only option was to conduct a self-criticism. The Chairman was furious and said, "This is a disregard for human life. They completely disregard the safety of people's lives and property for the sake of political achievements. Water and fire are merciless. We must vigorously develop water conservancy projects, but we cannot do so blindly."

"Because of the drought in Henan, the Huai River hasn't flooded yet. If the Huai River floods, and the dams and reservoirs are breached by you, the entire county will be submerged. How many people will die? If that happens, no matter how many people are executed, it won't be enough to atone for your sins."

"Over 180 people, all fresh lives, perished because of your reckless actions. How can you shoulder this responsibility? Will executing you save these 180 people?"

The chairman was very angry.

In peaceful times, the national economy is thriving. A bright future awaits everyone. But because of Anhui's reckless actions, over 180 people have died.

Not only did you fail to build the reservoir according to standards, but the reservoir itself also has serious problems. Anhui is experiencing drought, with little rain recently. Yet, even a small amount of rain can't sustain the reservoir. This type of reservoir is worse than being built.

Fortunately, this year is a drought year, and the Huai River didn't surge. If it had, the entire county would have been wiped out. The population wouldn't have been just 180,000, but over 18,000.

If this really happens, it would not be enough to deal with all the cadres in Anhui.

"Comrade Tan Zhenlin, Comrade Luo Qirong, Comrade Huang Kecheng, Comrade Qian Ying, how do you, the Supervisory Committee, think this matter should be best handled?"

Tan Zhenlin said directly: "First, they didn't follow the construction standards and raised the flood storage level without permission, which created a great danger to the surrounding area. We must investigate this issue."

"Whether this was a decision made privately by local officials, or something condoned by provincial and municipal water conservancy departments, or perhaps something personally handled by leaders of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, we must investigate thoroughly."

"As for the officials directly responsible for this incident, they should all be charged with dereliction of duty and handed over to the procuratorate. Officials indirectly involved will be dealt with according to the extent of their responsibility."

Luo Qirong added: "Chairman, this is a serious matter. It's not just a simple matter of not following the construction standards, but also the narrow-mindedness of many of our cadres who only consider their own interests."

"If we don't take strong action this time, this kind of thing will happen again in the future. With so many large and small projects underway across the country, and so many large and medium-sized reservoirs under construction, if everyone only considers their own interests and ignores overall coordinated development, chaos will ensue."

It is simply nonsense to deal with such an important matter as building a dam and a reservoir without considering the surrounding conditions.

Huang Kecheng and Qian Ying also spoke out in support of Tan Zhenlin and Luo Qirong's opinions.

"Comrade Zhang Dingcheng, what's your opinion?"

"This incident is a typical case of dereliction of duty."

"Could it be that local officials didn't anticipate such a serious problem?"

"Failure to consider this is the greatest dereliction of duty. Damming and building reservoirs is extremely dangerous. Local officials must follow national standards and respect science. They shouldn't blindly build whatever they want. Not considering the potential dangers is dereliction of duty."

Since the "Malfeasance Law" was established, Zhang Dingcheng has dealt with many cadres who have committed malfeasance.

The phrase they say most often is "I didn't expect something so serious would happen." So they always use this as an excuse to say that it was just a work error and not "dereliction of duty."

But the more this went on, the angrier Zhang Dingcheng grew. If you lead the people in planting trees, and they all die because of a lack of experience, that's certainly a work error. Even if it's more serious, the most you'll get is internal Party and administrative action.

But if you lead a group to build a road and fail to evacuate the crowd when using explosives, and people end up getting killed, then that's classic dereliction of duty. Or if you clearly knew the dangers of explosives but handled them carelessly, resulting in casualties, it's the same situation.

Knowing that there is danger and still holding on to hope is the most typical manifestation of dereliction of duty.

The chairman nodded.

Wei Hongjun remained silent. The Chairman's summoning of Tan Zhenlin, Zhang Dingcheng, and the others was a clear signal. This matter must be dealt with strictly.

Otherwise, there would be no need to call the leaders of the Central Supervisory Committee and the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

"The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Supreme People's Procuratorate have jointly formed an investigation team to thoroughly investigate this matter."

"Yes."

"Comrade Song Shaowen, you in Anhui must fully cooperate with the investigation."

"Yes."

"Comrade Lin Dafeng, the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power must conduct a nationwide investigation into this phenomenon of blindly building reservoirs."

"Yes."

"Everyone is tired, let's take a rest first."

After everyone left, the Chairman sighed and said, "If I hadn't come to Xinyang, the Central Committee might not have known about such a serious problem."

"Anhui and Henan should first discuss the aftermath plan. After reaching an agreement, they will report to the central government."

Wei Hongjun roughly understood the ideas of Anhui and Henan.

The two parties were unwilling to fall out over this matter. They could first reach a certain compensation plan privately and then report it to the central government, so that the matter could be resolved.

The chairman said angrily, "They're good to us, but what about those who died in this incident? Furthermore, if we don't address this huge hidden danger today, there will be problems in the future, even major ones."

"Regarding this matter, the Secretariat should issue a notice and disseminate it throughout the Party. This should serve as a warning to the entire Party."

"Yes."

The Chairman's anger subsided a little. He said to Wei Hongjun, "In addition to this matter, there are some other matters during this inspection. I would like to hear your opinions."

1073 Retirement

"I've heard reports from Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Hubei that some counties have developed large cooperatives and cooperative associations, with small ones having 400 to 500 households, large ones having 700 to 800 households, and even thousands of households."

The Chairman's trip to the south this time is mainly to inspect the disaster situation in rural areas across the country and to take a look at the rural development situation.