Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

If Marshal Lin was the Chairman's military student, then Marshal Luo was the Chairman's political student. The Chairman's feelings towards the two were very different.

Luo Shuai is not a cadre who only talks big. After talking with the Chairman, Luo Shuai submitted a "leave and recuperation" report at the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau. He did not apply for a few months of recuperation and then come back to work when he is well.

Luo Shuai's "leave for recuperation" means that he is unable to perform his daily work due to health reasons, so he applied to resign from his positions as Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, Director of the Central Military Commission Supervisory Commission, and Director of the People's Armed Forces Committee.

This is true action, not just rhetoric. Luo is a member of the Politburo and currently one of the three Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission, who oversee the day-to-day operations of the Central Military Commission. He was also formerly the Director of the General Political Department and the Minister of the General Cadre Department, and holds significant power within the Central Military Commission.

The cadre adjustments of the entire military system could not be passed without Luo Shuai's approval. And Luo Shuai was in the Military Commission, so everyone was very confident.

But he applied for a "leave of absence" without regrets. This wasn't the kind of "leave of absence" that kept his job, but a "leave of absence" that only kept his political rank.

The Chairman was personally reluctant to see Luo Shuai leave. After all, Luo Shuai was the first to request "leave and recuperation." If he were to be called back after just a month or two, others would undoubtedly accuse him of being hypocritical and playing double game with the Chairman. Therefore, to avoid tarnishing Luo Shuai's image and the policy, Luo Shuai's recuperation period couldn't be too short. Without a year or two, Luo Shuai couldn't possibly return to work.

But from a public perspective, Luo Shuai’s proposal of “resignation and recuperation” at the Politburo meeting was definitely a huge driving force for promoting the “resignation and recuperation” policy.

After all, if officials of Luo Shuai's rank are willing to "leave their posts for rest," who would still "beg and cling" to their positions? Currently, there are very few officials in the party, government, and military systems who can surpass Luo Shuai.

Luo Shuai's stepping up did surprise many people because although Luo Shuai was not in good health, he still had no major problems handling his daily work.

After Luo Shuai proposed "leave and recuperate," Liu Shuai, alternate member of the Politburo and member of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee, also applied for leave and recuperation. Liu Shuai was even more decisive than Luo Shuai. Instead of "leave and recuperate," Liu Shuai wanted to simply "retire due to illness."

According to the ranking of alternate Politburo members, once Luo Shuai left office for recuperation, someone would have to replace him and exercise the powers of a Politburo member. Liu Shuai is ranked first among the alternate Politburo members and could have temporarily replaced Luo Shuai and exercised the powers of a Politburo member.

Although he is only an acting member of the Politburo, his political status is completely different after this step. A member of the Politburo is a full-fledged leader of the Party and the country.

Furthermore, the current Politburo still has a chronically ill member. If Marshal Luo is on temporary leave, he could return in a year or two. However, if Marshal Lin is forced to "leave office for recuperation," it would be difficult for him to return. At that point, Marshal Liu would not be exercising power as a temporary replacement for a Politburo member, but would be elected as a full-fledged member.

But Liu Shuai had no such thoughts at all. Liu Shuai was already 67 years old and had always been in poor health. As early as when he was the president of the Nanjing Military Academy, Liu Shuai had been recuperating for many years due to health reasons.

Furthermore, after the "anti-dogmatism" movement, General Liu suffered a severe blow both physically and mentally, and his health deteriorated rapidly. Furthermore, General Liu currently lacked a formal job. Besides being a member of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee and head of the Central Military Commission's strategic group, he held no official position.

Liu Shuai is self-aware. Given his own circumstances, he would be 70 years old by the time the Tenth National Congress was held. As one of the "anti-dogmatism" figures, he would be guilty of a crime and unlikely to be elected to the Politburo. If he wasn't elected, he would still have to retire.

Since he's definitely going to retire by the time he gets to the top ten, why wait another three years? It would be better to retire now, which would benefit everyone and allow him to support the "retirement and recuperation" policy the chairman wants to promote.

Luo Shuai and Liu Shuai stood up and personally supported the "resignation and recuperation" policy, ensuring that it was successfully passed at the enlarged meeting of the Politburo.

At the same time, the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau approved the applications of Luo Shuai and Liu Shuai. Luo Shuai was "retired for recuperation" and Liu Shuai was "retired due to illness."

Besides Marshals Luo and Liu, there was the issue of Marshal Lin. Since the Politburo had approved the "leave and recuperation" policy, Marshal Lin was the first cadre to be affected by it.

It should be said that within the Politburo, or even the entire Central Committee, except for some cadres who had a good relationship with Marshal Lin, most cadres did not want Marshal Lin to return. This also included the Military Commission, where no one was very willing to see Marshal Lin return.

This is because Marshal Lin was too close to Chairman Mao and held a very high position during the revolutionary era. Therefore, even though he has not appeared in many years, if he returns, he could still impact the current political structure.

At present, not to mention the military system, let’s talk about how many people in the party and government system were once Marshal Lin’s old subordinates. In particular, cadres from the double-first system are basically all Marshal Lin’s old subordinates.

Therefore, the emergence of Marshal Lin caused a huge stir. As a result, even many cadres from the Double One system were now pursuing their own development and were not very willing to have Marshal Lin, the representative of the Double One system, emerge and affect their interests.

The cadres of the Shuangyi system respected and admired Marshal Lin very much, but they did not want him to leave retirement.

So the Politburo meeting concluded that Marshal Lin also met the criteria for "retirement." While not directly "retired due to illness" like Marshal Liu, he received nearly the same treatment. Everyone forced Marshal Lin to "retire due to illness," which was practically equivalent to "retirement due to illness."

The two people whose "leaves of absence" were approved by the Politburo were Chen Geng, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Commission, and Li Kenong. Their "leaves of absence" were not decided by the Central Military Commission but by the Politburo, mainly because they were both members of the Central Committee.

At present, there are only a little over 100 Central Committee members nationwide, and each of them holds a very high political status. Approving their "leave of absence" requires either a Central Committee meeting or a Politburo meeting.

Other cadres in poor health, such as He Bingyan, commander of the Chengdu Military Region, need to be counted by the CMC. After discussion and approval at a CMC meeting or a CMC Standing Committee meeting, they only need the Chairman's final approval. There is no need to convene a Politburo meeting.

With so many people leaving their jobs for rest at once, many positions have been left vacant.

Because two Politburo members, Marshal Lin and Marshal Luo, were on leave, Xu Shuai and Luo Qirong were appointed alternate members of the Politburo. In their absence, they temporarily exercised the powers of the Politburo members.

This is also because the "leave of absence" regulations still have many problems. For example, if a Politburo member "leaves office for rest," they retain their political rank and will still be a Politburo member when they return. Therefore, a new Politburo member cannot be elected, and the only option is for alternate Politburo members to replace them and exercise the powers of Politburo members.

The Politburo then began to discuss the arrangements for the Military Commission, especially since Luo Shuai had left, as the Military Commission needed to find a replacement.

Speaking of the best in military political work, among the marshals, it must be Marshal Nie, Marshal Luo, and General Chen. But now none of them are available, so they can only find someone from among the generals to replace Marshal Luo.

There was no big suspense. The Central Committee appointed Tan Zheng, Director of the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission, to temporarily act as Luo Shuai's Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission and participate in the handling of the daily work of the Central Military Commission.

Xu Liqing, Deputy Minister of the General Political Department, was appointed acting director of the Central Military Commission's Supervisory Commission, and Xiao Hua, Deputy Director of the General Political Department, was appointed acting director of the People's Armed Forces Committee.

Then, General Political Department Director Tan Zheng and Chief of General Staff Deng Guo were appointed to replace General Luo and General Liu as members of the CMC Standing Committee.

In this way, the Standing Committee of the Military Commission became the Chairman, and was composed of Wei Hongjun, General Peng, General He, Marshal Xu, Marshal Ye, Yang Quanwu, Tan Zheng, and Deng Guojiu.

Tan Zheng and Deng Guo served as members of the Standing Committee of the Military Commission, Marshal Lin and Chen Geng "left their posts for recuperation", and Huang Kecheng went to the Central Supervisory Committee, so there were suddenly five more members of the Military Commission on the list.

After discussion by the Politburo, five people, including Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Commission Zhang Zhongxun, Navy Commander Xiao Jinguang, Armored Forces Commander Xu Guangda, Air Force Commander Liu Yalou, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the Wuhan Military Region Wang Qiuyun, became new members of the Central Military Commission.

As a result, the members of the Military Commission became Chen Laozong, Su Yu, Wang Zhi, Zuo Quan, Zhao Lu, Zhang Zhongxun, Xiao Jinguang, Xu Guangda, Liu Yalou, and Wang Qiuyun.

It can be said that with the adjustments after this "resignation and recuperation", generals began to become the main cadres of the Central Military Commission.

As for the Deputy Chiefs of General Staff left behind by Chen Geng and Li Kenong, there was no by-election. This was simply because there were too many Deputy Chiefs of General Staff in certain departments of the General Staff, and several of them were not actually working. There was no need to increase the number of Deputy Chiefs of General Staff.

After the Politburo meeting, the Secretariat sent the "Regulations on the Retirement and Rest of Party Members and Cadres" adopted by the Politburo meeting to all central party committee departments, ministries and commissions of the State Council, the Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, as well as local provinces, universities and major factories across the country.

We asked everyone to count the cadres who meet the conditions for "leave and recuperation" and then initiate "leave and recuperation". Finally, we should report the specific situation to the Secretariat.

Wei Hongjun issued Politburo documents as the First Secretary of the Secretariat, and attended CMC meetings as the Vice Chairman of the CMC.

Because the military system has the most cadres who need to rest, the first cadre involved in the CMC meeting was He Bingyan, commander of the Chengdu Military Region.

His health had always been poor, and everyone knew it. However, since He Bingyan himself hadn't submitted a report, the Military Commission couldn't let him leave. This was because, among the major military regions in the country, only one, the Chengdu Military Region, was staffed by officers from General He's Red Second Army Corps.

The three largest factions during the Red Army era were the First, Second, and Fourth Front Armies. The commanders and political commissars of the major military regions were mostly from the Central Red Army, followed by the Fourth Front Army. Therefore, the Second Front Army and the Second Red Army Corps had to be taken into consideration.

But that's no longer the case. The Politburo has already approved the "leave and recuperation" policy, and He Bingyan's situation clearly fits that description.

However, the Military Commission still considered General He's reputation and the Red Second Army's dominance. Instead of simply "leaving He Bingyan for rest," they transferred him to Beijing. He Bingyan was already Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the Chengdu Military Region, so this time he was in Beijing as Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Let's see how his health is doing first.

If He Bingyan's health condition makes it difficult for him to handle his daily work, he will be asked to "leave work and recuperate." If he is still in good health after arriving in Beijing, he can go back to work in Beijing.

After He Bingyan was promoted to the Central Military Commission, a position for the commander of a major military region became available. Considering the situation of the Second Red Army Corps, the Central Military Commission pulled out Huang Xinting, the deputy commander of the Xinjiang Military Region and commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and appointed Huang Xinting as the commander of the Chengdu Military Region.

Besides He Bingyan, many other military cadres were in poor health. Therefore, the Central Military Commission issued a notice to all the major military regions, requiring them to take inventory of these cadres.

1082 Food Preparation

After the enlarged Politburo meeting passed the "retirement and rest" proposal, the Third Session of the Third National People's Congress immediately followed, and this was expanded to the entire political system.

While the approval of the expanded Politburo meeting is a done deal, the Politburo is, in principle, the CCP's political bureau, and can only govern CCP members. Therefore, it must be approved by the National People's Congress to encompass the entire party, government, and military system.

At this point, the retirement system for veteran revolutionaries and cadres, centered around the retirement system and "retirement" system refined by the Second, Third, and Fourth Sessions of the Seventh Central Committee, had been largely completed. The political and economic benefits of those at their original political level were essentially retained.

It's like political treatment. If you were a Politburo member before, you can read the same central documents that Politburo members can read after retirement.

In order to guarantee the political and economic treatment of these cadres, the Political Bureau merged the original Veteran Cadres Bureau into the Secretariat, making it a department under the Secretariat.

If these veteran cadres have any suggestions for the Central Committee, they can report them to the Secretariat through the Veteran Cadres Bureau.

The Politburo appointed Yang Chunfu as Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Committee and Director of the Veteran Cadres Bureau. A member of the Pingxi Detachment, Yang Chunfu later served as Director of the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of the Jireliao Advancing Army, Political Commissar of the 11th Detachment, Director of the Propaganda Department of the Zhangjiakou Military Officers' Association, Mayor of Zhangjiakou, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, and Secretary of the Chahar Provincial Party Committee. After liberation, he served as a member of the North China Bureau and Director of its Propaganda Department, a sixth-level administrative cadre. After the Eighth National Congress, he served as Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee. At the Ninth National Congress, he was promoted to the Central Committee as a member of the Cultural and Educational Work Committee.

After the Chairman returned to Beijing, he resolved the issue of "leave and recuperation" through a series of activities. The next issue was food.

The Chairman's inspection tour outside Beijing this time first took him to Hebei and Shandong, then to Henan, and finally to Shanghai and Zhejiang.

During this time, I met with provincial and municipal leaders from Henan and many surrounding provinces to learn about the disaster in 1959. The disaster in China as a whole in 1959 was quite serious.

In the spring of 1959, drought conditions were particularly severe in Heilongjiang, Hebei, and Henan. However, when Chairman Mao visited, it was already summer and autumn, and the situation remained grim. Drought conditions were severe in many areas.

Starting in June and July 1959, droughts began to hit Henan, Shandong, Hubei, Anhui, Sichuan, Guangdong, and Fujian. Guangdong and Fujian hadn't seen any rain for over two months, causing many small reservoirs to dry up.

In 1959, the affected areas lost over million mu of cultivated land, of which nearly million mu were actually affected. The reduction in grain production was still quite severe.

Even sections of the Songhua River have begun to dry up, and the Fengman Hydropower Station is running out of water for the first time. In Jiangsu province alone, 37 small reservoirs have dried up. You can imagine the severity of the drought.

Of course, the Chairman was even more worried because the meteorological department believed that there was a high probability of another disaster in 1960, as there was no sign that the drought was about to end.

So the Chairman was very worried. 1959 was the first time such a large-scale nationwide drought occurred since the founding of New China.

Therefore, at the Politburo Standing Committee meeting, the Chairman entrusted Wei Hongjun, as the First Secretary of the Secretariat, to convene a national grain conference on behalf of the Politburo to see how to deal with the current drought and the possible drought of 1960.

This was also the first time Wei Hongjun convened a national meeting on behalf of the Politburo. Previously, Wei Hongjun convened national meetings within his own sphere of responsibility. He would occasionally attend State Council meetings or other working committee meetings as First Secretary of the Secretariat, but he never had the final say.

This time, the situation was completely different. Wei Hongjun convened the meeting on behalf of the Politburo, and even Chen Yun, the director of the Finance and Economics Committee, had to sit below him. Previously, among the central leadership, only three people besides the Chairman were qualified to convene meetings on behalf of the Politburo: Comrade Xiu Yang, the Premier, and the retired Commander-in-Chief. Wei Hongjun was the fourth.

"Comrades, today's meeting has only one purpose. That is how to respond to the disaster. Everyone has seen the disaster data this year, but the central government is worried about what to do if there is another disaster of such severity next year? And what about the year after?"

"Of course we hope the disaster will be over by next year. But we must be prepared for anything, and we must prepare for the worst. Now everyone is talking about some of the problems that occurred in this year's disaster relief and discussing the response plan for next year."

1959, 1960, 1961, and 1962 were four years of famine that ranked among the most severe in the history of New China.

In the first thirty years of the history of the People's Republic of China, there were three years of nationwide drought, with the disaster-stricken area exceeding 2 million mu, namely 1960, 1961 and 1978.

According to historical records, from 1959 to 1961, grain production decreased by to billion jin each year compared to normal years.

This is no small matter. A loss of 50 to 60 billion jin might not seem like a problem in terms of overall grain production. But the reality is that food allocation isn't as easy as one might imagine. Therefore, we must be fully prepared.

This national grain conference was attended by Chen Yun, director of the Finance and Economics Committee, Deng Xixian, first deputy director, and deputy directors Deng Zhihui, Li Fuchun, and Zhou Bin. Ministers and deputy ministers of ministries and commissions of the State Council that had anything to do with grain all participated in the meeting.

"Then let me first talk about this year's public grain and state-purchased grain."

Minister of Food Chen Guodong said, "According to the central government's disaster relief instructions, the Ministry of Food has significantly reduced and exempted public grain and procurement requirements in the disaster-stricken areas this year. Based on the current situation, the total amount of public grain and state-purchased grain this year is less than 1100 billion catties. Based on past years, 1100 billion catties is insufficient to meet market demand. To stabilize the market, the National Material Reserve Bureau needs to release approximately 200 billion catties of grain."

The reduction in public grain and state-purchased grain requirements in disaster-stricken areas resulted in the Ministry of Food receiving significantly less grain than in previous years. Responsible for the national food supply to cities, the military, and other needs, the Ministry calculated that 1100 billion jin (approximately 200 billion kg) was insufficient. Therefore, it instructed the Material Reserve Bureau to release billion jin (approximately billion kg) of grain to the market to alleviate the shortage.

"I think the Ministry of Food is being too conservative and is only concerned with this year's disaster without considering the long term."

Fu Qiutao, director of the Material Reserve Bureau, came up and directly criticized Chen Guodong.

Many people shook their heads. Sure enough, a cadre who had previously participated in and led the military's disarmament and resettlement work within the Military Commission was not the type to criticize the Ministry of Food right away.

"Comrade Fu Qiutao, tell me what you think."

Wei Hongjun spoke, interrupting what Fu Qiutao was about to say.

After the Liberation Army, Chen Guodong served as Vice Minister of Finance and later as Minister of Food. China's current grain policies, including the grain coupon system and the unified purchase and marketing system, are all influenced by Chen Guodong. He was a very meticulous official who was well-versed in China's grain issues.

The Material Reserve Bureau would have many opportunities to interact with the Ministry of Food in the future. Wei Hongjun didn't want Fu Qiutao and Chen Guodong to start arguing during the meeting and affect the relationship between the two families.

"Secretary Wei, I believe the grain from the Material Reserve Bureau shouldn't be released into the market casually. Especially at this time, the grain from the Material Reserve Bureau shouldn't be released into the market at all."

"The grain reserves should only be used when the most critical or dangerous moment arrives. I have carefully studied the general situation of national grain production this year. I believe that although the drought is severe this year and grain production has dropped significantly, we have not yet reached the most dangerous moment, let alone the point where the Material Reserves Bureau needs to release grain."

"This year, because of the reduction or exemption of public grain and the requisition of grain in the disaster-stricken areas, the Ministry of Grain has less grain, which is not enough to meet market demand. We can increase grain purchases from areas not affected by the disaster."

"When facing an unknown disaster, the most important thing is to concentrate resources, that is, to concentrate food. Only when the government has sufficient food can it cope with unknown disasters that may occur in the future. Instead of consuming the food in the hands of the Material Reserve Bureau first."

Is there really a severe food shortage across the country right now? Not entirely.

The disaster has severely affected the entire country, and grain production has decreased by 50 to 60 billion jin. However, if grain production is properly allocated this year, it is still fully capable of coping with the disaster.

Since the public grain and unified purchased grain in the disaster-stricken areas have been reduced or exempted, we should go to the non-disaster-affected areas to purchase grain and put it on the market.

"I think Comrade Fu Qiutao's statement makes sense."