Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

After all, this is a matter of choosing a revolutionary successor.

The Chairman attached great importance to the smooth transition of power. He did not want to see a life-and-death struggle among several of Stalin's successors in the Soviet Union. Therefore, the Chairman would not casually raise this issue at the Fifth Session of the Ninth Central Committee.

If his proposal was rejected, it would be a huge blow to Wei Hongjun. Similarly, if such a thing happened, great chaos would inevitably follow.

Therefore, the Chairman was very cautious, first spreading the word and then communicating with the central leadership.

"Comrades, today we have three main things to discuss at this meeting."

"The first topic is the plan for streamlining central government agencies approved by the Secretariat. Everyone should share their opinions.

In reality, this was just an ordinary enlarged Politburo meeting. It was only because Wei Hongjun was presiding that this meeting suddenly became somewhat different.

Many people only come to their senses when they get to the point.

Everyone agrees with the need to streamline central government agencies, as the situation is serious simply by looking at the data.

Especially now the national situation is not so good.

The drought in 1960 was even worse than in 1959, and the decline in grain production was also quite severe. And judging by the conditions this winter, the drought probably wouldn't end in 1961 either.

Although the consequences were not too serious thanks to the efforts of the central and local governments, it still dealt a severe blow to the Chinese economy.

Under these circumstances, it was unacceptable for Beijing's various agencies to have such a large staff expansion. Therefore, everyone quickly reached a consensus on streamlining the staff.

However, everyone began to express their opinions on how to streamline it.

“The Secretariat’s plan is already very sound overall.

But if we want to close or merge certain institutions and reorganize public institutions, we need a leader to oversee the overall process. Otherwise, each working committee will only be responsible for its own affairs, making it difficult to grasp the overall situation.

Peng Zhen, Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress, spoke.

It's easy for each working committee to be responsible for a specific area. However, some departments and institutions may have overlapping issues, so a single person is needed to oversee the overall situation.

"Comrade Peng Zhen's words make a lot of sense. Only with an individual to coordinate and deploy can the streamlining be completed effectively as a whole." Li Xiannian also agreed with Peng Zhen's opinion.

"The streamlining work is originally under the leadership of the Secretariat, and the Secretariat will make the overall arrangements in the end."

Deng Zhihui expressed a different view. Streamlining work is the responsibility of the Central Committee, and the Secretariat should be fully responsible for this work on behalf of the Central Committee.

"The Secretariat is very busy with its daily work. Streamlining work is a complex task that requires a lot of energy. It would be better if a leading cadre were fully responsible for handling it."

Peng Zhen expressed his opinion again.

Streamlining is a job that offends people, but it also carries a great deal of power. The power to decide which organizations and personnel to streamline is immense.

"I also think Comrade Peng Zhen's proposal makes sense. The Secretariat is busy, and streamlining work is a demanding endeavor. I recommend Comrade Wu Hao to take full responsibility for this streamlining effort.

Marshal Nie spoke up and directly recommended the Prime Minister to be responsible for this streamlining work.

"I agree. This streamlining effort involves many units, including some public institutions, and requires the State Council to coordinate and handle it."

Chen Tanqiu nodded in support of Marshal Nie's proposal.

Apart from other matters, no one can match the Premier's meticulousness in handling such detailed tasks. If the Premier was in charge of streamlining matters, he would even be responsible for reducing the number of employees at a local printing factory. He would also be involved in the decentralization of cultural and art troupes and the specific departments to which they would be transferred.

“The Prime Minister is suited to be in charge of streamlining.

Deng Zhihui also changed his tone and supported the Prime Minister.

Others also nodded in support of the Prime Minister taking charge of streamlining work.

Wei Hongjun looked at the Chairman and noticed he was smoking and had no intention of expressing his opinion. So, Wei Hongjun said, "If everyone agrees, then the Premier will be fully responsible for streamlining the central government agencies this time. The streamlining work report will be submitted directly to the Politburo."

Wei Hongjun didn't mind that the Secretariat wasn't directly responsible for streamlining the system. The Premier was in charge, and Wei Hongjun supported it. The Premier's work style was well-suited to handling this kind of matter.

The Prime Minister nodded.

The Prime Minister currently focuses on foreign affairs and the CPPCC, and has no intention of being responsible for streamlining central government agencies.

However, when the central government entrusts the work to the prime minister, the prime minister will work hard to do the job well.

As for why this task fell from the Secretariat to himself, the Prime Minister would not delve into it.

"The second topic is Comrade Gao Gang, Comrade Liu Shude (First Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee), Comrade Xie Fuzhi

(Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee) and Comrade Zhou Lin (Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee) jointly proposed that the Third Five-Year Plan should focus on developing Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou to cope with the changes in the Indochina Peninsula.

The strategy of communistizing the Indochina Peninsula gave Gao Gang, who was at a low point, a great opportunity.

Gao Gang was the chief representative for the industrial construction, transportation construction and negotiations with the Soviet Union in Yunnan and Guangxi.

Because Gao Gang is familiar with the situation in the entire southwest region.

He has not just been eating, drinking and having fun in the southwestern provinces over the past five or six years.

He would go by car to places with good transportation. He would go to places with slightly worse transportation by motorcycle. He would even go on foot to places with even worse transportation.

So when the opportunity arose, Gao Gang quickly seized it. When negotiating with the Soviet Union, he was confident about the overall development of Yunnan and Guangxi.

Gao Gang also had a lot of contact with the Soviet Union. Even before liberation, he had a lot of contact with Soviet cadres and obtained a lot of things from the Soviet Union.

So this time in the construction of Guangxi and Yunnan, he planned railways and highways from other provinces into Guangxi and Yunnan, and also planned railways and highways within Guangxi and Yunnan provinces.

The transportation construction in Guangxi and Yunnan has reached a new level, and Gao Gang has made great contributions.

But he was clearly not satisfied with this. It's unclear how he managed to convince the Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou provincial committees. Liu Shude, Xie Fuzhi, and Zhou Lin all had no historical connection to Gao Gang.

Liu Shude was a cadre from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region, Xie Fuzhi from the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan region, and Zhou Lin from the New Fourth Army. This time, they, along with Gao Gang, jointly wrote a report to the Central Committee, hoping that the Central Committee's Third Five-Year Plan would prioritize the development of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

Of course, they are not making this suggestion out of thin air.

They raised a number of points. For example, the situation on the Indochina Peninsula is becoming increasingly complex, and problems are likely to arise in Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand in the future. At this time, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou will be extremely important as the rear base.

Moreover, these three provinces are not only the rear base of the Indochina Peninsula, but also the rear base of China.

They clearly pointed out that now is a very good time. In the future, the Soviet Union will inevitably invest more resources in the Indochina Peninsula, and China must seize this opportunity to develop its southwestern provinces on a larger scale.

Gao Gang spent many years in the southwestern provinces, while Xie Fuzhi and Zhou Lin spent over a decade in Yunnan and Guizhou. Even Liu Shude, who was transferred from Fujian to Sichuan, spent three or four years there.

They jointly drew up a very detailed development plan for the three provinces, such as the Panzhihua Steel Plant plan, which included detailed data on where the coal mines and iron ore mines were located, and where the power plant would be built.

But the fact that Gao Gang was the initiator of this plan made some people hesitate. Once the plan was approved, Gao Gang would undoubtedly be the primary person in charge. By the end of the Third Five-Year Plan, Gao Gang would be 61 years old. With his experience as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, if he had achieved outstanding political success in Southwest China, he might have returned to the Politburo at the th National Congress.

“I generally agree with the Third Five-Year Plan’s increase in investment in southwestern provinces.

Deng Xixian spoke.

He also knew that Gao Gang's issue was sensitive, but he knew even more that Gao Gang's report was excellent.

So even though he knew some people would be unhappy, Deng Xixian still expressed his opinion directly: "This is indeed a golden opportunity for the southwestern provinces of my country. In 1959, industrial investment in Guangxi and Yunnan increased by RMB 1958 billion compared to 11, and in 1960 it increased by RMB 1959 billion compared to 24. There is also investment in transportation construction, which increased by RMB 1959 billion compared to .

In 1958, it increased by RMB 13 billion, and in 1960, it increased by RMB billion.

In 1959, another 26 billion RMB was added. Within two years, Guangxi and Yunnan alone saw an increase of 100 billion RMB in investment in transportation and industrial construction.”

"Most of it was Soviet funding. Although some were loans, they were mainly low-interest, long-term loans, which put little pressure on us to repay. A lot of it was Soviet subsidies, which were actually free.

“In addition to fixed investment, we have received a huge number of trucks and construction machinery from the Soviet Union this year.

A large portion of these trucks and construction machinery were given to us free of charge by the Soviet Union. This has greatly improved our country's engineering construction capabilities."

"The war in Indochina is primarily in Vietnam, but apart from Vietnam, communist organizations in Laos, Burma, and Thailand are now beginning to contact us. The Soviet Union will inevitably increase its support for the revolutions in Laos, Burma, and Thailand. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the southwestern provinces."

"Given the Soviet Union's strength, it's no problem to invest 2000 billion rubles of supplies into Indochina each year. Even to billion rubles is not out of the question if needed. Of this amount of money, if only to billion rubles were to flow into my country's southwestern provinces each year, coupled with some Chinese investment, then the industrial and transportation development in the southwestern provinces would be able to reach new heights."

How much money would it cost to communistize the entire Indochina Peninsula?

If the United States had not joined, the Soviet Union would have been able to communistize the entire Indochina Peninsula by spending only a few hundred billion rubles.

But if the United States joins, the amount of money it will cost will be astronomical.

For example, the US's direct military spending in Vietnam historically amounted to around 3 trillion rubles. If other indirect investments in the Vietnam War are included, the US spent nearly 10 trillion rubles.

The Soviet Union certainly didn't have the financial resources of the United States, but if it went crazy, it could still come up with an astonishing amount of supplies.

Let alone spending 10 trillion rubles, even if it were or trillion rubles, if only one tenth of the money went into China, that would be more than to billion yuan, which would be a huge boon for China's southwestern provinces.

Historically, China's Third Front Construction cost 13 billion yuan over more than ten years in 2000 provinces in central and western China.

Although the southwestern provinces are key construction areas, only a few hundred billion yuan has been spent over the past decade.

But as long as we seize the current opportunity, the funds coming from the Soviet Union alone will reach this scale.

"Comrade Deng Xixian is right. In 1958, the southwestern provinces were still poorly industrialized. But in 1959

In 1960 and 1270, more than 19 new factories were built in Guangxi and Yunnan, and many of them were large-scale.

It has increased by 27 times annually.

Li Fuchun spoke about the current development situation in Guangxi and Yunnan.

What does it mean that investment in transportation construction and industrial construction suddenly increased by 100 billion yuan within two years?

In the early stages of the First Five-Year Plan, the total investment in transportation construction and industrial construction in the country was only

About 100 billion RMB.

However, due to the Vietnam War, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces received 100 billion yuan in investment within two years.

After this crazy investment, the industries of Guangxi and Yunnan took off directly.

It's like Guangxi suddenly had a steel plant with a planned production capacity of 300 million tons. To support the steel plant's development, the Liuzhou power plant expanded, and Guangxi's coal and iron ore production increased dramatically. If development continued at business-as-usual pace, such a surge would be impossible in the next decade.

The industrial output value of the steel plant alone is already several billion. When the Liuzhou Steel Plant's actual output reaches 300 million tons, the industrial output value of the industry developed around the steel plant could reach 100 billion yuan.

Suddenly, there are a lot of railways and highways in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, which directly upgrades the transportation in Guangxi and Yunnan.

Moreover, many transportation and industrial construction projects are still underway.

Once these factories are able to operate normally, Guangxi and Yunnan will become extremely powerful industrial provinces in the southwest.

"We will formulate a development plan for Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou as a whole, accept Soviet funds, and allocate some resources to the southwestern provinces during the Third Five-Year Plan. These provinces will then have great development during the Third Five-Year Plan period."

If Yi uses China's own strength to invest in southwestern provinces and carry out large-scale third-line construction, it will directly hinder the development of China's economy.

After all, the Third Front construction was beneficial to the development of some provinces in the southwest, northwest, and central China. However, these places had poor transportation and industrial bases, and required a lot of investment.

Investing 100 yuan in Northeast, North China, and coastal provinces might yield 20 yuan. However, investing 100 yuan in the Third Front might not yield any profit for several years, requiring continuous investment from both the central and local governments. Therefore, investment in the Third Front would be a huge burden on the central government.

Although the Third Front construction must be carried out, otherwise the poor provinces in the southwest and northwest will not be able to develop.

The situation in Indochina has given the southwestern provinces a once-in-a-century opportunity. We must, of course, support their development on a larger scale.

Li Fuchun had been in charge of heavy industry construction for many years and understood better than anyone the difficulties faced by the southwestern provinces in developing heavy industry. Now that such a good opportunity existed, it would be a waste not to develop it.

"The Central Government's Third Five-Year Plan already included support for some underdeveloped provinces, which coincided with Comrade Gao Gang's report. I believe we can consider several provinces together and formulate a comprehensive plan for the economic development of the southwest.