1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

Not far from Mark, a middle-aged man with glasses and a slightly high hairline saw this scene and clapped his hands and laughed happily, speaking with the same Hunan accent as the man:

"In my nearly fifty years of life, this is the first time I've seen such honest officials, such capable soldiers, and such decisive handling of a matter. Great! There is hope for China!"

He speaks in a simple and elegant manner, and you can tell at first glance that he is a cultured person, and the kind of cultured person who tends to express his thoughts directly. He exudes the spirit of a scholar.

Another bald, middle-aged man with small eyes quickly stopped his companion:

"Brother Xudong, please keep your voice down. This is not the place to lament. Wait..."

Although he felt very happy, this was after all on the CCP's territory. It didn't seem right to watch the CCP members make a fool of themselves and then stand by and cheer.

"What are you afraid of!"

The man with glasses seemed to be as hot-tempered as someone else, and glared at him and said, "Everyone has the right to punish such corrupt officials. Just look..." "Shh..."

The bald man had no choice but to try to pull his companion out of the crowd, but he saw that the Discipline Inspection Commission official who had arrested him had already tied up the Industry and Commerce Bureau official, who was begging and crying like a bereaved man, and shouted to the onlookers:

"Fellow villagers! In the territory of the Communist Party of China, we will never allow such parasites to harm the interests of the masses! If you encounter such a thing next time, please report it to the county disciplinary inspection and supervision committee!"

"Please rest assured! We will keep the identity of the whistleblower absolutely confidential! If we don't handle it, please report it to the Municipal and Provincial Commissions for Discipline Inspection to handle us! If they also don't handle it, please report it directly to the central leadership! We will not tolerate anyone!"

Amid the cheers of the masses, he waved his hand, and several Discipline Inspection Commission cadres dressed as ordinary people patrolling the streets emerged from the crowd, escorting the offenders to the Discipline Inspection Commission for further processing.

These days, there's absolutely no such thing as "saving officials' reputation and avoiding negative influence." If there's irrefutable evidence of a crime or someone is caught in the act, they can be paraded through the streets!

Now, the Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the problem of corruption and abuse of power.

Despite such strict punishment regulations, situations like today's still occur frequently, which perfectly reflects Comrade Ma Shiwu's words that "the fight against corruption is always on the road."

The man in a suit and tie with glasses broke free from his companion's arm and walked over to the Discipline Inspection Commission official.

"Hey... this boss! Please wait a moment!" "I'm not the boss, just call me Secretary Deng."

The discipline inspection commission official who was ferocious in front of corrupt officials was very gentle when facing ordinary people. He stopped and asked with a smile:

"Sir...sir, what can I do for you?"

"Secretary Deng, is your Discipline Inspection Commission... the same as the Kuomintang's Supervisory Commission?"

"Ah, this, there are some similarities, but also some differences..."

Some people were willing to ask, and since it was a good opportunity to promote the Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision to the public, Director Deng, who had no other urgent matters to attend to today, explained in detail:

"...So, the Discipline Inspection Commission primarily oversees Party cadres, while the Supervisory Commission primarily focuses on public officials. Generally, we handle disciplinary issues first, then transfer them to the procuratorate to handle criminal cases and prosecute them. Sentencing is the responsibility of the courts..."

"How should we deal with him? Well, according to current regulations, taking this guy as an example, we should expel him from the Party, remove him from public office, and never hire him again. This will be recorded in their files, and their next three generations will be prohibited from working in or doing business with any state-owned enterprise..."

"...That's about it."

"I see..."

The man with glasses nodded, thinking that on the surface, the difference between the Kuomintang and the organization was not particularly great, but the intensity, attitude, methods, and scope of the handling were completely different. He nodded with satisfaction and asked again:

"Direct extortion and bribery like this is easy to deal with, but what about cunning robbery and covert bribery?"

"In that case, we will open a special case for investigation and handling... We actually have regulations regarding this, and there are many new forms of corruption..."

After ten minutes of chatting, the man with glasses became even happier. He clapped his hands and laughed, "Great! It was worth my risk to come to Nanchang!"

"Sir, who are you?"

"I.….."

Just as the man with glasses was about to answer, a lazy voice rang out from the crowd:

"Who knows if you, the Chinese Communist Party, saw that the US president was coming to visit and deliberately did this to create a good impression on her?"

“!!!” There was an uproar at the scene.

Everyone looked towards the source of the sound in astonishment, only to find a young man standing there with his arms folded and a lazy look on his face.

"I think your anti-corruption efforts are just like the Kuomintang's, a rabbit's tail can't grow long! Sorry, this may be a bit insulting to you, because the Kuomintang has never fought corruption at all."

Deng Xixian, who had been promoted to Secretary of the Nanchang Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection for his outstanding performance in the Ruijin anti-corruption campaign, waved his hand to stop his angry subordinates. He looked at the tall and strong man and said in a deep voice:

"Sir, we are different from the Kuomintang."

"What's the difference? It's still the same mouth and two eyes. If they're corrupt, aren't they still the same?"

Mark sneered:

"You Communists, you don't think that all your Party members, cadres, and public officials are saints, completely unconcerned with material gain, do you?"

"Of course not, but we have a perfect system..."

"System? I just listened to what you said about the system. I can easily find a lot of loopholes for you. For example, as this gentleman just mentioned, I know several ways to seize other people's property, such as..."

Following someone's narration, the man with glasses and the bald man almost immediately confirmed that the other person definitely knew them!

Because the first "method" mentioned by this young man is exactly the same as the method commonly used by a certain government boss!

The man with glasses, Fan Xudong, is from Hunan Province. He graduated from the Department of Chemical Industry of Kyoto Imperial University and is the owner of factories such as Yongli Alkali Factory and Jiuda Refined Salt Company.

He may not have left a deep impression in history, but his bald companion and chief scientist should be somewhat famous:

Hou Debang.

That’s right, one of the inventors of the “Hou’s Alkali Production Method”.

Both of them are considered to be China's top chemical industrialists, the founders of China's heavy chemical industry, and national treasures in the chemical industry.

Why don't they stay in Shanghai, Nanjing and other wealthy places in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but run to a poor place like Nanchang, Jiangxi?

The reason is three words:

T.V. Soong.

In 1929, the Yongli Alkali Company, founded by Fan Xudong, attempted to challenge the monopoly of the British firm Brunner Mond and Company on ammonium sulfate in China with Hou Debang's new alkali production method, leading to a fierce battle between the two parties.

In order to suppress Wynn, the British company Brunner Mond imported a large amount of soda ash from the UK and dumped it at a price 40% lower than the original price, trying to defeat Wynn through a price war.

Fan Xudong, in a desperate attempt to save Zhao from Wei, sailed to Japan and negotiated with the Mitsui Group, entrusting Mitsui with the responsibility of selling Yongli's Red Triangle brand soda ash at a price lower than that of Brunner Mond. With the help of the Japanese, he even forced Brunner Mond to come to the door and sue for peace.

In reality, Wynn was no match for Brunner Mond in terms of capital, so it planned to use a delaying tactic and proposed a joint venture with Brunner Mond. As long as Wynn still owned Hou Debang, it would eventually be able to use commercial means to turn the joint venture into a wholly owned subsidiary.

Brunemon didn't want to fight anymore and agreed to Yongli's request. As long as the joint venture was completed, this national enterprise would be able to take off and become the leading enterprise in the domestic alkali industry.

However, just when everything was about to get back on track, our Nationalist government, which had always been very "concerned" about the development of national industry and commerce, took action;

In other words, T.V. Soong took action.

In 1930, T.V. Soong forcibly vetoed the joint venture plan between the two parties and personally announced that the National Government would invest heavily in Wynn Company to prevent "important national enterprises from falling into the hands of outsiders."

The results of it?

From 1930 until the outbreak of the "September 918th Incident", not a single cent of the funds promised by the authorities arrived!

At this time, due to the Japanese invasion of China, the patriotic Fan Xudong had interrupted his cooperation with Mitsui, resulting in the interruption of the raw material source and commercial cooperation of Red Triangle brand soda ash. Because the joint venture plan was rejected, Brunner Mond began to make moves again.

Although Wynn had restored some production capacity at this time, it could not last long, so Fan Xudong went to see Song Ziwen several times, hoping that the other party would quickly cash in on the investment, but the situation was delayed until today.

At this point, even if Fan Xudong was a fool, he could see that Song Ziwen didn't want to invest at all. He was simply planning to use Yongli to delay the company until it died!

When Wynn goes bankrupt, T.V. Soong can simply swallow up all of it and turn Wynn into his own property!

In December 1933, Fan Xudong, unable to bear it any longer, went to Song Ziwen to beg for mercy. Song Ziwen indeed made the following request:

China Construction Bank, privately owned by T.V. Soong, took on all the investment, and T.V. Soong himself became the chairman of Yongli Alkali Company. Fan Xudong gave up the management rights of all shares and only had the right to dividends.

Well, the so-called "not wanting important state-owned enterprises to fall into the hands of outsiders" simply means wanting the enterprises to fall into his own pocket.

For this little bit of selfishness, what's the point of the country's industrial future?! Huh?

what?

And dividends?

Don't make a fuss. If they just tamper with the finances, even if Wynn becomes the largest company in the country, you won't get any dividends.

In history, Fan Xudong, unable to swallow this humiliation, issued 200 million corporate bonds with all of Wynn's assets as collateral, defeating Brunner Mond and creating Wynn's glory.

But because of this, he had an irreconcilable feud with T.V. Soong, and also laid the groundwork for his death by T.V. Soong using similar means in 1945.

In this world line, the CCP has captured Nanchang and the overall situation has stabilized. Unable to bear Song Ziwen's shameless face, Fan Xudong and Hou Debang came to Nanchang, intending to look for opportunities, but they encountered such a thing.

The first type of "tricky and cunning means" mentioned by this young man is almost exactly the same as what T.V. Soong did!

How could such a coincidence happen in the world!

While Fan and Hou were trying to figure out who Mark was in the KMT, someone was still criticizing Deng Xixian:

"...You said bribes to cadres are forbidden? And even more so, gifts of expensive items are forbidden? Okay, let's say, a leader's family has a child who practices calligraphy. I think his handwriting is pretty good, so I spend 2000 yuan to buy his calligraphy. Does that count as bribery?"

"Uh...."

"I saw a house or something in my boss's home and wanted to buy it. I signed a contract with him, stipulating that if I didn't buy it, I would have to pay a penalty. Later, I decided not to buy it and paid 2000 yuan in penalty. Does this count as bribery?"

"Well.."

"I think a certain leader is very capable, so I invited him to be a consultant for my company. He doesn't need to come to work, just write a report every year. I paid him 3000 yuan. Is this considered a bribe?"

The members of the Discipline Inspection Commission were speechless. Only Deng Xixian persisted.

"Just check if there's a conflict of interest between them! No matter what form the bribery takes, it's always for some kind of benefit, right?"

"The idea is right, but how can it be so easy to investigate? You think bureaucratic corruption is too simple."

Mark continued to shake his head:

"Okay, you're talking about a relationship of interest. The leader had a relative use the method I just mentioned to 'buy' a house from the briber. The leader lives in the house himself and does things for the briber. Does this count as a relationship of interest?"

"Let me give you another example. You're the leader of Unit A, and I'm the leader of Unit B. You arrange for my son to work for you, and I arrange for your son to work for me...is this considered a relationship of interest?"

"this..."

"What if, instead of arranging for his children to be employed, he arranged for them to start a company outside and then have that company take over the business of his 'friend's' company?"

"Um...."

Deng Xixian, speechless after being criticized, pondered for a while and said, "Then...then we should strengthen the leadership rotation!"

"What about the policy discontinuity and job instability caused by rapid leadership rotation? I believe you have already experienced this problem."

"Uh...."

Being bombarded with questions one after another, even Deng Xixian was beginning to lose his composure. "So, if you say that, then anti-corruption work can't be done? Or do you have any good solutions?"

"Of course not. Your anti-corruption efforts and attitude are commendable at this point, but as I said at the outset, it's not a question of whether or not to do it, but whether you can persist in doing it for the long term."

"Most of your generation may deeply detest corruption and resolutely fight it, but what will you think when you grow old?"

"Okay, okay, let's assume you've been corrupt from the beginning. What about your next generation? What about the next generation? Will they fight corruption? Or will they become corrupt themselves?"

"While you're alive, they might still be obedient. But once you're gone, will they still be obedient? You can control them, but will your wives control them?"

"Right now, you've only occupied a small area of ​​Nanchang. What kind of changes will occur when you unify the entire country?"

Someone so bored that they've become an internet troll shrugged:

"As for the solution, why should I come up with it? I'm not a member of the Communist Party of China. What does it have to do with me whether you can control corruption?"

Deng Xixian didn't seem unhappy this time. Instead, he stared at someone in confusion: "Who are you? You seem very confident that we can unify the country?" "I've already said that compared to the Kuomintang and other forces in China, you are considered the best. However, there is still a gap between you and what I imagined. Anyway, keep going!"

After saying that, he waved his hand and left without paying any attention to the stunned expressions of Deng Xixian and others.

Such a willful person...

Deng Xixian suddenly remembered where he had seen this tone and attitude.

Wait a minute? Comrade Ma Shiwu? Hmm? World...

By the time he reacted, the man had completely disappeared.

On the other side, a guy who came to Nanchang to cause trouble was walking down the alley humming a little tune about loyalty and honesty. But behind him, he heard hurried footsteps and shouts:

"Sir! Sir! Wait a moment! Wait a moment!"

The agent reminded him that Mark knew who was behind the scenes. He tilted his head slightly backwards, placed his right hand over his eyes, and tilted his head 45 degrees.

"Hahaha... You didn't run away, but rushed towards me?" "Uh..."

Fan Xudong and Hou Debang were running for a while, panting heavily. After hearing these words and seeing the strange appearance and words, they were stunned for a while before they asked carefully:

"Sir, we are..."

"Yes, Mr. Fan and Mr. Hou! What's going on?"

Sure enough, he knew us.