1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3737

While Shi Diwen was thinking about how to deal with it, He Xi slowly said, "Although this country was established by us, it may not be able to operate completely according to our ideas. This national machine is not composed of cold parts, but of people with independent consciousness. There will always be some parts that deviate during operation."

“The number of people who are truly 100% loyal to the Executive Committee and carry out every order without compromise is probably very small. But we can’t eliminate all the rest, because the operation of the state machinery still depends on them as parts and fuel.”

Shi Diwen said: "You mean that I should not punish these people, but try to let them play their due role. But I don't have so much time to convince these people one by one."

He Xi suddenly changed the subject and said, "You have been staying in Jiangsu and Zhejiang for many years. You haven't seen many old friends here for many years, right? This is a rare opportunity to come back. How about I host some old friends today and invite them to come over for a gathering?"

Shi Diwen was about to decline, but he immediately realized that He Xi was not a sociable person, and his proposal must have some purpose, which might be related to his purpose. So he immediately changed his mind and readily agreed to He Xi's invitation.

The people invited by He Xi did not live far away. They were all retired time travelers who were living in Yalong Bay. Soon after, they arrived at He Xi's residence one after another.

Although Shi Diwen had not seen these visitors for many years and could not say that he was very familiar with them, he could still call out their names when he saw them.

Cai Hongzhan was an employee of Baikesi before he traveled through time. Later, because his main job was carpentry, he was assigned to the Ministry of Construction. He was also one of the chief officials of the Ministry of Construction. It is unknown when he retired.

Ma Yu, the elder sister of the medical and health department, went to the Guangzhou Office with Ma Li Ke, He Xi and others in the early years. She is nearly 70 years old and should have retired for many years.

Chen Tianqi was also a member of the Guangzhou Office, responsible for organizing information and intelligence. However, this function was later replaced by the Ministry of Security, and he was transferred to the cultural and educational department. However, Shi Diwen was not very clear about what specific affairs he was in charge of.

You Yihan was once an official in charge of freight and port construction in the shipping department. He had been working in Guangdong and the main ports in the Pearl River Basin were under his jurisdiction. When Shi Diwen was in charge of Zhoushan, he had a lot of dealings with him because of work, so he was the most familiar person among this group of people.

Shi Diwen also saw that the industries these people were engaged in were exactly the ones he wanted to investigate this time. But according to He Xi, they had all retired from their respective departments. Could it be that they still had such great power to influence the instructions of the Executive Committee?

Sure enough, after a few brief greetings, He Xi invited everyone to take their seats and then introduced to him the private projects run by these people.

Cai Hongzhan's businesses are extensive, including forest farms, woodworking workshops, architectural design institutes, and several experienced construction teams. It is said that a considerable portion of the wood used by the Sanya Shipyard was supplied by Cai Hongzhan.

The projects undertaken were mainly official projects in Hainan Island. This was not unexpected by Shi Diwen. After all, Cai Hongzhan was a senior official in the Ministry of Construction. Even if he was retired now, he must have many apprentices in the Ministry of Construction. It should not be difficult for him to take on some official projects.

Ma Yu owned two chain drugstores, Huichuntang and Xinglintang, which were spread all over Guangdong and Guangxi. There were more than a hundred doctors working in the drugstores alone. It was said that Ma Yu also helped a lot in the treatment of He Xi's leg disease, but the effect was still poor and there was no obvious improvement.

Chen Tianqi runs a private academy, which has opened five or six branches in Hainan and Guangdong, and will soon open branches in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Generally speaking, private academies are usually engaged in vocational training to ensure the employment rate of graduates, and Chen Tianqi's academy is no exception.

However, his academy is a little special in that it focuses on training normal school students, that is, future teachers.

You Yihan also continued to do his most familiar work and opened a cargo operation. However, the scale of his cargo operation was quite large. Not only did he have agencies stationed in major ports in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan Island, and Annan, but he also had many carriage and ship companies under his jurisdiction. I think he probably used the resources from his previous position in the shipping department.

As for Shi Diwen's situation, He Xi didn't need to introduce him any further. He was not only the governor of the East China Sea Region, but also had successfully entered the Executive Committee and was one of the nine people who held national power.

Even though the people sitting at the same table were once partners, there are now differences in status, and Shi Diwen is undoubtedly the most successful one in his career.

However, if Shi Diwen were to put on airs of a high official in front of these people, it probably wouldn't have much effect. After all, the candidates for the Executive Committee were still elected by the time travelers. From a certain perspective, Shi Diwen really couldn't offend these retired partners.

"I asked Lao He to invite you all here today. First, I want to catch up with you and second, I have something I want to ask you for help."

Shi Diwen had already made up his mind at this time. Regardless of whether the people present had ever resisted the Executive Committee's arrangements, he decided not to pursue them for the time being, but to lower his posture and ask for their assistance.

Judging from what He Xi had introduced, the resources in the hands of these people were indeed exactly what the new colonies in the early stages of construction needed most. If they were willing to contribute to the country, there was no need to delve into their past attitudes.

After all, what He Xi said before made some sense. Everyone here is not a cold part. It is normal for them to have their own desires and ideas.

But the problem is that He Xi was able to invite these people because of He Xi's face, but this favor only goes so far.

Shi Diwen seldom interacted with them on a daily basis, and had not even dealt with them in the past few years. Even calling them to reminisce about the past seemed very reluctant, and such distant interpersonal relationships could not be closed down with just a few words.

Of course, having lived to their age and having experience in government and business, everyone is an old fox. They naturally knew which of Shi Diwen's words were excuses and which were his real purposes.

You Yihan, who was somewhat acquainted with Shi Diwen, spoke first: "Old Shi, everyone here is a veteran who came here together to fight. If you have anything to say, just speak up."

This sounded straightforward, but Shi Diwen understood that the other party was actually reminding him that everyone had the same background, so don't expect to use your official position to suppress them.