Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Official documents bearing the committee's seal were sent like snowflakes to provincial party committees, logistics departments of major military regions, and customs offices of major ports across the country.

Some of these documents eliminated cumbersome import and export approvals, some forcibly integrated cross-provincial logistics resources, and some directly approved Sino-foreign joint venture super factories worth billions of dollars.

In this first year of reform, when the spring breeze swept across the land, Lin Yang used his incredible iron-fisted methods and absolute power to tear open a wide and fast passage through the old institutional barriers.

Night falls.

The hustle and bustle on Sanlihe Road gradually subsided. Inside the committee building, the lights were still on, and countless economic researchers and department heads were working around the clock to implement the instructions issued by Lin Yang.

The president's office was so quiet that the only sound was the scratching of a pen across paper.

Shen Yan walked in carrying a cup of freshly brewed strong tea and placed it next to Lin Yang.

"President, you've been reviewing papers for nine hours straight. Please have some tea and take a break."

Shen Yan looked at the several "mountains" of documents on the desktop, which were neatly organized and categorized.

His eyes were filled with heartfelt reverence.

Lin Yang did not look up.

His gaze was fixed intently on a grand blueprint for "establishing the first batch of special economic zones along the southeast coast".

This blueprint outlines the absolute core of China's economic take-off over the next twenty years.

Lin Yang picked up the heavy Parker pen.

His wrist was as steady as a rock, and the pen tip firmly signed his name in the approval column at the end of the document.

The final stroke, like a blade drawn from its sheath, carries an incomparably sharp and domineering aura, deeply embedded in the texture of the paper.

Lin Yang capped the pen, making a crisp "click" sound.

He slowly closed this strategic blueprint, a blueprint that could change the fate of hundreds of millions of people across China.

He stretched out his large right hand, covered with hidden old scars.

He picked up the still-scalding cup of strong tea on the table, brought it to his lips, and took a deep gulp.

···············

In the early autumn of 1979, Fragrant Hills outside Beijing was already tinged with a somber, frosty red.

Under Lin Yang's leadership, the super machine of the National Commission for Modernization Reform and Development has been operating at full capacity for three months. A series of official documents, sharp as swords, have been flying out of this building on Sanlihe Road, severing countless institutional chains that hinder economic recovery.

But Lin Yang knew that simply sitting in his office approving documents wouldn't open the door to a new era.

In mid-October, a green train without any special markings quietly departed from Beijing and headed south.

Without firing a warning shot or giving prior notice to the local authorities, Lin Yang, accompanied by Shen Yan and several directors of key departments under the committee, made an unannounced visit to Shanghai, China's largest economic and industrial city.

Shanghai, a century-old city known as the "Pearl of the Orient," appears unusually weary and weathered at this moment.

A light autumn rain fell as the jeep crawled slowly along the narrow, crowded streets. Through the window, Lin Yang saw the peeling, mottled plaster of the Shikumen walls, the clotheslines crisscrossing in the air like a spider web, and the weary citizens queuing in the cold wind to buy rationed groceries.

"President, Shanghai's foundation is too old." Shen Yan sat in the passenger seat, looking at the research data in his hand, his brows furrowed. "It has the most concentrated light textile industry and shipyards in the country, but the population density has also reached a terrifying limit. In many old tenement buildings, five or six households share a single tap and a public toilet. There isn't even a single vacant plot of land in the city that can be used to build a large, modern factory."

Lin Yang leaned back in his leather chair, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

"This is a giant whose hands and feet are tied. It has the most skilled industrial workers and the most mature business genes in the country, but the old urban framework has become a noose around its neck." Lin Yang's voice was calm, but it revealed a sharp insight that saw through everything.

The jeep eventually drove into the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee compound.

It wasn't until Lin Yang appeared in the office building with the seal of the National Commission for Modernization and Reform that Zhou Dingbang, the top official of Shanghai, suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly led his team to receive this powerful imperial envoy in the first conference room.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was extremely oppressive.

Zhou Dingbang was in his fifties, and half of his hair had turned white. He sat to the side of Lin Yang, wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, and began to report with a forced smile.

"Chairman Lin, your arrival was so sudden. We were unable to greet you at the station; this is our dereliction of duty." Zhou Dingbang swallowed hard, carefully getting to the point. "In recent years, Shanghai's work has focused on the renovation of dilapidated buildings in the old city and the technological upgrading of state-owned factories. But the funding gap is too large. We want to apply to the committee for a special foreign exchange grant to import textile production lines from West Germany, and also to allocate a piece of land in the western suburbs for a small-scale export processing pilot project..."

"stop."

Lin Yang interrupted Zhou Dingbang's report without any politeness.

He didn't slam his fist on the table or raise his voice, but his imposing aura made all the Shanghai officials present instantly tense up.

"Secretary Zhou, you're making a mountain out of a molehill." Lin Yang leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of his stomach, his gaze like two cold knives. "What kind of place is Shanghai? It's a bridgehead facing the Pacific Ocean! It's the future leader of the entire Yangtze River Economic Belt! Yet your eyes are only fixed on those few hundred acres of land in the western suburbs, on a few textile production lines?"

Zhou Dingbang gave a bitter laugh, his face full of helplessness and frustration.

"President Lin, it's not that we're short-sighted, it's just that even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. The city center is already saturated, and the cost of demolition is terrifyingly high. If we want to do something big, we have no land, no money, and no supporting policies. To be honest, even with that small pilot project in the western suburbs, we've already run ourselves ragged just from getting approvals from the ministries, and we're still stuck on the land planning process."

"What if I give you land, money, and special policies that are unique in all of China?"

Lin Yang's words were like a thunderclap, exploding loudly in the conference room.

Zhou Dingbang and several other deputy secretaries suddenly raised their heads, their eyes flashing with disbelief, but then dimming again.

"President Lin, you're joking," Zhou Dingbang sighed. "Shanghai's area is only so big, and the Huangpu River divides it up completely. Unless we reclaim land from the river, where will we find large tracts of open space for development?"

"The Huangpu River is dead, but people are alive."

Lin Yang stood up and walked to the huge Shanghai administrative map hanging on the wall of the conference room.

His finger lightly glided across the map of the bustling old town of Jiangxi, then suddenly swiped to the right, landing heavily on another vast but pale area separated by the Huangpu River.

Jiangdong.

"What I want isn't to patch things up in your old city," Lin Yang turned around, his eyes burning with a fierce strategic fire. "I want you to cross this river! On that muddy beach, to rebuild a new Shanghai that will shake the ages!"