I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

Inside the Blue Light Pavilion at Haizi, the atmosphere was solemn.

Li Jing'an was seated at a long table, attending a small, closed-door meeting convened by the State Council. Looking around, the heads of the State Planning Commission, the Geological Bureau, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance, the General Bureau of Materials, the State Construction Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the First Ministry of Machine Building were all present. The meeting was chaired by Vice Premier Wang.

As Li Jing'an had predicted, the core topic of the meeting remained the economy. The impact of the Cultural Revolution in recent years had left the national economy in a state of chaos, and the higher authorities had finally made up their minds to appoint a group of veteran comrades to turn things around. The most pressing issue at present was foreign exchange—the country was in dire need of rebuilding and urgently needed to import various goods, which required foreign exchange, and foreign exchange was inseparable from gold reserves.

However, due to the turmoil of the past few years, major gold mining companies reduced or even stopped production, and a large number of managers and technical backbones were criticized and transferred. It is by no means easy to recover.

At the meeting, Vice President Wang solemnly described the current grim situation and issued a firm order: we must spare no effort to restore mine production capacity as soon as possible, and expand production immediately where possible!

As the head of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry, Li Jing'an took the lead. He immediately stated at the meeting: go all out to promote the resumption and expansion of production, and resolutely complete the tasks assigned by the state.

After receiving Vice President Wang's affirmation, the heads of other ministries also expressed their commitment to do their utmost to support the resumption of production and work at factories and mines.

After everyone else had finished speaking, Vice President Wang continued, "Subsequently, the State Council will organize various ministries and commissions to accompany me on a field investigation of key mining areas across the country. We need to understand the difficulties and challenges faced by these enterprises and earnestly address their concerns. Please have all ministries and commissions prepare accordingly; specific dates will be announced later. In addition, please have all units quickly gather information on the specific situation and submit a detailed report to me for the purpose of the investigation."

After the meeting, Vice President Wang turned to return to his office. Li Jing'an seized the opportunity, quickly stopping his secretary and whispering a few words in her ear. The secretary understood and jogged over to him: "Sir, Minister Li from the Ministry of Metallurgy would like to report some information to you privately."

Upon hearing this, Vice President Wang stopped in his tracks with a hint of doubt and turned to look at Li Jing'an standing behind him. Li Jing'an nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

After a moment's thought, Vice President Wang instructed, "Alright, let's do it together then. Go and prepare, pour two cups of tea and bring them to the office." With that, he beckoned to Li Jing'an.

Seeing this, Li Jing'an quickly jogged a few steps to catch up.

Inside the Vice Premier's office, the first thing Vice Premier Wang did after sitting down was to take out a cigarette case and hand it to Li Jing'an.

"Hehe, Comrade Li is quite young."

Li Jing'an quickly stood up, bowed slightly, and accepted the cigarette with both hands, replying respectfully, "I'm not young anymore, I'm over forty, but I still look young."

"Hahahaha!" This remark made Vice President Wang burst into hearty laughter. In fact, he had already heard about Li Jing'an's situation. After taking office, he focused on the economy, and he had carefully studied the documents of the several ministries involved.

Today, various ministries and commissions include both veteran comrades who have just been reinstated after being purged and newly rich who rose to power through rebellion after the "upheaval." Li Jing'an's situation is quite special—he is both a veteran cadre and has some connection with the rebels, making his identity somewhat contradictory. It is said that he has a close private relationship with Vice Premier Zhang (Zhang Qiuqiao is now also a Vice Premier), but judging from his resume, he has not gained any substantial benefits from this, which puzzles Vice Premier Wang.

However, for now, Vice President Wang still considers him to be part of "Zhang's" faction.

"How's it going?" Vice President Wang asked tentatively, "Do you find the task assigned today difficult?"

Li Jing'an was about to speak when Vice President Wang waved his hand to interrupt him: "Don't have any concerns. I know that given the current situation, it's indeed not easy for your Ministry of Metallurgy to immediately take over and deal with this mess. But you also have to understand the country's difficulties."

"I understand, I completely understand!" Li Jing'an quickly expressed, then changed the subject, "Commander, actually this task isn't difficult for me at all."

Upon hearing this, Vice President Wang was stunned. He was completely baffled, never expecting Li Jing'an to dare to say the words "no difficulty".

Meeting Vice President Wang's surprised gaze, Li Jing'an calmly said, "You are unaware of this. Back in 66, when I first became the deputy director of the Ministry of Metallurgy, I noticed that campaigns were being carried out all over the country, and factories and mines were reducing or halting production. I realized then that if this continued, the country's foreign exchange reserves would inevitably face serious problems sooner or later. Therefore, I made some preparations in advance."

Vice President Wang stared at Li Jing'an, his eyes filled with astonishment. He never expected that this young man would have made such a profound prediction back in 66 and even secretly prepared a backup plan.

"That's how it is," Li Jing'an lowered his voice and reported clearly, "In 66, I specifically transferred a gold mine manager from Shandong Province to the Shandong Provincial Department of Metallurgy, to be in charge of the province's gold mining operations. I gave him a strict order: to protect the mine's management personnel and engineering technicians to the greatest extent possible; to carry out preliminary development of newly discovered mines to prepare for future expansion; to maintain a minimum level of mining capacity and absolutely not to shut down completely; and at the same time, to continue training technicians and skilled workers."

"Since then, I have been closely following this matter every year. Especially in recent years, as the situation has worsened, I have gone to the grassroots level in Shandong Province many times to conduct on-site inspections. Comrade Hu from the Shandong Provincial Metallurgical Bureau also personally came to Beijing to report to me every year. So I can say with certainty that as long as the state issues an order now, Shandong Province can fully resume and expand production and operate at full capacity at any time! The goal you set is not difficult at all."

Li Jing'an became more and more confident as he spoke, as if he had everything under control.

"I never expected... Comrade Li actually did so much under such pressure!" Vice President Wang exclaimed sincerely. Seeing that the cigarette in Li Jing'an's hand had burned down to the butt, he quickly picked up the cigarette pack from the table and gave him another one.

Li Jing'an took the cigarette, thinking to himself: The older generation of leaders really have a strong smoking habit.

He smiled and said, "Sir, you can just call me Jing'an. After all, I come from the military, and it always feels awkward when you call me 'Comrade Li'."

"Haha, alright! Then I'll call you Jing'an." Vice President Wang laughed amiably, then asked seriously, "Jing'an, did you only make arrangements in Shandong Province at the time? Were there any in other provinces?"

"I'm ashamed, sir," Li Jing'an replied sincerely. "When I first arrived at the Ministry of Metallurgy, there was no one else I could trust to rely on. Besides, at that time, I didn't dare to expand the scope, as it would attract too much attention. Shandong Province is a major gold-producing region in the country, accounting for more than 40% of the national output. As long as we stabilize this base, we can have a safety net and buy time for the recovery of other regions."

Vice President Wang nodded approvingly: "Good, Jing'an, I understand your good intentions. Once we take over Shandong Province, our future will be much easier."