Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But after all, everyone has their own specialties.

The Secretariat couldn't just discuss every document from the army before issuing a directive. This would negate the advantages of the division of labor under collective leadership. With Tan Zheng as a member of the Secretariat, he could handle many of the army's documents.

After the matter is processed, it can be reported at the Secretariat meeting.

After the reorganization of the Secretariat, Wei Hongjun became the First Secretary and Deng Xixian the Second Secretary. Wei Hongjun was in charge of the overall work of the Secretariat, while Deng Xixian assisted Wei Hongjun in handling the daily work of the Secretariat.

After that came the arrangements for the Ninth Congress.

At the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, the Central Committee appointed Comrade Xiu Yang, Chen Yun, Nie Shuai, Wei Hongjun, and Deng Xixian to oversee the preparations for the Ninth National Congress. Although five individuals were appointed, Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian served as First and Second Secretaries of the Secretariat, respectively, and Deng Xixian was also Secretary-General of the Central Committee. Therefore, the preparatory work for the Ninth National Congress fell primarily to Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian.

The Ninth Preparatory Committee has many key tasks to deal with, four of which are the most important.

They are the political report, the revision of the Party Constitution, the arrangement of the Ninth National Congress schedule, and the conference elections.

The political report is the general charter of the Ninth National Congress.

The Chairman continued to revise the political report of the Ninth National Congress. At the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, the list of the Drafting Committee for the Political Report of the Ninth National Congress was officially confirmed. The Drafting Committee consisted of the Chairman, Comrade Xiu Yang, Chen Yun, Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, Wang Jiaxiang, Hu Qiaomu, and Chen Boda.

Because the political report prepared by the Chairman included an analysis of the current socialist contradictions, the theory of socialist stages, socialist industrial and agricultural construction, China's relations with foreign countries, and many other contents.

Comrade Xiuyang had been a Party leader for many years, and the political report to the Ninth National Congress of the Party certainly had him. Others, such as Chen Yun, Wei Hongjun, and Deng Xixian, all had substantial participation in the political report.

The other few people are all penmen.

Then came the revision of the Party Constitution.

As the new Chinese regime became more stable, especially after the Gao Gang incident, the central government placed greater emphasis on democratic centralism and, at the same time, on preventing the emergence of powerful cadres. Consequently, the number of members of the Politburo and the Central Committee was expanded.

Especially the Politburo.

The Politburo of the CPC Central Committee currently consists of seventeen members. Of these seventeen, the Commander-in-Chief, Dong Biwu, and Lin Boqu are all seventy years old. Marshals Lin and Luo are both in poor health. Marshal Lin, in particular, has attended countless Politburo meetings since the founding of the People's Republic of China. He often recuperates in Dalian, Qingdao, Hangzhou, and other places.

Let’s talk about the Gao Gang issue this time, although Marshal Lin “stayed out of it”.

But all the central cadres knew that Gao Gang had several secret conversations with Marshal Lin in Hangzhou before he went south. Gao Gang dared to attack Comrade Xiu Yang and the Premier, and his biggest supporter in the military was Marshal Lin.

But if Marshal Lin is involved, it will cause too much trouble.

That's why the central government turned a blind eye. But after all, they had close contact. Now that Gao Gang was in trouble, neither some central government leaders nor Marshal Lin himself wanted to see each other for a while. Marshal Lin would continue to recuperate in this state for the next few years.

It is necessary to expand the Politburo and add some young and capable cadres.

There are also members and alternate members of the Central Committee. Currently, there are many senior and high-ranking cadres across the Party, government, and military. But because the cadres who preceded them refuse to move, they are stuck where they are. And this stagnation hasn't lasted just one or two years; it's been going on for a long time.

But this is the reality right now.

There are too many cadres at the top, many of them young and strong. Many of them will have to stay in their current positions for more than a decade. Since positions cannot be adjusted, increasing the number of Central Committee members and alternate members is a good way to appease them.

The central government will also set up some new departments.

This requires amending the Party Constitution.

The Drafting Committee for Amending the Party Constitution and the Report on Amending the Party Constitution is composed of nine people: Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, Chen Tanqiu, Xi Zhongxun, Zhao Zhensheng, Song Renqiong, Yang Shangkun, Tan Zhenlin, and Hu Qiaomu.

This is why the Central Committee appointed Deng Xixian as the Secretary-General of the Central Committee.

The work of the Ninth Division is very trivial.

As the person in charge of the substantial preparations for the Ninth National Congress, Wei Hongjun is simply too busy to handle it all alone. A cadre with outstanding abilities, solid work ethic, and sufficient rank is needed to coordinate with Wei Hongjun. Within the current Central Committee, Deng Xixian best fits this profile.

To arrange the schedule for the Ninth National Congress means to specify in detail the daily discussion agenda for the Ninth National Congress.

Time must be arranged well.

Many of the reports at the Ninth Congress were not decided by direct vote at the congress. Instead, many of the agenda items were distributed to the delegates in advance. They were then asked to discuss them according to their groups and ultimately come up with a consensus opinion. At the Ninth Congress, delegates were required to speak on behalf of their groups.

Because at a national congress like this, it's impossible for everyone to express their opinions, there simply isn't enough time. Therefore, delegates express their opinions during their group discussions.

So this time must be arranged properly.

The time for group discussion should be appropriate, neither too much nor too little. Only with sufficient group discussion can the conference agenda proceed smoothly.

Finally, there is the issue of the conference elections.

This is divided into two parts. The first is the issue of delegates to the Ninth National Congress. This requires Wei Hongjun and other cadres preparing for the Ninth National Congress to preside over the formulation of the "Number of Delegates and Election Methods for the Ninth National Congress of the Party," which will then be submitted to the Politburo for review.

After the Politburo's approval, Wei Hongjun will hold meetings with provincial, municipal, and autonomous regional Party committee leaders to convey the "election procedures." Each province, municipality, and autonomous region will submit a list of "candidates for the Ninth National Congress" to the Central Committee based on the "Ninth National Congress Election Procedures."

This list of "Nine Candidates" will not be submitted directly to the Politburo. First, Wei Hongjun will organize a cadre to review the list. Only if it passes the review will the candidates be officially elected as delegates to the Ninth National Congress. If they fail the review, other candidates will be added as delegates.

Another factor was that the Ninth National Congress would elect new Central Committee members and alternate members, establishing a new Central Committee. However, with six million Party members nationwide, we couldn't just let everyone choose at will. Therefore, the election of Central Committee members and alternate members began with submissions from provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, the military, and central government ministries and commissions.

The list will be huge.

It is several times the number of Central Committee members and alternate members.

Then, a special committee will need to review this list. As for the current preparations for the Ninth National Congress, if the Politburo establishes a special committee to review the list of candidates for Central Committee members and alternate members, it is very likely that Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian will be responsible for this.

Among these lists, some candidates who do not meet the requirements and have unresolved historical issues will be screened out.

The remaining names will be included in the candidate list.

Finally, at the Ninth National Congress, the elected members and alternate members of the Central Committee will form the new Central Committee.

Of course, these are the four most important tasks for the Ninth National Congress Preparatory Committee. Beyond these four tasks, the Preparatory Committee has much more to do. Some leaders will speak at the Ninth National Congress, but they are not at the level of Politburo members.

If a cadre at the level of a Politburo member wants to speak, the Politburo will directly review it. The Ninth National Congress Preparatory Committee will review the divisions, and some local leaders and military leaders who want to speak at the Ninth National Congress will also review it.

This requires approval from the Preparatory Committee, as the Preparatory Committee needs to take all of this into consideration when drawing up the meeting agenda. After all, some of these cadres' speeches can last for dozens of minutes or even an hour or two.

How can I let you speak casually?

At the same time, their speeches also needed to be reviewed by the Ninth National Congress Preparatory Committee. It wasn't like you could just say whatever you wanted at the Ninth National Congress. Not only them, but even the Chairman's speech needed to be reviewed by the Politburo before it could be presented at the congress.

These are the tasks of the Ninth Preparatory Committee.

In addition to the Chairman's report at the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Comrade Xiu Yang, the Premier, and Chen Yun all made reports. However, they were all work reports, relatively simple compared to the Gao Gang incident and the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

On March 1956, 3, the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee concluded successfully.

985 Comforting Gao Gang

After the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, before Wei Hongjun began to perform his duties, the Chairman gave him his first task.

Wei Hongjun’s first task was to talk to Gao Gang.

Tell him not to act like a demon.

Honestly accept the arrangements of the Central Committee.

The Chairman authorized Wei Hongjun, Deng Xixian, and Li Fuchun to speak with Gao Gang. Although the Central Committee had punished Gao Gang, it still held this former Politburo Standing Committee member in high regard, fearing he might cause further trouble. The Chairman's feelings towards Gao Gang were more like "frustration." Gao Gang's reckless decision completely shattered the Chairman's original plan for the Central Committee. Had Wei Hongjun not been able to fill the position Gao Gang left behind, the entire Central Committee would have been thrown into disarray.

The premise of "hating iron for not being able to make steel" is that the Chairman really valued Gao Gang before. Otherwise, he would not have sent a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and two members of the Politburo to take action.

As for Rao Shushi, the Chairman paid much less attention to him.

Do what you have to do.

There was no such thing as sending anyone to appease them. In the Chairman's mind, Gao Gang and Rao Shushi were completely different cadres. It can be said that although Gao Gang and Rao Shushi both arrived at the Central Committee at the same time, Rao Shushi's influence and connections within the Central Committee were far inferior to Gao Gang's.

Even former colleagues like Chen Shuai, Deng Zhihui, Tan Zhenlin, Zhang Dingcheng, and Zeng Shan, who had worked with him in the Central Committee, had little contact with Rao Shushi. Rao Shushi knew his situation, and besides, he didn't want to stay in Beijing. So, after the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, he packed up and headed for Wuhan.

"What? Urging me to get out?"

When Gao Gang met Wei Hongjun and the others, he spoke very rudely.

The dust has settled.

Gao Gang was a bit desperate.

Although he didn't commit suicide as he had in history, he was still somewhat lost. Gao Gang's pent-up frustration intensified when he saw Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1948, all three were leaders of local Central Committees, all in their prime, leaders of the Party's second tier. Gao Gang himself was the leader, a full position ahead of Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian, having been a member of the Politburo at the Seventh National Congress.

Later, he was also one of the first to become a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

But now the situation is reversed.

Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian steadily advanced their positions. Their status rose most significantly during the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee. They became key organizers of the Ninth National Congress.

The organizers of such large-scale meetings have great power, and if you are not an important leader in the party, you cannot undertake such a task.

So when Gao Gang saw Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian, his face looked very unhappy.

But Wei Hongjun didn't care. Gao Gang had always been on the way, so this was normal. So Wei Hongjun sat down and said, "Comrade Gao Gang, our country's industrial development will not always be concentrated in Northeast and North China, and economic development will not focus solely on these provinces. We are a socialist country, and we cannot allow serious polarization between provinces and regions. Therefore, once China's industry has established a certain foundation, we will increase investment in the central and western provinces. Developing transportation and industrial construction in these regions is a must."

Wei Hongjun was talking to himself.

Because Wei Hongjun knew that what Gao Gang had lost was his spirit.

He felt abandoned by the central government.

So Wei Hongjun came this time to cheer him up. The Chairman also had this intention. During the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee, Gao Gang wrote a letter of apology to the Chairman and expressed his desire to meet with him. But the Chairman did not agree.

The Chairman disagreed, but that didn’t mean he completely disliked Gao Gang.

Rather, at this sensitive moment, the Chairman did not want to send a wrong signal to outsiders. Especially since the Fifth Session of the Eighth Central Committee had just passed the report on "Inner-Party Unity," the Chairman could not take the lead in undermining it.

If the Chairman met with Gao Gang at this time, it would send a bad signal to the outside world. The relationship between the Chairman, Comrade Xiuyang, and the Premier would then become delicate. If there were any rifts among the central leadership, how could we educate the entire Party about "intra-Party unity"?

So the Chairman refused to meet with Gao Gang.

But the Chairman's attitude dealt a more severe blow to Gao Gang. Ever since the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi and Gao Gang first met the Chairman, he had been deeply trusted and valued by the Chairman for over twenty years. Therefore, Gao Gang had a very special affection for the Chairman. But now, Gao Gang felt abandoned not only by the Party leadership but also by the Chairman.

The Chairman was also worried about Gao Gang's mental state, so he sent Wei Hongjun and others to check on him. At the same time, he asked Wei Hongjun and others to comfort Gao Gang so that Gao Gang would honestly accept the arrangements of the Central Committee and work hard.

But Wei Hongjun knew that Gao Gang did not need to be comforted now.

The more you appease him, the more he'll feel like Wei Hongjun and the others are mocking him. Gao Gang, with his strong self-esteem, finds this kind of "mockige" unacceptable. It's unclear what Gao Gang, with his strong self-esteem and fragile mentality, will do.

Now that the Gao Gang incident has been settled, Wei Hongjun does not want any further twists and turns.

So Wei Hongjun started talking about work in a casual manner.

Wei Hongjun wanted to let Gao Gang know that although he seemed to be "exiled" now, his work was important. He would definitely have the opportunity to return to the battlefield in the future. Deng Xixian understood Wei Hongjun's intentions as soon as he heard him speak.

So he agreed, "Yes. After the Second Five-Year Plan, my country had a relatively complete industrial base. Starting from the Third Five-Year Plan, we should consider placing some industrial projects in the central and western provinces, so that the central and western provinces can also have industrial projects. In fact, there was a plan in this regard in the Second Five-Year Plan, but the scale was very small. It only transferred technical personnel from the Northeast, North China, and East China to support some industries in the central and western provinces. But starting from the Third Five-Year Plan, there will be a plan to develop some industries in the central and western provinces."

Gao Gang didn't interrupt.

Gao Gang was previously a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and First Secretary of the Secretariat. Although he was in charge of central Party affairs, he also had a certain understanding of national development and understood what Wei Hongjun and Deng Xixian were talking about.

Li Fuchun, who was standing next to him, said, "Yes. Last year, when Chongqing Iron and Steel expanded, the blast furnace used was the one from Daye, and the coke oven equipment was relocated from Anshan Iron and Steel. The expansion of Chongqing Iron and Steel was a key project of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, so a large number of skilled workers were transferred from Anshan Iron and Steel and Baotou Iron and Steel to participate in the expansion."

Gao Gang still didn't say anything.

Regardless of Gao Gang's attitude, Wei Hongjun continued, "The central government has previously focused on developing industry in Northeast and North China. Therefore, if the central and western provinces want to develop industry in the future, the specific layout and development methods are not clear. Therefore, before the Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans, the central government needs to know more detailed data reports on the central and western provinces. Only then can they promote industrial development in the central and western provinces in a planned manner."

"Comrade Gao Gang, you understand industry. Furthermore, you've been in the central government for many years and understand the national situation better than anyone else. Therefore, it's most reliable for you to inspect the central and western provinces and formulate a central-level plan for transportation, industrial, and economic development. Whether the Third and Fourth Five-Year Plans can formulate a sound development plan for the central and western provinces depends on Comrade Gao Gang's work."