"Premier, comrades have opinions on the current economic system. At present, there is a shortage of commodities; if the state invests, it can earn enough money for construction. This line of thought also has good results at present. Why must those opportunistic people earn this money?" After finishing speaking, Xiao Hanshan felt he might have spoken too aggressively due to his unhappiness, so he quickly added, "Please give me guidance, Premier."

Wu Youping knew it would take time for comrades to understand these things, so he asked, "You have read the report on the law of enterprise lifespan, right?"

"...Yes, I have read it." Xiao Hanshan had to answer. The report cited many survey results of foreign enterprises. The lifespan of small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States and Europe is 8.2 years and 12.5 years respectively. The average lifespan of large European and American companies is as long as 30 years. According to these figures, the lifespan of enterprises booming now is actually very short.

However, the shops Xiao Hanshan saw had very long business lives; many shops had been passed down for one or two generations. Of course, due to the chaos in China over the past decades, business was indeed difficult to do. But Xiao Hanshan believed that with social stability now, the lifespan of Chinese enterprises would be longer. That is to say, enterprises running shops now could make money for at least ten years. This was also the reason why many cadres felt unhappy.

Wu Youping thought that as the Minister of the Zhili Ministry, Xiao Hanshan's ability to promote economic work was indeed problematic, so he simply lowered the level of discussion, "Minister Xiao, is the task of the state to develop the economy or to make money? The relationship between the two is not simply that making money develops the economy. If you just think that enterprises earning the state's money means the state suffers a loss, this view is completely unreasonable."

Xiao Hanshan was afraid Wu Youping misunderstood him, so he explained, "It is in the process of execution now; those people make money too easily, making the local feeling very bad."

"The reason why those people make money fast is that there are few enterprises participating in the competition. When there are more enterprises and competition is fierce, the result is that the overall market becomes larger and the average profit becomes thinner. The government's work lies in whether taxes are collected and whether the protection of workers' rights is in place. Are wage arrears and other difficult matters managed according to the law? For employed personnel, have we actively publicized their due rights? If comrades see those running enterprises making money and feel unconvinced, they can also resign to open workshops and run enterprises."

Xiao Hanshan was speechless for a moment. He had also asked those complaining cadres 'do you want to resign and do business', but no one expressed a desire to do business. Having reached the minister level, Xiao Hanshan also knew human nature. Those who made strange remarks actually 'wanted to have their cake and eat it too', but the current system was strict, and they didn't dare to say it directly.

"Why can the average lifespan of enterprises be calculated? Because enterprises will definitely face risks. Enterprise bankruptcy is like human death; just the rupture of a few blood vessels or the lesion of an organ, and the person dies. When a human dies, most organs are normal. Therefore, humans instinctively hate risks and want to live in a risk-free environment. If someone lives in a risk-free environment, there is only one explanation: someone else must be bearing the risk for him."

At this level, Xiao Hanshan knew very well that he really had no ability to refute Wu Youping. Xiao Hanshan hesitated for a moment, suddenly wanting to sit down and talk. Just as he unconsciously glanced at the sofa, he heard Wu Youping say, "Sit down and talk."

Sitting on the sofa, Xiao Hanshan felt much more comfortable physically, and his mood improved a little. This gave Xiao Hanshan the courage to probe, "Premier, are some comrades unsuitable for economic work?"

Wu Youping shook his head. "It's not that some comrades are unsuitable for economic work, but that traditional agricultural society views are unsuitable for industrial economy. In traditional views, the wealth of the world is fixed; more here means less there. However, industrial society greatly improves the utilization range and efficiency of resources, and the upper limit of wealth growth is far higher than that of agricultural society. If you use the thinking of agricultural society to manage the economy of industrial society, you will definitely fail."

Xiao Hanshan knew Wu Youping was explaining which comrades were unsuitable for economic work, so he could only try hard to understand Wu Youping's train of thought. Under heavy work pressure, Xiao Hanshan didn't even have the leisure to feel whether he liked such a view.

Seeing Xiao Hanshan's expression involuntarily becoming painful, Wu Youping stopped talking about this aspect and changed his wording, "What I am going to say next is entirely a deduction based on economic principles, without any emotion in it. No matter what kind of people or what kind of success or failure is mentioned in it, it is just an emotionless deduction. Do you think you can be prepared?"

Xiao Hanshan had to try hard to empty his brain and calm himself down as much as possible. After preparing for a while, he answered, "Premier, I am ready."

Seeing Xiao Hanshan was still quite nervous, Wu Youping mentioned a relaxing topic first, "I think grassroots comrades won't consider craft workshops like sewing shops as capitalists, right?"

Xiao Hanshan was stunned. Thinking of the previous dialogue, he smiled bitterly, "Not to that extent, not to that extent."

Wu Youping put away his smile. "According to the deduction of the Ministry of Finance, within 3-5 years, for workshops related to large amounts of power, as long as they don't switch to mechanized production, probably only 4% can survive. This is the fate of small commodity economy enterprises."

"So fast?" Xiao Hanshan was stunned.

"Even if those similar enterprises survive by increasing investment, within 10 years, due to competition, those surviving will not exceed 10%. This will be a huge wave of enterprise bankruptcy, which should sweep across China."

Xiao Hanshan previously thought that a large number of enterprises popping up in the countryside and various places making money would trigger social problems of 'worrying not about scarcity but about uneven distribution'. Now hearing that these enterprises couldn't even survive 10 years, and even upgraded enterprises couldn't survive, he only felt a chill rushing straight from his tailbone to the top of his head.

A terrifying hypothesis left Xiao Hanshan speechless: if so many enterprises were all finished, wouldn't the national economy also suffer heavy losses?

Before Xiao Hanshan could ask, Wu Youping continued, "But after such destruction, China's economy will only be better. Because a large part of the upstream enterprises responsible for technology research and development are state-owned enterprises. With 10 years of development, state-owned enterprises will definitely obtain great improvements. Plus infrastructure such as roads and communications built in these years, industrial products from core cities in large regions will enter the countryside, just like bicycles going to the countryside now. As long as transportation costs can be reduced low enough, industrial products from those core cities will thoroughly unify the countryside."

Speaking of this, Wu Youping smiled slightly, "How about it, has the situation you expected happened?"

Xiao Hanshan only felt completely confused. He had worked in the Northeast for several years and saw with his own eyes how state-owned enterprises drove the industrial development of the Northeast region from top to bottom, sweeping the entire Northeast. Naturally, he felt such a model should be the best.

However, Wu Youping's description was another appearance, development from the bottom up by the private sector. But this development would be crushed by industrial products from urban areas. Xiao Hanshan asked somewhat difficultly, "Premier, won't such a huge bankruptcy affect the economy?"

"We must look at problems dynamically. Minister Xiao, what is the reason for the bankruptcy of these enterprises?" Wu Youping asked.

"Uh... please instruct me, Premier." Xiao Hanshan dared not explain himself at all.

"The reason for their bankruptcy is very simple. Marx has a very brilliant description in *Das Kapital*: the commodity to money is a thrilling leap. If it falls, what is shattered is not just the commodity, but the owner of the commodity.

After the commodity is produced by the producer, it is linked to the vital interests of the producer. In the process of exchange with money as the medium, commodity—money—commodity, only when the commodity producer successfully realizes the leap from commodity to money, exchanging the commodity for money that can be exchanged for all other commodities, can the producer exchange for the commodities he needs (which can meet his needs for survival and development); otherwise, the producer cannot survive in the market.

Minister Xiao, there are risks in every link. This is why enterprises have lifespans. Why is a country called a capitalist country? Because the purpose of such a country is to avoid the risks of capital, so they transfer risks to other fields as much as possible. In order to resist risks, monopoly organizations like cartels, trusts, and syndicates appeared.

The socialist system is not a god; the socialist system cannot eliminate risks. The system determines how a country operates. Then, under the socialist system, what we have to do is ensure the bottom line, ensuring that risks are not transferred to groups who shouldn't bear them. Can you understand this?"

"...I feel suddenly enlightened," Xiao Hanshan sighed. Following Wu Youping's guidance, Xiao Hanshan felt he was standing at another height looking at political and economic issues. Things that Xiao Hanshan once thought were huge matters now became issues that, although having certain importance, were no longer matters of life and death.

And Xiao Hanshan vaguely felt that those things that seemed unimportant had unexpected importance. For example, the central government prohibited local governments from using state funds to invest in small workshops in rural areas.

"Let's talk about the issue of fiscal discipline," Wu Youping continued.

Xiao Hanshan was shocked in his heart; he felt as if Wu Youping could hear his inner voice.

"Minister Xiao, rural investment indeed suffers not from scarcity but from uneven distribution. Therefore, the state can only invest in infrastructure, compulsory education, and the supply of cheap commodities, projects that cover the entire countryside. Cities and county towns recruiting workers from the countryside also have open standards, the same for everyone. This is the basic requirement of state investment in rural areas.

As for various small commodity economies in rural areas, this has to be left to the rural people to do themselves. The government's functions are relevant administrative supervision and legal services. This is the social operation mode stipulated by the socialist system. To complete these in rural areas requires huge investment and a large amount of work. The work pressure on comrades will be very great."

Listening to Wu Youping's effortless narration, Xiao Hanshan answered almost word by word, "Premier, I think I understand."

Wu Youping felt that Xiao Hanshan's receptive capacity today ended here. Although he was still somewhat worried in his heart, he didn't continue, but expressed his thoughts, "I have a high evaluation of Minister Xiao; I hope you can truly understand these."