The French parliamentary elections began in October 1930 and concluded on November 24. The party of former President and former Prime Minister Gaston Doumergue emerged victorious. Doumergue defeated Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré to become the Prime Minister (President of the Council of Ministers) of the new government. Raymond Poincaré, known for his hardline foreign policy, took up the critically important post of Minister of Finance due to his success in reforming the franc between 1926 and 1928.

In his victory speech, new Prime Minister Doumergue announced, "To increase the rest available to the French people, this government's first bill will be the one proposed during the election guaranteeing every French citizen two weeks of paid leave annually. Furthermore, this government will resolutely implement a forty-hour workweek and increase wages; overtime must be paid at double rates. On Sundays or holidays, places like the Louvre shall be open to the public."

Hearing Doumergue's victory speech, left-wing politicians desperately wanted to whistle and jeer. However, the French public attending the speech erupted in tsunami-like cheers upon hearing Doumergue's announcements. Seeing the enthusiasm of the masses, the left-wing politicians had to suppress their urge to heckle.

Doumergue belonged to a center-right party, and increasing welfare was not originally his priority. But France was a "revolutionary base area"—this was a country that had historically hung aristocrats from lampposts, beheaded priests, and burned churches. The French Right was mostly not the type to oppose welfare on principle, but rather a more nationalist Right. As long as the state had money, this Right was willing to concede profits to the people in exchange for votes.

Prime Minister Doumergue concluded his victory speech and waved to the crowd. Every wave elicited enthusiastic cheers from the French people. Listening to the crowd passionately chanting "Doumergue, Doumergue," the deeply moved Prime Minister waved again and again, winning round after round of cheers. Doumergue waved as many as six times before returning to the Élysée Palace in high spirits to convene an internal meeting of the ruling party.

*Le Figaro* devoted half of its front page that day to a glowing report: "...What did the victory in the Great War in Europe over a decade ago bring to France? We lost one-tenth of our population, and a quarter of our industries suffered severe damage. In 1918, the budget deficit reached 18 billion francs; we owed the United States 16 billion francs and Britain 13 billion francs; prices doubled; and most of the pre-war high-interest loans to foreign countries were gone forever, especially the loans to Tsarist Russia which were completely repudiated by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin. The lives of almost all French people fell into hardship.

"Over the past two years, thanks to the wise choices of the previous administration, the French economy has become highly active. To satisfy the French economy, the government issued nearly 200 billion francs. Without firing a single shot, we have not only completely made up for the losses of those years but also brought the French economy to an unprecedented height.

"Judging from the performance of the past two years, this government is very likely to be one that can satisfy the expectations of the French nationals!..."

Left-wing politicians were thoroughly nauseated when they saw this front page. These policies had originally been proposed by them, but now that the center-right government had accepted them entirely, the Left had no way to attack the current government by blocking these bills.

Before this general election, there had long been a consensus in French politics: even if a bubbling-over far-right party came to power, the new government would have the ability to implement almost all left-wing policies except for changing the form of government. Now this consensus had become reality. The left-wing politicians were powerless against this—who asked them to fail to win the election despite using every trick in the book?

The other half of *Le Figaro*'s front page introduced China's 1930 autumn harvest. Due to the popularization of synthetic ammonia, China's 1930 autumn harvest yield increased by 11% compared to the previous year. Combined with the significantly increased summer harvest, China's total grain output in 1930 increased by 15% year-on-year. Grain production drove industrial production, and *Le Figaro* predicted that the total output value of China's industry and agriculture this year would reach more than 15% of the previous year's figures.

The British side was very clear about France's intentions. The better China's economy was, the more confident France's economy would be. Therefore, the British side responded tit-for-tat with an investigative report titled "The Weeping French Light Industry": "...France does its utmost to boast of its heavy industrial development, but in Paris, in Marseille, in Lyon, French light industry is facing an astonishing decline. Taking the textile industry as an example, France's share was 100% in 1928, but it shrank by 35% in 1930. This 35% share has been occupied by cheap Chinese textiles. French cotton is sold to China and eventually turns into Chinese textiles sold back to France. This has directly led to a 30% contraction in the French textile industry..."

To the French, what the British said was lies. So the French public simply did not care whether what the British newspapers described was fact. The working environment in the textile industry was very harsh, and wages were very low. Even if employment in the textile industry declined, the female employees who made up a huge proportion of it could go to the machinery manufacturing industry to serve plates and tea, which was much better than serving textile machines in constantly roaring factories. Even if they could not engage in the textile industry, the maid service industry, long-term care industry, and nursery industry were much more profitable. For the same wages, the French working masses naturally expected a better working environment.

In October 1930, the unemployment rate in Britain had reached 20%. When able-bodied laborers who had accumulated work experience in various factories could not find jobs, the British economic departments indeed could not understand the thoughts of French workers where the unemployment rate was only 1.8%.

Several British Cabinet meetings revolved around the British pound, but with little success. In a reality with no demand, the British government had no solution. Consequently, the British Cabinet issued a strict order to the Foreign Office: "In early 1931, the King of England's visit to China must be facilitated!"

***

In China, He Rui was not living the leisurely life of a national leader as imagined by the rest of the world. At this time, He Rui was struggling with reports every day. Reports from China's provinces, cities, counties, and towns were sent up. Only data filtered by the economic departments reached He Rui. He Rui even had to throw triangular dice to determine which town or county to spot-check for data.

Those outrageous economic development figures, after being filtered by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Construction, were already subject to investigation orders issued by the respective ministries. For example, for those counties where grain production increased by more than 20%, the relevant ministries under the State Council had already instructed the provincial agricultural departments to conduct sampling surveys. After such investigations, most of the bizarre growth rates were debunked. Only data from areas that could not be debunked made it to He Rui.

Under such statistical capability, the counties naturally could not fabricate stories of "ten thousand jin per mu." After all, county leaders were not fools; they at least knew clearly that if they reported ten thousand jin per mu and were found out by superior departments, not only would the leaders of the towns and villages under the county be dismissed without exception, but the county and city leaders would basically be finished too. Dismissal was already a very gentle treatment; leaders of relevant departments would not only be dismissed but also stripped of their retirement benefits. The pension contributions made over so many years would all vanish. Under such a policy of collective responsibility, reports at the county and city levels became much more rigorous.

He Rui's job was simple: to order the General Office to investigate anomalies. The young secretaries in the General Office understood economic issues very well under this workload and became priority recruitment targets for the legal and policy departments of various ministries.

For He Rui, these problems actually didn't matter. Finding problems meant pressure on the State Council. The State Council could not turn a blind eye to the opinions of the Chairman's General Office. As long as they were willing to solve them, things became easy to understand. China was so big; with the economy developing at high speed now, there would always be some local government data that appeared very distinct. If He Rui could pinpoint the problem, it would save the General Office a lot of trouble. So He Rui also gained a profound understanding of the economic development of various regions based on current data.

While He Rui smoked cigarettes and absorbed nicotine, secretaries delivered various data to him. Just by looking at the economic data of various provinces and even prefectures and cities—such as power generation and the mechanization level of local enterprises—He Rui could roughly infer the economic situation of each locality. For example, in an area where the annual per capita power consumption was less than 50 kWh, unless there were unique products, there was no reason for huge power consumption issues to appear. In this situation, as long as the Ministry of Industry produced the relevant documents, the clues could be seen.

Under such high-pressure governance, the comrades in the localities felt huge problems. Especially when huge electricity consumption did not match industrial output, huge problems appeared immediately. For example, from an economic perspective, insisting that power-consuming enterprises did not have enough electric motors would easily expose where the problem lay.

Bureaucratic elements evolve very easily. Especially those cases of errors; for bureaucrats who "don't want trouble," their warning significance is even more realistic than for those bureaucrats who want to do a good job. Although fools don't live long, fools in this world always think they are smart. In the end, after the fools are wiped out, what remains are the guys who are capable but think themselves clever.

Although He Rui detested such messy matters, he had to admit that the evolution of the bureaucratic group required bloody examples. Only after the Central Investigation Teams demonstrated impressive capabilities could the reaction of the bureaucratic groups be stimulated.

Fortunately, the evolution of the bureaucratic group was going quite well, and the centralized government itself performed well in these fields. For instance, if something happened in a township, one could directly inquire with the relevant departments in the county. If those departments could not give an effective answer, then those departments could be eliminated.

After all, in the composition of the government back then, the proportion of cadres who came entirely from the Northeast and had undergone detailed statistical testing was indeed limited. The number of cadres from the old regime was huge. Dealing with them did not cause heartache.

Moreover, such handling not only fully exposed those who held sinecures but also allowed a few capable officials to reveal themselves. Only then could He Rui persist in such loathsome work.

Zhang Xiluan was prepared for this matter. As the only surviving elder of the old Beiyang clique, Zhang Xiluan absolutely refused to let himself be a scapegoat for others. For any bastard who caused bad luck due to such matters, the Zhang family would not have the slightest sympathy. Such people wouldn't even get past Zhang Xiluan's butler, let alone see Zhang Xiluan.

However, by February 1931, Zhang Xiluan's butler excitedly passed the message sent by He Rui to Zhang Xiluan.

Zhang Xiluan read the content of the message and was somewhat puzzled. The King of England was preparing to visit China, and He Rui invited Zhang Xiluan to attend the state banquet. The King of England was a figure in the present day; Zhang Xiluan had at least heard of the reputation of the British Empire. Nominally, Zhang Xiluan really didn't understand why he had to eat a meal with the King of England.

So after pondering for a long time, Zhang Xiluan dictated a reply, and the butler wrote to He Rui: "...Brother He, although your foolish brother really does not care for foreigners, I truly do not understand what relationship the King of England has with me. Back then, what I hated most were the Russian Tsar and the Japanese Emperor. Of these two, one constantly encroached on Chinese territory, and the other launched the Jiawu War. If it were a matter of beheading these two, I would certainly spare no effort to watch. As for the likes of the King of England, I truly have no interaction with them..."

He Rui couldn't help laughing after reading it. A character like Old Zhang really felt like he had become wise with age. He Rui originally felt that Old Zhang might be interested in the leaders of world powers; he didn't expect Old Zhang to speak so plainly. He Rui couldn't say much either. He could only reply: "For Lord Zhang's personal attention: Receiving your letter the other day, I was inexplicably terrified. I originally thought Lord Zhang would be interested in dining with a world leader, but after seeing your letter, I realized I misunderstood your high integrity. I am deeply ashamed of the letter that disturbed your peace before, and I hope you will forgive me..."

He Rui intended to dictate this letter to a secretary, but one of his wives, Mitsuko, was a Japanese reporter. Japanese has a specific set of honorifics, a set of wording that takes "politeness" to the extreme. Compared to this set of honorifics in Japanese, He Rui's words could be considered uncouth. So Mitsuko, taking He Rui's dictation, converted it into honorifics, which the Secretariat then translated back into Chinese language and sent to Zhang Xiluan.

The result was that Zhang Xiluan was greatly alarmed after reading it. He immediately replied, "Brother He Rui, although I am old, I am not unreasonable. Your letter the other day was overly polite, and I felt inexplicably astonished. If you insist that I meet with the King of England, why not speak directly? Whatever you command, I will certainly obey!"

Now He Rui was in a bit of a bind. He just wanted to see the Japanese honorifics, but he hadn't expected to alarm Zhang Xiluan. He Rui could only send someone to Tianjin to personally apologize to Zhang Xiluan. If He Rui hadn't been too busy at this time, he would have had to visit personally.

Having sent the person off, He Rui continued his work. As time entered 1931, Britain had discovered that its economic problems were completely unsolvable by Britain alone. In addition to pushing hard for the King's visit to China, Britain also came up with three measures: abandoning the gold standard, the Sterling Bloc, and the Imperial Preference system.

The Sterling Bloc was an exclusive international currency bloc centered on the pound sterling. It was established in September 1931. Under the blow of the capitalist world economic crisis that broke out in 1929, Britain was forced to abandon the gold standard and announce the devaluation of the pound. To maintain its original sphere of influence and colonial system and strengthen its market competitiveness, Britain united with various colonies, dominions (except Canada), and countries with close financial and economic ties to Britain to form the Sterling Bloc. The currencies of member countries maintained a fixed exchange rate with the pound; the exchange rates between member countries were fixed, while exchange rates with currencies outside the bloc were determined by the exchange rate between the pound and the US dollar. Trade, credit, and other accounts between member countries were all settled in pounds; within member countries, capital transfers were unrestricted; and the foreign exchange reserves and gold of all member countries had to be deposited in London banks for international clearing purposes.

Historically, it formed in 1931 right during the world economic crisis. Participants included members of the British Commonwealth (except Canada) as well as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Egypt, Iraq, Argentina, Brazil, and other countries that had close financial and economic ties with Britain at the time. It stipulated that member currencies maintain a fixed rate with the pound, while rates against other currencies were determined by the pound's rate against the dollar. Countries stored most of their foreign exchange reserves in London for international clearing. Britain used the Sterling Bloc to consolidate its position in the markets of various countries. In 1939, this bloc was replaced by the newly formed Sterling Area.

In 1932, the capitalist world was in a severe economic crisis, and the struggle among imperialist countries for world markets was very intense. Economically and technologically increasingly backward, Britain relied on foreign markets more than other countries, yet its commodity competitiveness was weaker than its main competitors. During the economic crisis, Britain's export trade volume fell by more than half. Britain had to abandon its long-standing free trade policy and turn to a protectionist trade policy, announcing that foreign goods entering the British market would be subject to ad valorem duties of 10% to 33.3%. At the same time, Britain strengthened foreign exchange controls and gradually formed the Sterling Bloc. Countries participating in the Sterling Bloc could freely exchange foreign currency, while strict controls were implemented on foreign exchange transactions outside the bloc to protect the Sterling Bloc's market. Since Britain levied protective tariffs, it was bound to affect the dominions and colonies with close economic ties to Britain. In order to ensure that the economic relations between Britain and its dominions and colonies were not harmed by this, and to protect and expand Britain's markets in these countries by further developing mutual trade, Britain established the Imperial Preference system, which was of the nature of a customs union, with its dominions and colonies.

According to the agreement of the Ottawa Imperial Conference, the main contents of the Imperial Preference system were: 1. Britain gave tariff preferences to imported goods from dominions and colonies, of which about 80% of goods could be imported duty-free, and the other approximately 20% of goods were only levied a low tariff of about 10%. 2. Britain guaranteed the sales market for agricultural products from dominions and colonies in Britain and restricted the import of agricultural products from countries outside the dominions and colonies. 3. British industrial products would enjoy corresponding preferential treatment when exported to dominions and colonies. 4. When formulating tariff policies, dominions and colonies had to accept Britain's suggestions and levy high tariffs on goods imported from countries other than Britain. To implement the Ottawa Conference agreement, Britain signed a series of agreements with various dominions and colonies, specifying the preferences these countries and regions gave to British goods. These agreements generally reduced import tariffs on British goods to 20% of the value of the goods, significantly lower than the tariffs levied on goods from other countries.