July 29, 1932. The final debate of the US Democratic Party primaries.

Franklin D. Roosevelt listened intently to his opponent's speech. When he heard the rival declare, "I believe Mr. Roosevelt's physical condition makes him unsuitable to be President of the United States," a genial smile appeared on his serious face.

When the opponent finished, Roosevelt picked up the microphone. "I believe that being able to do a backflip is the job of an acrobat. The job of the President of the United States is to provide a future direction for the country."

Hearing this, the audience in the hall paused for a moment, then many burst into applause.

Roosevelt was not moved by the support of these Democratic voters. He knew very well that his ability to reach this final stage was largely due to the efforts of the Republican Party and his competitors within the Democratic Party to paint him as a "communist." In the United States today, the American people needed the most radical reform, not the indecisive "bourgeois proxy" that was Hoover.

As the applause died down, Roosevelt turned to the voters. "People of America, we face a difficult situation, and what is even more difficult is whether we have the courage to admit the situation we are facing. Fear is a human instinct, but fear itself is nothing to be afraid of. What we should fear is fear itself. Because of fear, we refuse to acknowledge reality; because of fear, we pretend that everything will change. But if we do nothing, nothing will be solved!"

A round of enthusiastic applause rang out from the audience. In the eyes of the voters, Roosevelt's competitors dared not face America's current predicament, offering only various excuses. Only Roosevelt dared to propose to the voters, "We must pay attention to the lives of American labor. To allow workers to live with dignity, we must set a cap on working hours and establish a minimum wage. Only on such a basis can the United States restore confidence."

Although the voters did not know exactly *how* Roosevelt would achieve this, compared to the other Democratic candidates, they believed Roosevelt was the one who had grasped the crux of the problem.

Sitting at the edge of the venue were several Chinese men. They were not Chinese-Americans, but staff from the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in the United States. To grasp the most timely information in the US, Chinese diplomatic personnel personally attended the campaign rallies of both the Democratic and Republican parties to hear the candidates debate.

Roosevelt's debate not only surpassed the other Democratic candidates in scope, but the audience's reaction also far exceeded that for the others. When the Democratic primary debate ended, the group left the venue.

Getting into their car, they began to chat. "If Roosevelt isn't elected, it might be because some power behind the scenes is determined not to see him elected."

"There doesn't seem to be any such power visible right now."

These diplomats held Roosevelt in high regard because his fearless fortitude in the face of difficulties gave them a feeling similar to that of He Rui.

Someone offered an intuitive view: "The United States won't become a socialist country, will it?"

The Chinese diplomats were stunned. Someone asked, "A socialist country? Even more socialist than France?"

At this, everyone laughed. The car had started and left the parking lot amidst their laughter. In the global economic crisis, France's performance was remarkable. While other countries were desperately cutting welfare... *if* those countries provided welfare to their people at all... France had significantly increased welfare for its citizens. Compared to France, what Roosevelt was offering could at best be called "security."

However, the Chinese diplomats did not wish to mock Roosevelt. Unlike China, ordinary Americans were wealthy to a degree incomparable to the Chinese masses because they did not lack land. The current problem in the US stemmed from a loss of confidence in the economy and the banks, not because the US itself could not produce enough wealth.

At this moment, the views of the American tycoon Rockefeller differed from those of the Chinese diplomats. The Rockefeller Foundation had been studying Roosevelt's policies, and the experts hired by the consortium believed that if Roosevelt fulfilled his campaign platform, it would not be favorable to the Rockefeller interests.

The Rockefeller consortium had already contacted a group of large American enterprises to invest in the West Coast. After President Hoover signed the executive order, China received $1 billion in credit loans to purchase American goods. China did not buy American agricultural products, nor consumer goods; the money was used entirely to purchase industrial products and patents. Machinery and equipment sold to China by major American companies, led by the Rockefeller consortium, were loaded onto ships directly on the West Coast for shipment to China.

Experts hired by the Rockefeller consortium worried that after Roosevelt was elected president, he would require China to purchase products from other regions of the United States. Although this practice would likely violate American tradition, Roosevelt's own intention to establish unions and let workers negotiate with capitalists was already a violation of American tradition.

Despite these extreme predictions, Rockefeller was helpless. He could only choose to sign the orders as quickly as possible; presumably, Roosevelt would not go so far as to demand China cancel existing orders. Before Roosevelt took office, asking the Chinese government to spend that $1 billion credit line first was the most advantageous move for Rockefeller.

This request was directly rejected by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Li Chenggang did not quite understand why Rockefeller was so agitated, nor was he interested in finding out. He simply had his subordinates tell the Rockefeller Company's commercial representative office in China, "The Chinese government imports American goods according to its own needs and will not suddenly change its plans."

Li Chenggang had considered reporting this to Wu Youping, but finally decided not to disturb the Premier.

Four years after the comprehensive introduction of synthetic ammonia and internal combustion engines, huge changes had erupted within the Chinese economy. According to the projections of the National Five-Year Plan, the productivity released by the early land reform and water conservancy projects should have been exhausted, entering a plateau period. Unexpectedly, with the promotion of synthetic ammonia, improved seeds, chemical fertilizers, and close-planting techniques, agricultural capacity had stepped up to another level.

To understand these agricultural changes, Li Chenggang had been visiting the countryside for the past two years. The most intuitive change was the close-planting technique. Especially in the north, the density of grain plants per *mu* had increased by at least 50%. Li Chenggang had seen the old farmlands, where crops were planted quite sparsely. Now, the fields were densely packed with neat rows of plants; at harvest time, the mature crops completely obscured the ground.

Farmers initially dared not plant so densely, and the "old hands" at farming were particularly opposed. The experience accumulated by their ancestors told these old farmers that land fertility and water sources were limited. Even without drought or pests, farming this way would inevitably result in terrible crops the following year. And if a drought or insect plague broke out, the blow to the grain harvest would be fatal.

However, thanks to the water conservancy construction of previous years, the popularization of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers and pesticides, and the introduction of internal combustion engine water pumps into the countryside, the northern farmers—though worried every year—had achieved bumper harvests in both seasons every year. Now, obtaining 600 *jin* of grain per *mu* over two seasons was common. Just eight years ago, in 1924, the annual grain yield per *mu* in the north was only 200 *jin*.

Farmers were earning three times what they had a few years ago. Combined with the policy of unified purchase and sale, purchasing power in the countryside rose rapidly. Previously, the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives sold mostly salt and cloth. Now, in the northern plains, after setting aside money for next year's fertilizer, every household would buy bicycles and tricycles on installment. To meet the people's needs, enterprises expanded production one after another, and a large number of new enterprises appeared, directly leading to an outflow of rural labor.

In principle, this was a very good development. But as the saying goes, "you can't have your cake and eat it too"; the reduction in rural labor also changed the agricultural production model. The number of "wheat guests"—migrant harvesters—in the regions north of the Yangtze River exploded. The massive flow of labor directly created a host of problems, most notably public security issues and economic disputes.

Just eight years ago, China was a thoroughgoing "acquaintance society." The advantage of an acquaintance society was that no matter what one did, there would be someone to vouch for them, and if something happened, it wouldn't be impossible to find the people involved. Now, groups of migrant harvesters had begun to move with the grain ripening line. These were strong laborers appearing in strange places. If a county didn't have a few homicides every year, the County Magistrate and the Party Secretary would be heavily commending the grassroots staff after the summer harvest and planting season ended.

At this stage, Wu Youping's greatest attention was focused on these matters. Compared to the agricultural security issues of the entire China, the commercial request of an American consortium like Rockefeller was completely trivial. There was no need to disturb Wu Youping at all.

But Li Chenggang went to see Wu Youping anyway. After being invited into the office, he saw Wu Youping, who had just returned from an inspection, looking dark from the sun and having lost quite a bit of weight. As the two sat down facing each other, Li Chenggang noticed that Wu Youping's hand was wrapped in gauze; he was obviously injured.

Seeing Li Chenggang's reaction, Wu Youping laughed. "I'm out of shape. I've been sitting in the office too much; I even hurt my hand cutting wheat."

Li Chenggang was not surprised that Wu Youping had gone down to the fields to harvest. Everyone had done this farm work back in the Northeast; doing a little occasionally was actually quite refreshing. Feeling nostalgic, Li Chenggang asked, "Harvesting now isn't the same as back in our day, is it?"

Wu Youping couldn't help but nod. "In the past, steel production was low, and metal farm tools were very precious. Every harvest, we'd pick up tools in the morning, and if the sickle got dull in the middle of the day, we had to go to a special administrator to exchange it. Now that steel production is up, and 'a workman must sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well,' the migrant harvesters carry an average of ten high-carbon steel sickles each. They sharpen them all and lay them out in a row by the field. As soon as they feel the sickle in their hand isn't fast enough, they immediately go back and swap it for another."

Sharpening was now done with electric grinding wheels. *Cha-cha* sounds by the field, and in the blink of an eye, a razor-sharp edge capable of splitting a hair was ground out. Wu Youping's hand had been accidentally cut with a large gash.

Recalling the bustling labor scene, Wu Youping sighed, "I didn't expect the migrant harvesters to solve a small link in farm tool management. The working people truly have wisdom."

"How so?" Li Chenggang was very interested.

"When the migrant harvesters harvest wheat, sickles were often lost, causing a lot of trouble. Now, the harvesters no longer hire someone specifically to look after the sickles. Before harvesting, however many sickles the harvesters give to the village, the village gives the harvesters a corresponding amount of money as a deposit. The village organizes the custody. After the harvest, however many sickles the harvesters return to the village, the village refunds that amount of money to the harvesters."

Hearing Wu Youping's introduction, Li Chenggang praised, "That is a good method."

Wu Youping nodded. "Most of the migrant harvesters are outsiders. Naturally, they are afraid of being bullied, so their reactions to certain things are particularly intense. It's definitely not worth risking a life for a few farm tools. But psychologically, one can understand their reaction. When all risks are resolved economically... the harvesters are there to make money, not to vent anger. As long as they don't suffer an economic loss, they easily choose to avoid conflict."

Li Chenggang felt that Wu Youping seemed to be implying something, but he couldn't immediately figure out his specific thoughts. But the sentence itself actually had little hidden meaning, because an ordinary division-level cadre should be able to understand this logic. However, whether a division-level cadre could truly apply it flexibly was uncertain; after all, every person saw different interests. At times, the interests seen by the central government and those seen by the ordinary people were vastly different.

He didn't want to probe too deeply, but Li Chenggang couldn't resist asking, "Premier, can you speak more clearly?"

Wu Youping sighed slightly. "We have to invest more in infrastructure to provide a relatively fair platform for the people."

Now Li Chenggang understood completely. The government was currently serving the production of the migrant harvesters, providing a lot of organizational help. Achieving this was not easy; it required a massive amount of information transmission to realize. Currently, the cost of information transmission was still too high, making many ideas impossible to implement. Even so, the solutions proposed by the state, as well as the major road construction in recent years and the popularization of internal combustion engine vehicles, allowed migrant harvesters to travel by bus rather than walking on two legs as before. Just this degree of change was the result of massive capital investment.

As for the investment in water conservancy, chemical fertilizers, and so on required for increased production, it was even more enormous. It was precisely this huge investment that provided the grain for the migrant harvesters to harvest.

Just as Li Chenggang was lamenting in his heart, he heard Wu Youping ask, "That's enough small talk. Let's get to work."

Li Chenggang hurriedly composed himself and said, "The Ministry of Civil Affairs has given us the quantity of grain to be imported. The Ministry of Commerce has formulated a plan to import grain from the UK, France, and the US based on the Ministry of Civil Affairs' figures. Please review it, Premier."

Wu Youping did not immediately open the document. Even with Chinese grain production increased to its current level, the Chinese people were merely not starving to death; there was still a considerable distance to go before they were full. To solve the domestic grain gap, China was already importing grain from the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union was also a socialist country, and Wu Youping believed the Soviet Union would naturally prioritize its own national grain supply. Moreover, the Soviet grain-producing areas were in Eastern Europe. If one wanted cheap transport, the best method was to go through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, then through Turkey's Bosphorus Strait into the Black Sea, and load the grain at Odessa to return to China.

Such an optimal shipping route required China to have strong transport capacity. At this stage, China's shipbuilding industry had just begun to exert its strength; although progress was rapid, accumulation was still insufficient.

Apart from the Soviet Union, the countries with cheap grain in the world were Britain and the United States. The United States went without saying; the Great Plains were suitable for large-scale planting, so US grain production was huge. And now, prices for US agricultural products were extremely low; American farmers didn't even have the desire to harvest. It was said that due to insufficient domestic demand in the US, there had even been "milk dumping" incidents where dairy farmers poured milk into the Mississippi River. According to news obtained by China's intelligence collection system, this was done by various farm owners to seize the market by dumping their competitors' milk...

In any case, the price of importing grain from the United States was very low. Even with shipping costs added, it was cheaper than from the Soviet Union. The only issue was preventing various harmful organisms within the American grain.

Another importer that was very cost-effective for China was Britain. The price of grain in the British homeland was not cheap; the grain the British obtained was levied from India. Britain, like other colonial powers, did not act humanely in its colonies. Britain simply did not care about the lives or deaths of the Indian people; every year, they constantly levied grain to sell cheaply on the international market. Therefore, the price of grain in British hands was low, and the distance to China was close, making it very cost-effective.

As for France, China actually bought grain and meat products from the French homeland. The reason was simple: it wasn't that France acted humanely in its colonies and thus the exploitation wasn't heavy. Rather, it was because the French government, in order to provide high incomes for its own people, bought grain from French farmers at French market prices and sold it to China. This increased the income of native French farmers.

Now that the French government was no longer changing like a revolving lantern, both the French government and the French people cherished the current stable political situation and never wanted to face the crazy turnover of the previous decades again. So the French government spent big money to raise the income of the French people. Even knowing that French grain shipped to China had absolutely no market competitiveness, the French government did it firmly.

China didn't really lose out, either. As a return, the French government opened up access for many Chinese goods in both the French homeland and its colonies.

Of course, this didn't mean France acted humanely in its colonies. France, like Britain, still did not act humanely in the colonies. On one hand, France exported grain to China at high prices; at the same time, massive amounts of grain exploited from the colonies were shipped to the French homeland to provide cheap food supplies to the urban lower-income classes.

Britain stripped India of grain, starving at least 300,000 Indians to death every year; in disaster years, it wasn't rare for millions of Indians to starve. In France's colonies, tens of thousands starving to death annually due to French policy was a given. Added to the colonial people massacred by France every year, the death toll was at least 150,000 upwards annually.

Therefore, Wu Youping was very resistant to this plan; if possible, he did not want to study these plans. But as Premier, Wu Youping ultimately opened the proposal and began to read.