The Ministry of Agriculture had formulated a plan to import as much as 20 million tons of grain annually. Although Wu Youping was aware of this, reviewing the figures still made him feel somewhat helpless. According to the latest census, China's population had grown from 480 million in 1925 to 560 million, an increase of over 80 million people.

The current China was neither the Qing Dynasty nor the Beiyang government. The 80 million people born after liberation, like the other 480 million from before, were all citizens of China and deserved the treatment due to the people. They needed social security and services in safety, health, and education. Just keeping the children from hunger required massive amounts of food. Added to the need to store enough basic grain reserves for the entire population for a year, even with the tremendous increase in China's grain production, there was still a need to import 20 million tons of grain to fill the gap.

Commerce Minister Li Chenggang showed no anxiety on his square face. In recent years, after China introduced a great deal of French engineering technology, its mass production capabilities had improved rapidly. "Sci-tech" referred to science and technology; scientific breakthroughs relied on genius scientists, while technical capability relied on accumulation through mass production. China had spent a great deal of money introducing engineering technology, but it was well worth it. It had indeed saved China a significant amount of time.

At this stage, in a few sectors such as the textile industry, China had leaped to a world-advanced level after simultaneously introducing French equipment and technology as well as the technology Japan had accumulated in mass textile production. In other areas of industrial production, after introducing the most advanced production organization and process technologies from Britain and the United States, China was at least developing toward the world's most advanced levels. It was no longer the situation of the past where they were completely in the dark.

Moreover, China had a large population with strong learning abilities, coupled with low labor costs. The massive domestic market provided ample space for subsequent industrial development. Currently, apart from the military industry, every other industry in China had begun to turn a profit. And since the scale of China's military industry was not large, its consumption was entirely within the economy's capacity to bear. Therefore, Li Chenggang believed that Chinese industrial products could certainly earn the foreign exchange needed to purchase grain on the international market.

Premier Wu Youping did not raise many questions, and the meeting ended quickly. Li Chenggang had just returned to his office and was about to have lunch when his secretary came in and told him that Wu Youping wanted to see him immediately.

Something major must have happened. Li Chenggang turned around and hurried back. As soon as he arrived at the office, he saw the Minister of Agriculture was also there. Wu Youping told his secretary, "Go to the cafeteria and get three working lunches."

As soon as the secretary left, Wu Youping asked the Minister of Agriculture to explain the situation. The first sentence Li Chenggang heard from the Minister of Agriculture was, "The Soviet Union just informed us that it is impossible for them to sell us grain this year."

"Why?" Li Chenggang asked in astonishment.

The Minister of Agriculture looked solemn and began to speak from his notes. Under persistent high temperatures and humid climate, the Soviet Union's agriculture had suffered a huge crisis. In addition to floods caused by heavy rains east of the Dnieper River, Soviet wheat and other crops had been hit by rust disease, weeds, and other agricultural disasters, causing grain production in 1932 to plummet, making it impossible to export grain to China.

After hearing this, Li Chenggang was truly shocked. However, before he could ask questions, the Minister of Agriculture added, "The Soviet side also proposed that if their grain reduction is severe, they hope China can help them purchase grain. They are willing to increase their exports to China [of other goods] in return."

Faced with such a drastic change, Li Chenggang actually felt himself calming down. He asked, "What exactly is going on?"

At this moment, Wu Youping's secretary brought the three working lunches, and the three men talked while they ate. The Minister of Agriculture was an expert and started directly from the root cause. After experiencing a major drought in the north in 1920, China's climate began to develop towards warmth and humidity. Since 1924, although there had been various natural disasters, the general trend was a warming climate and increased rainfall. coupled with the rapid promotion of new fertilizers, pesticides, improved seeds, and new planting methods in recent years, China's grain production had seen consecutive years of overall bumper harvests.

Hearing this, Li Chenggang suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment. From 1924 to the present, more and more ordinary people had hung at least one portrait of He Rui in their homes. Although the government's policies were very radical and various ideologies among the people were becoming increasingly intense, there were basically no remarks opposing He Rui. Instead, the saying "The Sage Emperor is on the throne" had appeared. Originally, Li Chenggang thought some people were deliberately flattering, but now he felt that these words might not be entirely insincere. In a time of rapid population growth, relying on rapid grain production increases to maintain food supply without problems, and with no particularly severe natural disasters occurring... in traditional Chinese culture, this was indeed a situation that could only occur when a Sage Emperor was on the throne.

Feeling a little happy in his heart, Li Chenggang asked, "What is the matter with the Soviet Union?"

The Minister of Agriculture took a few mouthfuls of rice before answering, "We have been cooperating with the Soviet Union and other countries on climate change in recent years, and domestic climate experts have also collaborated on some projects with experts from other countries. According to the data, in the last few years, the average surface temperature has risen by 0.5 degrees."

Hearing 0.5 degrees, Li Chenggang couldn't help blinking. The Ministry of Commerce also engaged in some grain trade, but mainly focused on industrial products and bulk commodities. For industry, high temperatures of thousands of degrees were nothing strange. So he couldn't understand what magnitude a 0.5-degree change represented for agriculture.

Fortunately, the Minister of Agriculture didn't make Li Chenggang guess. He explained, "Most of the agricultural problems encountered by the Soviet Union are caused by this 0.5 degree."

Li Chenggang immediately clarified his thinking. This 0.5 degree covered the entire earth; the entire territory of the Soviet Union was within this change and could not escape. Li Chenggang continued to ask, "Can the Soviet Union solve the problem?"

The Minister of Agriculture hesitated for a while before answering, "Theoretically, yes."

At this point, Wu Youping, who had finished his meal quickly in silence, wiped his mouth with a napkin and asked, "We can discuss that later. Can we determine now that the Soviet Union has really encountered problems, and is not deliberately terminating the grain trade with us?"

The Minister of Agriculture answered decisively, "We can determine that."

Wu Youping made a decisive decision: "Then distribute the grain import quota from the Soviet Union to other countries, and reserve some quota for the Soviet Union as well."

Li Chenggang thought quickly about which country to increase orders from and found that the United States was the most suitable. Having determined this direction, a thought suddenly popped into Li Chenggang's mind, and he couldn't help asking, "If we increase our orders by so much, will it affect the US election results?"

Wu Youping was stunned; he hadn't expected Li Chenggang to think of such a thing. After a moment's thought, Wu Youping replied, "Hoover had at least two years to restore confidence in the financial industry, but he never found a way. No matter how many orders we have, it's not enough to give the United States the confidence to fully recover its economy, so Hoover is bound to fail. This is not a problem of orders, but a problem of the system."

When Wu Youping elevated the issue to the level of the system, Li Chenggang suddenly understood and no longer held any imagination about the possibility of Hoover's re-election.

President Hoover received the news five days later, on August 27, 1932. President Hoover, who had been tortured by the economic crisis for three consecutive years to the point of being somewhat neurotic, immediately had his eyes light up. He immediately ordered someone to call the Secretary of State. But the secretary quickly informed President Hoover that the Secretary of State was not in Washington at the moment but had gone to communicate with the French Foreign Minister regarding global disarmament.

Hoover was not disappointed. Although he was not an agriculture major himself, he was no stranger to agriculture. Since the Secretary of State was away, Hoover asked the US Secretary of Commerce and confirmed that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce indeed hoped to purchase 20 to 30 million tons of grain in the next two years.

In 1932, there was almost no market for US grain. Hoover immediately ordered the Secretary of Commerce to finalize the contract immediately and instructed, "Go and allocate the grain at the ports now, load the ships and set off for China. I hope to sign the grain contract with China before the ships arrive."

The Secretary of Commerce wanted to say something, but only replied, "Understood, Mr. President."

Walking out of the White House office, the Secretary of Commerce just sighed. Before becoming president, Hoover had served as Secretary of Commerce for many years under Coolidge and Coolidge's predecessor. He was very familiar with commercial contracts. although Hoover's request was very tight, it could really be done if they hurried. Faced with an expert, the Secretary of Commerce didn't want to play any little tricks. Moreover, the Secretary of Commerce knew very well how urgent President Hoover was at this time.

After ordering the Secretary of Commerce to act immediately, President Hoover immediately invited the head of his re-election campaign team. The person in charge was a middle-aged man wearing a loose coat with a rather greasy, balding forehead. After hearing Hoover talk about this grain trade, the campaign manager was overjoyed, "Mr. President, please announce this news immediately."

But Hoover did not answer, which puzzled the campaign manager. Just as he was about to make a suggestion, he stopped. During this time, Hoover had become increasingly neurotic, but now the gaze of the Hoover in front of him no longer shifted evasively, and his hands and feet, which seemed to have nowhere to be placed and moved frequently, suddenly fell naturally into their proper positions. The campaign manager discovered that the Hoover before him seemed to be turning back into that familiar former Secretary of Commerce. Although Hoover himself didn't do it intentionally, the calm and composed temperament honed by experiencing great storms was returning to him.

Faced with the unique temperament of a person in power, the campaign manager fell silent unconsciously. After a while, he suddenly saw Hoover look up and say, "Do not announce this news yet."

The campaign manager hadn't expected Hoover was thinking about this issue just now and quickly advised, "Mr. President, we need to build momentum for you immediately. Such news will immediately boost your popularity."

Hoover's eyes were already bright at this moment. He shook his head gently, "No. Start buying all the grain at the docks and train stations now. Transport the grain from warehouses near the ports to the seaports."

"Why?" The campaign manager couldn't figure out what Hoover wanted to do.

Hoover now had the mood to discuss specific issues. He explained to the campaign manager that if they suddenly announced such a big deal, it wouldn't be possible to raise grain prices immediately. Only by first buying out the warehouses that were already stuffed with grain could those people have the money to continue acquiring grain immediately after the announcement.

The current situation left Hoover no chance; this matter absolutely could not go wrong. Even if it was announced a few days late, there could be no problems.

The campaign manager still didn't quite understand what was going on, but he already felt that Hoover himself was no longer the confused president from before. At least in Hoover, the campaign manager saw the determination to fight with his back to the wall.

"Mr. President, I will immediately formulate the next publicity strategy for you," the campaign manager said somewhat excitedly.

When only Hoover was left in the office, he sighed, looked up at the sky, and murmured, "Thank you, my God. At least you did not let me continue to suffer punishment."

After speaking, Hoover closed his eyes and continued to pray silently. Hoover always believed that this economic crisis was a sudden disaster for him. In the past three years, articles analyzing this economic crisis in the United States were abundant. The general view was that the laissez-faire policies of the Coolidge era led to the arbitrary behavior of those unscrupulous and greedy capitalists, leading to the outbreak of the economic crisis. No matter who was on stage, they could not have prevented the outbreak of the economic crisis.

And Hoover himself had done everything he could to deal with the situation without any slackening. Hoover had once despaired; he thought he would be defeated by the disaster that fate had unjustly inflicted upon him. But fate had given Hoover another chance at this moment. As long as he could drive up the prices of US agricultural products again, farms would need a large number of hands again. Those unemployed people would go to the farms in large numbers to participate in production. The thing farms lacked least was food. As the number of unemployed people in the cities decreased, coupled with the large amount of industrial equipment China purchased from the United States, the situation in the United States would improve. At this stage, as long as Hoover was given a chance, as the former Secretary of Commerce, he could display all kinds of means.

As Hoover's prayers became more and more devout, two trails of tears hung on his cheeks at some point.

As a president, Hoover might not be qualified. As a Secretary of Commerce, Hoover was definitely qualified. Following his orders, buyers sent by the federal government began to appear at many grain depots in the United States. By this stage, US grain prices had hit a new low, only 10% of the price in 1929.

So upon learning that the federal government had sent people to acquire grain at a reasonable price, those grain merchants immediately couldn't wait to sell the grain. Following this were the trains, steamships, and trucks that hadn't been seen for some days, taking the grain away.

For the United States, where unemployment was everywhere, there was absolutely no lack of porters. For a little money and food, the porters completed the moving with amazing efficiency. It was so fast that local reporters were alarmed. When reporters from various places arrived, the warehouses had either been emptied or were being emptied.

Newspapers everywhere reported this news, and some shrewd businessmen had already keenly smelled the change. They quickly started going to the countryside to restock.

After a week, as more and more such things happened, the news fermented quickly. Newspapers in many major cities began to speculate that perhaps the federal government had found a mysterious big buyer. As for who this big buyer was and how much grain they could sell, the press discussed it spiritedly. But President Hoover's reputation in recent years was too poor. Those unemployed people lived in temporary sheds made of cardboard boxes and slept wrapped in old newspapers. So the cardboard houses were called "Hoovervilles" (Hoover houses), and the old newspapers were called "Hoover blankets."

Suddenly saying that Hoover had found a big buyer for American agricultural products—the press, which had scolded Hoover for two years, didn't believe it themselves.

But around the tenth day, the *Washington Post* suddenly published an article. Because the *Washington Post* had helped Hoover with a lot of crisis public relations and failed this time, being spat upon, it had become much more cautious. This article stated very conservatively that recently there seemed to be negotiations for grain sales between China and the United States. If the negotiations were successful, the United States might be able to secure a grain sales contract of about 20 million tons.

Although most readers did not believe it, and even the US press dared not believe it, there was simply too much bad news. So much so that many newspapers, even if they didn't believe it, began to reprint this news. Of course, some newspapers inclined towards the Republican Party received hints and also began to reprint this news.

Soon, some newspapers began to sing a different tune. They listed Hoover's various incompetencies over the past three years, mocking this news as fake news manufactured by Hoover to win the general election.

The American public had long been disappointed in Hoover. Seeing this news, they felt it was to be expected and considered it all fake news. But during this period, the government was constantly buying grain and transporting it to the ports without stopping. Moreover, grain prices were steadily rising. As the warehouses were emptied, the federal government began to announce in newspapers that farmers should sell grain to designated warehouse areas. Although the price was far from that of 1929, the grain purchase price had indeed recovered to a relatively reasonable level.

Although harboring strong uneasiness and disbelief, grain was not durable for storage. Especially since last year's stored grain in the granaries hadn't been sold yet, and this year's grain was about to be harvested. If the grain wasn't sold, there would be no place to store the new grain.

With a try-and-see attitude, many farmers began to sell grain. To their surprise, the acquisition points designated by the federal government were in those warehouses. Now the warehouses were empty, and the grain sold by farmers at relatively reasonable prices was immediately sent into the warehouses. Just a few months ago, no matter how the farmers begged, grain merchants would no longer collect grain. Some grain merchants even opened their warehouses to let the farmers see the mountains of grain with their own eyes.

Now, the farmers who sold a batch of grain first immediately mobilized, seizing the time to sell their grain first. The news spread like wildfire, and farmers everywhere were alarmed. Everyone went to try it out first.

After interviewing the endless stream of horse-drawn carriages with their transport volumes, local newspaper reporters faced a dilemma when writing reports. They really couldn't figure out what was happening. If it wasn't that son-of-a-bitch President Hoover who had found a mysterious big buyer, then who was this grain being sold to?

Just as newspapers everywhere began to inquire about the news, the White House finally held a press conference. A large number of reporters filled the White House lawn. President Hoover appeared before the reporters and said, "The US government has signed an agreement with the Chinese government. In the next two years, the Chinese government will purchase 23 million tons of grain from the United States."

At this time, every larger newspaper had sent at least two people. Hearing this news, the one responsible for transmitting the news left the front of the White House immediately, while the other reporter tried every way to get a chance to ask the President questions.

As a former Secretary of Commerce, Hoover was all too familiar with this. He constantly answered reporters' questions about the negotiations. The content of his answers was authentic and reliable. Some veteran reporters discovered that the Hoover they used to know had returned. Smart, witty, calm, rather than the increasingly neurotic president of the past two years.

Before the new round of harvesting began, this news spread throughout the United States in the blink of an eye. Following it was the news that various farms began to hire people. Those unemployed people who had relatives in the countryside began to leave the cities in groups. Hoover also issued a presidential order that railways provide cheap or even free train tickets to several major agricultural states to provide transportation services for laborers returning to work on farms.

As soon as this news came out, the entire United States was shaken. It seemed this matter was true.

As a large number of unemployed people left the cities, Washington also became much quieter. In the ubiquitous cardboard "Hoovervilles" and the "Hoover blankets" of old newspapers all over the ground, there was no longer the movement of the past. The summer wind blew past, and there were no human voices in the patches of garbage piles.

And the summer wind blew past the hair tips under MacArthur's military cap, his sweating cheeks and neck. It was warm, yet somewhat cool. MacArthur finished smoking the tobacco in a corn cob pipe, spat casually, and cursed in a low voice, "Fuck, in the end, I'm the one taking the blame."

Although he cursed, as a high-ranking officer from an "Old Stock" American background, MacArthur also knew he couldn't escape this fate. He turned his head and looked. Behind him, the cavalry of the US Federal Army rode on horses, holding clubs, with sabers inserted beside their saddles. Turning around again, behind the cavalry were the silhouettes of several tanks.

Looking further to the end of the road ahead, the "Hooverville" inhabited by the veterans who had come to Washington to demand back pay since June 17 was hazy. Compared with those of the homeless, the veterans' Hooverville was very regular. Worthy of being built by soldiers with cardboard, it revealed the neatness that an army should have.

MacArthur called the adjutant beside him, "Go ask them one more time. The government has promised that it will definitely pay the pension according to the law, and the President has also promised to give them free train tickets. Now there are jobs in the countryside. Are they willing to go back?"

The adjutant was still somewhat unbearable. He asked tentatively, "General, if they refuse, how should I answer?"

MacArthur looked at the adjutant unhappily and replied coldly, "If they refuse, come back and tell me the news!"

The adjutant knew that this eviction operation was imperative. In the end, he didn't dare to say more and urged his warhorse towards the Hooverville where the salary-seeking American veterans lived.

The horse's hooves stepped on sheets of newspapers, making a noise mixed with the rustling of paper, which was very obvious on the empty street.

MacArthur spat a large mouthful of saliva again. Although he didn't want to add some immoral records to his military career, as the Army Chief of Staff and a four-star general, MacArthur knew he had to do this.