With a bang, the door to the White House Oval Office was forced halfway open. Amidst the obstruction of the guards, Hoover's campaign manager shouted into the room, "Mr. President, I must... see you."

President Hoover was in a meeting with the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of Labor. Although he was very dissatisfied with being interrupted like this, he did not lose his temper. He just looked solemn and said to the three secretaries, "Gentlemen, please wait a moment." Then he got up and walked to the door.

After the President left the Oval Office, although the three secretaries did not know what had happened, they felt much more relaxed because of the changes in the current situation. The Secretary of Labor whispered, "Wages have started to rise, but companies are still keeping wages very low when hiring."

The Secretary of Agriculture nodded slightly. With the rapid recovery of American agricultural product prices, farmers entering the harvest season began to hire people, and a large number of unemployed people found work. In this period of extreme competition, many laborers no longer dared to hope for wages, only asking for a bite to eat. Although farm work was exhausting, the farmers at least provided full meals.

The Secretary of Commerce hesitated to speak. He had made a great contribution this time, but he was actually not optimistic about future changes. Although grain prices had risen and commercial enterprises serving grain had suddenly regained vitality, China's orders had not been able to comprehensively drive corporate employment. Although the current changes were inspiring, it was difficult to see follow-through. What the Secretary of Commerce looked forward to was not President Hoover's re-election, but his own dignified stepping down. As long as he could publicize to the US that the reason for the terrible domestic economy in recent years was the lack of demand from countries around the world, not the incompetence of the US Department of Commerce, the Secretary of Commerce could salvage some honor.

Of course, the Secretary of Commerce knew very well. It was not the world economy that dragged down the United States, but the economic crisis of the United States that dragged down the world economy. But such words must never be spoken, because the domestic ethos of the United States was never to admit mistakes. Admitting mistakes meant weakness, meant surrender. Even if something was done "insufficiently," it had to be someone else's responsibility.

At this time, President Hoover and the campaign manager had arrived at the adjacent office. As soon as they entered, the campaign manager immediately closed the door and said anxiously but in a low voice, "Mr. President, we absolutely cannot violently disperse those veterans asking for back pay."

Hoover looked grim; he did not feel he had made the wrong choice.

In World War I, American soldiers who participated in the war received an additional 25 cents as an overseas living allowance on top of their daily wage of one dollar. But during the war, this salary was not issued to the participating American soldiers. After the war, because the US government could not afford this expense, the *World War Adjusted Compensation Act* was enacted and passed in 1924. In the act, the US government first issued a bonus certificate to WWI veterans, promising that the owed salary would be paid in cash twenty years later at a rate of one dollar per day based on the number of days served.

In 1932, nearly one-third of the employed population in the United States could not find work and urgently needed relief. So these veterans demanded that the US government immediately pay the salaries that should have been paid in 1945. The Veterans of Foreign Wars believed that promising a starving man money to buy food twenty years later was unreasonable.

However, the American upper class generally believed that the demands of the twenty thousand veterans who came to Washington to ask for pay were unreasonable. Because the US Congress had already enacted the law and promised to pay. At a time when one-third of the people in the United States were unemployed, it was unreasonable for this group to demand this money in advance. This was not Hoover's personal view, but the common view of the entire American upper class.

The campaign manager certainly understood Hoover's choice to maintain the same front as the American upper class. He did not evaluate the right or wrong of the matter, but asked, "Mr. President, do you think the support of those people during the election will win you more votes?"

Hoover hesitated for a moment. He also knew that his chances of winning were not great, so the decision to disperse the veterans was more due to Hoover's own displeasure with this group of people. Moreover, many people, represented by Army Chief of Staff MacArthur, believed that this was the result of Communist agitation.

Seeing Hoover's hesitation, the campaign manager immediately continued to persuade, "Mr. President, do you think Mr. Roosevelt is a Communist?"

Hoover was stunned; he didn't understand what the campaign manager meant. Although many people attacked Roosevelt as a Communist, this group attacked Roosevelt's policies; they did not believe that Roosevelt himself had defected to the Communists and stood on the opposite side of capitalism.

The campaign manager explained what he had just said, "If even Roosevelt is not considered a Communist, naturally no one will think these veterans asking for pay are Communist elements. Mr. President, there are only three months left in the election. These people cannot cause your votes to continue to drain away. But violently expelling these people will make those who sympathize with you think you are too cold-blooded."

Deep down, Hoover still didn't want to let these veterans off. Watching them protest in Washington D.C. every day made Hoover feel very uncomfortable. These people were challenging the authority of the government. But the current Chinese grain orders made Hoover feel as if he still had a chance. At this time, his judgment as a politician made Hoover feel that he should still make more preparations for winning the election.

Finally, Hoover walked out of the room and called his secretary, asking him to contact MacArthur to temporarily suspend this eviction operation.

After handling this matter, Hoover returned to the Oval Office and continued the previous talk. The grain sales of 23 million tons in two years had indeed boosted American agriculture, but this also triggered the problem of insufficient transportation capacity. Even if a ship could carry 10,000 tons, it would have to travel back and forth to the United States 2,300 times, and where did the United States have so many 10,000-ton ships?

In order to complete the transaction as soon as possible, the United States could only let some Chinese ships come to the United States. And this triggered opposition from some Democrats, who demanded the exclusive use of American ships to solve American unemployment. Although this group's propaganda did receive the support of unemployed dockworkers, it failed to form an advantage in the entire Congress. However, Hoover was also a little worried about whether the Democrats would resort to extreme measures.

The Secretary of Labor was not very worried. Now this group of Democrats felt the pressure, so they began to fight back. Although Hoover was notorious in the past two years, when it came to the election, Hoover was a figure eagerly awaited by the people across the United States. The Democratic Party generally believed that as long as Hoover was given time, many problems could be solved. When utilizing this grain order, Hoover indeed showed the ability expected of a former Secretary of Commerce and a skilled politician, causing great pressure on that group of Democrats.

"Mr. President, I don't think there's any need to worry. The Democrats have no time to pass a motion," the Secretary of Labor said, unconcerned. Although he didn't say it, the Secretary of Labor still felt that Hoover's chances of winning were not very high.

The Secretary of Commerce offered a suggestion, "If China can send ships for transport, I believe grain prices will continue to rise. Some banks will also be able to recover loans."

President Hoover thought for a moment and felt that the current Secretary of Commerce's judgment was wishful thinking. At present, tens of thousands of small banks in the United States had collapsed. These small banks mainly provided services locally. Farmers had no money to repay loans, causing many small banks to fail. Just going through the legal process would take a long time; it was absolutely impossible for such a large batch of banks capable of supporting operations to re-emerge in just two short months.

After thinking for a while, Hoover said, "Before the liquidation of those banks is completed, the federal government will temporarily provide grain payment services. Also, request the Chinese fleet to speed up their departure."

Hoover was being a bit presumptuous. There was no need for the US Secretary of Commerce to urge them; China's various shipyards were already operating at full capacity, and now they were doing their utmost. The hotels near the shipyards were full of people coming to pick up ships, especially near the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, where the hotels were completely booked.

Hu Lei's factory was in the industrial zone. Because it had become a model teaching factory, many dormitories had been added. Now, the dormitories meant to accommodate more than 300 people were housing more than 500. Actually, strictly speaking, a little over 100 were company personnel, but the majority were trainees.

After finishing today's classes, Hu Lei felt exhausted. Looking at the trainees smoking in the factory's smoking area, Hu Lei tried hard to convince himself inwardly, "Do not get angry at yourself. Do not feel you must teach them all to graduation! I just need to finish my own work!"

The government's money was not that easy to take. As a model factory, as a training center, the learning content for every trainee had strictly defined regulations. But with the number of industrial enterprises increasing, orders seemed like they would never decrease. Skilled old technicians couldn't increase that fast, so workers who had learned to operate the most advanced machine tools became sought after.

In addition to using the factory's equipment for training, Hu Lei's factory production tasks were also full. Jiangnan Shipyard was building ships like crazy, and the demand for high-precision general parts seemed endless.

Returning to his office in exhaustion, Hu Lei sat on the sofa, not wanting to move even a finger. But Hu Lei felt panic recently because he had purchased another nine pieces of equipment. To pay off all the equipment money, Hu Lei's factory had to produce like this for fourteen months.

Due to his mood, Hu Lei suspected he must have been crazy at the time to dare to make such a huge investment. As long as there was any sudden problem with domestic demand, Hu Lei would be miserable. Although it wasn't to the point where Hu Lei would have to sell himself and still not be able to pay the debt, what Hu Lei was looking forward to was making a big profit and buying these expensive machines outright.

At this moment, the secretary pushed the door open and came in. "Boss, the Adult Training Division of the Education Bureau called again, asking if we can take in another batch of people."

"Can't take them!" Hu Lei answered feebly but decisively. Now, as soon as he heard about recruiting students, he had a headache. It was truly a case of "when the radishes are selling fast, one doesn't wash off the mud"; the Adult Education Division was stuffing just anyone into the school. In Hu Lei's observation, many people were not suitable to be mechanical production workers.

The secretary explained with difficulty, "Boss, the Adult Training Division said this is a mission from above."

Hu Lei felt the superiors of the Adult Education Division were messing around. If the people trained were not suitable for the machinery industry in the first place, it would be better not to recruit them. As a graduate of the Beiping Railway Institute, Hu Lei didn't want to ruin his reputation at all. He struggled to stand up, "Give me their phone number, I'll call them."