Xu Jia, Party Committee Secretary of the Statistics Department, received three applications for intelligence acquisition in succession. He frowned slightly, turning the prayer beads in his hand. Intelligence matters were naturally the more detailed the better, but intelligence on Japan itself required various collections. The number of relevant intelligence personnel had to be increased.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Jia put down the prayer beads and wrote a report: "Recently, the demand for intelligence collection on Japan has continued to expand. It is necessary to increase intelligence stations in Japan, Korea, and Ryukyu... request to increase personnel training expenses."

It was already the second day when He Rui received this report. Xu Jia's method of solving the problem made He Rui quite satisfied. Organizing training seemed like the clumsiest method, but if the education model could run well, this would be the most effective method.

After reading the report, He Rui originally wanted to make requests regarding the curriculum provided by Xu Jia, but finally made a phone call asking Xu Jia to change into countryside gear and come over.

When Xu Jia hurriedly arrived at He Rui's place, he saw that He Rui was also prepared. The car outside was ready. As soon as the car started, He Rui asked, "Have you finished studying the course on general mobilization?"

Xu Jia shook his head slightly. "Report to the Chairman, too many things are handed over to the Statistics Department now. Our personnel number is insufficient, and their strength is also insufficient. We need more excellent comrades to join."

He Rui heard the same words in all departments, so he didn't answer this question. "The historical development of general mobilization—you must have finished studying this part, right?"

"Yes," Xu Jia replied, sighing with emotion in his heart. Even this part that looked like it was just recounting history already contained a huge amount of information. At the end of the 18th century, France carried out a thorough national general mobilization in the war against the European intervention forces, pioneering the national general mobilization system. Most subsequent wars between industrialized nations adopted the general mobilization system.

He Rui continued to ask, "How is our arrangement targeting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs being implemented? Double 11... time waits for no one!"

Working beside He Rui was just this high-intensity; Xu Jia was used to it. Because He Rui would never stand by and order others around; when problems arose, He Rui would personally take action. So Xu Jia asked, "Chairman, does 'Double 11' refer to two days ago?"

Two days ago was November 11th. Xu Jia certainly didn't know that He Rui in another spacetime often shopped online on this day. What Xu Jia knew was that the European War, which started on July 28, 1914, and ended on November 11, 1918, lasting four years, had ended.

In the European War, European powers all adopted general mobilization. As for their mobilization intensity, people would have to be sent to investigate and study after the war ended.

The reason for targeting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was largely to collect intelligence on general mobilization through the personnel dispatch work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And that guy Lu Zhengxiang was currently striving to build an excellent Ministry of Foreign Affairs as he imagined it. So the Statistics Department wrote a letter to Lu Zhengxiang in He Rui's name, which Lu Zhengxiang took as He Rui wanting to recommend people to enter the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, causing some awkward situations for the Intelligence Department in the process.

The Intelligence Department had roughly discussed a result. Seeing He Rui just smile at the mention of 'Double 11', Xu Jia said, "Chairman, we want to ask you to meet Lu Zhengxiang once. If that guy still doesn't work out, we'll find a way to remove him and see if the new Foreign Minister will be obedient."

He Rui was relatively satisfied in his heart and asked, "Is the time arranged? Shall I go to Beijing, or invite Lu Zhengxiang to come here to us, or should both sides go somewhere else?"

Xu Jia answered immediately, "We really want to invite Lu Zhengxiang to Fengtian... oh, to Shenyang. But this doesn't conform to the rules, right?"

He Rui hadn't decided what to do either. Xu Jia didn't want He Rui to run to Beijing again, and neither did He Rui. Especially since the current international situation was changing rapidly, which would inevitably trigger domestic changes, He Rui couldn't judge what would happen on the Beiyang side either.

Finally, He Rui decided not to go to Beijing and said to Xu Jia, "I will write a letter to Director-General Duan, saying that we have suggestions for the upcoming peace conference."

Saying this meant that He Rui himself wanted Lu Zhengxiang to come to Shenyang. Xu Jia also agreed, so he changed the subject. "Chairman, the special agency established for Japan needs to expand its personnel now."

"For intelligence work on Japan, more arrangements should be made for investigating its port logistics," He Rui gave a suggestion directly.

Xu Jia was somewhat puzzled. "Chairman, Japan's production is also very important."

He Rui nodded. "You are right. But what is our arrangement targeting Japan for? For war. Regardless of how many products are produced in Japan, and regardless of how these products are used domestically in Japan, Japanese equipment that can be used against us must be transported by shipping. I think figuring out port logistics can meet our needs."

"So that's how it is..." Xu Jia understood He Rui's thoughts but found he couldn't figure out how to solve port surveillance at all.

He Rui chuckled lightly. "There are several methods that can go hand in hand. The first is naturally to cooperate with the proletarian revolutionaries in Japan. We are willing to support their struggle and look forward to their success. But to make the Japanese revolutionaries understand our goals requires very outstanding comrades. Do we have such talents?"

Xu Jia took out a notebook to record it down before answering, "I will arrange it."

"In addition, cooperate with Korean patriots attempting to restore Korea. In heavy physical labor like at the docks, Japan tends to use Korean laborers more. This is also our opportunity. I'm afraid there are no other methods for the time being. We must never try to bribe people at the port; that would be too easy to alert the enemy."

Hearing this, Xu Jia nodded repeatedly. "Precisely so."

Talking and chatting, the car drove to a place dozens of kilometers away. He Rui and Xu Jia were both wearing clothes suitable for field work. The scene in front of them was very grand. Both had participated in the construction of the Shanmen Reservoir, but the place before them was a huge construction site far larger in scale than the Shanmen Reservoir.

As He Rui arrived, the person in charge of the construction site immediately rushed over to welcome him. Seeing the somewhat restrained demeanor of this young person in charge, He Rui laughed. "I came here to see the comrades' work and also to participate in the work, not to nitpick."

The young comrade quickly replied, "Please follow me, Chairman; I will introduce the situation of the construction site."

Xu Jia followed He Rui up the built simple road. Having had experience with the Shanmen Reservoir, Xu Jia had quite a few concepts about reservoirs; a considerable number of reservoirs were constructed using mountainous terrain.

He Rui's purpose for this trip was naturally to see this reservoir, which could provide irrigation for a million *mu* of fertile land; this was also a large-scale project in the First Five-Year Plan. At the same time, He Rui also wanted to understand the manpower mobilization status for building the reservoir.

The more he understood about the country, the more Xu Jia understood what national leaders had to do. Manpower deployment was content that national leaders must pay attention to. And manpower deployment involved various grassroots constructions: how many people could be recruited from each administrative village, how many of them could carry out operations across the entire Northeast, how many could only operate within the county, and how many could only operate in the village and the town to which the village belonged.

Three years ago, when Xu Jia followed He Rui, his understanding of these was still vague. Now he could finally understand these things. Going up along the ramp, he soon saw a large number of personnel on the construction site. Just a few glances confirmed that the number of personnel already put to work was four thousand. As for the parts not seen, the input would be even more.

The young person in charge followed behind He Rui and Xu Jia. Seeing the two looking while walking without saying a word, he couldn't figure out their thoughts at all, and became even more uneasy.

After walking for a while, He Rui stopped to ask about the daily workload, which made the person in charge feel relieved. After answering a few questions, someone ran over to report an unexpected situation. He Rui didn't stay long and told the person in charge to hurry back to work.

Not long after, He Rui and Xu Jia joined different earth-carrying teams respectively. Xu Jia watched from a distance as He Rui worked with vigor, talking and laughing with the people around him from time to time. He truly admired him in his heart. It wasn't that Xu Jia looked down on people, but he couldn't achieve He Rui's natural attitude.

Whenever he thought of work, Xu Jia was entangled by a large number of numbers, with various thoughts churning in his mind.

More importantly, Xu Jia couldn't figure out what to ask now. With Xu Jia's many inspection experiences, he easily only asked about what happened and devoted himself to those problems. To the extent that someone nicknamed Xu Jia 'Xu the King of Hell' behind his back. This nickname troubled Xu Jia very much; did pointing out problems in work make one the King of Hell?

At dusk, He Rui and Xu Jia finished their inspection and work and rode back to Shenyang together. On the way, Xu Jia asked, "Did the Chairman find any problems?"

He Rui replied, "Our training is not yet in place; we have to go back and check this."

This was also a reaction Xu Jia felt was characteristic of He Rui: any problem with He Rui was an internal organizational construction problem, not a grassroots execution problem. The board often hit the person in charge, which was why the middle and upper levels in the Northeast held He Rui in awe.

Since He Rui said this, Xu Jia followed up, wanting to see which aspects He Rui was dissatisfied with this time. "Where is the problem with training?"

Hearing Xu Jia's tone, He Rui laughed. "I don't mean to punish anyone. This time, I was a bit surprised that the standard for the training results of the two-year term hasn't been set. Xu Jia, do you think a two-year overall assessment is appropriate?"

Only then did Xu Jia understand He Rui's point of attention. It turned out He Rui had already skipped the judgment of specific work and started to consider the content of the entire training system.

This work had to be completed by the Statistics Department. Fingering his prayer beads, Xu Jia asked about his confusion in a pleasant baritone, "What are the Chairman's thoughts on the assessment this time?"

"I think it takes about two years from being a village head to a town mayor. From town mayor to county magistrate, it's about the same time. County magistrate to mayor is another two years. After that, it's working in provincial departments or coming to work in the Northeast local government. We arrived in the Northeast in '15 and started training a large number of cadres afterward. By 1923, it will actually be 7 years, and we won't be able to complete the overall selection and training. So how to adjust the current selection system is a very major task. Once we enter the state of general mobilization, can we operate this system smoothly? What degree of knowledge do those cadres need to master to be competent in their jobs?"

He Rui's series of questions silenced Xu Jia. He tried to look at the problem from He Rui's perspective and only felt uneasy in his heart. The population in the territory actually controlled by the Civilization Party was not large, less than 30 million. But the nominal territory was huge.

Outer Mongolia had an area of about 1.8 million square kilometers, and Inner Mongolia about 1.1 million. The three Northeast provinces had an area of less than 800,000. The three territories added up to around 3.8 million square kilometers. purely in terms of area, the territory of He Rui, known as the 'Fengtian clique', was the largest in the country.

To fully utilize these lands, the work to be done was truly immense. Just imagining it made Xu Jia feel tremendous pressure.

Finally, Xu Jia could only reply, "Chairman, I will check the archives again."

He Rui shook his head. "That is a very inefficient thing to do. We must let the organization departments in various places take responsibility."

"Organization Department?" Xu Jia couldn't recall such an institution in the Northeast.

He Rui replied, "I plan to establish an Organization Department specifically responsible for personnel work. Although the Statistics Department will still exist, personnel work will be handed over to the Organization Department."

"Then what work is left for the Statistics Department?"

"Domestic intelligence work will be handed over to the Security Bureau. For foreign work, a department will also be organized. The work of the Statistics Department is mainly various data statistics and setting various statistical calibers."

Another pile of fresh vocabulary; Xu Jia felt a bit dazed. He heard He Rui continue, "These tasks will be carried out later. I have a question for you: do you have any thoughts on future job transfers? Which jobs are you interested in?"

Xu Jia was stunned. He Rui was explicitly telling Xu Jia that he wanted to change his job. In the Northeast, it was common for staff to move back and forth in various positions.

Including those comrades engaged in military work, there were also various transfers within the army. A typical example was Zheng Silang, who was sent to the truck factory as a military representative.

Although Xu Jia knew very well that He Rui wanted to fully popularize the military representative system in sectors related to military industrial production, so he let Zheng Silang undertake this extremely important task. But for those outside who didn't understand what a modern industrial country was, they thought Zheng Silang had been exiled.

So from the beginning until now, only Xu Jia's position had remained unchanged. Suddenly receiving a notice of job adjustment, Xu Jia felt inexplicably uncomfortable in his heart.

He Rui laughed. "Don't worry, it won't be that fast. You formulate the assessment standards, especially make the analysis of the two-year training results as the basis of the assessment system."

Xu Jia also recovered his mood at this time and nodded. "Understood."

Getting up early the next morning, Xu Jia found that his mood had fully recovered, which indeed surprised Xu Jia himself a little. As for the reason, Xu Jia couldn't figure it out himself. Anyway, Xu Jia just continued to throw himself into busy work. The confirmed work content alone was already enough, and things with unknown results occupied the majority of the entire work.

For example, these two-year training results obviously belonged to a task with unpredictable general results.

He called relevant staff to discuss. Division Chief Liu, who managed cadre archives, immediately asked a question. "Secretary Xu, we have encountered a problem. Previously, when classifying archives, the education settings were made very unreasonable. Now they need adjustment. But in the results of the discussion, we found that canceling the rigid regulation on education is the best."

Xu Jia was originally considering dividing the two-year training result standards for cadres by education. Hearing Division Chief Liu actually wanted to cancel education, he involuntarily kept a straight face and asked, "What is the reason?"

"Because the changes in education are too great," Division Chief Liu answered decisively. Due to the promotion of compulsory education and literacy work, the formulation of education levels began to change again and again, making archive management very troublesome. Some archive management personnel proposed a view: simply cancel the education content from the classification, which would make the overall work much easier.

This perspective left Xu Jia momentarily unsure of how to solve it, but this matter happened to conflict somewhat with the problem He Rui assigned, and he didn't know how to solve it for the time being. Xu Jia simply called He Rui and told him the problem.

He Rui couldn't help laughing after listening. "Hehe, Xu Jia, consider things ten years from now. How many illiterates will be left in China then? And what education levels will the personnel in the party, government, and army have then? However, the problem mentioned by that comrade, in my opinion, is a problem of archive management level. Is your analysis of this contradiction the same as mine?"

Xu Jia was stunned, and after a moment, he felt suddenly enlightened. But not long after, Xu Jia was worried again. "Chairman, do we have to open another archive major?"

"Yes, we must open it. Not only open it, but also try to invite foreign experts. I heard Director Zhao say that the domestic level of subject content in this area is very average. So I want to invite foreign experts to help us with training. You don't need to worry about this matter; the Department of Education will do it."