"Dr. Zhao, may I ask why we must confiscate the landlords' land?!"

Zhao Tianlin had anticipated that someone would raise this question. Looking at the expression of the teacher, who appeared to be in his thirties, Zhao Tianlin saw unconcealed displeasure, but not the look of deep-seated hatred or antagonism.

This was the attitude of speaking to one of their own—direct and straightforward.

As an 'insider' of the academic community, Zhao Tianlin replied without concealment, "Without exception, the collapse of every dynasty in Chinese history stemmed from fiscal collapse. In the agricultural era, the greatest cause of fiscal collapse was nothing other than land annexation, after which landlords had too many ways to evade and avoid taxes, shifting the tax burden. Those who bore these taxes were the lower classes. So, historically, how was this problem resolved? Can anyone tell me?"

Either they didn't know, or they knew but didn't want to say; in any case, no one answered.

Zhao Tianlin gave the answer with a cold and solemn expression: "The land contradictions were resolved through the massive elimination of the population."

The teachers and students below fell into a silence; no one could judge or evaluate such a 'solution.' Zhao Tianlin was not speaking empty words; he briefly recounted data from the Qin and Han dynasties through to the Ming and Qing dynasties for the audience.

Hearing about the massive population reductions during those dynastic changes, the teachers and students gasped and sighed. Zhao Tianlin was not worried that these accounts would be questioned. Since the inception of the Northeast Government, many literati who had prestige but could not be employed in administration were recruited into the Institute of Culture and History, and universities had also established history departments. Whether it was the Institute or the history departments, they were not left to do whatever they pleased. Since they took the government's money, they had to complete the research tasks assigned by the government.

These data were all obtained from historical records. Although the new National Archives had just started operating and was vigorously collecting lost archival documents, historical records would document the total household registration at the founding of a dynasty, and this portion of public information was sufficient as a data source.

After stating these cruel figures, Zhao Tianlin continued, "After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the transfer of power was peaceful, and there was no all-out civil war. China did not suffer massive population loss. Therefore, the situation of the actual bankruptcy of the rural economy has not been reversed. Eighty percent of the peasants do not have land to support themselves through farming, and the majority of social contradictions stem from this. If this contradiction is not eliminated, China cannot develop steadily."

The teacher who asked the question was not convinced. Even if he knew Zhao was right, he still could not accept it, so he asked loudly, "Does the new government believe that the current situation in China should be borne by the landlords? This is unfair!"

Before Zhao Tianlin could answer, sounds of displeasure and booing had already emerged from among the teachers and students. although the teachers and students of Tsinghua School came from the middle and upper-middle classes of society, this did not mean that everyone prioritized landlord interests. Of course, the few booed, while the majority remained silent.

Zhao Tianlin answered without any psychological burden, "To solve a problem, the government will naturally start from the source of the problem. If the source of social problems were not the current land system, the government certainly would not engage in land redemption. However, the facts are otherwise, so the government must implement land redemption."

The teacher was indignant and accused loudly, "I have seen the land redemption announcement. It uses the average grain price of the past five years as the base..."

Zhao Tianlin interrupted him, "It is the average price of grain in the past five *non-disaster* years!"

Many teachers and students laughed out loud seeing the teacher get shut down. However, in the eyes of some, Zhao Tianlin at this moment was Minister Zhao, not Dr. Zhao. He was one of the few high-ranking cabinet members in the current new government.

Forcibly interrupted by Zhao Tianlin, the teacher had no way to retort and could only gloss over the grain price issue. "According to the average grain price of the past five years, and 150% of the grain yield as the price for redeeming the land. The first payment is only 20%, and the remaining 80% is paid in installments over ten years, with an annual interest subsidy of 4%. This is not redemption; this is daylight robbery!"

Zhao Tianlin found the term 'daylight robbery' quite interesting. Initially, when the land redemption price in the policy hadn't been released yet, everyone thought the land would be redeemed at market price. The Civilization Party comrades were very unhappy, and cadres from former Northeast landlord families were even more displeased.

If redeemed at market price, it would be equivalent to letting landlords sell their land. After the redemption standards came out, this resentment instantly dissipated. The comrades felt that this redemption price was 'very reasonable.'

Zhao Tianlin certainly would not argue with anyone on this issue. He asked, "So, after the land redemption is completed, what happens next?"

"Next? Next is naturally bankruptcy and ruin!" The teacher finished speaking, feeling only depression in his heart. Adding to the fact that students supporting land redemption were booing, he simply sat back down in his seat, exhausted.

When able to propagate policy, Zhao Tianlin would not avoid talking about it. He said loudly, "Landlords definitely will not go bankrupt. What is redeemed is only the land; the property of the landlord families hasn't been touched in the slightest, and they have the additional money obtained from redemption. Moreover, land use rights will be distributed to the people. Based on the population count, former landlord families can also receive corresponding land use rights. More importantly, because the rural population across the country has obtained land use rights, besides being able to eat their fill, they can also obtain money by selling surplus grain. This money is not much at first; perhaps in a year, they can buy some iron farming tools, or maybe just some cloth to make a new set of clothes. However, the initial 80% of the rural population did not possess such consumption power. China has a population of over 500 million; 80% is more than 400 million people. If everyone buys one *chi* of cloth a year, with a width of 40 meters, how long would such a length of cloth stretch? It could stretch from the Capital to Tianjin."

The teachers and students were stunned. Even though their family circumstances were far, far better than those of the poor, a number in the hundreds of millions was a conceptless figure to them. However, most of these people had taken the train from the Capital to Tianjin, and many had traveled this route quite a few times. At this moment, they had a concept, and they couldn't help but be amazed by such a massive figure.

To convince the current academic community, Zhao Tianlin naturally had to use methods that the academic community could accept. He emphasized again, "Gentlemen, this is not a forced distribution to the peasants, but rather peasants having money exchanged from selling surplus grain. This money is already there; this is demand, this is the market! Why did foreign countries use guns and cannons to blast open China's gates, forcing China to allow foreign cloth to be sold in China? Because China has a huge market. Why is China's industry lagging behind foreign countries? Because China's domestic industry has no way to fully enter such a market."

Although the academic community's support for the 'land redemption' policy was very questionable, the content Zhao Tianlin recounted was something they could understand. Especially since Zhao Tianlin did not explain it from the angle of morality or national humiliation, but used simple and clear economic reasons. The teachers and students understood even better. At least, Zhao Tianlin believed they should be able to understand.

This kind of explanation was precisely the reason Zhao Tianlin chose to throw in his lot with the Northeast Government. When He Rui revealed China's current status and his vision for China's future to Zhao Tianlin in its entirety, Zhao Tianlin quickly discovered that if he wanted to realize his ideal of saving the nation and the people, the Northeast Government was the only choice.

"We lack logistics. The flow of commodities between provinces within the country encounters all sorts of likin and taxes. Cloth that was originally very cheap has had countless extra fees added to it by the time it is transported from the production site to the hands of the people buying it. On the contrary, foreign goods, through their privileges and cargo ship transportation, have prices much lower than Chinese goods when they reach the market. In the new government's industrial policy, the first thing is to thoroughly smash these shackles hindering industrial development!"

Speaking up to this point, Zhao Tianlin took a slight breath to calm his somewhat agitated emotions, and also to let those rather agitated teachers and students have a little time to reflect on these logical chains, which were actually not simple.

It is easy to attack the cruelty and shamelessness of foreigners. It is also easy to attack the muddle-headedness and incompetence of the old government. Zhao Tianlin had thought this way before. One of the greatest gains Zhao Tianlin made in following He Rui was learning to look at problems from an economic perspective. Once switched to this vein of thought, which does not float on the surface, many problems become entirely different. Cruelty, shamelessness, muddle-headedness, incompetence—all have reasonable explanations.

What is a reasonable explanation? In Zhao Tianlin's view, a reasonable explanation allows people to clearly understand that the villains at home and abroad are no longer incomprehensible madmen and scoundrels, but shrewd and cunning enemies sparing no effort to maximize their own benefits. As long as one grasps these key points and struggles against enemies at home and abroad, China has no reason to fail.

Zhao Tianlin expounded the government's policies to the teachers and students of Tsinghua School.

Through land redemption and the free distribution of land use rights to the people, the broad masses of China finally can have a tiny bit of meager consumption power. And since China's population is huge, a tiny bit of consumption power from each person is enough to converge into a super-colossal market.

The 'thrilling leap' of industrial production is selling the industrial products. Once there is a huge market, coupled with the Chinese government's protectionist policies for the market, China's industry will develop crazily. It will provide a large number of jobs and provide a large amount of tax revenue for the country.

The monetary wealth obtained through taxation will be invested in infrastructure, education, research and development, military construction, and other aspects, upgrading the productivity of the entire China. The development of productivity will in turn promote the increase of people's income, and the market will continue to expand. People's wealth will accumulate rapidly.

Of course, Zhao Tianlin did not recount the problems that this kind of development would encounter at this time. That is the economic crisis of industrial society.

Economic crises are composed of multifaceted factors, including short, medium, and long economic cycles, as well as the fact that laborers can only obtain the returns on their labor, while the side owning capital and the side owning the means of production can obtain capital returns and returns on the means of production.

With the rapid increase in productivity and the high-speed popularization of knowledge, those groups mastering the means of production in the future will obtain 'capital returns + returns on means of production,' which will naturally cause the income gap to widen rapidly. While improving 'efficiency,' it leads to the rapid intensification of social unfairness issues.

He Rui always emphasized that the unsolvable problem of modern civilization lies in 'efficiency and fairness cannot be had simultaneously.' The state, as a tool of rule, can only improve efficiency when efficiency is insufficient, and turn towards fairness when fairness is insufficient. It is rather like having ten pots and five lids; whichever pot boils over excessively, the lid is placed on that pot.

Zhao Tianlin did not speak of these problems naturally because the teachers and students of Tsinghua School could not understand them. There was another reason: Zhao Tianlin did not have complete confidence in himself either. He Rui fully understood these things and fearlessly advanced despite the difficulties. Zhao Tianlin was willing to give everything for China's development, but he did not believe he possessed He Rui's shockingly brilliant talent.

Even so, the teachers and students of Tsinghua School were completely attracted by the policies Zhao Tianlin expounded. Every clear and thorough explanation caused the teachers and students off stage to erupt in enthusiastic applause.

In recent years in China, various theories have emerged one after another: Saving the Country through Education, Saving the Country through Industry, Saving the Country through Science and Technology, Saving the Country through Military Affairs. All sorts of arguments had relevant historical experiences of the Great Powers as evidence; they were clear and logical, without issues.

The intellectual circles actually did not believe these theories, not because the intellectuals were muddle-headed or dull, but because no matter how beautifully it was said, the possibility of realization could not be seen at all.

Now, the new government not only proved to the intellectual circles that they had the ability to defend China's national security against the threat of foreign invasion, but Dr. Zhao Tianlin of the new government also clearly expressed the new government's policy of fully developing industry.

!

Saving the country through education, no... now it was the era of Strengthening the Country through Education, Strengthening the Country through Industry, Strengthening the Country through Science and Technology! Most teachers and students felt that as long as they completed their studies and achieved academic success, they could display their abilities in this thriving China. How could everyone not be excited? Many students' hands turned red from clapping without realizing it in their agitated state of mind.

After Zhao Tianlin finished saying this, he took out an old pocket watch and checked it; it was about time. He still had a meeting to attend. Seeing that he was about to leave, the teachers and students shouted out their questions one after another. Although Zhao Tianlin was 'one of their own,' Zhao Tianlin was still an important government official. Opportunities to hear him teach like this were rare.

However, Zhao Tianlin could not stay longer. Public affairs were, after all, public affairs; for public servants, they came first. The reason for coming to Tsinghua School this time was also official business, not running over to give a lecture on a whim.

Just as he was stepping down from the podium, one question among the many caught Zhao Tianlin's attention. He stopped his steps and walked back onto the podium, asking from his high vantage point, "Who was it that asked just now that industrial development and economic development seem not to be the same thing?"

A young student immediately raised his hand. "It was me."

Zhao Tianlin wanted to ask the student's name, but didn't. Staff members would naturally remember this person; asking at this moment would not be good for this student. Zhao Tianlin casually drew a few circles on the blackboard, then pointed to a diagram of rings interlocking with rings and said, "Industrial development is a part of economic development, but in different regions, industrial development may not necessarily be the dominant force in that region's development. This involves issues of industrial layout, economic layout, and so on. To be able to consider this level shows that there is already a deeper consideration of the relationship between industry and economy. China has a vast territory and a large population; China itself is inevitably a great industrial power and a strong industrial power. As long as the thinking is based on seeking truth from facts and adapting to local conditions, China's economic development will inevitably be the first in the world."

This assertion clearly exceeded the comprehension ability of the teachers and students of Tsinghua School. Only Principal Cao Yunxiang agreed deeply, nodding secretly. Cao Yunxiang went to the United States to study after graduating from St. John's University in Shanghai and obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration from Harvard University. He was an alumnus of Zhao Tianlin, just in a different major. Hearing Zhao Tianlin's exposition strengthened Cao Yunxiang's confidence in the new government even more.

Seeing Zhao Tianlin step down from the podium and walk outwards, Cao Yunxiang hurriedly escorted Zhao Tianlin out. At this time, the campus was already decorated, full of the characteristics of a European Christmas. (American Christmas is quite different from European Christmas, especially the current image of Santa Claus, which was created by the Coca-Cola Company in 1930. The European Santa Claus is a religious figure based on Saint Nicholas of the 4th-century Asia Minor region. The Asia Minor region is present-day Turkey; Saint Nicholas's ethnicity would certainly be of the local appearance, not of the Nordic race. The appearance of the European Santa Claus involves a religious procession and does not involve a large amount of interaction with the surrounding crowds.)

Colorful lights, gingerbread, and other traditional foods had been arranged. Zhao Tianlin walked on the campus path with this alumnus and finally couldn't hold back, sighing, "Brother Cao, to run education, one must still have breadth of mind."

Cao Yunxiang thought Zhao Tianlin was boasting a bit and hurriedly unleashed a stream of flattery. Seeing Cao Yunxiang like this, Zhao Tianlin didn't say anything more. He parted ways with Cao Yunxiang at the school gate and left Tsinghua School in a car.

Inside the car, Zhao Tianlin considered the current situation. Since the view that Tsinghua School wanted to establish a university was already the consensus of the entire school, it wasn't a bad thing for the young people to do it themselves.

At this moment, a vehicle drove towards him from the opposite direction, with a small British flag flying on the hood. It seemed the ministers and ambassadors of various countries were coming to attend the banquet.

Zhao Tianlin was very clear about He Rui's strategy of seizing upon the UK to beat soundly next. In his heart, he could only look forward to Morrison being able to transmit some important news correctly to the American side. Because between China and the US, there was an insurmountable problem: the *Chinese Exclusion Act*.

Based on Zhao Tianlin's understanding of the United States, it was very easy for the US to pass a law, but overturning a law was as hard as ascending to heaven. The *Chinese Exclusion Act* would inevitably be an important stumbling block causing official relations between China and the US not to be harmonious on the surface. But reality being such, Zhao Tianlin decided to let it be regarding this matter. After all, after the military struggle ended, both Britain and the US would become targets of China's struggle in the propaganda field.