On the 7th day of the first lunar month, Premier Wu Youping went to work. From the 1st to the 6th day, Wu Youping did only one thing: sleep. Every day he was either sleeping or nursing his health to prepare for sleep. The moment he entered the office on the 7th day, Wu Youping felt as if everything had become somewhat unfamiliar.

"Happy New Year, Premier Wu." The secretary was already waiting in the office. Seeing Wu Youping come in, he greeted him. But as soon as the greeting ended, the secretary looked a bit surprised.

Wu Youping asked, "What's wrong?"

"...The Premier looks very healthy," the secretary replied.

Wu Youping was stunned; he didn't expect the secretary to say that. But his body did feel very good at this moment, very different from the feeling in the past few years, and he even had a feeling of his youth.

Am I really old? Wu Youping couldn't help feeling a bit melancholic.

This couldn't be blamed on Wu Youping. After all, in this era where people were buried up to their necks in yellow earth at fifty, the thirty-year-old Wu Youping was indeed 'not young.' But this melancholy mood was dispelled by work after just a moment. The moment Wu Youping sat at his desk, reports drowned him.

The Republic's development plan was formulated by the Central Committee of the Civilization Party based on the current internal and external situation, and the Premier's job was to complete this plan. For the Premier of a major country, he could never do everything himself. What Wu Youping could see were only various reports and explanations for the reports. As for whether he could understand what happened based on these reports and explanations, it depended on the Premier's personal level.

Handling the work in the Northeast region was very easy for Wu Youping, and it took the shortest time. Because Wu Youping had traveled all over the Northeast. Just by closing his eyes, the general appearance of the 3 million square kilometers of land in the Northeast and Inner/Outer Mongolia could appear in Wu Youping's mind.

Coupled with Wu Youping's sufficient practical local work experience and understanding of the organizational structure, Wu Youping could discover anomalies from the data. Combined with relevant reports, Wu Youping could roughly understand what happened on that land and provide guiding ideas for the problems encountered by the governors of the Northeast and Inner/Outer Mongolia.

Therefore, Wu Youping looked forward very much to traveling around the country. In the eyes of laymen, Wu Youping's travel was called leadership inspection. That was really surrounded by crowds, very imposing. But in Wu Youping's view, he just knew the local terrain, went deep into the fields, talked with those laborers, understood their productivity level, and naturally had an intuitive understanding of the local economic data.

As for going deep into factories and mines, it was to have an understanding of their production capacity based on the number of equipment and technical content. These were all work needs and had nothing to do with whether Wu Youping himself was majestic or not.

But the current situation indeed did not give Wu Youping such an opportunity. Even the closest visit would have to wait until after the third lunar month. At that time, economic work would have been arranged, and all localities would enter a production state to begin completing this year's economic work.

However, Wu Youping could still hold on because Xu Jia, who was in charge of personnel work, and the heads of various ministries and commissions were the best choices at present. With them, many tasks could be completed smoothly, especially the evaluation of cadres at all levels; Xu Jia did an excellent job.

The core work of the First Five-Year Plan was education and employment. On the first day after the Spring Festival, Wu Youping spent his time on reports in these two aspects.

Before getting off work, Minister of Industry Zhuang Jiaxiong arrived at Wu Youping's office. The Fujian accent in Zhuang Jiaxiong's Mandarin had become fainter and fainter. He first placed a bag of tea from his hometown in front of Wu Youping, and then said, "Old Wu, the plan for bicycles to the countryside has been formulated. Have you arranged the public security work over there?"

As an old classmate, Zhuang Jiaxiong liked to call Wu Youping 'Old Wu' when there were only the two of them. Wu Youping didn't mind being called Old Wu because he also called Zhuang Jiaxiong 'Old Zhuang.' But public security issues were not under Wu Youping's jurisdiction, but under the Ministry of Public Security under the State Council.

Asking the secretary to brew the tea, Wu Youping laughed, "Old Zhuang, how is the production capacity of your locks?"

"Don't worry, the report has been submitted. I've seen the sample; it fully conforms to the design of the U-lock provided by the Chairman. We can already mass-produce it here." Speaking of this, Zhuang Jiaxiong sighed, "Sigh... that lock is really sturdy, and imitation is not easy... Public morality is not what it used to be!"

Wu Youping had long lost his unhappiness about this and comforted Zhuang Jiaxiong instead, "A bicycle is a big item. So many people will use bicycles and tricycles to carry goods. Once lost, it might even cause loss of life! It's not like such things haven't happened."

As an engineering student graduated from Tangshan Railway Official School, Zhuang Jiaxiong had strong expectations for order. He was also a Fujian native. Although the mountain bandits in Fujian were not as famous as the *huzi* in the Northeast and the *xiangma* in Shandong, for Fujian people, they really had enough of the plague of these bandits.

Now the letters from Zhuang Jiaxiong's hometown said that every county had a battalion of light infantry responsible for bandit suppression. After land reform, land and tea gardens were distributed, and public security was basically no problem.

But stealing bicycles was a public security issue, and troops couldn't be used to crack down on it. In the Northeast, people had indeed died because of bicycle theft. Now that China was unified, such things would only increase, but they couldn't be completely avoided yet. This made Zhuang Jiaxiong's mood inevitably low. He asked, "Old Wu, now some comrades think we should carry out large-scale construction to improve the people's living standards as soon as possible. What do you think?"

"I listen to the Chairman on this matter. The Chairman said that after the masses received the land, they were already engaged in production within their capabilities to increase output. After all, it concerns whether they themselves will starve. What we need to do now is to rest and recuperate, not to use labor."

As Wu Youping spoke, he saw that Zhuang Jiaxiong's expression didn't quite agree with this. So Wu Youping changed his wording, "Now the government is not idle, but even busier. The level of cadres determines local development. The government is currently strengthening training under the new management model. This is training engineers in economic management. You must understand that three years may not necessarily be enough."

Zhuang Jiaxiong had to nod. The cycle of educating engineers was not short, not to mention cultivating county-level governments into organizations with engineer capabilities. This was many engineer-level teams working together. Although the reasoning was easy to understand, facing such a situation, it was inevitable to expect immediate realization.

Wu Youping understood Zhuang Jiaxiong's mood very well, but Wu Youping fully trusted He Rui. He Rui had given a very clear and thorough explanation at the Central Committee, and the comrades could also understand. For the first three years, attention must be paid to rest and recuperation. After all, China's rural economy had been collapsing continuously for decades, and it was impossible to fully restore the economy in one year. It would really take three years for the people to have some products to trade.

Of course, the performance of some counties would indeed be outstanding. But the outstanding performance of a few places could not be taken as the performance of the whole of China. Sitting in the position of Premier, Wu Youping found that he had to rely on data for management, so data had to be analyzed before it could serve as a basis for judgment.

For example, a poor place full of gullies in Shaanxi might have tax revenue that was a fraction, or even a tenth, of a land of fish and rice in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. But if the economic development of this poor place was done well, increasing by 5% compared to previous years, while the land of fish and rice often found it difficult to increase by 1%. It was this poor place that should be praised, not the land of fish and rice.

This was the result of data management. Or rather, this was the perspective Wu Youping possessed thanks to his accumulated work experience.

Although Zhuang Jiaxiong was depressed for a while, he cheered up quickly. "By the way, is the government really preparing to provide car purchase loans to the public? I've read the plan provided by the Ministry of Finance, and the more I think about it, the more interesting it feels."

"Don't talk to me about this!" Wu Youping had a bit of a headache. This matter happened to involve a difficult point in Wu Youping's government construction work. With the current purchasing power of the people, buying a bicycle would definitely cost several years of savings, so the government provided special loans. In a sense, this was also 'eating next year's food this year.'

Operating such loans was already troublesome enough, but the current trouble was not the biggest problem. Wu Youping was also worried that some local governments might make such a model long-term if they didn't handle it well. After all, this method looked very good when submitting economic reports.

Wu Youping believed that there must be many muddled government leaders who, for the sake of political achievements, thought they could deceive the central government. That would be fun to watch. How to seek a balance between rapid economic development and healthy development was a very difficult job for the central government.

Thinking of this, Wu Youping couldn't help asking Zhuang Jiaxiong, "How is the vacuum tube factory?"

Unexpectedly, Zhuang Jiaxiong became spirited upon hearing this, even radiant. The previous depression was completely thrown to the nine heavens. "Old Wu, I absolutely don't believe that a Japanese military academy has that capability. I can only say the Chairman is too amazing. The vacuum tube computer he proposed stumped people, but now all technologies have been pushed to the point of near completion. Especially the architecture and logic gate circuit design, it's really too exquisite!"

Wu Youping was also a graduate of Tangshan Railway Official School after all, and he was very concerned about the research and development of vacuum tube computers. He could probably understand some terms and guess the meaning from the text. Although he hadn't engaged in industrial production these years and didn't feel as strongly about vacuum tube computers as Zhuang Jiaxiong, he still had the basic feeling.

The vacuum tube computer proposed by He Rui looked like a complex machine composed of tens of thousands of vacuum tubes, a large amount of wiring, switches, capacitors, various precision instruments, and rare earth magnetic drums. Mathematicians were responsible for designing operation modes, and engineers were responsible for adjustment and operation, calculating 30,000 times per second.

For Wu Youping, these complex devices were beyond his field of knowledge. The only thing Wu Youping could understand was that this computer looked like a set of machinery and equipment, but it was actually a concrete tool for mathematical understanding. Even if one wanted to know its principle, a large amount of mathematical knowledge was required.

However, as the Premier, Wu Youping no longer considered learning specific scientific content he didn't understand. He really didn't have the time. But once such equipment was applied in large quantities, provincial computing centers could reduce personnel significantly. Financially, it saved a lot of labor costs. In terms of efficiency, it greatly alleviated the difficulty of the central government's data-based management.

Zhuang Jiaxiong said extremely excitedly, "Once computers begin to become popular, industrial design efficiency will increase. Data that might have taken ten days or a month or two to calculate before may now only take a day or two. Work that we dared not calculate before can now be done freely. For example, the V-type engine for large tractors may now be completed ahead of schedule."

Hearing about the tractor engine, Wu Youping was also excited. The terrain in the Northeast was flat, very suitable for mechanized farming. But mechanized farming required large tractors. China was blank in this field, and the engines used were all imported from Sweden. Just so many engines consumed a lot of money, and now that Britain blocked China's trade, don't even think about transporting them into the country. Small farm tools were inefficient and consumed a lot of fuel. Using this stuff to farm, the cost was a big problem.

Someone had proposed producing a heavy-duty engine before, and He Rui also provided ideas. But the production efficiency of the prototype was very low, and too many problems seemed unable to be pushed forward. As the Premier, how could Wu Youping have time to manage so much? But concerning the Northeast, the most important agricultural base of the Republic at present, Wu Youping had to keep this matter in mind.

Hearing Zhuang Jiaxiong talk about this at this time, Wu Youping understood a little bit. "Old Zhuang, how large is the calculation volume for designing a device?"

Zhuang Jiaxiong's eyes were shining. "It's not what you think... Let's put it this way: originally mathematicians had to design algorithms and calculate them themselves for verification. Now mathematicians propose algorithms, and engineers adjust the machine to perform calculations. Mathematicians don't need to spend time on their own calculations; they only need to adjust their algorithms after seeing the results. A set of mature algorithms can be directly used on other computers, and the overall efficiency is dozens or hundreds of times higher. That is to say, if we have 30 to 50 mathematicians, we can finish the work that used to take 300 to 500 mathematicians to finish."

"That powerful?" Even Wu Youping felt something was wrong.

Zhuang Jiaxiong was full of confidence. "The benefits are not just these. Previously, top mathematicians and engineers among mathematicians had to do similar work. Now top mathematicians can be responsible for algorithms, and engineer-type mathematicians can be responsible for turning these algorithms into specific algorithms. I consulted those teachers who do mathematics, and they believe that with the current education level of the Republic, we can barely cultivate engineer-type mathematicians, which solves the problem of talent idling."

"...What do you mean?"

"It means 'With enough power, even a brick can fly'!" Zhuang Jiaxiong used a 'colloquialism' He Rui loved to use.

'With enough power, even a brick can fly' was originally a joke used in the aircraft manufacturing industry. The general meaning is that as long as the engine is powerful, even a brick can fly with tricks. Wu Youping blinked for a while and suddenly realized, "You want to use high-efficiency tools to run immature low-efficiency algorithms?!"

Zhuang Jiaxiong spread his hands. "What else do you want?"

"No, no, no!" Wu Youping hurriedly explained, "I'm actually too happy, and instead dare not believe it."

Zhuang Jiaxiong was also helpless. "I didn't believe it originally, but I believed it later. Cultivating mathematics really takes time. With our little family assets, we can't expect mathematicians to fall from the sky."

Wu Youping nodded. After working for these years, Wu Youping's understanding had become deeper and deeper. The gap between early industrial countries and late-coming industrial countries lay in accumulation. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The first industrial revolution lasted for hundreds of years, and the second industrial revolution had been going on for more than twenty years. Foreign countries had a large amount of talent accumulation, education system accumulation, and social general cognitive level accumulation in these industries. China not only lacked accumulation but was blank in many fields. Forcibly filling the gap in the field of mathematics with equipment was already a great thing like a pie falling from the sky.

As long as China was stable, policies were correct, and education continued to develop, these fields would no longer be backward. In just twenty or thirty years, it would naturally be able to compete with the world's advanced countries. What surprised Wu Youping was not that he doubted China would develop, but that he didn't expect He Rui to have actually proposed a practical execution path instead of relying on accumulation to grope for the path of development.

The two old classmates chatted for a while, and after sighing with emotion, they returned to real work. Wu Youping asked, "3 million bicycles a year, can it be done?"

"Yes." Zhuang Jiaxiong answered very crisply. "A heavy-duty bicycle or tricycle with a load of 100 kilograms, even if it uses 35 kilograms of steel. 3 million vehicles are only 100,000 tons of steel, which is not a problem for our current capacity. The difficulty lies in that these 35 kilograms of steel are all processed into various parts. A chain is composed of hundreds of parts. There are hundreds of parts, large and small, in the whole vehicle. Our existing metal processing capabilities can satisfy this. As long as the cars can be sold, 3 million bicycles a year is no problem."

Since the Minister of Industry was so confident, Wu Youping also gave Zhuang Jiaxiong confidence. "You don't need to worry about sales; this is the government's job. We will do our best to complete it. But you also need to have vehicle designs adapted to various usage scenarios."

Zhuang Jiaxiong laughed, "Don't worry, having been tossed around by the army for so long, we are already used to it. But regarding road construction, can the government take out so much money?"

Wu Youping didn't know either, so he could only cheer everyone up. "I don't know if having roads first promoted the use of bicycles, or having bicycles first promoted the improvement of roads. Since we now have to base the market economy on scientific statistics of consumption power, let's all work hard."

Zhuang Jiaxiong sighed, "Consumption power... really different from before. Before, we considered output, not consumption power. Now changing the thinking, I'm really not used to it."

Wu Youping didn't want to respond. Just then, a phone call came in. Zhuang Jiaxiong, who had finished reporting his work, left the report and left. After Wu Youping settled dinner with the Central Bank Governor on the phone, seeing there was still a little time, he leaned back in his chair and considered 'consumption power.'

This was the economic idea proposed by He Rui after unification. Previously, the Northeast economy was a command economy serving the war. The state was the investment subject, and the products produced had long-determined usage purposes. It could be said to be very utilitarian.

Now that China was unified and entered an era of peace, the state did not have the ability to control a market with an extremely huge total volume but very weak individual and household consumption power. So the new economic thinking revolved around improving productivity and cultivating consumption power.

The change in economic thinking made the government face various uncertainties. Many comrades accustomed to the Northeast economic management model felt very unaccustomed. They couldn't even work according to such thinking.

Under this new economic thinking, the relationship between various departments was also changing. The original Central Bank (Northeast Bank) and the Ministry of Finance (Department of Finance) had a completely cooperative relationship. Now the relationship between the two departments had also changed.

The main job of the Ministry of Finance was to increase employment. Increasing employment required investment, and investment might trigger inflation. The Central Bank's job was to control inflation because inflation would have a very negative impact on the national economy. The work between the two seemed to present an opposing situation.

The Premier leading the State Council had to balance the plans between the two based on the goals of the Five-Year Plan and the current economic development.

However, although the planning directions of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank seemed somewhat opposite, their fundamental goals were actually the same. Both were to boost economic confidence through policies and reduce negative impacts on the economy.

The command economy was simple, brisk, and easy to understand; just do it and it's done!

The new economic thinking was for the state to push the economy forward as much as possible amidst various uncertainties, allowing the people's productivity level to increase, income to increase, and consumption power to increase. Promoting capacity increase in various industries through people's consumption.

The Premier of a major country was a very arduous job.