Chapter Fifteen: Planning in Secret

  The former capital, outside Xiyuan Garden.

  After getting off the bus, Pang Xinglong quickened his pace. The Premier had scheduled a national affairs work report for Saturday night, which made the Deputy Premier in charge of economic work at the State Council feel very surprised. In the past three years, except for going abroad to visit and attend international conferences, as well as several sudden incidents, the Premier would never handle government affairs on Saturday nights.

  Is there something unexpected happening today?

  Pang Xinglong was a bit puzzled. The State Council work report was just an ordinary thing, usually arranged on Sunday evening. This way, it can summarize the work situation of the previous week and arrange the work content for the next week.

  For the 48-year-old Pong Xinglong, since the Premier was hospitalized last month and he took over the national affairs report, he would prepare the general content of the report every Saturday, not waiting until Sunday morning to do so. This way, he could leave a good impression on the head of state.

  It has to be said that Pang Xinglong is indeed very good at handling interpersonal relationships.

  The Premier's physical condition has not been good for a long time, and he can work for at most two more years. Two years later, the State Council will be replaced, and the head of state will choose a new "big housekeeper". There are only a few people who have the qualifications to serve as the Premier of the State Council, namely the four vice premiers, the chairman of the NPC and CPPCC, and several outstanding local leaders.

  Pang Xinglong, who graduated from the Economics Department of Renmin University, is not outstanding among these people, but he is the only one with an economics background. The current international economic situation is very bad and will not improve in the next few years. The Republic needs a "chief steward" who understands economics and has rich work experience. Pang Xinglong has this advantage, but if he wants to stand out, he still needs to continue working hard, at least to let the head of state know that he is a very diligent and practical person.

  Pang Xinglong had just entered the Western Garden when Wang Yuanqing came forward to greet him. "Vice Premier Pang, you've arrived quite early."

  "Xiao Wang, have you been waiting for a while?"

  "No, I just got here too."

  "What about the leader?"

  "Watching the game in the study room." Wang Yuanqing smiled politely, "Today is the season's final match, Yuan didn't even eat dinner and has been guarding the TV. Now, he's asking me to prepare some snacks."

  "This..." Pang Xinglong immediately showed an awkward expression. "I'll go wait in the living room for a while."

  "All right, we'll go tell the master later. You go sit in the living room for a while first, I'll have someone bring tea over."

  "Don't bother, I can take care of myself."

  "Then I won't send you over there, otherwise the president will say that I'm slow in getting things done again."

  After bidding farewell to Wang Yuanqing, Pang Xinglong went to the reception hall on the left.

  Inside the study, a live broadcast of a basketball game was being played on TV, but Ji Youguo wasn't watching the basketball game. Instead, he was having a confidential conversation with General Peng Maobang.

  "The ships have entered the East China Sea. I've arranged for warships and planes to escort them, and they'll arrive at Shanghai Port early tomorrow morning."

  "Has the reception work at the port been arranged properly?"

  "Everything is in place, the personnel I arranged are already inside the port. As soon as the goods arrive, they will be transferred immediately."

  "Never underestimate the potential dangers at home." Ji Youguo habitually stroked his chin. "Arrange a few more transportation routes, and all aspects of safety protection work must be in place, ensuring that nothing goes wrong."

  "Don't worry, I've arranged for a security escort drill, mobilizing all the special forces directly under the General Staff. Seven escort teams have been organized, each with over 100 personnel. In addition, all transit stations along the transportation routes are also being monitored and controlled. I've also contacted the National Security Bureau to closely monitor the domestic spy networks of enemy countries."

  Ji Youguo nodded slightly and thought for a moment before asking: "So to say, there will be results within two to three days?"

  "At most three days, if fast, two and a half."

  "That's good." Ji Youguo rubbed his chin again. "Let's stop here for today. We're already in the final stage, and we absolutely can't afford to capsize at this point. You need to take personal command and monitor in real-time. Once the goods arrive at their destination, conduct a preliminary inspection immediately, draw conclusions, and report back to me right away."

  "No problem, I'll take my leave first."

  After General Peng Maobang left, Wang Yuanqing entered the study room.

  "Director, these are freshly baked pastries. Also, Vice Premier Pang Xinglong has arrived."

  "Arrived?" Ji Youguo's gaze left the TV screen. "When did you arrive? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

  "I had just arrived and arranged for him to go to the living room."

  "Go and ask him to come over. Also, you stay behind later."

  Wang Yuanqing put down the plate and went to the living room to call Pang Xinglong over.

  The State of the Union address deals with some trivial small things, and major events will be discussed at higher-level meetings. Of course, the ability to handle small things can truly test a government's administrative capabilities. This is just like how everyone can understand big principles, but it's hard to do their best in small details.

  The two hours passed quickly and the report entered its final and most crucial part: domestic and international economic situation.

  This is what Pong Xinglong particularly emphasized, after all, he is the vice premier in charge of economy and is most familiar with economic issues. Moreover, the current situation also requires the government of the Republic to attach great importance to domestic and international economic issues.

  "The economic policies taken in the previous period have already shown some initial results, but the effects are not yet obvious and need to be further strengthened. After a slight pause, Pang Xinglong shifted the topic to international economics. "The international economic environment is also improving, but it's not very obvious, and there are many suspicious signs of recovery. When adjusting the domestic economic structure, we need to focus on the direction of international economics and prepare for possible sudden changes."

  "What I'm more concerned about now is, if the economic situation improves, can our recovery speed be accelerated? On the contrary, if the economic form deteriorates, how much impact will we suffer and how much impact will other countries suffer?"

  "This...". Pang Xinglong seemed a bit unprepared and did not immediately answer the question raised by Yuan Shou.

  "Don't worry, I'm just asking casually. Although this question is not in the current State of the Union address, but I think, as an economist, you should be very clear about the current economic situation and its future direction?"

  "Head, the question you raised is also what I've been considering." Seemingly encouraged, Pang Xinglong no longer hesitated and said, "Without a doubt, if the international economic situation improves, exports will be the first to recover, and our economic recovery speed will also increase accordingly. However, in the long run, we cannot rely on exports as the driving force for economic development; we must expand the domestic market and enhance domestic consumption capabilities. If the international economic situation continues to deteriorate, we'll have to continue increasing investment to stabilize the domestic economic environment. For now, it seems that the international economy has hit rock bottom and won't worsen in the short term. As for the impact on various countries, although the US is the epicenter of this crisis, its recovery ability far surpasses other nations; as soon as the situation improves, there will be immediate results. Moreover, the US government's rescue measures are extremely powerful and can provide significant help to later development. Europe's situation is more complicated and won't recover before the US. Japan was affected the most. Before the crisis broke out, Japan's economy had slightly improved, but the achievements accumulated were all turned into illusions in the crisis. If the situation worsens again, Japan will be the first to bear the brunt and become a disaster zone."

  After listening to Pang Xinglong's "impromptu" analysis, Ji Youguo fell into deep thought again.

  At this time, Wang Yuanqing gave a glance at Pang Xinglong.

  Pang Xinglong was also a sensible host, it was almost twelve o'clock and the leader needed to rest. He immediately stood up and said: "Leader, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first."

  "Oh, okay, it's getting late too, you should get some rest early." Suddenly coming back to his senses, Ji Youguo said to Wang Yuanqing, "Little Wang, send Director Pang out and then come over to clean up the things."

  After seeing off Pang Xinglong, Wang Yuanqing immediately rushed back.

  "Director, Vice Premier Pang is indeed formidable. As an economics major, he's in a league of his own." Wang Yuanqing and Ji Youguo chatted casually while serving pastries and tea.

  "Not bad?" Ji Youguo smiled faintly and said, "Pang Xinglong didn't even get to the point. What is the core of economics? It's about letting consumers, that is, ordinary people have money to spend and dare to spend it, so that the products produced by factories can be sold domestically instead of being exchanged for some worthless paper bills. What is the core of economic crisis? It's about global overcapacity, factories producing products that can't be sold, wages can't be paid, workers don't have money to buy products, and a vicious cycle forms. At first glance, these two issues seem unrelated, but in fact, they have a common point: a small number of people control too much wealth, making wealth just a digital number on an account rather than purchasing power circulating in the market. Most people who need to buy goods don't have enough wealth, so they can't afford the goods on the market."

  Wang Yuanqing put down the towel in his hand and looked at the president with a bit of disbelief. In his opinion, the president had never been good at economic issues, but he came up with such profound reasoning.

  "If I were to lay out the issues, we could chat for three days and nights." Ji Youguo chuckled and said, "I think this crisis is far from over, at most it's just a temporary lull. When the contradictions accumulate to a certain degree, there will be an even more intense outbreak, and countries that are not well-prepared will be in big trouble then."

  "Your Excellency, we can't just sit back and wait for death."

  "This is natural. Now all countries are like reindeer in a severe winter blizzard, whoever can hold on to the end will see the sunny and vibrant spring. Ji Yu Guo stood up and yawned. "It's getting late, clean up after this and you hurry back home to sleep. Also, remember to let Huang Guohui, the Foreign Minister, come see me before six thirty tomorrow, I have important matters to discuss with him."

  Watching the back of the leader leaving, Wang Yuanqing let out a long sigh.

  He admired the leader's wisdom and was worried about the leader's health. Over the past three years, especially in the past year or so, the leader had aged a lot compared to before.