The Paris Peace Conference did not bring obvious benefits to China, but only acknowledged that there were many conflicts of interest between China and the great powers. The BJP newspapers simply reported these facts, with the only assessment that they would be resolved one by one in the coming days.

The young comrades in the party were quite surprised by this. Up to now, the People's Party has been invincible at home and abroad, and comrades who have not participated in the Paris Peace Conference believe that the Peace Conference should be like a battlefield at home, and that it should be a place for the People's Party to gallop. Therefore, some comrades almost openly accused the delegation of ineffective work in this matter.

In short, there is discipline within the party, and there are various forms of notification mechanisms and study meetings. After the comrades who had personally participated in the peace meeting came back and reported their experiences, and after the urgently convened study meetings at various levels and the guidance of the party, no matter what the comrades thought in their hearts, they admitted that they must continue to work hard and contribute to China's construction cause.

However, many of the country's newspapers were not run by the BJP, and for a variety of purposes, they began to appear in these newspapers with various reviews. Criticism of the BJP's "weak diplomacy" soon became mainstream of such comments. For those who run newspapers, if not out of hostility, it is indeed a very pleasant thing to publicly criticize and ridicule the powerful BJP.

Zhang Yu had already accumulated a lot of anger at the Paris Peace Conference, and when he returned to China, he read the newspapers and saw that the articles on them were all ridiculing the incompetence of the People's Party. Although he didn't dare to directly say the evaluation of "losing power and humiliating the country", all kinds of nonsense with guns and sticks, and all kinds of far-fetched speculations and conjectures, made Zhang Yu really feel angry.

"For these birdmen, we have to do it well!" Zhang Yu said angrily at the Standing Committee meeting.

Chen Ke smiled: "Then what law do you think they have violated?" ”

"Newspapers are, but can you talk nonsense about this kind of thing?" Zhang Yu said angrily.

Chen Ke didn't want to say anything for the time being, he had seen too much nonsense that had no bottom line than these reports. From a more positive point of view, at least none of the current newspapers say how kind Britain and France are, and China should willingly sell its sovereignty to Britain and France. This alone is much more disciplined than a considerable number of newspapers in the 21st century. Of course, in this era of China's national rejuvenation, in an era when the masses really dare to smash newspapers, newspapers also have to consider their own safety.

Seeing that Chen Ke was silent, Zhang Yu turned his head angrily, but swept Xu Dian at a glance. He asked: "Xu Dian, you are in charge of the judiciary, is there any way to do it in the judiciary?" ”

Xu Dian said helplessly, "Now the newspapers are only publishing comments, and they have not yet reached the point of fabricating facts, and they have freedom of speech." ”

"According to you, we can't cure these birdmen?" Zhang Yu said angrily.

Seeing that Zhang Yu was a little really-thinking, Chen Ke persuaded: "Okay, okay, let's do this first." Newspapers are also eaten by gimmicks, and they are not official newspapers. We only need to tell a part of the truth selectively, and they can't tell the truth. In this world, everyone has to compromise. ”

Whether it was appeasement or forcible suppression, Chen Ke finally let Zhang Yu temporarily suppress his boiling anger. The conversation continues to get back to business. "Comrades, I am ready to do something very unrealistic, that is, to map the frontier."

After finishing speaking, Chen Ke asked people to take out the map. This is the result of more than a year of struggle by the Beiyang Museum of Culture and History and the National Library under the People's Party. In the vast South China Sea, where all the intelligence of China and foreign countries is combined, whether it is exposed to the surface or not, wherever there is a place name, China has named it and enclosed it in China's territorial waters.

Chen Ke said: "If our boat can go for a walk, then go for a walk." If you can't go, you have to shout out first. It doesn't matter if these islands are on the water all year round or underwater all year round. Importantly, they have been China's inherent territory since ancient times. It is an inseparable part of China. ”

Looking at the sea area the size of half of China, the Politburo did not fully understand what Chen Ke meant. "Chairman Chen, what do you mean?"

"I mean, this map has to get out there. It doesn't matter if other countries agree or disagree. Importantly, this area is China's territorial waters, and these islands have been China's territory since ancient times. Chen Ke bit the four words very heavily since ancient times, and the comrades of the Politburo soon understood what Chen Ke meant.

"So how much do you want to emphasize? Submit to the League of Nations, or military confrontation? Qi Huishen asked.

"Just let them know that there's going on, and don't give the impression that we're going to use force for it. But we must first claim. In the post-Versailles system, it is probably who claims to own it first, and who has greater legitimacy first. Ultimate legitimacy is determined by cannons. Since we don't have an actual cannon, let's use the mouth cannon first. Chen Ke replied.

This is one of the historical achievements of Beiyang back then, Chen Ke has seen the map of the South China Sea painted by Beiyang, which is much more exaggerated than that of the Kuomintang. As a latecomer to history, Chen Ke believes that there is no reason for him to do worse than Beiyang.

Chen Ke followed up and explained: "I have to entrust this matter to my comrades, and I don't think I can do it myself." And this is completely a matter of verbal cannon in diplomacy, purely verbal artillery, and a fool. So we can't be tough, and if we can make countries think that this is a joke we made, that's the best. We should also make full use of the nonsense of some domestic newspapers, and in any case, this is a kind of public opinion. We are under strong pressure from public opinion. ”

Zhang Yu blinked his eyes a few times, and suddenly burst out laughing. Even Shang Yuan, who felt that Chen Ke's suggestion was too funny, couldn't help but show an expression of crying and laughing.

After talking about the map of the frontier, the Standing Committee continued to discuss more practical issues. By July 1919, the development of the People's Party's industrial strength, especially the level of steel production, had reached a new high. The domestic 15-ton open-hearth furnace has finally passed the acceptance, and the domestic oxygen top blowing has also entered the final stage. After a large number of new steel mills were put into production, steel production was expected to exceed 2.4 million tons in 1919. In the 1920 plan, crude steel production was likely to reach or exceed the level of 3.6 million tons.

"Steel mill exhaust gas collection systems, as well as small turbine generators that use exhaust gases, these are all being worked on. However, the progress is completely uncertain. You Wei reported on the work of the other Standing Committee members.

Fortunately, the Chinese language, especially the modern Chinese system "planned" by Chen Ke, has basically taken shape, and even if the Standing Committee members do not understand technology, they can probably have a minimum concept of nouns when they hear them.

"Exhaust fumes?" Zhang Yu is more interested in technology, he asked.

"Well, to put it simply, it's a big cost savings. Of course, with the establishment and development of technology projects, as well as the funds for the establishment of basic categories of relevant national laboratories, it is estimated that after 30 years, or after the scale of our steel mills is expanded by 50 times, there will be a day when the cost will be recovered. "You Yu is a little out of the preamble.

"What the hell does this mean?" Zhang Yu didn't understand.

"What I mean by this is that the state has to support these technologies, and it's not a year or two. It's a long-term investment process. Anyway, Chairman Chen put forward the principle design and practical ideas, so we don't have to explore them out of thin air. You Yu instinctively explained in the words of the technical department.

However, looking at the comrades' appearance of not understanding, You Yu directly switched to a train of thought, "...... Let's put it this way, half of the money we earned from selling Diana pills to Europe and the United States is now invested in it. ”

At this time, all the Standing Committee members and the two non-committee members who attended the meeting understood what You Wei meant, and everyone except Chen Ke changed their faces at this time, but the comrades knew how much money it was.

You Yan's face did not change, because she had already changed her face countless times when faced with various industrial projects. In fact, You Wei was directly commissioned by Chen Ke to develop the project, and the success rate is extremely high, even if it is not successful, everyone knows which step it will be stuck. Where we need to continue to invest. Therefore, You Gou replied very proudly: "I have to correct a wrong idea of comrades, the basis of industrialization is continuous investment, industrialization will make production and life more and more convenient, but industrialization itself can only become more and more expensive." Because this is a system, the industrial system needs to precipitate countless money, countless labor. This is what is piled up with human labor and even human life. ”

"How does this sound like a demon?" Zhang Yu said with a smile.

You Wei replied with an unhappy expression: "If Minister Zhang is really ready to understand like this, I don't want to refute you." We have paid for every project, this is not an exaggeration, this is a fact. Because of that exhaust gas, we haven't poisoned people. The people who were stirred into the fan and chopped were not one or two. I have even seen these things with my own eyes, so I also hope that the comrades will have a certain understanding. ”

Seeing that Zhang Yu also had an ugly look, You Yu replied: "Not only are there martyrs on the battlefield, but there are also many martyrs in our industrial sector. However, you can also call them inattentive to labor safety protection, but without these lives, it is impossible to arouse workers' attention to labor safety protection. ”

The Standing Committee members nodded slightly, anyway, they heard all kinds of news every day, of which bad news and bad news accounted for the vast majority. Even if it's good news, there are many hidden sacrifices behind it. This is the modern industrial society. If in an agrarian society, the dead can still overturn the angle of natural and man-made disasters. In modern industrial society, it is to fill in a path of continuous progress with human life. So sometimes, this kind of society can seem more "inhumane".

"Okay, next question. The question of naval construction! Chen Ke moved on to the next topic.