Chapter 66

It won't be long before we reach Harbin Station. Jia Hongjian and his family stood at the train car door with their luggage, surrounded by a photography team that was filming. Jia Hongjian was reading a very famous publication, *Storytelling*, as if no one else was around. Although *Storytelling* is a book that Sister Feng enjoys reading, it has been published since the 1960s.

At this moment, Jia Hongjian was reading a story in *Storytelling* about how, in March of this year, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center was supposed to launch a satellite for Australia but had to urgently halt the launch due to equipment failure. Although his eyes were on this gripping and tense story, his mind was actually thinking about other things. In the late 1980s, China finally secured a satellite launch contract from the United States and entered the international commercial satellite launch market by helping the U.S. launch satellites.

After helping the U.S. launch several "Asia" satellites in the 1990s and launching satellites for U.S. allies, the U.S., which had gradually understood China's space launch capabilities, decisively passed a law in 1999 prohibiting the use of Chinese rockets to launch any satellites or space equipment containing U.S. components... In addition, the U.S. refused China's request to join the International Space Station at the end of 1997, which made Jia Hongjian sigh, "Indeed, the U.S. is full of spies everywhere!"

If the U.S. wasn't full of spies, why would they have pulled China into the international commercial satellite launch market? Didn't they know that even if they later blocked China, the Europeans would still step in? Yes, in 2005, France spent an extra 20 million euros to build a satellite without any U.S. components, specifically to be launched by China... Is this the prideful young lady's way of showing off?

If the U.S. hadn't kicked China out of the International Space Station, would China have developed its own "Tiangong" series? Those spies who, for the sake of the revitalization of China's space industry, pushed the U.S. to block China, and spurred their compatriots to strive for strength and develop advanced space technology, aren't they patriotic? The saying "The problem is in the first three rows, the root is on the stage" is very fitting for Bill-Clinton, George-Bush, and Barack-Obama.

After getting off the train, the group arrived at the square in front of Harbin Station. At this moment, Bai Yansong quietly asked Jia Hongjian, "Brother, why didn't you let me find a local acquaintance to arrange accommodation?" Indeed, after buying tickets from Liaoning to Harbin, Jia Hongjian had stopped Bai Yansong from wanting to arrange accommodation through local contacts. "We haven't figured out Wang Hongcheng's influence here. If we directly ask for help, what if he hears about it?" Jia Hongjian explained.

In Jia Hongjian's view, if Wang Hongcheng could get two professors from Harbin Institute of Technology and the municipal government to green-light his water-to-oil technology, and deceive millions of private investments for his research, wouldn't he also find media people to help him drum up support? If Jia Hongjian's group came here without understanding the situation and directly asked for help, what if they were betrayed?

Bai Yansong was a bit dismissive at first, thinking Jia Hongjian was being overly cautious. He thought that since he was now a CCTV person, he could go anywhere in the country, show his press card, and everyone would bow to him. Not to mention, he was in the same propaganda system, and asking for help would not leak any information. However, when Bai Yansong and Jia Hongjian's family were in a Changhe minivan looking for a good hotel, he suddenly saw a red banner hanging across the street in Harbin. On the banner were white characters that read, "Entering the Great Hongcheng Era!"

Seeing this slogan, Bai Yansong was stunned. It took him a while to realize what he had just seen! "What does this mean? The slogan is written as if it's praising a leader. Has Wang Hongcheng reached the status of a national leader in Harbin? What is the Harbin government doing? Is there no party spirit left?"

Just as he was thinking this, the minivan carrying the film crew suddenly braked, and a group of photographers jumped out of the car, running back to the banner to start filming!

Bai Yansong opened his mouth, instinctively turning to look at Jia Hongjian beside him, who was now thinking seriously. "Brother... did you see that banner... that banner?"

"Yea, I saw it," Jia Hongjian nodded slightly, "I didn't expect the situation in Harbin to be like this..."

Indeed, after seeing the banner, Jia Hongjian felt the situation was more complicated than he had anticipated. He had thought Wang Hongcheng would at most have influenced a few professors and local government officials. But seeing such a slogan, he realized it wouldn't be that simple. For a banner to be hung on the street, it at least proved that the local government was largely compromised, and at least a significant part was unconsciously aiding and abetting.

Logically, Wang Hongcheng, who was expelled from school in the fourth grade and was a former bus driver, shouldn't have such power! Right? If a semi-literate, bus driver, and fraudster who played the water-to-oil scam could build such a large influence, shouldn't someone like Jia Hongjian, a person of talent, have become a warlord in the southeast? If Wang Hongcheng, who was expelled from school in the fourth grade, could become a local tyrant in Harbin, wouldn't foreigners think that there were no smart people among the 1.3 billion Chinese?

"Perhaps there is a force behind him?" Jia Hongjian began to ponder the Wang Hongcheng he remembered from his past. In his previous life, Jia Hongjian was a naive teenager who only cared about school and play, not paying much attention to such social information. However, some vague memories told Jia Hongjian that it seemed a military company had invested in Wang Hongcheng, helping him establish the Hongcheng Technology Company. It wasn't unusual for the military to have companies, as in this era, due to the massive reduction in the military and the shift of national resources to the economy, military funding was extremely low. To survive, the military had to set up companies to earn money in the civilian sector, which was not strange at all.

However, this information made Jia Hongjian consider whether the Northeast Military Region might be backing Wang Hongcheng. If the Northeast Military Region was supporting him because of their investment, the local government might think that with military backing and the support of scholars, everything would be fine, and they would promote him enthusiastically.

"No!" Jia Hongjian rejected his previous thoughts, "The people in the local government are as shrewd as monkeys. If they're not in the same system and haven't been approved by their superiors, would they play this game? If their direct superiors questioned them, could the military help them take the blame? Perhaps the root is in the Heilongjiang Provincial Government?"

Thinking about this, Jia Hongjian nodded slightly, feeling that the problem might indeed be at the provincial government level. And it seemed that the person in the provincial government supporting Wang Hongcheng was of a high rank, at least at the level of vice-governor or governor. With the strong support of the media, academia, and the military, Wang Hongcheng couldn't help but become a local tyrant in Harbin.

After finding a hotel, with the help of Bai Yansong's introduction letter, Jia Hongjian's family checked in. In his room, Jia Hongjian sat on the bed and thought again. Seeing Wang Hongcheng's influence, he realized that his plan to easily expose the fraud wouldn't work. If he followed his original plan to buy the water-based fuel additive from Wang Hongcheng, test it at the Heilongjiang science department, and then sue for compensation, he might be directly expelled from Heilongjiang by Wang Hongcheng's local forces!

Thinking about this, Jia Hongjian stood up, took a pack of cigarettes from Bai Yansong's room, and walked out. Near the stairs, he saw an old man cleaning. "Sir, I have a question. Do you want a cigarette?" Jia Hongjian said, skillfully offering a cigarette to the old man.

"Sir, on my way here, I saw a banner for Wang Hongcheng. Do you think his water-to-oil technology is real or fake?" Jia Hongjian asked while lighting the old man's cigarette.

"Of course it's real!" The old man took a satisfying puff of the top-tier cigarette of the era, Hongtashan, and said, "Think about it, the provincial government says it's real, Harbin Institute of Technology says it's real, and the Harbin Public Security Bureau says it's real. How can it be fake? It can't be!"

"The provincial government says it's real?" Jia Hongjian asked, keeping his expression unchanged.

"They said it! And when Wang Hongcheng's company opened a few days ago, our vice-governor, the president, and the party secretary of Harbin Institute of Technology all attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony! I heard that today, in the afternoon, a leader from the National Development and Reform Commission will come to inspect Wang Hongcheng's water-to-oil process. If it passes, it will become a national key project, you know?"

"The National Development and Reform Commission? The discipline inspection commission? What are they doing here? The discipline inspection commission can only impose double regulations, not manage key projects, right?" Jia Hongjian asked, a bit surprised.

The old man laughed and patted his thigh, explaining, "Oh, you misunderstood! It's not the discipline inspection commission, but the National Development and Reform Commission, the department that manages the planned economy!"

Hearing this, Jia Hongjian understood. The National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC, was a super powerful department during the planned economy era, setting various macro plans and even specifying how much of a certain product should be produced. By 1988, the NDRC merged with the State Economic and Trade Commission, and the NDRC became more like the modern National Development and Reform Commission, responsible for managing the macroeconomic landscape. By 1998, the NDRC would merge with several other departments and transform into the 21st-century superpower of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, or NDRC.

If a central NDRC official is coming to inspect, then exposing Wang Hongcheng's fraud on the spot should be smooth sailing. Then Bai Yansong and his team can go and secretly film the government departments, and the Quality Mileage team can investigate the Harbin business department, each going back to their own homes and finding their own mothers... Jia Hongjian thought.

******

Yes, I should mention in advance that all the information about Wang Hongcheng in this chapter and the following chapters is true, with some minor details adjusted for the story. Without checking, I didn't expect Wang Hongcheng, a semi-literate, to reach such a level...

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