The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 244: Change of Times
The United Nations, which was established out of the experience and disaster of the Second World War, has from the very beginning taken disarmament of all countries as its highest goal and basic slogan, because the entire international community recognizes that disarmament is an indispensable condition for human security and happiness.

However, the United Nations has held many disarmament negotiations and conferences, and all countries have been calling for disarmament. However, after more than 30 years of calling for disarmament, the result is that more and more countries have been disarming.

The United States and the Soviet Union continued to strengthen their armaments, including the army, navy, and air force. Even competition on Earth could no longer satisfy them and extended directly into space.

This arms race is becoming increasingly intense.

A great deal of human creativity and material resources were applied to destructive rather than constructive military projects.

China has loved peace since ancient times. In addition, it has suffered a lot of humiliation in the past hundred years and has become more peace-loving than ever before.

In the past year, the army has been reduced by more than 602 people, from 530 million to million!

This is the largest disarmament in human history since the end of World War II.

But this is not the end, just a new beginning.

The country is now brewing a new disarmament plan to reduce the army by another million people, from 530 million to 430 million.

The streamlining of the army is an inevitable trend, because the country wants to develop the economy and let everyone live a good life. If we want to streamline the army, a group of people will have to bear the price and leave the army.

It's cruel, but it has to be done.

Just like when humans entered the industrial age, the use of large machines inevitably caused a large number of handicraft workers to lose their jobs.

In the past year, China has streamlined its troops by more than 70 troops, setting an example and using itself as a role model to promote world peace and development. This has caused quite a stir and has greatly changed the international perception of China.

It was no secret to Liu Tao, Liu Zhenbang and others that the army was going to cut one million troops again this time.

Because this will be announced at the National Day celebrations.

Even Liu Tao had read the draft of the streamlining plan.

According to the draft of the streamlining plan, it was decided to further streamline and reorganize the army from November 11. First, the leadership organs of the artillery, armored and engineering corps directly under the Military Commission will be reduced to the Artillery Department, Armored Department and Engineering Department of the General Staff; the leadership organs of the artillery, armored and engineering corps of the military regions will also be downgraded from the army level to the division level, and the number of personnel in the military region organs will be reduced by one quarter.

Second, the numbers of the two military branches, the Railway Corps and the Infrastructure Engineering Corps, will be abolished. A total of 51 Railway Corps and Infrastructure Engineering Corps personnel will be collectively transferred to the Ministry of Railways and corresponding state ministries or local locations, and some troops will be transferred to the armed police force as an organized unit.

Third, the number of combat troops was increased, while the number of service support troops and engineering troops was reduced. The combat troops of the entire army increased by 3.2 percentage points, while the support troops decreased by 4.5 percentage points.

Fourth, the tank divisions and most of the artillery divisions will be assigned to the army to improve the army's organizational level. This is also to further realize the motorization of the troops and even the transformation to mechanization.

Fifth, the coastal garrison forces will be downsized and streamlined; local forces in provincial military regions will be abolished; and some border defense forces will be transferred to public security departments.

This one-million-strong troop reduction will take about a year and a half, meaning it will be achieved by the Spring Festival of 1983, reducing the force from the current 530 million to 430 million.

What supported the streamlining of the troops was the fact that the country had made a lot of money from military trade in the past two years, which allowed it to allocate some money to resettle the troops.

It can be said that the guiding ideology of our military construction has now undergone a strategic shift, from a war-preparation state of preparing for "early, big, and nuclear war" to a track of construction in peacetime.

The reduction of one million troops again is not only to show that China will focus on economic construction, but also to show China's pursuit and efforts for peace in the international arena. All countries are preparing for war, even the Iran-Iraq War is in full swing, and the polar bears in Afghanistan are often reported to have eliminated many guerrillas, but China is doing the opposite. This pursuit and effort for peace is particularly valuable.

On National Day, the whole capital city was plunged into a sea of ​​joy.

Even at Shichahai, which is right at the entrance, some students spontaneously organized a patriotic poetry recitation. There were many people at Shichahai early in the morning.

Although there were a lot of people, no one was seen spitting or littering.

Although people's awareness of hygiene was generally not high in this era, they were much more conscious than people in later generations. If you spit or litter here, believe it or not, the men around you, young and old, will beat you to death without the appearance of the aunties with red armbands?
Liu Tao accompanied his wife for a walk. He held his son in his arms, and his son's eyes were looking around lively.

From time to time, he burst into laughter.

Liu Tao was so happy listening to his son's laughter. Children's laughter is the most contagious.

"Everyone's life is really improving now. There were no vendors in Shichahai before. There were only one or two occasionally, and they were like thieves. Now there are a lot of vendors." Zhu Lin said in a low voice.

Although doing business is still a very risky thing.

But some people dare to take risks, or are forced into no choice.

There are people selling popsicles, popcorn, and fried rice.
No one cared, there were quite a few people at each stall.

"The country has already given recognition to self-employed individuals. On December 12 last year, a woman named Zhang Huamei from Wenzhou applied for a business license from the Wenzhou Industry and Commerce Administration and obtained the first self-employed business license in the country," Liu Tao said with a faint smile.

Zhu Lin was a little surprised: "Really?"

Liu Tao smiled. Information transmission is very busy nowadays and most people are not well-informed. If you don’t pay special attention to things like this, you won’t be able to find out at all.

"Not only that, this year we will also affirm Xiaogang Village's 'contract responsibility system'. The household contract responsibility system will quickly spread throughout the countryside, and the era of eating from the same pot will be gone forever!" Liu Tao said: "We are in an era of drastic social change, and the entire society will undergo rapid earth-shaking changes."

This is no secret, the draft for solicitation has already reached the second draft.

If nothing unexpected happens, the first No. 1 document on rural work will be officially released in the new year.

"Society is indeed changing very fast. Before, if you wanted to go to university, you had to be an educated youth first, and only after you performed well and got a recommendation, could you go to university." Zhu Lin said, "Now you don't need to do that anymore. You can go to university directly by taking the college entrance examination."

"Zi Yu has very good grades. He will definitely get good scores in the college entrance examination next year and go to a good university." Zhu Lin said.

Liu Ziyu is now in the first semester of senior year in high school, and next year will be the second semester. In July next year, he will also take the college entrance examination.

Liu Ziyu's current grades are very good and he is ranked among the top in the school. If nothing unexpected happens, he can choose any university he wants.

With Liu Tao's encouragement, Liu Ziyu is full of motivation. He doesn't need his parents to force him to study. He is very self-conscious.

(End of this chapter)