Genius Grandson of the Loan Shark King

Let's have a proper, open conversation.

In fact, my memories of Zeng Qinghong were vague.

This was because he was a person who coordinated the strife between factions within the Communist Party behind the scenes rather than coming to the forefront.

Although he was called Jiang Zemin's advisor, he belonged to the princeling group, which consists of the children of senior Communist Party members.

Although he held power thanks to Jiang Zemin's trust, Jiang Zemin's successors did not like him very much.

'Will the next leadership fall due to the Shanghai faction's restraint?'

While waiting for Zeng Qinghong to open his mouth and gathering his thoughts, Zeng Qinghong seemed to be deeply troubled.

Soon he asked in a small voice.

"Do you plan to join hands with President Hu Jintao?"

"Well, it depends on how President Hu Jintao reacts."

I didn't trust Hu Jintao.

We just need Hu Jintao to deal with Jiang Zemin.

Zeng Qinghong shook his head at my reaction and said.

"It's not a good option. Even if President Hu Jintao returns, it will be difficult for him to directly attack President Jiang as long as the elders support him from behind."

In his previous life, Jiang Zemin survived until the end and exerted influence.

"So? Who else but President Hu Jintao can deal with Jiang Zemin?"

"What about me? I think I would be a good partner."

I opened my eyes wide involuntarily at Zeng Qinghong's suggestion. I wanted to hold his hand.

'I didn't expect this.'

As I watched without saying anything, Zeng Qinghong continued speaking.

"I know the power of President Kim Moo-hyeok very well. He understands the physiology of power better than anyone else, and he uses his connections and money to get what he wants. Other people may try to belittle the president, but I don't."

He looked me in the eye and spoke seriously.

"You asked me to tell you what's really important. This is my business."

If Zeng Qinghong remained like this, he could continue to be the coordinator behind the scenes.

I couldn't open my mouth because I didn't know why he wanted to hold my hand.

As if he had read my worries, he spoke with a faint smile.

"I understand what you are thinking. You must be wondering why I am suggesting this. The reason I want to join hands with Chairman Kim Moo-hyuk is for the future. I want the next leader, Hu Jintao, to come from our princeling party."

Zeng Qinghong faithfully fulfilled his role as a kingmaker in his previous life.

Zeng Qinghong was the one who could not become a king, but could create a king.

I swallowed it and asked.

"It seems like you have no intention of doing it yourself."

"When President Hu Jintao's term ends, I will also be old enough to retire."

Although he had to step down due to age restrictions, he had a hidden intention of not giving up power.

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"You want to remain a behind-the-scenes power like Deng Xiaoping? That will be difficult."

The reason Deng Xiaoping was able to remain the supreme leader until the end was because he held on to the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission until the end.

Jiang Zemin also tried to hold on to the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission until the end, even as he handed over the positions of General Secretary and President to Hu Jintao.

However, it was a long way off for Zeng Qinghong to hold the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

"You know what I'm doing. I just want to stay behind and not step forward."

No matter how smart you are or how good at tightrope walking you are, being a power behind the scenes is not as easy as it sounds.

But that was Zeng Qinghong's problem, and what mattered to me was what I got.

"I understand your thoughts, Vice Chairman."

I lifted the teacup in front of me and raised the corners of my mouth.

"But that is no reason for me to join hands with the Vice Chairman."

"I will help drive out Jiang Zemin. And I will help President Kim Moo-hyuk in everything he does."

The fragrant scent of green tea tickled my nose. I deliberately sipped the tea slowly and then put the cup down.

It was such a sweet offer to hear.

"It's such a good offer, it makes me feel even more uneasy."

"I understand that you don't trust me."

"Do you understand? No matter how I think about it, it's too advantageous for me. Vice Chairman will be able to maintain power if he continues like this. But why do you betray your boss and join hands with me? I think this might be Jiang Zemin's trap."

"I never thought of him as a boss. I just wanted to use Chairman Zhang's power to grow the crown prince's party."

Take your time building up your size for the party and bide your time.

That alone doesn't fully explain why he's moving now.

Still looking at him with suspicion, Zeng Qinghong sighed softly and opened his mouth.

"······This time, it was I, Zeng Qinghong, who moved the elders to hand over the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission to Hu Jintao."

This was the first time I heard this. Zeng Qinghong took away Jiang Zemin's power and gave it to Hu Jintao?

"Why on earth are you like that······."

I unconsciously closed my mouth as I was speaking. Something flashed through my mind.

"You wanted the position of Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission."

"······."

If anything happened to Hu Jintao, it would be the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission who would inherit that authority.

"Now I understand why they tried to assassinate Hu Jintao."

When Jiang Zemin handed over the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission to Hu Jintao, everyone expected that the vice chairman would go to Zeng Qinghong.

However, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission was Xu Caihou.

He was a key aide within the military who was favored by Jiang Zemin.

Zeng Qinghong couldn't help but feel betrayed.

"I opposed the assassination of Hu Jintao."

"That's probably because he didn't get the position of Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission. If he had taken that position, I think he might have thought differently."

"I won't deny it, but the water has already been spilled. If we leave it like this, I could be swept away by Hu Jintao's icy purge."

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This failed assassination turned everything upside down. In effect, it gave him a pretext, so it was understandable why Zeng Qinghong came forward like this.

"Originally, we agreed that the Shanghai faction would be the next leader after Hu Jintao. This was before handing over power to President Hu Jintao."

"I know that because I heard about it."

The princelings were excluded from the power structure.

Originally, the power of the Crown Prince's Party came from their ancestors.

As time passed and the parents' generation died one by one, their power base weakened.

Therefore, it was already a well-known story that, excluding the Crown Prince Party, the Shanghai faction and the Communist Youth League had agreed in advance to share the top leadership position once each.

"This time, I advised him to give up the next top leader in order to suppress Hu Jintao's anger, but Chairman Jiang refused. That is the decisive reason why I gave up on going down that path."

That was advice that Jiang Zemin could never give up.

If he declares that, he will lose all the power he has now, not just after Hu Jintao steps down.

"So, I'm going to join hands with President Kim Mu-hyeok and make the person I'm pushing the successor. That successor has to come from the Crown Prince's Party."

"It will be up to the Vice Chairman to decide that."

"That's all I ask."

"If Jiang Zemin had accepted the Vice Chairman's request, there would have been no reason to have this conversation."

"Yes, that's right. If that were the case, I would have used all the power I had for Chairman Zhang."

Zeng Qinghong only told the truth, perhaps to gain my trust.

He said he would join hands with anyone for what he wants.

Adding the information I knew and future knowledge, I could easily guess that what he said was not a lie.

"You wouldn't have come empty-handed, would you? What did you bring as a token of your trust?"

"As expected."

He took out a notebook from his bosom with a bitter smile.

He tore a piece of paper out of his notebook and handed it to me.

"That is a token of my trust."

As I took the paper and looked at it, a question suddenly occurred to me.

"What kind of list is this?"

The name written on the paper did not seem to be a Chinese name.

"These are the people Jiang Zemin planted to prepare for sudden changes."

Yes, there it was. The paper had the names of North Korean politicians and soldiers written on it.

"And now they are thinking of moving them to overthrow the regime."

As expected, it was moving as I expected.

At that time, Zeng Qinghong added a word.

"I advised you to do so."

I turned my gaze from the paper to Zeng Qinghong.

Zeng Qinghong twisted his lips upward. His eyes behind his glasses had a strange heat to them.

"Even if you didn't know, the chances of success would be slim. But if you knew in advance, it wouldn't be slim at all; you would fail."

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As Zeng Qinghong said, even if he had not known about this, there was no way he would have succeeded.

Because I have already persuaded Jang Song-taek to increase surveillance.

But instead of telling the truth, I waited for Zeng Qinghong to speak.

"That will be Jiang Zemin's Achilles heel."

Once this fact became known, Jiang Zemin had no choice but to step down.

Zeng Qinghong personally manipulated Jiang Zemin's weakness and put it into my hands.

"How about it, President Kim Mu-hyeok? A token of my trust."

I smiled as I folded the paper and put it in my bosom.

"I like it. Now let's have a proper, open conversation."

He said he knew me better than anyone else, and it didn't seem to be a lie.

It was not because he tried to gain my trust with vague words, but because he presented concrete evidence.

I chose Zeng Qinghong as my partner.

* * *

Hu Jintao returned to Beijing.

"I'm glad you're safe. What happened?"

Wen Jiabao, who was practically in custody, visited Hu Jintao.

"Suddenly, another warship attacked the destroyer I was on. Fortunately······."

Hu Jintao explained the details of the assassination in a subdued voice.

As he listened to the story, Wen Jiabao's face became stiff.

"Has that happened? I had no idea. I have never heard of anything like that."

"Maybe that crazy bastard Jiang Zemin did something about it. That's probably why he arrested the Prime Minister. I tried to contact you, but there was a risk that everything I planned would be known······."

Hu Jintao trailed off and grabbed Wen Jiabao's hand.

"I'm sorry. The Prime Minister suffered for no reason because of me."

"No. What are you going to do now?"

Wen Jiabao covered Hu Jintao's hand with his remaining hand and consoled him.

"I have to fight back now. I have the justification, so there's no reason for me to hold my breath."

"Do you plan to hit Chairman Jiang Zemin directly?"

Hu Jintao nodded and removed his hand.

"Thanks to Kim Mu-hyeok moving, it became easier for me to move."

Wen Jiabao asked back in surprise.

"Yes? Did you contact him?"

"No, I haven't contacted him directly. But I expected that if what I wanted was the same as what he wanted, he would act that way. I didn't expect Russia to act that way, though."

"It was so helpful that I handed over the achievements of building the gas pipeline to Chairman Zhang at that time."

"At that time, I hated that guy Kim Mu-hyeok, but now I'm grateful."

When Hu Jintao joked, Wen Jiabao smiled faintly.

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"By the way, the Vice Chairman is in North Korea?"

"Yes. They say it's to resolve this situation. I think it's to reconcile President Kim Moo-hyeok and Chairman Jang."

"That's right. The Vice Chairman is a man who would do anything for Jiang Zemin."

"There's no way President Kim Moo-hyuk would accept that. I know him better than anyone else. He's the most generous person when he doesn't cross the line, but when he does, he's merciless. Sometimes, I'm scared of him."

Hu Jintao nodded at Wen Jiabao's soft muttering.

This time, he also felt Kim Mu-hyeok's true nature.

I couldn't help but be shocked when I heard about North Korea and Russia simultaneously moving to prepare for a diplomatic conflict with China.

I hate to admit it, but I have no choice but to admit it now.

That Kim Moo-hyuk is someone we must help even at the risk of harming our relationship with the country of China.

"Can you call that guy Kim Mu-hyeok to Beijing?"

"It'll probably be hard. You won't be able to trust anyone."

"Don't you trust the Prime Minister? I heard you and your brother are related."

"That's right. But this time I didn't do anything. So maybe you lost faith in me."

Hu Jintao, who was drooling, rubbed his chin and looked lost in thought.

"If he doesn't join hands with me, I will have no choice but to meet that man as an enemy."

Although it was a calm remark, Wen Jiabao felt goosebumps running down his spine.

"If that's the case, what are you going to do?"

"······No matter how good a friend President Kim Mu-hyeok is, he cannot be the same as you, Chairman."

Only then did Hu Jintao nod in satisfaction.

"We've agreed to meet in Russia, so we can decide when we meet."

Hu Jintao left Kim Moo-hyuk behind for the time being and began to reveal in earnest what he would do next.

"I plan to call a general meeting."

"You're going to hold a general meeting so soon after the closing ceremony?"

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is required to meet at least once a year, but so far it has mostly been known to meet only once a year.

To break that practice and call a full meeting again······.

"I must fill all the important positions with my people, including the Shanghai Party Secretary. In particular, I intend to unconditionally replace the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission."

A cold light poured out from Hu Jintao's eyes. Wen Jiabao, who was hit directly by those eyes, trembled without realizing it.

< Let's have a proper frank conversation > End

< It's like leaving the fish in the hands of the cat >