Climbing the Career Ladder

Chapter 11

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Yuhu Ecological Zone has always been a key project of Mayor Xia Xiang. It was planned and built in 1999, and the third phase of the project has started. However, the cost of the third phase of the project exceeded the expected amount, which put great pressure on the government's finances. Song Wendi suddenly decided not to attend the groundbreaking ceremony, and then asked to convene a meeting of secretaries, which was a strong signal to express his opposition.

Once the secretaries' meeting is held, Xia Xiang will naturally have to attend, so he will not be able to attend the groundbreaking ceremony. Therefore, the level of leadership attending the ceremony will drop significantly, which means that the Yinzhou Municipal Party Committee's attention to the construction of the Yuhu Ecological Zone will begin to weaken.

This is where Song Wendi's cleverness lies. He easily used the secretaries' meeting to put considerable pressure on Xia Xiang, thereby slowly infiltrating and extending his tentacles into government work.

Fang Zhicheng wanted to figure out the reason, and Liu Qiangdong hurried into the office. Before Fang Zhicheng could report, Liu Qiangdong pushed the door open and entered. The secretary general of the municipal party committee seemed to serve the entire municipal party committee, but in the final analysis, he served the municipal party secretary. Liu Qiangdong was actually Song Wendi's housekeeper, helping Song Wendi take care of the entire municipal party committee compound. But Song Wendi did not inform him in advance, and disrupted Liu Qiangdong's work arrangements, which inevitably made him feel bad.

Fang Zhicheng brought in a cup of tea and placed it next to Liu Qiangdong's hand. He looked gloomy and ignored him.

About ten minutes later, Liu Qiangdong walked out of the office angrily without saying hello to Fang Zhicheng.

Fang Zhicheng knocked on the door twice and went in to put away the teacup. Song Wendi suddenly called Fang Zhicheng and said softly, "From now on, anyone entering this office must be notified in advance."

Fang Zhicheng nodded and explained, "I tried to stop the Secretary General just now, but he moved too fast and I failed!"

Song Wendi remained calm, his eyes like knives scanning Fang Zhicheng's face, "He is demonstrating. You called him unexpectedly and said you wanted to change your schedule, so he naturally wanted to catch you off guard. Xiao Fang, you have to be more careful in your work in the future."

After leaving the office, Fang Zhicheng pondered over Song Wendi's words and soon realized that Liu Qiangdong's purpose in negotiating with Song Wendi was not to argue with Song Wendi, but to teach himself a lesson.

Liu Qiangdong was secretly warning Fang Zhicheng and also hinting to him that if Song Wendi made any moves in the future, he should first stabilize Song Wendi and leave room for himself, instead of directly conveying his orders.

Liu Qiangdong is emphasizing his own authority. Fang Zhicheng's leadership includes not only Song Wendi, but also Liu Qiangdong.

The road to a career in officialdom is not that simple. Every detail must be carefully considered before taking action.

Liu Qiangdong couldn't deal with Song Wendi, but it was easy for him to deal with Fang Zhicheng.

Chapter 0008: Yinzhou Heavy Machinery Nirvana Road

After Liu Qiangdong returned to the office, he called Ding Nengren in. After instructing him on the work arrangements for the secretary meeting, he threw a cigarette to Ding Nengren and asked softly, "Xiao Fang, you have been in the secretarial department for a while. Do you know him?"

Ding Nengren took out a lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette. Not knowing what Liu Qiangdong meant by this, he said tactfully, "Xiao Fang, your overall quality is quite high, but you just started working in the government, so it's inevitable that you are a little immature."

Liu Qiangdong tapped the table with his fingers and frowned, "The position of secretary to the municipal party secretary is extremely important. I gave this job to you because I hope you can find someone you can trust. Although Xiao Fang is highly qualified, he is obviously out of our control. Old Ding, you are a bit confused in this matter."

Ding Nengren's eyes showed a cunning gleam, and he whispered: "Although Fang Zhicheng was selected by Secretary Song himself, he has just entered society and the officialdom not long ago. If he often makes mistakes, Secretary Song himself will probably have to reconsider, right?"

Liu Qiangdong stood up, walked to the window, and whispered: "Fang Zhicheng is the candidate recommended by Qiu Hengde to Secretary Song. If he is given some training, he needs to pay attention to the means and methods, and must not reveal any flaws. After all, in Secretary Song's heart, he would rather trust Fang Zhicheng, who is a blank slate, than rely on us easily."

Ding Nengren patted his chest and promised: "Please rest assured, Secretary Liu, I will naturally have a good idea."

After Ding Nengren left the office, Liu Qiangdong frowned. A secretary-general who is not trusted by the municipal party secretary is undoubtedly dancing with a sword. The only way to solve the problem is to make the municipal party secretary's secretary his own person.

He is now taking two steps, using both soft and hard tactics. On the one hand, he lets Ding Nengren create difficulties to put pressure on Fang Zhicheng, and on the other hand, he lets Fang Zhicheng take the initiative to join his camp, without fear that Fang Zhicheng will not become his pawn at that time.

The afternoon secretaries' meeting was held in the small conference room of the Municipal Party Committee Building No. 1. The small conference room was only about 20 square meters, with seats arranged in a circle. Fang Zhicheng also participated in it, as the main meeting recorder, sitting in a row behind the main seat.

This was Fang Zhicheng's first time attending such a high-level meeting. The atmosphere seemed calm, but the waves inside were more turbulent than expected. Mayor Xia Xiang was in a bad mood. Although his tone was gentle, he used sharp words to fight back against Song Wendi.

The main topic of the meeting was to discuss the restructuring of Yinzhou Heavy Machinery, the largest state-owned enterprise in the city. Song Wendi believed that Yinzhou Heavy Machinery must complete the separation of assets by the end of the year and carry out a comprehensive restructuring at the beginning of next year, but Xia Xiang held a different opinion.

Xia Xiang took a deep puff of cigarette and said softly, "Secretary Song, Yinzhou Heavy Machinery is already in a terminal state. Even if it is restructured now, I am afraid it cannot be saved. The most urgent task, I think, is to turn the economic work to the big plan of Yinzhou. Yuhu Ecological Park represents the development trend of the future city. With the ecological park as the center, it will definitely inject fresh vitality into Yinzhou."

What Xia Xiang said made sense. Yinzhou Heavy Machinery's sales have been declining for two consecutive years, and two key European customers have begun to transfer orders, causing Yinzhou Heavy Machinery to be struggling now. If the Yinzhou government had not secured a considerable amount of money for Yinzhou Heavy Machinery last year, Yinzhou Heavy Machinery would have gone bankrupt long ago.

However, Yinzhou Heavy Machinery was once a star enterprise in Yinzhou City and the main force driving Yinzhou's development. The municipal government would never easily allow Yinzhou Heavy Machinery to step into a desperate situation.

Song Wendi was transferred from the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology to Yinzhou. One of the key issues that needed to be resolved was to revive Yinzhou Heavy Machinery.

Xia Xiang seized this opportunity and effectively attacked Song Wendi, obviously not wanting Song Wendi to control government affairs by integrating Yinzhou Heavy Machinery. Xia Xiang's strategy was very clear. Through Yuhu Ecological Park, he would divert attention, weaken the importance of Yinzhou Heavy Machinery, and transfer all the city government's resources to the construction of Yuhu Ecological Park. Who would have the energy to care about the life and death of Yinzhou Heavy Machinery

This is a clever strategic diversion tactic, used very covertly. No wonder Song Wendi wanted to convene a meeting of secretaries.

Song Wendi glanced at the deputy secretary of the Party Committee, Jin Guoding, and said, "Comrade Guoding, what do you think?"

Jin Guoding ranks third in the municipal party committee and is in charge of party affairs. He was a very prestigious cadre in Yinzhou when he was young, but now he is on the age limit and will stop at the deputy department level. His biggest wish is to enter the CPPCC at the department level before retirement. Therefore, he is conservative and does not want to offend anyone, so he practices Tai Chi. He took a sip of tea and said lightly: "If Yinzhou Heavy Machinery continues its current development trend, it will face bankruptcy by the end of the year, so restructuring is imminent; the development of Yuhu Ecological Park is also very important. The municipal finance has invested a lot in this project. If we give up now, won’t all our efforts be wasted?"

Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission Deng Fangyuan was dissatisfied with Jin Guoding's attitude and questioned, "One is the restructuring of old state-owned enterprises, and the other is industrial structure planning. They are divided into two steps and there is no contradiction at all. Mayor Xia, do you think that if you want to restructure Yinzhou Heavy Machinery, then Yuhu Ecological Park will not be able to be managed well?"

Deng Fangyuan has a clear position on himself and firmly supports Song Wendi. He knows that he must stand up and support Song Wendi now. Xia Xiang put out the ash in the ashtray and said in a deep voice: "Comrade Fangyuan, you are in charge of the Commission for Discipline Inspection and don't know much about the work of the Yinzhou Municipal Government. It's not that the municipal government is unwilling to save the cow, but that it is impossible to save it. For example, there are two cows in the family, one cow is on the verge of death, and the other cow is in its prime. Which side should we tilt our resources to? The government is not a charity fund. We must use the best steel on the blade."

Xia Xiang's words were very damaging, implying that Deng Fangyuan should not extend his hands too far, and that he only had the right to make suggestions in government work, not the power to make decisions.

What Xia Xiang said made sense. Although Yinzhou Heavy Machinery was once the largest enterprise in the city, years of losses have seriously hampered the pace of Yinzhou's economic development. The reform of state-owned enterprises is not a panacea for all diseases. It does not mean that all diseases can be cured once the reform is completed. There are still great risks involved.

However, Deng Fangyuan's temper flared up and he immediately retorted, "Yinzhou Heavy Machinery has a total of 5,600 workers. If we leave it alone and it goes bankrupt, it will cause many people to lose their jobs and will have an uncontrollable impact on social stability."

At this time, Liu Gangsheng, the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee who was in the same camp as Xia Xiang, put down the cigarette in his hand and said lightly: "If all 5,600 people are supported by the government, this will be a vicious cycle. We have long passed the era of eating from the same pot. We can't be short-sighted, but look to the future..."

Seeing that no one could reach a conclusion after discussion, Song Wendi coughed, and the meeting room suddenly became quiet.

He said softly, "Yinzhou Heavy Machinery is not worthless. Although most industries in the country are now transforming to the tertiary industry, I believe that heavy industry is still the main body of stabilizing the social economy. Yinzhou Heavy Machinery has not promoted the reform because the municipal government has not been able to come up with a good plan, which has led to repeated delays. Mayor Xia, please arrange for the relevant departments to come up with a new reform plan for Yinzhou Heavy Machinery within three days, and then vote on it at the Standing Committee. Mayor Xia still needs to follow up on this matter."

Song Wendi did not express any opinions, but made the final decision directly. Song Wendi did not adopt the "one-man show" approach. His meaning was very clear. He wanted to conduct large-scale discussions at the Standing Committee meeting, which also left room for Xia Xiang.

Under Song Wendi's majestic gaze, Xia Xiang nodded in agreement even though he was angry.