"Mayor Zhao? I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence!" Fang Zhicheng took the initiative to greet Zhao Liang. He was also surprised. It was not easy to meet an acquaintance in such a big city like Yanjing.
Chapter 0679 Zhao Ling's Survival Crisis
Seeing that it was Fang Zhicheng, Zhao Ling smiled and said, "So it's Secretary Fang. Why are you here today?"
Zhao Ling's heart was beating fast. The fact that Fang Zhicheng was Su Qing's son had spread throughout the Hanzhou officialdom. Zhao Ling was always well-informed. When he got the news, he felt his heart throb. Unlike other officials, Zhao Ling often ran projects in Yanjing. He knew the power of the Su family better than anyone else.
If the factions were classified, there were no more than ten families stronger than the Su family, and when the Su family was at its peak, it was ranked in the top three. Although the Su family has declined now, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. If the Su family wanted to deal with Zhao Ling, they would not need to spend any effort at all. Just stretching out a finger would be enough to ruin Zhao Ling's reputation.
Moreover, there are now rumors of a marriage alliance between the Su family and the Ning family. The Ning family is even stronger than the Su family. The alliance between the Ning and Su families is a powerful combination, and they will instantly enter the first echelon.
Zhao Ling had been disguising his network of relationships in Yanjing as mysterious in Hanzhou. In fact, Zhao Ling did not know any senior officials in ministries or commissions. It was just that a classmate of his in college held an important position in the Provincial Development and Reform Commission. Zhao Ling relied on the relationship of this classmate to get project funds for Hanzhou every year.
Afterwards, Zhao Liang took control of Hanzhou's Beijing office, and then used the resources of Hanzhou to find key entry points in various ministries and commissions. This made Zhao Liang seem to be very popular in the ministries and commissions. As for the rumors that Zhao Liang had a close relationship with a certain leader and was the nephew of a certain leader, these rumors were all false news deliberately released by Zhao Liang.
In official circles, one has to lie occasionally and package oneself to sound more legendary, only in this way can one have a future.
Zhao Ling originally wanted to suppress Fang Zhicheng, but since he knew that he was from the Su family, he immediately gave up the idea. At the same time, he was thinking about finding an opportunity to repair their relationship.
Zhao Ling is a man who knows the times. He knows which forbidden areas cannot be touched, and the Su family is undoubtedly one of the forbidden areas that cannot be touched.
Fang Zhicheng didn't know what Zhao Ling was thinking. He smiled faintly and said, "I'm also attending a dinner party here. Which box are you in? I'll come over to toast you later."
Fang Zhicheng naturally had no good impression of Zhao Liang, but the tone of Zhao Liang's speech to him today did not disgust him. After all, it was not easy to meet an official from Hanzhou in Yanjing, so Fang Zhicheng thought about giving him the respect he deserved.
Zhao Liang reported the box number, and Fang Zhicheng went into the bathroom. Zhao Liang shook his head and went to his own box.
After about ten minutes, the door of the box was knocked open, and Fang Zhicheng walked in with a glass of wine, followed by Su Lin. Zhao Ling was slightly startled, and quickly introduced with a smile: "This is our Hanzhou Xiaguang District Party Secretary Fang Zhicheng."
Fang Zhicheng smiled faintly and said, "I learned that Mayor Zhao was having dinner with several leaders, so I came here to toast."
Zhou Zhiwu and Chen Yutang both raised their glasses symbolically, and Fang Zhicheng drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, and that was the end of the formality.
Zhao Ling smiled as he escorted Fang Zhicheng out of the box. He turned around and went back inside. Zhou Zhiwu said with a smile, "The secretary of the Xiaguang District Committee is really young. He looks no more than 30 years old, right?"
Zhao Ling nodded and said, "Director Zhou has good judgment. He is now the youngest director-level cadre in Huainan and has a promising future."
Zhou Zhiwu smiled, and Zhao Ling could see some disdain in his smile. In his opinion, there was a huge gap between the deputy director-level cadres at the local level and those at the national ministries and commissions.
Looking at the resumes of national leaders, most of them are from the top down, working in ministries to a certain level, then working at the grassroots level for a few years, and then slowly settling down after returning to the ministries. In the final analysis, Zhou Zhiwu does not look down on officials who come from the local level.
There are countless people younger and more senior than Fang Zhicheng in the ministries and certain public institutions in Yenching. What does Fang Zhicheng count for
Zhao Ling could see that Zhou Zhiwu had a bad attitude towards Fang Zhicheng. After thinking about it, he decided not to reveal the relationship between Fang Zhicheng and the Su family. After all, this would not be of any help in negotiating the project.
Chen Yutang frowned and said, "The middle-aged man standing behind your Secretary Fang just now looks familiar."
Zhao Ling smiled and said, "I don't know him either. He might be his family member."
After a round of drinks, Zhao Ling thought that since Fang Zhicheng was coming to visit, it would be wrong for him not to go over. So he stood up and said to Zhou Zhiwu and Chen Yutang, "I'll excuse myself for a moment and go to the next door to say hello."
Zhou Zhiwu smiled and said, "Major Chen and I will go with you and help you hold the scene."
Zhao Ling was slightly stunned and said, "I couldn't ask for more."
Zhou Zhiwu also drank a few more glasses today and seemed more excited than usual. He happened to meet a local official who was younger than himself but had the same administrative level as him. He felt a little uncomfortable and wanted to suppress the other party's arrogance.
Zhao Ling was also an experienced person. How could he not see Zhou Zhiwu's thoughts? He had his own calculations in mind. Anyone who had dinner with Fang Zhicheng must have a very high position in Yanjing. He had been having dinner with Zhou Zhiwu and Chen Yutang for such a long time tonight, but there was no progress in negotiating the project, so he thought about using Fang Zhicheng to see if he could break the situation.
If there are powerful people at Fang Zhicheng's table, Zhao Ling can take advantage of the situation and make Zhou Zhiwu and Chen Yutang take notice of them and re-evaluate Hanzhou's strength.
After knocking on the door and entering, Fang Zhicheng reacted quickly, stood up first, and quickly introduced to the others, saying: "Let me introduce to you, this is Comrade Zhao Ling, the deputy mayor of Hanzhou."
Zhao Ling raised his glass and said with a smile: "We learned that Zhicheng had a dinner party here, so we came over to disturb him."
Zhou Zhiwu held up the wine glass, with a look of arrogance in his eyes, but when his eyes fell on one person, he suddenly became flustered. Because the person sitting in the upper seat was Wang Zhengrong, the powerful deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Chen Yutang was also stunned, because the person sitting next to Wang Zhengrong was Major General Wen Jianjun, Assistant Chief of Staff of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army.
Wang Zhengrong glanced at Zhou Zhiwu's face, said nothing, and smiled faintly. Zhou Zhiwu gritted his teeth and felt his face burning.
Chen Yutang took the initiative to greet Wen Jianjun, and Wen Jianjun nodded. He was not very familiar with Chen Yutang, he only knew that he was a cadre in the General Office.
Zhao Ling noticed the abnormality of Zhou Zhiwu and Chen Yutang, and after leaving the private room, he asked, "Was there a leader at the table just now?"
Zhou Zhiwu smiled bitterly and said, "Mayor Zhao, I didn't expect that the secretary of your Xiaguang District Party Committee has such great power. Director Wang from the Development and Reform Commission was at the table just now."
Chen Yutang showed an embarrassed look on his face and said, "Major General Wen Jianjun is also present. He can definitely make the final decision on this civil-military airport project."
Zhao Ling showed a puzzled look on his face and asked, "That dinner just now, was the purpose of it for the military-civilian airport project?"
Chen Yutang smiled bitterly and said, "The middle-aged man who looked familiar to me before, I now remember that he should be Su Lin. He is now the executive director of the Xijing National Civil Aerospace Industry Base. Su Lin can be said to be the number one in the field of civil aerospace. The fact that Director Wang and General Wen can eat together at the table must be for the civil-military airport. If nothing unexpected happens, the contractor for the five civil-military airports in East China must be a company under Su Lin."
Zhou Zhiwu nodded and said, "Mayor Zhao, we have talked to you so much today, and we all understand your thoughts. The reason why Major Chen and I did not make a direct promise is mainly because we do not know what the leaders above mean. However, since someone from Hanzhou can have dinner with the two senior leaders, it means that the problem is not very big. The five quotas for the construction of the military-civilian airport project must include one from Hanzhou."
Zhao Ling sighed inwardly. He naturally knew what Zhou Zhiwu meant. These two people could not make the decision at all. The person who could make the decision was next door. He was extremely depressed, but he had to appear very happy on the surface, because he came to run the project mainly for Hanzhou. Now that the project was basically settled, he naturally had to appear very happy.
But he was in an extremely low mood. In the past half month, he had spent so much effort on running the project. Now the project was landed in Hanzhou, but he was not the hero. It was like running a race with all your strength, and halfway through, you found that the person next to you only took one step and reached the finish line.