Rebirth of the Rising Sun

"...After my investigation in Haitian Development Zone today, I found that the employees under the Development Zone Management Committee have not received their salaries for half a year, and we only have one dollar and fifty cents on our financial books. Facing such a huge contrast, I think all the leaders present here should know how difficult it is to do our work. As long as the municipal party committee and government can support my employees' February salary, which is about two million yuan, I can solve the basic living problems of my employees and make the most adequate preparations for the development zone to start again next year. Because our development zone has geographical advantages and convenient transportation, I believe that the development zone will have a beautiful and desirable future."

Regardless of whether everyone was willing to listen or not, Feng Sizhe told everyone the current situation of the development zone.

"Clap, clap, clap." After Feng Sizhe finished speaking, Minister of Propaganda Lou Xiaoming and Haibei Military Sub-district Commander Xi Guoqi both applauded to show their encouragement.

"That's great. If that's the case, the development zone has great prospects. The initial step is just to solve the problem of wages that should be paid to the workers. I think it's completely feasible." Xi Guoqi laughed and expressed his support for Feng Sizhe.

"Oh, Commander Xi, do you think it's feasible? If so, why don't you withdraw two million from the military budget and give it to him? Humph! It's just polite talk, everyone can do it." Mayor Liu Wenhua hit back at Xi Guoqi on the spot.

"This..." Xi Guoqi was not born in the economic field. He was a soldier, so it was understandable that he didn't know much about economic construction. Now that he was being criticized by a general like Liu Wenhua, he really couldn't say anything. After all, he was not as good as him in economic construction, and he didn't dare to transfer military funds. Military funds were absolutely earmarked for specific purposes. Who dared to embezzle them?

Seeing Xi Guoqi stopped talking, Liu Wenhua curled his lips in disdain. Seeing that the mayor had taken the lead, Song Dexiang quickly followed up with a sentence, "Yes, economic construction is not like being a teacher and giving lectures. You need real skills to do it. Who doesn't know how to talk big?"

"Okay, at least Mayor Feng's doing this can help maintain stability during the Spring Festival. Otherwise, so many workers will not get paid and will not be able to celebrate the New Year. If there is a commotion at that time, I'll see what we should do. But when that time comes, don't think that my propaganda department will remain silent. I will tell you the truth." Seeing that Song Dexiang was getting angry again, Propaganda Minister Lou Xiaoming added this sentence. Just this one sentence made Song Dexiang speechless.

After Lou Xiaoming finished speaking, the atmosphere in the conference room calmed down for a moment. Now anyone could see that the situation was now tied at 2-2. There were two people supporting Feng Sizhe and two opposing him. In terms of professionalism and level, it was clear that the opposing party had the upper hand.

This is exactly what the municipal party secretary Xiang Kang fears the most. What he fears the most is that the people below him would confront each other like this in the meeting.

Other secretaries might want it to be like this, because only in this way can they show their leadership. But Xiang Kang is not like this. He studies the doctrine of the mean and likes the art of balance. Otherwise, he would not be transferred to a special place like Haibei to serve as the municipal party secretary. It can be said that before every meeting, he is fully prepared. When he knows that the theme of this meeting is likely to infringe on the interests of one party, he will make some preparations in advance, either by talking to someone or thinking of other ways to make up for it. In short, he tries to reduce this aspect as much as possible. However, today he really can't do it. Feng Sizhe raised his own topic without saying hello, and then the people below started to fight. He didn't know what to do for a while.

I scratched my head and thought, it's only two million, at most the municipal party committee can pay the money first. The municipal party committee secretariat sent a report two days ago, saying that some new cars will be purchased after the new year to replace the corresponding leaders, so why not use the money to fill the hole first, as long as the dispute can be stopped, the actual things are small things.

"Okay, okay, we are all here for work. I think it would be better if Mayor Feng still has confidence in the development zone, and it is really not good to owe the workers wages. I think it would be better to transfer 2 million from the Municipal Party Committee to solve the current difficulties first, so that everyone can have a good new year."

Xiang Kang was thinking of a solution to the problem, of course. However, he didn't know that this statement would cause a lot of trouble. First, Mi Xueyong, one of the deputy secretaries of the municipal party committee and the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the director of the Haibei Municipal Public Security Bureau, spoke up, "Secretary Xiang, the municipal party committee is very rich. If that's the case, then our public security bureau's year-end funds have not been distributed yet. Do you think you can give us some as well?"

"That's right. If you can get money by complaining, then please ask the Municipal Party Committee to allocate some funds to our Chenghai District. The dormitory buildings we built for our grassroots comrades have been suspended for a long time due to lack of money. Can you see if the Municipal Party Committee can give us money so that our comrades can move into their new houses earlier?" Chenghai District Secretary Xu Qingdong also challenged Xiang Kang at this time.

To put it bluntly, these two people were not going after Xiang Kang, but all of them were going after Feng Sizhe. Mi Xueyong, needless to say, was following the orders of Yu Zhengda, the secretary of the Provincial Political and Legal Committee, to make things difficult for Feng Sizhe, while Xu Qingdong was also very angry because his son went to Jiang Chengsheng's house to propose marriage, but was caught up and ruined by Feng Sizhe. He took this opportunity today to vent his anger.

After the two quarreled, Secretary Xiang Kang, who wanted to calm the situation, was helpless. The municipal committee had some money, but it was limited. It was true that he could solve Feng Sizhe's problem, but he couldn't solve the problems of other people one by one. Faced with this reality, he was really helpless and had no good solution.

The meeting hall became quiet again for a moment because of the noise made by Mi Xueyong and Xu Qingdong. Every member of the municipal party committee's standing committee sat there and watched the changes in the situation. These people discovered a problem in their hearts, that is, the Haibei Municipal Party Committee, which was originally relatively balanced, became a little chaotic and unbalanced because of the arrival of a young Feng Sizhe.

The meeting couldn't remain deadlocked like this. There was no other way, so Xiang Kang had to look to the Minister of United Front Work, Zheng Geping, for help.

Xi Guoqi had said before that Zheng Geping was a very powerful person, and he was very good at balancing the relationship with the other party. He was also surprised by the changes in the accident today. He also saw that in the current situation, there were obviously more people supporting Feng Sizhe than those opposing him. Based on this mentality, Zheng Geping spoke.

"Okay, comrades, stop comparing yourself to each other. Who among you doesn't know how much money the Municipal Party Committee has? Ah? Everyone has their own difficulties, that's a fact, but we have to solve them one by one. I think we should first transfer one month's salary from the Development Zone. If the money is not enough, we can transfer it from our United Front Department, but we must remember to pay it back."

Speaking of which, Haibei City attaches great importance to united front work, so relatively speaking, the United Front Department has some spare money, but it's only one million yuan a month, so it can still be taken out.

Zheng Geping originally wanted to solve the problem, thinking that he would finish the meeting first, and that Secretary Xiang Kang would handle the future. But he did not consider Feng Sizhe's feelings. He finally had such an opportunity to present the difficulties of the development zone to everyone, but he only got one month's salary. Did he think he was a beggar? He had already boasted to the comrades in the development zone that he would at least give them two months' salary. Now, he only got one month. How can he explain to the nearly 1,000 people when he goes back? This is absolutely not acceptable. Although Feng Sizhe is not a person who pursues perfection in doing things, as for solving the problem, if the problem cannot be solved, he will not give up easily.

"Thank you Minister Zheng for your support for our development zone. However, I want to say that one month's salary is not enough. It requires at least two months' salary. This is my promise to nearly a thousand employees, and I must do it." Feng Sizhe first nodded in gratitude to Zheng Geping, and then made a statement to everyone that the matter could not be resolved in this way.

Since the matter has been brought to the meeting of the Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and has caused dissatisfaction among the Municipal Party Committee Secretary and the Mayor, he cannot just be given one month's salary. He must pursue his own power. As the head of the development zone, he must also have the obligation to be responsible for nearly a thousand employees and nearly a thousand families.

Zheng Geping stepped forward only to help Secretary Kang solve his difficulties because he had seen his eyes looking for help, and thought that the two of them had always had a good working relationship and that many things were accomplished by them cooperating with each other, so he stepped forward to settle the matter. However, he did not expect Feng Sizhe to not appreciate it at all and actually refused to help on the pretext that one month's salary could not solve the problem. Zheng Geping could not help but reveal an unhappy expression on his face. In his opinion, this was entirely due to Feng Sizhe being too young, too arrogant and ignorant of human nature. Couldn't he see that he was trying to smooth things over for him?

It can be said that Feng Sizhe offended many people by saying this. For example, the face of the municipal party secretary Xiang Kang became even uglier. Mayor Liu Wenhua, Executive Vice Mayor Song Dexiang, Political and Legal Committee Secretary Mi Xueyong, Chenghai District Secretary Xu Qingdong and others all showed disdain on their faces. They felt it was ridiculous that Feng Sizhe didn't understand things, and they wanted to see what Feng Sizhe was going to do next. He didn't even want to offend ordinary people in the city. He dared to refuse the kindness of Zheng Geping, the Minister of United Front Work, who was considered by everyone to be the most powerful person. It seemed that this kid really didn't know his place.