Reborn as a Noble's Son

Chapter 664: Chapter 620: Expansion of Wanghai City?_1

Provincial Committee of Minnan Province

Under the shade of the lush trees, the compound of the Province Committee is somewhat crowded today. In the parking lot, plenty of vehicles with license plates from Wanghai City and Zhangdong City are parked.

In the main conference room of the committee, the bright yellow décor exudes a sense of solemnity and luxury. The crystal chandelier in the center of the room shines brilliantly.

The central air conditioning is on. The temperature in the conference room is maintained at a comfortable 26 degrees Celsius. In the middle, there is a long conference table, divided and arranged on two sides. There are additional temporary seats at the back.

At this moment, Qiao Yiren, the secretary of the Provincial Committee and the governor, is sitting in the middle of the conference table. To his sides are the principal leaders from Wanghai City and Zhangdong City.

From Wanghai City, led by Nie Zhenbang, are the Deputy Secretary of the City Committee Li Chaoyang, Executive Vice-Mayor Wang Jianhua, Deputy Mayor Fu Yingping who is in charge of traffic construction, City Government Secretary-General An Guoyu, and other corresponding leaders from Wanghai City Transportation Bureau, Highway Bureau, Finance Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, and Construction Bureau.

From Zhangdong City, the leading figure is Deputy Secretary of the City Committee and Mayor Ma Guohui. The other members have only subtle changes, but the combination is basically the same.

Nie Zhenbang, squinting his eyes, is sizing up Ma Guohui, the mayor of Zhangdong City. Around fifty-four or fifty-five years of age, that’s a significant chunk of the people at the department and bureau level, and among those at the provincial and ministerial levels, it qualifies as senior officials. It’s just like in the military system, being a senior colonel is very common. But breaking through from senior colonel to the ranks of generals requires more than just abilities.

It is the same in the government system. There are somewhere between eight and ten thousand department and bureau level officials nationwide. However, there are only so many people at the provincial and ministerial level. This is a watershed moment.

Basically, crossing into the provincial and ministerial stratum at fifty signifies a promising future. In contrast, people like Ma Guohui, who are still mayors at the department and bureau level at fifty-four or fifty-five, and don’t even serve as the head of the City Committee, are essentially at the end of the road. The best outcome is to become a deputy leader in the Provincial People’s Congress or the Provincial Political Consultative Conference before retirement. That’s about as far as it goes.

Ma Guohui’s skin is fairly dark. His eyes flash with a kind of rudeness, which is presumably related to his experience. This man is not a cadre with high degrees or qualifications. He graduated from high school and went on to become a village party secretary and township cadre. He has climbed all the way up. This type of cadre possesses a significant characteristic – they are adept at the inner workings of the system. They dare to use any means necessary.

Looking at this, Nie Zhenbang can now understand why Zhangdong City would act stubbornly and refuse to repair this section of the road.

While deep in thought, Qiao Yiren, the secretary of the Provincial Committee, opened with, “This time, having both of you here, the main issue is still the intercity arterial road between Wanghai and Zhangdong.”

As he says this, Qiao Yiren’s tone of voice changes and becomes stern, “The Wanghai-Zhangdong intercity arterial road, was initially a great thing to boost the development of both cities and the entire Minnan Province. But look at you guys. Is there any trace of party members or government leaders left? You all are just blaming each other and passing the buck for just these ten kilometers. Right now, this has become a joke in Minnan Province and a laughingstock throughout the nation.”

Qiao Yiren’s palm is smacking on the table with a bang. At this point, Qiao Yiren is extremely angry. This project, which he planned and initiated when he was deputy secretary of the Provincial Committee, helped him gain substantial funds from the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission. Right now, the way it’s panning out, isn’t this just a slap in the face?

The atmosphere in the conference room has become somewhat grim at this moment, and Secretary Qiao’s raging anger is evident. At times like this, no one will volunteer to throw themselves into the fray.

After a period of silence, Qiao Yiren managed to calm down his emotions, glanced around the room, his gaze sweeping over Nie Zhenbang, and finally landing on Ma Guohui. Qiao Yiren continued, “Today, I’ve specifically called over both city mayors. The main purpose is one thing: no matter what, we need to solve this issue today. I don’t care whether Guo Clan Town belongs to Zhangdong City or Wanghai City. Anyhow, there must be a clear result and answer today.”

As soon as he finished speaking, to the side, Ma Guohui shifted his buttocks a little as if he was adjusting his posture. He immediately stated, “Secretary Qiao, it’s not that we in Zhangdong City don’t want to fix it. You are my longtime leader, and you clearly know the economic situation of Zhangdong City. A wise woman can’t cook without rice. For the Wanghai-Zhangdong intercity arterial road, Wanghai City is responsible for constructing just forty-five kilometers while Zhangdong City has to build eighty-two kilometers. This large investment has already burdened Zhangdong City with a heavy load. Now, we really can’t afford to build this stretch of road.”

Ma Guohui’s words also infuriated Nie Zhenbang. He had genuinely witnessed Ma Guohui’s brazen actions this time. If there’s a word to describe it, ‘shameless’ is the most appropriate.

The construction of the Wangzhang intercity route was initially skewed towards Zhangdong City by the Provincial Committee of Minnan Province in terms of fund allocation. The funds procured from the central government by the province were basically all given to Zhangdong City. Wanghai City was powerless in this matter. This is because the economy of Wanghai is already more active than that of Zhangdong City. Coupled with Wanghai City’s direct financial tie with the central government, generally, in the case of such planned directly-controlled municipalities, local provincial committees would not be excessively partial in terms of finance.

Now it’s ridiculous. This Ma Guohui is somewhat shameless. He even started to complain.

Qiao Yiren’s brows were also furrowed at this moment. Ma Guohui, whose reputation he had long heard of. Among the provincial and municipal civil servants in the province, he is notoriously stubborn. He should be considered one of Zhao Qiming’s people. He had only been working in Minnan for six years, at which time, Ma Guohui was already the executive deputy mayor of Zhangdong City.

Subsequently, Qiao Yiren also said gravely: “Comrade Guohui. How come you lack such ideological awareness. As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, you need to build roads first. With the road in place, the journey from Wanghai to Zhangdong City is only one and a half hours. This is a huge boost to the economy of Zhangdong City. Look at the party and government officials in the Central and Western Region, they all tighten their belts and even take out loans to build roads. While you, leave the last ten kilometers unattended. What would people say if this spreads out?”

Ma Guohui’s mindset at this moment is very firm. He also saw things quite clearly. Matters like this are like domestic affairs, it is difficult for even a clear and virtuous official to decide right and wrong. There is very limited room for his own rise, given his age. Ma Guohui had determined that Qiao Yiren had no way to deal with him in this matter.

Immediately, he put on a face of deep sorrow and extreme pity, and said: “Secretary Qiao, I really can’t think of any solution. Or, perhaps the Province could support us first.”

This is absolutely impossible. Wangzhang intercity route, with a total length of 137 kilometers, and a total construction cost of 200 million. Wanghai City does not have to contribute. Just for Zhangdong City, the provincial government has allocated 100 million of the funds. The actual funds that Zhangdong City is responsible for is not much. Even less than Wanghai City. Now, Ma Guohui wiped his mouth and denied his responsibility.

Qiao Yiren’s face also turned serious, and he turned to Nie Zhenbang and asked: “Comrade Zhenbang, what is the stance of Wanghai City?”

Nie Zhenbang at this moment, however, was calm and nodded, saying: “Secretary Qiao, regarding the matter of the Wangzhang intercity route. For this reason, we, the Wanghai City Government, have specifically held a meeting. In our view, we can build the road. But we have one request. Considering the gradual expansion of the urban area of Wanghai City. The shortage of land in Wanghai City is also becoming more severe. Our suggestion is to hope that the Provincial Committee and the Provincial Government can consider the economic development layout of Wanghai City. Incorporate all ten towns near Wanghai from the surrounding areas of Quanhai City, Zhangdong City, and Ningzhou into Wanghai City. Then, matters such as Guo Clan Town would be within our jurisdiction. We in Wanghai, naturally, will not shirk our responsibility.”

Nie Zhenbang’s attitude made everyone stunned. Qiao Yiren was taken aback on the spot. Ma Guohui, however, did not recover for a long time.

Looking at Nie Zhenbang, Ma Guohui sneered. It’s a good tactic. It was much better than his own shameless method. However, this kind of method can only be used by cities with special status like Wanghai City, a sub-provincial level city.

Nie Zhenbang is not entirely making excuses at this moment, he has been thinking about this issue for a long time. Wanghai City is made up of six districts, and apart from Siping District which has a relatively large area, the overall land area of the city is not large in fact. Especially Xiangming District, Wangxia District, Zongmei District, and Wanghu District. These four districts basically surround Wanghai Island. Among the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the nation, Wanghai City has the smallest land area. This greatly limits the economic development of Wanghai City. Now, he’s just taking this opportunity to propose his own plan. @@novelbin@@

At this moment, Ma Guohui just laughed and said: “Mayor Nie, that’s quite an idea.”

Ma Guohui’s words were ambiguous, the subtle message was clear. It’s as if he’s mocking Nie Zhenbang, seeming to act like a person who wants to have his cake and eat it too.

At this moment, Qiao Yiren’s expression became serious and stern. He is very clear about the character of Nie Zhenbang. He is definitely not someone who speaks without thinking. The expansion of Wanghai city, although he heard it for the first time, Qiao Yiren felt a sense of sudden clarity.

With his changing position, his perspective on things is also changing. Now, Qiao Yiren’s gaze is set on the entire province and even the nation. To make Wanghai City bigger and stronger, to make it a banner. This would also bring huge benefits to the economy of Minnan Province. After all, Minnan Wanghai is written on top of Wanghai City, not Huaxia Wanghai.

Thinking of this, Qiao Yiren paused for a moment and then said: “Let’s stop here for this morning. I have a foreign affairs activity to attend. We will continue coordination in the afternoon.”

PS: The update is late. This morning, a child of a friend was hit by a motorbike when he was going to tutoring class. He had a brain bleed and needed surgery. I was busy all day. Later, I have to go to the hospital again, so I’m asking for leave and I’ll post once today. I’ll make up tomorrow! (.)