Volume 1 Chapter 58: Divvying Up the Spoils of Power

  He Qing opened the door and let Shen Hua in, grabbed a handful of tea leaves, made him a cup of tea, and said: "Today is Secretary Shen's first day to fully take charge of the steel plant, working so late, you have to pay more attention to your body..."

  No matter what He Qing's starting point was, whether it was to maintain the overall situation and avoid letting the town fall into a passive state, or because of his sympathy for Tu Si, not wanting him to be trampled by Du Jian, yesterday so many things happened, but only He Qing stood out to stop the situation from getting worse - just based on this point, He Qing is worthy of being close to.

  Shen Huai took the cup of tea handed over by He Qing and said, "Today I checked out the situation at the steel plant, and it's a bit complicated. It's not like a nail stuck in one place, I'm young and my body can still withstand it, but the work in town will have to be taken over by you, Director He, from now on..."

  "Everyone serves the masses, with different focuses, so there's no distinction between them."

  He Qing pushed a chair and sat down beside Shen Huai, smiling and saying

  However, the town had a meeting today and made some adjustments to the division of labor. Several secretaries discussed with the mayor, Shen Secretary, since you are in charge of industry and economy in Meixi, departments related to industry and commerce finance such as enterprise management, economic management station, and financial affairs office, must be personally grasped by Shen Secretary. Du Secretary's opinion is also this way, these responsibilities cannot be shared with anyone else...

  Shen Huai rubbed the back of his head, leaning against the chair, and didn't expect the town's wind direction to change so quickly, which also reflects the extremely worldly and realistic aspects of officialdom.

  At that time, Du Jiande, the county party secretary, was supported by Tao Jixing. In Meixi Town, he had absolute power and made He Qingshe, the deputy secretary and town mayor, a mere decoration. No one dared to say anything against Du Jiande. The deputy secretaries and deputy mayors below him all listened to his every word and followed his orders, together pushing He Qingshe to one side.

  Now the situation has turned around, He Qing Society has the opportunity to put Du Jian in a precarious position and will definitely not show mercy.

  Of course, He Qing is also a realist who knows the importance and key role of this ally, so he has handed over the management rights of enterprises, stations, financial offices and other major economic powers in the town.

  Shen Huai didn't think that He Qing's reality and secularism were bad, since he wanted to mix with the official circle, severely beating a fallen person and showing no mercy was the most basic quality, but he didn't expect him to act so quickly.

  However, He Qing didn't mean to drive Du Jian away, which shows that he still has a good grasp of people's hearts - Shen Huai indeed doesn't want to hurry and kick Du Jian out.

  He had just arrived in Meixi as deputy secretary, even if he immediately kicked Du Jian out, he couldn't possibly take over right away after only two days as deputy secretary. It's better to let Du Jian stay than have the county send someone else to intervene in Meixi Town.

  Tan Qiping will arrive at Donghua in half a month to take up the post of municipal party secretary, and Shen Huai is not afraid that Du Jian can turn over in Meixi Town; he and He Qing She unite, also have enough grasp to control the situation in Meixi Town, which is undoubtedly a more favorable situation at this time.

  However, Shen Hua didn't want to take on too many things.

  To say, financial power is equally important as personnel power.

  The work order of Meixi Town has been restored to normal, and the finance should be controlled by the town head. At this time, He Qing She will separate the finance department from other departments and hand it over to Shen Hua for management, which cannot be said to have a very obvious intention of pleasing. This also shows that the division of labor in the township in 1993 was somewhat chaotic.

  He Qing is a relatively principled official, but also a pragmatic and worldly one. At present, he obviously regards Shen Huai as an object of transaction and cooperation.

  However, Meixi Town's annual fiscal revenue is less than six million, and the salaries and benefits of primary and secondary school teachers and government agency employees take up more than half of it.

  Other corresponding expenditures on education, transportation, family planning, agriculture and water conservancy, defense, etc. also have a fixed amount to be spent each year.

  After deducting these, the actual amount of money that can be flexibly controlled by the town is only a few million.

  Even if he's extremely ruthless, no one dares to put tens of millions of dollars directly into their own pocket. Shen Huai's eyes may be shallow, but they're not so shallow that he'd fight for control over the tens of millions of dollars in funds each year.

  "I've only been in Meixi Town for two days, but I know you're a kind-hearted person, Director He," Shen Hua said sincerely to He Qingshe. "I decided to come down from the city and take on a role in the countryside because I want to do something meaningful. This is also what my family's elders would like to see - that I'm capable of doing things. However, if you put all these burdens on me, I really can't handle it..."

  Shen Huai's words were also half-true and half-false, some of which required He Qing to slowly ponder on her own.

  "For example, there are some funds in the town that are urgently waiting for approval. If financial affairs were assigned to me, after I finish my work at the steel factory every day, I would come to the town to study the use of funds, which would likely delay things," Shen Hua said thoughtfully, "So, I'll take on this responsibility. Since I'm also streamlining operations and production at the steel factory, it's similar to the work done by enterprise management, so I can handle it. If I don't do well, I can still ask for your advice, Town Head He... As for managing the station and financial affairs, please don't make things difficult for me..."

  Shen Hua's attitude is very clear:

  The town-owned enterprises are managed by the enterprise office in principle, he is in charge of economy, grasping the rectification and revitalization of the town-owned enterprises, which is reasonable; the finance section and the economic management station belong to the finance block, and they are resolutely handed over to He Qing She for management.

  He Qing's attitude towards Shen Huai was very resolute, without any ambiguity. He thought that he really wanted to make money by controlling the steel plant's raw material procurement and steel sales, which would easily bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Indeed, there was no need to keep an eye on the town's finances or the village-level financial management and land contract fees, so he didn't think about it anymore.

  He Qing said, "The burden on the steel mill side is indeed heavy, and the burden that the company should bear is yours to bear; in this case, financial matters will be discussed and handled by me with you..."

  Shen Hua just nodded and briefly exchanged the situation of the steel plant with He Qing, then asked: "The head of the financial department of the steel plant, Qian Wen-hui, and Du Secretary's driver, Shao Zheng, are husband and wife - are you clear about this situation, Mayor He?"

  Shen Huai knew that He Qing She should be most wary of Du Jian and his trusted confidants, Qian Wen Hui and Shao Zheng at this time, but he didn't worry that he would have any secrets.

  Qian Wen-hui was originally a cadre of the county finance bureau. In 1988, when the steel plant was undergoing expansion and reform, the then-county head Chen Bing, who is now the director of the municipal sports committee, felt that the financial situation of the steel plant needed to be improved, so he appointed Qian Wen-hui as the head of the financial department of the steel plant. Her husband was a demobilized volunteer soldier and was transferred to the steel plant last year by Secretary Du to work as a small car driver. In fact, there were several small car drivers in the steel plant, and sometimes Secretary Du would use Shao Zheng to drive, while other times he would have Xiao He take charge of picking up and dropping off, it wasn't fixed. He Qing-she briefed Shen Huai on the general situation.

  Shen Huai was also secretly rejoicing in his heart, thinking that if he hadn't asked He Qing directly this time, he might have really kicked Qian Wenhui and Shao Zheng to one side.

  This also reflects the complex personnel relationship of Meixi Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. from one aspect.

  Shen Huai had only thought that Du Jian would not let the crucial position of financial director fall into the hands of someone outside his inner circle, but he did not expect it to involve a struggle between former county magistrate Chen Bing and county party secretary Tao Jixing, nor did he expect Qian Wennui to be an official appointed by former county magistrate Chen Bing to work at the steel plant.

  Shen Huai was unfamiliar with the former county magistrate Chen Bing, thinking that he had been kicked out of his position as county magistrate to take charge of sports work in the city, and his power was much weaker than before. If he came to Mei Creek later, it's possible that Qian Wen Hui would have already kicked Du Jian and others out of their positions as financial directors.

  It seems that Qian Wenhui should not be Du Jian's person; Du Jian wants to pull Shao Zheng, Qian Wenhui's husband, into the steel plant as a small car driver, and there must be an intention to win over Qian Wenhui.

  Shen Huai thought again, Director Du Gui of the factory office specially called Shao Zheng to stay and hand over the car key, perhaps with malicious intentions to deceive him. He was also secretly annoyed: Unexpectedly, Du Jian and his confidant had come this far, still playing tricks...

  Shen Hua glanced at his watch and saw that it was already 10:30 at night. He prepared to get up and bid farewell to He Qing She.

  He Qing said: "Right, there's something else I want to tell Secretary Shen..."

  "What's wrong?" Shen Huan asked.

  He Qing Society picked up the phone on the office desk, dialed a number and said to the other end of the phone: "Secretary Shen is in my office, come over and make a self-criticism to Secretary Shen..."

  Shen Huai didn't know what kind of medicine He Qing's gourd was selling, so he sat down to see who would come over to make a confession with him.

  After a while, someone knocked on the door and came in. Shen Huan looked at him with a familiar face, but it took half a day to remember that he was the deputy factory director who had been ordered to resign this morning, only remembering that his surname was Guo.

  "Ah..." The factory director with the surname Guo walked somewhat nervously to Shen Hua's front, for a moment somewhat flustered, not knowing whether he should call Shen Hua "Secretary" or "Director".

  "You're still a local even if you quit the steel factory, so just call me Secretary Shen." Shen Hua said, since He Qing She was helping to plead his case, it also meant he wasn't Du Jian's person and didn't want to be too severe.

  "Guo Quan used to be in charge of finance at the steel plant, and his work discipline was very lax. Today, he was driven out by Secretary Shen, and he came over to make a self-criticism with me. I think he doesn't have a deep understanding, so I asked Secretary Shen to educate him some more." He Qing said.

  Shen Huai said: "Since Director Guo is in charge of finance at the steel plant, he may not be too familiar with the situation in the factory area. It seems that I was too strict this afternoon."

  "No, no," said Guo Quan, "Secretary Shen wants to rectify the steel factory's production, and strict requirements are necessary. It's my fault for being too lax, and I didn't have a deep enough understanding. After being criticized by Mayor He, I gained some deeper insights and wanted to report to you in person, Secretary Shen..."

  Shen Hua smiled and pointed to a chair at the corner of the wall, saying: "Let's talk while sitting down, you can't force me to apologize to you, can you?"

  Shen Hua looked at Guo Quan, who was about 34 or 35 years old, with a fair complexion. Since he had He Qing's support, he couldn't really treat him as a grandson, so he turned his head and said to He Qing: "I've come to Mei Creek for two reasons: first, I'm new here, and second, I'm young and vigorous. If there's anything wrong with my work, Old He, you must point it out to me..." Shen Hua changed the way he addressed He Qing, making them seem more familiar with each other.

  He Qingxia was chattering away, asking Guo Quan to move a chair over and sit down to talk.