Chapter 559 - 432 I specialize in playing against the wind

"What did the Secretary General talk to you about? Why such a long conversation?"

"Did you talk about the helicopter issue?"

Back on the playground, Boss Wu and General Luo each posed a question, revealing their core concerns.

Boss Wu, being the Political Commissar and concurrently the Deputy Secretary-General, was more concerned about the Secretary General’s movements.

General Luo was about to get promoted and was more concerned about money matters.

Fang Huai pondered for a moment before responding,

"Uh... he asked about the ’Household Appliances to the Countryside’ initiative. Perhaps the Provincial Government has some thoughts on it. As for the helicopter, Secretary General Hao said he would bring it up with the leadership."

He wouldn’t tell unrelated people how deep his conversation with the leadership had been, so deep that it might later be possible to play that card.

Otherwise, if the Secretary General indeed got promoted, wouldn’t these two treat him as a tool to ask for money?

Upon hearing these words, the two leaders exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

Both shrewd from their years of experience, they felt that surely the half-hour conversation wasn’t so simple, but they didn’t press further.

Most likely, it was about his family’s business. These days, with such heavy emphasis on investment recruitment, each leader indiscriminately gets tasked with it, and considering Fang Huai’s family had money, the Secretary General might also be chasing his own targets.

With this in mind, Boss Wu spoke amicably,

"Little Fang, the Secretary General might be our next supervising leader. If your family doesn’t plan to invest, you still need to put it nicely, be subtle, understand?"

Fang Huai smiled calmly and reassuringly, but didn’t spell it out, "Rest assured, Corps Captain, it went well. Secretary General Hao even said that if I make the top three, he’ll come to our squadron to celebrate with me."

Oh...

The two bosses exchanged another look, their smiles widening.

After that, Boss Wu relaxed and his thoughts returned to the earlier discussion, seeing this striving youth from the Firefighting Generation, he spoke with a hint of elder’s pride,

"Little Fang, how confident are you about your graduate school exams?"

Fang Huai, sensing that these conversations were likely leading to his promotion, didn’t mention "striving for third to ensure first". Instead, he spoke out loud and clear,

"Report, Corps Captain, I’ve pretty much prepared everything. As long as I graduate, I’m certain to pass!"

"Good, very good, Computer Science... no wonder you have such broad horizons," Boss Wu nodded approvingly and spoke with more vigor,

"Perform well in the Grand Martial Arts Competition! Once you are awarded your rank, our whole corps will hold a meeting to discuss it. A fine young man like you completely meets the criteria for exceptional promotion! But according to the civil service management regulations, you can’t be exceptionally promoted without having held your post for a full year, nor can you have consecutive exceptional promotions. However, the whole corps is watching your progress, just keep up the good work..."

Boss Wu pointed to his own shoulder, "Within the rules, two bars won’t take long!"

Tsk tsk.

This was all off-the-record talk.

Two bars, Lieutenant Colonel, either a Deputy Battalion or a Battalion Commander.

Possibly a Deputy Regimental Commander, but that was hardly worth considering.

And generally, exceptional promotions meant rank advancement after position promotion. If he got two bars, he would definitely be a Battalion Commander.

The promotion of cadres of this level was almost entirely authorized by the whole corps and the active duty office.

Colonel Liu from the active duty office was the last to leave just now... Boss Wu seemed to have spoken with him. And looking at Boss Wu’s confident demeanor, it was clear that the Colonel had given his approval.

Today’s public revelation has been quite a harvest!

"Yes, Corps Captain, I’ll give it my all!"

In the future, he would need to maintain good relations with the whole corps!

He also needed to make a trip to the Military Academy soon. The student office there had already called to inquire about him. Following Hu Peizhou’s advice, Fang Huai had replied that the bureau had already been informed and he would visit on October 8.

The courses there, mainly the public foundation ones like Marxism and military theory, required mainly memorization. Core courses in combustion theory, fire protection laws, technical equipment, and rescue and aid techniques deserved serious attention.

As for firefighting design oversight, it was primarily part of the Military Academy’s Command Department curriculum, not heavily taught, whereas it mainly belonged to the Fire Prevention Department of the Langfang College.

And even if he learned it, it would not be very useful to him. Most of that stuff was handled by firefighting experts anyway. Even if he became a Big Team leader, his main job would be to master a set of on-site inspection procedures after the construction was complete.

The initial architectural plans and such were mainly to be signed off by the Fire Prevention Place of the Regiment.

There were some things he did not want to get involved in, and if he had the power, he would push to get the building fire inspection part out early, retaining only the supervision rights for firefighting.

Firefighting doesn’t necessarily mean the right to inspect building fire safety. That aspect is more about the building’s structure. The requirements for firefighting facilities are specified in the Fire Protection Law and various management measures. The professionals from Housing and Urban-Rural Development should handle it. They follow the rules, and once the building is completed, firefighting is responsible for inspecting the outcomes.

"How you constructed it, I don’t care. But before it’s put into use, I need to see it on-site. We all look together, test the firefighting facilities, check if the pressure is adequate, if water is accessible, if firefighting facilities are operational.

"Since you approved the design plan, issued the construction permit, and signed off on the inspection, let me use it once. No problem, right?

"If it can’t be used, well, let’s have a battle to see if there’s a problem with you, him, or me."

"By assigning plan audit completely to Housing and Urban-Rural Development, we can create a mechanism for mutual supervision that checks corruption, simplify the review processes, and protect firefighting cadres as well.

"There’s an old saying, absolute power is the breeding ground for corruption. No department should have unrestrained power without supervisory checks and balances."