Chapter 551

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Outside the door, Chen Yi was busy as if in his own office.

Although his pen never stopped, his ears were pricked up.

Actually, Minister Sir thought Chen Yi's early arrival gave him an opportunity to warn the Chen Family to stop overstepping; but for Chen Yi, was it not also an opportunity to realize his plan to nail himself into the government?

The first year of West Continent's development was a process of familiarization and observation, and also a process of stabilization. At that time, intelligence was most important, safety and strength were secondary, and making money was merely incidental.

Even now, making money was not the main thing; before the structure was solidified, building the model Chen Yi hoped for was most important.

But whichever point it was, all required the investment of national power.

Take the current Canal Wharf, for example: without the Construction Ministry's coordination, even just a design issue would give people a headache. This was not simply pulling a line—the wharf's architecture was design, the wharf's circuitry was design, drainage and sewage treatment, road traffic and its connected railway network, warehouses and berths, methods of oil, gas, and even coal supply, administrative buildings and staff accommodation, security for military garrisons—even if a god were found, he would have to handle them one by one.

With so many requirements, naturally several times that number of design personnel were needed.

In addition, large-scale purchasing of high-standard construction materials could not rely solely on West River Association's orders. Things like large electric motors and giant electric shovels had normal procurement cycles of over half a year—the other party would produce according to your requirements, rather than produce goods and store them in warehouses waiting for sale.

Under these circumstances, Chen Yi could only obtain the needed materials better and faster through administrative allocation. Relying on money alone, this matter could not be done well.

So, if the Construction Ministry could allocate resources according to his requirements with full effort, Chen Yi would naturally be satisfied, everything normal. Now that someone had thrown a wrench in the works, he didn't mind nailing himself in even more.

As far as he was concerned, despite some political risks, that was all there was to it.

His advantage was far greater than the Chen Family itself.

Two Chen Families, occupying one Construction Ministry—what did that amount to?

He didn't worry about any normal procedures; as for abnormal procedures—he hoped someone would act before him.

Pa.

Minister's office, door open.

The officials all put on respectful appearances.

The Minister looked solemn and dignified, like a high monk just out of a bathhouse, red-faced, body steaming heat hidden in the mist: "Chen Yi, no longer angry?"

He appeared open and aboveboard, enthusiastically extending his hand, and said: "Today I truly am at fault, the people below also don't understand things, don't blame them."

It was as if he had never been in the building at all.

A beautiful smile and warm gestures, plus high status—the Minister might be able to warm an antisocial heart.

But it was useless on Chen Yi.

He hadn't been angry to begin with.

He had merely made a decision.

Chen Yi shook hands with the Minister with a smile, then turned to the other side and said: "Naked Bear, call Jiao Sigang from the Personnel Department again. Let's draw up a document and ask Minister He to sign it."

Director Zhou was stunned again. He had just been thinking about drafting the document.

The Minister was somewhat displeased, waving his hand with a hearty laugh: "No rush, no rush, it's nearly noon. I had Secretary Shi book a hotel; no matter how busy, one can't work on an empty stomach, right? I'm treating, haha."

From his perspective, this was already very witty and humorous.

"No need to eat." Chen Yi remained seated, answering coldly.

The Minister's humor instantly vanished without a trace.

Jiao Sigang soon arrived. He was a famous penman in the Personnel Department, specializing in writing documents for the department, and sometimes even writing speeches for Director Zhou.

A capable man with a sharp pen, but somewhat lacking in reading people's expressions.

Before Director Zhou could speak, Chen Yi stated the document requirements. Jiao Sigang, seeing both the Director and the Minister present, had no suspicions, picked up his pen and wrote without any materials, completing the whole document in one go.

Under the eyes of seven or eight high officials in the department, Jiao Sigang felt he had made a great show, trembling with happiness, secretly rejoicing: Could it be that my luck has turned?

Respectfully handing two thin sheets of white paper to Chen Yi, Jiao Sigang still smiled and greeted: "Minister, Director, Director, Mr. Chen, then I'll be going back."

Director Zhou, who used to value him highly, now wanted to strangle him.

Can't you die without showing off!

"Go back early." The Director's attitude was very clear.

If because of their department, Chen Yi was allowed to insert himself, the Minister would not let him off first.

Jiao Sigang was completely unaware, returning to his office full of elation. Chen Yi smiled, turned the document toward the Minister, and said: "I'll trouble you to sign."

"Mobilizing talent from across the country to tackle scientific research? You have big ambitions." The Minister's smile carried undeniable denial as he said: "Our department's resources are now very limited. This way, our previous investigation research and carried-out project engineering would all have to be transformed because of this. Hehe, this is no longer a matter for one department. You see, shouldn't we explain and report to Elder Chen..."

Chen Yi said calmly: "New circumstances have arisen, and the old pattern must change. This is keeping pace with the times. I will report to Elder Chen that you agreed."

"This, I cannot agree to." The Minister answered firmly.

He felt Chen Yi was at the end of his rope, thinking to himself: Sure enough, young people; before even starting, their capital was already spent dry.

Secretary Shi was not worried either.

Without the Minister's signature and seal, this document would not pass.

Chen Yi seemed to have no such worry as he looked at the Minister.

"Since that's the case, then I'll offend you."

"Hmm?"

Chen Yi waved his hand, signaling Naked Bear to make a phone call.

The Minister was secretly angry and turned to leave.

In a short while, over thirty people were summoned to the reception room of the Minister's office.

These were members Chen Yi had obtained through tirelessly searching archives, a core group capable of replacing officials within the department. They were mostly between thirty and forty-five years old, the highest-ranking being a Deputy Director, the lowest merely an ordinary clerk. One-third of them had close ties to the Chen Clan—either collateral in-laws of a certain family, or disciples and former subordinates of someone. They did not know each other, nor did they know whether the others had volunteered or been summoned like themselves. Natural caution kept them from entering conversation; instead, they did their best to await Chen Yi's instructions and complete the work.

Chen Yi sent Director Zhou and the others back, only leaving Secretary Shi alone, and said slowly: "I plan to organize a Construction Management Bureau to oversee departmental resource adjustments. You are the first batch of candidates to enter the department; you can consider whether to join."

Those present did not realize what degree of impact the appearance of the Construction Management Bureau would have on the political circle. Like most famous events in this world, everyone here was bewildered at this moment.

"What is the work content of the Construction Management Bureau?" The highest-ranking Deputy Director spoke first. He was considered a figure within the Chen Clan's inner circle; the process of accumulating seniority was extremely boring, and having such an opportunity, he was too happy to contain himself.

Chen Yi remembered the name in the file and said, "Wang Wei?"

"Yes."

"In short, the Construction Management Bureau is to oversee an important port construction task." Chen Yi's gaze drifted toward the Minister's office as he said, "All projects within the Construction Ministry must give way to port construction."

If he hadn't been too surprised today, Secretary Shi would definitely have thought Chen Yi was a fool.

But he couldn't.

After a moment of silence, another clerk asked, "What about the staffing of the Management Bureau?"

"It still counts as part of the Construction Ministry; everyone's rank is adjusted up two levels. Once you enter, Deputy Division Level becomes Deputy Department Level." Chen Yi looked at the group with a smiling expression; he didn't believe these people wouldn't be tempted.

The 30 people he selected were first and foremost young people who were intelligent and had diverse backgrounds. If they didn't belong to the Chen Clan, they were people without any background; such figures usually didn't catch the eye of supervising leaders.

Now, he offered the temptation of a two-level jump; if they still weren't moved by this, they were nothing more than a few timid frogs in warm water, unworthy of the name of intelligence.

Excellent people first know how to seek benefits for themselves.

Those who buy famous watches and write diaries are excellent people; old yellow cows who toil silently for ten years are merely excellent meat in the eyes of butcher shop bosses.

Secretary Shi coughed heavily and said with a smile, "Mr. Chen, the organization has certain rules for promoting cadres."

"Such excellent talent—if the Construction Ministry doesn't want them, I'll just send them to another department." Chen Yi seemed to be joking, yet not quite.

With the energy of the Chen Family, transferring a few low-level cadres and promoting them along the way—what was that?

Once everyone understood this point, making decisions became extremely easy.

The Deputy Director set an example and said, "Mr. Chen, what do you want me to do now?"

"You need to coordinate several design departments and first pull together the task force." He handed Wang Wei a document.

"Mr. Chen, what about me?" Another section-level cadre also let go of his reservations.

Officials who can get promoted and make money are officials who dare to risk everything. Speaking of danger, embezzlement and corruption are also dangerous; only those with guts and schemes can produce excellent local news stories one after another through corruption.

"You need to allocate resources; the usage of special steel and high-grade concrete exceeds their current production scale, and you must urge them to speed up production..."

Chen Yi tried his hand, assigning tasks one by one, and each person was issued a document.

The so-called Construction Management Bureau was not Chen Yi's original creation.

The question of how those in high positions seize power is an eternal proposition, especially suited to democratic countries. When a US President takes office, facing the unfamiliar Washington bureaucratic system, how can they obtain the maximum power in the shortest time?

A single phrase "thepresident" cannot solve the problem.

In history, the two US Presidents who did the best, Roosevelt and Kennedy, had similar solutions. Establish a team composed of assistants, using temporary institutions and organizations to replace permanent ones—viewed from a logical perspective, it is controlling the bureaucratic system from outside the bureaucratic system, rather than using the bureaucratic system to attack the bureaucratic system.

But in Secretary Shi's understanding, Chen Yi actually wanted to sideline the Minister.

Simply joking!

How could this be possible!

However, a photocopy of one of the documents Chen Yi distributed revealed his "trump card."

The three characters "He Shanglin" written in vigorous calligraphy looked like the real thing.

The seal was exactly the same.

After carefully identifying it for 10 minutes, Secretary Shi was thrown into confusion.

He hurriedly ran back to the door of the Minister's office, only to see the Minister looking at the same photocopy: "Too much. What does he want to do?"

"I'll have the Public Security Bureau send an appraisal expert." The secretary spoke with shared hatred of the enemy.

The Minister snorted and asked, "Appraise what?"

"The signature..." Secretary Shi's voice lowered, thinking to himself: Did I say something wrong?

The Minister's face turned red then white, finally he sighed and said, "Forget it. Let him make a scene."

After all, he didn't want to completely stand on the opposite side of the Chen Family.

Yet he never thought about how far Chen Yi would go using the shell of this "Construction Management Bureau."

... (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to come to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)