Chapter 355

May 8, Chairman Wang Feng of the Medical Association, accompanied by eight listed pharmaceutical companies including Huafai Pharmaceutical, Haitian Biology, and Baiyun Pharmaceutical, came to Ganshui to inspect the medicinal herb planting base; County Party Secretary Lu Fan and County Chief Yuan Weiwei personally accompanied the inspection.

Shiqiao Town, Nan gou Town, and Laoshan Town have good ecological conditions, suitable climate, and are very suitable for planting medicinal herbs.

The inspection team learned in detail about the construction scale and medicinal herb varieties and yields of the three towns, attentively listened to the explanations of several town party secretaries on all aspects, and further deepened their understanding of the development of the planting base industry.

Although the inspection team members are all worth hundreds of billions, they are very down-to-earth; they went deep into the fields to learn about the growth of medicinal herbs such as sanqi and chonglou; they entered the seedling sheds to check the cultivation of huangjing, and exchanged views on seedling and cultivation techniques, problems during planting, and solutions, showing great professionalism.

After two days of inspection, both sides believed that the medicinal herb industry in Ganshui County has broad market prospects and great potential.

The inspection team is willing to reach a long-term cooperation agreement with Ganshui County, strengthen scientific and technological training in Ganshui, scientifically plan planting varieties and scale, product processing, form a demonstration effect, gradually become stronger and larger, and spare no effort to guide and help farmers increase their income and become wealthy through the medicinal herb industry.

May 10, in the Ganshui County Party Committee meeting room, County Chief Yuan Weiwei and Wang Feng et al. signed the cooperation framework agreement.

Moreover, these four pharmaceutical companies voluntarily deposited a guarantee of 2 million yuan into Ganshui County's finances to show sincerity; this is actually giving face to County Party Secretary Wang Hongtao!

This inspiring news greatly boosted the enthusiasm for planting medicinal herbs in the three towns, because County Party Secretary Lu personally said that as long as the herbs are grown well and meet standards, whatever amount is harvested will be bought at a satisfactory price!

Ordinary people fear not hardship but being deceived; however, everyone can trust County Party Secretary Lu's words.

May 11, County Party Secretary Lu Fan personally convened a meeting to arrange and deploy matters related to participating in the Silk Expo, further strengthening the sense of responsibility and mission to run the Silk Expo well. The County Chief, Executive Deputy County Chief, Propaganda Minister, and leaders of relevant departments attended.

The meeting watched a promotional video on investment promotion in Ganshui; Director Wang Licheng of the County Economic Development Bureau reported on preparations and assigned tasks to participating units; the County Industrial Park Management Committee, Agriculture Bureau, Tourism Bureau, etc., reported on the Silk Expo booth setup preparations; heads of relevant departments made supplementary remarks.

Lu Fan emphasized that the Silk Expo is a major annual event for the province and an important measure for promoting our county and attracting investment; all departments must enhance awareness, raise their stance, look at the overall situation, actively prepare, strive to introduce high-quality projects, and showcase the spirit of our county's delegation.

All units should take this Silk Expo as an opportunity to implement the work requirements of focusing on the industrial chain and vigorously attracting investment; prepare carefully, screen thoroughly, do well in inviting clients, spare no effort to carry out all investment promotion work, ensure that our county achieves substantive results at this Silk Expo, judge heroes by investment promotion achievements, and the County Party Committee and County Government will heavily reward those who have made contributions!

After a week of intense preparation, on May 18 Lu Fan led the delegation to Chang'an City to attend the meeting.

On the way, Lu Fan said to Weiwei: 'We need to divide tasks; I will follow Secretary Li Mingzhou, and you go to Secretary Hong Tao's side to see if we can pick up some leftovers.'

Weiwei laughed and said: 'Okay, I'll keep an eye on Hong Tao and strive to gain something this time.'

'Well, keep an eye on projects and people, and don't be fooled by those shell companies that trick people out of funds and land.'

Upon arriving in Chang'an, Lu Fan went directly to the Provincial Party Committee; Li Mingzhou had arrived a few days earlier and had an office at the Provincial Party Committee.

After meeting, Lu Fan prepared to 'closely monitor' Secretary Li Mingzhou and asked: 'Secretary, will you be staying at a hotel tonight?'

Li Mingzhou shook his head and said: 'No, there's a lot of unhealthy trends! I arrived on the 15th; the Yingjiang City delegation has only eight departments participating. If you go and see, the hotel we booked in Yingjiang is already full; I see all the bureau chiefs have come down. They do nothing useful, just flatter and fawn!'

Lu Fan felt uncomfortable expressing an opinion; those leaders might have come to Chang'an just to treat leaders to a meal and seek opportunities to contact them, which is human nature. Not entering leaders' sight, not leaning toward the organization, could one really hide ten or eight miles away?

Lu Fan changed the subject, smiling and asked: 'Secretary, does this city's investment promotion project include a share for Ganshui?'

Li Mingzhou said: 'The city has independently planned and packaged 43 projects with a total investment of 45.7 billion yuan, has connected with some interested enterprises, and will sign some framework agreements; actually a few projects could be placed in Ganshui. You don't need to worry here; focus your thoughts on your own county's investment promotion projects.'

Lu Fan laughed and said: 'Secretary, with your high position, you will surely communicate with Secretary Chen and Governor Liu these days; if you get a chance to secure a few big projects for Yingjiang, that would be great!'

Li Mingzhou smiled and said: 'Grassroots work really trains people, especially their thick skin! Do you think provincial projects are easy to win? Chang'an has become a force, breaking into the national top eight; any project with a bit of 'meat' will surely tilt toward Chang'an, helping it break into the national top five or even top three, which is the province's consensus. Rather than putting effort here, you'd better try your luck with Wang Hongtao; he has higher requirements for projects and especially values 'high-precision-cutting-edge' projects. See if there are any projects he doesn't like and bring them to your Ganshui.'

'Alright, I'll listen to you; the leftovers that Chang'an doesn't want are enough for us to eat! If you have any orders, I'll be on standby at any time!'

May 19, the third Silk Expo opened grandly at the Chang'an International Exhibition Center! Governor Liu presided over the opening, and Provincial Party Secretary Chen Jiazhong delivered the address.

The Ganshui County exhibition team carefully planned and organized the booth setup, centrally displaying 12 enterprises and 18 products on the online exhibition platform, 8 enterprises and 28 products in the Yingjiang Pavilion, and 4 enterprises and 16 products in the Rural Revitalization Pavilion. The exhibits mainly include petroleum equipment manufacturing, silicon carbide, Mei shui liquor, 80,000-li tofu dry, Mei shui miscellaneous grains, mountain-running chicken, Laoshan eggs, and ground pepper lamb, among other quality products, fully showcasing Ganshui's development advantages, resource endowment, and characteristic industries.

Additionally, they packaged and planned 48 industrial projects, actively docking with interested enterprises, and strived to introduce a batch of big and good projects.

After the exhibition opened, Lu Fan followed Yuan Weiwei to the Chang'an exhibition hall; it was truly distinctive in theme, high-end and impressive, with merchants gathering, opening eyes and arousing envy.

Seeing the two approach, Wang Hongtao smiled and greeted them, saying: 'Why aren't you doing your own work properly, running over here to meddle?'

Lu Fan laughed and said: 'We came to learn; we always thought we had prepared with all our might, but this gap is like a huge chasm, making us feel ashamed.'

Seeing Lin Xiangyang, director of the Development and Reform Commission, walking over from afar, Wang Hongtao hurriedly said to Lu Fan and Weiwei: 'I need to go greet the leaders; if there are any projects suitable for you, I will help you make connections.'

Lu Fan busily said: 'Secretary, you're busy; we'll just take a look.'

That afternoon, Chang'an City fired the first shot of the Silk Expo, holding a signing ceremony and press conference.

Under the witness of numerous media and leaders, the Chang'an Municipal Government and companies such as Xiaopeng Motors, Tuopu Group, Fushun Holding Group, and Chengtong Supply Chain Service Co., Ltd., among over twenty enterprises, signed investment cooperation agreements worth nearly 600 billion yuan!

Lu Fan and Weiwei also attended the press conference, mainly to broaden their horizons in Chang'an.

Seeing the astonishing figure of 600 billion, Lu Fan sighed: 'Plant phoenix trees, and phoenixes will come; Chang'an's business environment this year has been widely praised; now Chang'an, under the leadership of Secretary Wang, possesses tremendous momentum, is gathering strength for a leap, and will surely soar! Today is only the first day; I can't even imagine how much investment Chang'an will ultimately secure after the Silk Expo ends, but it will surely be an earth-shattering number!'

Weiwei also exclaimed: 'Compared to people, one must die; compared to goods, one must be discarded!'

In the following days, Ganshui County participated in the Yingjiang City County-Level Economy High-Quality Development Promotion Meeting, the Yingjiang-Yinzhou Joint Promotion of High-Quality Development Signing Ceremony, and other investment promotion activities, still gaining some harvest.

On the evening of May 22, Lu Fan was discussing work with Weiwei in the room when suddenly Weiwei's phone rang; it was a call from Secretary Wang Hongtao, asking Weiwei to come over right away.

After Weiwei left, Lu Fan felt a bit disappointed; it seems the teacher-student relationship is indeed not as close as that of classmates!

The next morning, Weiwei eagerly knocked open Lu Fan's office and said: 'Secretary, I returned late last night, almost twelve o'clock, so I didn't disturb your rest. Good news: Secretary Wang pulled strings and brought us a tire production project, an automobile sheet metal processing and supply chain project, and a brake manufacturer project; together they amount to 4.8 billion yuan of investment!'

'Good, that's fantastic! Weiwei, you've made an indispensable contribution!' Lu Fan showed great excitement.

In this way, adding the three projects that Ganshui County itself has connected, they can sign six solid projects, with cumulative investment also reaching 5.64 billion yuan!

Furthermore, casually adding a few projects under construction in Ganshui, they could easily hold a hundred-million-yuan-level investment promotion signing ceremony; looking at Yingjiang, they would also be among the best!

Lu Fan instructed Weiwei: 'Find out the signing amounts of other counties and districts; this time we aim to take first place in the whole city, earning extra points in the year-end evaluation!'

Weiwei laughed: 'Don't worry, I had Tongyu and Luochen inquire; the situation is very promising, and we will surely win first place this time!'

In the afternoon, the Silk Expo closed; all national media focused on Chang'an, and even netizens were anticipating Chang'an's signed projects and amounts!

Wang Hongtao did not disappoint anyone in the slightest, with 687 projects and a total investment of 16 trillion yuan, creating a historical high; Chang'an shocked the world!

No one questioned the authenticity of the achievements; everyone believed that Chang'an's rise would be unstoppable!

Secretary Wang Hongtao and Chang'an became the hottest topic of the Silk Expo and even the whole nation!