Chapter 504: A Business Conference Brimming with Spice

At 4 p. m., Lu Fan arrived at the Provincial Party Committee, and Municipal Party Secretary Tang Bing had reserved time especially.

After the meeting, Lu Fan reported Nanyuan City's recent work, focusing on economic indicators, key project construction, and the results of attracting investment, because he knew the leaders cared most about these.

After hearing the report, Tang Bing smiled and said, "I think your Nanyuan‑Chao Luo County City is a sure thing! That's fine; it puts some pressure on them and creates a healthy competitive situation. You didn't come here just to report work, right?"

Lu Fan smiled and said, "Secretary sees even the finest details; since you became Municipal Party Secretary, the City Government has had little time to attend to matters, which has to some extent affected its efficiency. On behalf of the Nanyuan Municipal Party Committee, I recommend Deputy Secretary Su Xianghai as Mayor, Executive Vice Mayor Wang Hong as Deputy Secretary, Vice Mayor Zhao Haorui as Executive Vice Mayor, Political and Legal Committee Secretary Yang Jiankian as Standing Committee Vice Mayor, Public Security Bureau Director Tian Xuan as Political and Legal Committee Secretary, and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the City Public Security Bureau and Executive Deputy Director Kong Yongjie as Public Security Bureau Director."

Tang Bing nodded and said, "I promised you earlier that this adjustment would follow your plan. To be frank, I'm under great pressure! Lu Fan, the Provincial Party Committee strongly supports your work; you must deliver a satisfactory answer and shut down the idle gossip."

Lu Fan resolutely said, "Please rest assured, Secretary, I will not betray the organization's trust and cultivation, nor the public's expectations and responsibilities, nor my own original aspiration and mission. I will work day and night, devote all my mind, fulfill my duties, be diligent and professional, implement every task thoroughly and produce results."

After leaving the Provincial Party Committee, Lu Fan went to the Provincial Government to report to the Governor and several Deputy Provincial Governors, seeking some support measures.

On the way back to the city, Lu Fan called Han Xinpu, asking him to wait until Municipal Party Secretary Tang Bing returned to Jingcheng and then arrange a simple meal to strengthen communication with the Secretary. Secretary Tang is renowned for integrity in Huayuan Province and almost never attends private banquets.

On June 28, the Provincial Party Committee convened a five‑person group meeting to study related personnel issues, which involved the adjustment of Nanyuan City's leadership team.

On June 30, the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department Inspection Team arrived in Nanyuan City, using steps such as democratic recommendation, democratic assessment, public opinion surveys, performance analysis, individual talks, and comprehensive evaluation to conduct organizational inspections and interviews with Deputy Secretary Su Xianghai and other comrades.

Now Su Xianghai felt reassured; after the interview, he immediately went to the Secretary's office to express sincere thanks.

Upon entering, Su Xianghai, with a solemn expression and sincere tone, said, "Secretary, I know the recent appointment of Nanyuan's Mayor has caused a great stir in the province; without your strong support and help, I would not have had this opportunity for advancement! From now on, under the firm leadership of the Municipal Party Committee, I will resolutely implement all your directives, perform my duties conscientiously, coordinate comprehensively, steadily advance orderly work, actively contribute, and be a good staff officer for you."

Lu Fan said earnestly, "After you take office, the City Government's work will be yours. I won't interfere lightly, but I will set requirements. You must act with a sense that time waits for no one, uphold high standards, strict requirements, and a fast pace in advancing key project construction; employ multiple measures to carry out investment attraction and project landing services, accelerate the introduction of quality enterprises and major projects to our city, and fully promote high‑quality economic and social development across the city; you must do your utmost, focus on people's livelihood needs, and use heart, emotion, and effort to resolve the urgent difficulties and anxieties of the masses."

Xianghai, only by twisting ourselves into one rope, merging into one strength, uniting into one force, and gathering into one heart can we push Nanyuan City's work to catch up and surpass. In this year‑end comprehensive assessment, Nanyuan City must secure second place and strive for first; this must be achieved!

"Please rest assured, Secretary, I will shoulder the work responsibilities from a political and overall perspective, spare no effort in boosting the economy, advancing construction, and driving development, and fully achieve the year‑long economic and social development targets."

Lu Fan continued, "We originally planned to hold the Standing Committee meeting in the next two days, but we'll postpone it until you take office. However, you can intervene early. If the City Government has any personnel adjustment needs, you may raise them; the Municipal Party Committee will consider fully, with everything prioritizing the overall work situation and needs."

Then Wang Hong, Zhao Haorui, Tian Xuan, Yang Jiankian, and Kong Yongjie lined up to the Secretary's office to express gratitude, and Lu Fan gave each of them specific work requirements.

On July 1, this special holiday, the Nanyuan Municipal Party Committee and Government held a city‑wide conference on optimizing the business environment; all city‑level leaders attended, the top party and government officials of each county and district and the main leaders of municipal departments participated, and the meeting also invited 200 entrepreneur representatives along with some people's congress deputies and CPPCC members; Nanyuan City Television broadcast the event live.

The first agenda item was to publicly screen a covert‑inspection video on the business environment, exposing a series of negative typical cases, pointing out the city's prominent problems and shortcomings, with a strong bite that made the participating leaders turn red and sweat.

The covert‑inspection video noted that these cases collectively reflect a weak sense of regional purpose, lack of legal awareness, absent service consciousness, and missing integrity among the relevant departments; the business environment suffers various problems and shortcomings, becoming the issue most strongly voiced by market entities, most damaging to the region's image, and most severely restricting reform and development.

After the video, officials from some counties and districts, the Development and Reform Commission, government services, and housing and construction departments took the stage to speak, exposing their own shortcomings, applying self‑pressure, identifying gaps and causes, and publicly stating the next target tasks, vowing to treat optimizing the business environment as this year's foundational, comprehensive major work and to grasp it firmly.

The second agenda item was to read the City Discipline Inspection Committee's handling opinions on the 225 "troublemakers" who damaged the business environment.

The Wolong District Civil Defense Office was wiped out by the Discipline Inspection Committee; Director Zhang Xing, Deputy Director Xu You, Deputy Director Wu Sheng and others severely damaged the business environment and also had other serious disciplinary and illegal issues, receiving party expulsion and dismissal from public office, with suspected criminal matters transferred to procuratorial authorities for legal review and prosecution;

The director of the Wancheng District Land and Resources Transaction Center, Liu Mei, abused her authority and maliciously interfered in construction projects… Liu Mei was expelled from the Party, dismissed from public office, and her suspected criminal matters were transferred to procuratorial authorities for legal review and prosecution;

Former Land Bureau Director of Xichuan County, Zhang Qing, received party expulsion, had his retirement benefits revoked, and his illicit gains confiscated; the suspected criminal issues were handed over to judicial authorities for handling;

…

Reading the decisions alone took a full hour: 122 people were expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office and sent to procuratorial organs; 103 received dismissals, removals, severe warnings, and other varying party and disciplinary penalties. It was especially shocking, fully demonstrating the Municipal Party Committee's resolve to turn the blade inward, scrape bone to cure poison, use strong medicine to purge disease, enforce strict codes to govern chaos, and self‑cut away rot, giving the participants a vivid lesson in anti‑corruption and integrity.

The third agenda item was that the Nanyuan Municipal Party Committee and Government issued appointment certificates to 300 business‑environment supervisors and media observers; the appointed personnel can directly contact the Municipal Party Secretary and Mayor, turning the blade inward to continuously pressure themselves for further optimization of Nanyuan's business environment.

The fourth agenda item was that the City Discipline Inspection Committee and City Political and Legal Committee deployed the next steps to completely resolve the "pain points," "difficult points," and "blockage points" affecting the business environment, deciding to continue concentrated governance of prominent problems, focusing on work style, market environment, government services, regulatory enforcement, and political‑business relations, intensifying supervision, discipline, and law‑enforcement, and targeting 24 types of business‑environment‑damaging behaviors across three categories:

1. Ten behaviors of shirking, passing the buck, inaction, slow action, and low efficiency;

2. Six behaviors of taking bribes, demanding favors, plucking feathers as geese pass, and acting arbitrarily;

3. Eight behaviors of disciplinary laxity, cold‑hard push, and terrible attitude.

The meeting stated that the whole of society should supervise; if any leader, cadre, or public official is found to have the above issues, please promptly report to disciplinary inspection and supervision organs, and a clear response will be given to the informant within three days.

The fifth agenda item was Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan delivering an important speech.

Lu Fan, with a solemn expression and resolute gaze, said, "Comrades, deep water pleases fish, a strong city delights merchants. A good business environment is not only productivity but also competitiveness. Whoever takes the lead in optimizing the business environment gains the initiative in development. Therefore, the construction of Nanyuan's business environment never reaches a finished state, only an ongoing one; there is no 'best,' only 'better.' It is a constantly tackled systematic project, an ever‑unfinished livelihood project!"

In the past year, our city has introduced a series of measures to optimize the business environment, reversing the previous lagging and passive situation, yet the gap with the nation's top tier remains large. We still have not fully met the expectations of the public and enterprises; corporate satisfaction remains a shortcoming. Where are we lacking?

On the surface, the shortfall appears in economic data; in substance, it lies in cadres' mindset, spirit, standards, capability, work style, and sense of responsibility. Compared with cadres in economically advanced regions who act proactively and serve ahead, our cadres still lack intrinsic drive for progress and pressure, have a strong "protecting one's own turf" mentality, insufficient innovation awareness, provide services to enterprises in a perfunctory, superficial manner, and willingly settle for mediocrity…

Building a sub‑center city for the province and optimizing the business environment is a hard battle that must be broken through and won. The Municipal Party Committee and Government will treat optimizing the business environment as the 'Number One Project,' which I will personally lead. All cadres and the public across the city must firmly establish the concept that 'everyone is the business environment, every matter is the business environment, every place is the business environment,' with the urgency that 'no progress means regression, even slow progress is regression,' treating every enterprise and public demand and suggestion as a major issue, handling them with care and doing them well, comprehensively raising satisfaction of enterprises and the public, and striving to create a nationally first‑class business environment!

And the same words remain: anyone who dares to damage Nanyuan's business environment will have their rice bowl smashed! This includes leaders, cadres, and Nanyuan's enterprises and merchants! The business environment will become a key annual assessment indicator, with a one‑vote veto system; the lowest‑ranked county, district, and department heads will be resolutely reassigned to non‑leadership posts, and the critical outcome will be the satisfaction of enterprises and the public, to be implemented immediately at the end of this year!