Chapter 519

Economic development is always the main theme; even if you throw other work into chaos, as long as economic development doesn't improve, you have no basis for confidence.

At the end of October, the Provincial Statistics Bureau fed back the first three quarters' various economic indicators to each city; Nanyuan City, as expected, stood out alone!

The Provincial Statistics Bureau released the economic operation situation for the first three quarters of 2023 across the province; according to the unified accounting of regional gross domestic product, the province's GDP for the first three quarters was 48500 billion yuan, economic growth was relatively sluggish, GDP growth continued to linger at a low level, ranking fourth from the bottom nationwide, and it remained the least satisfactory performance among major economic provinces.

But Nanyuan City bucked the trend, becoming the province's sole bright spot: its total GDP broke through the 600 billion yuan mark, steadily ranking second in the province; its incremental increase exceeded 250 billion yuan, ranking first in the province and standing out nationwide; the city's 2,158 provincial, municipal and county key projects saw cumulative investment of 1.25 trillion yuan, ranking first in the province; the city added 280,000 market entities, with 635 newly entered 'above-scale' enterprises, ranking first in the province; fiscal revenue doubled, with growth rate ranking first in the province; tax revenue grew 46%, ranking first in the province……Among the 20 economic indicators statistics by the province, eight ranked first and twelve all entered the province's top tier, achieving a historic breakthrough and the best performance ever; the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government issued a commendation for Nanyuan City.

Nanyuan's impressive performance caused a wide stir throughout Huayuan Province; Huayuan people were all discussing, 'What makes Nanyuan so outstanding? Why are we so mediocre?' Ultimately, it comes down to leadership's inaction, misguided action, sluggish action, and pretense.

From the 25th to the 27th, the Nanyuan City Municipal Party Committee held a city‑wide observation meeting on industrial project construction, a rally to strive for the annual economic goals, and a meeting to schedule the fourth‑quarter expansion of effective investment.

The 'Three Meetings in One' conference served as a 'pulse check' for development for all counties, districts and departments, continuously releasing a strong signal of all‑out effort to sprint through the fourth quarter and boost the economy, sounding the charge for a new round of 'learn, catch up, surpass', and igniting the passion of the entire city to seize every moment and strive forward bravely.

Public exposure, real action! Two circulars, three tables, five tasks……The meeting's written circular on the city's first‑three‑quarter economic operation, investment promotion, business environment optimization, development zone construction, etc., and their rankings, through solid detailed evaluation, made it clear at a glance who was ahead and who was behind.

The conference set up seats for the first and last places, with the advanced giving typical speeches and the lagging giving statements of position.

She County, Tang County, and Xi Chuan County conducted deep reflection and analysis, finding insufficient drive and perseverance in their work, lacking innovation in economic, project, and investment efforts, with insufficient intensity, weak atmosphere, and impractical work style.

Having felt the pain, they refined measures and earnestly pursued rectification, striving to push indicator improvements and genuinely turn around the backward, passive situation……The statements of position were sincere and heartfelt, with resolute attitudes.

Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan conducted point‑by‑point critiques, covering no shortcomings and hiding no flaws, praising achievements, pointing out deficiencies, and raising requirements through horizontal and vertical comparisons and analyses.

The venue became an examination hall and an arena, with no empty talk, straight to the point—results were displayed on the spot, problems exposed immediately, the points of trouble pinpointed precisely and the measures spoken of solidly……This conference gave the advanced more vigor and lifted their efforts to a higher level, while the lagging felt doubled pressure and resolved to catch up head‑on, making the atmosphere of 'learn, catch up, surpass', leveraging strengths, offsetting weaknesses, and pursuing leapfrog progress even stronger.

With clear orientation, explicit goals, and a distinct path, the 'Three Meetings in One' conference provoked a strong reaction throughout the city.

After the conference ended, on the Nanyuan City land in the golden autumn, the entire city's industrial front was fighting fiercely.

The greater the challenge, the more evident the sense of responsibility. Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan spent a month continuously visiting counties and districts for research, launched the 'Hundred‑Day Grand Campaign', personally supervising each provincial and municipal key project and investment‑promotion project, and making a focused effort on economic operation a shared consensus.

Leading cadres at all levels strengthened their competitive consciousness, adopting a running posture and a striving state, and precisely carried out economic‑operation analysis, judgment, and scheduling around project construction, enterprise services, and the business environment. The whole city studied and vigorously pursued economic operation, creating a strong atmosphere where every first place must be contested and every championship must be won.

The Municipal Economic Operation Command Headquarters fully played its coordinating role, conducting daily analysis, weekly judgment, and monthly scheduling, issuing a total of 800 supervisory orders and reminder notices; nine supervision and service teams persisted in going to the front lines, carrying out precise supervision, proactively seeking problems, shoring up weaknesses, strengthening weak points, and promptly holding talks with the relevant responsible officials of counties, districts, and departments whose work implementation was lacking.

Still short of 400 billion yuan, Nanyuan City could surge into the trillion‑yuan GDP club; this became Lu Fan's obsession. Even if he stayed only a year before falling back, this achievement would be dazzling enough, and by then Lu Fan would likely have left Nanyuan City, leaving successors incapable.

On November 5, the approval for Nanyuan City's national pilot program for standardized rural land‑rights transfer transactions was formally issued; Su Xiao‑yi and Wu Heng came to Nanyuan at Lu Fan's invitation, and Du Wenlong also made a special trip from the province to see his brothers.

After work, Lu Fan brought Cheng Haohao to the Nanyuan City Grand Hotel to entertain the three brothers.

After meeting, Lu Fan asked directly: 'Xiao‑yi, Wu Heng, I want to find you a business to undertake; first let me get the lowdown—how much 'family wealth' have you two accumulated over these years?'

Seeing the two slightly embarrassed, Du Wenlong laughed and said: 'Wealth should not be flaunted, riches should not be shown; as an outsider, should I step aside?'

Su Xiao‑yi hurriedly said: 'Second brother, what are you talking about! I'm not just adding up; besides, this little bit of family wealth I have is all thanks to Fan Ge's guidance and help—relying on my own 'ball skills', I might still be working on Wu brother's construction site!'

Then he turned to Lu Fan and said: 'Fan Ge, I can currently mobilize about thirty to forty million yuan; besides, those few factories, if fully liquidated or mortgaged, could be worth two to three hundred million yuan. Oh, right—the project I undertook with Wu brother, the Yingjiang 'Underground City', is estimated to be worth one to two hundred million yuan.'

Wu Heng bluntly said: 'Boss, I have a bit more than Xiao‑yi, after all my 'old man' gave me a foundation; my fixed assets could be four to five hundred million yuan, and I can handle one to two hundred million yuan in hand.'

Lu Fan smiled, his eyes flashing with wise light, and said slowly: 'Not bad at all; if you now "lie flat", you could support several generations without worry. However, this only satisfies material needs; what you are doing now is making money, not building a career.'

A lifetime is like a plant's single autumn; the reason successful people succeed is that they harbor lofty aspirations, treat endeavors that benefit the nation and the people as a lifelong career, and through relentless refinement, effort, struggle, and fight, they can leave their own mark in the long river of history.

Wu Heng is bold and straightforward, liking directness; he asked: 'Boss, don't beat around the bush with us—just give the order, and I guarantee I'll follow east when you say east, west when you say west, without any detours!'

Su Xiao‑yi also said: 'Fan Ge, your vision is high and your ability strong; whatever you say is surely right—tell me what to do and I'll do it, no second thoughts!'

In conversation with the brothers, Lu Fan no longer beat around the bush, saying: 'Fan Ge, I want you to engage in agriculture in Nanyuan City, through large‑scale land transfer, achieving land scale‑up, modernization, specialization, cultivation, and breeding, to raise land productivity and increase grain output.'

After rural young and middle‑aged laborers go out to work, food security rests on the foundation of grain planting by the elderly and women, a foundation that is not solid. Scattered land inevitably requires someone to conduct scale‑up operations; agricultural mechanization is an inevitable trend, and the first step is to achieve scale‑up and mechanization.

Nanyuan has been approved as the national pilot program for standardized rural land‑rights transfer transactions, with matching funds; you can uniformly level and plan the transferred land, build roads and wells, and construct water‑saving irrigation facilities, introducing new agricultural machinery such as deep‑tillage and no‑till machines to lower planting costs.

Wu Heng asked doubtfully: 'Boss, how much money does planting a field really take? In our Yingjiang, one mu of land costs only a few hundred yuan.'

Fan Ge laughed and said: 'What about ten thousand mu? A million mu? Even ten million mu? Plus the related supporting facilities and labor costs—raise as much money as you can, the more the better; I will find a company to invest in you, with startup capital of no less than three billion yuan.'

These words left the two completely stunned, as they utterly overturned their understanding.

But Su Xiao‑yi said without hesitation: 'Fan Ge, I'll follow you, I'll do it! For this lifetime I'll be a farmer—honestly, I just love getting my hands dirty with 'soil clods', down‑to‑earth! Under heaven and earth, eating is the greatest!'

Wu Heng considered it, then said: 'Boss, I'll raise funds with all my strength; whatever you arrange will surely be done well!'

Lu Fan said: 'If you're going to do it, you must make up your mind, go all in, treat farming as a lifelong career to be pursued to the extreme, striving to become a "grain king"! First, register a company in Nanyuan City, fully understand this line of work, and grasp the superior support policies. By the way, also register an engineering company to handle your old trade.'

Hearing this, Wu Heng had no reservations left; even if the agricultural company lost money, he could make it up in engineering.

After discussing the main points, the brothers raised their cups, exchanged drinks, and laughter and joy filled the air.

Why let Wu Heng and Xiao‑yi take part in Nanyuan City's construction? Lu Fan has deep considerations: on one hand, agriculture truly has great potential, and Municipal Party Secretary Hong Tao specifically instructed him, so grain security must be firmly grasped; on the other hand, Lu Fan is consciously beginning to accumulate his own power. Although the Li family's support is strong, resources are ultimately others', and some things must be firmly held in one's own hands to be able to summon them at will and have them ready to fight, to handle all situations and challenges with ease—plainly put, it means being able to call the shots completely.

Those who lack foresight will surely have near‑term worries; staying safe while mindful of danger, preparing for rain before it falls, is the true way—only then can one possess the calm of 'Mount Tai may collapse before one's eyes yet the countenance does not change', and the composure of 'in laughter and talk, the enemy's masts and oars are reduced to ashes'.