Chapter 529: The Capable Rise, the Mediocre Fall

Ten minutes later, Mayor Su Xiang Hai arrived at the secretary's office, and Lu Fan personally brewed tea to serve.

Sitting on the sofa, Lu Fan said, "Those who can rise and those who can fall, let cadres be proactive and responsible. No need to hide the truth: lack of ability, missing sense of responsibility, and inaction still occur among some cadres in Nanyuan, such as Dengzhou City and the Civil Affairs Bureau, whose annual target assessment ranked last for the whole year!"

The "Cadre Appointment Regulations" explicitly state that leadership cadres unsuitable for their current posts should be adjusted, promoting the principle that leaders can rise or fall, removing positions from the inactive, and highlighting the clear personnel direction of 'the capable rise, the mediocre fall, the unfit eliminated.' It truly puts into use cadres who meet standards such as 'having the people in mind, bearing responsibility, maintaining discipline,' and 'seeking truth, creating enterprises, being genuine,' thereby revitalizing Nanyuan's cadre team with a fresh spring of entrepreneurship.

I have said in various settings that the top leaders of counties, districts, or departments that rank last in the year‑end assessment must be reshuffled; let us discuss how to reassign the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary and the City Civil Affairs Bureau director.

Su Xiang Hai's face showed worry as he said, "Secretary, is the measure too harsh? Should we give another chance? I'm sure they have realized the seriousness of the problem and will correct their work attitude and act proactively."

Lu Fan shook his head and said bluntly, "Adjustment is mandatory; only with strict enforcement can orders flow smoothly and work be consistent. We must practice what we preach and never fire a 'blank cannon'; otherwise cadres will harbor luck‑seeking thoughts. This time I intend to 'kill the chicken to warn the monkey', leaving no place for 'lying‑flat' cadres to hide."

Seeing the secretary's resolve, Su Xiang Hai stopped objecting, thought for a moment, and said, "Secretary, in my view, transfer the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary to become the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau, move the Civil Affairs Bureau director to the City Science and Technology Association, have the association's chairman step down immediately, and give him a second‑term notice so he can leave early. This will both serve as a deterrent and avoid crushing them outright, allowing room for error correction and a chance to rebound, which should reduce conflicts considerably."

Lu Fan thought for a moment and said, "The pressure isn't enough; it won't achieve the effect of 'knocking a mountain to startle a tiger, warning and admonishing.' Directly send the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary to the Association, have the Civil Affairs Bureau director retire to a secondary position as a researcher, and give him no second‑term notice! The Municipal Party Committee and Discipline Inspection Committee still want to talk to the Dengzhou City Government leadership, and even after a mistake consider their feelings? The Organization is not that soft! If anyone is dissatisfied, let them come to me; I'll handle offending anyone. As for the Association, don't waste it; I see little enthusiasm, so let him retire early, and you pick the replacement."

As for the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary, I plan to recommend Zhang Qianqian from the Administrative Approval Bureau. Though she is a female comrade, her work style is quite 'spicy'; she handles tasks with lightning speed, can kick and fight, and Dengzhou City needs such a cadre at the helm. The choice for the Administrative Approval Bureau director is for you to recommend; I have a few requirements: aim to optimize the business environment, base policies on the needs of enterprises and the public, improve service efficiency, enhance service quality, provide more convenient and efficient approval services, and continuously raise the sense of gain and satisfaction among the public and enterprises.

Cut steps, cut time limits, cut paperwork, cut procedures, cut field work; streamline the content and process of application, acceptance, review, approval, and closure for each matter, making notifications concise and clear at a glance, 'handle each matter only once,' truly achieving the goal that the public and enterprises can 'enter one door and handle all affairs.'

Six months later I will inspect, and also organize evaluations by enterprises and the public; if duties are not performed properly, then let them stay wherever is cool for them!

As for the other vacant posts, leave it to Wang Hong and the Organization Department to find candidates.

"Alright, Secretary, I will implement your instructions as soon as possible." Having secured the Administrative Approval Bureau director and the City Science and Technology Association chairman, Su Xiang Hai was overjoyed and no longer cared about those peripheral matters.

On February 17, Lu Fan used the weekend to stay in the office and set this year's work targets for each county, district, and department; the Municipal Party Committee Office, the City Development and Reform Commission, the City Industry and Information Bureau, and the City Statistics Bureau were on standby at any time.

On the morning of February 19, with Wang Honghai's strong coordination and assistance, Nanyuan City reached a cooperation agreement with Douyin short‑video platform; both sides plan to use Douyin's entire product line to promote Nanyuan's cultural tourism resources nationwide, further expanding Nanyuan's fame and influence.

Douyin will jointly launch with Nanyuan the "Four‑One Plan," using cultural‑city promotion, custom city‑theme challenges, Douyin influencer deep‑experience, and Douyin‑style city short films to comprehensively package and promote Nanyuan, spreading excellent traditional culture and wonderful urban culture through short videos.

Starting that day, Nanyuan's 'Top Ten Internet Celebrities' received a deluge of traffic; their works were fully pushed by the platform, and a dedicated channel for Nanyuan was even added, launching Nanyuan‑related content, the exposure maxed out, driving traffic straight onto Nanyuan's face!

The recent works of Nanyuan's Top Ten Internet Celebrities are all competition entries; the Propaganda Department and the Cultural Tourism Bureau have fully packaged them, pooling ideas to script, filming humorous, life‑like pieces, showcasing looks, identities, dance, talent, even parody. With the endorsement of Nanyuan officials and Douyin, fan counts for "Beautiful Minister," "Beautiful Director," "Nanyuan Farmer," "Funny Qian," and "Dancing Cat" surged, all exceeding five million, especially the heavily promoted "Beautiful Minister," whose fans topped eight million.

The ultimate goal for internet celebrities is 'live‑stream selling.' Nanyuan's Cultural Tourism Bureau, Agriculture Bureau, and Commerce Bureau have fully launched preparations for live‑stream sales. Official zero‑profit assistance to farmers will become a major highlight for Nanyuan; video links to the source farms are the second highlight, letting netizens experience the entire process from growth to packaging, boosting consumer trust; the official platform's promise of genuine, reasonably priced goods is the third highlight, dispelling consumer doubts.

On February 20, Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan chaired the first 2024 Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee meeting, hearing work reports from the Party Groups of the City People's Congress Standing Committee, the City Government, the City Political Consultative Conference, the City Court, and the City Procuratorate.

The meeting generally approved the 2024 work ideas and key points of the aforementioned Party groups and put forward specific requirements for the next phase of work.

Lu Fan demanded that the City People's Congress further draw deep lessons from the Ma Jinming case, placing themselves and their work into it, truly using the case to promote reform; the City Government should further intensify planning of key projects, strengthen the clearing of problematic land and the control of violations, and further standardize preferential policies for attracting investment; the City Political Consultative Conference should further leverage its functions and advantages to better voice and act in promoting Nanyuan's transformation and upgrading, actively participating in major city work and key project construction; the City Court and Procuratorate should further tighten the leadership team, lead their ranks, enhance quality, dare to take responsibility, and build a good image, focusing on their duties, aligning with the city's central work, to serve Nanyuan's development, maintain stability, safeguard navigation, protect the course, and provide good service.

The meeting also examined the annual target responsibilities, the Spring Breeze Initiative, and the Spring Festival 'Four Guarantees' and 'Double Embrace' tasks.

The final agenda item of the meeting was personnel adjustments.

"According to the Municipal Party Committee's arrangements and deployments, based on current work needs and the 2023 annual target assessment, the following adjustments are made for certain leading cadres: the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary is reassigned as the City Science and Technology Association chairman, and relieved of the City Civil Affairs Bureau director post…"

The plan reported by Organization Department Director Feng Guanjiao knocked the jaw off everyone! Everyone knew the secretary had said that the bottom‑ranked assessment required adjustment, but no one expected the changes to be so swift and the pressure so great! The distinguished Municipal Party Secretary moved to the Association, and the Civil Affairs Bureau director was outright dismissed… Such a case has never occurred in Nanyuan's history; it's the first time someone has lost a post due to poor performance!

Municipal Party Secretary Lu Fan said sternly, "Comrades, the assessment aims to break the old mindset that leaders 'never step down when wrong' and the 'lifetime system,' establishing the view that 'no achievement is a fault, mediocrity is a fault.' The Municipal Party Committee must use the 2023 annual target assessment results as an opportunity to decisively adjust a batch of cadres unsuitable for their current posts, forging a consensus of 'can rise, can fall' through precise personnel guidance, and motivate cadres to take responsibility in entrepreneurship and serving the people."

Adjusting leadership cadres touches their personal interests; only with 'orderly demotion and justified basis' can cadres accept it, ensuring a clean environment for selecting and employing officials. Nanyuan's rule is to judge heroes by achievements, rank seats by contributions, and appoint cadres based on performance.

Next, the Municipal Party Committee will target leadership cadres of low quality, mediocre ability, neither achievement nor fault, and no principled errors for intensive training, re‑forging them; those still unsuitable after training will be decisively adjusted, actively fostering a healthy 'rise and fall' atmosphere and encouraging cadres to take responsibility.

"I agree with the Organization Department's plan!"

The mayor followed immediately, expressing support for the Organization Department's adjustments.

Senior Wang also agreed, and the other standing committee members naturally raised both hands in approval; the personnel adjustment plan passed unanimously!

After the standing committee ended, the 'wind' of personnel adjustments swept the city instantly, causing a huge uproar and widespread discussion; cadres and the public were astonished, never expecting that Secretary Lu had truly taken action! Because of the last‑place assessment, the secretary and director were taken down directly—it was unbelievably thrilling!

Leaders of each county, district, and department were trembling, grateful they hadn't been last last year, and immediately elevated the importance of work to the top.

Mayor Dengzhou and members of the City Government leadership team shivered, preparing to face accountability from the Municipal Party Committee and Discipline Inspection Committee. Yet they were relieved there was still a chance and they weren't taken down outright!

When the Dengzhou Municipal Party Secretary heard he was being moved to the City Science and Technology Association, he was incensed, drove straight to the Municipal Party Committee to demand justice!

The Civil Affairs Bureau director was also furious and rushed to the Municipal Party Committee. He still has three or four years before retirement and cannot be taken down so inexplicably; he has worked a lifetime, with no achievements but also hard labor.