Chapter 590

After Qi Shengyin's emotions stabilized, Lu Fan assigned the first task, saying: "I'll arrange two tasks for you."

Qi Shengyin looked at Lu Fan with determined eyes and replied: "Please give instructions, Minister; I will surely complete the task with quality and quantity."

Lu Fan said: "First, with the development needs of modern agriculture, agricultural land transfer has become an important means of promoting agricultural modernization. The province should encourage agricultural land transfer, implement a series of agricultural policies to promote agricultural industry upgrading and enhance overall agricultural production capacity. At the same time, we must prevent capital from 'land grabbing'. Your grassroots work experience is rich; based on the actual conditions of Splendid Plain, formulate land transfer subsidy policies and supporting opinions, focusing on Wanhe Agriculture and Animal Husbandry in Nanyuan City."

"Okay, Minister, I will immediately get to work."

"Second, Pang Xilai wants to stir up a bigger wave; this is the people's strong call and also in line with the times' development. We need such responsible and committed private enterprises; we will not allow this lamp to go out! Therefore, we must fully support Pang Xilai's development, help it stand at the forefront of the times' waves and shine even more brilliantly! Draft a supporting opinion; I will submit it to the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government at an appropriate time."

In life, gains and losses coexist; after a prosperity, how many ups and downs? If you possess the clear breeze, you must return the bright moon. Starlight does not ask of the hurried traveler; time does not betray the wholehearted.

Carrying full fighting spirit and joyfully receiving the order, Qi Shengyin's fighting spirit reignited; he was very fortunate to have met such a good leader and benefactor as Lu Fan, and his hopes for the future were renewed.

June 30, Tang Bing, the secretary, personally called Lu Fan, urging to speed up the adjustment of cadres.

This is the moment when 'the fire is burning the eyebrows'; Lu Fan estimated that Tang Bing's departure from Nanyuan had entered the countdown stage.

July 1, Qinchuan Province received major news: Yingjiang Municipal Party Committee Secretary Si Daiqiang concurrently appointed as Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, which stirred ripples in Lu Fan's heart. He is not merely a deputy secretary; he has already settled the matter of 'alternate committee member'. Being a step ahead, a beat ahead, a chip ahead—seniority may be said not to matter, but it does matter, especially when abilities are equal, then it can outweigh you.

Upon hearing of a friend's promotion, it was natural to offer congratulations. After calling Si Daiqiang, Lu Fan laughed and said: "Daiqiang, congratulations on concurrently becoming Deputy Secretary of Qinchuan; you've gotten ahead of me again!"

Si Daiqiang laughed and replied: "Thanks, good things come to those who wait; your good news is also coming soon, we should share the joy! By the way, I'll give you a heads-up: I plan to adjust some personnel in the city; Zeng Ming and a few others will be moved in a positive direction."

"No need for thanks; next time we meet, I'll definitely get you drunk."

Si Daiqiang laughed: "You're skilled at work, but I'm not afraid of you in drinking; even with one hand tied, you're no match for me!"

"To accompany a gentleman, I'd rather get drunk as mud!"

"Alright, then it's settled; let's set a time and drink heartily!"

……

July 3, Secretary Tang Bing convened a five-person group meeting to specially study cadre adjustments. Although the deputy secretary position was vacant, it had no impact.

At the meeting, Organization Department Head Lu Fan reported the vacancy situation, investigated and verified the circumstances, and put forward adjustment proposals:

Li Yi of Zhaoge Municipal Party Committee is proposed to be promoted to member of the Provincial CPPCC Party Group.

Qi Shengyin, Party Secretary of Yiyang Municipal Party Committee, is proposed to be transferred to Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee.

Xing Qinzhi, Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee, is proposed to be transferred to Party Secretary of Zhaoge City.

Feng Aiguo, Section Chief of the First Section of the Provincial Party Committee Office, is proposed to be promoted to Deputy Mayor of Nanyuan City.

Gao Chengyu, Deputy Director of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission, is proposed to be transferred to Director of the Department of Agriculture.

Lin Pengxin, Deputy Director of the Provincial Finance Department, is proposed to be transferred to Mayor of Dique City.

Dong Fuyuan, Deputy Party Secretary of Anyang Municipal Party Committee, is proposed to be transferred to Mayor of Yiyang City.

Feng Guanqiao, Head of the Organization Department of Nanyuan City, is proposed to be transferred to Deputy Party Secretary of Anyang Municipal Party Committee.

Dou Zhengyang, Party Secretary of Nan County in Nanyuan City, is proposed to be promoted to Deputy Director of the Provincial Finance Department.

Regarding internal adjustments in Nanyuan City:

Li Jingchen, Deputy Mayor of Nanyuan City, is proposed to be transferred to Standing Committee Member of the Nanyuan Municipal Party Committee and Head of the Organization Department.

Zhu Xinlan, Deputy Mayor of Nanyuan City, is proposed to be transferred to Standing Committee Member of the Nanyuan Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee.

Regarding the intention behind this personnel adjustment, everyone understood it implicitly, so naturally no one raised objections, and the plan was passed unanimously.

Secretary Tang Bing 'ate the meat', and Lu Fan took the opportunity to drink a bowl of 'meat soup'.

July 6, the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department dispatched four inspection teams to conduct organizational inspections and talks with the cadres slated for promotion and adjustment.

When the leaders' close aides were transferred down, the cadres of Splendid Plain realized that Secretary Tang Bing was about to leave.

In this adjustment, Nanyuan City still lacked a deputy mayor and a county party secretary; Lu Fan held off on assigning personnel, partly to consider candidates and partly to worry about the impact. Since he became head of the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department, cadre adjustments at the division level and above in Nanyuan City have been very frequent; grumbling will surely arise in private, but no one dares to tug the minister's tiger whiskers.

July 8, Chen Deming, entrusted by Wang Hongtao, paid a visit to Old Li.

Chen Deming implicitly suggested that only one of Lu Fan and Liu Linghao could be chosen.

Old Li naturally chose Lu Fan without hesitation, which also announced the shattering of Liu Linghao's dream; in two years, his age advantage will be completely gone.

July 10, Yingjiang City welcomed the inspection team from the Provincial Party Committee's Organization Department; the municipal leadership team adjusted three people, with Bian Jide promoted to Director of the Provincial Department of Natural Resources.

Ceng Ming is proposed to be promoted to Party Secretary of Ganshui County; Yang Menglou to Party Secretary of Anbao County; Liu Jin Zhu to Party Secretary of Zibei County; Xia Li is proposed to be transferred to Party Secretary of Fangzhou County.

Si Daiqiang knew he wouldn't stay in Yingjiang much longer, so he did Lu Fan another favor, adjusting Deng Junchi, Wang Meng'en, and Zhu Jianglin to positions as deputy county party secretary or standing deputy county magistrate, and transferred Huang Xiao to standing deputy director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

July 15, the Organization Department of the Splendid Plain Provincial Party Committee issued a document requiring the 11 cadres involved in the adjustment to report to their posts promptly.

Lu Fan personally held pre-assumption talks with Gao Chengyu, Director of the Department of Agriculture; Lin Pengxin, Mayor of Dique City; and Dong Fuyuan, Mayor of Yiyang City, demanding that they always strictly observe political discipline and rules, be brave to take responsibility and adept at action as good cadres, be the new era's stalwart grass and true gold refined by fire. They should cherish the organization's cultivation, uphold the bottom line of conduct in being a person, handling affairs, using power, making friends, and integrity; be pure in character and clean in work, striving to be loyal, clean, and responsible cadres recognized by the organization and satisfying the people.

Recently, the cadres of Shantang Town in Zhaoge City, Zhou Xiang, have felt utterly stifled; his situation is simply terrible.

Recently, Provincial Party Committee Organization Department Head Lu Fan came to the town for research; he spoke frankly, pointing out the drawbacks of grassroots burden-reduction work, causing all the leaders to lose face, and his disdain for them is obvious.

He never expected things to develop to this extent; it was merely a momentary pleasure of trash talk, after which tears flowed.

With the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department Head backing him, the leaders of Zhaoge City could not move him, but thereafter they treated him as a transparent person like air, completely ignoring his existence, making any progress in his official career impossible.

What made Zhou Xiang feel even more helpless was that the leaders' cold attitude toward him affected other cadres' behavior; colleagues kept their distance from Zhou Xiang, avoiding him as much as possible, making him now like a plague god—whatever he does, he is alone and isolated, completely becoming a 'lonely ranger' in the township government; this feeling is truly indescribable.

In utter desperation, Zhou Xiang called Tan Yiqiao, head of the Office of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department; this was at the time of Minister Lu Fan's request.

After the call connected, Zhou Xiang didn't expect Director Tan to directly call out his name.

"Zhou Xiang, what do you need?" The matters the minister had instructed, Director Tan had never neglected.

"Director Tan, I want to ask you for a favor: could you transfer me out of Shantang Town? Anywhere will do."

"How? Are you being suppressed by the leaders?" Director Tan wondered doubtfully; the minister had already spoken, so which blind fool would dare to tug the tiger's whiskers?

Zhou Xiang replied: "No, it's just that I'm now like a plague god; everyone keeps their distance from me; if I continue to stay here, I can only resign."

Tan Yiqiao thought for a moment and said: "Don't rush; I'll report to the minister as soon as possible and let him decide."

"Okay, thank you, Director Tan."

After hanging up, Tan Yiqiao knocked on the minister's office door, pushed it open, and reported: "Minister, Zhou Xiang, the cadre of Shantang Town in Zhaoge City, just called me, wanting a job transfer."

Lu Fan furrowed his brows and said: "Is someone suppressing him under a pretext?"

"Minister, I think no one dares to openly suppress him, but the main leaders give him the cold shoulder, so his situation won't improve; subtle oppression is even more grating."

Lu Fan said: "Grassroots cadres who dare to speak the truth and dare to reflect real problems are the quality of excellent cadres, the embodiment of the spirit of responsibility. Only by opening the 'talk box' of speaking the truth can we understand the 'first-hand situation' of the grassroots and provide intellectual support for scientific and efficient decision-making. However, some grassroots leading cadres treat subordinates' reporting of problems as 'stabbing a basket' or 'tripping them up', and punish and retaliate with overt or covert means, causing many grassroots 'truth-speaking cadres' to be hurt. This unhealthy practice must be rectified; we must not let truth-speaking cadres be hurt."

Yi Qiao, go through the procedures as quickly as possible and transfer the person named Zhou Xiang to the department, then arrange him in your office. I haven't assigned a secretary yet? Train him and see if he has this potential.

"Okay, Minister, I will implement it immediately."

July 18, the newly appointed Municipal Party Secretary of Chao Ge, Xing Qinzhi, received a transfer order from the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, which actually wanted to transfer a township-level cadre to work in the department.

While firmly implementing it, he let the Municipal Party Committee Supervision Office privately learn the full story; the result made him extremely angry. He did not expect that the lower-level leading cadres would actually ignore the order of the head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department! However, this is also a good opportunity, a good chance to adjust a batch of cadres, thereby establishing his prestige. Thus Xing Qinzhi personally went to the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department to report work.