Chapter 583: Escalation of Conflict

On the seventh day after Director Liu left, the quiet atmosphere of the base was completely shattered.

He Yuzhu had just gotten out of bed when the base entrance was already blocked solid by cars and ox carts.

There were people from various supplier factories in nearby cities, as well as villagers who delivered vegetables and meat to the base; one by one, their faces were flushed and their necks thick, all shouting, "Pay us back!"

"Deputy Director Zhang, you cannot keep dragging your feet and not paying our bills! Our factory can't even start production anymore!"

"If you don't pay up, we won't provide the steel that your base needs!"

"Our meat processing plant can't even afford to buy pigs anymore; you have to settle at least some of the bill!"

Deputy Director Zhang ran over in a hurry, his face full of anxiety: "Little Director He, look at the trouble this is causing... I tried to pacify them, but they won't listen at all! I want to settle their accounts, but there is no money in the account over at Lao Qian's side. What do you think we should do?"

He Yuzhu thought to himself that this old thing's acting was truly not bad. He smiled: "Lao Zhang, call Lao Qian over here."

Before long, a middle-aged man wearing glasses, of medium build, and with a hatchet-shaped face walked over hurriedly.

This man was named Qian Bingjun, and he had once been a colleague of Deputy Director Zhang.

He Yuzhu asked with a smile: "Lao Qian, how come no one came to collect debts when Director Liu was here? He's only been gone a few days, and all these people have come running? Did your finance department leak some kind of news?"

Upon hearing this, Lao Qian trembled in fear. He knew that He Yuzhu already suspected him, so he hurriedly explained: "Little Director He, you don't know the situation. The money on our side has always been quite tight. Recently, news did indeed spread that the national treasury is in difficulty and that the appropriation for our base will be halved... so the units we owe money to all came running to collect. The next appropriation from the state won't arrive for another two months; if we give it to them, we will have to stop production."

As soon as He Yuzhu heard this, he knew that Lao Qian had completely sided with Deputy Director Zhang, so he couldn't be bothered to waste more breath on him: "Accountant Qian, check the contracts of all these people collecting debts. For those where we are indeed in breach of contract, settle their accounts immediately; for those still within the contract period, mark them for me—we will no longer cooperate with these types of factories and will replace them with other suppliers."

After listening, Qian Bingjun glanced at He Yuzhu's chilling gaze, immediately broke into a cold sweat, and hurriedly said: "Director He, I will go back to the accounting office now and organize the documents for you."

He Yuzhu looked at the agitated suppliers, walked over slowly, grabbed a young debt collector, and asked: "Since you are here to collect a debt, bring the contract over and let me see it."

"I didn't bring it!" the man said righteously.

"If you didn't bring it, go back and get it. Otherwise, you won't get a single cent," He Yuzhu said bluntly.

"Those who owe money really are the masters!" the young man dropped a sarcastic remark and turned to run away.

He Yuzhu grabbed another person: "Did you bring your contract?"

The middle-aged man hurriedly took out the contract and said somewhat stutteringly: "I, I know you are Director He. Ac, according to the contract, the pay, payment is already two months overdue! If you don't pay, we really, really can't start production over there."

He Yuzhu patted him on the shoulder: "Take your contract and go directly to finance to collect the money."

"Thank you! Thank you, Director!" the middle-aged man ran happily toward the finance office.

He Yuzhu announced loudly: "As long as the money is due according to the contract, I guarantee you will receive it today. As for those who came specifically to stir up trouble and incite others, I will remove you directly from our supplier directory..."

Once these words were spoken, half of the vehicles blocking the entrance left on the spot.

Lao Qian ran back holding a stack of contracts, looking troubled as he said: "Director He, I just did a simple calculation; if we pay all this money back, we won't even have money for food this month."

"With me here, the base will never be short of money," He Yuzhu said lightly.

After handling the morning's disturbance, He Yuzhu concluded that these three old things definitely had more than just this one trick, and there was certainly a combination punch waiting behind it.

He immediately convened a meeting of middle-level Cadres.

He Yuzhu sat in the main seat, his gaze slowly sweeping over Deputy Director Zhang, Deputy Director Ma, and Deputy Director Xiao.

The three of them appeared calm on the surface, but were very nervous inside—the debt collection incident they had planned for so long had been resolved by He Yuzhu in just a few moves.

Before He Yuzhu could speak, Deputy Director Xiao stood up first: "Little Director He, I went down to the grassroots to investigate and found that many drilling rigs were clearly having problems yet were still being used; this poses a great hidden danger to both the machines themselves and the operators. I propose launching a 'Safety Production One Hundred Days' campaign across the entire base, letting maintenance workers go down to the grassroots to inspect equipment."

He Yuzhu sneered inwardly; the second move had indeed arrived.

He pretended to ponder for a moment and asked: "If all the maintenance workers go down to the grassroots, then who will be responsible for repairing the equipment? Is it faster to repair it on-site than in the workshop?"

Deputy Director Xiao did not expect He Yuzhu to react so quickly and hurriedly explained: "But we must put safety production first! Currently, frontline workers have oil extraction and drilling quotas; even if they discover mechanical problems, they won't repair them in time. If it drags on, the equipment will soon be scrapped. This is a huge waste of state property!"

He Yuzhu nodded, did not express his stance directly, but looked at Lv Hong: "Deputy Director Lv, what do you think?"

Lv Hong thought for a moment and said: "I think Deputy Director Xiao's concern is also reasonable. We can set a rule for frontline drilling workers. If they discover mechanical problems but fail to report them in time, causing damage to the equipment, they will be held accountable, and the entire team should be punished. Sending a large number of maintenance personnel to inspect is not impossible, but it must be done when they are free!"

"Deputy Director Lv said it well! Deputy Director Xiao, are you satisfied?" He Yuzhu praised.

Deputy Director Xiao could only nod.

Deputy Director Zhang immediately chimed in: "I think the Safety Production One Hundred Days campaign proposed by Deputy Director Xiao is very meaningful and should be promoted."

He Yuzhu looked at Deputy Director Ma again: "What do you think?"

"I also agree with Deputy Director Xiao's opinion."

He Yuzhu said calmly: "Since you all agree, then from today on, the maintenance department will be split into two, establishing Maintenance Group One and Maintenance Group Two. When the two groups have no maintenance tasks, they will both go to the front line to help inspect equipment. At the end of the month, there will be an evaluation; the group that falls behind will have its Group Leader replaced immediately."

Upon hearing this, Deputy Director Ma was instantly stunned; he had originally wanted to use the excuse of inspection to slow down the pace of equipment maintenance, but he hadn't expected that after He Yuzhu's reform, it would actually add a lot more work for himself.

His expression changed, and he asked: "But these assessment indicators are too difficult to formulate, aren't they?"

"What is difficult about this? How many hours a person works, and whether they are working diligently—everyone knows in their hearts," He Yuzhu said in a calm but unquestionable tone.

Director Xiao was taken aback; he hadn't expected He Yuzhu to counterattack so quickly.

He Yuzhu smiled: "From now on, all departments will be split into two to form a competitive mechanism. The two departments will compete on efficiency, savings, and worker reputation; those who do well will be heavily rewarded, and those who do poorly will be dismissed."

Sweat instantly broke out on Deputy Director Zhang's forehead.

The calculating Deputy Director Xiao was caught off guard by He Yuzhu's unconventional thinking and hurriedly stood up: "Executive He, wouldn't this throw the base into chaos?"

He Yuzhu shook his head: "It won't. Without competition, people will only become lazier and more slack. This matter is decided; split into groups immediately after the meeting. Splitting into groups will adhere to the principle of voluntariness; those whom no one wants will be transferred directly to the front line."

Except for Lv Hong, the other deputy directors were all bewildered.

He Yuzhu continued to announce: "Today, I will set another rule: all deputy directors must go down to the grassroots in person. I will go down to the grassroots whenever I have time to repair machines and work on the drilling front line with the workers. By the way, Deputy Director Xiao, you are in charge of political work, ideology, and conduct; you must take the lead. I am very dissatisfied with the progress of the land reclamation at the Farm; you go there and take the lead in reclaiming land!"

Deputy Director Xiao looked up abruptly, his expression agitated: "Director He, you are bullying people! I... I am in charge of political work, why should I go to reclaim land?"

He Yuzhu's gaze darkened: "I can go down to the grassroots to repair machines, why can't you go to reclaim land?"