Section Thirty Discussion

  Monday morning at 9 o'clock, as usual, is the regular meeting of the first-class team in Ma Shi Township. The participants of this meeting, in addition to all members of the Party Committee, also include non-committee members such as deputy township heads and vice chairmen of the People's Congress, equivalent to a joint party-government meeting. The decision-making body of the township government is the Township Party Committee, and all major decisions, personnel appointments and removals are discussed and decided by the Township Party Committee; the various tasks of the government are discussed and decided by the government office meeting presided over by the township head; the joint party-government meeting should be a temporary meeting, mainly tasked with implementing the various decisions of the Township Party Committee, major projects, important work, coordination of various tasks, progress reports, etc. The joint meeting is the best way for the Secretary of the Township Party Committee to intervene in government work through normal channels. The balance of power between the Secretary of the Township Party Committee and the township head can also be indirectly reflected in the arrangement of these two meetings. In Ma Shi Township, due to Qin Secretary's strong dominance, this joint meeting has become a regular weekly meeting rather than a temporary meeting that is only convened when there are urgent matters. The major and minor affairs of the Township Party Committee and the township government are generally also transmitted, discussed, and assigned at the first-class team meeting, which greatly reduces the importance of the government office meeting, and even some decisions passed by the office meeting are modified at the first-class team meeting. Through years of hard work, Secretary Qin has managed Ma Shi Township like an iron barrel, and Township Head Li has no temper in front of him.

  In Mashih Township, one mu and three fen of land, Secretary Qin's words represent the Party and the government.

  Qin Daming walked into the conference room at 9:00 sharp, wearing a blue and white striped short-sleeved shirt, with a slightly protruding belly. After scanning the room with his eyes, he saw that everyone was present and sat down, saying directly: "Let's start the meeting. Today's regular meeting will first report on the tax preferential policies of the economic zone. After the party committee passed the resolution to implement the tax preferential policy last time, we reported it to the county committee and county government. The county economic committee conducted a feasibility study and discussion on this policy, but there is still controversy." Qin Secretary said here, looking at Ye Zhenran: "Ye Chang, Vice County Mayor Ma is very concerned about this matter and specifically asked you to report once."

  Ye Zhenran was slightly surprised and quickly nodded: "Okay, I'll go report after the meeting and try to get Mayor Ma's support."

  Magistrate Ma had a good impression of Ye Zhenran, which Ye knew very well. Having the opportunity to have face-to-face communication with the Executive Vice Magistrate was something that other deputy township heads could only hope for but not attain.

  Qin Daming said with satisfaction: "Although the county has reservations about the implementation of this policy, Ye Chang's idea is very bold. If it can be approved, it will have a great promoting effect on the economic work of the township." Qin Daming looked around at everyone here, seemingly to see their reaction.

  Town head Li Jun's face was expressionless, looking at the notebook in front of him, occasionally jotting down something; Party Committee member Pan Qiu-sheng and Deputy Town Head Cheng Guang nodded slightly, seemingly agreeing with Secretary Qin's statement; Deputy Secretary Wang Jing-yu had always been frugal with words, now holding a pen and drawing something on paper.

  Among the members of the party committee, Secretary Qin has always been confident in his control, and Township Head Li Jun also has County Magistrate Yin as his backing, but Secretary Qin is not worried that he will make any moves. He only has a feeling that he can't see through Deputy Secretary Wang, and often mutters to himself: This woman is probably not a simple person, if anything strange happens in Ma Shi Township, it must be her doing.

  Secretary Qin withdrew his gaze and continued, "Recently, the township party committee and government have been mainly focusing on rectifying and improving the management of township enterprises. Everyone should report on the situation of the enterprises under their jurisdiction."

  Li Xiangzhang took over the conversation and said, "The main task of rectifying and regulating township enterprises is for the comrades of the township government to take charge. Everyone reports on the situation, and Deputy Township Head Cheng Zhang, who is in charge of industry, has the most enterprises under his management, so let's have him talk about the progress first."

  Deputy Township Head ignored Li Jun's dissatisfaction with Secretary Qin's infringement and opened his notebook, saying: "I'll report on the brick kiln factory first. The township originally had two small kilns for making bricks and tiles. According to the requirements of the township party committee and government, they plan to merge into one. The preliminary work has been basically completed and has entered the personnel integration stage. The agricultural machinery factory has stopped production in three workshops due to a sharp decline in orders. It is currently facing difficulties, with financial difficulties and workers on long vacations. I require the agricultural machinery factory to provide regular technical training for its employees, while also requiring the sales department to go out of Jianan City to undertake mechanical processing projects to alleviate the crisis. The situation at the knitting factory is slightly better, and it can basically achieve a balance between profit and loss."

  The situation reported by the deputy head of the township is within everyone's expectation. With the implementation of the national policy to "adjust, rectify, reform and improve" non-public enterprises, while shrinking credit, strictly controlling loans to non-public enterprises, a large number of small enterprises without technical advantages cannot hold on. The township government does not have funds to support them, so the simplest way is to stop paying wages, put workers on long vacation, and resume work when the economy recovers. Relatively speaking, Changjiang Province has developed its non-public economy relatively early and has a certain degree of resistance to pressure, which is already considered good nationwide.

  Ye Ziran was a member of the party committee and vice township head, ranking second among the deputy township heads. After Cheng Vice Township Head finished speaking, Li Jun pointed out Ye Ziran's name.

  Ye Ziran reported: "Secretary Qin, Director Li, and all leaders, this time the township party committee and government implemented the special work of rectifying and reforming township enterprises in accordance with the requirements of Jianan Municipal Committee and Changjiang County Committee and Government. I am in charge of the Mashixiang Textile Factory. Due to a special incident at the textile factory, a working group was established last week after being approved by the party committee. The working group entered the textile factory last Saturday and started work. The main product of the textile factory is woven fabric. However, due to outdated machinery and equipment, the coarse cotton fabric produced can no longer be sold on the market. To produce high-quality cotton fabric, all equipment needs to be updated, but the township currently lacks the funds for such a large investment. Based on previous research and listening to the opinions of key personnel at the textile factory, I discussed with Comrade Ma Yanli from the working group and decided to change production to garment manufacturing, which requires less investment. The first step is to produce jeans and suits. To this end, we need to investigate the current domestic garment market and production equipment and technology. The working group suggests that Comrade Ma Yanli lead a team to Shenzhen to investigate the local market and technology. Please approve this, Secretary Qin and Director Li."

  Secretary Qin said encouragingly: "Ye Chang's idea is not bad, weaving has no future, and switching to garment production is a practical choice. Garment production requires less investment and shorter cycle, the key is that the product must be on the right track, and going out for investigation is also necessary. Ye Chang, how much funding do you need?"

  Ye Ziran replied: "I have calculated that for the two of us, the travel expenses and miscellaneous funds will need 5,000 yuan, mainly to purchase some drawings, materials, etc."

  Li Xiangzhang heard that it would cost 5,000 yuan and was somewhat displeased. He said: "The township government's finances are tight, and one inspection trip costs 5,000 yuan, isn't that excessive?"

  Ye Ziran explained: "The budget of 5,000 yuan is also very tight. The key is that we must first purchase the necessary drawings, these garment sample drawings cannot be bought through normal channels, and Ma Yanli has a classmate in charge of technology there, so we can only buy some copied design drawings. Second, we need to dig up a few technical personnel from Mashan Township who work in Shenzhen's garment enterprises to come back and produce. We have repeatedly calculated that 5,000 yuan is already the lowest cost."

  Li Xiangzhang remained silent, his face still stern. Secretary Qin said: "This inspection is for the textile mill's transformation and upgrading. The township party committee and government should support it. Here's what we'll do: the county economic commission has allocated 10,000 yuan in special funds for township enterprise rectification and reform. We'll take 3,000 yuan from here, and the township government will contribute 2,000 yuan from its administrative expenses."

  In the general government power structure, the secretary is in charge of the official hat, and the county magistrate is in charge of the money bag. However, in Ma Shi Township, Secretary Qin often established various special-purpose small groups, using special funds for specific purposes, which were directly signed by him. The director of the township finance office was also a person promoted by Secretary Qin, and County Magistrate Li's signature was far less effective than Secretary Qin's. In terms of finance, more than half of County Magistrate Li's power had been taken away.

  Li Xiangzhang's displeasure was mainly due to his distaste for Ye Zhenran and Qin Daming's closeness, but he also understood that it wasn't necessary to offend the two men too much. Moreover, Secretary Qin had expressed willingness to allocate 3,000 yuan from the special funds, and although the remaining 2,000 yuan would come from the government office expenses, since Ye Zhenran had proposed using it, it could be directly deducted from his budgeted funds. So he no longer opposed it, nodding his head and saying: "Alright, okay."

  The 5,000 yuan travel expenses have been settled! Ye Zhen felt a few pairs of eyes scanning him nonchalantly, he calmly looked straight ahead, pretending not to notice.

  Next, Li Xiangzhang also named the remaining two deputy township heads. The two separately reported on the rectification of their respective enterprises, and the two factories were similar in size and had nothing special. Secretary Qin saw that there was no new situation and did not leave more speaking time for Li Xiangzhang, directly waving his hand: "Dismissed."

  After the meeting, Ye Zhenran returned to the office and immediately called Ma Yanli to instruct her to fill out the expense reimbursement form, have Li Chang and Secretary Qin sign it, and take advantage of the opportunity to get the 5,000 yuan and buy a train ticket for tomorrow to leave for Shenzhen. Ma Yanli took swift action upon receiving the order.

  After finishing this matter, Ye Zhenran sat in front of the office desk and carefully considered the pros and cons of the tax preferential policy, prepared a draft of the response, called to notify Driver Ban, and got ready to go to the county government to meet with Deputy County Magistrate Ma.

  This trip, due to Ye Zhenran's tax reduction policy, directly led to the collision of two factions, Tang Secretary and Yin County Magistrate, and prompted Ma County Magistrate to thoroughly turn to Tang Secretary's side, thus changing the political structure of Changjia County where Tang Secretary and Yin County Magistrate were evenly matched. This was something Ye Zhenran had not anticipated beforehand.