Chapter 239: Chapter 238 Knocking the Mountain to Shock the Tiger _1

Translator: 549690339

Ten minutes, what could be said? It’s hard to say. But Xiong Jianming was already quite satisfied. He made a mistake in this whole incident. Even worse, he made an unforgivable mistake. Xiong Jianming was regretting it immensely at this moment.

In the world of bureaucracy, such behavior is looked down upon the most. No leader would feel comfortable with his actions. Or rather, if Nie Zhenbang doesn’t forgive him, Xiong Jianming is basically ruined. No other leader would want to take him, after all, who wants a subordinate who could betray them at any moment.

Walking into Nie Zhenbang’s office, Xiong Jianming felt anxious. His head was lowered, and he was quite tense. Seeing Nie Zhenbang’s calm face, he felt his heart sink. This was not a good sign.

As the saying goes, love deeply, hate thoroughly. The principle works the same in the officialdom. If Nie Zhenbang were to show a face of anger, scolding him, Xiong Jianming would feel at ease. It would imply that Nie Zhenbang still cared about him, and there might be a chance to turn things around. Sincerely apologize, and deeply acknowledge his mistake, perhaps, Nie Zhenbang might accept him. However, Nie Zhenbang’s current expression disappointed Xiong Jianming. Director Nie was simply too calm to care about anything he says, likely to just dismiss it with a smile.

At this moment, Xiong Jianming just stood there, because Nie Zhenbang didn’t speak or look up, he was just reviewing Li County’s economic data for the year.

After about seven or eight minutes, Nie Zhenbang finally looked up at him, “Director Xiong is here. Is there something you want to report?”

This was a very formal way of addressing formalities in the bureaucracy. If he was more intimate, ‘Old Xiong’ or ‘Director Jianming’ would have been used. But using such a formal address, Xiong Jianming understood that Nie Zhenbang’s attitude was basically rejection.

Yet, Xiong Jianming could only plod on, “Director Nie, about the new water plant project of the construction bureau, I would like to report the progress to you.”

Currently, with the large-scale development taking place throughout the county and economic construction flourishing, the Li County Urban Construction Investment Company, while still subordinate to the Construction Bureau, is likely to soon break away and become directly managed by the county government. At present, the only project the Construction Bureau presides over with some degree of pride is this water plant project.

Nie Zhenbang listened to Xiong Jianming and snorted coldly in his heart. Xiong Jianming had abilities. When Nie Zhenbang had chosen him in the past, he had noticed his pragmatic attitude, and it was this that had drawn him to Xiong. However, this incident led to a change in Nie’s attitude towards him.

Then, Nie Zhenbang thought for a moment before saying, “Director Xiong, let’s talk about the water plant later. After the spring, I will visit the water plant. Is there anything else?”

With that, Nie Zhenbang had rejected Xiong Jianming completely. Even if Xiong Jianming had other things he wanted to report, Nie Zhenbang wouldn’t care. And in this situation, there were things Xiong Jianming found hard to say. If said, Nie Zhenbang would aggressively interrupt him – it was just reality. Nie Zhenbang wasn’t afraid of Xiong hindering him in his future work. The fact that he hadn’t yet taken action against Xiong was fair and just. If Nie was a leader of smaller mind, he would have reassigned him already. If Xiong dared to hold back, his position of authority would end there.

Seeing Xiong Jianming in silence, Nie Zhenbang spoke again, “Director Xiong, if there’s nothing else, go back and work. I have some things to do.”

…

Bazhou City

At this moment, at the entrance of Bazhou City’s Education Department, its leaders had already gathered at the front door. Just past nine AM, three cars slowly drove up.

From the leading black Mercedes, Secretary Feng Dayong was the first to get off, opening the door for Liu Wenqing. Liu Wenqing stepped out of the car with a stern look, and Feng followed behind, briefcase in hand. Behind the second Mercedes, Li Qingde, a standing committee member and secretary general of the municipal party committee’s office, followed closely. As a confidant of the municipal party secretary, Li Qingde was indispensable at such occasions.

The third car was an Audi, from which Zhou Wang was the first to get off. He opened the door for Zhou Chen, mimicking the actions of Feng Dayong. Since he was the leading official, Zhou Chen needed to accompany them.

Seeing Zhou Chen’s grand entry, both Liu Wenqing and Li Qingde’s faces darkened. Li Qingde looked particularly disheartened. Their Mayor Zhou didn’t understand the importance of being low-key. Showing off such grandeur in front of the Municipal Party Secretary was nothing short of flaunting.]

The leaders of the Municipal Education Commission greeted them with beaming smiles. A personal inspection by the Municipal Party Secretary was a great honor for the Education Commission. Out of all the city’s direct agencies, the fact that the Municipal Party Secretary chose to inspect the Education Commission was a sign of considerable regard.

At this moment, Liu Wenqing exuded restraint. He was constantly demonstrating the authority and grace of a City Committee Secretary, the leader of the City Committee. Once he had lightly shaken hands with everyone, Liu Wenqing said in a deep voice, “Let’s proceed to the conference room.”

As soon as he walked into the conference room of the City Education Committee, Liu Wenqing was taken aback, then jokingly said, “The working conditions of the Education Committee are not bad. The meeting room, the interior style – it’s almost on par with the City Committee’s meeting room.”

No one dared to respond to the City Committee Secretary’s remarks at this moment. His meaning and attitude seemed somewhat strange. Everyone was unsure about what Liu Wenqing was actually implying.

Unyielding, Liu Wenqing took the main seat himself, looked around at the people and said: “Have a seat, comrades from the Education Committee, now report on the construction of the city’s basic education infrastructure, the progress of compulsory education, and the literacy rate among young and middle-aged illiterates across the city this year.”

The foundation of Bazhou City was ultimately not very strong. Over the past one or two years, after Bazhou City had finally managed to offload the burden of Li County and even utilized the development of Li County to stimulate the growth of the entire Bazhou area, the city’s finances had become much more relaxed. Naturally, the investments in education had increased significantly. However, due to the historically poor foundation, even slight progress was still not enough.

The director of the City Education Committee touched his already bald head at this moment, then said, “Secretary Liu, Secretary Li, Mayor Zhou, and other leaders and comrades, the city has invested in education reform this year… Overall, the promotion of compulsory education in our city is still below average compared to the entire region. The illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people in the city also needs more investment. As it stands right now, the methods used by Li County are worth learning and borrowing. The Li County Committee and County Government have highly prioritized education in Li County, using self-raised funds to increase their support for compulsory education. This year, the enrollment rate of school-age children and teenagers and the literacy rate of young and middle-aged illiterates in Li County have reached 93% and 95.6%, respectively. These achievements likely rank at the top among all the county-level units in the region.”

The Education Committee director was somewhat embarrassed. There wasn’t much to say about the development and achievements of education across the city. Now, the only thing that could be bragged about was Li County. There was no choice, since the leader of the County Committee and County Government here in Li County greatly valued this. For those without money, the government offered scholarships. Naturally, the number of out-of-school children reduced significantly.

The Education Committee director also had something more to say at this moment, which was that if the city supported us to this extent, the city’s results could just as well be outstanding. But this thought could only be kept in his heart.

Liu Wenqing pondered for a moment, then said: “Education is a plan for a hundred years. The central government and autonomous region leaders have repeatedly emphasized this issue. Education, including science, culture, health, and sports services, all relate to the country’s future development. The city’s finances are gradually relieving pressure, but the iron needs to be hard by itself, we can’t just rely on the city’s finances. Li County’s situation is after all a special case. The education work of other brother cities is loud and colorful. Isn’t this also relying on themselves? The Education Committee must think of ways to enhance the promotion of compulsory education and to change the education concepts of the common people. This is the ultimate solution to the problem.”

When Liu Wenqing said this, he shifted his tone and calmly said: “In addition, some comrades should focus on their own duties and not make arbitrary comments or blindly give orders about the situation below. You should do a good job in the overall work of the city. This is the key to development.”

Zhou Chen’s face quickly darkened after hearing this. Liu Wenqing’s words were clearly directed at him. The vertical leadership was responsible for the city’s education work trailing so far behind. The state of the scientific and technological, educational, cultural, health, and sports sectors was probably all the same. This was like saying that he had been ignoring his job, not taking care of the big picture, but went to Li County to cause trouble instead.

However, at this moment, Zhou Chen could only listen. The fact was already laid bare here and there was indeed no room for Zhou Chen to refute. Liu Wenqing’s game of rattling the mountain to shake the tiger was a classic move.

Liu Wenqing’s speech during the inspection of the City Education Committee was quickly published in full in the Bazhou Daily. As such, all of the city’s officials could see that Secretary Liu was expressing his dissatisfaction. This new Deputy Mayor Zhou started jumping up and down as soon as he arrived. Zhou Chen initiated the storm in Li County, and now, Secretary Liu was really making a statement. At this time, all of the city officials have fundamentally understood– Li County was Secretary Liu’s forbidden zone.

In the office of the Secretary of the Li County Party Committee, Zhang Chubin looked at the Bazhou Daily and his admiration for Nie Zhenbang rose yet another level. Not only did he manage to strip Deputy Mayor Zhou’s face off, but he also got Secretary Liu to step in. Zhang Chubin admitted that he himself couldn’t achieve this feat.

Looking at Nie Zhenbang who was sitting on the sofa, Zhang Chubin also chuckled and said, “Zhenbang, after this event, I suspect that the troubles of our Li County will be largely reduced.”

Nie Zhenbang also began to laugh. He hadn’t expected Liu Wenqing would support him in this manner. But, this was also good. As for the motive behind Zhou Chen’s arrival, Nie Zhenbang could almost guess it. Sharing some of the credit wasn’t a problem for Nie Zhenbang; after all, Zhou Chen couldn’t stake a claim in the merits of Li County. He was just having a free ride. As long as he didn’t create a mess, let him be.

Immediately afterward, Nie Zhenbang handed a set of economic data to Zhang Chubin saying, “Secretary Zhang, first look at these economic data. This time, I am having some difficulty.”

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