Chapter 427: Chapter 406: The Transformation of Li Guohua _2
 

“Comrade Yi Jun will take over as Secretary General of the Government. Once he officially takes office, Comrade Yi Jun will no longer serve as my secretary.” Nie Zhenbang said again.

This was just a minor episode before the meeting started. The announcement was made to inform all party members that they would need to assist Yi Jin more in his work in the future.

When the meeting venue quietened down again, Nie Zhenbang continued, “Comrades, according to the resolution of the recent standing committee of the provincial party committee, the city’s old city reconstruction project has been included in the ’85 assault plan’ of the provincial committee. As the number one economic city in Jiangbei, our city’s construction is of great concern to the provincial party leaders. The provincial party committee, Secretary Shen and Governor Ning attach great importance to the development of Liangxi City. Old city reconstruction is a problem faced by most cities. This time, the provincial party committee and provincial government selected Liangxi City as a pilot, which is our honor, and it fully demonstrates their recognition and trust in Liangxi. For the successful completion of the old city reconstruction project, I propose that a special leadership group be formed to carry out one-to-one focused research in Xishan District, Liangjiang District and the key city district of Guicheng, which is the key area of the old city reconstruction. We must ensure the smooth and successful completion of the old city reconstruction project.”

Seeing Nie Zhenbang’s serious expression, Li Guohua began to ponder. At this time, he was in the most embarrassing position. On one hand, Fan Changsheng’s limited trust in him was his biggest drawback. Without the support of the municipal party committee secretary, he would inevitably be timid about taking action. Additionally, Nie Zhenbang occupied the moral high ground.

This was also a major headache for Li Guohua. If he wanted to maintain a strong position and dominance in the city, he had to maintain his public exposure. In other words, he needed to steal Nie Zhenbang’s thunder and attract attention. However, Li Guohua deeply realized a fact at this moment, it is not easy to attract attention.

To attract attention, there was only one way, to position himself against Nie Zhenbang. But even a fool knew that at this time, Nie Zhenbang had the complete trust of his superiors. The old city reconstruction project of Liangxi City was able to become a pilot project of Jiangbei Province, which showed that the project was approved by the provincial party committee and the provincial government. Although Li Guohua didn’t know how Nie Zhenbang had achieved this, he knew very well that if he obstructed it, not to mention that Nie Zhenbang would not agree, the province would not let him go. This confrontational and destructive method was definitely not feasible.

Setting aside this most direct and effective method, there was another way, which was to side with Nie Zhenbang and fully cooperate to complete the project. It was just like co-starring in a movie. Nie Zhenbang was currently the undoubted protagonist, and now what he needed to compete for was the crucial role of the first male supporting actor. It was not uncommon in movies for the protagonist’s limelight to be stolen by the supporting actors.

At this moment, Li Guohua finally understood the saying that the old man had repeatedly said to him – there are no eternal enemies or friends in officialdom, only eternal interests. At this moment, wasn’t this exactly his situation? Clearly, the relationship between him and Nie Zhenbang was a life-and-death struggle. But now, for his interests, he had taken the initiative to join Nie Zhenbang in his fight. It was even an initiative he’d taken himself to approach Nie Zhenbang.

But then again, for the sake of interests, Li Guohua couldn’t care less about saving face. After all, face was nothing but illusionary. Only when he enjoyed benefits was everything real. Then, Li Guohua took over the topic and said, “I agree with Mayor Nie’s opinion.”

This statement was shocking. It gave the impression that the sun was rising from the west. The other party members, especially Zhao Xintian, were surprised. When had Li Guohua changed his stance?

Regarding these surprised gazes, Li Guohua was expressionless, but in his heart, he couldn’t help but feel a little smug and continued, “Mayor Nie and comrades, after concurrently holding the post of Secretary of the Guicheng District Committee, I have the deepest feelings. Guicheng District, as the old city district of Liangxi City, has significantly lagged in the construction of various infrastructure, traffic congestion, underground facilities such as drainage have been out of date. A heavy rain can cause the town to be flooded with sewage, bringing great inconvenience to the citizens’ travel and living, and at the same time, seriously restricting the development of Guicheng District and affecting the overall image of Liangxi City. This time, the provincial party committee and the provincial government are foresighted and launched the old city reconstruction project of Liangxi City. This is a great thing. We in the city must go all out and do our best to do a good job in the reconstruction of the old city and improve the overall image of Liangxi City.”

Li Guohua’s words made Nie Zhenbang frown, not because Li Guohua was saying something wrong. On the contrary, these words were very insightful. But that in itself was the reason for Nie Zhenbang’s frown. Because Li Guohua had changed, he now knew the importance of advancing and retreating and focusing on interests. Li Guohua was not a fool in the first place. After his transformation, he would undoubtedly be more difficult to deal with. This man was his biggest adversary.

In any case, now was not the time to oppose him. In his own family, for instance, his grandfather and Li Guohua’s grandfather had been fighting with each other their entire life. Both of them wanted to defeat the other, but none of them managed to do so.

After a moment of silent contemplation, Nie Zhenbang spoke again, “Comrade Guohua’s statement is very insightful and all of us should pay attention to it. The reconstruction of the old city is a top priority for our city. The preliminary estimate of the investment is 3.7 billion, of which the various districts will invest a total of 900 million, the city will raise 1.5 billion, and the province will support 1.3 billion. We will complete 1 billion investment in advance this year.”

This statement surprised all party members. The total investment reached 3.7 billion. Although it was to be carried out over several years, the investment alone would significantly increase the GDP of Liangxi City. What’s more, this didn’t even include the business opportunities and foreign investment that would be brought about by the reconstruction of the old city. Even in the economically developed Liangxi City, this was definitely considered a big project. No wonder Nie Zhenbang paid so much attention to it.

Next to him, Zhao Xintian also raised his hand to indicate that he wanted to speak. Seeing Nie Zhenbang nod, Zhao Xintian also said in a deep voice, “Such a large investment is indeed a huge deal. Such a large project indeed requires the formation of a leadership group dedicated to this project. I suggest that Mayor Nie personally be the leader of the old city reconstruction leadership group.”

As soon as Zhao Xintian’s words fell, the deputy mayor Shi Hongbo also nodded in agreement. “I agree with Mayor Xintian’s opinion. The old city reconstruction project is related to the overall development of Liangxi City. It is most appropriate for Mayor Nie to personally be the group leader.”

With Nie Zhenbang’s current prestige in the city government, this proposal naturally gained the approval of other members.

Nie Zhenbang was satisfied with the situation. He would have planned to take the position of group leader even if no one had proposed it. However, it seemed more appropriate for someone else to propose it. In a good mood, he relaxed his attitude and said loudly, “The reconstruction of the old city affects various departments such as municipal administration, communication, land and resources, sanitation, traffic and others. It is my view that all members of the party group should be included in the leadership group. In addition, the top two leaders of the three district governments involved should also be included in the leadership group. The Executive Deputy Mayor Li Guohua and Deputy Mayor Zhao Xintian should serve as the Deputy Leaders of the group, and Comrade Yi Jun should serve as the Director of the group office.”

Listening to Nie Zhenbang’s words, Li Guohua remained calm, but his heart was even more certain of his decision. From the current situation, his decision to join Nie Zhenbang in the same line of battle was indeed correct. Given his status, Nie Zhenbang could not ignore or abandon him.

Nie Zhenbang, at this moment, looked at Li Guohua thoughtfully. He didn’t expect Li Guohua to change so quickly. If things continued this way, it would be even more difficult to deal with him in the future. [To Be Continued. If you like this work, please vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.]