The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 263 Changes in Foreign Affairs, Meeting to be Held After the New Year

Liu Danian and the others felt half relieved after watching Zhou Zhiqiang and his wife get into the car with their child, and then waved goodbye.

This is the last bus from the township to the county. After arriving in Changping, Zhou Zhiqiang will have to trouble the branch factory's driver to take him back.

Fortunately, they had informed Director Wu of the Changping branch factory beforehand; otherwise, the couple and their two children would have had to stay overnight in Changping before returning home.

After getting into the car, Guo Yuting couldn't help but ask, "Zhiqiang, what were you talking about today? The village secretary seemed quite happy."

"He felt quite happy when he saw the hope of leading the villagers to a better life."

After a pause, Zhou Zhiqiang continued to Guo Yuting, "This person is quite pure and a little clever. He knows how to use words to undermine me, but he's not a bad person at heart."

He seemed to have received help from villagers in his early years, so after becoming the village party secretary, he always wanted to take on more responsibility.

Logically speaking, Hongqi Village has already achieved quite a lot; it could rank among the top in all rural production teams across the country.

But Liu Danian still felt it wasn't enough. He wanted to lead all the villagers of Hongqi Village to a point where they would have enough to eat and wear, something even Zhou Zhiqiang couldn't guarantee.

After lunch, Zhou Zhiqiang specifically inquired about Liu Danian from Zhao Tiandong's family. Although the original owner had some memories of Liu Danian, they were few.

After learning who Liu Danian was, Zhou Zhiqiang no longer cared about his petty schemes. He was someone who was focused on public affairs and not a bad person.

Zhou Zhiqiang smiled and said to his wife, "But putting everything else aside, this afternoon I took a walk around the fields, which at least gave me some insight into the things and difficulties in rural areas."

"Didn't you used to do farm work? You did it often when you were a child."

“Doing farm work and understanding rural production arrangements are two different things. I used to just bury myself in work and never had the chance to learn about these things.”

Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "Although our country's industry is developing rapidly, it is built on agriculture."

"Without the rural areas providing support to the cities, industry could never have developed so rapidly. I might have to relocate in the future, and when that happens, we can't just focus on industry while neglecting agricultural development."

Now all grain is priced at a fixed price, and we also have to pay grain taxes to the state. During the off-season, we also have to carry out infrastructure construction around the commune and county.

On this land, one cannot become wealthy without large-scale farming; and to become wealthy by growing grain would be even more dangerous.

In the afternoon, Zhou Zhiqiang followed Liu Danian and Zhao Daguo to inspect the fields, rural water conservancy infrastructure, and so on in the village. He felt there was nothing he could do to help them. If Hongqi Village wanted to live a slightly better life, they could only exchange their labor for results.

There was no other way; Zhou Zhiqiang could only ask Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory to provide them with some conveniences.

However, this small convenience alone made Liu Danian and his group extremely grateful. If there hadn't been other people around, Zhou Zhiqiang estimated that Liu Danian would have knelt down and kowtowed to him.

After a long and arduous journey, Zhou Zhiqiang finally made it back to Nanluoguxiang before eight o'clock. He thanked the driver from the branch factory and gave him some cigarettes and candy before sending him home.

Tomorrow he has to go to the train station to pick up his father-in-law and brother-in-law, and the day after tomorrow he has to go to the high-ranking official's residential area to pick up Aunt Fang Mengjie. Zhou Zhiqiang feels that this year is more tiring than usual.

------

This year was a year of family reunion. Even though Zhou Zhiqiang wasn't the original owner, he still had a very comfortable year.

There's nothing a family can't talk about when they're together; it's relaxing and comfortable.

The house is a bit small. Guo Linhua, Guo Kaizhong and his wife all came back, and Fang Mengjie also brought the children.

Zhou Zhiqiang tidied up the two rooms in the front yard, adding two beds and a stove, so that everyone would have a place to stay.

Guo Kaizhong's brother-in-law offered to stay in the front yard. In his words, he would be going back in a few days, so it was just a place to stay and it didn't matter where he stayed.

Besides, even the front yard is much better than the conditions in the Production and Construction Corps. The place he lived in before was drafty at night.

The house in the front yard has been renovated, it's just a little small, but it will definitely be more comfortable to use with the stove added.

After the Lunar New Year, just past the third day of the Lunar New Year, before Guo Linhua and Guo Kaizhong had even taken the train back to the Northwest, Zhou Zhiqiang was already heading back to the factory to start work.

The factory officially resumed operations on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. These leaders and office support staff had to prepare everything in advance before the start of operations.

When Zhou Zhiqiang arrived at the office early in the morning, Zhang Yaoguo had already cleaned the office for him.

After Zhou Zhiqiang arrived, he began to organize his work plan for the future.

"Production arrangements. There will be another recruitment drive at the beginning of the year, and the factory already has quite a few workers, so we can consider implementing a shift work system."

"As for the supporting factories, Comrade Wenzhou should also be setting off soon. There's nothing to worry about. Let the factory office and the district government coordinate in advance."

"I still need to arrange the foreign affairs reception in the middle of the month, so I'll have to find some time to come back then..."

As for composite machining CNC machine tools, they are of paramount importance in Zhou Zhiqiang's busy schedule.

He went through all the things he needed to do over the next three months, marking the important ones so he could get them done or check on their progress immediately.

Ring ring ring!
The phone on Zhou Zhiqiang's desk suddenly rang, interrupting his train of thought.

After picking up the phone, Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Hello, this is Zhou Zhiqiang, the factory director of Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory. Leader, what can I do for you?"

The leader from Wufu on the other end of the phone said, "Zhiqiang, do you still remember the foreign visit we talked about before the New Year?"

There's been an unexpected situation. Originally, their plan was to visit Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces after arriving in Shanghai, but now the leaders want to meet them earlier. Therefore, the French foreign affairs personnel will come directly to Beijing after arriving in Shanghai.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly realized what was going on and asked, "Does that mean visits to our factory also need to be brought forward? Around when?" "Mid-February, on the 16th."

"It'll only take two weeks, but that's fine. The factory is starting preparations now, so there'll definitely be enough time."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he added, "Boss, do you think we should arrange for some professionals to come to our factory and give us some pointers?"

On the phone, Deputy Leader Wu said, "What advice do you need? Your factory has experience in receiving foreign affairs personnel before. Didn't you handle those technical experts from the Russians very well?"
And Zhiqiang, I remember you said you speak several foreign languages?

Zhou Zhiqiang quickly replied, "I learned it to look up technical information. I'm only good at Russian and English; my French is limited to understanding technical terms."

He received several rewards that enhanced his brain, and now he learns things incredibly fast. Even without collecting the deduction assistant cheat code, he can learn a lot just by studying hard. Foreign languages ​​are no challenge for him at all.

Deputy Leader Wu said, "There's no need for special hospitality. The procedures can be simple, but we must show special respect to the foreign visitors. They are different from the Russians; they come with the intention of making friends with us."

Just don't leak any key secrets; your factory can figure out the rest yourself. They won't stay at your factory for more than a day; they'll be going elsewhere.

Zhou Zhiqiang said, "Okay, I understand. I'll pass on the notification during today's meeting."

Deputy Leader Wu gave some more instructions and inquired about other matters over the phone. After learning that Zhou Zhiqiang had made good arrangements, he hung up the phone with peace of mind.

Leaving aside technological research and development, Zhou Zhiqiang was a qualified factory director in the First Ministry of Machinery Industry.

It's already quite remarkable that Zhou Zhiqiang can manage a factory with tens of thousands of employees in such an orderly and error-free manner; moreover, he can also unite the entire factory into a cohesive unit.
If it weren't for the fact that Jiuzhou Machine Tool Factory really couldn't do without Zhou Zhiqiang, Deputy Leader Wu would have genuinely wanted to give Zhou Zhiqiang more responsibilities.

The more experience you gain, the better your abilities will become, and the more secure you will be when you reach a high position in the future.

Although Deputy Leader Wu is not yet of retirement age, he is already considering recommending Zhou Zhiqiang for his position, but Zhou Zhiqiang is too young, which seems to be a major weakness for Zhou Zhiqiang.

I'm not even thirty yet.

He is capable, but being young gives others the impression of being a "greenhorn," even though Zhou Zhiqiang has never made a mistake in his work.

However, others are unaware of this unless they look through Zhou Zhiqiang's file. Only then will they discover that since starting his career, Zhou Zhiqiang's contributions have been like a continuous stream.

Now it has grown from a trickle into a raging flood, and the achievements it has made are getting bigger and bigger.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Zhiqiang called Zhang Yaoguo in and said to him, "Yaoguo, tell Secretary Li that there will be a factory-wide cadre meeting at 9:30, and then notify all the cadres present."

Zhang Yaoguo immediately replied, "Yes, sir, I understand. I'll have the factory office prepare the meeting room after I finish giving the notification."

"Oh right, I forgot to pay you back for the framing I bought before the New Year."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he took out three yuan from his pocket, handed it to Zhang Yaoguo, and said, "I almost forgot about this this morning. Here, take it."

"Factory manager, then I'll accept it."

Seeing the expression on Zhou Zhiqiang's face, Zhang Yaoguo knew he had to accept the money, so he took it.

"It's yours to begin with, so don't be so embarrassed in the future. It's not right to ask you to run errands for me and not pay you back."

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Go and inform them."

"Okay, leader."

After Zhang Yaoguo left, Zhou Zhiqiang picked up the framed item on the table and took a look at it.

What a glory!
If an outsider came to his office, and Zhou Zhiqiang casually turned the framed item outwards, it would be the envy of everyone.

After watching for a while, Zhou Zhiqiang saw Zhang Yaoguo knock on the door and come in to report, so he also put aside his other thoughts.

I have already spoken with Secretary Li and expressed my full support to him. The factory office has sent someone to notify all cadres and to prepare the meeting room, which will be ready for use soon.

Zhang Yaoguo personally notified the senior cadres of the factory's Party Committee.

Zhou Zhiqiang saw that the time was almost up, and he had notified them a bit hastily. The main reason was that the schedule for foreign affairs had changed, and there was only a two-week difference, so he had to confirm it in advance.

Seeing that it was almost time for the meeting, Zhou Zhiqiang picked up the work schedule he had just compiled and headed to the meeting room.

When he arrived at the conference room, he found that most of the department cadres had already arrived. Just after Zhou Zhiqiang sat down, Secretary Li also rushed in.

After sitting down next to Zhou Zhiqiang, Secretary Li said with a smile, "Comrade Zhiqiang, the meeting is a bit early today."

Zhou Zhiqiang also whispered to Secretary Li, "I just received a call from Deputy Leader Wu. The foreign affairs visit to France that we talked about before the New Year may be moved up by half a month."

They'll be visiting our factory in mid-February, so we need to start preparations early; thinking about this, I called a meeting half an hour early.

Upon hearing this, Secretary Li asked in surprise, "So early? How should we prepare?"

"Let's follow the same procedures as when we received the Russians last time. The precision workshop is not open to the public, and we should also remind the workshop director."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "That's about it. They're curious about our country's industrial development capabilities, but there's really not much to say about it."

It's hard to say whether they're cheating or not; just take them on a tour of the factory to see how production is done.

After all the cadres had arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang began to preside over the meeting, saying, "Comrades, today is a meeting to arrange work for the new year. I won't waste any more time on small talk, let's get started."

(End of this chapter)