Right path to power

"Comrade Lin Xiao has arrived, please have a seat."

Zhu Lishu calmly invited Lin Xiao to sit down on the sofa, then sat down beside her with her own teacup.

"Secretary Zhu, I have some thoughts to share with you regarding this personnel plan." Seeing that Zhu Lishu's attitude was lukewarm, Lin Xiao got straight to the point.

Although the county party secretary has the right to nominate and make recommendations for any county-level position, the county government office is no exception.

However, the position of deputy director of the county government office directly serves the county head and is undoubtedly the county head's "closest confidant." Conventionally, the opinion on the selection of the county head carries the most weight.

Furthermore, assigning a "person close to the county head" whom he does not trust would not only hinder the work, but also make the county the one responsible for any problems that arise.

Therefore, the Party Secretary generally won't force people into positions of authority.

This sense of political tact is a basic common sense that every leader should possess.

In short, Lin Xiao's decision to appoint the deputy director of the county government office was to protect her own base, while Zhu Lishu's insistence on placing her own people inside was to take advantage of the situation completely and leave no room for maneuver.

Based on the above judgment, Lin Xiao's main purpose was to communicate with the candidate for deputy director of the finance bureau.

After all, this was like adding sand to Lin Xiao's most prized purse, a much more serious offense than being the deputy director of the county government office.

As she listened, Zhu Lishu occasionally raised her teacup to drink some tea.

In fact, nominating Zhou Dingkun as the candidate for deputy director of the Finance Bureau was not her original intention; it was Luo Jinlian, the director of the Municipal Finance Bureau, who recommended him to her.

Zhou Dingkun had previously worked as an apprentice at the Municipal Finance Bureau for half a year, and Luo Jinlian had a good impression of him and had been looking for an opportunity to put him in a business position.

However, she wouldn't explain this to Lin Xiao, lest it backfire.

Although Luo Jinlian recommended the person, Zhu Lishu also felt it was necessary to place her own people in the Finance Bureau to avoid being completely clueless about everything in the future.

"According to County Chief Lin's introduction, Xue Jiahao is very outstanding, but he has been working in the Finance Bureau. The organization's plan for his next development is to arrange for him to work in a township to gain more grassroots work experience, and then return to the Finance Bureau if there is an opportunity in the future. This is the most beneficial for his personal development and for the organization's training."

If our cadres are used in the same department or unit for a long time, it can easily lead to a narrow range of experience and knowledge, which is not conducive to cadre exchange and team optimization.

Zhou Dingkun is in charge of financial work at the county party committee. He has strong professional skills, a good overall perspective, and excellent execution ability. I believe he is well-suited for the role of deputy director.

Zhu Lishu spoke calmly, as if she were genuinely concerned about the development of cadres.

Lin Xiao paused for a moment: "The Finance Bureau has extremely high professional requirements, and there have been so many changes in the leadership recently. I still think it would be more beneficial to select a deputy director from within the bureau. Zhou Dingkun has experience in the county party committee office, so we could consider him as a deputy secretary in a township, responsible for party affairs and mass work."

Zhu Lishu's face immediately darkened. She took a sip of tea, pursed her lips, and said, "We don't need to dwell on this matter anymore. We need to consider the overall use of cadres in the county from a long-term perspective."

Lin Xiao's face also darkened—she had already agreed to assign Zhou Dingkun to the position of deputy secretary of the township, but Zhu Lishu still insisted on putting him in the Finance Bureau, which was hardly a long-term consideration.

"I reserve my opinion," Lin Xiao said in a deep voice.

"Okay, let's strengthen communication in the future and seek common ground while reserving differences in our work."

After saying that, Julie Shu got up and went to her desk.

Lin Xiao tactfully took her leave.

As Lin Xiao left Zhu Lishu's office, she ran into Zhou Dingkun, who was carrying a stack of documents, in the corridor.

"Hello, County Chief Lin." Zhou Dingkun greeted him respectfully.

Lin Xiao nodded, then stopped and asked, "Is Section Chief Zhou very familiar with financial work?"

Zhou Dingkun already knew that Zhu Lishu had nominated him to be the deputy director of the Finance Bureau. When he heard Lin Xiao ask this question, he was excited and thought that Zhu Lishu and Lin Xiao had already made arrangements.

"County Chief Lin, I graduated from Fengdu College of Economics and Trade with a degree in accounting..." Zhou Dingkun explained his situation, then, almost as if on cue, added, "A few days ago, I ran into Director Luo from the Municipal Finance Bureau and even asked her for some financial advice. Director Luo was very kind to me..."

"Okay, do a good job."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Xiao interrupted him, shook her head slightly, and left.

Zhou Dingkun watched Lin Xiao leave with a blank expression, completely puzzled—what did County Chief Lin mean?

Lin Xiao was also frustrated – she hadn’t expected that Zhou Dingkun was related to Luo Jinlian, and Zhu Lishu must know about this as well.

This explains why Juliet's attitude was so firm.

If she were only focused on her work, that would be one thing, but helping Luo Jinlian and others to get people into the Finance Bureau was something he couldn't tolerate.

After returning to his office and thinking for a moment, Lin Xiao made several phone calls to He Zhiqiang, Yang Xueting, and Qi Mingchen, and then made a few more.

At the same time, Zhu Lishu was also communicating with Deputy Secretary Gao Chengce about personnel proposals.

Soon, Dong Yimei, the director of the county party committee office, came to inform Lin Xiao to attend a five-person group meeting.

Lin Xiao arrived at the conference room, where He Zhiqiang, Yang Xueting, and Gao Chengce were already present, while Dong Yimei attended the meeting and took notes.

Lin Xiao nodded to the others and then sat down in the next seat.

Although everyone still had smiles on their faces, the atmosphere in the meeting room was noticeably different.

After a short while, Zhu Lishu came in. She glanced at the group and got straight to the point: "Today's group meeting is mainly to discuss and deliberate on several recent personnel proposals. First, I would like to ask Comrade Zhiqiang to introduce the basic situation."

After He Zhiqiang gave a detailed introduction to the positions and candidates involved in this adjustment, everyone expressed their opinions.

Since there had been prior communication, there were no objections to four of the five positions, including the appointment of Wang Xinghong as deputy director of the county government office.

However, there is considerable disagreement regarding the new deputy director of the Finance Bureau, mainly because Zhu Lishu and Lin Xiao each nominated one person.

Although He Zhiqiang and Yang Xueting expressed their support for Lin Xiao's proposal, forming a majority in favor, Zhu Lishu still used her position as the top leader to make the final decision: "Since everyone has different opinions, let's discuss it at the Standing Committee meeting tomorrow and try to determine the candidate as soon as possible."

She had already communicated with Gao Chengce earlier and was full of confidence for tomorrow's Standing Committee meeting.

Of course, her main purpose was to put Lin Xiao in a bad light, weakening his prestige and influence, so it was still within the scope of establishing authority.

Lin Xiao remained calm as he addressed the matter at the meeting: "Secretary Zhu, the county government has already drafted a plan regarding the restructuring of Xinyuan Coal Mine and the county's overall coal industry rectification efforts. I suggest that this plan also be discussed at the meeting tomorrow."

Zhu Lishu did not answer immediately, but picked up her teacup and took a sip of tea. She hadn't even seen the first draft of the plan, yet Lin Xiao wanted to take it directly to the Standing Committee for discussion. He really didn't take her seriously.

However, she still said coldly, "Fine, then let's go through it together."

She has already decided to formally "draw her sword" at tomorrow's Standing Committee meeting, so naturally it doesn't matter.

"Comrade Yimei, please inform the other Standing Committee members that there will be a meeting tomorrow."

"Yes, Secretary."

Meeting adjourned.

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhu Lishu walked out of the conference room first, a cold smile playing on her lips before she left.

Afterwards, everyone left.

The county party committee held a meeting at 9:00 a.m. the following morning.

Lin Xiao entered the conference room right on time.

However, the atmosphere at this meeting was somewhat somber.

It's no secret that Juliet has suddenly become high-profile and assertive these past few days, and that she's had disagreements with Lin Xiao on several issues.

Everyone knew that today's Standing Committee meeting would be the first direct confrontation between Lin Xiao and Zhu Lishu.

The two had worked together very well before, so the Standing Committee meetings were basically just a formality.

Right now, a silent battle has quietly begun.

Zhu Lishu was the last to enter the meeting room. She first surveyed the room with a confident gaze, then said calmly, "Let's begin the meeting. Today's meeting has three main topics. We will now proceed to the first topic: the Organization Department will present their plan for adjusting the vacant section-level cadres..."

After He Zhiqiang finished his introduction, Zhu Lishu said, "Leading cadres are the key to getting things done and starting businesses. Selecting and appointing personnel is an important task of the county party committee. Only by selecting and appointing the right people can our various tasks be better implemented. Please give your objective and fair opinions on the organization department's plan."

Before anyone could respond, she continued, "Comrade Yimei, please share your opinion first."

Dong Yimei was taken aback; she hadn't expected Zhu Lishu to call her name directly.

However, as the director of the county party committee office and someone with a "criminal record," she was well aware that if she didn't stand on Zhu Lishu's side, she would probably lose her position in the county.

Therefore, she still supports Zhou Dingkun, the head of the administrative section of the county party committee office, for the position of deputy director of the finance bureau.

In fact, she did not want Juliet and Lin Xiao to become enemies.

Subsequently, Deputy County Head Tang Meiyun also expressed her agreement to appoint Zhou Dingkun as the Deputy Director of the Finance Bureau.

Following that, He Zhiqiang, Yang Xueting, and Qi Mingchen stated that it would be more appropriate to promote someone from within the Finance Bureau, so they all supported Xue Jiahao.

The attitude of these three people was exactly what Juliet had expected; they didn't take her too seriously.

As long as either Ji Qingjun, the political commissar of the People's Armed Forces Department, or An Xu, the secretary of the county's Political and Legal Affairs Commission, is on her side, she can control the overall situation.

Following this, Gao Chengce and Shu Xiaobing also expressed their support for Zhou Dingkun.

Of the eleven members of the county party committee standing committee, seven, excluding Zhu Lishu and Lin Xiao, have expressed their opinions, with four of them supporting Zhou Dingkun.

At this moment, Zhu Lishu looked at An Xu with a faint smile: "Comrade An Xu, Comrade Qing Jun, what are your opinions?"