Road to Revival

Quan Jianhe's dismissal shocked the entire factory to some extent. The sudden removal of a key figure from a core power department, without warning, put Red Star's cadres at all levels on high alert upon receiving the document and hearing the news; the new leader was no pushover. Although the document didn't state the reason for Quan Jianhe's dismissal, the truth couldn't be hidden forever. That very night, the real details spread among the middle management at an unimaginable speed. Most of the middle management believed Quan Jianhe deserved it; he had outmaneuvered the new boss at this crucial time and deserved to be fired.

Ordinary employees had a different mindset. A characteristic of the Hongxing factory was that news of personnel changes spread exceptionally quickly; even people completely unrelated to the factory would talk about it with great interest. Quan Jianhe's sudden dismissal excited the employees. The Song Yang case had an extremely negative impact on the Hongxing employees; many believed that the two levels of leadership at Hongxing were utterly corrupt, full of greedy bastards, and that dismissal was too lenient—they should all be arrested.

Tao Tang garnered praise from ordinary employees, especially retirees: "The new General Manager Tao is doing a good job. He's a great leader. Look at him, he eats in the canteen every day, and he rides his bicycle to the workshop. That's the style of a Communist Party member!" The people hoped that General Manager Tao would severely punish corrupt officials like Quan Jianhe, who were responsible for the downfall of the Hongxing Factory.

Han Zhiyong returned to the factory on Thursday night. He had already learned of Quan Jianhe's misfortune, and the die was cast. After listening to Quan Jianhe's complaints and demands, he severely criticized his trusted old subordinate.

"Didn't I tell you all this? Boss Tao just arrived, and he's got the imperial sword. Cutting down a middle-level manager is like crushing an ant. You still dare to argue with him? Have you lost your mind? The document has already been issued. Who do I think I am? Can I invalidate the official document and get you out of trouble? Even if they have something on you, they'll still be wrongly convicted." Han Zhiyong pointed at Quan Jianhe's nose and cursed, "Don't tell me you're innocent! I told you to stay away from those self-employed individuals, didn't I? Don't you even know the situation? You're such a pig-brain! You're innocent, but I'm innocent too."

Han Zhiyong felt indignant but ultimately held back, because Quan Jianhe had been dismissed from his post without his knowledge. He then thought of the ensuing infighting within the finance department, and felt extremely frustrated. If Song Yue were in power, he would have immediately vented his dissatisfaction in his own way, but now that Tao Tang was at the helm of Hongxing, especially after his trip to Yanjing, he could only choose silence.

"Han Ruilin cheated on his wife, and I heard he even attended a meeting. Just because they're classmates, did he pretend not to know?" Quan Jianhe retorted, "He was doing this to you."

"Don't give me that! How can those be the same? You forced the emperor to resign, while Han Ruilin's problem was just a dirty little thing in his pants—the authorities won't investigate unless the people complain. As for you, you'd better stay there quietly for a while. We haven't made any specific arrangements yet, have we? You can choose a place, and I can put in a word with Pan Chenggui. Once this period is over and things calm down, I'll find a way to put you back in the game. Who says you can't come back after you've been sent down? I've read the documents; they didn't mention any specific mistakes you made."

"If the document isn't mentioned, no one will know? Everyone in the office building is laughing at me. President Han, I've been following you around for over ten years, surely Tao Tang should give you some face? Even being demoted to a section chief would be fine, but to be stripped of everything like this, that Tao guy is too ruthless. I heard he's dealing with Li Luo, isn't he afraid of being overthrown by a coalition?"

"Get lost! You think you can team up to overthrow them? What dirt do you have on them? I think you've gone back to your old ways. With this level of competence, you deserve to be dismissed. Red Star is in such a mess, let alone dismissing a mid-level deputy, even if you removed me, the higher-ups would still do it. As for you, listen to me and stay put. If you don't want to listen to me, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore." Han Zhiyong was truly angry. Thinking of Feng Shizhao's attitude towards Tao Tang, mentioning his conflict with Li Luo in the current situation would only harm him. How dare he suggest teaming up to overthrow Tao Tang? Had he been kicked in the head by a donkey?

"Okay, you can't just abandon me." Having lost nearly 100,000 yuan in performance-based pay annually, plus undisclosed gray income, Quan Jianhe was truly in agony. Leaving Hongxing to start a new business? Easier said than done.

"As long as you stay calm, I can always help you. You just said that President Tao dealt with Li Luo, what happened?"

Quan Jianhe then told him what he had heard.

Han Zhiyong pondered for a long time, "You still want me to save you? You're really useless. Making such a low-level mistake at a time like this. Don't tell me you didn't take any bribes! President Tao didn't investigate further because of me. If he had, you wouldn't even be able to keep your factory registration! You dare to challenge President Tao? You need to find a chance to apologize to President Tao in person. Tomorrow, tomorrow you need to handle this matter well, and be sincere!"

"Okay... I'll listen to you." Quan Jianhe seemed to understand something.

After Quan Jianhe left, Han Zhiyong fell into deep thought. A lot had happened at the company during his three days in Yanjing… The most noteworthy was the emerging conflict between Tao Tang and Li Luo. Tao Tang had found an excellent opening. He had said long ago that without reforming marketing, Red Star had no hope… He should help Tao Tang get rid of Li Luo; he absolutely should. What could be kept from the finance department? Gathering incriminating evidence against Li Luo from the finance department was easy. It hadn't been possible before, but the situation was different now. But he couldn't rush it; he had to observe. If Tao Tang showed him goodwill, he could lend him a hand; if Tao Tang wasn't worth helping, he'd be happy to see him fail… Quan Jianhe shouldn't be the reason for his conflict with Tao Tang—first, he couldn't afford to offend him, and second, he wasn't worth it. But Quan Jianhe had disappointed him terribly, crippling him completely. The deputy chief accountant and finance minister, Li Jianhua, was not on his side. That guy was capable and ambitious, and he mainly relied on Quan Jianhe to control the finance department. But Tao Tang had taken away his most powerful weapon, which was troublesome. He had to promote one of his own to take his place... But who should he promote? In addition, he also needed to have an attitude that satisfied Tao Tang regarding Quan Jianhe's matter. Han Zhiyong did not sleep well that night.

The next day, as soon as he arrived at work, Han Zhiyong went to Tao Tang's office and gave a brief report on the trip to Yanjing. He said that he had received a total of 1.83 million yuan in outstanding payments from the finance company. This was entirely due to Chairman Feng's intervention; otherwise, the finance company would have been lucky to receive even half of it.

He didn't mention Quan Jianhe's matter, wanting to see what Tao Tang would say. Although he had criticized and appeased Quan Jianhe last night, Tao Tang's dismissal of his subordinate without informing him still made him very uncomfortable.

"Thank you for your hard work." Tao Tang stood up and sat opposite Han Zhiyong. "Three things. First, there's the money. I looked at the purchasing department's list; 50 million is definitely not enough to cover both main materials and outsourced parts. I had the finance department allocate an additional 1,500 to the production department; they've probably already reported it to you. The employee suicide at the company is very distressing. I discussed it with the Party Secretary, and we decided to pay the outstanding wages in one lump sum. May Day is coming up soon, and with this month's wages, it's a considerable sum. I inquired with Li Jianguo about it; due to Yanjing..." The payment has arrived, and with the recent sales revenue, we have enough money. But the expenses aren't limited to salaries; production, the major expense, can't be ignored. The 50 million is only for emergencies. So I need you to prepare a financial balancing meeting to thoroughly review recent income and expenses. By the way, I asked the general manager's office, and Xingwu said that a financial balancing meeting hasn't been held in a long time. Isn't that absurd? How can such a large operation function without a financial balancing meeting? You'll lead this meeting; from now on, there must be at least one balancing meeting every month, otherwise, problems will definitely arise.”

"What President Tao said is true." Han Zhiyong immediately became unhappy when the topic of the financial balancing meeting came up. "The key issue is that the marketing department's repayment plan is just a piece of waste paper. If the inflow cannot be controlled, no matter how meticulous the outflow plan is, it's useless."

"Of course, we need to put pressure on marketing and strengthen performance evaluation. The balancing meeting should be held as soon as possible; in my opinion, it shouldn't be later than tomorrow. Today is already the 25th, and some things need to be decided before the holiday."

"Sure, I'll arrange it right away. But tomorrow might be difficult; if we push too hard, the information we submit will be too inflated."

"Okay, then let's postpone it by one day. The second thing is cost accounting. I went to Donghu on Tuesday and met with Wei Shegang, Wang Xiaoru, and Tang Yiwei. Overall, things are going well. The pending orders worth over 300 million yuan have basically been signed, and Wei Shegang even brought out some new products... But they raised a cost issue. The marketing department said that finance hasn't approved it because of the price inversion. I made a snap decision: all the disputes within 10% will be signed off. For those exceeding 10%, we'll do a detailed calculation and study. I've already assigned this to Li Jianguo, because I gave him a week's notice, and the relevant calculations need to be completed after May Day. You need to personally oversee this matter. Mr. Han, I feel—or rather, based on my experience—that financial calculations are more theoretical. It's not that they're wrong, but they inevitably deviate from reality. For example, if you factor in all the expenses, you might scare yourself into thinking you can't do it. In reality, there's always room for cost control; it might not actually result in a loss. Also, a market economy is..." So, if you don't do it, someone else will. We won't take that 300 million+ yuan order; Donghu will definitely choose a new partner. This is a mindset problem. They talk about putting the user first, but in reality, they're always self-centered. I vaguely sense that Hongxing's shrinking market share over the years is largely due to this ridiculous mindset. Let's not dwell on the past. Everyone is doing this for the company. Marketing has its logic, finance has its logic, and I have mine. I firmly believe that losses from working and losses from taking a break are not the same thing. The former has a chance to turn things around, while the latter is destined for ruin. Therefore, we must strictly control costs. This is finance's specialty. Think about it and come up with some measures. For any product with inverted pricing, we must use methods to force cost reduction! There's no point in arguing about this; the market doesn't listen to reason. You take charge, and I'll support you. If any link is blocked, I'll help you clear it. If you don't change your mindset, you'll be replaced. I've made up my mind.”

"Alright. I'll do as you instruct."

"The other thing is Quan Jianhe's matter, you've heard about it, right?"

"I haven't heard anything about it. What happened to him?"

Tao Tang briefly explained what had happened. "I didn't have time to tell you because the nature of the incident was quite serious. After the team meeting, it was decided to remove Quan Jianhe from his post. Lao Han, you should talk to him when you have time. Let's leave it at that. I don't want to distract myself from this." Tao Tang's last sentence was profound.

Han Zhiyong understood Tao Tang's meaning. The condition for stopping here was that Quan Jianhe obediently accepted his dismissal; otherwise, he would have to "spare his energy." Han Zhiyong had already figured out the stakes. "How could he do this? President Tao, you can't be mistaken, can you? This kid has been with me for many years, he's capable, and he's reliable."

"There's no mistake. The creditors are still waiting for their money. Chairman Guo has conducted a thorough investigation; the matter is actually very simple, not complicated at all. Old Han, this matter has greatly shocked me. There must still be people like Quan Jianhe who are blinded by greed. Removing him is also a lesson for others. Originally, I wanted to make it clearer in the document, but Secretary Zhao had concerns, which I understand, and his concerns are valid. But we must learn from this lesson. The problem lies with the finance department. You should speak out at the appropriate time and in the appropriate scope, and ask everyone not to be confused on matters of principle. I have a bad temper; I hate people who profit at the expense of the company or betray their own interests. It's okay to make mistakes at work, and you can improve your abilities if you lack them, but I will never tolerate that kind of mistake."

"I apologize for not managing my subordinates well... Your criticism is valid."

"No need for a self-criticism. Let's strengthen management, starting with the system. That's why I reinstated the fund balancing meeting. Anything decided at the fund balancing meeting is equivalent to the budget being approved; your approval is all that matters. Only large expenditures outside of the fund balancing meeting need to be submitted to you and me for approval. Otherwise, we'll just become signing machines. Yesterday afternoon, several small payments that had already been reviewed and signed by the vice president came to me for my signature, saying it was required by the finance department. That's not normal."

"Was it Li Jianguo who requested this? That guy has no sense of responsibility." Han Zhiyong made no attempt to hide his dissatisfaction with the head of the finance department.

"It was probably caused by Quan Jianhe's matter. We still need to establish rules. For a company as big as ours, we spend at least a million or more every day we're open. If I, as the general manager, have to sign off on everything, I'm afraid I'll be exhausted and still not be able to manage it." Tao Tang's tone was calm, but Han Zhiyong could hear the dissatisfaction in it.

Spending money and personnel management are the two core powers of a top executive. Song Yue tightly controlled the financial approval authority; any expenditure exceeding ten thousand yuan required his signature before payment. Was this effective management? The result was that necessary expenditures were not made, while unnecessary ones were spent. Those with close relationships were not restricted, while those with distant relationships were denied access to funds. This is how the company's persistently high debts came about. Using a balancing meeting to determine large monthly expenditures and then defining the approval authority for off-budget funds is the most reasonable and effective method for large enterprises. Tao Tang's statement just now precisely points to this approach.

But Han Zhiyong didn't believe Tao Tang was telling the truth.

"With Mr. Tao making such a request, my job as general manager will be much easier."

"To use Tolstoy's opening line from *Anna Karenina*, it's quite apt to describe businesses: well-run businesses are all alike, but poorly run businesses each have their own shortcomings. Mr. Han, capital is the lifeblood of a business, and cash is king—that's always true. We may have to tighten our belts for a long time, so we must minimize spending. Yesterday, I didn't approve a sum of money for the research institute—a 4500 yuan business entertainment expense. Is it appropriate for a section-level cadre to spend 4500 yuan on a single meal? But Li Meng and General Manager Jiang both signed it, without any problem. I'm aware of many such cases. I hope you can review this from a financial management perspective. If there are regulations, revise or reiterate them; if there aren't, establish rules. This is also an act of caring for cadres; it's better than sending someone to jail, isn't it? This is my honest opinion."

"Thank you for your guidance, Mr. Tao." Han Zhiyong looked at Tao Tang's sincere eyes. "I will follow your instructions. I've thought about it, and let's set the financial balancing meeting for 2 PM tomorrow. Tomorrow is the weekend, and any later and it will cause problems."

"It's alright, but we still need to be well-prepared. I've decided to move my day off to another day; it'll be May Day soon."

That would be best.

"This is the first time, so we must make sure this meeting is successful."