Road to Revival

At 7:50 a.m. on April 30, Li Zhibin handed a cost analysis report on supporting products for Donghu to Tao Tang, who had just returned from the restroom.

"Hmm? It was submitted by the finance department?" Tao Tang glanced at the cover of the analysis report. There was no official seal of the finance department, nor the signature of Finance Minister Li Jianguo, but it was signed with the name Ming Xiaoyue. Tao Tang had no recollection of this name.

"It was given to me by Secretary Zhao."

"When?"

"Just now. You happened to be going out."

Tao Tang, who entered the office promptly at 7:30, has only gone to the restroom once since then.

Tao Tang found it strange, but he still spent nearly half an hour browsing the report before calling Li Jianguo over.

"Director Li, you arranged for this report to be prepared, right? Why isn't it signed and stamped?"

"It's like this," Li Jianguo said somewhat displeased, "General Manager Han arranged a special price analysis for Donghu Mining, which should naturally be done by the pricing department. But they submitted it to you at the same time they gave it to me. There's a procedural discrepancy..."

"What is Comrade Ming Xiaoyue's position?"

"Head of the Price Section," Li Jianhua swallowed, "I've already criticized her."

"Have you reviewed the analysis?"

"not yet."

"Then take a look today. It's best not to jump to conclusions before you've seen it."

Li Jianguo criticized Ming Xiaoyue for violating procedures, but Tao Tang's attitude clearly indicated his support for the cost analysis.

After returning home, Li Jianguo locked his office door, ignored all unimportant calls, and quickly "studied" Ming Xiaoyue's report before going to Han Zhiyong's office.

"President Han, Ming Xiaoyue submitted this material directly to President Tao..."

"What materials?"

"The price analysis you assigned for the East Lake collaborative project."

"What's going on? I didn't even check, how did you give it to General Manager Tao?" Han Zhiyong was unhappy. "Old Li, doesn't the finance department have any rules?"

"I've already criticized her. You know, this woman has always been very arrogant..."

"Has President Tao reviewed it?" Han Zhiyong flipped through the analysis report.

"He should have seen it. President Tao seems to appreciate Ming Xiaoyue's analysis."

"That's utter nonsense! A Type 4 machine frame is only 44000? Nonsense!" Han Zhiyong shouted, slamming his hand on the documents. "It won't even come down to 50000! This should be the cost department's job, shouldn't it? Why did you give it to Ming Xiaoyue? Go and take back Tao's copy and have the cost department redo it. Don't fucking rest, use your holiday to do a serious job."

"Take it back?" Li Jianguo was in a dilemma.

"Of course we have to take it back. Are you trying to mislead President Tao? Let me ask you, is 44000 yuan enough for the Type 4 aircraft frame?" Han Zhiyong stared intently at Li Jianguo.

Li Jianguo was in a difficult position. After Song Yue's downfall, Li Jianguo's situation was somewhat similar to that of Liu Xinjun in the Development and Planning Department—a rather unfortunate predicament. Both were confidants of the former top leaders, yet lacked the support of their respective supervisors. When Song Yue was in power, things were better; with the top leader supporting them, they didn't need to worry too much about the deputy general manager in charge. But that wasn't the case now. Especially for Li Jianguo, the blame for offending people always fell on his shoulders, making him Han Zhiyong's scapegoat.

The saying "a higher-ranking official can crush you" applies to normal situations, but having a powerful backer is a different story. Now that Li Jianguo's backer has collapsed, his section chiefs each have their own connections, making his position as department head even more precarious. Take Ming Xiaoyue, for example. Everyone knows she's Secretary Zhao's person, and her actions are clearly guided by Zhao Qingmin. Otherwise, she wouldn't dare to oppose Han Zhiyong even if she had the guts.

This is all a problem stemming from Quan Jianhe's dismissal. Several section chiefs are eyeing the position he vacated, and they're all eager to take it. He's fully aware of this. Didn't he privately recommend Rong Shangming to Tao Tang? Simply because Rong is the section chief who has been most supportive of his work. Shi Cheng and Ming Xiaoyue, relying on their powerful backers, have caused countless troubles, not even bothering to maintain a semblance of respect for him, the deputy chief accountant and director. And now, Ming Xiaoyue has seized the opportunity to curry favor with the new head, and it seems she has already achieved her goal.

Even with Song Yue's backing, Li Jianguo was still strongly suppressed by Han Zhiyong. Now, he found it even harder to resist his superior's orders. He reluctantly went to Tao Tang's office again, but Tao Tang had guests there. Li Zhibin told him that a major client from Beiyang was visiting President Tao, implying that it was inconvenient to disturb him. Li Jianguo took the opportunity to back down, as he was already wary of the task Han Zhiyong had given him.

Li Jianguo returned to Building No. 2 and called Ming Xiaoyue over again. "Section Chief Ming, President Han was very unhappy with your analysis, not just because of procedural issues, but also because the data was outrageous. President Han wants me to retrieve the analysis I gave to President Tao to avoid misleading the leadership. He has already arranged for our department to redo it. Go and get your analysis back. This is a lesson; we can't do this again. Otherwise, I'll be in a very passive position."

"Why would I take back the analysis?" Ming Xiaoyue didn't buy Li Jianguo's explanation. "Vice President Li, the analysis report was sent to President Tao by Secretary Zhao. He asked if the price analysis for Donghu Mining was ready, and said President Tao needed it urgently. Luckily, our department worked overtime to finish it, otherwise, wouldn't our finance department have lost face with President Tao? Tell me, how could I not follow Secretary Zhao's orders? It really proves the saying, 'The more you do, the more unlucky you get!' I don't think there was any procedural error. If it weren't for the high-ranking leader's urgency, would I have bypassed you to submit it? Is there any precedent for this? As for the data, I take full responsibility. President Han is too much of a bully. Price accounting is the business of the price department, why should it be done by our department? If you don't trust me, you can dismiss me like Quan Jianhe did. Don't make things difficult for me. If President Han gets angry, let him take it out on me. I made a procedural error by submitting some materials to President Tao? That's really absurd!" After saying that, the still charming female head of the price department walked away with her head held high.

Ming Xiaoyue escalated the issue to the level of blocking Tao Tang, leaving Li Jianguo speechless. He no longer had the leverage to participate in the power struggle between the top leader and the chief accountant. Quan Jianhe's "unexpected" dismissal was advantageous to Li Jianguo, as Quan Jianhe was Han Zhiyong's key pawn used to restrain him, and was the top-ranked deputy director of the finance department. With Quan Jianhe down, Li Jianguo could potentially consolidate internal power and establish his own authority. He couldn't afford to be suspected of being behind the blockade of Tao Tang now, or he would be completely finished.

For the rest of the morning, Li Jianguo pondered the report and the trouble it had brought. Clearly, Secretary Zhao had intervened; otherwise, Ming Xiaoyue wouldn't have been so defiant. With Zhao Qingmin involved, Han Zhiyong wouldn't be able to find any procedural flaws in Ming Xiaoyue's work. The key was analyzing the report's contents. Li Jianguo patiently read through the 53-page report and discovered that Ming Xiaoyue had essentially overturned the finance department's original calculations. Of the hundreds of products listed, 83% were priced affordably, and the remaining 65% could be addressed through improved cost control. Only less than 6% of the products were priced unacceptably.

Product pricing has always been a tool in the power struggle between Han Zhiyong and Li Luo. They accuse each other: marketing claims finance's audits disregard market realities, while finance accuses marketing of focusing solely on scale and ignoring costs. Marketing, in turn, argues that cost control is finance's core business… Ming Xiaoyue's report is a slap in the face to both Han Zhiyong and Li Jianguo. It essentially renders their previous reasons for refusing the contract untenable. But wasn't the original price calculation done by Ming Xiaoyue's pricing department? This woman truly has the potential to manipulate events at will.

Li Jianguo sensed that a conflict was about to break out.

At 2:30 PM on April 30th, in the large conference room located within the Dazhao compound where Tao Tang took office, Hongxing Company held a meeting for middle-level and above cadres. Tao Tang hadn't originally planned such a large meeting, but Zhao Qingmin insisted on including section-level cadres, deeming it necessary. Zhao Qingmin said, "Everyone wants to hear you speak; relaying information is unreliable, there are plenty of charlatans. It's better to hold a large-scale cadre meeting." Thus, the meeting had to be held in the large conference room within the Dazhao compound, which could accommodate over a thousand people.

The meeting was chaired by Guo Tao, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. There were only two items on the agenda: Tao Tang made arrangements for production and operation, and Zhao Qingmin made arrangements for Party building and publicity work.

Zhao Qingmin spoke before Tao Tang, but Tao Tang had given Guo Tao the agenda to speak first.

"Let me speak first, and then General Manager Tao will make the overall arrangements." Zhao Qingmin adjusted the microphone. "General Manager Tao suggested holding a meeting before the May Day holiday to unify our thinking, which is very necessary. I'll mainly talk about Party building and publicity..."

Zhao Qingmin's speech was brief. After conveying and studying the recently issued documents on Party building and anti-corruption, he put forward several specific requirements for Party building work, but there was nothing new. It was nothing more than truly giving full play to the role of the Party branch as a fighting fortress, truly giving full play to the exemplary role of Party members, and focusing on Party building around the company's operation...

However, Zhao Qingmin criticized the publicity department, saying, "General Manager Tao talked to me about publicity work a couple of days ago. He has a broad vision and keen insight, and his questions hit the nail on the head. After reflecting on it, I realized that our publicity work definitely needs a transformation. The television station and the factory newspaper both need to change. How? As General Manager Tao pointed out, we need to focus our perspective on employees, especially the outstanding frontline workers, truly reflecting the working class's status as masters of the country and genuinely mobilizing the enthusiasm of employees, especially those at the grassroots level. Currently, we have too much internal reporting on leaders and meetings, which is indeed inconsistent with the spirit of higher authorities. The publicity department needs to study this issue, and each branch also needs to study it, and we must truly undergo a major transformation in our work style..."

Zhao Qingmin's speech lasted only about twenty minutes. Guo Tao said, "Let's welcome Chairman and General Manager Comrade Tao Tang with warm applause to give instructions."

After the applause subsided, Tao Tang and others said, "Comrades, we originally intended to hold a small meeting, mainly to discuss production and management issues. The May Day holiday is approaching, a total of five days off, which isn't a short time. There are some things we need to discuss before the holiday. This holiday won't be easy; some units will need to work overtime, and the headquarters also needs to seriously consider its work. However, Secretary Zhao and Chairman Guo both felt it necessary to hold a larger meeting to unify our thinking. I agreed. That's the reason for this meeting. Secretary Zhao just spoke about Party building and propaganda, and made arrangements and deployments, which I agree with. Now, I will discuss three issues for everyone to study and consider."

Lu Qi, who was sitting in the front row, noticed that Tao Tang did not have a prepared speech.

"The first issue is the business situation this year. Four months have passed, and compared to the initial plan, our main economic indicators are not ideal, or rather, the start has been very poor. From January to April, our main business revenue only reached 19.8 billion yuan, achieving only 16.5% of the annual target, lagging behind the scheduled progress by 17 percentage points. Profits are also poor; according to the preliminary financial report, we have incurred a loss of 55 million yuan from January to April. Our annual profit target is 200 million yuan. Other indicators such as cost-to-revenue ratio, inventory, labor productivity, and cash flow are not worth listing in detail. With revenue indicators like this, other indicators are certainly in a mess. Sales revenue is fundamental. With such a large operation, our monthly salaries alone are 120 million yuan, electricity costs are 9-10 million yuan, and we have nearly 1 billion yuan in loans, with monthly interest of over 6 million yuan…" "Our average monthly revenue over the past four months is only 500 million yuan, with a cost-to-revenue ratio as high as 98.5%. How can we not lose money? We can't take the costs with us. Therefore, the current operating situation is severe. Our main task right now is to secure orders and expand the market, to get sales volume up first, otherwise other indicators can't be improved… The first four months have been like this. Starting in May, we need to strengthen the seriousness of the plan. We must strive to complete the quarterly plan. The production department must complete the monthly plans for May and June, which are broken down from the quarterly plan. We also need to try to make up for as much time as possible. Mr. Luo," Tao Tang turned to Chief Economist Luo Chong, who was taking notes, "During the holiday, please organize relevant departments to clarify the second quarter plan again and issue it in writing. And strictly assess the completion status. If the targets are not met, you need to give me an explanation. If you can't provide a convincing reason, I'll come up with a solution!"

"Yes," Luo Chong replied.

"Secondly, I'd like to talk about the questionnaire. The first thing I did after arriving was to conduct a questionnaire survey. The purpose was very clear: to understand the current state of mind among employees. The questionnaires have been collected, and I've looked at about a quarter of them. I will look at all of them later. This quarter of the questionnaire covers all units, including the employee hospital, the retirement management center, and the property management company. I was selective in my review. First, I looked at the questionnaires of everyone present, except for the cadres who were on leave. The questionnaire included both mandatory questions and open-ended questions, which asked employees to express their opinions on matters not listed in the questions. I won't explain the purpose of this; everyone understands. But don't think that the company is just going through the motions. First of all, I have no intention of just going through the motions. I intend to address all common problems one by one, resolving those that can be addressed immediately if possible, and creating the conditions to address those that cannot. But after reviewing this quarter of the questionnaire, I have some feelings to share with everyone here."

Tao Tang took a sip of water. "First of all, the return rate of the test papers is inconsistent. The lowest return rate is only 55%. Has the factory director and secretary of the Seventh Factory arrived? Stand up."

Zhang Quqiang, the director of the Seventh Factory, and Zhang Shouxin, the secretary, stood up, which seemed very out of place in the huge meeting room.

"Tell me, why is your branch plant's recycling rate only 55%?"

The two men were surprised when the chairman asked about this. After a long pause, Zhang Shouxin replied, "The branch factory made arrangements and even held a meeting for workshop directors. But some employees haven't submitted their work..."

"It's a fact that they haven't submitted it; you don't need to say that. What I want to ask is, have you noticed this phenomenon? If so, what measures have you taken?"

The two Zhangs stammered, unable to speak.