That year the flowers bloomed 1981

Chapter 1292 Being a Saint is Painful (One Update on Leave)
On the third day after Li Ye returned to Beijing, Wang Siyu and his convoy returned to the First Branch Factory, which caused a minor disturbance within the Light Vehicle Company.

Because Li Ye bought many imported cars at the exhibition, each of which was an eye-catching item in this era, it naturally attracted a series of gossips.

"Did you know? The First Factory went to Shanghai and bought more than a dozen imported cars, all kinds of them. You know, they only have a few section-level cadres in total, two cars per person would be more than enough."

"Why should a section-level cadre be entitled to a car? Besides, their own domestically produced minivans are quite good! Why should they spend foreign exchange to buy someone else's?"

"You don't understand, do you? They said these imported goods are for 'study and reference,' to learn from the advanced experience of the West and make up for our own shortcomings."

"Hey, what nonsense! Do you think I, a veteran fitter, don't know anything about this? If they want to study or learn from it, they'd have to take the whole car apart! What can they possibly study sitting under it?"

"."

Li Ye really intended to dismantle these dozen or so vehicles.

Although the current branch factory does not yet possess the technical capability for comprehensive reverse engineering, it can certainly learn from some of the experience.

Wang Siyu and the others were naturally reluctant to part with them. They had driven the cars all the way back from Shanghai, and they were extremely fond of these "luxury cars" that cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. How could they bear to dismantle them into a pile of parts?

"Factory manager, why don't we study their handling characteristics first? Once they're disassembled, they can't be put back together."

"You bought this thing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, just for you guys to drive around in? Can't you put it back? Of course you can. If you could put it back, what would I need you technicians for?"
"Take this step and study it carefully. When you've figured it out completely, I'll reward each of you with a new car, which will belong to you personally."

"."

No one was reluctant to part with it. Everyone knew that Li Ye was a man of his word; once he completed a task, the reward was never just empty promises.

An imported car costs hundreds of thousands! That's enough to buy several houses.

Now that the reward is in hand, I'm all set.

After learning of Li Ye's plan, Lu Zhizhang couldn't help but tease him, "Li Ye, if you were to dismantle all these dozen or so vehicles, I wonder how many people would criticize you for wasting resources."

You know, many of them spend their whole lives climbing the corporate ladder just to own their own company car. The last time we gave employees cars as a reward, it made them incredibly jealous and resentful. And now you've gone and tore it down.”

"Hum~"

Li Ye snorted twice, saying disdainfully, "I think if I don't tear it down, people will come after me."

Sure enough, just as Wang Siyu and his team returned with the convoy, Niu Hongzhang asked Li Ye a question at the meeting.

"Comrade Li Ye, during the Shanghai exhibition, you spent more than five million yuan to purchase imported cars. Was such a large purchase reviewed and approved in accordance with regulations?"
Even if your branch factory is very profitable, such a large sum of money cannot be disposed of by you alone. This is a huge loophole and deficiency in our management.
Therefore, I suggest establishing a sound supervision and oversight mechanism for the use of large sums of money.

Upon hearing Niu Hongzhang's words, Li Ye knew that he wanted to use the group from the main factory to "strangle" the branch factory. This was like building a hydroelectric power station on a river. At first glance, the purpose seemed good: to irrigate during the dry season and prevent floods during the rainy season, with good intentions to ensure your safety.

However, this is the result of a selfless and effective management mechanism. If the hydropower station has ulterior motives, once it is built, even the smallest things downstream will be subject to its control; if they don't obey, it won't release water.

If you don't believe me, just look at some countries in the south. They don't release water during the dry season, but they open the floodgates during the rainy season, letting you deeply experience the power of nature.

The same applies to Niu Hongzhang. Because of his several reckless actions over the past two years, the cadres at the head factory had already become distant from him. But if the oversight mechanism is established this time, everyone will have the right to "point fingers" at the branch factory.

With power comes benefits.

Even those who had "secret dealings" with the First Branch Factory were tempted, because if others tried to trip up the First Branch Factory, they could help the First Branch Factory take sides, which would be doing the First Branch Factory a favor and making the First Branch Factory owe them a favor.

So before Niu Hongzhang could finish speaking, Li Ye noticed that many people were exchanging glances.

Observing their eyes and expressions, Li Ye felt that Niu Hongzhang had probably not communicated with them in advance, so the incident was sudden and they were unprepared.

Has Old Niu become this cautious?

Li Ye found it somewhat amusing.

In the past,
I reckon if they had to vote by raising their hands, they would be willing to support it.

After Niu Hongzhang finished speaking, Ma Zhaoxian smiled and asked Li Ye, "Deputy Factory Director Li, do you have any explanation?"

"some."

Li Ye calmly said, "First of all, let me correct you. During my participation in the exhibition in Shanghai, I didn't spend more than five million, but more than seven million. In addition to the more than five million spent on imported cars, I also bought ten Iveco medium-sized buses."

"Oh~"

"Sigh~"

Many people in the conference room looked at Li Ye in surprise.

Although everyone knows that Li Ye is "arrogant and domineering," it is still quite surprising that he talks about a major event that cost more than seven million yuan so casually.

However, Li Ye continued, "But my actions did not violate any regulations, because before I went to Shanghai, I had already approved a plan to purchase cars for research and reference at an internal meeting of the first branch factory."
The original budget was set at under ten million, but many of the cars at the exhibition weren't worth referencing, such as high-end models like Mercedes-Benz and Bayer, so the money wasn't fully spent.

Wow! So you're actually quite thrifty!

Li Ye continued, "Another reason I purchased ten Iveco medium-sized buses is to strengthen our connection with the production base in the city. The city's performance this year has been very good, which is inseparable from the technical and management support of the First Plant."
However, we are 700 kilometers away, making it inconvenient for technical and management personnel to travel back and forth. Many employees stationed in the city are already feeling homesick.
"Since this Iveco bus can arrive on the same day, I've decided to start a regular shuttle service, running every other day, to strengthen our connection with the city authorities."

As Li Ye finished speaking, those around him couldn't help but nod slightly, given the rapid development of the Zhucheng Vehicle Factory.
Although Li Ye initially dispatched a large number of management and technical personnel to the city, everyone was still afraid that, given the enormous benefits involved, the other side might "disobey orders from the emperor while in the field."
Even some of the joint ventures between Beijing Automotive and Motorcycle Group and other companies ended up allowing others to leverage their resources to grow larger and eventually leave independently.

Therefore, Li Ye has now opened a shuttle bus service every two days to increase the mobility between cadres in Beijing and those stationed in the city. Today, people are sent over for training, and tomorrow, leaders go over for inspection. Over time, everyone will truly become "one family".

But after saying that, Li Ye changed the subject and added, "Furthermore, because of the huge success of the city-based project, we will most likely accept other units in similar situations in the future."
Therefore, we need to develop more new car models and technologies. Otherwise, if people come to us for help and we can't teach them new skills, how can we be expected to be their mentors?

"Huh?" "What did he mean by that?"

The cadres who were qualified to attend the meeting in the conference room were all shrewd and intelligent, and Li Ye's words immediately aroused their various speculations.

Section Chief Xing from the main factory had a good relationship with Branch Factory No. 1, and asked with a smile, "Director Li, you said other units are also joining us. Is Branch Factory No. 1 going to expand again?"

Li Ye said ambiguously, "Right now we only have a slight interest, but we should always plan ahead!"

Niu Hongzhang immediately said, "Deputy Factory Director Li, you should be mindful of the occasion when you speak. Don't make unfounded statements at meetings."

Li Ye was about to retort when Ma Zhaoxian calmly said, "I went to a meeting at the ministry the day before yesterday, and the ministry does indeed have this intention. Currently, three units hope to merge and join us. The specific details are already under study, and everyone should be prepared."

"Om~"

The meeting room immediately stirred with commotion, and many acquaintances began to whisper among themselves.

Ma Zhaoxian is not Li Ye; he is the general manager of the light vehicle company. Since he said that this matter exists, then it is indeed true.

Moreover, Ma Zhaoxian said, "Let everyone be prepared," which made it even more appealing.

When cadres were initially sent to the city, several people from the main factory were sent there. Although they were dispatched to a place 600 or 700 kilometers away, their rank was genuinely promoted.

If several more units merge this time, then there will definitely be a lot more openings. After all these years of hard work, isn't it all just to be a radish with a opening?
So after Ma Zhaoxian spoke up, no one mentioned Niu Hongzhang's suggestion anymore. It was clear that Ma Zhaoxian and Li Ye's side had greater and more benefits, and only a fool would offend Li Ye at this critical juncture.

Lu Zhizhang exchanged a glance with Li Ye, then smiled and took out the stack of complaint letters: "I have something on my plate that I haven't known how to handle for several days now, and I really can't delay any longer, so I'd like to take this opportunity to hear everyone's opinions."

"Comrade Niu Hongzhang, these are some letters of complaint from the public regarding you. I don't know why they were delivered to me. Some of them are even filed under our real names. Why don't you take a look at them yourself first?"

Lu Zhizhang handed the letter of complaint to Niu Hongzhang.

But Niu Hongzhang didn't answer.

He was furious. He had never encountered anything like this before. Lu Zhizhang was completely lacking in martial ethics.

[You said you'd let me take a look first, so why are you taking it out now? Shouldn't you have quietly brought it to my office?]

[And who are you? What gives you the right to accept a complaint letter? Don't you even know the rules?]

"No need, I'm willing to accept public supervision. You can just read it to everyone now."

"Oh, that's good."

Lu Zhizhang smiled, picked up the letter of complaint, and began to read: "Dear factory leaders, I am Li Xiaomao from the Third Forging Workshop of the main factory. I am reporting Comrade Niu Hongzhang for arranging jobs for his relatives."

His relative, Niu Fenghua, only has an elementary school education, yet she was assigned to be a piece-rate clerk. She always misrecords my performance-based piece count, and she always undercounts. I suspect she can't count."

"Dear factory directors, deputy factory directors, and section chiefs, I am Zhang Zhenming from the General Affairs Department of the main factory. Comrade Niu Hongzhang has asked us to send someone to clean his office, but there are so many people in his office, doesn't he have hands and feet?"

"."

Lu Zhizhang read aloud more than a dozen letters of complaint in one breath, which made Niu Hongzhang so angry that his nose was crooked.

Of these dozen or so whistleblower letters, only one or two contained some interesting details, such as his arrangement of a relative with only an elementary school education to work as a piece-rate clerk.

It's really not his fault, because the nine-year compulsory education system in mainland China was only implemented in 1986, and it wasn't fully implemented in many places until the 1990s, with many people only having a primary school education.

As for the other reports, they were just trivial matters and making trouble out of nothing.

During the Chinese New Year holiday, when the office is being thoroughly cleaned, some employees get lazy and call the general affairs department to ask for a few people to do the work. This is a very normal thing in any company, and the general affairs department should even be eager to do it.

However, the kind of trouble that others would find insignificant has a considerable impact on Niu Hongzhang.

Because Niu Hongzhang always considered himself "selfless" and "diligent and thrifty," he often used trivial matters to educate the workers, but this work style required him to have extremely high standards for himself.

You spend all day lecturing others about being hardworking, but can't you clean windows yourself? Can't you fix a bench yourself?

The problem with this kind of thing is when others take it seriously. But over the years, no one has dared to take this seriously with Niu Hongzhang, so he himself has become unaware of it.

But now that someone has pointed it out in his face, what can he say?
At this point, if someone were to step forward to help Niu Hongzhang and directly rebuke him, saying, "This is utter nonsense! This matter must be thoroughly investigated and those with ulterior motives dealt with seriously," then the matter would be over.

Unfortunately, no one in the meeting room spoke, leaving Niu Hongzhang speechless.

Alas, you reap what you sow!

Li Ye felt sorry for Niu Hongzhang. He always thought that Niu Hongzhang's work style was extremely painful and cruel. It was almost like being a saint. Any flaw would be magnified infinitely to attack the reprimands you gave others in the past.

Therefore, Li Ye has never "strictly demanded of himself". Even if he knew some of his minor flaws, he did not try to correct them excessively, but instead focused on improving efficiency.

"Well, I do have a few minor flaws. Go ahead and sue me if you dare! But my good looks cover up all my shortcomings. I can make money and generate profits. If you can win the lawsuit, then you're truly capable."

But Niu Hongzhang couldn't do it.

If someone who constantly proclaims himself to be "frugal and selfless" is suddenly pointed out for various minor flaws, then the "golden image" he has worked so hard to maintain for decades is shattered.

If you can't even do it yourself, then all those big words and empty promises you made before were just bullshit, weren't they?

　My son is on holiday today, and his antics are killing my back, so I'm taking a break from writing an update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)