1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 466: The Strange Body

Since it is called "Initiating an Opinion Collection Meeting", students who are familiar with the system should know that this is nothing more than a procedure.

With the guidance of official documents, the establishment of the "DZ City Urban Infrastructure and Industrial Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd.", which seems incomprehensible to most people at present, is almost a foregone conclusion.

In fact, the consultation meeting itself did not take very long. It was held at 2 pm and ended at a little after 5 pm.

If we only look at the duration, this is just a "general meeting" in the administrative system.

But judging from the composition of the members attending the meeting, this is far from the level of a general meeting.

A five-member team including the DZ City monitor and deputy monitor,

Main leaders (representatives) of DZ Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission,

Leaders (representatives) in charge of land and resources departments,

Head of water conservancy department,

Head of the tax department,

Major leaders (representatives) of the local banking system,

The leaders of the municipal supply and marketing cooperatives,

Transportation department leaders, etc. etc.

It can be said that all important departments and leaders related to economic development in DZ City have participated in today's meeting.

Since it is a consultation meeting for the establishment of a support fund management company, the participants naturally cannot be just the competent authorities, but also a large number of representatives from major economies in the Texas region.

Representatives from nearly 40 companies, including Dahua Company, Dezhou Power Plant, Dezhou Cement, Dezhou Chemical, Dezhou Public Transport, Tobacco Company, Linyi Oil Refinery, Dezhou Cotton Industry, Defeng Textile, five major mining companies, Dezhou Department Store, etc., also attended the consultation meeting.

If outsiders saw this list of companies, they would definitely be shocked.

All the companies that are qualified to be on the list of participants are the most powerful leading state-owned enterprises in various industries in Dezhou. Even the famous Texas Instruments and Wucheng Bus were not included in the list, which shows how high the threshold is.

What’s interesting is that, logically speaking, Dahua Company and Linyi Refinery are both units within the DZ city that are directly under the Qilu Petroleum System. Even though this meeting involves the integration of the central and local governments, only one of them would be enough. However, the names of both units appeared at the consultation meeting at the same time, and none of the other corporate representatives attending the meeting felt surprised... Obviously, in everyone’s consensus, Dahua Company, in a sense, is already an independent company that has been separated from the Qilu Petroleum System.

In fact, if it is just that there are many leaders of DZ city authorities attending the meeting and the participating companies are strong, it may not necessarily mean anything... Every time a work summary and commendation meeting is held at the end of the year, there is still such a big show.

But if among the participants there are two leaders from the province and two from the ministry to provide on-site guidance at the meeting, then if you still can't see how important the "DZ City Urban Infrastructure and Industrial Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd." that is about to be established is, you might as well buy a piece of tofu and kill yourself.

Thus, in a good atmosphere of enthusiasm, great expectations and enthusiastic expressions of opinions from all parties, the inquiry meeting came to a successful conclusion, leaving Yang Mo, who was full of questions, disheveled in the wind.

………………

At nine o'clock in the evening, the lights in an office in the administrative building were turned on again.

Yang Mo, who had just been drugged at a farewell banquet for four conference guidance leaders who had come from afar, took the hot tea handed over by Ye Tao's new secretary and took a few sips numbly.

Ye Tao looked at the young man with amusement. He took out a box of hangover medicine of unknown brand from the drawer, broke off two pills and handed them over: "Old Yang, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you are now a director-level cadre after all. You should practice your drinking capacity... There will be many social events in the future!"

It is really a bit incongruous for an old man in his early forties to call a young man in his twenties "Lao Yang".

But in the workplace, people only recognize rank and strength. Although Ye Tao is a general manager, Dezhou is still a county-level city. His rank is also the same as Yang Mo, that of a director. In front of others, he may be addressed as "General Manager Yang" or "Director Yang", but when they are alone in private, there is no more appropriate title except "Old Yang"... With the exaggerated influence and popularity of Dahua Company nowadays, and with so many regions eyeing Yang Mo covetously, you can't just call him "Little Yang", right?

Yang Mo took the hangover medicine, which looked like kudzu root powder tablets from its appearance and color, and threw it into his mouth. After taking a few sips with hot tea, he felt that his mind had finally become a little clearer. He smiled bitterly and said, "I was born with such a low alcohol tolerance. I guess I can't improve it no matter how much I practice."

In Qi and Lu, or more precisely in the north at that time, drinking was undoubtedly the most important way of socializing and communicating. Although at Yang Mo's level, the absurd scene of "everything is easy to talk about when you drink a lot, and nothing can be discussed if you don't drink well" was unlikely to occur, but if you can't drink much, unless you risk making a fool of yourself at the dinner table, it is easy to give people the illusion that you "don't give yourself face", thus affecting other people's perception of you.

Of course, by now, many people already know that Yang Mo’s alcohol tolerance is extremely poor, so even if he hides in the back and lets others act as the main companion/second trainer, they will not feel unhappy. But there is always an exception... What if he needs to go out of town to visit other leaders, what if they don’t know or don’t believe that Yang Mo, a 6-foot-tall Qilu man, can have such a poor alcohol tolerance?

Therefore, although Ye Tao's words sounded a bit nonsense and cliché, they were actually well-intentioned... At a certain level, unless you can always achieve outstanding results, any small malicious intention from others may become the rope that trips you up.

With a helpless smile, Yang Mo took out a Yuxi cigarette and handed it over: "Old Ye, why don't you just call me Xiao Yang? You are older than me at least. We Qilu people pay attention to seniority. I feel uncomfortable when you call me Old Yang."

Ye Tao took Yuxi's cigarette and lit it, laughing: "How can that be possible? Although we are not from the same system, we are now on the same level. If I call you Xiao Yang, wouldn't that be taking advantage of you?"

Yang Mo rolled his eyes weakly, "Old Ye, please stop making fun of me... The news that Dezhou will soon be upgraded to a prefecture-level city is all over the place. If it gets upgraded, your executive title will definitely be adjusted up as well. How can you say you are equal? ​​Instead of changing from Old Yang to Little Yang, it's better to keep calling you that!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Tao chuckled but did not reply.

Seeing this, Yang Mo glanced at the red glow on his face that had nothing to do with alcohol, and immediately understood what was going on. He was a little surprised: "Look at your attitude, Old Ye, I guess you are really going to be promoted soon...Does it mean that you have heard the news?"

As a strategic partner, Ye Tao naturally couldn't hide this from him. He chuckled twice and said, "Last week, Mr. Zhao called me and asked if you were tempted by the offers from other places."

"I say, how can this be possible? Whether it's Dahua Company or you, your roots are already in Texas. No one can get rid of you."

"After hearing this, Mr. Zhao laughed for a while and said that it was good that you didn't have any intentions towards other regions... The higher-ups have officially brought the matter of Dezhou County being promoted to a prefecture-level city to a meeting for discussion, and the result will be announced around mid-December. Don't let Dezhou be promoted to a prefecture-level city and you get poached by other places. If you don't make any achievements later, he will lose face."

Will the results be out in mid-December?

Yang Mo was really surprised. He certainly knew what Ye Tao meant. Since Mr. Zhao could reveal such information over the phone and locked the time at mid-December, which was a mysterious time point, it proved that Dezhou's promotion to a prefecture-level city this year was a foregone conclusion... This was four years earlier than in history.

Quickly linking this information with the sudden establishment of the "DZ City Infrastructure and Industry Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd.", Yang Mo immediately figured out a lot of things, but he was still full of doubts: "Although it is a good thing that Dezhou has been promoted to a prefecture-level city, but...aren't our indicators such as urbanization rate and permanent population still a little short of the mark?"

………………

There are many hard indicators for being promoted to a prefecture-level city, among which the urbanization rate and the number of permanent residents are two of the most basic indicators.

Logically speaking, basic indicators like this should be the easiest to achieve. After all, the urbanization rate can be solved through infrastructure and migrant population policies. China has a population of more than one billion, so as long as the cities are livable or have sufficient employment opportunities, there should be no worries about the permanent population.

However, these two basic indicators, which are easiest to achieve in other regions, are the most troublesome for Texas.

First of all, although Qi and Lu are populous provinces, the Dezhou region in the northwest of Shandong, with a vast area of ​​10356 square kilometers, is a place with a sparse population... This year, according to the census just conducted in 1990, the total population of the entire region, including the vast rural areas, was only 506.81 million, which is even less than the permanent population of many second-tier cities in later generations. Can you believe this?
Well, although the total population of 506 million may be a bit shabby in a province like Qi and Lu with a population of nearly million, it is barely acceptable when looking at the national level.

But another problem hidden behind this data is very serious... You have to know that the number of permanent residents needs to be referenced against the population outflow rate.

This year's census data is nearly 1982 less than the 551.39 million in 50... The average annual population loss rate of 5.57% is definitely not a satisfactory figure no matter where it is placed.

What's even more embarrassing is that this figure is based on the premise that more than 9% of the companies in Texas are state-owned enterprises and that a series of projects in the publicity and commercial demonstration zones this year have attracted many foreign talents to settle in Texas. If it weren't for Dahua's series of operations this year, the number of permanent residents and the population loss rate in Texas would definitely be worse!
Secondly, unlike the southern provinces, and even many northern provinces, the economic spatial layout of the Qilu region has always shown obvious characteristics of "taking into account both the head and the tail, pulling each other, and a star-studded layout."

To put it simply, Qilu has always believed in a certain sense of "egalitarianism".
Since the reform and opening up, the GDP gap between the top-ranked cities and the bottom-ranked cities is not that big (even after 08, there has not been a cliff gap in the true sense);
Similarly, there is no overwhelming gap in income between employees in county towns and those in township enterprises (except for pure agricultural producers).

This results in the main urban area of ​​DZ and the county town not being able to attract the surrounding population as much as those large cities in the south, so the urbanization rate has been growing slowly;

The reason is actually very simple. Since I can earn a satisfactory salary in a township enterprise close to my home to supplement my family income, why should I leave my hometown and go to work in a surrounding county or city?
You know, since the current domestic economic level is still not high, the urbanization rate is roughly equal to the urbanization rate to a large extent... Those township enterprises are often scattered in various villages, and the towns do not have the ability and motivation to build various modern towns like in later generations. The cities lack the driving force for infrastructure construction because of the small number of new population, which in turn restricts the attractiveness to foreign population. It would be strange if the urbanization rate could rise quickly.

As luck would have it, over the past year or so, Yang Mo and his faction have been pushing for the transfer of urban manufacturing industries to rural grassroots levels, which has objectively further restricted the urbanization rate in Dezhou. So although Dezhou has frequently been on the hot search this year, and looks like an economic hub at the junction of Shandong, Henan and Hebei, in fact, the urbanization rate in Dezhou today is at the same level as its original history, at only 10.82%, not even half of the national average of 26.44%!
Therefore, according to Yang Mo's original opinion, it is very likely that Dezhou will become a prefecture-level city earlier than originally thought in history, but at most two years earlier. By around 1992, if everything goes well, the population loss rate in Dezhou can certainly turn positive, and the urbanization rate can also be raised through infrastructure improvements in rural towns and villages under the encouragement and guidance of Dahua Company.

But he never expected that with such poor paper data of these two basic indicators, he could be promoted to a prefecture-level city this year. This is too magical!

………………

Ye Tao laughed when he heard this: "Old Yang, to be honest, after this year's vigorous development, Old Li and I are more and more confident that Dezhou will be promoted to a prefecture-level city, but we didn't expect that this day would come so soon... There's nothing we can do about it. It's because our Dezhou region has such a poor foundation in these hard indicators!"

"In fact, when I heard the news on the phone, I was also shocked. I thought Mr. Zhao was joking with us... It was not until Mr. Zhao mentioned it to me that I figured out the key to this!"

At this point, Ye Tao sighed with emotion, then gently pushed the ashtray on the coffee table towards Yang Mo: "Old Yang, in your opinion, what kind of place is Texas?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Tao seemed to remember something and immediately added: "There are no outsiders here, so don't say those official words, just say whatever you want."

Hearing that the other party still did not change the name "Old Yang", Yang Mo shrugged: "Okay, then just say whatever you want to say... What else can Texas be?"

"One of the three most difficult industrial areas in Qilu, with many difficulties that are hard to describe;"

"In this poor area where the local government has no money, the units have no money, and the people have no money, if it weren't for the employees of the local leading state-owned enterprises and the second-tier units of central enterprises who waved their money to revive the local economy, life here would be even worse than in the remote mountainous areas;"

"Dezhou is an old industrial area, but the market competitiveness of its industrial products is a mess. Every manufacturing company has a lot of unsold inventory that can only rot in the warehouse. An industrial city can only boast that Dezhou has three treasures: roast chicken, cotton, and watermelon... It's embarrassing to say it out loud! Besides, how much can those agricultural and sideline products produce in a year?"

"Let's upgrade the industry... we have no technology, no funds, and no equipment;"

“Let’s develop tourism… There are no attractions, no supporting facilities, and no services;”

"Let's do foreign trade... we don't have ports, dedicated lines, or cold chains;"

"Let's do Agriculture 2.0... no varieties, no market, no scheduling;"

"In short, this is a place that looks good in terms of regional advantages, but in fact it has nothing to do with anything. If it weren't for the transfer payments from the state, it would have collapsed long ago!"

Perhaps it was because he was drunk, or perhaps it was because he didn't need to hide anything in front of Ye Tao, a strategic partner with whom he had a symbiotic relationship, so Yang Mo complained mercilessly. In his words, this city that has been shining this year is even worse than a small town in the mountains.

Ye Tao was sweating coldly when he heard this: "Stop, stop, stop! Old Yang... I know that we have a lot of problems in Texas, but at the very least... is there nothing good about our place?"

"Your Dahua Company is notoriously difficult to hire. If there was nothing good about our place in Dezhou, you wouldn't have given up Qingdao and insisted on settling in Dezhou, right?"

Yang Mo glanced at him, curled his lips, and then sneered: "I am a rather independent person. I don't like to spend all my time and energy dealing with those smart people... Texas lacks everything, but those idiots who are as honest as idiots... Dahua Company's time is very precious, and we don't have time to waste on those smart people who always argue with you about everything!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Tao laughed, with a hint of pride in his expression.

After taking a puff of his cigarette with a smile, he suddenly changed the subject: "Old Yang, I really like your last two comments... but that's not important. What's important is, do you know what Old Zhao and the others think of us in Texas?"

Yang Mo shook off the ash from his cigarette and asked, "What do Mr. Zhao and the others think?"

Ye Tao chuckled: "Dezhou may be useless in your eyes, but in the eyes of Mr. Zhao and others, our Dezhou is the most pioneering and enterprising region in the north;"

"The JIT and debt swap model, which has never been completely shut down, has effectively resolved the huge troubles caused by the triangular debt problem of local enterprises, allowing them to retain the last step of retreat from the beginning to the end;"

"Taking the sinking of industries as the entry point, we not only enhance the economic vitality of rural areas, but also open up the vast rural grassroots market, giving it a strong bottom-up capacity and production capacity absorption capacity, thus providing ample room for error in the implementation of various industrial policies;"

"Using innovative products as a wedge to stimulate public demand, we have opened up small areas of people's livelihood that were previously ignored, fully avoided some contradictions, and gradually revitalized the urban economy;"

"Build a commercial demonstration zone, a commercial center, to attract a large amount of domestic and foreign private capital, and then use it as a hub to remotely control and guide commercial projects through a variety of more convincing market means, eventually forming a group effect, and then use greater market demand to force technology and management upgrades, step by step creating an industrial siphon force out of thin air;"

"We spent a lot of time and energy on polishing our products and developing corresponding marketing and resource integration strategies. Then, through large-scale overseas expansion of our brands, we seized the right opportunity and forcibly opened up a huge market with promising prospects in the island countries and South Korea, thereby echoing with Dezhou and Lanling to form a dual circulation market with one inside and one outside. "

"Plus a series of financing, competition, and standardized management models such as GAP planting + GMP production, property finance transaction model, vesting equity pool clause, overseas generic drugs + domestic technology joint research, etc...."

After saying a lot in one breath, Ye Tao looked at Yang Mo with a complicated expression: "You know, now Dezhou is already the most radical pilot city in the eyes of outsiders, with the most fields involved, the largest scale of cooperation, the most complex levels, and the best results... From a social and economic perspective alone, its exploration in various fields is so great that it even has the potential to be compared with the four special administrative regions and the two first-tier cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai!"

Yang Mo understood the meaning of his words and couldn't help but take a breath: "Old Ye, what do you mean...?"

Ye Tao nodded: "Yes, it is for this reason that even if some of Dezhou's basic conditions are not up to standard at the moment, it can still be upgraded to a prefecture-level city... And if Mr. Zhao's proposal is not strongly opposed at the meeting, by mid-December, Dezhou will not only be upgraded from a county-level city to a prefecture-level city, but will also qualify as a pilot city for the tax-sharing reform!"

This unexpected and heavy news shocked Yang Mo on the spot: "Directly obtain the qualification of a pilot city for the tax-sharing reform!? This, this, this... this doesn't conform to the normal procedure, right?"

Ye Tao shook his head: "At a time when the international situation is changing, the country has been crossing the river by feeling the stones. As long as it is beneficial to the country and society, the procedures are not the most important... We should analyze specific issues specifically. Since we were able to open four special economic zones against all odds, it is not difficult to understand that we should do something special in the pilot reform of the tax-sharing system."

Suddenly feeling that the history that he was quite familiar with suddenly became a little strange, Yang Mo was immediately confused and sat there in a daze, not saying a word for a long time.

Ye Tao was not particularly surprised when he saw this. As a participant in historical events, he was also dumbfounded when he heard the two pieces of news over the phone: "So, Lao Yang, now you know that after you were promoted to the level of a director, the organization did not immediately appoint you... Your subsequent appointment depends first on your personal wishes. If you had decided to develop in other cities before Lao Zhao called to inquire, then everything would naturally be different."

Ye Tao was a little proud when he said this: "But fortunately, you stayed in Dezhou after all, so... the position of general manager of the DZ City Infrastructure and Industry Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd. that is about to be established today is the organization's subsequent appointment of you."

As if afraid that Yang Mo might be dissatisfied, Ye Tao added without waiting for him to speak: "Today's consultation meeting is just a formality, describing the functional framework of this fund company and expressing the city's attitude towards this company. There is nothing too substantial in it. "

"But starting tomorrow, everything will gradually become different."

"According to the guidance of the organization, before December 12, DZ City Urban Infrastructure and Industry Upgrading Fund Co., Ltd. will raise 30 billion yuan from 39 large and super-large enterprises, including Dahua Company, in the form of bonds and mezzanine investments; at the same time, the city will inject 18.2 million yuan into the fund company's account in the form of special funds... The initial book funds total 4.3 billion yuan."

"Although this 22.5 billion initial capital is not a particularly impressive number for your Dahua Company, it is already the largest amount the city can come up with... In fact, the 4.3 million yuan that the city plans to inject comes from the organization's expansion funding after Dezhou was upgraded to a prefecture-level city. We took it all out without leaving a single cent."

After briefly emphasizing the sincerity and importance of the city, Ye Tao continued, "At that time, the city will take charge of promoting the preparation and establishment of the fund company, and Dahua Company will become the sole manager of the fund company after organizing a vote. Therefore, you, the general manager of Dahua Company, will naturally serve as the general manager of the fund company and become a member of the board of directors, and then preside over the subsequent urban construction investment and financing work and industrial upgrading investment and financing work of DZ City."

"Of course, although the general manager has complete operational decision-making power, the framework and operating model of the new fund company are still different from those of Dahua Company. On the investment decisions of some major projects, you must reach a consensus with the party committee group."

"In addition, the fund company's funds are held in trust by the Texas Development Bank. Whenever large sums of money are used, formal procedures must be followed and the trustee bank must be contacted... I know you don't like these rules, Old Yang, but these are organizational regulations. The city is willing to delegate power to you to the greatest extent, but we must also abide by the relevant procedures... This is what Mr. Zhao has repeatedly emphasized, and I hope you can understand."

Obviously, Ye Tao already knew that the 5 billion/young heavy industrial products exchange plan had been frustrated, and he also guessed that Yang Mo, who was autocratic to the core, would definitely push the plan forward himself. Therefore, while expressing the city's support for Yang Mo on this matter without reservation, he also kindly reminded him... the plan can continue to be promoted, and the city will give you the greatest support, but the fund company is not Dahua Company after all, and you can't just do whatever you want in some things.

Yang Mo's expression was a little strange.

Although he had already vaguely felt at the inquiry meeting this afternoon that this fund company with dual-directional support functions had some shadows of future municipal investment companies, he was only surprised when the discussion started now.

This is not just the 1.0 version of the Municipal Investment Company, it is clearly a combination of the Municipal Investment Company 1.0 + the first phase of the Big Fund!
Urban construction investment and financing?
Investment and financing for industrial upgrading?

This is crazy...

Wouldn’t it take more than a year for the first municipal investment company to appear in Shanghai?

Special industry support funds in various places are tightly controlled by local authorities;
Why did such a monster fund company emerge in an obscure place like Texas in 1990?

Yay!
Are you sure I'm not dreaming?
Pa~!

With mixed feelings that were hard to describe, Yang Mo slapped himself lightly in the face of Ye Tao's stunned look...

(End of this chapter)