In name only: The land of Handong, I shall rule its fate.

"Executive Director Lin, wait for me."

Wen Yiyan followed closely behind and rushed into the provincial government building, his loud voice attracting a lot of attention.

Even someone as shameless as Lin Zhiyuan felt embarrassed. "Minister Wen, why are you looking for me instead of staying in your office?"

This title…

It's one thing to make a fuss about it at the Standing Committee meeting, but they're still making it up now.

Lin, are you trying to cut ties in advance? You must be trying to cut ties.

I'm not in any trouble yet!

Besides, I'm right on the path you, Lin, pointed out. I went in and I guarantee that in my forty-page confession, I'll use your name, Lin Zhiyuan, as a punctuation mark—all of it!

and also…

I and Li Dakang did this together, so why is it that Li Dakang, with his dead fish eyes, can just stand there while I, Wen, can't come over?

"I'm here to report on my work! I didn't go into enough detail at the meeting."

Wen Yiyan cursed Lin Zhiyuan's ancestors for eighteen generations in her heart, but her face was full of smiles.

"Let's go to my office together."

Liu Changsheng glanced at this group of shameful fools, fearing they would damage his prestige as governor.

Even Liu has his pride, you know.

The crowd followed suit, firmly upholding Governor Liu's authority.

"Before you report on your work, let me first talk about my work achievements over the past few months."

Liu Changsheng suppressed the eager group of people opposite him and said in a deep voice, "Secretary Dakang, you should already know about this."

"I've been traveling around the commercial districts of Jingzhou and surrounding cities. Now I can tell you my purpose: I aim to connect and create a broad-based Handong Commercial Free Trade Zone."

Lin Zhiyuan glanced sideways upon hearing this.

His suggestion was to select a region to create a single demonstration free trade zone to build momentum for the final sprint. I never expected Governor Liu to have such great ambitions.

"Currently, there are two main directions for our work: commercial reform, namely, the integration of enterprise operations; and foreign investment access list management, which fully opens up access to non-core industries."

"Firstly, in the past few months, I have led multiple departments, including the industry and commerce bureau and the tax bureau, to complete the initial planning, which will be vigorously promoted in conjunction with the online government affairs platform;"

"Secondly, the TSL factory introduced by Comrades Zhiyuan and Denggao has made a good start, and the pressure I face from above has been greatly reduced. The list of plans I submitted has been approved by the higher authorities for trial implementation. So what follows is a golden period of development for Handong, a period of both crisis and opportunity, where we are feeling our way across the river and taking the first step."

"These two reforms have been implemented in the Hannan region, excluding Luzhou. They are not based on geographical boundaries, but rather on data and archives to initially form a broad free trade zone. However, this is not enough."

"So my next focus will be on Luzhou. The free trade zone was first implemented in Shanghai, and Luzhou is the first stop for Handong to connect with Shanghai."

"I will concentrate resources to select two core pilot zones in Luzhou, one covering domestic enterprises including those in the South Island, and the other focusing on overseas joint ventures and even wholly foreign-owned enterprises, and gradually covering the entire Handong area by moving north along the coast."

"Understood, Governor."

Yang Wanli immediately assured him, "Luzhou will definitely cooperate fully and will not do anything wrong or hold things back."

Li Dakang's eyes turned red when he heard this. The initial experiments were conducted in Jingzhou, but the biggest peach was eaten by Lüzhou.

Damn it!

Looking at Yang Wanli, who was beaming with pride at the unexpected windfall, Li Dakang felt an urge to strangle him on the spot.

"Alright, my mind is made up."

Seeing the two about to fight, Liu Changsheng raised his hand to stop them. "I've spoken with Secretary Sha about this, and he supports it."

His kindness in helping to solve the problem of gerbil poison on several occasions has quietly brought him substantial rewards.

"The advancement of the commercial free trade zone covers the entire Handong area and requires cooperation from all sides, which is why I spoke first."

Liu Changsheng’s voice boomed, “It is also related to what you, Denggao, Dakang, Wanli, and Yiyan, are doing. I want you to speed things up.”

"Especially the online government affairs platform project that Deng Gao is in charge of now involves a lot of things, so we need to be faster, even faster."

"clear!"

Fang Denggao and the other three responded in unison.

"That concludes my report. You will now take turns reporting on your work."

Most of them were follow-up additions to the Standing Committee's agenda items. For example, Li Dakang proposed using the relocation of some outdated industries by the three brothers next door, while also continuing to radiate the Jingzhou economic circle.

But when three people are together, there's bound to be a master of ideas.

There just so happens that there are eight people in the governor's office right now, so naturally two troublemakers were born.

"Governor, I need an enclave within the province."

Yang Wanli uttered outrageous words.

"What did you say?"

Liu Changsheng almost choked to death on the tea.

Holy crap!

He thought Li Dakang's plot to harm the three brothers next door was already incredibly audacious, but he never expected there would be another fierce general who would directly set his sights on his own brothers.

"Did you teach him?"

Liu Changsheng shifted his gaze to Lin Zhiyuan, who was a little defensive. "Don't pin all the bad things on him, okay?"

Do you really think these guys from Handong are honest people? You've already forgotten the rebellious remarks made by Wen Yiyan and Li Dakang at the meeting?

and also…

The people of Handong are incredibly daring. At first, they thought that Jingzhou was built on a powder keg, but now they realize that the entire Handong region stands on the battlefield.

They're all outlaws!

Do I need to lead them astray? As long as they don't lead me astray, that's good enough.

Lin Zhiyuan suspected that Governor Liu was getting old and treated the cadres from Handong who worked with him like his own children, always looking at them with a "my children are the best" filter.

"Think it through before you speak properly!"

Upon receiving Lin Zhiyuan's grievances and indignation, Liu Changsheng immediately turned to Yang Wanli and shouted angrily.

"Hi hi!"

Yang Wanli tried to explain, "I got excited and just blurted it out."

"What I really mean is that Luzhou wants to help its brothers in the province to the best of its ability. I have already chosen Yangzhou as the target of our assistance."

I rub!

It really is an enclave.

Between Lüzhou and Yangzhou, there are three cities: Wuzhou, Diaozhou, and Yantai.

What was Yang Wanli after?

Explain your reasons.

Liu Changsheng, as expected of a veteran cadre, easily regained his composure and asked calmly.

"Yangzhou has been a prosperous area in Jiangnan since ancient times, but its development has lagged behind in recent years..."

Yang Wanli had intended to launch into a long speech, but upon looking up at the questioning gazes of the crowd, he helplessly shrugged and said, "Alright, I'll tell you the truth. I have two reasons:"

Firstly, the popularity of online tourism in Lüzhou has waned, and new hot spots are needed to support it. Within Handong Province, only Yangzhou's resources match those of Lüzhou.

Secondly, Yangzhou's industrial structure has been shifting towards lightweight and high-precision manufacturing in recent years, which perfectly aligns with Lüzhou's, complementing each other's industrial chains.

"I only support Luzhou's assistance to Yangzhou."