Chapter 1874

Chapter 1874: Chapter 1874

City Committee.

Secretary Pan was reporting to Zhou Zheng about his work and some upcoming schedule arrangements. After finishing, he said, "There is one more thing related to Director Song."

"Song Guanchao?"

"Yes," Secretary Pan replied, "I heard something these past couple of days. Our city’s Fengliang Company nearly made it to 315 last week."

Zhou Zheng wasn’t clear about what this had to do with Song Guanchao but continued to listen patiently.

Seeing that Zhou Zheng did not inquire further, Secretary Pan continued, "An undercover journalist discovered that Fengliang Company’s rice had illegally added flavors. Using this, he extorted over a million yuan from Fengliang Company. Director Song stepped in to resolve it."

Zhou Zheng frowned, "That journalist is quite bold."

Fengliang Company is a key unit supported by the city. Once upon a time, Jiangzhou’s rice industry was monopolized by Northern Enterprises, making prices significantly higher than in other provinces.

The city felt this was unsustainable, so they spent considerable political resources to support a company from acquisition to production.

This company is Fengliang Company.

This finally drove down the rice prices.

Nowadays, with widespread internet access, even if Fengliang Company collapses, there won’t be an issue of increasing grain prices.

However, Fengliang Company still supports a large number of farmers and creates thousands of jobs, so its fall would have significant impacts.

Therefore, Zhou Zheng was quite satisfied that Song Guanchao took action to solve the problem.

Secretary Pan observed his reaction and said, "Director Song handled it commendably, yet it seems someone intentionally spread this news."

Zhou Zheng sensed what he meant.

"A lot of people know about it?"

"At least many enterprises in our city have heard of it." Secretary Pan stated without commenting.

A secretary’s biggest taboo is giving haphazard opinions in front of leaders.

Are you, a secretary, smarter than the leader?

What matters, the leader can’t judge for themselves, does it require you to teach them?

Secretary Pan was well aware of this principle, saying no more than necessary, just enough to make the point.

Zhou Zheng smiled, "Doing good deeds without leaving a name is just something that’s preached to fool the common folk. Any official who does a good deed hopes to broadcast it widely, adding to their political capital."

This kind of behavior wasn’t surprising to Zhou Zheng.

Secretary Pan nodded in agreement, indicating that the leader was right.

...

Song Guanchao waited two days. When he received a call from a company’s deputy director, he knew the timing was about right.

The call was from an automobile company. The deputy director said the chairman had just returned from a business trip abroad and wanted to invite Song Guanchao for a reassessment.

Sometimes, being low-profile in person, but high-profile in actions is necessary.

As the saying goes, a person’s name is like the shadow of a tree.

Since he had helped Fengliang Company avoid the spotlight of 315, the impact was immediate.

Facing the company’s vastly different attitude on this occasion, Song Guanchao didn’t act aloof; he agreed right on the phone to go there in the afternoon.

After lunch, he went there with Zhou Xingjian.

This automobile company is called Jiangyun Automobile, which started with tractors, then added motorcycle and tricycle production lines, eventually importing equipment from abroad to enter the four-wheeled family car market.

Family cars are entirely different from motorcycles and tricycles; past experiences didn’t prove useful there.

Coupled with insufficient market research before manufacturing, the cars produced weren’t accepted by the market.

But after investing heavily in the production line, putting in billions of yuan only to face such losses, they were unwilling to accept it.

Nevertheless, unwillingness doesn’t change market realities.

Originally, Jiangyun Group had already begun preparing for bankruptcy disposal of the company, planning to sell off equipment and close workshops.

Upon hearing about Fengliang Company’s experience, they decided to invite Song Guanchao to see if he could provide assistance.

No matter if Song Guanchao could help or not, it was worth a try.

In case the city was willing to support them?

At 2 PM in the afternoon, Song Guanchao arrived at Jiangyun Group.

He was welcomed by the group’s chairman, Jiang Yongxi, along with several department heads.

Jiang Yongxi is 53 years old, about 1.65 meters tall, with a chubby figure, wearing glasses and a black administrative jacket.

Standing there, with his hands behind his back, he looked like a typical institutional leader.

"Chairman Jiang, this is Director Song."

As soon as Song Guanchao got out of the car, President Huang introduced him quietly.

Jiang Yongxi knew Song Guanchao was young and had seen his photos before, but didn’t expect him to be this young in person.

And damn, he was quite handsome.

Jiangyun Group is a decently sized company in Jiangzhou as well, given that car companies typically aren’t small and also contribute significantly to Jiangzhou’s taxes.

He’s interacted with Jiangzhou’s leaders countless times, but it’s his first time seeing such a pleasant-looking deputy department cadre.

He stepped up, smiling while extending his hand, "Director Song, welcome to our company for a visit."

He spoke with a strong accent, which sounded familiar to Song Guanchao—it’s the accent from their hometown.

Song Guanchao switched to his hometown accent out of curiosity, "Chairman Jiang, are you also from Lingjiang?"

Jiang Yongxi was stunned for a moment and then smiled even more warmly, "Director Song too?"

Not expecting to be from the same hometown, Jiang Yongxi felt a warmer affection for this young deputy department cadre, and he pulled him inside as they walked together.

"Come, come, let’s go to my office and chat over tea."

"Chairman Jiang," President Huang, with a somewhat embarrassed look, softly reminded, "Shall we show Director Song around the workshop first?"

Reminded by him, Jiang Yongxi remembered the main task, "Then let’s take a look at the workshop first, I will also explain our company’s situation, and we can have tea afterward."

"Sure," Song Guanchao nodded, amused, finding a streak of worldly familiarity in Chairman Jiang that suited his taste.

As they headed towards the workshop, there was no need for the secretary or others to introduce anything—Jiang Yongxi started talking non-stop by himself.

From the company’s inception to its establishment on the right track and during the stages when they ventured into motorcycles and tricycles, including market shares and customer evaluations, and finally the failure in making four-wheeled family cars, he narrated it all fluently without a hitch.

From this, one could see that Jiang Yongxi is a practical person.

Even as the company grew larger, he still wasn’t just a figurehead.

Being hands-on has its pros and cons.

The advantage is being well-versed in every aspect of the company, not worrying about people below hoodwinking him, maintaining high control over the company.

The downside is personal limitations—when beyond his understanding, whether the decisions made are correct largely depend on luck.

This is why motorcycles and tricycles were successful yet failed with family four-wheeled cars.

The core issue lies in his misjudgment of the market.

"Our company’s family cars are undeniably high-quality; you know the three major components of a car, right? We can’t make engines and transmissions, but the chassis, that’s all self-developed. When we started this, we bought cars from Fortune 500 automakers, dismantled and compared them—we weren’t inferior to any of them!"

"Even the passenger cabin frame and core protection area all used 1300mpa hot-formed steel..."

Jiang Yongxi talked on and on, frequently throwing in professional jargon, while President Huang and several department heads listened, full of helplessness, thinking, "You’re talking all these technical details to an official who doesn’t get it."

"Isn’t this like playing music to a cow?"

"You say we make such good cars, with ample materials used, but they just don’t sell. Customers simply don’t recognize it. What’s going on there?"

Jiang Yongxi sighed heavily as he spoke.

Scanning the workshop before him, to be honest, Song Guanchao couldn’t understand it either and couldn’t comprehend it visually.

However, he understood one principle—a project’s success, whether it’s feasible, and a company’s longevity depend most importantly on the people.

Like how investors choose projects, a project that only exists in a PowerPoint presentation reveals nothing.

If nothing is revealed, how do investors choose?

Frankly speaking, investors don’t choose projects; they choose people!

Choosing the right people significantly boosts the chances of a project succeeding.

Confident in his eye for judging people, he decided to help this company.