Chapter 90: Petty Person
Sun Jianbo has been feeling particularly down lately. As the deputy secretary in charge of political and legal affairs, he ranked after the deputy secretary in charge of organizational work. After Xu Shaojie took office as the district party secretary, Sun Jianbo thought he should take over as the deputy secretary in charge of organizational work, becoming one of the top three leaders in Yudu District. However, several months have passed and Xu Shaojie has not mentioned this matter, nor has the municipal party committee clearly appointed a deputy secretary in charge of organizational work.
During this time, Deputy Secretary Hu Deyong in charge of agricultural work and Deputy Secretary Tian Lixin in charge of industrial enterprise work were busy with a lot of things to do, while he, the deputy secretary in charge of political and legal affairs, seemed to have nothing to do.
Sun Jianbo did not wait for the opportunity, he had already taken what he thought was a very good approach. On the second day of Xu Shaojie's appointment, Sun Jianbo found Xu Shaojie to report his thoughts. He remembered it very clearly, that conversation, he said a lot of words, all the details are still vivid in his mind. That was in Xu Shaojie's dormitory.
"Secretary Xu, let me report to you on the political and legal work."
Xu Shaojie smiled, and Sun Jianbo began to talk eloquently about the political and legal work. He had a good grasp of it in his heart and spoke fluently without any hesitation. Sun Jianbo found Xu Shaojie's smile very sincere, so after reporting on the comprehensive management of political and legal affairs, he changed the subject and started talking about other things.
"Secretary Xu, I have always sincerely supported you since you took office as the district party secretary. This time, Liu Zhihua made a mistake, which was his own fault. Don't think that just because Liu Zhihua trusts me, I have no choice but to go along with him. Take the comprehensive management of public security for example. Every time, Liu Zhihua would ask us to do this and that, but never solicited my opinion. As a deputy leader in charge, I had some opinions that I thought were incorrect, so I proposed improvements, but Liu Zhihua wouldn't adopt them. The most typical examples are the annual tobacco leaf procurement and agricultural tax collection. Liu Zhihua didn't allow other members of the team to use police force, and I raised many objections. During the tobacco leaf procurement process, all sorts of problems would inevitably arise, and team members couldn't get the necessary support, making it difficult to carry out a lot of work. But Liu Zhihua just wouldn't listen, and even criticized me for lacking a sense of overall situation and arbitrarily using police force, saying that if problems arose, what would we do? I found this strange. The police station is supposed to maintain social order in Yuda District and serve the central government's work, but when it needs to take action, it's not allowed to move freely. This doesn't make sense."
Sun Jianbo's words actually meant that when Xu Shaojie was serving as the deputy secretary of the district committee, he encountered a group of thugs at the Yulin Township tobacco purchasing station, but not a single police officer from the local police station showed up from start to finish.
"Secretary Xu, many people are dissatisfied with Liu Zhihua's style of work. Although everyone doesn't say it on the surface, they can't stand it in their hearts. Everyone is truly supporting you to take the position of district party secretary."
Sun Jianbo remembered that when he said these few words, Xu Shaojie's face did not change expression. It was precisely because of this that Sun Jianbo said the following words.
"Secretary Xu, the person with the closest relationship to Liu Zhihua is Zhang Shiqiu, the head of the district. Almost everything Liu Zhihua does is discussed with Zhang Shiqiu beforehand. I believe that some things must be Zhang Shiqiu's idea. You also know the situation in Yudu District, where the district party secretary and district head are the ones who really matter, while other members of the team and staff have little to no say, let alone autonomy. When meetings are held to handle each matter, Zhang Shiqiu always speaks first, expressing his opinion according to Liu Zhihua's intentions, and then Liu Zhihua makes a statement. Others don't even get a chance to speak. In daily work, most tasks are directly assigned by Liu Zhihua. We've seen it several times: after discussing with Zhang Shiqiu, they would directly propose a solution without even holding a meeting."
Sun Jianbo remembered that when he left Xu Shaojie's dormitory, Xu Shaojie didn't say much. Sun Jianbo thought that people all like to hear good things, as long as they express their support and backing for Xu Shaojie in a timely manner, they will definitely get the benefits they deserve. As for Liu Zhihua's attitude, Sun Jianbo had completely changed his tune. A county official is not as good as a current one; if Liu Zhihua were to be promoted and go to Huai'an City to take on a leadership role, Sun Jianbo would adopt a more subtle approach, trying to curry favor with Xu Shaojie without offending Liu Zhihua, while gaining the greatest benefits. But now that Liu Zhihua had made a serious mistake and had no hope for the rest of his life, Sun Jianbo naturally abandoned him without hesitation. A person can't hang himself from one tree; they have to think of ways to survive. Sun Jianbo also felt wronged; in terms of ability, he was not inferior to Zhang Shiqiu, so why couldn't he serve as the head of Yudou District? Now that Xu Shaojie had taken office, Sun Jianbo believed that Xu Shaojie would definitely settle scores after autumn, and at this time, one must carefully consider the situation.
Later, Zhao Deli was transferred back to Yulin Township, and Sun Jianbo found Xu Shaojie again to report the secrets that Xu Shaojie did not know. It turned out that when the secretary's office meeting was held to discuss the matter of Yulin Township's unauthorized holiday, Xu Shaojie did not attend. Although the meeting was convened by Liu Zhihua, Zhang Shiqiu played a significant role. At the secretary's office meeting, he spoke first and put forward his opinions on handling the matter. This approach was clearly inappropriate, and the other deputy secretaries had no right to speak, including himself, and could only reluctantly agree with Zhang Shiqiu's opinion.
After a period of time, Sun Jianbo discovered that Xu Shaojie's way of handling things was not what he had imagined. Xu Shaojie did not engage in large-scale revenge after the autumn, but instead focused his main energy on the construction of the cement factory and the big shed. Zhang Shiqiu emerged unscathed, responsible for the preparation work of the cement factory, while the deputy secretary in charge of organizational work remained unclear. Sun Jianbo couldn't see the current situation clearly, so he thought and analyzed it. After that, Sun Jianbo believed that Xu Shaojie would not let things go easily, and would definitely take revenge after suffering grievances, which is a common human nature. Currently, Xu Shaojie was just using Zhang Shiqiu and others to do their work well first. In the official circle, everyone needs political achievements, and as long as the work in Yudou District has made progress, Xu Shaojie will definitely start thinking of ways to deal with those who had offended him before. Otherwise, why did Xu Shaojie directly remove the temporary person in charge of the education station at the beginning of his term? Sun Jianbo analyzed Xu Shaojie's thoughts according to his own ideas and didn't change any strategy. As long as he had time and opportunity, he would find Xu Shaojie to report his thoughts, mainly to help Xu Shaojie analyze the situation of the team members. Sun Jianbo believed that Tian Lixin, the deputy secretary in charge of industrial enterprises, liked to show off, but had average abilities; Hu Deyi, the deputy secretary in charge of agricultural work, was introverted and could only carry out work according to the district committee's decisions, lacking independent thinking ability; as for Yi Xiangyang, the deputy secretary in charge of economic work, he had very few specific things to do throughout the year and rarely worried about work, spending most of his time on family matters. Sun Jianbo also analyzed the remaining members of the district committee, mainly talking about their shortcomings. Through a period of reporting, Sun Jianbo talked about the situation of all team members, which were his own understandings.
The cement plant recruitment work has ended, and Zhang Shikui supported the convening of a meeting. Xu Shaojie did not attend, and Sun Jianbo thought that an opportunity had come. Xu Shaojie must have had opinions, and you, Zhang Shikui, are really bold enough. Xu Shaojie is the district party secretary, and throughout the recruitment process, you didn't know to report the progress of the recruitment work to Xu Shaojie. You brought Tian Lixin, Zhao Deli, and others to start working, and it was completely your own decision. From Yudu District to Huai'an City, it's only a two-hour drive. Don't you know that you should report on this process? Xu Shaojie's opinions expressed at the secretary's office meeting are a manifestation of his attitude. You, Zhang Shikui, took chicken feathers as arrows and completely excluded the district party secretary. Who would feel comfortable with that? Xu Shaojie did not attend the cement plant meeting, which is an expression of dissatisfaction. At this time, Sun Jianbo must think of ways to reflect the situation.
Xu Shaojie had just entered the office when Sun Jianbo came in.
"Director Xu is busy right now."
"Director Sun, please take a seat, what's the matter?"
"Secretary Xu, I've come to reflect on the cement plant's recruitment matter. I think there are some areas that weren't handled well in this recruitment process, so I wanted to report it to you."
"Hehe, what's going on? Tell me, Secretary Sun."
"I have some dissatisfaction with Zhang Qu's approach, mainly in three aspects. Firstly, there was no timely reporting and consultation. As the district party secretary, you convened a meeting to determine the general direction of recruitment, but during the recruitment process, many principled problems arose, such as the allocation of indicators for district-level institutions. After Zhang Qu made his opinion clear, he should have at least reported back to you, but instead, he directly made the decision.
Secondly, there was favoritism and unfairness. The recruitment indicators were decided after research and discussion by the district party committee, and you clearly assigned Zhang Qu to be in charge. He should have done a good job of allocating the indicators fairly, such as the allocation of institutional indicators, where each person gets one indicator. However, many cadres are dissatisfied with this, as there are real differences in work within institutions, and corresponding treatment should also differ.
Thirdly, regarding the cement factory meeting, Zhang Qu should have consulted you, and at least all district party committee members should have attended. This meeting was very important, as the cement factory is a district-run enterprise, and the attendance of party committee members showed the importance of its work. However, only Zhang Qu and Secretary Tian attended, which is not a good approach."
"Oh, Secretary Sun, what's your opinion?"
"Oh, I didn't have many ideas, just to reflect these situations to Secretary Xu. Director Zhang has also been working very hard in recent days. I was just pointing out the inadequacies that exist in our work."
"I know, you go ahead and take care of it."
After Sun Jianbo left, Xu Shaojie didn't sit down for a long time. He had a very bad impression of Sun Jianbo. When Liu Zhihua was the district party secretary, his relationship with Sun Jianbo was the best. Sun Jianbo executed Liu Zhihua's instructions without any discount. Sometimes, he received attention to an extent that even surpassed Zhang Shiqiu. Although Zhang Shiqiu and Liu Zhihua got along well, they had different views on some principle issues. For example, when dealing with Zhao Deli's case, Zhang Shiqiu insisted on organizational handling and didn't think the discipline committee should handle it. In terms of financial expenditure, Zhang Shiqiu's principle was to save wherever possible. Liu Zhihua had a lot of opinions about Zhang Shiqiu because of the issue of mobile phone allocation. Liu Zhihua's style was rough, and he never considered the feelings of those below him when speaking or doing things. Zhang Shiqiu was very gentle and tried to fill in the gaps. It was precisely because of these small contradictions that Xu Shaojie knew if Liu Zhihua were still the district party secretary, Zhang Shiqiu would have a greater chance of being adjusted. Sun Jianbo had the highest probability of becoming the district head.
Xu Shaojie did not object to Sun Jianbo making a wise choice. If the mountain collapses, it's not the way of officialdom to follow and die with it. In short, it's a foolish and unwise choice. A good bird chooses a tree to perch on, and such people can thrive in officialdom. However, as Sun Jianbo reported more frequently, Xu Shaojie's views gradually changed. Requiring progress is a good thing, but Xu Shaojie saw through Sun Jianbo's thoughts at once. The vacant position of deputy secretary in charge of organizational work was what Sun Jianbo was aiming for, but he needed to achieve it through his own efforts, not by attacking others. This is an evil habit in officialdom, and there are indeed leaders who like to listen to small reports and use various means to control their subordinates. Sun Jianbo might have thought so himself, using the heart of a small person to measure the belly of a gentleman, thinking that everyone is like this, which is also too self-righteous.
Xu Shaojie thought of a fable about crabs. When fishermen catch crabs, they must cover the lid tightly when putting in the first crab, but after putting in the second crab, there is no need to cover it anymore, because the two crabs will fight and pull each other, neither can climb out. Isn't Sun Jianbo's performance just like these crabs?
Xu Shaojie thought more deeply, in the officialdom, business circles, and even in society, competition exists everywhere, for a living, for making money, for having a good life, competition is inevitable, but the rules of competition cannot be trampled at will. If the commonly observed rules of competition are destroyed, every individual will face unscrupulous attacks from all sides, the outcome is unthinkable, perhaps it's total annihilation, no winner, rules are constraints, but also protection.
Xu Shaojie believes that people like Sun Jianbo cannot be promoted, cannot take on important responsibilities, otherwise it will destroy the rules of competition, to put it seriously, it will corrupt a group of cadres. Xu Shaojie is not very satisfied with his own process of becoming the secretary of Yudu District Committee. Originally, he could have found more shortcomings in Liu Zhihua and become the secretary of the district committee in a legitimate way. However, due to time constraints, if no measures were taken, it might have endangered personal interests. In his future official career, Xu Shaojie will not adopt such methods. In the official circle, both open and secret strategies are indispensable, but the focus is still on open strategies, and it is necessary to achieve real results.
Xu Shaojie thought of how to deal with Sun Jianbo's problem. Such cadres are everywhere, and the best way is to exclude them from the power core, so that they have no space to play, but there is a principle, don't easily offend such people, lest you get into some trouble. He has a crow's mouth, and you can't stop him from talking nonsense. Now, Yudou District is working hard to develop its economy, and the best way for Sun Jianbo, such a leading cadre, is to adjust to other districts or municipal units. Xu Shaojie knows the difficulty of this, and as the secretary of Yudou District Committee, he can't use normal means to adjust Sun Jianbo, so it's temporarily impossible to have such a possibility.
It can only be temporarily dealt with, Xu Shaojie shook his head helplessly.
The cement plant is about to start production, the vegetables in the greenhouse are growing vigorously, and the credit union is verifying the situation of farmers in Huaguan Village who are preparing to take out loans to build greenhouses. Everything looks like a good phenomenon, and Xu Shaojie's mood is generally not bad. With this development trend, after the beginning of the year, Yudu District will have changed.
