Chapter Thirty-Three: The Root of the Problem

  Is there a way? Deputy Mayor Liu was overjoyed at once!

  At this moment, he didn't have the mind to ponder why everyone had discussed it together for several days without a solution, but at the moment when things were about to happen, Secretary Dong thought of a way. Now the most important thing is: there is a way!

  No matter what happens, as long as there is a way to solve this problem, that's good news!

  "Secretary, what do you want me to do?" Deputy Mayor Liu reacted quickly and immediately asked Secretary Dong.

  Since there is a way, it must require some "cooperation", which is naturally beyond doubt.

  "Comrade Bao Guo, from now on, you will be in charge of the municipal government. Once the masses arrive, you must first stabilize their emotions. If there is anything that needs to be arranged, you can arrange it. Whoever dares to disobey at this time will be subject to party and administrative discipline!" Secretary Dongfang gave orders without hesitation, demonstrating his strong leadership and style as the top leader: At critical moments, the top leader must play a decisive role.

  "Yes! Don't worry, Secretary," Deputy Mayor Liu immediately responded without hesitation. In a chaotic world, severe punishment is used to deter others. Whoever dares to drag their feet at this time will be the common enemy of all officials in Beiguan City. Whatever measures are taken now would not be excessive. "Do you have any further instructions?"

  "Also, if the masses are highly emotional, in order to calm them down, you can tell everyone that the motorcycle factory's money is still in the bank account."

  The words of Secretary Dongfang made Vice Mayor Liu somewhat perplexed: What's going on? The money is still in the bank account? Although he had doubts in his mind, Vice Mayor Liu tactfully didn't ask. At this time, what was the main problem and what was the secondary problem needed to be clarified. Since Secretary Dongfang said that the money was still in the bank account of the municipal motorcycle factory, then Secretary Dongfang must have a way to solve the problem... He was just a very busy vice mayor and didn't have the qualifications to question Secretary Dongfang's words.

  "Alright, I understand." Deputy Mayor Liu nodded immediately.

  As soon as the phone was hung up, Secretary Dong immediately instructed Secretary Fan, "Little Fan, notify everyone to hold an emergency meeting immediately. Also, inform Old Gu of the Finance Bureau and Old Ma and Meng of the China Banking Corporation's municipal branch to come over. Put down all work at hand and wait for our call!"

  Secretary Fan responded and hurried off. Having listened to the entire plan from the side, Secretary Fan knew that this meeting would focus on the Financial Bureau and the Municipal Branch of China Bank. As for others... isn't it democratic centralism, with democracy first and then centralization?

  …………………

  Lin Hongfei and Dongfang Xiaoling knew that they basically had nothing to do with themselves from now on. After bidding farewell to Secretary Dongfang again, the two walked and chatted, and unknowingly talked about the city's motorcycle manufacturing plant.

  "This time, although it can be muddled through, what about afterwards? Without this money, the factory's technical transformation cannot continue, and whether the factory can hold on afterwards, I think it's uncertain." Although she had only come a few times, when mentioning the factory's situation, Dongfang Xiaoling still felt some worry.

  Lin Hongfei was quite open-minded, "Actually, I think that whether or not we have this money, it doesn't matter to the motorcycle factory. Our biggest problem now is not that our products can't keep up, but rather a management issue. The management team's ideology and thinking are outdated, their methods are unscientific, resulting in unclear responsibilities, everyone still stuck in the old days of eating from the same big pot, whether you work hard or not, it's all the same. This is the root problem of the motorcycle factory. If we don't solve this issue, even if 18 million yuan were to suddenly appear, it wouldn't make a splash."

  Following the original historical trajectory, after this incident, the Beiguan City motorcycle factory continued to operate intermittently for two years. Two years later, the city finally closed down the factory due to overwhelming financial pressure and the inability to continue subsidizing it every year. The leaders and those with connections were fine, as they naturally had channels to find their next opportunity and continue earning a stable and substantial income. However, the workers without strong connections could only be laid off. It's said that an extremely skilled master mechanic set up a stall near the factory to repair cars.

  It is said that someone has done statistics, and it seems that since the production of the first car, the total output of Beiguan City Motorcycle Factory is less than 20,000 vehicles, and even the cost of building the factory has not been recovered. Due to management and system reasons, Lin Hongfei does not think that even with the 18 million, the motorcycle factory can escape its original fate.

  Lin Hongfei's words didn't sound too good, and Dongfang Xiaoling became somewhat displeased. "You make it sound easy," she said, "but I think the main reason is that our country's ordinary people are too poor? If our ordinary people had money, the factory wouldn't be in such a half-dead state."

  "Are ordinary people poor?" Lin Hongfei burst out laughing and shook his head, disagreeing with Dongfang Xiaoling's statement. "Ordinary people being poor is not false, but there are also many rich people. How much does a Suzuki GS125 sell for now? Over 20,000 yuan per vehicle; how much does a Suzuki GN250 cost? Over 30,000 yuan per vehicle. One car costs as much as several years' income of ordinary people. But what's the result? Now these two types of cars are in short supply on the market, and even if you have money, it's not guaranteed that you can buy one. You need to find connections and ask for favors. Is this really because ordinary people don't have money?"

  Lin Hongfei's words are true, in recent years Japanese three major motorcycle manufacturers have been selling their cars at high prices, but ordinary people still flock to their products. The young woman's mouth suddenly pouted, "You say it lightly, who doesn't know that Suzuki King and the 250 prince are good cars? But those are Japan Suzuki's most advanced motorcycle technology, even now, the engines are imported from Japan, we can't make them ourselves. Their technology is advanced, performance is good, so they sell at a high price, just like our original Shanghai brand small car, it's not as good as the German Santana, so Santana sells at a high price, that's normal. But if we have something with similar performance but cheaper, wouldn't it also be marketable?"

  This girl, indeed worthy of studying literature, doesn't understand industrial things at all. Lin Hongfei explained to her with a sigh, "It's not like that, what do you think 18 million can design? Do you know how much money Suzuki spent on designing the GS125?"

  "How much?" Dongfang Xiaoling asked subconsciously.