When he was visiting the Chunhua Group's exhibition room, Li Rui finally discovered the predecessor of this military enterprise. Well, it turned out that this company used to specialize in tanks, armored vehicles, and rocket launchers. The products they produced made outstanding contributions during the 1979 war against Vietnam. This company was also praised by a vice chairman of the National Military Commission at that time. The vice chairman even gave the company four words: Serve the country with loyalty. These four words were hung in the most conspicuous place in the exhibition room, almost taking up half of the wall. Of course, only the four words and some old black and white photos still described the glory of this company.
Today, the company's profits were not very good. There were many reasons for this. When the general manager of the company accompanied Sun Youxin to visit the factory, he also pointed out a few problems. Sun Youxin encouraged him to actively raise funds and work together to turn losses into profits and create new glory.
Li Rui noticed that after the general manager was encouraged by Sun Youxin, although the general manager kept nodding his head in agreement, there was a helpless and awkward smile on his face. He had a helpless expression, and he knew that he couldn't do what Sun Youxin wanted him to do. In fact, after thinking about it, with the country's reform and opening up, the gradual development and improvement of the market economy, the improvement of productivity, and the improvement of the management model, the aging decline and even death of the state-owned enterprises (including the military enterprises, of course) was inevitable.
At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, a large number of state-owned enterprises in the country went bankrupt. The remaining state-owned enterprises were also privatized in the process of restructuring. Some were revitalized, some were still unable to escape the fate of bankruptcy, and some were struggling at death's door. If it were not for the support of the local government, they would have been finished. Of course, there were many reasons for this situation, but one reason that could not be avoided was that the state-owned enterprises were controlled and interfered with by the government. Simply put, they were ruled by people. As a result, all kinds of bad practices that existed in the government were inherited into the state-owned enterprises. For example, the serious ideology of officialdom, the corruption of the management, and the inexperienced management … These were only the disadvantages brought by the rule of people. Other reasons were financial system problems, backward production techniques, and failure of transformation. With all these problems hanging over the heads of the state-owned enterprises, it was difficult for the state-owned enterprises to develop healthily. If it were not for the support of the government, most of the state-owned enterprises would have gone bankrupt by now.
Li Rui guessed that Sun Youxin deliberately took half a day to inspect the Chunhua Group during this Qingyang Research trip. He probably planned to use the importance and expectations of this provincial military chief to let the leaders of the group feel ashamed and think of ways to improve the group's efficiency. When the group's efficiency increased, as the provincial military chief of the group, as the group's subordinate, would be able to get more real money. Unfortunately, this chief did not know that the efficiency of a group was not determined by the leader's importance. What he did, instead, highlighted the disadvantage that existed in the state-owned enterprises (military enterprises) where the leaders (actually, the administration) interfered with the management of the company.
A company was a company, it should be managed by professional managers and workers. If the government or the leaders interfered, it would only make things worse. Of course, there were good examples, but those examples were extremely rare.
Li Rui thought to himself, if the dry fruit and grains processing factory that he and Li Yulan had a stake in was not owned by the two of them, but by the Jiupo Town government, then just wait and see. He estimated that after working hard for a year, by the end of the year, not only would there not be any profits, but there might even be a loss. He would even need to reach out and ask for subsidies from the town government. This was not nonsense, but something that was very likely to happen.
When the research was about to end, the Chunhua Group gave each of Sun Youxin's group a small gift. Li Rui, as a follower, also received a gift, and the gift was not something rare. When the Chunhua Group was in the process of changing from military to civilian, they were testing the waters to find a way to produce good profits. They had once chosen to produce fountain pens. At that time, fountain pens were popular in the country, especially for government and military officials. If they didn't have a fountain pen, they would be embarrassed to call themselves officials. Didn't Uncle Lei Feng use fountain pens to write his diary? The Chunhua Group produced fountain pens and sold them for a few years, but because the profits were not good, they stopped production. In the end, they left a batch of products that were not sold, and were left in the warehouse. Now, they were taking them out as gifts, and giving them to the leaders and customers that came to the group as souvenirs.
The fountain pens produced by the Chunhua Group were naturally called "Chunhua". This batch of fountain pens had been stored in the warehouse for more than ten years, and they were well kept. Each one of them laid in a small box, shiny and clean, as if they were brand new. Of course, they were all brand new anyway.
Li Rui smiled as he accepted the fountain pen, and put it in his briefcase. He thought that today's research trip was not in vain. When he went back, he would give this fountain pen to his master, Yuan Xiaodi, as a token of appreciation.
Li Rui was very particular when it came to dealing with people, especially when it came to being a person. He was very loyal, not stingy, and honest. Ever since he became Song Chaoyang's secretary, he had received a lot of gifts from parties in the process of accompanying research, visiting, and guiding. However, he would never take them directly to his home. He would first see if his colleagues in the same field had a share. If they had a share, he would accept it; if not, he would share his share. In fact, the prizes he won at the annual meeting were undoubtedly his, and he was willing to give them away to others.
However, he did not do this to win people's hearts, but it was something he did subconsciously. In other words, when he interacted with people, he did not consider whether he could gain actual benefits from the other party (such as money, property, or people's hearts). Instead, he put friendship first, and tried to ensure that the other party's benefits were maximized, and that they would not be harmed. For example, when he was faced with the embarrassing scene of Wu Nan, the mayor of Dongzhou City, having her stockings torn, his first thought was not that if he helped her cover up this embarrassment, she would definitely be grateful to him, and he would be able to become friends with her. Then, he would be able to gain some benefits from her in the future. Instead, he thought that if she was in trouble, he should help her avoid the embarrassment.
His chivalrous heart was related to his personality, as well as the folklore of the city he was born in. Qingyang City was an ancient city with thousands of years of history. Chivalry had been prevalent since ancient times, and it had given birth to many heroes and swordsmen who had left their names in history. This chivalry had been passed down from generation to generation, and it had more or less influenced the personality and bloodline of the people in Qingyang City. Li Rui was deeply influenced by this chivalrous spirit. Moreover, he could be considered half a martial artist, so naturally, he followed the chivalrous spirit even more.
It was also because of his chivalrous heart that he sacrificed himself to save his current father-in-law, Lu Zhouxing, from a stormy night and torrential flood. This rescue also contributed to his current achievements. However, that day, Lu Zhouxing only gave him a little help. He was able to succeed to this day, and receive the recognition of many leaders, the love of many women, and the appreciation of many friends, all because of his outstanding character of being loyal and loyal.
In the evening, Qingyang City arranged a large banquet at the Qingyang Hotel to warmly entertain Sun Youxin and his group. Speaking of which, they had already entertained Sun Youxin once at noon, so there was no need to mention it again at night. However, in fact, it was not so. First of all, the lunch at noon was a work meal, so it was not convenient to drink, and there was no time to chat freely. In the evening, there was relatively more time, and everyone was off work at night, so they could drink to their heart's content. Secondly, at noon, there were only three city leaders, Song Chaoyang, Du Minsheng, and Gao Guosong, to entertain Sun Youxin. In the evening, the city leaders of the Municipal Government also came out. The new acting mayor, Yu Heping, and the executive deputy mayor, Jia Yulong, both came out together to welcome Sun Youxin and his group at the Qingyang Hotel.
Li Rui was also part of this banquet. Although he was not a city leader, as a staff member of the city leader's side, he was also qualified to attend the banquet. Of course, he could only attend the banquet for the staff of Qingyang City. This banquet was also the third level of the banquet. The first two levels were: the banquet where Song Chaoyang, Yu Heping, and other city leaders entertained Sun Youxin, the deputy secretary-general of the provincial government, and other provincial leaders; the banquet where the secretary-general of the Municipal Government, the head of the city's military, and other city leaders entertained the accompanying provincial officials.
Li Rui and Yu Heping's secretary, Ji Gang, sat at the same table. This was also the first time that the two of them sat together for a meal after Ji Gang was promoted to the first secretary of the city government.
After being promoted to the first secretary of the city government, Ji Gang's attitude towards Li Rui was obviously not as friendly as before. Of course, he was also not very friendly towards Li Rui in the past. Although the two of them sat together, he almost never talked to Li Rui, and he did not even propose a toast to Li Rui. Even when Li Rui took the initiative to propose a toast to him, he rejected it indifferently, as if he did not have the slightest bit of camaraderie as a colleague. He gave people the feeling that he was putting on the airs of the first secretary of the city government. He was cold, indifferent, and arrogant. He looked down on everyone, ignored everyone, and acted as if he was the most important person.
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