Reborn as a Noble's Son

Li County has been upgraded to a city, and its new administrative name is New Li City. Moreover, it is a sub-provincial administrative unit. The finances are directly integrated into the autonomous region’s financial system. Its administration falls under Bazhou City’s jurisdiction, which means that in the future, the financial autonomy of New Li City will be much greater than that of an average county-level city. What is more important is that with the upgrade, all the cadres of New Li City are the happiest.

The sub-provincial city, the party secretary and the mayor, these are two sub-provincial positions, and this is inevitable. Today, Nie Zhenbang is still acting as mayor. After the two sessions that will pass after the new year, there will definitely be a position vacated. It’s impossible to really have one party to rule everything. Besides, the other deputy positions in the city are all now deputy section-level cadres. After this, they will definitely be promoted by half a notch. The section-level is certain, correspondingly, the heads and minds of the various departments of the municipal direct organs have also stepped onto the steps of the deputy section-level. It can be said that this time, with the upgrade of New Li City, it is considered a real promotion for everyone.

However, Nie Zhenbang’s mood isn’t that great at the moment. Looking at the documents and materials on the table, Nie Zhenbang also frowned.

The three townships of Dafeng Town, Red Flag Town, and Chetai Township in Ku City are still okay. After all, they are townships where the Bazhou City Party Committee and Municipal Government are located. All the infrastructure is very good and the economic development is relatively balanced.

When the State Council considered merging, it also went through a great deal of effort. Among them, Dafeng Town was only eleven kilometers away from Li County City, and Red Flag Town and Chetai Township were on both sides of the national highway from Li County to Bazhou City. The distance between the two places and Li County City was about eighteen kilometers. Yun County is on the south side of New Li City, and the distance between Yun County City and New Li City downtown area is only thirty-nine kilometers, which makes it much easier for Nie Zhenbang to plan and develop in the future.

However, what gives Nie Zhenbang a headache is still Yun County. This is a typical wide and sparsely populated small county. Yun County has a land area of more than 70,000 square kilometers, but the population is only about 100,000; most of them are concentrated around Yun’s County City, and the rest of the areas are mostly desert, belonging to a temperate and extremely arid region. The annual rainfall is very scarce. Yun County is also a well-known poor county.

New Li City has just started to show some signs of improvement, and now another burden is on its back. How to develop the original Yun County is also an important issue.

“Secretary, Deputy Mayor Bai is here. He said he has a problem to report and discuss with you.” Yi Jun suddenly walked in from the outside.

Bekri has arrived. Nie Zhenbang was taken aback for a moment, thinking about it, he understood. Now, the establishment of New Li City, upgraded to a sub-provincial city. And now the party and government are all in his own hands. Everyone knows clearly that he can’t hold the position of mayor for long. From the perspective of New Li City, there are two people who are eligible to serve as mayor, Xie Yi and Bekri. It is normal for Bekri to do this.

As for the county party committee and government team of Yun County, most of the cadres will be appointed by Bazhou City. They were all at the same level before, but after the merger, they suddenly dropped one level. These people from the Yun County Party Committee must be unhappy. Bazhou City will make separate appointments, which is also normal. As for the position of the mayor, the cadres of Yun County, even the secretary of the Yun County Party Committee, should not think about it. This is something that can’t happen at all.

Thinking of this, Nie Zhenbang nodded immediately: “Well, please let Deputy Mayor Bai in.”

People are always dissatisfied. At this moment, Bekri is also stepping aboard at the right time to the regular department’s ranks. Now, with such a great opportunity, he can leap from the regular department to the subprovincial notch, Bekri naturally wants to strive for it.

“Secretary Nie, are you busy?” Bekri entered Nie Zhenbang’s office and immediately greeted him with a smile. Now that New Li City has ample financial resources, there are fewer comrades from below who flock up for money at the end of each year. For the first time, Bekri felt comfortable in such a day.

Now, Li County has transformed itself into a national reform and opening up pilot zone and become New Li City. He also followed the rising tide to become a regular section-level cadre. Now, Bekri realized that at this time, it’s necessary to keep up with Secretary Nie’s pace.

“Well, Mayor Bai is here. I was thinking just now that New Li City has been established and there are many things. For this year-end comfort, I am also preparing to adjust it. For the original Li County, I am preparing to let you and Secretary Xie go to the various townships and county direct organs under it. I am planning to go to Yun County and Dafeng, Red Flag, and Chetai towns.” Nie Zhenbang signaled Bekri to sit on the sofa and said with a smile.

It’s exactly at the end of the year’s critical moment. New Li City was established, and now the Yun County Party Committee, government team and county direct government offices are all in the process of retrenchment and merger. For the time being, there is a feeling of uneasiness among the people below. At this time, as the secretary of the municipal party committee, Nie Zhenbang needs to go down and stabilize the scene.

Bekri also laughed at this moment and said, “With Secretary Nie in charge, there will naturally be no problems. However, there are so many places and only three days left until the new year. Will your going there be a bit rushed? It seems it might also be a bit tiring for you. Uh, Secretary, do you think the municipal party committee will consider anything?”

After some small talk, Bekri still subtly brought up the issue he was concerned about. This is not something that can be discussed in terms of face or posture. If he doesn’t work hard, he’s afraid that he won’t be able to get the position of mayor.

Nie Zhenbang is the secretary of the New Li City Party Committee and also a standing member of the Bazhou City Party Committee. He has great power in terms of the choice of the mayor of New Li City, regardless of how the Bazhou City Party Committee decides. If he can gain the support of Nie Zhenbang, for Bekri, it would mean achieving most of his goal.

Listening to Bekri’s words, Nie Zhenbang mused for a moment, then smiled and said, “Mayor Bai, on the issue of choosing the mayor, I personally still lean towards promoting from within Xinli City. However, what the city party committee stance is, what Secretary Liu’s intentions are, we still need to consider the opinion of the leadership. Rest assured on your end. I will express my position to the city committee and municipal government.”

Nie Zhenbang’s official vehicle, after having been named a national model county and a national development zone, was specifically allocated a batch of resources by the State Council. After all, if you want the horse to run, you have to let it graze, right?

Nine Mercedes-Benz saloons, three Mercedes-Benz vans, and twelve Toyotas were allocated. Additionally, the council allocated 30 million yuan in special funds, which were delivered to Xinli City the day after Deputy Premier Tao returned to Beijing.

Out of the twelve off-road vehicles, two were kept for Nie Zhenbang, while the remaining were all allocated to the Xinli City Public Security Bureau. The three Mercedes-Benz vans were kept at the Xinli City Committee’s office for common affairs, for unified operations. The other nine Mercedes-Benz cars were distributed among the other leaders of the Xinli City Committee.

Nie Zhenbang chose off-road vehicles mainly for their performance. In a place like Xinli City, sometimes, when visiting some towns, a regular car won’t cut it, so off-road vehicles are better.

Outside the car window, the endless plains were dressed in silver. The distant mountains were even whiter. The car drove over the snow at a slow pace.

Considering the safety of the vehicles, the Xinli City Public Security Bureau sent a police car to lead the way ahead. Nie Zhenbang’s vehicle followed behind. At this moment, Yi Jun sat in the front passenger seat, and Qu Feng, the Secretary General of the city committee, sat by Nie Zhenbang. Behind Nie Zhenbang’s vehicle were Yan Fengjiao’s vehicle and a van carrying condolences goods.

The motorcade slowly passed through the gatehouse of the development zone, and a little further ahead, Pear City Avenue would reach its end. After the merger, at the beginning of next spring, Pear City Avenue should be extended to Red Flag Town.

After covering Dafeng, Red Flag, and Chetai towns in a day and a half, the motorcade headed to the former Yun County seat the next morning.

The approximately 30-kilometer journey, due to the snow, took about an hour, and the motorcade slowly entered Yun County.

At this moment, Qu Feng’s eyebrows were furrowed as he murmured, “What’s going on with the remaining officials in Yun County? We sent a clear notification yesterday, so why isn’t anyone out to welcome us?”

Nie Zhenbang, however, was indifferent and smiled, “Old Qu, don’t be angry. The welcome is just a formality. When the autonomous region leaders and city committee leaders come to inspect, especially in this cold weather, I actually don’t like to stand by the roadside for formalities. Put yourself in their shoes—the remaining officials are all concerned about their future. Their lack of welcome is normal.”

Looking at the entire Yun County, Nie Zhenbang’s brow furrowed. The condition of Yun County greatly exceeded Nie Zhenbang’s expectations. Now, only a day and a half is left until New Year’s Eve, yet the entire street had a messy ambiance. Garbage was piled up on the roadside, untouched. The thick layer of snow on the street symbolized the total shutdown of the government. Otherwise, how could even the sanitation workers be absent?

Unlike Li County, which had both land and pastures despite being poor, and abundant water resources, Yun County was a desert in many places except for the county seat close to Li County that had enough water. The per capita farming area was even less than half of that in Li County. The whole of Yun County was content if they could eat their fill.

The vehicle drove into the courtyard of the Yun County government office. At this point, the entire yard had already been deserted, with only a few ordinary staff members bustling around.

At the gate, two middle-aged men waited. Upon seeing Nie Zhenbang’s motorcade, they promptly stepped out to greet them.

PS: Recommend a new government novel “Journey of a Police Official”, differently exciting as a police officer treads the officialdom. Book number: 2199700

Also, let me nag again, dear brothers and sisters, Old Cai has not appealed for monthly tickets for this month. Please support with a monthly ticket if you can. The performance of this month is really bleak.