At nine o'clock in the morning, the citywide cadre conference commenced in the government guesthouse auditorium.

Every district and county in Binjiang has the tradition of holding cadre conferences, generally scheduled after the Spring Festival to establish the overall annual development goals for the entire city (or county). However, not all cadres attend these meetings; participants are usually officials at the division level and above, primarily the top leaders of various townships and bureaus.

This year, Linghai decided to hold the citywide cadre conference ahead of schedule, and the leaders from various bureaus, committees, and townships' party and government offices were all in attendance.

However, today's agenda included not only reviewing this year's achievements and shortcomings and planning for the next year's work.

Yesterday, Secretary Ye and Deputy Mayor Shen were invited to attend the opening ceremony of Shuzhou Port; Mayor Qian, leading the directors of the Investment Promotion Bureau and the Management Committees of the East City Development Zone, Sanxing Light Textile Industrial Park, and the Port District, was invited to the Shuzhou economic and trade fair.

Several city leaders were greatly impressed by the determination for economic construction and the intensity of investment attraction they witnessed there. Upon returning to Linghai last night, they convened a standing committee meeting and decided overnight to hold a citywide cadre conference today.

First, to introduce the situation learned in Shuzhou yesterday, then to brainstorm, identify gaps, and shore up weak areas!

It's not the lack of awareness that's feared, but the comparison with others.

Mayor Qian feels, just like Secretary Ye, that time waits for no one, striking the table and saying, "Some comrades might say that Shuzhou's geographical location is better than ours; they are in Jiangnan, and we are in Jiangbei. They are closer to the East Sea, and we are farther away. But in fact, they don't have an advantage over other neighboring districts and counties in various aspects.

Take Kunshan, for instance, which is right next to the East Sea and even closer to it. Zhangjia Port is not only the first national county-level hygienic city but has also developed its ports first and enjoys the benefits of a bonded zone. Jiangyin has developed rapidly in recent years and shows a trend of overtaking Shuzhou.

What does Shuzhou have? No highways surrounding it, no railway passing through, not even an airport. To put it bluntly, Shuzhou is less convenient than our Linghai to reach the East Sea, the Capital, or Jiangcheng.

We have Bailong Port; it takes only four hours to reach the East Sea by high-speed ferry. We are only a dozen kilometers away from Dongxing Airport; it takes just two to three hours to fly to the Capital.

We have several gateways for development while they don't have any, yet they've turned Shuzhou Port into the nation's first county-level city's first-class port through five years of diligent hard work!"

Mayor Qian turned to look around, and government office staff quickly got busy.

The background of the stage was meticulously prepared, or to be precise, completely undecorated.

There were no party emblems or national emblems hanging, nor were there dozens of Red Flags inserted diagonally on both sides. The space was left blank, allowing for the projection of slides.

As the lights dimmed in the auditorium, images of Shuzhou Port District, the six-lane highway leading to the Port District, and scenes from the economic and trade fair appeared before everyone.

The most shocking was the grandeur of the economic and trade fair.

The venue looked a bit like an arena, with a vast space and a large turnout for the fair—there weren't ten thousand people, but at least seven or eight thousand. Colorful flags were displayed, and balloons flew about...

What was more astonishing was the ambition of Shuzhou.

The emblem of the event stated, "The Inaugural Ceremony of China Shuzhou Port & China Shuzhou Economic and Trade Fair," boldly presented in front of the central and provincial leaders, not something organized by a few village officials by the Linghai River as "China Bailong Port."

The slogan on the big banner was even more audacious: "Let the world get to know Shuzhou, let Shuzhou step into the world!"

"We have attracted businesses and introduced capital, yet some comrades still have doubts about the construction of Linghai Port. Comrades, do you know how Shuzhou Port was built?"

Mayor Qian pounded on the lectern, passionately speaking, "When they started, they had no capital, only able to mobilize all the party cadres and entrepreneurs, even the masses of the city, for investment promotion. There was a businessman from Shuzhou named Zhang Dazheng, who cared deeply about his hometown and submitted the planning proposal of Shuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone to the Singapore Economic Development Bureau.

At the time, the newly listed Singapore United Group was eagerly looking for investment opportunities and came across the planning proposal of the Shuzhou Development Zone at the bureau by chance, prompting them to visit Shuzhou. During their visit, they were impressed by the determination of everyone in Shuzhou to develop the economy and were optimistic about its future.

However, they had doubts about whether Shuzhou could turn Shuzhou Port into a national first-class port, as this isn't something that the Shuzhou Municipal Committee and Government could just decide to build—it needed approval from the State Council. The difficulty was immense, and the investment plan would fall through if it wasn't approved.

To retain the hard-won investors and dispel the concerns of the Singaporean investors, the Shuzhou Municipal Committee and Government didn't just sign a military order but bit the bullet and signed... signed..."

Deputy Mayor Shen hurriedly said, "A betting agreement."

Mayor Qian nodded and continued, "They bit the bullet and signed a betting agreement with them, equivalent to giving a guarantee. If the application for the national first-class port failed, the Shuzhou City People's Government would have to compensate for their losses. This was hundreds of millions, and it was signed with Singaporean investors, so there was no backing out!"

Zhou Huixin, as a member of the government party group and the Police Chief, also attended the meeting and sat in the back row behind the stage. He glanced back at the slide images on the wall, equally moved by Shuzhou's determination to develop.

Mayor Qian brought up the rear among all the speakers at the economic and trade fair.

After Mayor Qian finished his speech, the meeting moved onto the third agenda—sharing insights, thoughts, and shortcomings.

Director Miao of the Linghai Port Industrial Park Management Committee was the first to take the stage. Combining the realities of the Port District, he spoke profoundly about many issues, hitting the nail on the head, and the attendees nodded in agreement.

"Comrades, let me interject a few words."

Secretary Ye thought that Director Miao's speech wasn't in-depth enough. He tapped the microphone in front of him and surveyed the crowd below, saying, "The good economic development of Shuzhou is not just because the infrastructure construction is well done, nor just because the investment attraction policies are good. We cannot overlook the soft power they wield in attracting investment.

I need to learn from their service mentality; they truly do everything for the investors, and everything they do is for the investors' sake! Yesterday, the city leaders of Shuzhou were very busy, and I only chatted with a few town and village officials, as well as with several bosses of private enterprises in Shuzhou.

A few bosses of private enterprises told me that when they invest and build factories, they don't need to beg anyone, much less entertain and give gifts, and definitely don't need to run back and forth to various departments. There are officials responsible in the city and development zone, offering door-to-door services, one-stop services!

Town and village officials and park officials told me that the city has strict requirements for them: without permission, they are not allowed to inspect and conduct research in enterprises. Enterprises have a clear list of the fees they should pay; they don't have to pay a penny more for what they shouldn't, and there is no random charging or arbitrary fines, let alone corruption.

This is their soft power, and it is also why they warmly welcome Mayor Qian despite knowing he had the intention of poaching while attending the economic and trade fair.

They are confident; they are confident that investors will choose them and not come to invest in Linghai.

If the investment environment is not good, who will come to invest? Without investors, how can the economy develop? People say that the burden on farmers is heavy, but after investigating so many enterprises in the city, I found that the burden on enterprises is also very heavy. In this regard, I believe I need to reflect, and everyone present here should reflect!"

The implication of Secretary Ye's words was clear: no more reaching out to enterprises.

Zhou Huixin deeply agreed and was thinking that she should convey the spirit in a meeting after returning and strictly forbid any police station from seeking sponsorships from enterprises again.

At that moment, Secretary Ye turned to his side and said, "Comrade Shen Fan, it's your turn, please continue."

"Alright."

Deputy Mayor Shen had just made an excuse to go to the toilet and returned after a few calls, with frustration in his heart. How could he miss this opportunity?

He cleared his throat and holding onto the microphone said, "Comrades, Secretary Ye just emphasized the investment environment and mentioned the soft power of investment attraction, with which I very much agree. Some of our units and some comrades really don't act appropriately. Here, I'll give a few examples.

Last month, when my daughter came to visit me, I took her to a small restaurant on People Road to eat. Just as we sat down and were about to order, a few people from the Loving Sanitation Committee came to the door, took out a receipt, and charged the restaurant owner by table, collecting a certain amount of money for several tables.

After the owner sent them away, he cursed about this fee and that fee, saying that running a small restaurant of a little over thirty square meters, he has to pay over a thousand a month. After deducting rent, utilities, and wages, how much could someone earn in a month?"

This was criticism!

The director of the Loving Sanitation Committee was as uncomfortable as if sitting on pins and needles, his cheeks burning.

Deputy Mayor Shen paused for a moment, then continued, "Just half an hour ago, Han Yu, the chief of the Port District Police Bureau, called me to ask for leave. During a critical time for the Port District construction, how could he, as a member of the Port District Party Working Committee, ask for leave? Yet I had to agree."

Salted Fish has been doing well recently. He was tasked with getting a few invitations for the maiden voyage ceremony of Shuzhou Port, and not only did he complete the task, he even obtained invitations to the economic and trade fair.

Secretary Ye had a good impression of Salted Fish and couldn't help but ask, "Why did Comrade Han Yu ask for leave?"

"He needs to go back and deal with family matters. Both of his uncles and his brother, as well as his brother's stepson, were arrested for playing mahjong together by the Sanxing Police Station. Secretary Ye, Mayor Qian, comrades, does it sound a bit confusing?"

Deputy Mayor Shen laughed bitterly out of anger, banging on the table, "To put it bluntly, it's two uncles playing mahjong with their nephew and the nephew's stepson, and they were arrested by the Sanxing Police Station for gambling.

Even though they are a family, gambling with money is definitely bad. But everyone, do you know how the police handled the case at Sanxing Police Station?

Not only did they confiscate the money on the table as gambling funds, they also seized the cash the people had for business, as well as the money in their office desks, even confiscating their mobile phones and pagers, claiming they were tools used for the crime!"

How absurd to have such a situation, it caused an uproar among everyone.

Secretary Ye also found it ridiculous and subconsciously looked back at Zhou Hui.

Zhou Hui knew there would be trouble internally but never expected it would get so out of hand, not knowing how to explain for the moment.

Then, Deputy Mayor Shen turned the conversation: "It's worth mentioning that these four involved in gambling are merchants from the Sanxing Home Textile Market, with their annual transactions amounting to tens of millions, two of whom also have their own factories.

Comrades, please put yourself in other's shoes. If the local government treated you this way, would you be willing to do business here, would you be willing to invest and build factories here?

Let's take a step back. These four business operators are all relatives of Comrade Han Yu, and the Sanxing Police Station also knows that they are related to Comrade Han Yu, but they still treated them this way.

What if it were investors without relatives in the police bureau or other government departments? How would the Sanxing Police Station treat them then?"

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