Chapter 63: Xu Chaoyang’s Death List

Li Xian harbored a deep disdain for people like Ma Shengli. More specifically, he resented anyone who used emotional manipulation to coerce others, all while claiming to advocate for the so-called collective interests to benefit themselves.

What time is it now? It's 1992!

Li Xian was well aware that starting next year, the entire Northeast would face a wave of reform. Thousands of enterprises would undergo bankruptcy and liquidation under government oversight. As an old industrial base, this area would become one of the first regions in the country to pilot enterprise restructuring, resulting in the dismissal of hundreds of thousands of workers, marking the beginning of a large-scale layoff wave.

Compared to this impending layoff wave, Yang Hongshan's current approach with the contract might seem a bit capitalist on the surface, but it could ensure that workers would still have jobs and support dozens of families in the future!

In contrast, Ma Shengli, who claimed to act for the collective interest, actually sought to secure a severance pay of "at least fifteen thousand" for his years of service, then have the factory facilitate an early retirement for him and a small group of veteran workers.

Yang Hongshan had informed Li Xian about this after the workers dispersed yesterday.

Faced with Ma Shengli's manipulative voting mobilization, Li Xian naturally could not let him succeed.

When Ma Shengli heard about Li Xian's plan for a secret ballot, he started to panic. He immediately expressed concerns that the factory leaders and the Commercial Bureau might engage in darkroom manipulations, leading to opposition from the shareholder employees.

Li Xian, with a hint of amusement, said, "If you're worried about that, it's simple."

He randomly selected three employees from the crowd, saying, "You just vote, and we won't interfere with the counting."

Although Ma Shengli was still anxious, he couldn't refute the solution.

Li Xian noticed that many workers below looked visibly relieved and secretly pleased.

After Wang Zhiye distributed the ballots, the voting began. Groups of workers scattered throughout the factory, discreetly marking their opinions on the paper. Under Ma Shengli's suspicious gaze, they cast their votes into the hastily prepared cardboard box.

In no time, more than fifty votes were cast.

With Li Xian's approval, the three employees began to open the box and count the votes.

"Not in favor."

"Support, support, support… not in favor…"

On the blackboard, the tally of support votes continued to increase. Ma Shengli began to panic. In his confusion, it took only about ten minutes to count over fifty votes.

The result was clear. The votes in favor of the contracting system and the new wage mechanism overwhelmingly led, reaching nearly forty votes. That neatly arranged row of affirmative marks struck the final chord for the future of the tile factory!

At noon, Yang Hongshan had specifically arranged for two firecrackers to be hung at the factory gate, which had been swaying due to the contracting controversy for quite some time.

With a burst of crackling noise and scattered red paper scraps, the tile factory entered a new era.

---

In the Forestry Bureau building, after receiving Li Xian's report over the phone, Xu Chaoyang's anxiously suspended heart finally relaxed. After saying "good job" three times, he instructed Li Xian to come to the bureau as soon as he was finished and then ended the call.

After reporting the results of the tile factory to the Commercial Bureau with Wang Zhiye and helping Yang Hongshan and the workers' representatives sign the contracting contract, Li Xian declined Yang Hongshan's celebratory banquet, which he was genuinely delighted about, and went to the Forestry Bureau office building.

Inside Xu Chaoyang's office.

Looking at the couplet that read "Linzuoshan skirts, colorful through the four seasons. Trees add flowers and socks, fragrances in all directions," signed by Wang Lin and, Li Xian was surprised. "I didn't expect Old Wang's calligraphy to be so good."

Wang Zhiye, standing nearby, expressed her disdain for his belated realization. "There are many things you wouldn't notice! The big characters in General Manager Liang Sanjiang's office at the Forest Industry Group were all written by my grandfather."

Seeing Li Xian's curiosity deepen, Xu Chaoyang, who was still admiring the couplet hanging behind him, smiled faintly. "When I was the factory director at Hongqi Forestry Farm, Old Wang gave this to me."

After a brief introduction, Xu Chaoyang set aside the document he was holding and said to Wang Zhiye, "Xiao Yezi, go out for a while. I need to discuss something with Li Xian."

Wang Zhiye was surprised by this request and looked at Li Xian with wide eyes. "Fourth Uncle, I also contributed to the tile factory matter! Why are you discussing things with him behind my back?"

Xu Chaoyang smiled but did not respond.

Wang Zhiye stomped her foot and pouted as she left.

Once the door was firmly closed behind the disgruntled Wang Zhiye, Xu Chaoyang turned his attention back to Li Xian.

"You handled the tile factory matter very well. You don't know, but the departure of one tile factory has relieved a major worry for me. Last year alone, the Forestry Bureau allocated over forty thousand yuan to the tile factory to maintain employee expenses. Meanwhile, the other forty-plus enterprises consumed over a million yuan from the bureau annually."

Hearing this, Li Xian's heart stirred.

"Director Xu, you don't mean… that you want to get rid of all these enterprises, do you?"

Xu Chaoyang chuckled without answering directly. Instead, he pointed to a document on his desk, which, from the title, seemed to discuss organizing units to study the central spirit and pay attention to the upcoming 14th National Congress.

"I've heard from Old Wang that you have your own understanding of the economic trends for the near future. Could you explain it to me in detail?"

Li Xian scratched his head.

Not clear about Xu Chaoyang's intentions, he didn't dare to go too deep and instead shared some superficial observations he had made with the elderly men at the retirement home and some economic changes after Deng Gong's southern tour.

Even with these, Xu Chaoyang listened intently, frequently jotting notes with his pen.

Only when Li Xian felt he had exhausted his analysis and stopped talking, did Xu Chaoyang finally exhale and say, "In the past fifteen years, the breakthrough of ideas has been the primary driving force behind reforms. The areas that first broke free from the constraints of planned economy are the ones that rose rapidly…"

After repeatedly digesting what Li Xian had just said, Xu Chaoyang finally answered the earlier question.

"That's right, these forty-plus loss-making enterprises cannot remain in the bureau any longer!"

Li Xian noticed that Xu Chaoyang's face showed a sense of determination as if he was making a final decision.

Inside, Li Xian shuddered.

In his view, many of these enterprises had considerable potential if managed well!

Currently, there are two main constraints on these enterprises: one is that the Forestry Bureau's construction has reached a plateau, significantly reducing the dependency on planning-based enterprises, and there is no demand in the regional market. The second is transportation issues; being located in a remote area, many enterprises cannot expand their business and can only survive within a limited area.

However, he knew that by next spring, the provincial Forest Industry Group would fully repair the transportation routes to Provincial Highway 203!

At that time, transportation would no longer be a constraint.

Moreover, the most important point is that most of these enterprises, except for the tile, cement, and brick factories which are construction support enterprises, are primarily wood processing derivative enterprises based on timber.

With the vast timber resources from the Xing'an Mountains, production costs are far lower than those of similar enterprises in the province.

Li Xian understood that the entire country seemed like a powder keg under high temperature. Inside this keg, it contained the ambitions and strong hopes for a better tomorrow of everyone from the leaders to the ordinary people.

In just a few more days.

Just a few days away!

With the thunderous spring thunder, this powder keg will be thoroughly ignited, bringing about a completely transformative change to the entire Chinese economy with a frenzied, barbaric, yet extremely swift momentum.

And those enterprises already marked on Xu Chaoyang's death list would inevitably become valuable assets for some lucky individuals to accumulate wealth, even becoming powerful weapons for dominating regions!

Faced with such an opportunity, he... was tempted!