Chapter 558: Winning People Over with Virtue
Yanjing TV Factory. Conference Room!
At that moment, the vast conference room was packed with people.
Everyone was present—from the workshop supervisors to the heads of various departments, and even several deputy plant managers—with the sole exceptions of Plant Manager Jiang Chengping and Chief Reform Advisor Li Yi.
Despite the large crowd, the entire conference room was deathly quiet.
Even those who spoke kept their voices low, and the atmosphere was extremely oppressive.
Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps suddenly echoed from the hallway outside.
The rhythmic footsteps sounded like drumbeats, each step striking a chord in everyone’s hearts.
Hearing the sound, everyone in the room immediately fell silent, and the conference room instantly became as quiet as a graveyard, a deathly stillness settling over the room.
“Creak!”
As the conference room door swung open, Chief Advisor Li Yi walked in, accompanied by a tall, middle-aged man.
What was even more surprising was that, unlike on previous occasions, Li Yi did not take his usual seat at the side of the room. Instead, he walked straight to the head seat—a position normally reserved for the plant manager.
The middle-aged man who had accompanied him sat down right next to him, and neither of them seemed to notice that their seating arrangement was somewhat inappropriate.
Li Yi was, of course, fully aware that he had taken the head seat—and he had done so deliberately.
Because starting today, he would be taking full control of the television factory and turning this rundown plant around in the shortest possible time.
Once seated, Li Yi surveyed the room and then turned to Deputy Plant Manager Gao beside him, asking, “Is everyone here?”
Under his intense gaze, Deputy Plant Manager Gao felt the pressure mounting, but he steeled himself and replied, “They’re… they’re all here!”
“Since everyone is here, let’s get started!”
Li Yi continued, “Before we get down to business, let me introduce someone to you all!”
Hearing this, everyone knew Li Yi was referring to the man beside him, and soon all eyes turned to Sun Feng.
“The man beside me is Sun Feng, Head of the Sales Department at State Cotton Mill No. 2. Comrade Sun Feng has played a pivotal role in the sales miracle that State Cotton Mill No. 2 has achieved today.”
Li Yi continued, “Additionally, I’d like to announce a personnel appointment: effective immediately, Comrade Sun Feng is being transferred to serve as Deputy Director of the Yanjing Television Factory, where he will oversee the factory’s sales operations! The district will handle the necessary paperwork with our factory’s HR department shortly. Please give him a warm round of applause!”
“Clap, clap, clap…”
After a round of rather lukewarm applause, everyone in the conference room began whispering and discussing the matter among themselves.
Everyone was somewhat taken aback by Li Yi’s move. None of the senior and junior leaders at Yanjing Television Factory had expected him to transfer the sales section chief from State Cotton Mill No. 2 over in such a short time.
Regardless of his intentions, the fact that he managed to pull this off alone showed he had significant influence behind him.
More importantly, the factory’s senior positions were strictly limited—with the addition of Deputy Director Sun, someone else would inevitably have to step down. But who would it be?
Also, since Deputy Plant Manager Sun is primarily in charge of sales, what about Section Chief Li from the Sales Department?
Just as everyone was buzzing with speculation, Li Yi’s voice rang out once more: “Everyone, the district leadership is very dissatisfied with what happened today. For the foreseeable future, I will personally take charge of the operations at the Yanjing Television Factory. I hope you will all cooperate!”
“Of course, it’s fine if you don’t cooperate. I’m the sort of person who prefers to win people over with kindness. But when each of you here receives your dismissal notice from the factory, don’t blame me for not giving you a heads-up!”
“A buzz went through the room!”
Li Yi’s words were like dropping a depth charge into a calm lake. The way everyone looked at him changed instantly. He’d even gone so far as to mention dismissal—and he called that “winning people over with virtue”?
What kind of virtue are you using?
At the same time, they realized that the man standing before them meant business.
After all, this was a state-owned enterprise. Unless someone had committed an unforgivable grave error, the factory could not dismiss even a single worker, let alone a manager.
Yet no one present believed Li Yi was joking. After all, his ability to transfer a cadre from another factory to theirs in such a short time was proof enough of his influence.
For a moment, the entire conference room fell silent, and the atmosphere grew even more oppressive.
“Everyone, as you all heard in the auditorium just now, I promised the employees that I would resolve the factory’s debt crisis within a month and turn the factory around. Now, I need a detailed understanding of the factory’s current situation!”
Then, Li Yi continued, “Deputy Plant Manager Gao, as the head of production, I’d like to ask: how many televisions do we have in stock?”
“Over 70,000 units…”
“I need an exact figure!” Li Yi said sternly.
“I… I’ll definitely report the exact figure to you tomorrow!” Deputy Plant Manager Gao said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“Good!”
Li Yi then asked again, “Deputy Plant Manager Gao, what is our factory’s maximum production capacity?”
“If the workers run three shifts, we can produce a maximum of over 16,000 units per month, but…”
“But what?”
“The thing is, we already owe the electronics factory over 3 million yuan. They’re no longer willing to supply us, so even if we run at full capacity, we won’t be able to reach maximum production…”
Before he had even finished speaking, Li Yi immediately said, “Deputy Plant Manager Gao, go to the electronics factory tomorrow and talk to their management. Get them to keep supplying us!”
“I’ve already tried, but they’re adamant—they absolutely refuse to supply us until we’ve paid off the debt!” Deputy Plant Manager Gao said with a wry smile.
“Then you’re going about it the wrong way!”
Li Yi continued, “Tell their plant manager that if they stop supplying us, the several million yuan they’re owed by our factory will go down the drain.”
“If they’re willing to keep supplying us, we’ll pay them back 500,000 in two weeks, and then 500,000 every month until the entire debt is settled!”
“But… will that really work?”
“Deputy Plant Manager Gao, I’m not asking for your opinion—I’m assigning you a task. You’re only responsible for carrying it out; don’t worry about the outcome!” Li Yi said firmly.
“Yes, I’ll go to the electronics factory tomorrow!”
Li Yi shifted his gaze to a middle-aged woman and said, “Comrade Wang Ruomei, as the head of the finance department, I’d like to get an overview of the factory’s financial situation!”
Wang Ruomei hurriedly stood up and said, “Consultant Li, we only have 800 yuan left in the factory’s accounts. Additionally, we currently owe over 77,000 yuan in unpaid wages to our employees, and we owe 4.2 million yuan to various units, including the electronics factory, the parts factory, and the packaging factory…”
Li Yi nodded and said, “Alright, I understand. Tomorrow, go to the district government and see Secretary Jiang. He’ll approve a sum of money for you. As soon as the funds are transferred, distribute them to the workers immediately.”
“Alright!”
“Also, he’ll put in a good word with the bank. You should take some people there afterward to arrange a loan.”
“How much should we borrow?”
“At least one million—no upper limit!”
“Yes!”
Then, Li Yi’s gaze fell once more on Li Yongjiang, the head of the Sales Department.
“Section Chief Li, I am very dissatisfied with the work of your Sales Section. From now on, Deputy Plant Manager Sun will take over the Sales Section, and you will simply assist him. Do you have any objections?”
“No… no objections!” Li Yongjiang hurriedly replied.
He had heard it clearly just now—the man standing before him had actually instructed the Finance Department to go directly to the district’s top official to request funds, and it seemed the arrangements had already been made. Such influence was terrifying; how could he possibly object?
Even if he did have any, he’d have to keep them to himself!
“Comrade Sun Feng, the Sales Department is now in your hands. Same as always—you must establish our sales channels in the shortest possible time!”
“Yes!”
After issuing the order, Li Yi spoke again: “Everyone, I was able to turn around State Cotton Mill No. 2 in two months and save the Candy Factory in three months. I can certainly get the TV Factory back on its feet within a month as well. But I can’t do this alone—I need your full cooperation. Can you do that?”
“We can!”
The crowd shouted in unison, their voices loud and clear, carrying far and wide…
………