District Government Office!
Jiang Longyin sat in his chair, his face full of worry. Although his eyes were fixed on the documents in front of him, his mind was constantly preoccupied with the TV factory.
To be honest, this situation had truly caught him off guard.
It wasn’t that he had much confidence in Li Yi, but compared to the Second State-Owned Cotton Mill and the Candy Factory, the Yanjing TV Factory was in much better shape.
Although its profitability was a bit lacking, at least it didn’t have any massive debts, workers’ wages were paid on time, and there was even a small surplus in its accounts.
So all the district government leaders, including Jiang Longyin, were actually more worried about the Candy Factory and hadn’t anticipated any problems at the TV Factory.
Yet the reality turned out to be the exact opposite: the Candy Factory managed to turn things around against all odds, while the TV Factory ended up causing a major mess—which truly caught him off guard!
Now that the problem had surfaced, resolving it had become the top priority.
Based on the information they currently have, the situation at the TV factory is extremely dire.
In addition to owing three months’ wages to nearly 2,000 employees across the factory, they also owed nearly two million yuan in payments to upstream parts suppliers. To fully resolve this matter, at least 2.5 million yuan would be required.
However, the economic situation in the district… no, across the entire country, is not looking good. From the central government down to local authorities, fiscal deficits at all levels are severe. Where on earth could they find such a large sum of money on such short notice?
“Ring-ring-ring…”
Just as Jiang Longyin was deep in thought, the phone on his desk suddenly rang!
Jiang Longyin forced his chaotic thoughts to settle, then picked up the receiver: “This is Jiang Longyin. Who’s calling?”
“Second Brother, it’s me!”
Upon hearing Li Yi’s voice on the line, Jiang Longyin immediately sat up straight and asked urgently, “Brother-in-law, how’s the situation at the factory?”
“The situation is under control!”
Jiang Longyin instantly felt a wave of relief wash over him, but thinking of the situation there, he couldn’t help but ask again, “What about the workers’ moods…”
“They’ve been calmed down. They shouldn’t cause any trouble for the time being!” Li Yi said.
“That’s good. How did you manage that?” Jiang Longyin asked curiously.
“Actually, the workers’ demands weren’t that high. They just wanted their wages, so I promised to help resolve the wage issue as soon as possible!” Li Yi said.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Longyin fell silent.
“How much will it cost?”
“80,000 yuan!”
“8… 80,000 yuan? That’ll solve the problem?” Jiang Longyin asked in surprise.
“It certainly won’t solve it completely, but 80,000 yuan will buy us some time!” Li Yi said.
“How long will that buy us?”
“Long enough for me to completely turn the TV factory around!”
“Can you really turn it around?”
“Second Brother, to be honest, I saw this coming a long time ago. I just didn’t expect it to blow up this quickly—I didn’t have time to brief the factory leadership here beforehand!”
Li Yi continued, “I’ll devote all my energy to handling this over the next month. I guarantee I’ll have it resolved within a month at the latest!”
“Is there anything we need to do on our end?”
Jiang Longyin didn’t ask Li Yi for specifics—first, because he trusted Li Yi!
Secondly, he didn’t really understand how businesses operated; even if Li Yi explained it to him, he might not have understood.
“Three things. First, the district government needs to allocate 80,000 to 100,000 yuan to the factory to placate the workers.”
Li Yi continued, “At the same time, the district government needs to step in and help arrange a loan from the bank for the TV factory. I need about 500,000 to 1 million yuan for marketing and promotion!”
“Third, the district government needs to step in and help me transfer a few people over here!”
“Transfer staff?”
“Right. I need Sun Feng, the sales manager from State Cotton Mill No. 2, transferred here, plus 20 salespeople!”
“No problem. I can call Old Three right now and have him send them over!”
“Great!”
At that moment, Jiang Longyin asked again, “I heard the TV factory was attacked. Is the situation serious?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I heard the injuries weren’t too serious!”
“That’s good. How do you plan to handle the people who attacked them? Do you want me to have the district police go over there?”
“No need. Morale at the factory is already unstable, and with the wage issue still unresolved, it’s like a powder keg—it could explode at any moment.”
Li Yi continued, “Sending the police over now won’t solve anything—it’ll just make the workers resent the district government. So let’s put this off for now.”
“Hmm, that works too!”
After that, the two chatted for a little while longer before hanging up.
……..
After hanging up, Li Yi once again reviewed his entire plan for restructuring the TV factory.
After some thought, Li Yi concluded that the biggest weakness in the current plan was the team—not just the sales team, but also the leadership, which was the most critical component.
Originally, according to Li Yi’s plan, the initiative was not scheduled to officially launch until after October.
In the months leading up to that, the factory’s primary task was to focus on production and stockpile goods, so that when the plan was implemented, they could make a killing in one fell swoop.
Precisely for this reason, he hadn’t made any major adjustments to the factory’s personnel or other operations, so as not to disrupt production.
But he never could have imagined that the new Plant Manager Jiang he’d brought in would turn out to be such a liability. Thanks to his botched handling of the situation, he nearly caused a major mess, forcing Li Yi to implement his plan ahead of schedule.
Clearly, the leadership at Yanjing TV Factory was indeed rather incompetent; to botch something so simple was simply beyond belief.
On top of that, the sales team at Yanjing TV Factory also needed to step up their game.
Li Yi had met the factory’s sales section chief, Li Yongjiang. While he was quite the drinker, his professional competence left much to be desired.
For a factory with such massive production capacity, the output isn’t particularly impressive—they manage to sell only two or three thousand televisions a month.
You can’t just call that poor—it’s downright terrible.
With that in mind, Li Yi picked up the phone and dialed a number!
“Ring ring…”
The call was answered quickly, and Jiang Longcheng’s slightly gruff voice came through the receiver: “Jiang Longcheng from State Cotton Mill No. 2. Who’s this?”
“Third Brother, it’s me, Li Yi!”
“Brother-in-law, I heard you’re back. I was just planning to come over tonight to grab a drink with you…”
Before he could finish, Li Yi cut him off: “Third Brother, forget about drinking. I’ve got something serious to discuss with you today!”
“What’s the matter? Spit it out!”
Hearing this, Jiang Longcheng grew serious.
He knew Li Yi very well and understood that the man wouldn’t call him unless it was something important. Since he’d called it “business,” it certainly wasn’t a trivial matter.
“Third Brother, have Sun Feng pick out twenty of your top salespeople and send them to the Yanjing TV Factory to meet me. If he can bring a few more, that’d be even better!” Li Yi said.
“Sun Feng? What do you need him for?”
“I have a plan that requires his cooperation!”
“Alright, I’ll have him head over right away!”
“Mm, just send the people over first. Second Brother will issue the transfer orders later!” Li Yi said.
“What transfer order? Brother-in-law, you aren’t planning to send Sun Feng to the TV Factory and never have him come back, are you? He’s one of the Five Tiger Generals of our Second State-Owned Cotton Mill!”
“Third Brother, your National Cotton Mill No. 2’s sales network has already expanded nationwide, and with An Hong holding the fort over there, just let Sun Feng go!”
“Brother-in-law, just have him come back once the job’s done. Why keep him over there?”
“Because I want him to come over here and be the factory director!”
“Factory director?”
“Yeah, the current factory leadership here is really lacking in capability. I think Sun Feng is actually quite capable!” Li Yi said.
“Well… all right then. That old fox Sun Feng really has hit the jackpot this time!”
“Third Brother, time is of the essence here. Hurry up and get him over here—I’m waiting for him!”
“Got it!”
With that, Jiang Longcheng hung up the phone and went downstairs to the sales department to personally relay Li Yi’s orders to Sun Feng…
…….
PS: I’ve made a slight adjustment regarding the TV factory. I originally intended to use “Beijing TV Factory”—the one that produces the Peony brand.
However, after some research, I discovered that the factory still exists. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I’ve changed it to Yanjing TV Factory, though this does not affect the overall plot.