Chapter 130: The Officialdom's Conspiracy and Open Scheme

  The news of Liu Fei being appointed as the county magistrate of Xishan County spread like wings in the provincial government compound. In these four years, the secretaries who had a good relationship with Liu Fei called to congratulate him, some even invited him to dinner, and those who didn't usually get along also called to congratulate him. Liu Fei uniformly declined them by saying he had to visit his leaders at night.

  In the evening, Liu Fei prepared two bottles of 50-year-old Maotai and went to Provincial Governor Jiang Zhengyuan's home. These two bottles of Maotai were given to him by Xue Rengu. Xue Rengu gave four bottles to Liu Fei, he drank two bottles when he met with Liu Zhuang last time, the remaining two bottles he couldn't bear to drink, so he kept them all along. Today, in order to thank Provincial Governor Jiang Zhengyuan for his kindness and support, Liu Fei brought out these two good wines.

  Jiang Zhengyuan's home was located in the No. 2 courtyard of the provincial party committee compound.

  The doorbell rang, and after a while, the door creaked open to reveal a girl's face. The girl smiled: "You must be Liu Fei, Governor Jiang is waiting for you in the living room!"

  Liu Fei said thank you and carried two bottles of wine into the living room.

  In the living room, Jiang Zhengyuan was watching the news broadcast, a program that had been unchanged for over 20 years. Seeing Liu Fei come in, he just gestured for Liu to sit down and continued watching the news broadcast.

  Liu Fei has been following Jiang Zhengyuan for 4 years, so he is naturally very familiar with this habit. He quietly sat on the sofa and accompanied Governor Jiang to watch the news broadcast together.

  The news broadcast ended, and Jiang Zhengyuan finally looked up, turned off the TV, and glanced at the wine beside Liu Fei: "What's going on? Just became a county head and already preparing to bribe leaders?"

  Liu Fei laughed: "Governor, you're wronging me. This wine was given to me by Director Xue, and I haven't had the heart to drink it. I didn't even give any to Secretary Xu. I brought it directly to you, and I'll take the opportunity to have a meal here too. Hehe, I've long heard that your chef's skills are quite good. Today, I'm going to feast!"

  Jiang Zhengyuan also smiled, smiling very proudly. After all, it's his own secretary, and still close to him. The wine brought by Liu Fei he naturally saw at a glance, must be the best Maotai. Thinking that Liu Fei didn't even give Xu Guangchun, he was really too excited. In fact, when they reached their position, holding the power of life and death over officials in the province, there were very few things that could catch his eye. What he looked at was not the thing itself, but what caught his heart. Today, Liu Fei came to eat by sending wine as a gift, which Jiang Zhengyuan thought was a very considerate thing to do. Four years had passed, and Jiang Zhengyuan had witnessed Liu Fei's growth with his own eyes. He had long changed from the young man who only knew how to use his temper when he first arrived at the provincial government to a calm and decisive leader. Liu Fei's rapid maturity and great progress were beyond even Jiang Zhengyuan's expectations. Over the past four years, Liu Fei had provided many ideas for Jiang Zhengyuan in economic construction, although some things were a bit ahead of their time and some were radical, but Jiang Zhengyuan still benefited greatly from them. In his work as a secretary, Liu Fei's progress was even more astonishing to him. In just four years, Liu Fei had transformed from a young man who couldn't write or answer phones to a competent secretary who could speak fluently and write with ease. Liu Fei's writing level was among the best in the entire secretariat, and he often came up with new and practical ideas that Jiang Zhengyuan greatly appreciated. Otherwise, he wouldn't have promoted Liu Fei to be the secretary of Xishan County.

  "Liu Fei, do you know why I want to promote you to be the county head of Xishan County?" Jiang Zhengyuan asked with a smile.

  Liu Fei shook his head: "I don't know."

  "Why don't you ask me then?" Jiang Zhengyuan's smile grew thicker. He could see that Liu Fei had already begun to adapt to the rules of officialdom.

  "I know Governor Jiang's arrangement is definitely the most appropriate." Liu Fei's face was filled with a firm expression, which was a kind of silent trust.

  Jiang Zhengyuan nodded in approval, he greatly appreciated this aspect of Liu Fei. He would never do less than what needed to be done, but he would also never do or ask anything that shouldn't be done or asked. Even with such sudden arrangements, Liu Fei didn't show any signs of shock, his composure was evident. If it were three years ago, Liu Fei would have rushed over in a flurry to inquire about the news. This was Liu Fei's growth.

  "Liu Fei, your progress has surprised me," Jiang Zhengyuan exclaimed.

  "This is all due to the governor's cultivation. Without the governor, there would be no me today." Liu Fei also felt deeply moved and grateful to follow such a pragmatic leader, which was truly a happy thing for him. Jiang Zhengyuan was like a mentor who guided Liu Fei towards higher levels and realms.

  "Hey Liu Fei, although you've made great progress, your sharp edges are still too exposed. Like those suggestions you brought up, they're indeed very good, but some of them are a bit too radical. When you're by my side, it's fine to propose such ideas because I can accept or selectively use them. However, when you're in control of a region on your own, you must be extremely cautious. Your proposals might not be understood or accepted by the masses, and may even be completely rejected by the conservatives. When you're governing, every policy you put forward must consider all aspects of interest relationships; otherwise, you risk failure! Just like Wang Anshi's reforms and the Wu Xu reforms, they failed because they didn't comprehensively weigh the interests of various major forces, leading to numerous obstacles and ultimately having to accept defeat."

  Liu Fei nodded vigorously, and this remark was like a wake-up call to him. He had not expected that his previous suggestions, which he thought were very clever and far-sighted, would have so many shortcomings. This made him even more admire Jiang Zhengyuan, because many of Liu Fei's suggestions were implemented by Jiang Zhengyuan through various means, resulting in the province's economy increasing by 80 percentage points during his four years in office. This growth rate was rare nationwide! As a result, Henan Province's economy jumped from tenth place to top ten in the country! Now Liu Fei finally knew that Jiang Zhengyuan had adopted his suggestions under great pressure! Fortunately, Governor Jiang Zhengyuan and Provincial Party Secretary Xu Guangchun cooperated very tacitly, with no discord or obstruction, and focused on developing the economy.

  "Liu Fei, I've carefully observed your social circle. The friends you associate with are mostly straightforward and outspoken, aren't they?" Jiang Zhengyuan asked.

  Liu Fei nodded, his principle of making friends had always been that it's better to have fewer but more sincere relationships. He treated each friend with sincerity and for those he didn't approve of, he would show a not-so-friendly or even disgusted attitude.

  Jiang Zhengyuan shook his head and said: "If you are in the position of secretary, it's okay to do so, but if you become the county magistrate, you can't do this."

  Liu Fei asked: "Why?"

  Jiang Zhengyuan said: "Because you are the county magistrate, your preferences directly affect the standards of those below you. I'll give you a 16-character motto for being an official, take it back and ponder over it carefully. These 16 characters were given to me by my superior when I first took office, and now I'm passing them on to you:

  Here is the translation:

  "Towards subordinates, be neither too close nor too distant, with a clear distinction between intimacy and distance. Punish severely and reward lightly to establish authority.

  Towards power, hold absolute control over major powers and distribute minor powers to prevent future troubles and maintain a balance of power.

  Towards talent, do not use those you suspect, and do not suspect those you use. Let people fully utilize their abilities, but do not prioritize personal relationships.

  Don't ask me why these are so. You will only understand the subtleties after experiencing the grind of officialdom. Perhaps these views may differ from your future perspectives, but that's okay. These three 16-character phrases for being an official can be considered your primer on navigating the bureaucracy. Be flexible and adaptable, learn and apply them actively, and always remember one phrase: 'There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests!'

  Having said this, Jiang Zhengyuan walked back into the study and retrieved two books, placing them in front of Liu Fei. Under Liu's astonished gaze, he continued, 'One book is "The Art of War" by Sunzi, and the other is "The Thirty-Six Stratagems". The bureaucracy is like a battlefield; the way to be an official is to use both overt and covert tactics, with open strategies as primary and hidden ones as supplementary.'"

  "What is a positive strategy? What is a negative strategy? What are the differences between them in official circles?" Liu Fei looked at Jiang Zhengyuan with an eager and sincere expression, just like a student waiting for his teacher's guidance.

  Jiang Zhengyuan smiled, he could see that Liu Fei was very interested in conspiracy and open strategy. When Liu Fei first arrived at the provincial government, he was a straightforward person who liked to use his fists to solve problems directly. However, as Liu Fei gained more experience, he became more willing to think things through. But many things in the officialdom couldn't be understood just by thinking, they required guidance.

  Jiang Zhengyuan liked Liu Fei very much and explained to him: "Conspiracy refers to setting traps, creating something out of nothing, deceiving people, and making them fall into your trap. It's like a clever trick, but no matter how clever it is, there will always be a weakness. Because conspiracy is just an illusion, not reality. As long as someone sees through it, the conspiracy becomes worthless.

  On the other hand, open strategy is different. It puts everything in front of you and has no secrets. It's almost transparent, so it doesn't have any weaknesses. The implementer only needs to grasp the direction and move forward. It's like borrowing momentum to push things forward and achieve one's goals naturally. Just like a flood breaking through a dam, everyone knows someone will die, but those in front of it can't escape even if they want to.

  For example, Chairman Mao used open strategy when competing with Chiang Kai-shek for the country. He knew that 'striking down local tyrants and distributing land' was an open strategy to win people's hearts, but Chiang Kai-shek couldn't do anything about it. Because if he had followed suit, he would have died even faster. In the end, he lost miserably and escaped to Taiwan."

  Highly recommended books: "The Little Prince", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "1984", "Pride and Prejudice", "The Catcher in the Rye", "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "War and Peace"

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