Zhang Meilin was surprised and said, "He still doesn't know?"

"He knows, but not a lot."

Minister Zhou took out a cigarette and handed one to him.

Zhang Meilin stood up voluntarily, lit it for him, and only then sat back down to light his own.

Minister Zhou said, "I'll briefly go over things with you first, so you have a general idea of what's going on. When you meet him tonight, you'll know what needs to be done."

Zhang Meilin immediately sat up straight.

"Have you read all the materials Wen Jun sent you?"

"I have."

"The old city redevelopment project has been turned over to Secretary Lu by Mayor Zheng. The original budget for this project was already prepared, but due to sudden financing for the high-speed rail project, the city needs to allocate an additional two or three billion yuan annually."

"Financially, there's no extra money. Secretary Lu can only draw funds from the old city redevelopment project."

"With this action, problems arise in the old city redevelopment project."

Zhang Meilin nodded, understanding this was like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Minister Zhou asked, "What would you do in this situation?"

"Get a loan!"

"Hmm, get a loan." Minister Zhou nodded, "But Secretary Lu didn't get a loan."

Zhang Meilin instinctively wanted to ask "why," but held back.

Minister Zhou said, "He didn't get a loan, not because he didn't want one, but because he couldn't."

"Firstly, he's been the city secretary for three years now."

"Typically, the top leader in our country rarely does a full five years, even three years is uncommon."

"Especially when Secretary Lu assumed the position, he was only forty-seven or eight years old. At such an age to hold this position, typically within two years, he should have moved on to the province."

"He hasn't moved up, and everyone knows that's because he's no longer in the game."

"It's expected that by next year, he'll step down and make way for others."

"In such circumstances, banks won't show him favor."

"Additionally, it's also because of the project's inherent nature."

"Building an administration center, a project without returns, benefits the downstream but not the banks and financial sectors."

"Given the city's financial situation, banks are wary of the city's continual delay."

"Secretary Lu understands these reasons better than anyone, so I suspect he hasn't even approached banks about a loan."

Minister Zhou then asked, "If you couldn't secure a bank loan or financing, how would you go about revitalizing this project?"

Zhang Meilin shook his head.

He couldn't think of a solution.

Minister Zhou said, "If it were me, I'd probably be just as confused. But Secretary Lu is indeed talented, and his solution is highly feasible and somewhat referential."

"This solution is today's meeting topic—the conversion from public to private."

Zhang Meilin opened his mouth to speak, but Minister Zhou said, "I know what you want to say. You think the proposal for public-to-private conversion was brought up by Director Tu, right?"

Zhang Meilin nodded.

Minister Zhou said, "I can responsibly tell you that this was a solution Secretary Lu had already thought of at the beginning of November."

"Director Tu merely played along with him in a performance."

"Rumors of the demolition payments dropping from ten thousand to seven thousand, five thousand... weren't malicious slander by others; they were spread by Secretary Lu himself."

Zhang Meilin was somewhat dazed and couldn't hold back, asking, "Why would he do such a thing?"

Minister Zhou said, "Without doing this, how could he make the demolition residents collectively threaten to jump off buildings?"

Zhang Meilin opened his mouth in shock, his pupils contracting, "The demolition residents threatening to jump... that was Secretary Lu's doing too?"

"What else?" Minister Zhou chuckled lightly, "If the demolition residents don't threaten to jump off buildings, the city leaders won't be scared."

"Once scared, they won't dare to tamper with the demolition payments."

"After all, once such a major incident occurs, everyone will be held accountable."

Zhang Meilin suddenly realized, "I understand now!"

"At this point, Secretary Lu holds a meeting to allocate funds. When the funds aren't gathered by the due date, he can pretend to be angry at the committee meeting and bring up the demolition payment issue again!"

"Using the lowered demolition payments to intimidate them!"

"At this time, Director Tu brings up the public-to-private conversion suggestion, and not only will no one oppose it, they'll actually beg him to proceed with it!"

Minister Zhou nodded with approval.

However, Zhang Meilin wasn't smug; instead, he was puzzled and asked, "Minister Zhou, where did you see this coming from?"

Secretary Lu's series of operations were practically perfect.

At least, he hadn't seen any flaw.

Minister Zhou said, "You didn't see the flaw because you don't know Secretary Lu well enough."

"But once you know someone well enough, you'll immediately notice whenever they do something that doesn't match their character."

"The first flaw was when he held a special meeting to allocate funds."

"I've said before, Secretary Lu is a smart person. He clearly understands the attitude of department leaders towards him; this kind of money is impossible for departments to provide, yet he did it anyway."

"Of course, at that time, I didn't think much of it or detect any issue."

"The main thing was today's committee meeting."

"He directly demanded a revaluation of the demolition payments, dropping them to five thousand yuan."

"At this point, I still didn't notice anything odd, just an undefined feeling that he was being a bit too impatient."

"Until Director Tu proposed the public-to-private conversion."

"Then I realized that everything that happened over the past month was Secretary Lu's groundwork, all paving the way for the public-to-private conversion."

Minister Zhou said, "Mayor Jiang should have also recognized his true intent."

"But in such a situation, Mayor Jiang can only follow along with what he says."

Saying this, Minister Zhou couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Secretary Lu's depth of mind and exquisiteness of methods made even him astounded.

Faced with an almost desperate situation, he managed to come up with a countermeasure in a short amount of time. Furthermore, he executed it with uncanny precision and finished it in a virtually perfect manner.

Even with Mayor Jiang knowing what he intended to do, he had no choice but to cooperate.

In such a situation, if Mayor Jiang didn't provide a bridge for him, Secretary Lu truly dared to set the demolition price at five thousand.

For someone who had been sidelined as a top leader, these operations were nothing short of heroic.

Zhang Meilin listened with admiration.

Inside, he felt a subtle stir.

Secretary Lu's perfect plan, with its exquisitely detailed arrangement, deeply conveyed to him what it meant to turn the tables against the odds.

A fallen top leader had such skill.

In contrast, he, as a top leader, had nothing to show for.

If Dujiang City had such a mayor, he would have been played around long ago.

"Minister Zhou, why did you ask me to request Secretary Wu to elevate the administrative level?"

In the current situation in Lingjiang, asking to elevate the administrative level was adding insult to Wu Qiangwei's injury.

He couldn't understand the significance of the old leader's action, so he sincerely sought clarification.

Minister Zhou said, "Meilin, remember, the more chaotic the situation, the more opportunities there are!"

"The key lies in whether you can discern and seize that sliver of opportunity!"

"Faced with Secretary Lu's almost transparent actions, Secretary Wu has only one option to regain the advantage."

Minister Zhou asked, "Do you know what that option is?"

Zhang Meilin shook his head in confusion, "Minister, please enlighten me."

Minister Zhou gently smiled, "I've already told you, this choice is to elevate Dujiang City's administrative level."

"This is a choice with no choice, and it's also the key to her comeback. At the same time, it's an invaluable opportunity for you."

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