Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 385 Merging of Prefecture-level Cities

The merger of Longcheng has been officially announced.

A city-wide meeting of leading cadres was held, and provincial leaders arrived in Longcheng to announce the plan to merge Longcheng.

On that day, the Jiangzhou Public Security Bureau dispatched two minibuses full of police officers to maintain order near the municipal government and prevent any destabilizing factors.

But nothing happened that day.

This shows that the people of Longcheng are simple and honest, and also afraid of causing trouble.

Of course, if someone really causes trouble, aside from getting a few days of free jail time, it won't change the overall situation.

The abolition of a prefecture-level city has a huge impact on ordinary people, such as large-scale outflow of people and a drop in housing prices.

The decrease in the influx of migrants has led to a decrease in consumption.

The impact is greater on industries such as hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and taxis.

According to the merger plan, Longcheng City's four counties and two districts will be divided into three parts and assigned to three cities.

Qingyan County and Qingshan County were incorporated into Jiangzhou City.

Wu Zhiyuan's hometown, Haihe County, has been incorporated into another city.

The most challenging aspect of the merger plan is personnel arrangements.

Because Longcheng is a prefecture-level city with so many municipal departments, the placement of personnel is a major issue.

According to the plan, personnel from municipal departments will be reassigned.

The province will select a portion of the candidates through examinations, while the remaining candidates will be chosen based on a combination of individual and organizational preferences.

Most people chose Jiangzhou, the provincial capital.

Neither Lin Xue nor Wen Changcheng, among other city leaders, announced their resettlement plans.

Because the merger involves many aspects, someone needs to stay behind to handle related matters.

Before the merger was finalized, leaders such as Lin Xue and Wen Changcheng played the role of maintaining order.

According to the provincial leaders, the placement of former city leaders in Longcheng City was linked to their performance.

In layman's terms, if the merger process is stable and smooth, they will be given important positions.

Conversely, if mass incidents or uncontrolled petitions and stability maintenance occur during the merger period, they will not be reassigned or promoted, let alone given a chance to be placed in a less desirable position. At best, they will be reassigned to a sinecure or obscure post, and at worst, they will be dismissed on the spot.

In short, whether or not the last post of Longcheng's relocation is held securely will directly determine the political future of former city leaders such as Lin Xue and Wen Changcheng.

For county and district leaders, no adjustments will be made until the merger is finalized, and personnel appointments will be frozen.

This is necessary to maintain stability.

Therefore, Yuan Jin remains the Party Secretary of Qingyan County, and Wu Zhiyuan remains the County Head of Qingyan County.

As for whether Yuan Jin can be promoted to deputy director level and Jiang Xiaohua can become deputy county head, that will have to wait until the personnel freeze is lifted.

……

The annexation of Longcheng has brought joy to some and sorrow to others.

As far as the officialdom of Qingyan is concerned, its inclusion in the provincial capital Jiangzhou signifies a subtle adjustment to the existing power structure.

During the personnel freeze period, many people are secretly observing, planning, and accumulating strength.

Wu Zhiyuan did not wait.

He knew that opportunities are fleeting, especially in the planning of major projects, and that it was essential to seize the initiative.

Three days after the official announcement of the merger with Longcheng, he took Yuan Zhibei, the deputy county head in charge of transportation, urban construction, and culture and tourism, along with the county planning, investment promotion, and the main responsible persons of Wuhe Town, to Jiangzhou City Investment Group to strive for the wildlife park project.

To avoid unnecessary interference and to prevent competitors from knowing and increasing competition, Wu Zhiyuan specifically emphasized discipline before his departure: "The wildlife park project is currently in the preliminary negotiation stage, and strict confidentiality must be maintained."

We are here today to learn from the City Investment Group and explore possibilities for cooperation.

City Investment Group is one of the most powerful state-owned enterprises in Jiangzhou, headquartered in the Jiangzhou Municipal Government Affairs District.

The 36-story glass curtain wall office building stands out among the surrounding buildings.

The security guards at the entrance were all tall young men in black suits.

The lobby is spacious and bright, and the receptionists are well-trained, exuding the grandeur of a state-owned enterprise headquarters.

Xu Enpei personally came downstairs to greet him.

He was wearing a dark blue suit, his round belly protruding, and he greeted us with a big smile: "County Chief Wu, welcome, welcome!"

"That was fast! The announcement from Longcheng was barely out, and your team was already here. Speed ​​is of the essence in war!"

Wu Zhiyuan grasped his hand and smiled, "President Xu, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The relocation plan had barely been finalized when I came to Jiangzhou to seek refuge.

Xu Enpei laughed heartily: "Well said! Come on, let's go upstairs and talk."

The group took the elevator to the top-floor meeting room.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows is the skyline of Jiangzhou City, and in the distance, you can see the winding river.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Wu Zhiyuan got straight to the point: "President Xu, we have studied the wildlife park relocation project you mentioned last time very carefully after we got back, and we feel that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Qingyan, especially for Wuhe Town."

We have also done some preliminary thinking and preparation. I've come here today to report our ideas to Mr. Xu and the City Investment Group, and to see if there's any possibility of cooperation.

Xu Enpei said, "County Chief Wu, the relocation of the wildlife park is one of the city's key cultural and tourism projects this year. It involves a large investment and has attracted much public attention."

The city leaders attached great importance to this and asked our City Investment Group to take the lead and come up with a site selection plan and construction plan as soon as possible.

Currently, we have preliminarily selected three candidate locations, mainly concentrated in several suburban counties of Jiangzhou.

These places each have their own advantages, and the competition is fierce.

Xu Enpei stood up and walked to the map on the wall.

"The first one is the Linjiang area of ​​Dongshan County."

The terrain here is flat and the transportation is convenient, less than three kilometers from the highway exit.

The Dongshan County government has pledged to provide 1,000 mu of land and is willing to cover a portion of the infrastructure construction costs.

He then pointed south: "The second one is Qingzhu Valley in Nanling County."

This place has mountains and water, a good natural environment, and it already has a small zoo, which can be expanded on this basis.

Nanling County also offers excellent conditions, with land provided free of charge.

Xu Enpei's finger finally landed on the west side: "The third one, Baihe Mountain in Jiangyang District."

This one is closest to the city center, only 15 kilometers away.

However, the downsides are high land costs, large demolition volume, and the fact that Baiheshan is an ecological red line area, making it difficult to pass the environmental impact assessment.

Wuhe Town was not previously within our consideration.

Because Qingyan was not part of Jiangzhou's territory before, the municipal party committee and government would not agree to the cross-city site selection.

Therefore, Wuhe Town was not included as an option in the group's research report.

Wu Zhiyuan smiled slightly and said, "President Xu, it is precisely because Wuhe Town was not in the shortlist that it is even more worth taking a serious look at."

Everyone else was focused on the same old faces, but Wuhe Town was a new card to play—and sometimes, new cards can produce unexpected results.

Wu Zhiyuan pointed to the location of Wuhe Town on the map and said:

"Mr. Xu, the three alternative locations you just mentioned each have their own advantages, but they also have obvious shortcomings."

The flat terrain of the Linjiang area in Dongshan County is an advantage, but what a wildlife park needs are mountains, water, and forests, not high-rise buildings on flat land.

What's the difference between a wildlife park built on a plain and a large-scale breeding farm?

Tourists want the feeling of wildness, to see animals roaming freely in the mountains and forests, not to see animals confined in concrete cages.

Xu Enpei nodded thoughtfully.

Wu Zhiyuan continued, "Qingzhu Valley in Nanling County does have a good natural environment, but how far is Nanling County from Jiangzhou City?"

Seventy kilometers. It takes an hour even on the highway.

For a zoo whose main customer base is families with children, this distance has exceeded the psychological threshold of being a place that can be reached with a quick drive on the weekend.

"As for Baihe Mountain in Jiangyang District, the biggest problem is that it is too close to Zishan Zoo in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province, with a straight-line distance of less than 80 kilometers."

Zishan Zoo is a long-established zoo in East China with a long history, large scale, and high reputation. It is very mature in terms of animal species, park construction, operation and management, and market reputation, and receives more than three million visitors every year.

Building a similar wildlife park next to it would be tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock.

Why would tourists abandon a well-known, established park with a good reputation, many options, and a mature experience, to come to your new park?

Even if it's novel at first, it's difficult to build a stable customer base and market competitiveness in the long run, and it may eventually become a supplement or accessory to Zishan Zoo.

I believe the city will prioritize assessing the risks of this homogeneous competition when making its decision.

After listening, Xu Enpei remained expressionless, but inwardly he felt a growing admiration for Wu Zhiyuan.

The issue raised by Wu Zhiyuan is precisely the core concern of some experts within the group regarding the Baiheshan plan.

It now seems that this young county head not only had a keen sense of smell, but also did his homework very well.

Wu Zhiyuan continued, "Overall, Wuhe Town possesses five core advantages that other candidate sites cannot match, making it a perfect fit for the wildlife park and cultural tourism complex project."

"First, the location potential lies in the half-hour economic circle after the breakthrough in transportation."

Wuhe Town is about 40 kilometers away from the city center in a straight line. Currently, due to the low road grade, the journey takes more than an hour.

However, we have received clear support from the Provincial Department of Transportation and will soon launch the reconstruction and expansion project of the Wuhe to Jiangzhou section to the standard of a Class II highway.

This road is not only a road for people's livelihood and prosperity, but also our lifeline in securing the zoo project.

Once completed, the journey from the city center to Wuhe Town will be shortened to about half an hour, fully integrating it into Jiangzhou's half-hour economic circle.

This commute time is the optimal psychological and comfortable distance for weekend family trips and nearby leisure travel, making it far more attractive than the 70 kilometers in Nanling County.

Moreover, this road is the main artery connecting northern Qingyan and the provincial capital.

Its completion will completely change the locational landscape of Wuhe Town and even the northern part of Qingyan, bringing not only zoo visitors, but also a comprehensive activation of logistics, people flow, and information flow.

This is a fundamental investment with long-term strategic value.

"Second, the core of the combination advantage lies in the integration of diverse business formats of 'zoo+', with the goal of making tourists stay, stay comfortably, have a good time, and be willing to come back."

What we've planned has never been a single wildlife park.

Our proposal is to use the wildlife park as the core attraction, integrating resources across the entire Wuhe Town area to create a comprehensive tourist resort destination that combines animal viewing, ecological leisure, ancient village experiences, revolutionary history education, agricultural picking, local delicacies, and boutique homestays.

Wu Zhiyuan pointed out each node on the map: "You see, besides the core area of ​​the zoo, there is a relatively well-preserved ancient street from the Ming and Qing dynasties in our town, which can be protectively developed to create a street for intangible cultural heritage displays, traditional handicrafts, and specialty snacks, allowing tourists to experience a slow-paced life."

The town has Shuangyu Mountain and ancient temples in the east, with beautiful natural scenery and a certain religious and cultural heritage. It can improve the mountain trails and create a Zen-style leisure area.

We also have red resources such as the former site of the New Fourth Army's Anti-Japanese War Command, which can be used to build a small patriotic education base.

More importantly, Wuhe Town is a traditional agricultural town with abundant resources of specialty agricultural products such as chestnuts, walnuts, and mushrooms. We are actively connecting with Song's Group to plan and build a modern agricultural product logistics and processing park.

In the future, tourists will not only be able to see animals, but also experience farm life, participate in agricultural activities, and purchase high-quality agricultural products, achieving a deep integration of agriculture and tourism.

In the evening, you can stay in one of our distinctive guesthouses built in the ancient village or waterfront area.

In this way, tourists' trips can be extended from half a day to a full day or even two days and one night, greatly extending the consumption chain and significantly improving overall benefits.

This stands in stark contrast to the simplistic, "see and go" approach that may exist in other alternative locations.

What the city needs is not just another zoo, but a cultural and tourism complex that can drive comprehensive regional development, is distinctive and competitive, and can continuously generate tax revenue and employment.

We believe that Wuhe Town possesses the ideal environment for developing this type of complex.