Reborn as a Noble's Son

The sunshine of March seemed rather warm, and the large trees lining the streets of the old district of Guicheng began to sprout new buds.

At the moment, a large red banner was hanging at the entrance of the Spinning Factory, welcoming Mayor Nie to the share subscription meeting for the shareholding reform of the Liangxi Textile Group.

At the factory gate, apart from leaving a lane for vehicles, the other spaces were all occupied by workers from the three factories in Qingfang City.

At around half-past nine in the morning, after almost an hour and a half of waiting, the crowd started to become restless. Many people in the crowd started shouting, “Old Huang, what’s going on? Didn’t they say that Mayor Nie is coming over today?”

Huang Jiangsheng, as the leader of the reform of Qingfang City, had established tremendous credibility among the workers. Despite being spring, sweat was showing on Huang Jiangsheng’s forehead. Wiping his sweat, Huang Jiangsheng also shouted, “Soon, soon. Yesterday, Secretary Liu from the municipal government personally called. Since Mayor Nie has made arrangements, he will definitely come.”

Before he even finished speaking, many workers in the crowd started to shout, “Here he comes, here he comes. Mayor Nie is here.”

Looking sideways, Nie Zhenbang’s municipal committee second vehicle was slowly driving towards this side. On both sides were passionate workers. Seeing Nie Zhenbang’s vehicle entering the factory gate, they all started shouting.

As soon as Nie Zhenbang got off the car, the few remaining leaders of Qingfang City also came up to greet him, with Huang Jiangsheng as the representative of the workers following closely.

Looking around at everyone, Nie Zhenbang was very satisfied. Popular sentiment can be won over. The reform of state-owned enterprises mainly involves two aspects: one is the technology lagging behind, and the other is the lack of unity among the people and the leadership team. Now, the situation in the three factories in Qingfang City was more or less the same. Speaking of technology, in this light spinning industry, the two factories in Liangxi City were among the best. The existing equipment could fully meet market needs. The main reason the factory was suffering was due to the corruption of the factory leadership. Without a strong leadership team, and without leading products, Qingfang City was bound to collapse.

At this moment, Nie Zhenbang looked at the side, at Mu Jianhua, the director of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and nodded, “Director Mu, it’s getting late. Let’s start.”

Mu Jianhua, although a newly appointed official, was grateful for Nie Zhenbang’s nomination, even though he was Zhu Zhuozhen’s man. Besides, Nie Zhenbang’s authority within the municipal government was such that no head of a municipal agency would dare to cross him.

Immediately, Mu Jianhua said into the microphone, “Ladies and gentleman, calm down please, employees of the Spinning Group. Following the supervision and auditing by the city’s discipline inspection commission and audit bureau, after more than a month of detailed data inquiry, we’ve determined the three factories in Qingfang City now have a total debt of 190 million, combined with available fixed assets and current capital of 220 million. According to the resolution of the municipal party committee and the municipal government, a debt of 100 million will be taken over by the municipal finance department. Later, after the Spinning Group resumes production and turns losses into profits, it will repay the principal and interest to the municipal finance department at the bank deposit interest rate.”

The remaining ninety million in loans, the municipal finance department has also communicated with the banks to extend the loan period.

Currently, the three factories in Qingfang City are merging to form the Liangxi Spinning Group, with a preliminary total investment estimate of 400 million. Of this, sixty-two percent of the shares, invested through existing land, factory buildings, and equipment, will be held by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. The remaining thirty-eight percent, or nearly 80 million in funds, will be publicly raised towards the Spinning Group and the entire society. Following the principle of priority, the shares will be offered first to workers from the three factories in the Spinning Group. Interested workers can register on-site and pay the share capital.”

As Mu Jianhua’s words ended, Huang Jiangsheng stood up, “I subscribe for a hundred thousand in shares.”

One hundred thousand, in this era, was not a small sum. However, Liangxi City was a prosperous area, so this amount of money was not really a big deal.

Huang Jiangsheng continued, “Fellas, listen to me, we are all from the Textile Group. We know our own factory. With our equipment and our technology, do our products have to worry about finding a market? In the past, it was because the leadership was ineffective. Now, this factory is ours, and we make the decisions. The decisions of the shareholders’ meeting are final. What are we afraid of? I’m all in. I borrowed from relatives to raise a hundred thousand. I believe in myself, and I believe in all of us.”

“Good, well done, Old Huang.”

“Old Huang, for your courage, even if it causes a quarrel with my wife when I go home, I’m subscribing ten thousand today.”

“I’m subscribing twenty thousand.”

“I’m subscribing five thousand.”

“Old Huang, you are the leader of the first factory, as the leader of the second factory, I won’t fall behind. Since you subscribed a hundred thousand, I will too.”

People tend to follow the crowd, and Huang Jiangsheng’s words clearly struck a chord with these workers. It wasn’t the equipment that was at fault, neither the workers, but the leadership. In reality, the workers at the Spinning Group had a lot of confidence in themselves.

With a leader like this, the subscription scene became heated. It completely exceeded Nie Zhenbang’s expectations. Nie Zhenbang originally thought that they would have to seek foreign capital for these tens of millions in shares. To his surprise, they didn’t have to.

Next to him, the director of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Mu Jianhua, was also elated. He had never seen such a thing happen before in all of his working life. Dealing with these large state-owned factories used to be the worst kind of trouble. Now, in less than two hours, the shares had been divided.

Mu Jianhua, after being alerted by a staff member, quickly picked up the microphone and said loudly, “Dear workers, enough, enough. The shares have all been subscribed. Everyone, please go home. Tomorrow, the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission will conduct a shareholders’ meeting with the shareholders of the Spinning Group, to elect the organization frame of the Spinning Group and officially list the Textile Group.”

As soon as his words fell, the workers next to him were not having it. Many people had already started shouting, “The subscription is over? No, that’s not fair. We haven’t subscribed yet. This time, the city must meet our conditions, otherwise, we won’t let you guys go.”(.)