official career

Chapter 2986 Debt Size

"Why? Did you hear something?" Feng Changjun asked after a moment of surprise.

Qin Feng shook his head: "Where did this rumor come from? And who would dare to provide such a rumor? If we're talking about rumors, then the rumors that the newspapers have been spreading beforehand are rumors. It just depends on whether anyone can understand them."

"These are all based on my own judgment. The higher authorities have been urging strict control over local government debt for several years and have come up with many solutions, including raising the debt ceiling. However, local governments still go their own way and no one takes it seriously. After living a good life with borrowed money for so long, who would want to live a poor life?"

“But the scale of local government debt is already very large, and it is impossible to allow the debt to expand indefinitely. So the higher authorities must stop this trend. However, given the way local governments have ignored warnings from the higher authorities in recent years, the higher authorities will definitely choose to crack down hard, otherwise no one will take this matter seriously.”

"Regardless of whether my judgment is right or wrong, we can't take this risk. If the higher-ups really crack down hard, you and I will be the first to suffer."

"Of course, this is just my personal guess and can't be taken seriously. My reluctance to borrow more money is for the future development of Shazhou. The debt scale cannot be expanded any further. Every penny we borrow now is overdrawing Shazhou's future development potential. If we work here for a few years and then leave, leaving all the debt to those who come after us, we will become the sinners of Shazhou."

"And there's another point. I agreed to Jiang Longjun's request to expand the debt for the Nanshan New Area this time. Will he ask me to borrow money for the Nanshan New Area again next time? Or for other projects? Given Jiang Longjun's personality, he definitely can do it, and he will definitely do it. So we can't open that door."

“Debt will always be a burden on our government. Jiang Longjun doesn’t care about this, but we have to manage it and take responsibility. Moreover, even if we need to borrow money, it shouldn’t be now. The Nanshan New Area will definitely need to be revitalized at that time, which will require a lot of funds. So we should wait until then to borrow money and spend it wisely.”

"Comrade Changjun, my opinion is that during my term of office, we should not borrow money unless absolutely necessary. Not only should we not further expand the debt scale, but we must also find ways to repay the debt and strictly control the debt scale below the debt ceiling stipulated above."

Qin Feng looked at Feng Changjun and spoke seriously. Qin Feng was giving Feng Changjun an order, not discussing it with him.

Feng Changjun disagreed with Qin Feng's view that he shouldn't borrow money. In Feng Changjun's opinion, Qin Feng was naive and overly idealistic. As a local government, where would the money come from if they didn't borrow? How could they develop without money? How could they maintain stability? How could the government carry out its work? Moreover, all local governments have borrowed money this way for so many years, and no one has ever run into trouble.

Qin Feng was the first mayor Feng Changjun had ever met who insisted on not expanding the debt, which Feng Changjun found very difficult to understand.

Although Feng Changjun did not understand or agree with Qin Feng's opinion, he did not dare to oppose Qin Feng's order and could only nod in agreement.

"Come on, don't stand there, let's go inside and talk." Qin Feng put away his serious expression and invited Feng Changjun into his office.

“Mayor, let’s not discuss the loan for now; that’s not the most urgent matter. Right now, there are two things that urgently need to be resolved. First, will Jiang Longjun agree to allocate only 200 million yuan to Nanshan New District? Second, even if Jiang Longjun agrees, where will we get that 200 million yuan if we don’t borrow money?” Feng Changjun followed Qin Feng into the office and asked.

"Do you think Jiang Longjun will agree?" Qin Feng sat down on the sofa.

“I think Jiang Longjun definitely won’t agree.” Feng Changjun also sat down and continued, “He asked for 1 billion, and he might not agree even if we offered 500 million. He definitely won’t agree to 200 million, and he might even feel that we are humiliating him.”

"In reality, Nanshan New Area is essentially building a new city on wasteland. This year's investment of 1 billion yuan is a helpless choice made by Jiang Longjun after he realized that we really couldn't come up with any more money. In fact, let alone 200 million yuan, even if we poured 500 million yuan into Nanshan New Area, it wouldn't have much of an effect."

"Therefore, the two Jianglong Army units will absolutely not agree," Feng Changjun repeated his deduction.

"But the reality is that 200 million is the limit that I can agree to and the finance department can squeeze out. Our Shazhou is not a wealthy place, and moreover, the finances have been ruined by Jiang Longjun and Shao Hongli over the years."

"I don't care how much Jiang Longjun wants, I can only see how much I can afford. Two hundred million is my limit. Jiang Longjun either agrees or we have to completely break up. If he doesn't allocate a single penny to Nanshan New District, he can continue causing trouble at the Public Security Bureau. We'll just keep going like this and see who outlasts whom in the end," Qin Feng said slowly, puffing on his cigarette.

Feng Changjun looked at Qin Feng in surprise.

“Mayor, if it really comes down to a war of attrition, he definitely can't outlast us. As I said before, Nanshan New Area is a place he absolutely must save; he has no other choice. But we can tolerate the Public Security Bureau situation and delay it. However… if we do this, we'll truly become enemies with Feng Changjun, and then…”

"We can't worry about the future now. Even if we agree to give 500 million or 1 billion this time, given Jiang Longjun's personality, do you think he'll get along well with us and manage Shazhou well in the future?"

"Old Feng, there's an old saying: peace is won through fighting, not compromise."

"Su Xun also said in his treatise on the six states: 'Today we cede five cities, tomorrow we cede ten cities, and then we can get a night's rest. When we get up and look at our four borders, the Qin army is already here again.'"

"After a year of dealing with Jiang Longjun, I've figured it out. Jiang Longjun is a typical bully who preys on the weak. The more you go along with him, the more he'll think you're easy to bully and exploit. If you go against him, it's best to beat him up. That way, he'll be afraid of you and won't dare to provoke you anymore." Qin Feng smiled as he offered Feng Changjun a cigarette.

"It's true that Feng Changjun is timid and cowardly, but he's also a very vindictive person, and..."

Qin Feng said, "Old Feng, I understand the principle. It's best not to offend Feng Changjun if possible. I've been doing that for the past year. But this time there are two issues. First, we can't meet his conditions. I can't come up with 1 billion, and 500 million is impossible. 200 million is the limit."

"To put it bluntly, even if I had a billion yuan, I wouldn't let him waste it like this. Nanshan New Area is now too big to handle. Whether we like it or not, we have to take over this mess and keep it in place. However, Nanshan New Area cannot be managed the way Jiang Longjun is doing it now. No matter how much money we spend, it will be a waste and we won't be able to save it."

"So giving this money to Jiang Longjun is a complete waste. This is the people's hard-earned money, and wasting it will bring divine retribution. We can't do this." Qin Feng paused for a moment after taking a sip of tea.