Chapter 65 What does the person Old Dong poached have to do with us?

"Are you sure we can walk out of Liaoshi alive?"

"Don't worry, it's completely safe."

Liao Pengfei, the head of investment attraction, handed over three folded A4 sheets of paper after speaking.

They were densely packed with the names of technicians.

Along with notes on their ages, educational backgrounds, departments, and specialized skills...

A rough count revealed at least eighty people.

Liao Pengfei continued, "I know Taishi has Dongshan Agricultural University, and we can recruit the vast majority of excellent graduates there. But theory is different from practical operation. Our company is a startup, and we must have a team of experienced veteran technicians to lead the way; otherwise, issues with electricity, water, and machinery could easily lead to accidents."

Yu Yang had managed engineering projects and recruited graduates before, so he completely agreed with this.

Yet, looking at the list, the number of people they were poaching this time was indeed quite substantial.

He asked suspiciously, "Old Liao, did you suffer some huge grievance in Liaoshi, and now you're planning to deal your former employer a heavy blow before leaving?"

"How could that be? I was born in Liaoshi and raised in Liaoshi; I would never do anything to wrong Liaoshi. Look at the positions on this list—some are from districts, some from counties, and others from townships. Across Taishi's six counties, one district, and one county-level city, if we poach just one or two disgruntled people from the agriculture, agricultural machinery, water conservancy, electric power, science and technology bureaus, and seed stations in each place, it adds up to over eighty people. Don't let the official affiliation of these departments fool you; they are actually public institution staff positions, not administrative civil service posts. Nowadays, with government and enterprise reforms, public institutions are also reforming. Take agricultural machinery stations at the township level, for instance—they were contracted out to individuals long ago, yet their official staff status was retained. What should be done with these people who hold official establishment posts? Although there are directives from above prohibiting the cancellation of these establishments, the local governments, including county and city levels, simply don't have that much funding to support people who only take money and do no work. And among those with official posts here, some for this reason and some for that, have been unable to get transfers or promotions for years. By poaching them now, I am essentially pointing them toward a clear path. By clearing out their positions, they are leaving room for promotions for the people beneath them. Once the people underneath move up, entry-level positions open up, allowing even more ordinary citizens to step in. What do we Dongshan people love? We love being officials! Therefore, by poaching them, everyone up and down in Liaoshi should be thanking me!"

"???"

Someone coming from an investment promotion background could be so ruthless as to deceive even themselves!

Listening to these high-sounding words while looking at Liao Pengfei's righteous expression, Yu Yang suddenly felt that he had underestimated his own restaurant manager.

Yet, upon careful reflection, he realized this train of thought was actually correct.

The problem was that even if Liaoshi didn't care, his own side couldn't possibly take away so many technicians.

Since the agricultural university hadn't expanded its enrollment, talent was inherently scarce, and with Taishi having only two counties, agricultural talent was even scarcer.

Poaching so many technicians at once was equivalent to carrying out a massive talent introduction program for Taishi—wouldn't Old Dong be overjoyed to death?

If we really died, pulling off this stunt would still be worth it.

Yet since they wouldn't die, they might even reap some achievements.

Thinking to this point, Yu Yang always felt something was a bit off.

How on earth did he end up working for Old Dong?

Shouldn't it be the top benefactor showering him with rewards while helping to clean up his messes?

Yu Yang lit a cigarette to sort out his thoughts.

Along with that, he described the complex relationship between himself and Old Dong to Liao Pengfei.

The latter had a sudden realization. "No wonder Mayor Huang instructed me that upon returning to Taishi, invoking Old Dong's banner would make everything convenient."

He then continued, "This is simple. The outside world doesn't know yet that I've joined Sanyuan Company. I can leak to the outside that my team was detained by Old Dong at the Taishi Hotel, and after being interrogated, Old Dong refused to release them. Left with no choice, I had no option but to help Old Dong poach people in exchange for the release of my investment team. Since Old Dong poured so many resources into Sanyuan Agriculture, helping Sanyuan Agriculture poach people now would seem completely normal to outsiders. However, for Old Dong to stir up trouble time and time again—not only poaching Liaoshi's investment chief but also taking away over eighty technicians—that would be going too far. To save face, even if Liaoshi doesn't file a complaint with the Dongshan Provincial Compound, they will still cause trouble for Old Dong. In short, this gives Liaoshi an opportunity to make a mountain out of a molehill and pick a fight with Old Dong. That way, the poaching incident will turn into a dispute, and Old Dong might even have demerits recorded against him by the provincial compound. Once this blows over, even if Old Dong sends people to investigate the root causes, I can simply claim I defected voluntarily and wanted to join Sanyuan Agriculture through him."

"As expected of someone in investment attraction, you have so many twists and turns in your gut."

"What are you talking about? This is called seeking survival in the cracks."

"Then you take the technicians to Dongyue Scenic Area for a while first, and take the opportunity to inspect our property at the South Gate."

"Got it!"

...

The next day.

Over eighty technicians resigned one after another.

Just as Liao Pengfei had predicted, the matter failed to cause any ripples in the counties and districts under Liaoshi's jurisdiction.

No one paid attention, no one discussed it. From the perspective of Liaoshi's higher-ups, even if the labor bureaus reported the departure of the technicians, the Liaoshi compound simply considered it a normal occurrence.

It wasn't until Liao Pengfei submitted his resignation letter and swaggeringly led over eighty technicians, distributed across three luxury buses, past the gates of the city compound on their way to sightsee at the Dongyue Scenic Area...

That the Liaoshi compound finally tasted something different.

"Leader, the investment agency is more than half empty. The ones who stayed behind said that Old Liao defected to Old Dong."

"When did the two of them get in touch?"

"Probably when the investment agency personnel were detained in Taishi, giving the two of them a chance to talk."

"Detaining my people, poaching my people, snatching my people... Old Dong really treats our Liaoshi like it's made of clay!"

...

Yu Yang observed in Liaoshi for two days.

Perhaps because Liaoshi wanted to lure Sanyuan Agriculture over and vent its pent-up anger.

Or perhaps because the funds for purchasing building materials were being successively deposited into the accounts of various factories.

Liaoshi's attitude toward his company showed no anger whatsoever; instead, it became even warmer.

Yu Yang ticked off the days on his fingers.

The detained motorcade had already returned to Shiliying, the purchased building materials had been shipped out, and the old plastic factory site was temporarily unsuitable for setting up a restaurant...

Without further ado, ignoring the warm entreaties of the Liaoshi officials to stay, he rushed back to Shiliying.

If he didn't run now, what would happen if Liaoshi and Old Dong started fighting and collateral damage hit them?

Back at the small Western-style villa.

Before he could even contact the deputy president of the county branch bank to inquire about Old Dong's current situation.

Old Yu Liu came running over to ask for money.

Yu Yang took the opportunity to tally up recent income and expenses.

Eleven genuine plastic greenhouses, without adopting conveyor-style continuous planting, produced 1,500 crates per greenhouse daily, with a wholesale price of 90 yuan per crate, generating a daily income of 1.5 million.

However, a portion of them utilized insulation boxes, reducing the pea sprout specifications by a third while keeping the wholesale price unchanged, thus bringing the actual daily income to 1.8 million.

This sum looked massive.

Yet, deducting the communal mess hall expenses at 50,000 per day.

Deducting the daily wages for over 4,000 laborers across the township, settled daily at 110,000.

Deducting fuel and electricity expenses for numerous pieces of mechanical equipment...

Deducting maintenance costs, such as agricultural machinery repairs and water pump repairs...

Deducting injury and medical reimbursement expenses...

Deducting the cost of replenishing construction tools...

Deducting the cost of purchasing clothing, shoes, and hats...

Setting aside the monthly wages for over 2,000 workers from the three major construction engineering companies, settled monthly at 2.6 million.

As well as ordering fuel and consumable spare parts once the machinery and equipment of the three major companies were put into operation...

Especially small repairs for excavators costing three to four thousand, major repairs costing thirty to forty thousand, small repairs for loaders...

Coupled with tents, pots, bowls, ladles, and basins...

Every single day was like burning money; they were absolute day-to-day spenders.

"Sanyuan, don't you still have 25.5 million in your account?"

"Those funds cannot be touched carelessly."

Before his voice faded, Old Dong called.

"Little Yu, those two funds allocated to Yu Village a while ago—lend them to me for a bit."

"Don't worry, Leader, I won't run away."