"Li Ye, what did you mean by that?"
Niu Hongzhang practically squeezed those words out through clenched teeth. By now, he had realized that his three opening fires had failed.
A new official had to light three fires upon taking office—but they could neither be left unlit nor burned recklessly.
If you did not light them, no one would take you seriously. But if you burned too wildly, you might end up hurting yourself.
Before coming here, Niu Hongzhang had already looked into Light Vehicle Company's situation. He knew that if he wanted to turn the tide and produce dazzling results, transforming the loss-making main factory into a star enterprise, he had to get First Branch Factory under his thumb—or at the very least, secure its cooperation.
That was why he had set his main sights on Lu Zhizhang, while adopting a probing strategy toward Li Ye as well.
According to the information he had gathered, Lu Zhizhang was someone he could safely handle. But Li Ye seemed somewhat troublesome, most likely with a bit of backing.
But Capital City was full of people with backing. If he had to fear this and fear that, Niu Hongzhang might as well do nothing and quietly wait for retirement.
Was he really willing to wait for retirement at fifty?
So even though he knew Li Ye was troublesome, he still had to clash with him now.
After all, he held the all-purpose weapon of "faith over money." No matter what happened, he could always pin some neither-big-nor-small label on the other party.
Li Ye said seriously, "As a Party Member, I want to say a few heartfelt words. It does not matter if you are dissatisfied with our research plan, but please give scientifically sound instructions.
If your blind command ultimately affects