Great Power Reclamation

Yang Wei's urban redevelopment plan passed the initial review by the planning bureau and was placed on the desk of the mayor of the military reclamation city.

Mayor Jingjing, Ye Weilian's mother, was in her early fifties and had worked in the Production and Construction Corps for decades. Her affection for the Military Reclamation City was second to none. She flipped through the thick, brick-like proposal, but did not immediately express her opinion. Instead, she called Yang Wei to her office for a face-to-face discussion.

"Yang Wei, how much will your plan cost?"

"The first phase of the project, the renovation of the old city, will require a budget of about one billion yuan."

She quietly took off her glasses. "Are you crazy?"

Yang Wei shook his head. "I'm not crazy. This money wasn't wasted."

“The underground pipe network in Junken City is seriously aging. The losses caused by leaks during the heating season every winter are already frightening enough. If you include road repair costs, greening replanting costs, and municipal maintenance costs, this money will have to be spent sooner or later.”

"The earlier you start, the sooner you see results; the later you start, the more trouble you suffer. Rather than making minor repairs every year, it's better to get it right the first time."

He remained silent for a moment, then put his glasses back on. "Where did the money come from?"

“Uncle Ye will contribute part of it, my dad will contribute part of it, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps will contribute part of it. There will also be bank loans. I have already talked to the Construction Bank, and they are willing to provide low-interest loans for the green city renovation project.”

She looked at Yang Wei quietly, her face showing no youthful impetuosity or eagerness for quick success.

"Okay. You do it. The municipal government will cooperate with you. I'll figure out the funding; after all, this is a municipal project, and we can't let individuals just pay for it!"

"But there's one rule—we can't disturb the people. We can't let construction ruin the lives of ordinary people. Road construction must be done in sections, pipe excavation must be staggered, noise must be controlled, and dust must be managed. Whoever doesn't do a good job, I'll hold them accountable."

Yang Wei nodded. "Auntie, don't worry. If I don't do a good job, I'll change my name to Yang Wei."

“If you write it backwards, it's ‘威杨’ (Wei Yang).”

"It doesn't sound good. That's why I have to do a good job."

After speaking quietly, she laughed. Over the decades, her beauty had been eroded by time, leaving only traces, but the unique temperament of a mature woman made people overlook her appearance.

Speaking of which, she was also a veteran of the military reclamation. Her father was Xi Dehe, and her mother was Liu Sannu. They were from the same generation as Ye Wancheng, and some even served as Ye Wancheng's superiors.

Her mother, Liu Sannu, had always been Meihua's best friend. Now that her parents had passed away, her marriage to Lao Si was still a source of pain for her.

The fourth brother is now a U.S. senator, and his son William Ye is also doing business in the U.S., working very well with Ye Feng, but he has long since lost contact with Jingjing.

At least she and Lao Si didn't get married, otherwise she wouldn't have her current position, since the organization also needs to avoid suspicion.

At first, the matter with Lao Si was a deep wound in Jingjing's heart, and it caused a rift in the relationship between the two families.

However, as time went by, the relationship gradually eased, and when Xi De and Liu San Nu passed away, Lao Si and Ye Weilian rushed back.

As the son-in-law and grandson, Jingjing finally felt completely at ease after handling everything.

Although this man cheated on her the night before their wedding, he was tempted, so there's no need to punish him for life.

Besides, Jingjing knew she couldn't punish them. Which man in the Ye family would feel guilty for a woman? And her current status might not be unrelated to the Ye family.

So the relationship has been maintained like this. Although they don't usually keep in touch, whenever Lao Si and Ye Weilian return to China, they will naturally come to Jingjing's place.

Watching Yang Wei walk out the door, Jingjing began to ponder. Junken City is not short of money now. So much money was spent on the development of the large aircraft, but it was all borne by the Warrior Group itself.

But the honor fell squarely on her shoulders and on the team, after all, the aircraft manufacturing plant was a state-owned enterprise and a municipal enterprise, and this time the Ye family could not be allowed to bear the burden again.

They can't be the ones reaping the benefits while the Ye family always pays the price. Although she's considered a member of the Ye family, this concerns the city's reputation. Therefore, she must find a way to completely resolve the funding issue.

Furthermore, the reputation of the military reclamation city is now well-known, and the appearance of the city is related to the feelings of everyone who comes here.

It's important to understand that the military reclamation city has a large influx of people from outside the area, more than half of whom are foreign customers. Therefore, it is especially important to create a unique city.

After carefully reviewing the plan, Jingjing felt it was far from sufficient, at least not worthy of the current development of the military reclamation city! Therefore, it must be revised!

The first project to commence was the renovation of the heating pipe network in the old town area. The heating pipe network in Junken City was laid in the 1980s. The steel pipes were wrapped with a thin layer of insulation cotton and buried underground for decades, so they were almost completely rusted.

Every winter, there are several pipe bursts, and workers brave the snow to rush to repair them, while residents stomp their feet in the cold.

The repair team worked through the night to dig up the road, patch the leaks, backfill with sand, repave asphalt, remove the barriers, and restore traffic. This process had been going on for decades.

Repairs every year, leaks every year, freezing every year. Yang Wei doesn't want to fix just one leak, but the entire pipeline network.

The construction team he found specialized in heating network renovation and had completed many projects across the country; their skills were excellent.

They stayed in the military reclamation city for half a month, inspected the entire pipe network in the old city, measured the pipe diameter, pipe wall thickness, insulation layer condition, and degree of corrosion, and produced a detailed inspection report.

The report indicated that the pipeline network in the old city area had reached the end of its service life. After reviewing the report, Yang Wei wrote one word in the comments column: "Replace." Replace everything, not just patch it up.

Construction began in the fall and continued until winter. The excavated road surface was paved with steel plates, and pedestrians walked on the steel plates with a clanging sound.

The older people walk slowly, so the clattering sounds are drawn out; the younger people walk fast, so the clattering sounds are continuous. Yang Wei goes to the construction site for a walk every morning.

Wearing a safety helmet and overalls, he stood by the ditch watching the workers hoist the old pipe out and lower the new one. The new pipe was wrapped in a thick layer of polyurethane insulation, and inside was a corrosion-resistant steel pipe, designed for a lifespan far exceeding that of the old pipe.

The workers told him that once the pipe was buried, it wouldn't need to be dug up again for decades.

Ye Hai came over from the research institute once. He squatted by the ditch and touched the insulation layer of the new pipe with his hand.

"What material is this? How well does it retain heat?"

Yang Wei squatted down beside him. "Rigid polyurethane foam. It has a very low thermal conductivity, and its insulation effect is much better than the old materials. It can reduce heat loss in the pipeline network by a lot. With reduced heat loss, less coal is burned. With less coal burned, carbon emissions are reduced."

Ye Hai stood up and dusted off his hands. "You're more professional than I am when it comes to engines."

“Urban redevelopment is like developing an engine. They are both systems. An engine is a mechanical system, and a city is a human system. Humans are more complex than machines.” Ye Hai didn’t reply, looking at the street that had been dug up. On both sides of the road, old people sat in their doorways basking in the sun, children squatted on the ground playing with pebbles, and cats lay on the walls licking their paws.

The construction site is noisy, but the people are still there. As long as the people are there, the city remains. As long as the city exists, the redevelopment has meaning.

The pipeline renovation was not yet completed when the smart street light project was launched.

Yang Wei found a company that specializes in smart city systems and installed smart streetlights simultaneously in the old and new urban areas of Junken City.

These streetlights are different from ordinary streetlights. They are equipped with sensors on the poles that can detect pedestrian traffic, vehicle traffic, ambient light, air quality, and noise levels on the road.

The data collected by the sensors is transmitted back to the control center in real time. The system in the control center automatically adjusts the brightness of each light based on the data, automatically dimming it during the day and automatically reducing the brightness during the night when there are few pedestrians.

This system is said to save a significant amount of electricity; on paper, the electricity savings could cover the cost of street light renovations within a few years.

On the day the first batch of lampposts were erected, Yang Wei stood by the roadside, looking up at the silver-white lamppost.

The lamppost was octagonal, coated with anti-rust paint, and gleamed in the sunlight. Yang Wei took out his phone, opened the control center app, and saw that the lamp's status was "Online - Energy Saving Mode".

He tapped the "brightness adjustment" button and turned the lamp up one level. The lamp turned on, brighter than the streetlights next to it, and its white light shone down, illuminating the road as if it were daytime.

He switched back to energy-saving mode, and the light dimmed, becoming softer, like moonlight.

"Mr. Yang, what are you looking at?" The construction foreman walked over, holding a safety helmet in his hand.

"Look at the lights."

What's so interesting about lamps?

Yang Wei put his phone away. "The light is beautiful. It can adjust its brightness, save electricity, report repairs, and connect to the internet. In the future, it will also be able to track pedestrian and vehicle traffic and air quality. This city will change, starting with this light."

The construction foreman laughed. "Mr. Yang, you're just a lighting guy, what would you know about urban redevelopment?"

Yang Wei didn't refute, patted the captain on the shoulder, and left.

The renovation of old residential areas is being carried out simultaneously. The exterior walls of the old residential areas in Junken City lack insulation layers, so even with the heating on full blast in winter, cold air can still seep in through the cracks in the walls.

Yang Wei hired a company specializing in energy-efficient building renovations to install insulation layers on the exterior walls of the old residential area. The insulation layer consisted of EPS boards, covered with a layer of crack-resistant mortar, and then coated with two coats of waterproof paint.

The residents could choose their own wall color: warm yellow, light gray, off-white, or light blue. The long-time residents held a meeting and voted for warm yellow.

The neighborhood looked brand new after the walls were painted, like it had been given a fresh coat of clothing, and the whole street was bright and cheerful.

Yang Wei went to the site and stood at the entrance of the community, looking at the warm yellow wall gleaming in the sunlight.

A solar water heater was installed on the roof, subsidized by the government, so residents only paid a small amount of money. They won't need to burn electricity for showering anymore. A new garbage sorting and recycling station has been set up downstairs, with four bins side by side, in blue, green, red, and gray, each with a sorting instruction label.

An older woman was emptying kitchen waste into a green bin, muttering to herself:
"I used to throw everything into one bag, but now I have to empty it separately, which is a hassle."

An old man next to him chimed in, "It's a hassle, but look, now that the trash is separated, the garbage collectors don't have to rummage through it anymore. There are fewer flies, the stench is less, and people can sit downstairs."

Yang Wei didn't approach them to speak. Instead, he leaned against a utility pole at the entrance of the residential area, listening to their casual conversation. After a while, he turned and walked away, his steps light and quick.

The new city expansion area hasn't even started construction yet, but the planning has already been completed. Yang Wei stood in the planning bureau's office, looking at the huge planning map on the wall.

The new town is located east of the military reclamation city, right next to Yang Geyong's horse farm, beyond which lies the Gobi Desert. The planning map marks road networks, green spaces, schools, hospitals, commercial centers, parks, and residential areas.

The road network is circular, with a large central park in the middle, which has a lake, a square, a fitness trail, and a children's playground.

The residential area is low-density, with buildings no more than six stories high and wide spacing between them. Each building faces south, so it gets sunshine in winter and a cross breeze in summer.

The school is right next to a park, so children can run into the park to play without crossing the road after class, and parents don't have to form a human wall at the entrance.

The hospital is located in the west of the city, close to the old town, making it convenient for the elderly to see a doctor. The commercial center is in the north of the city, next to the highway exit, making it easy for visitors from out of town to find and avoid getting lost.

Director Sun stood next to him and pointed to the blue area in the picture.

"This is Central Park. There is a large rainwater harvesting system under the park. When it rains, the rainwater seeps down through the permeable pavement and green space, is collected, and stored in underground reservoirs."

"During the dry season, we use this water to irrigate the park's green spaces and wash the roads. We don't use tap water or water from afar. We use the rainwater that falls on us."

Yang Wei looked at the blue area. "How much water can this hold?"

"The design capacity is tens of thousands of cubic meters. That's enough to irrigate the entire park. It will last as long as the dry season. Any surplus water can seep into the ground and replenish the groundwater."

Yang Wei's finger traced across the planning map, moving from the school to the park, from the park to the residential area, and from the residential area to the commercial center. His finger stopped and pointed to a location next to the commercial center. "What's this?"

"Smart City Control Center. Sensor data from the entire city converges here. Traffic flow, air quality, energy consumption, security monitoring, street light status, pipeline pressure—all data is displayed here in real time."

"The control center can see, dispatch, and handle any traffic jams, air pollution, streetlights, or leaking water pipes immediately."

Yang Wei withdrew his hand. "When will this control center be completed?"

"The new urban area will be connected in three years. The old urban area will be upgraded to a network in five years. After five years, the entire city will be connected to the network."

Yang Wei stood in front of the huge planning map, looked at it for a while, then turned and left. He stopped at the door, but didn't look back.

"Director Sun, what will the military reclamation city look like in five years?"

Director Sun thought for a moment. "When the time comes, you can stand here and not look at the planning map. Just look out the window. The planning map is right outside the window."

Yang Wei hesitated for a second before opening the door, then walked out. He went to the parking lot, opened the car door, got in, and without immediately starting the engine, took out his phone and sent a message to Ye Yuze:
"Uncle Ye, the transformation of Junken City has begun. Five years from now, you will see a completely different city."

Ye Yuze's reply came quickly, faster than usual. "When I saw it, you were there too. We were all there." (End of Chapter)