Dramatic changes in the movies and TV shows

Chapter 1313 The Source of Confidence

After Director Du finished speaking, seeing the shocked expressions on everyone's faces, he felt even more admiration for Lin Jie.

If the actual figure of 30 million jin were revealed, it would probably scare everyone present to death.

Du Chengmin continued, "Don't worry, everyone. The amount of grain in the county's reserves will only be more than this, not less!"

"Old Du, you're something else!"

"You've done a great job this time!"

"Old Du really didn't realize that!"

Everyone showered Director Du with praise. After they finished celebrating, Lin Jie asked them:

"Now everyone understands, right?"

"We have it!" At this moment, everyone in the county committee was extremely excited by this news.

"With this much grain, we dare to start construction!" Lin Jie then smiled and turned his gaze to Chang Shun, the director of the Finance Bureau:
"Comrade Changshun, stop keeping quiet. Tell everyone, how much wealth does your finance department actually have left?"

Comrade Changshun was leaning back in his chair, looking quite relaxed, even a little confident.

Upon hearing the secretary call his name, he sat up straight, spread his hands, and said in a calm tone:
“Our finance department is like this: every penny has a designated place, and there’s not much extra money that can be misappropriated.”

Upon hearing this, Deputy County Head Sun's face was filled with worry, and he immediately replied:

"Yes, Lao Changshun is right. Having determination and food is not enough without money!"

“Building a canal isn’t like hosting a dinner party. Look, buying explosives, steel chisels, lime, cement… every single one of these requires real money.”

Another county committee member standing nearby nodded in agreement, echoing the sentiment:
"Yes, Old Sun is right. Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. Without money, how can we start this canal project?"

Changshun did not respond directly to Deputy County Head Sun's words, but instead turned his gaze to Lin Jie, his expression becoming unusually solemn.

"Secretary Lin, please give us a straight answer. Are we... truly determined to build this canal no matter how difficult it is?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jie replied almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world:
"What kind of question is that! If I'm not going to make a decision, what's the point of keeping you core members who manage money and supplies around?"

"Now I'm asking you, if we have the money, I dare to build this canal! Hurry up and give me a number, how much can we actually squeeze out?"

Upon receiving such a clear statement from the Party Secretary, Changshun took a deep breath and then announced a number that surprised everyone.

"No matter how hard we cut back on everything, we can't save much money."

He paused, then clearly uttered three words: "About three million yuan!"

This figure caused many people present to gasp in shock. Three million yuan was simply a drop in the ocean for such a massive project.

However, for a small county like Linxian, especially in a place prone to natural disasters, three million is not a small amount.

County Magistrate Li Mingyang frowned and looked at Changshun: "Comrade Changshun, how do you plan to save up these three million?"

Changshun immediately explained, "All our departments are in the province! When it comes to meals, we'll eat porridge if we can, never dry food! We'll have two meals a day, never three!"

"The purchase of all office supplies, such as paper and pens, will be halved, or even reduced to one-third!"

"To put it bluntly, it boils down to one word: stingy! Extremely stingy! But even with all that stinginess, that's all the money we have left."

Changshun thought for a moment, but still didn't mention that sum of money—the special funds allocated by higher authorities to be returned to the people, which amounted to over three million yuan!

Normally, such a surplus of funds can only occur after work, but Changshun said that it was a surplus during work, which is quite intriguing.

Only he, Lin Jie, and Li Mingyang knew about this money, and he couldn't discuss it publicly without their consent.

In fact, funds were allocated for each work-related movement. Obviously, the majority of this three million was the special refund fund from those movements back then.

It has actually been used quite a few times in the construction of other canals, but everyone just kept quiet about it.

In addition, due to the bumper harvests in the past two years, some of the grain was secretly withheld, including more than 10 million kilograms of grain. However, the funds were ultimately only three million in savings!

Lin Jie looked at Li Mingyang and asked, "I think we can't wait until we have all the money before we start. Let's get started soon!"

"Yes! We can't just sit and wait!" County Magistrate Li Mingyang finally put aside his concerns and said happily:
"Let's work on it while we figure out how to raise funds! A living person can't be held back by a thirsty bladder, can they?"

After a moment of contemplation, Li Mingyang put forward another crucial suggestion:
"Well then, since the policy is self-reliance, let's explain this matter clearly to all the people in the county!"

"Mobilize the masses, rely on the masses, and absolutely never become detached from the masses!"

"We will never buy anything that we can make ourselves. As for tools and materials that each village and commune needs to prepare themselves, we will raise the funds ourselves! The people of Linxian have plenty of wisdom and strength!"

"Great! This is a good idea!" Lin Jie immediately expressed his agreement and was the first to speak up:

"Then let's start with our own county committee!"

“I propose that starting next month, all members of our county committee will only receive half of their salaries! The other half will be donated to the project!”

As soon as the secretary finished speaking, a chorus of responses erupted in the meeting room, without the slightest hesitation:
"agree!"

"I'm fine with it, I agree!"

"I agree too! I'll donate it all!" Old Sun shouted excitedly.

"Anyway, I'll be spending all my time on the construction site from now on. I'll eat there, sleep in the workers' shed, and have nowhere to spend my money!"

At this moment, the atmosphere in the conference room was no longer gloomy and desolate, but rather one of tragic heroism and unwavering determination.

However, just as everyone was getting excited, Lin Hao suddenly said:
"The little bit of stuff you've saved up isn't nearly enough!"

Seeing everyone looking at him, Lin Hao said confidently:
"As everyone knows, I took leave recently and even went to Beijing!"

Actually, I went to visit one of my teachers who had been transferred to Beijing, partly to verify the blueprints and materials I had prepared.

"Secondly, it's also to beg for food!" Lin Hao said with a smile.

No one interrupted; they understood that if someone was begging for food, they must be in need of aid and support.

As expected, Lin Hao continued:
"The old classmate I contacted has been assigned to an important department, but I can't say which department it is due to confidentiality requirements."

"Fortunately, hard work pays off. After some maneuvering, he agreed to provide us with a batch of supplies."

"Including but not limited to steel, cement, tools, explosives, etc."

Thinking that many of these supplies were confiscated from US military bases and would inevitably be different from domestically produced goods, Lin Hao explained: "It is said, just said, that these supplies were captured from the American devils during the Korean War."

"As everyone knows, this kind of free aid is bound to attract the attention of all parties. As the saying goes, it's not the scarcity that's the problem, but the inequality!"

"So what the higher-ups mean is that after we receive this batch of supplies, we should keep a low profile and not cause a big fuss."

"This batch of supplies was shipped from Beijing two days ago and will arrive in Linxian this morning. I coordinated a warehouse for it."

After speaking, Lin Hao looked at everyone, wanting to see their reactions.

"Ah~! There's such good news!" Everyone was surprised that Lin Hao had revealed such a shocking secret, and they were surprised that he even had outside help.

"You've got it, Kobayashi!"

"Great! With this support, the construction difficulty will be greatly reduced!"

"Xiao Lin, you've done a great job!"

"Keep a low profile, keep a low profile. Now, everyone, tell me how to use these supplies discreetly!" Lin Hao concluded.

"Yes, yes, we need to keep this low-key. It would be troublesome if it got intercepted by our superiors!"

"Yes, especially certain people in the prefectural committee!"

"Our county committee has people like that too!"

Next, the county committee members discussed the matter, and finally, at Lin Hao's suggestion, the supplies were distributed to the villages, and it was announced that the villages had raised the funds themselves.

Since they can only make their own explosives, they will mix and use the supplied explosives together, and the same goes for cement and steel.

It has to be said that sometimes, even when we have supplies, we can only use them secretly, for fear that others will find out, otherwise...!

As the discussion continued, Lin Jie happily remarked at the end of the meeting:

"Alright, thank you to our forest technician for his tireless efforts in securing such great support for our 'Diverting Zhang River into Forest' project."

"That's the general situation. You all know what I mean. Don't spread this around. Keep it to the people here at today's meeting!"

At this point, Lin Jie looked at the empty seat and said, "I heard that Tong Kun went to the prefectural committee again. When will he be back?"

"He said he'll be back tonight!" At this point, Li Mingyang's heart skipped a beat, and he began to understand.

Some committee members just mentioned that the enemy is in the prefectural committee and also in the county committee. The prefectural committee has been obstructing the diversion of the Zhang River into the forest, and everyone knows who it is. As for assistance, it is limited to the current personnel.

The only people not present right now are Tong Kun and the Secretary-General, so...

"Okay, notify him and let him be in charge of the investigation issued by the prefectural committee to determine whether there is enough food. He has always been very attentive to Deputy Secretary Yu's work, so let him take charge of this task!"

As for the others, notify the townships now to collect the supplies from the warehouse and deliver them to the villages when they go to the countryside.

······
After several days of effort, the tools that Lin Hao brought were distributed to various villages.

Now all preparations are complete, with only two final steps remaining: one is waiting for coordination between the province and Shanxi to cut off the water supply from Houbi.

Another option is for the county committee to hold a meeting, decide to report the diversion of the Zhang River into the forest, and then wait for the coordination results. If the decision is approved, construction can begin immediately.

The reason why Linxian County still needs to report is because the decision on whether to divert the Zhang River into Linxian County was previously delegated by the higher authorities to Linxian County.

Therefore, if Linxian decides to start construction, the decision-making power lies with Linxian, but procedurally they still need to report the final decision to higher authorities.

Of course, this means that there will be no support from higher authorities other than policy, but this obviously cannot stop Linxian County's thirst for water.

Therefore, early in the morning, Linxian County issued a notice to prepare to complete the final procedure and report the resolution to the higher authorities.

Lin Jie surveyed the room and said with high spirits, "Comrades, let's not waste any more time on small talk."

"Whether the project to divert water from the Zhang River to Lin County will commence has been decided by our county committee from higher authorities."

"So in the past two days, we have had extensive discussions and also gone to the countryside to get a feel for the situation. The majority of the people support us in repairing the canal as soon as possible!"

"Therefore, today we must make this decision, formulate a resolution, and submit it for approval!"

However, before Lin Jie could finish speaking, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open with a "bang," and Deputy Secretary Yu led his men into the meeting room.

Deputy Secretary Yu swept his gaze across the room expressionlessly, followed by his secretary and a serious-looking subordinate.

"Oh, everyone's here." Deputy Secretary Yu's voice was calm, yet it made the temperature in the meeting room drop several degrees: "Is this a county committee meeting?"

Lin Jie was completely bewildered, wondering why the other party had come at this time.

Moreover, they were in a meeting, and without even being notified, Deputy Secretary Yu barged into the meeting room with his entourage. However, he still instinctively answered:
"Deputy Secretary Yu! What brings you here? Please, have a seat!"

Deputy Secretary Yu casually waved his hand, gesturing for the people behind him to find seats. Then, his gaze fixed on Lin Jie, and he gestured with his chin towards an empty seat beside him, instructing:
"You sit down too, sit here."

Lin Jie sat down as instructed, but he could tell from Deputy Secretary Yu's attitude that the other party had ill intentions.

Deputy Secretary Yu stopped beating around the bush and went straight to the point, his tone firm: "You're discussing diverting the Zhang River into the forest, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Lin Jie took a deep breath, steadied himself, and reported:

"Deputy Secretary Yu, here's the situation: our county committee members have gone down to the grassroots level and explained the most difficult aspects of the situation to the people!"

"We made it clear to them that this water diversion project from the Zhang River to Linxian County received no material or financial support from higher authorities; it all depended on the self-reliance of the people of Linxian."

"Self-reliance?" Deputy Secretary Yu raised an eyebrow, leaned back slightly, and spoke with undisguised skepticism:
"Should the people building the canal bring their own food and tools?"

"Yes!" Lin Jie steeled his resolve and said definitively, his tone resolute.
“That’s what we’ve been telling the people! And their response is that they’d rather work hard than suffer! They all hope the project will start soon, and our county committee should respect the people’s wishes. Today, the county committee will make the final vote!”

"Comrade Lin Jie!" Deputy Secretary Yu's voice suddenly rose, filled with deep sorrow as he spoke:

"Why are you still so stubborn! Diverting the Zhang River into the forest isn't a matter of inviting people over for dinner, nor is it something that can be done in a few words; it requires a real investment of money!"

“The whole country is going through a tough time right now. You’ve poured all the labor and food resources into this bottomless pit, affecting the autumn grain production. Can you take responsibility for that? How am I supposed to explain this to my superiors?”

This question was like a boulder thrown into water, stirring up a storm in the hearts of every member of the county committee.

Unexpectedly, even at this final stage, the provincial and prefectural committees have stated that Linxian County should make its own decision.

The other party actually tried to interfere, which infuriated Lin Jie!