Siheyuan, Shazhu: I have both parents in this life

Chapter 302 Turmoil
The next morning, Liao Wei drove the old GAZ-Jeppelin from the Armed Forces Department straight to Xiangdu County with Xu Damao. The ride almost made Xu Damao's buttocks bruise.

"Old Liao, why don't you guys replace this car?"

"You make it sound so easy. This was something I had to beg to get back when the old battalion commander and his men were replacing their equipment."

"I remember the Jeep production at the Beijing Auto Factory was pretty good."

Do you think it's even possible for an organization like ours to get involved?

“Okay.” Xu Damao didn’t say anything about giving away a car or anything like that. This wasn’t Hong Kong, where sponsorships were out of the question.

After finally arriving in Xiangdu County, Xu Damao couldn't wait to get off the car as soon as it stopped, not caring about his image at all, and kept rubbing his buttocks.

"Hey Lao Xu, is it really necessary?" The two got much closer over a drink, and even their way of addressing each other changed.

“How could it not be? You’re just used to it,” Xu Damao said.

"There's nothing we can do, that's just how the roads are here. By the way, you mentioned yesterday that you were going to fix the road, are you really going to fix it?"

"I can't make that decision myself. There are too many complicated things involved. Let my brother decide."

"That's true. Let's go find Lao Gao."

Upon arriving at the entrance of the armed forces department, Liao Wei began shouting, "Old Gao, Old Gao, your old comrade-in-arms is here, aren't you going to come out and greet him?"

"You kid, do I need to answer for you? You know this place better than I do." A middle-aged man in military uniform walked out.

"That's not right of you. It's like I don't know you well." Liao Wei walked over and punched him, then took a punch himself.

"Who is this?"

"This is our old company commander's childhood friend. I called you about him yesterday."

"Comrade Xu, right? My name is Gao Dabao. Welcome, welcome!"

"Hello, my name is Xu Damao."

"Haha, we're all from the 'Da' generation," Gao Dabao laughed.

“That’s true,” Xu Damao said.

"Come on, let's go inside and talk. You're a lucky star."

"I dare not accept such praise!" Xu Damao hurriedly replied.

After they went inside, Gao Dabao poured water for the two of them. Liao Wei asked, "Old Gao, how's the preparation of the people I asked you to prepare going?"

"Why the rush? I've already made the call. You know the situation in our county; it won't be quick for them to come over."

"how many people?"

“I first looked for fifty people, all of whom had recently come down from the military. I didn’t look for anyone earlier.”

"Old Xu, is that enough?" Liao Wei turned to ask Xu Damao.

"That's not enough. We have two factories, one 500 mu and the other 100 mu. How many people do you think would be appropriate?"

"Wow, that's huge! I never even went to see it when I heard the county was going to build two big factories," Gao Dabao said.

"This is the first phase. If it's profitable after completion, we may expand it further," Xu Damao said.

"That's quite a generous gesture," both of them exclaimed.

"I heard from Lao Liao that people in the neighborhood are causing you trouble. Is it serious?"

"It was fine when I came out, except for things like blocking the road, and occasionally something would be stolen from the construction site," Xu Damao said.

"Sigh, it's all because of poverty," Gao Dabao sighed.

“That’s for sure,” Liao Wei added.

"Do you want those veterans who were injured and disabled in the past few years?" Gao Dabao asked.

“In principle, either is fine, but you need to do your due diligence; I’m not good at that,” Xu Damao said.

"And the compensation?"

"Let's stick to the domestic standards for now." Xu Damao thought for a moment and didn't dare to give too much. He had discussed this with He Yuzhu before going back, because if people were envious, there would be more trouble later.

"The standard for workers, or the standard for soldiers?" Gao Dabao asked.

"The workers' allowances from the military are too low."

"That's good, that's good," Gao Dabao said.

"Alright, Lao Gao, even by military standards, do you think it'd be a bloodbath?" Liao Wei said.

"That's true, it's better than farming. These days, you can't even get enough to eat if you farm."

The group chatted for a while longer, and then someone came to report for duty. Originally, Gao Dabao said he would pay for these people to go to the guesthouse, but Xu Damao simply threw down a thousand yuan.

“How can I let you pay for this? I heard from Lao Liao that you guys sometimes help out your comrades who are in trouble. If my brother finds out that you're paying for this, I'll get a beating when we get back.”

Liao and Gao exchanged a glance, and Liao Wei nodded, saying, "Alright, we'll shamelessly take advantage of the old company commander's fame."

"By the way, the old company commander didn't say when he'd be coming. It's been almost thirty years since we last saw him," Gao Dabao said.

"I don't know about that, my brother is very busy."

"That's right, the old company commander is still the best. He was the same back on the peninsula," Gao Dabao said, giving a thumbs up.

“My brother excels wherever he goes,” Xu Damao said with a smile.

After spending two days in Xiangdu County, Xu Damao, Liao, and Gao led fifty veterans back to the construction site. Since they didn't have a vehicle, Gao Dabao had to borrow two grain trucks from the grain bureau to fit everyone in.

When they arrived at the construction site, Xu Damao was dumbfounded. The entire road outside the construction site was blocked with wood, oxcarts, stones, and the like. Two groups of people were confronting each other at the main gate of the construction site.

Gao Dabao got out of the truck and shouted to the veterans on the truck, "Everyone, get out of the truck!"

The veterans who got off the bus spontaneously formed two lines.

"Old Liao, what should we do?" Gao Dabao walked up to Liao Wei and asked.

"These people are too lawless. You know the county, but do you know their town mayor?"

“Yes, I know them. If you’re driving my car, go and call their town mayor over. What kind of behavior is this?”

"No need to go." Gao Dabao looked at the construction site carefully again.

"What's wrong?"

"He's inside."

"The town mayor is leading the disturbance?"

"No, they're waiting in the back."

"Go and call him over and ask him."

"it is good."

Gao Dabao strode toward an old man with gray hair, wearing a faded blue cadre uniform. The old man was squatting on an earthen embankment behind the crowd, holding a half-smoked cigarette in his hand, his brows furrowed.

Several people were surrounding him, chattering amongst themselves.

"Mayor Huang!" Gao Dabao shouted loudly.

Mayor Huang looked up abruptly and saw Gao Dabao and Liao Wei and the others following behind him. A hint of embarrassment flashed across his face, and he quickly stubbed out his cigarette and stood up: "Minister Gao? What's going on here?"

"I haven't even asked you what you're doing yet?"

Mayor Huang then noticed Xu Damao behind the group, and his expression became even more uneasy. He had met Xu Damao a few times, and it had never been a pleasant experience.

"Isn't this just the villagers trying to find a way to make a living?" Mayor Huang said.

"Is this how you find a way to make a living? None of you are farming properly, you're just blocking people's gates?"

"Me."

"The government's policy of attracting foreign investment to set up factories is a great thing for economic development, and your township is a direct beneficiary. If things are left like this, what if they withdraw?"

"No way, such a big project can just be cancelled like that?" Mayor Huang was stunned and turned to look at Xu Damao.

Even Liao Wei looked at Xu Damao, wanting to hear what he had to say: "We can afford this loss. It's not impossible to find another place to welcome us. This is the place recommended by your superiors. Since you don't welcome us, I'll go back and report to find a place that will."

"No, no, no." Just then, another person ran over from the crowd.

"Secretary Shen, so you're here too," Gao Dabao said in a strange tone.

"Comrade Xu, we can't retreat, we can't retreat." Secretary Shen ignored Gao Dabao's sarcastic remarks and ran up to Xu Damao to pull him away, but was blocked by two retired veterans.

Normally, these veterans wouldn't dare to do such a thing, but Xu Damao's promised benefits gave them confidence.

"If you keep doing this, we have no choice but to withdraw," Xu Damao said with a dark face.

“It can be resolved, it can be resolved!” Secretary Shen said.

“How can we solve this? We can’t start work right now,” Xu Damao said.

"What are you all standing there for? Go and persuade them to go back. If they really leave, your younger generation will be stuck digging in the dirt for the rest of their lives!" Secretary Shen yelled at the group of people who had just surrounded the town mayor.

"If you can't persuade them to go back, then you team leaders and village secretaries can quit your jobs," Township Head Huang added.

The group of people looked at each other, then turned and walked towards the crowd.

"Stop crowding around, everyone go back inside."

To be honest, the words of those team leaders and branch secretaries were quite effective. The crowd stepped back a bit, but they didn't leave. They just stood there watching Xu Damao and his group. Some nosy people even tried to come over and listen, but they were blocked by the veterans.

Those people didn't dare to go any further when they saw that they were wearing military uniforms.

"Tell me, what exactly happened?" Gao Dabao asked.

Mayor Huang and Secretary Shen exchanged a glance, and Secretary Shen gestured with his lip to signal Mayor Huang to speak.

Mayor Huang lit a cigarette and took several deep drags before opening his mouth.

"Minister Gao, the villagers are resentful. The factory took their land, and of the compensation promised by the county, only half has been paid so far. They said the rest would be given when they have the money due to financial difficulties. But when we went to inquire these past few days, they told us to ask the factory for it, so..."

"So you believed it? Who told you that?" Liao Wei said with a dark face.

"Section Chief Wei from the Land Bureau."

“Wei Shixiang?” Gao Dabao asked.

“Yes,” said Mayor Shen.

"Old Liao, is there some misunderstanding here? I need to go back to the county," Gao Dabao said to Liao Wei.

"And this side?" Liao Wei asked.

"It shouldn't cause any trouble. Tell Lao Xu not to give in," Gao Dabao whispered.

"Okay." Liao Wei nodded.

“Secretary Shen, come back to the county with me. Mayor Huang, if any more trouble happens here, you’ll be held responsible.”

"Old Huang, be tougher," Secretary Shen said to Mayor Huang.

"Okay," Mayor Huang said in a muffled voice.

Xu Damao finally understood. It seemed that the county didn't want to pay the money, or the money approved by the higher authorities had been used for other purposes, since this was initiated by the province.

"Old Liao, I'm going back to make a phone call," Xu Damao said.

"it is good."

"Mayor Huang, why don't you come in too? It's best to let those people outside disperse; they won't solve anything by standing around here," Liao Wei said to Mayor Huang.

Mayor Huang nodded and went over to the crowd, while Liao Wei led the veterans toward the factory area.

Xu Damao was stopped by Yang Tao as soon as he entered the gate. "Old Xu, what's going on outside? Why are you asking us for money?"

"I need to check. They said the land compensation wasn't fully paid, and someone told them to ask us for it."

"That's not right. These land grants to us are for free. That was agreed upon beforehand."

"That's why I'm asking, I'm confused right now too."

"Were those soldiers you brought back?"

"They're all veterans. You can arrange the factory's security from now on. I'll make a call first."

"Okay, okay." Yang Tao felt relieved and quite happy when he heard it was security. He was used to the presence of Taishan Security in Hong Kong. At first, he thought it was okay here, but when things got chaotic, he felt it was even more frightening than encountering gangsters at his door in Hong Kong. Men, women, young and old all came together.

Mayor Huang was summoned by Liao Wei to the makeshift command post at the construction site.

After a while, Yang Tao came over and placed a stack of documents in front of Mayor Huang, saying, "Mayor Huang, the land we built our factory on was specially allocated to us by the province as industrial land to be used free of charge. There are official documents and contracts for this, written clearly in black and white!"

"We don't know anything about this; we only listen to what our superiors say," Mayor Huang replied.

Liao Wei then picked up the documents and began to look through them. After a while, he stopped at the page about free use, and then placed the documents in front of Mayor Huang: "Take a look for yourself!"

After reading it, Mayor Huang lowered his head and remained silent.

“I don’t know the specifics, but the document is here, stamped with a steel seal and a red stamp, so it should be correct. Also, I know the boss of Huanghe. He’s not that kind of person; he wouldn’t do something like this for such a small amount of money,” Liao Wei said.

"How do you know he's a Hong Kong businessman?" Mayor Huang asked.

"Just because he shed blood on the peninsula, just because he provided unconditional disaster relief during the national disaster a few years ago, I don't know exactly how much he donated, but it was definitely more than your compensation."

“I know that, no less than 400 million in two separate transactions,” Yang Tao added at the opportune moment.

Everyone in the room gasped. Four hundred million—that's a lot of zeros. They might as well work themselves to death for a year and still not be able to save four hundred yuan.

"I heard that, four hundred million. How much is your compensation? Do you think they would be reluctant to give it?" Liao Wei said.

"But we really haven't received the other half of the compensation."

“That’s a problem in your county,” Liao Wei said.

"The factory is located here, so surely they can hire workers here, right? But they just won't agree." Mayor Huang thought there might be a mistake regarding the money, so he changed the subject.

“You want to send all sorts of people in, how can we agree to that?” Yang Tao said.

"We can't just reject them all, can we? The people on your construction site are all recruited from outside."

"That was arranged by the person who was in contact with us; they are a legitimate organization."

"We can always do odd jobs, right?"

"Of course, provided your people are honest and upright." Yang Tao felt supported and let out all the pent-up anger.

"Who did this? Have you caught them? I'll send them straight to the town police station," Mayor Huang said angrily.

Yang Tao was at a loss for words.

"Alright, Mayor Huang, if we could handle this, we would have done it already. We don't need you to put on this act for us," Liao Wei said.

After a while, Xu Damao came over.

"Old Xu, how's it going?" Liao Wei asked.

"I've already reported it; let's wait for news."

"Okay, I'll go back once I get a letter from Lao Gao."

"I'll trouble you to come with me," Xu Damao said.

"What's the trouble? Isn't this helping me solve my problem?" Liao Wei said.

The two chatted as if no one else was around, which made Mayor Huang a little restless.

"Comrade Xu, who are you looking for? What did they say over there?"

"You don't need to know who I found. You can go back and wait for news. I'm not staying for you." Xu Damao's tone was not very friendly.

"Then you have to give me a deadline, right? Otherwise, what will I say when I go out?" Mayor Huang asked.

"We should receive news within three days."

"Three days, right? I've got it all figured out. If there's still no news in three days, and you start making a scene again, don't blame me."

"Is this how you act as town mayor? You're resorting to threatening people?" Liao Wei said angrily.

"I couldn't stop them. You saw what happened before," Mayor Huang said.

"Heh." Liao Wei sneered.

"Mayor Huang, go back first. There will definitely be a result," Xu Damao said.

"Okay, I'll head back now."

After Mayor Huang left, Yang Tao asked, "Old Xu, who did you call?"

"Who else could it be? Just find whoever talked to us before," Xu Damao said.

"That construction site?"

"Keep working, every day we delay means a day of loss."

"it is good."

Next, Xu Damao began arranging the security department's onboarding. Liao Wei followed along the whole time. Liao Wei realized that he had underestimated Xu a bit; this guy knew the structure of the security department inside and out.

Even the positions each person can hold are clearly defined.

"Old Xu, you're pretty good." After making the arrangements, Liao Wei gave Xu Damao a thumbs up.

“Hey, I’ve worked in a factory before, haven’t I?” Xu Damao said.

As for where Xu Damao's call went, it naturally went to Director Zheng Guodong.

Director Zheng was furious when he heard that someone dared to embezzle land acquisition compensation funds for a key provincial foreign investment project, and even dared to frame the investor and obstruct construction.

He hung up the phone and immediately reported to the provincial leaders in charge and the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Meanwhile, Gao Dabao returned to the county, but after asking around, he couldn't get any answers. He then went to see the county head and the secretary, who said they would investigate and he should wait for news. They also said that this matter was not something the armed forces department should be involved in.

He was furious. He took the news to the construction site, where Liao Wei and Xu Damao comforted him.

That evening, Xu Damao insisted on keeping Liao Wei there, treated him and Gao Dabao to a meal, and then had someone drive a factory car to take them back to the county town.

As for Liao Wei's car, someone drove it over, and then the two drivers drove the factory's car back on their own.

(End of this chapter)