Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

Under Liu Ming's resounding assertion, "If you're going in the wrong direction, the harder you work, the poorer you become," Xi Wanqing, this favored daughter of heaven, began to have deep doubts about herself for the first time.

She saw Liu Ming as her last lifeline.

Therefore, under her strong advocacy, a small-scale internal seminar on "the way to break the economic deadlock in Qingyun County" was urgently convened on the afternoon of the following day.

The meeting was held in the small conference room of the county government.

There were not many participants. Apart from Xi Wanqing and County Head Wen Boyan, there were only a few heads of the county's economic departments and two "experts" invited from the city who were said to have made great achievements in the economic field.

Liu Ming, however, was exceptionally allowed to attend as a "meeting recorder".

The atmosphere was somewhat strange from the start of the meeting.

The two experts from the city, one surnamed Wang and the other surnamed Li, were both in their fifties, wearing thick glasses, and exuding a sense of superiority as if they were the only ones who were sober in a world of drunks.

They pointed at the reports Xi Wanqing had previously prepared, pontificating and eloquently using terms like "macroeconomic control," "industrial closed loop," and "transformation of old and new growth drivers."

The local officials present were confused but impressed, and could only nod in agreement.

"County Chief Xi's overall approach is good! It has an international perspective!" Expert Wang took a sip of tea and slowly summarized, "However, it's still a bit... a bit idealistic. This high-tech industrial park project is taking too big a step; it's easy to run into trouble!"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Expert Li adjusted his glasses and continued, "I think this tourism development project is worth considering! Qingyun County has beautiful mountains and clear waters; we could create a 'wellness' concept! Build a resort to attract elderly people from the city to come here, breathe in the fresh air, and go fishing—wouldn't that boost GDP?"

The two worked together, seemingly offering suggestions, but in reality, they criticized Xi Wanqing's plan as worthless, and then came up with an even more unreliable and terrible idea.

County Magistrate Wen Boyan frowned as he listened, but because the other party was an "expert" from the city, he couldn't refute him directly.

Xi Wanqing's expression was also somewhat unpleasant.

Just then, Liu Ming, who had been silently taking notes, suddenly put down her pen.

"I cannot agree with the suggestions of the two experts."

He spoke softly, his voice low but like a pebble dropped into a calm lake.

All eyes instantly turned to him.

The two experts reacted as if they were cats whose tails had been stepped on, instantly bristling with anger.

"Who are you? A mere recorder, do you even have the right to speak here?" Expert Wang reprimanded him with a displeased expression.

Expert Li was even more direct. He looked Liu Ming up and down, then scoffed dismissively, "Youth economics is a very rigorous science; it's not something you can understand just by running drills and shouting slogans in the army. You don't even know the most basic concepts of 'opportunity cost' and 'marginal effect,' so what right do you have to spout nonsense here?"

His words were filled with the arrogance and disdain characteristic of intellectuals.

In his view, discussing economics with a demobilized soldier was an insult to the discipline.

The atmosphere in the meeting room instantly became awkward.

County Chief Wen tried to smooth things over, but Xi Wanqing stopped him with a look.

She looked at Liu Ming with a hint of expectation in her eyes.

She wanted to see how this man, who had repeatedly created miracles, would handle this situation.

Liu Ming was not angry.

He even laughed.

He looked at the two self-important "experts" and shook his head as if he were looking at two arrogant clowns.

Opportunity cost? Marginal utility?

"hehe."

"Do these two experts know that, under the Keynesian macroeconomic framework, when a region's economy falls into a 'liquidity trap,' the multiplier effect of relying solely on traditional fiscal stimulus measures is almost negligible?"

"Are you aware that, according to Porter's Diamond Model, Qingyun County suffers from fatal structural deficiencies in two core dimensions: 'factors of production' and 'related and supporting industries'? Under these circumstances, blindly developing so-called 'health tourism' will ultimately only degenerate into a 'prestige project' that cannot generate any economic benefits?"

Liu Ming's voice was calm and unhurried.

But every word he uttered, every technical term he used, was like a heavy hammer blow, slamming into the faces of those two experts!

Experts Wang and Li were completely dumbfounded.

They stared at Liu Ming with their mouths agape, feeling as if their brains had shut down.

Keynesianism?

Liquidity trap?

Porter Diamond Model?

What the hell is all this?

They had only seen these theories in some high-end academic journals, and they didn't even have a superficial understanding of them, let alone use them to analyze practical problems.

But this guy in front of them, whom they considered a "common soldier," was actually using it with ease!

This...this is not scientific!

"You...you...who exactly are you?" Expert Wang pointed at Liu Ming, his voice trembling.

Liu Ming did not answer him.

He simply turned his head and said to Fan Laogui, who was standing at the door, "Brother Fan, could you please go to my dormitory and fetch the blue folder from the bottom drawer of my bedside table?"

"Alright!" Although Fan Laogui didn't know what Liu Ming was going to do, he still responded and turned to run away.

Ten minutes later.

Old Fan came running back, panting, and handed Liu Ming a blue folder.

Liu Ming took the folder, opened it, and pulled out a piece of paper.

A sheet of hard paper printed with English words and gold foil patterns.

He walked up to the two experts who were already petrified and slammed the paper onto the conference table with a "thud".

"Excuse me, I forgot to introduce myself."

My name is Liu Ming.

Imperial College London, Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Business Economics and Development Strategy.

He then pulled out two more small, dark green notebooks with bright red embossed seals from the folder and threw them on the table.

"Oh, right, and this too."

"PhD from the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University."

"And, a law school PhD."

"Double doctoral degrees"

"Now, am I qualified to discuss Qingyun County's economic issues with these two experts?"

The entire conference room was deathly silent.

Everyone seemed frozen in place, staring blankly at the graduation certificates on the table—certificates so dazzling they could blind their 24K titanium alloy eyes.

Imperial College London!

Top ten universities in the world!

Tsinghua University!

The undisputed top university in China!

Or is it fucking... a double PhD?

County Magistrate Wen Boyan, a scholar-official who is also a graduate of a prestigious university, is staring intently at the certificates, his lips trembling with excitement.

He felt as if he had not discovered a piece of gold.

Instead, they found a diamond mine!

The two previously arrogant "experts" were now blushing, like two roosters with their necks being choked, unable to utter a single word.

They felt their faces burning, as if they were being slapped hundreds of times.

Shame!

That's fucking shameful!

How could I, with my meager skills, possibly presume to teach a double PhD from a world-class university?

This is like showing off your skills in front of Guan Yu or Lu Ban—it's utterly overestimating your abilities!

Expert Wang, trembling slightly, adjusted his thick glasses, seemingly trying to see more clearly, and unconsciously muttered to himself:

"Is...is this real?"