The game of power begins with the police officers at the local police station.

After a moment's thought, Wang Jianming slowly said, "Director Wang, you should go back first. This is a very important matter, and we need to hold a team meeting to discuss it."

He thought to himself that if Chen Shi made this request, he would have to do it even if he couldn't, and Li Hong probably wouldn't refuse.

Seeing that Wang Jianming did not give an answer, Wang Zhikai said with a forced smile, "Director Wang, it's lunchtime. I'll treat you to a couple of drinks at a noodle shop."

"Director Wang, let's drink another day. I have a lot of things to deal with. I'll just have a quick drink in the office."

"This means we're seeing you off," Wang Zhikai tactfully left the Zhongshan Subdistrict Office.

At 3 p.m., the director's office meeting was held. Chen Shi walked into the meeting room with his notebook and thermos.

Huang Ming, Wang Zhikai, and Li Zhe were all waiting in the conference room.

Chen Shi placed his notebook and thermos on the conference table and said directly, "Today's director's office meeting has one theme: matters related to the reconstruction of three key high schools. These matters are assigned to you, and you have some time to discuss your respective progress."

Chen Shi looked at Huang Ming: "Director Huang, you go first."

Huang Minglang said loudly, "Director Chen, the first draft of the bidding documents has been completed and a copy has been sent to your email address."

As per your previous instructions, there are three key details in the tender documents. First, the bidding companies must be rigorously vetted; companies with assets under 5 billion RMB are not permitted to participate, excluding shell companies and allowing only truly capable companies to compete. Second, the tender requires full upfront payment, payable in three installments: 10% in the first installment, 30% in the second, and the remaining 50% upon completion and successful acceptance of the project. The remaining 10% will be held as a security deposit, to be paid in full if no quality issues arise within ten years.

The third detail is that the project has a two-year construction period. Within one year, 80% of the main construction work must be completed, and by September of next year, the three high schools must begin enrollment simultaneously to ensure that incoming first-year high school students can smoothly enter the schools.

Chen Shi nodded in satisfaction: "Very good. We need to send out the tender documents as soon as possible, at the latest by the end of April, and get everything settled so we can start construction."

Huang Ming wrote in his notebook: "Once the bidding documents are finalized, we will entrust a bidding company to start the bidding process."

Chen Shi looked at Wang Zhikai: "Director Wang, have you taken care of the task I assigned you?"

Wang Zhikai said with a troubled expression, "Director Chen, after leaving your office this morning, I rushed to Zhongshan Subdistrict Office and found Secretary Li Hong and Director Wang Jianming. They wanted to hold a meeting to discuss the matter. Director Wang Jianming expressed his concerns that the villagers complained that the current standards for land acquisition were too low. If the standards were lowered further, the villagers might cause trouble."

Chen Shi said with a serious expression, "Director Wang, this won't do. They're having a meeting to discuss this, but when will it be held? Do they have a specific time? They can afford to drag it out, but we can't."

Secretary Liu has given a strict order: all three high schools must open simultaneously next September. This is a political task, and you know the consequences if it is not completed.

I've been to Tai Wan, and it's all wasteland, mostly woodland. Nobody usually cultivates it. Now that they want to expropriate it, they're asking for exorbitant prices.

In other impoverished counties, the land acquired for educational purposes is usually sold at half price, and in some cases even acquired free of charge. The purpose of building schools is not for the government or the education bureau, but to improve the overall quality of education in Chunyang County, and the beneficiaries are the general public.

The villagers didn't understand at first, so we needed to talk to them and explain things. The land acquisition process had to be completed before the tender documents were issued.

Wang Zhikai was furious. Li Hong and Wang Jianming weren't his subordinates, so they wouldn't listen to him.

"Director Chen, Secretary Li Hong and Director Wang Jianming are not cooperating, so there's nothing I can do."

Chen Shi looked at Wang Zhikai and said in a heavy voice, "They are not cooperating with you. I will call them right now. The work must be implemented in a practical way. If you encounter difficulties, you must find a way to solve them. Don't back down when you encounter difficulties. If the assigned work cannot be completed within the corresponding time, whoever is responsible will be held accountable."

Chen Shi took out his phone and called Li Hong.

The meeting room quieted down; you could hear your own breathing.

When Li Hong saw Chen Shi calling, he quickly answered the phone.

"Director Chen, what are your instructions?"

Chen Shi said with a smile, "Secretary Li, I have something important to ask you for help with. The treasury is short of funds right now. I went to see the Dawan area with you. It's mostly forest land. Director Wang reported to me that there is some farmland and arable land. We will compensate the villagers according to the standards for forest land, 20,000 yuan per mu. I will ask the relevant department of the treasury to allocate the funds as soon as possible."

Li Hong spoke frankly: "Director Chen, our street office will definitely do as you instruct. However, the villagers have complained that the standards for land expropriation are too low. If we lower the standards further, I'm afraid some villagers will cause trouble, and it will be difficult to handle then."

"This will require Secretary Li to arrange for the street office staff to go to the villagers' homes and do the work one by one. This is land acquisition for education to build a school. Once the school is built, the villagers will be the first to benefit. When 10,000 to 20,000 students move into Dawandi, they can open a restaurant or supermarket nearby and the business will not be bad. At the very least, they can sell some vegetables, which is much more convenient than sending them all the way to the county town's farmers' market."

"It will be so convenient for the kids to go to school right near our home."

Li Hong's position as secretary was filled by Chen Shi. He gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Director Chen, as you said, we'll expropriate all of it as forest land. I'll go down to a meeting and arrange for staff to do ideological work with the villagers."

However, the compensation for the land expropriation should be allocated to us as soon as possible. The subdistrict office is currently extremely poor and cannot afford to pay the villagers.

The compensation standards for land expropriation are already very low. If the villagers still don't receive their compensation, they will definitely cause trouble, and then there's nothing I can do.

"Secretary Li, rest assured, the funds for the land expropriation will be allocated to you in full."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi called Wang Jianming again.

Wang Jianming answered the phone, a broad smile on his face, and said, "Director Chen."

"Director Wang, I need your help with something. We're short on funds right now. Secretary Liu has given a strict order that three key high schools must open simultaneously next September. I've looked at the land acquisition standards, and all the land approved by the Land Bureau is being acquired as forest land. Whether it's farmland or arable land, it's all being acquired as forest land at 20,000 yuan per mu. We'll try to save as much as possible. You need to help us get this done."

Wang Jianming said with a troubled expression, "Director Chen, this is a serious matter. I need to report to Secretary Li and come up with a plan. The villagers have complained that the unit price for the land expropriation is too low. I'm afraid that if the standard is lowered further, some villagers will cause trouble."

"This requires your help to arrange staff to do ideological work with the villagers. Once the school is built, they will be the ones who benefit."

Wang Jianming knew very well how he had become the director, and he dared not refuse the task assigned by Chen Shi.

"Director Chen, I'll go find Secretary Li right away to get this sorted out. But the compensation for the land expropriation needs to be disbursed as soon as possible. Once the villagers receive the money, they'll feel at ease and naturally won't cause any more trouble."

"I will contact the relevant finance department to expedite the allocation of funds for the land acquisition, so you don't need to worry about that."

Wang Jianming felt much more at ease after receiving Chen Shi's affirmative reply. He hung up the phone and went to report the matter to Li Hong.