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

Chen Shi looked at Li Fuguo, the principal of No. 2 Middle School, Yin Ping, the principal of No. 3 Middle School, and Hou Weigui, the principal of No. 4 Middle School, and said in a deep voice: "No. 2 Middle School, No. 3 Middle School, and No. 4 Middle School must achieve the undergraduate admission rate target of 30% in the 2013 college entrance examination. Those who fail to do so should resign voluntarily."

Li Fuguo and his two companions cursed inwardly. How could they possibly accomplish this? Since the founding of these three middle schools, the undergraduate enrollment rate had never exceeded 15%.

The three of them lowered their heads, not daring to meet Chen Shi's gaze. They felt guilty. If No. 1 High School worked hard, it might still have a chance to break through the 50% undergraduate admission rate. Their three rural high schools had no chance of achieving the 30% undergraduate admission rate.

The students are all leftovers from other high schools; their basic skills are so poor that it can't be changed overnight.

Chen Shi said solemnly, "Principal Li, Principal Yin, Principal Hou, please state whether you can do it. If you cannot, you don't need to wait until next year; resign now and replace the principal with someone who can."

This is a political task; there's no room for negotiation, it must be completed.

Nobody's stupid. If you say you can't do it now, you'll be dismissed immediately. If you say you can do it, you still have at least a year to try and make it happen.

Li Fuguo gritted his teeth and went all out: "Director Chen, No. 2 Middle School can do it."

Chen Shi looked at Yin Ping: "Principal Yin, what about No. 3 Middle School?"

"Even the Third Middle School can do it."

Hou Weigui said in a deep voice, "Fourth Middle School can do it too."

Chen Shi nodded in satisfaction: "Director Yang, record the pledges of Principal Li Fuguo of No. 2 Middle School, Principal Yin Ping of No. 3 Middle School, and Principal Hou Weigui of No. 4 Middle School: those who fail to meet the college entrance examination targets shall resign voluntarily."

The three exchanged a glance; their positions as principals would likely be in jeopardy a year from now.

Chen Shi looked at Yang Xiong: "Principal Yang, tell me your plan to increase the undergraduate enrollment rate from 34.5% to 55% within a year."

Based on Chen Shi's speech, Yang Xiong mentally prepared his remarks and slowly said, "We will make adjustments in the following three aspects. First, the students' foundation is weak, so we can only work on increasing their time. The current schedule at No. 1 Middle School is from 6:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for evening self-study."

Starting in September when new students begin their semester, the schedule will be adjusted so that students will get up at 5:00 AM for morning self-study and finish evening self-study at 10:30 PM. This adjustment will give students an extra three hours of study time each day, which adds up to 1095 hours per year.

Secondly, previously, No. 1 Middle School held mock exams once a month. Starting in September, mock exams were held every two weeks. Students who performed well were rewarded with money, while those who performed poorly were punished. This served as a reminder that it is honorable to study hard and shameful not to study, thus encouraging students to take the initiative in their studies.

Every mock exam is followed by a grade-wide assembly where outstanding students are publicly praised, while those who do poorly are criticized on the spot to encourage them to study harder.

The third aspect is aimed at the teachers. For each mock exam, the teachers of classes that perform well will be rewarded, while those of classes that perform poorly will have their performance bonuses deducted and will be required to make a public apology at a staff meeting.

The teacher of a class that ranked last five times in a row was transferred from the top high school to a remote rural primary school.

Chen Shi continued, "As for what you do next, I don't care. Report the results of the mock exam once a month, calculate the undergraduate admission rate based on this year's undergraduate admission score, and deduct the performance bonuses of all teachers and staff of the middle schools with the lowest undergraduate admission rates. At the democratic life meeting, the principals of the middle schools with the lowest undergraduate admission rates will have to make a self-criticism."

Chen Shi looked at Yang Xiong: "Principal Yang, you don't have to wait until September to start the school year to adjust the schedule. Starting now, Chunyang County is a poor county, and most of the students come from poor families. They are not delicate and can endure this little bit of hardship."

Tell the students that they are not comparing their grades with those of their own class, but with those of all students in Donghai Province. The only way for them to leave the mountains is to study hard and get into university.

City kids have many paths to choose from, but rural kids have no choice but this one.

Chen Shi glanced at Li Fuguo and the other two: "The students from No. 1 Middle School have a better foundation than the students from the three high schools in your township. They are all working so hard. When you go down there, you should make sure the students seize the time to study."

A weak foundation is no excuse; you can make up for it with time.

The meeting didn't end until 12:30. Chen Shi then called everyone to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

Yang Xiaobo asked Chen Shi, "Director Chen, the wine in the cafeteria isn't very good. I'll go out and buy two bottles."

Chen Shi said in a deep voice, "I won't drink at noon. I have to go to work in the afternoon, so I'll just grab something to eat."

Chen Shi looked at Yang Xiong and the other three: "After you finish eating, hurry back and think of ways to improve the students' grades. Not a single second can be wasted."

After finishing their meal, Yang Xiong and his three companions left and returned to their office. Yang Xiong breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he had temporarily secured his position as principal.

This time, Chen Shi was serious. He was willing to do anything to achieve the college entrance examination targets in order to secure the position of principal.

Yang Xiong instructed the principal's assistant to convene a principal's office meeting. At the meeting, he reorganized the ideas he had shared at the bureau chief's office meeting, expressed them, and asked everyone to discuss them. He then assigned tasks to each leader, ensuring that the responsibility could be traced back to the individual whenever it arose.

Starting next week, the schedule will be adjusted. Students will wake up at 5 a.m. and attend evening self-study sessions until 10:30 p.m. Teachers' schedules will be synchronized with students' schedules.

The regulations for rewarding and punishing students and teachers were clearly defined and distributed to all teachers and students. They were officially implemented starting in July.

After the meeting, Yang Xiong called Jiang Yiqiu to his office: "Director Jiang, I went to the Education Bureau this morning and had a director's office meeting. Our tasks are very heavy. If we can't complete the tasks, I will resign. Before I resign, please remove the relevant school leaders."

Jiang Yiqiu thought to himself, "Do you dare to dismiss me?" Then he thought again, "Even Yang Xiong couldn't keep his position as principal, so what else is there to worry about?"

Jiang Yiqiu wasn't worried at all. With Chen Shi as his backer, no matter who became the principal, his position as the director of studies would be secure. If he wanted to advance further, he would have to produce results.

"Principal, in the long run, we still need to address the student enrollment issue. Some students with poor foundations are indeed just too stupid. It's not that they don't study hard, but high school knowledge is abstract, and students who aren't smart won't be able to learn it no matter how hard they try."

Yang Xiong said irritably, "I also want to recruit top students to No. 1 High School, but no top students are willing to apply. It's a vicious cycle. No. 1 High School's college entrance examination results are not good, so no top students are willing to come. We lose top students, and no matter how hard the teachers work or how diligent the students are, the college entrance examination results will not come out."

Jiang Yiqiu nodded: "I have an idea for this year's enrollment. Zhao Chunfang scored 655 in the final exam of her second year of high school, and Shen Xiaorong is a top student with at least 789 in the high school entrance exam. We can use these two to attract top students to apply to No. 1 High School."

Yang Xiong asked, "The high school entrance exam results haven't come out yet. Can Shen Xiaorong score 789?"

Jiang Yiqiu said confidently, "Shen Xiaorong's grades are very good. She said she can get 789, and she definitely can."

Yang Xiong became interested: "Director Jiang, you are in full charge of this year's student recruitment. Try to recruit more top students to come to No. 1 Middle School."

Learning also involves talent; if you're naturally gifted, you don't need to study much to get good grades.

Jiang Yiqiu wanted to capitalize on Yang Xiong's words; she wanted to use them to her advantage in the admissions brochure.