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

Chen Shi spent the whole morning listening to reports. Sitting in his office listening to reports was all information that others wanted him to know, and he couldn't get any real and effective first-hand information.

In the afternoon, Chen Shi went to inspect the renovation of dilapidated houses, taking only two people with him: his secretary Xie Shanquan and his driver Yang Bin.

When the car arrived at the urban village undergoing renovation of dilapidated houses, it was very quiet and there was no sound at all.

Chen Shi shouted, "Stop the car!"

Chen Shi got out of the car. All the dilapidated houses had been demolished and several foundations had been laid. No construction workers could be seen. In some places, weeds had grown, indicating that no one had been here for a long time.

This dilapidated housing renovation project was initiated in 09, and now, five years later, there's still no progress.

Chen Shi saw several shacks in the distance. He walked over, and when he was still a few dozen meters away, he smelled a foul stench.

Chen Shi endured the stench and went over. He saw some elderly people in their shacks and asked, "Old folks, do you live here?"

The old man said, "The government demolished our houses and won't rebuild them for us. We have nowhere to live, so we can only build a shack to live in."

"How long have you been living here?" Chen Shi asked.

"It's been more than three years. Those who have money rent places outside, but we're getting old and can't earn money, so we have no choice but to live here."

Chen Shi had checked the records and found that this used to be an urban village. In 08, a fire broke out here, killing more than a dozen people. The municipal party secretary came down to investigate. After inspection, the houses in the urban village were all found to be dangerous and uninhabitable. The deputy county head in charge was dismissed and punished.

The project was initiated in 09. All the houses in the urban village were demolished. The construction was undertaken by Yikun Group.

The old man looked at Chen Shi: "Who are you people?"

Xie Shanquan knew that these people from the urban villages were frequent visitors to the petition office, and some even went to the provincial level to petition. He was afraid that if Chen Shi said he was a government official, he wouldn't be able to leave today, so he quickly said, "We're just passing by."

Chen Shi looked at the shacks, which numbered in the dozens, without running water or electricity. How did they manage to survive?

There were no sewage pipes, so the sewage was dumped outdoors. The toilets were all dry toilets; you just dug a pit next to the shack, put a few wooden sticks on it, and covered it with asbestos tiles.

In hot weather, there is a stench.

If Chen Shi doesn't come here to check, no one will report the situation to him. Zhang Kaizhi put him in charge of this project, anticipating many problems, but none of them turned out to be problems.

Chen Shi returned to the parking spot; it stank terribly. He looked at Xie Shanquan and said, "Call the leaders of the Chengnan Subdistrict Office and ask them to come here."

Xie Shanquan took out his contact list, found the phone number of Zhao Xiongcai, the Party Secretary of Chengnan Subdistrict Office, and dialed the number.

"Secretary Zhao, hello, I'm Xiao Xie, the liaison officer from Chen County. We're here to inspect the dilapidated housing renovation project, so we'd like you to come over here."

Zhao Xiongcai received a call and told his driver to come to the dilapidated housing renovation project site. Zhao Xiongcai got out of the car and walked quickly towards Chen Shi with a smile: "County Chief Chen, why didn't you tell me you were coming? I could have arranged to receive you."

Chen Shi grasped Zhao Xiongcai's hand: "Secretary Zhao, I feel heartbroken to come here. Look at the lives of ordinary people."

Chen Shi pointed to the shacks in the distance: "They lived there for three or four years without water or electricity."

The dilapidated housing renovation project was initiated in 2009, and the county government allocated 500 million yuan, so why is it still just a wasteland with not a single house in sight?

Zhao Xiongcai said with difficulty: "Chen County, this project has a long story. It was approved in 09, and the houses were demolished. The municipal party secretary gave the order, and no one dared to neglect it."

The budget is 1 billion yuan, with the county government contributing 500 million yuan, the Chengnan Subdistrict Office contributing 500 million yuan, and our 500 million yuan coming from the land sale.

Yikun Group was responsible for the construction. The county government allocated 500 million yuan to our account. Yikun Group requested that the payment be made to them in one lump sum, but we requested that payment be made according to the construction period.

At that time, Hu Hai, a corrupt official, was still the county party secretary. He gave us instructions to pay the money to Yikun Group.

As a result, the payment was given to Yikun Group, and Yikun Group collectively arranged a few workers to do the bare minimum. When it came to demolishing the houses, they were quick, and the whole thing was demolished in less than a week. After the houses were demolished, there was no sign of rebuilding.

When we urged Yikun Group, they said they would send someone soon. With Hu Hai protecting Yikun Group, there's nothing we can do about them.

It wasn't until 2011, when the Public Security Bureau launched a crackdown on organized crime, that the relevant personnel of Yikun Group were arrested, leading to the group's bankruptcy and the complete halt of the dilapidated housing renovation project. "Before, we could at least find somewhere to build the houses; now we don't even have anywhere to look. We don't know who to hire to rebuild them."

Chen Shi said angrily, "Yikun Group went bankrupt, didn't it have assets? Take those assets and auction them off, then use the money to re-bid and arrange for other companies to undertake the construction."

"Yikun Group has a huge hole, owing banks billions of yuan. Their assets have been seized by the court and directly auctioned off to the banks to settle the debts. There's no money left for us."

Chen Shi remained silent. Chunyang County's budget was barely enough to cover its expenses; where would they get the money? They allocated 1 billion yuan to fill this hole.

Chen Shi's phone rang, and when he took it out, he saw that it was Li Hong calling.

"Li County"

"Something happened in Chen County. The project to renovate dilapidated houses has been delayed for a long time. The original residents went to the Yizhou Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government to petition, but they were intercepted by the petition office and brought back. I didn't expect them to know military strategy. This is a smokescreen. The people they really want to petition are another group of people who will go directly to Beijing to petition."

According to the timeline, they should be arriving in Kyoto by now. If this gets out of hand, the entire leadership of our county government will be criticized.

"Have you arranged for someone to go to Kyoto?"

"I immediately sent staff from the petition office to Kyoto to coax them back. However, if this matter is not resolved quickly, it will be difficult to intercept them every time."

Chen cursed inwardly, thinking that Zhang Kaizhi had dug a pit for himself and made him take responsibility for this mess.

This is an open strategy. If the top leader opposes the work assigned for the first time, he will be accused of being disorganized, undisciplined, and picky.

Zhang Kaizhi has this authority, and his deputies can only accept his arrangements.

The position of second-in-command is always awkward, no matter where you are. You might think you have power, that you can manage everything and have a lot of authority, but a single word from the top leader can overturn your decisions.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi looked at Zhao Xiongcai: "Secretary Zhao, I want to hear the truth. How much funding can your Chengnan Subdistrict Office provide for the dilapidated housing renovation project?"

Zhao Xiongcai said with a bitter expression, "County Chief Chen, it's not that I'm complaining about being poor, it's just that there's really no way. We have a little money in the account, but it's all tied up in one hole after another, and there's no extra money to allocate to the dilapidated housing renovation project."

The 500 million yuan we raised earlier came from land sales, and our Chengnan Subdistrict Office hasn't recovered yet.

Chen Shi said solemnly, "The indigenous residents have already gone to Kyoto to petition. People have their limits of patience. If this is not resolved as soon as possible, who knows what extreme things they might do."

Five whole years—that's long enough to wear down all their patience.

Zhao Xiong cursed inwardly, "It's all Yikun Group's fault. How can we solve this without money?"

Chen Shi said in a deep voice, "The county government will provide you with 500 million yuan. You will have to figure out the remaining 500 million yuan yourselves."

Secretary Zhao, if the original residents escalate the situation and do something extreme, you will be held primarily responsible.