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

Chen Shi waited a week before Zhang Kaizhi convened a Party group meeting. As the top leader of the county government, he decided when to hold the Party group meeting.

At the Party Group meeting, Zhang Kaizhi raised several topics for discussion, but the topic of building the expressway was not mentioned for a long time.

Zhang Kaizhi said, "This concludes today's meeting. Meeting adjourned."

Chen cursed inwardly, "You old bastard, you didn't even mention the topic of building the highway!" He quickly said, "County Chief Zhang, wait a minute, I have a topic here that we can discuss."

Zhang Kaizhi stood up, preparing to leave, and glanced at Chen Shi: "What's on your agenda, County Chief Chen?"

Knowing full well the answer, Chen Shi took out a report on the economic development of the lower half of the county from his briefcase and looked at Xu Wen, who was taking meeting minutes.

"Director Xu, this is a report on the economic development of the second half of the county. Each attendee will receive a copy."

Xu Wen stood up, took the report from Chen Shi, and distributed a copy to each person.

Chen Shi explained that the whole county should work together as one to develop the economy.

The first step is to build a highway to bring several towns in the lower part of the county closer to the county seat, so that they don't have to travel to other counties all the time. Without cohesion, how can the economy develop?

Zhang Kaizhi didn't speak, but Gao Rong couldn't sit still. After reading the report, he was furious. "Look at you! You stole my position as the executive deputy county head, and now you're jumping out to build a highway. If this highway could be built, it would have been built long ago. Why would we be waiting for you?"

Gao Rong tapped the table and looked at Chen Shi: "County Magistrate Chen, you've said so much, isn't it all about building a highway? Where will the money come from?"

Chen Shi looked at Gao Rong: "We need to ask the city and province for the road construction funds. If we don't fight for it, the city and province won't send it to us on their own."

Do you know how much it cost to build this highway?

"No matter how much it costs, it has to be repaired. It's related to the future development of Chunyang County and whether the people can achieve a moderately prosperous life. It all depends on this highway. It's of great significance."

Gao Rong coldly said, "If this highway isn't built, the people of Chunyang County will starve to death. Even though it's not finished, we haven't seen any people in Chunyang starve to death."

I oppose the construction of this expressway. Chunyang is a large, impoverished county with a large population. Several townships in the lower part of the county are not economically developed. Spending huge amounts of manpower and financial resources to build this expressway will not solve any problems at all. It will only leave Chunyang County heavily indebted, and it will have to pay for this expressway for the next few years, or even more than a decade.

Gao Rong looked at Chen Shi: "Chen County is from Fushan Town. You wouldn't have built this road just for your own convenience when you go back to your hometown, would you?"

Chen Shi had anticipated that Gao Rong would object, so he calmly said, "County Chief Gao, have you read the economic development report carefully? You have no right to speak without investigation. Every piece of data in the report is true and valid, and I will take responsibility for the data in this report."

The development of several townships in the lower half of the county is not good. They are acting independently and lack the leadership of the county government. The coal market has been bad for the past two years and has continued to decline, resulting in a decrease in the fiscal revenue of these townships for two consecutive years.

Building the expressway would connect the lower half of the county into a single entity. A thermal power plant would be built in Laoyan Town to concentrate the coal from Shangying Town and Huangchang Town in Laoyan Town, and the electricity would be sold to Nanxi Province. This would give the county government a stable source of revenue, which would then be allocated to various townships.

With the completion of the expressway, investment attraction has drawn businesses to build factories in Fushan Town, transforming it into the largest konjac processing center in Mingzhou.

That's one reason. The second is the population. Chunyang has a population of over 600,000. The expressway passes through Heyuan Town, Shangying Town, Fushan Town, Huangchang Town, and Laoyan Town.

Heyuan Town has a population of 6.5, Shangying Town has a population of 9.8, Fushan Town has a population of 8.9, Huangchang Town has a population of 11.5, and Laoyan Town has a population of 5.7, totaling 42.4, accounting for 61.5% of Chunyang's total population.

This highway affects 61.5% of the county's population; we must spare no effort to build it.

Gao Rong said coldly, "Road construction requires money. It's not just a slogan. Chunyang is on a tight budget and can't afford to build this highway."

Chen Shi really wanted to curse. "You son of a bitch, I've said so much and you haven't listened to a single good word. You're just opposing for the sake of opposing." Suddenly, he realized how hateful the Donglin Party in the late Ming Dynasty was. The Qing army was already at their doorstep, and they were still fighting amongst themselves.

"Gao County, I'll figure out the funding for the highway construction. Don't worry about it," Chen Shi said coldly.

Gao Rong said coldly, "That's over 10 billion, not one or two hundred million. County Chief Chen is making a big fuss. Can you conjure up that kind of money? We don't even need to hold a meeting. We can just hand out the money directly. It'll save us a lot of trouble."

Seeing that Chen Shi and Gao Rong were about to argue, Zhang Kaizhi coughed lightly: "County Chen proposed the construction of a highway, which County Gao opposes. County Li, County Song, County Zhao, what are your opinions?"

Li Hong said, "Chen County's report on the economic development of the second half of the county is very well written. What Chunyang needs most now is to develop the economy. Everything else is secondary. Solving the people's problem of achieving a moderately prosperous life is the most urgent task."

I support building a highway to connect the several towns in the lower part of the county, which is the key to economic development.

Song Yun guessed that Zhang Xiangdong would support Chen Shi's plan to build the highway.

"I agree with Chen County's opinion that we should concentrate our efforts on developing the economy, solving the livelihood problems of the people, and getting rid of Chunyang County's label as a poor county."

Zhao Xuhe said, "Chen County's economic report is very well written, and Gao County's point is also valid. Road construction requires money, but where that money will come from is a tricky issue and worth discussing."

Zhang Kaizhi completely ignored Zhao Xuhe's opinion and said in a deep voice, "Continuing the discussion will not yield a satisfactory result. Let's vote by raising our hands."

Gao Rong looked at Zhang Kaizhi and said, "You can tolerate this? Once Chen Shi finishes repairing the highway, what will be left for you as the county magistrate?"

Zhang Kaizhi ignored Gao Rong's doubts and abstained from the vote, neither supporting nor opposing it. Zhao Xuhe also abstained.

It was no use for Gao Rong to oppose it alone; he still opposed it, no matter what Chen Shi proposed.

The proposal to build the expressway was formally approved, forming a government work report, which was then submitted to the county party committee for review.

After the meeting, Zhang Kaizhi called Gao Rong to his office.

Gao Rong sat down, and Zhang Kaizhi poured him tea: "Old Gao, Chen Shi wants to build a highway. Let him do it. It's over 10 billion yuan. Let's see how he manages to manage it."

"What if he could solve it?"

"The county has no money. Even if Zhang Xiangdong supports Chen Shi in building the highway, he can't come up with the funds. He can only ask the city and province for money."

This highway has no real benefit to the city or province, so it won't receive funding.

Gao Rong asked, "What if Chen Shi applies for a bank loan in the name of the county government?"

"Chen Shi doesn't represent the county government. Without my signature, which bank would dare to lend him money to build roads?"

Even if Zhang Xiangdong agreed to take out a loan in the name of the government to build roads, what bank would dare to lend over 10 billion yuan to a poor county like Chunyang?

Gao Rong thought about it and agreed. He decided to let Chen Shi handle things. People's energy is limited. Chen Shi wasted his energy on building the highway and didn't have time to manage other places. He could exercise the authority of the executive deputy county head.