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

Qian Dajiang sensed Chen Shi's domineering and forceful nature and fell silent.

Chen Shi asked, "Secretary Qian, is it possible?"

Qian Dajiang knew about Chen Shi's relationship with Zhang Xiangdong and that transferring him was just a matter of a word. Not daring to offend Chen Shi, he quickly said, "County Chief Chen, I'll go and make it happen."

Chen Shi solemnly said, "I will give you two months to have the coal mine repair its own road. I will come to inspect it two months later."

Qian Dajiang thought to himself that in order to keep his position, he had no choice but to offend someone.

Chen Shi glanced at everyone and said, "Let's eat. The food is getting cold."

The director of the Party and Government Office quickly poured wine for Chen Shi and the others.

Gu Jia only drank one glass of wine. When someone came to toast her, they drank one glass, but she only took a sip.

Chen Shi drank several cups with Qian Dajiang, and the deputy mayor and the director of the Party and government office also toasted him a few times. Chen Shi asked Xie Shanquan to drink with them.

Chen Shi drank until he was three-tenths drunk, then stopped drinking and returned to the county town.

Upon arriving in the county town, Chen Shi first took Gu Jia back to her hotel. After getting out of the car, Gu Jia said to Chen Shi, "County Chief Chen, give me the detailed coal production data for Huangchang Town and Laoyan Town from last year. I have a video conference tomorrow morning, so I'll rest for a day and then go to conduct research the day after tomorrow."

Chen Shi nodded, watching Gu Jia walk into the hotel, and said to Xie Shanquan, "Xiao Xie, have the Coal Bureau send last year's detailed coal production data to my office tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Xie Shanquan called Zhao Qinglin, the director of the Coal Bureau, as soon as he got to work.

Zhao Qinglin had just arrived at his office when he received a call from Xie Shanquan. He quickly answered, "Secretary Xie."

"Director Zhao, Chen County needs detailed data on the county's coal production in 2014. Could you please arrange for me to come and get it in a bit?"

Zhao Qinglin thought for a moment, wondering why Chen Shi wanted the coal production data. He needed to report to Chen Shi and find out his intentions.

"Secretary Xie, I was just about to come over to report to County Chief Chen. I'll bring the documents with me later."

After hanging up the phone, Zhao Qinglin immediately called the director of the Party and Government Office to his office and asked him to compile the county's coal production data for last year.

At 10 o'clock, Zhao Qinglin arrived at the county government. Xie Shanquan did not make him wait and took him directly to the office to report on his work.

When Chen Shi saw Zhao Qinglin coming to report on his work, he stood up to greet him: "Director Zhao, please sit down."

The two sat down in the reception room. Zhao Qinglin took out the prepared documents from his briefcase and handed them to Chen Shi with both hands.

"Chen County, this is the detailed data of the county's coal production in 2014. In 2014, the total coal production was 1500 million tons. The main coal-producing towns were Shangying Town, which produced 510 million tons of coal; Huangchang Town, which produced 320 million tons of coal; and Laoyan Town, which produced 570 million tons of coal."

These three major coal-producing towns produced 1400 million tons of coal last year, while other towns produced 100 million tons each.

Chen Shi took the documents, glanced at them, and put them aside.

"Coal production is still quite good, it's just that the market is bad."

Chen Shi looked at Zhao Qinglin: "The coal market is not good, so we need to reduce production. This year's production target should not exceed 1000 million tons. Any coal that does not meet safety regulations should be shut down and only reopened after rectification."

Zhao Qinglin didn't know what Chen Shi's intentions were. The sudden reduction in price was something that the major coal-producing towns would not agree to.

"Chen County, this is too much of a price reduction. These are three major coal-producing towns that rely on coal for their livelihood. The local town governments will not agree to shut down the large coal mines."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Shi decided to tell Zhao Qinglin the truth: "Director Zhao, I have submitted the economic development plan for the second half of the county to the county party committee and county government. We plan to build a large-scale thermal power plant in Laoyan Town, which is expected to consume 12 million tons of coal per year and generate 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day."

The economic development plan has already received the support of Secretary Zhang of the County Party Committee. The prerequisite for building the thermal power plant is to build a highway to connect the lower half of the county.

The city has approved the plan to build the expressway. It has been submitted to the province. Once the province approves it, the construction of the expressway can officially begin.

With the highway completed, the construction of a large thermal power plant has become a daily routine.

It will take at least two years. Coal resources are limited and cannot be sold at low prices. Once the thermal power plant is built, we will be able to achieve self-sufficiency.

Zhao Qinglin suddenly realized what was going on and quickly said, "County Chief Chen, you have considered things very carefully. I will go down and communicate with the various townships first and issue rectification notices."

After chatting for a while, Zhao Qinglin left.

Chen Shi called Xie Shanquan to his office: "Xiao Xie, take the documents to General Manager Gu."

Chen Shi originally wanted to deliver it himself, but Gu Jia was at the hotel, and it would be difficult to explain things between a man and a woman alone. He didn't want to let people with ulterior motives make a fuss about their relationship.

In the afternoon, Chen Shi received a call from Gu Jia.

"Chen County, I need to go back to the company. I'll be coming down tomorrow morning. We won't be doing the research in Huangchang Town; we'll be going to Laoyan Town tomorrow. Please make the arrangements in advance."

I'll be waiting for you at the county government tomorrow morning.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Shi stretched. He didn't have any social engagements tonight, so he could go home early after get off work.

The next day, Chen Shi arrived at the county government early in the morning to wait. The road to Laoyan Town was even more difficult to travel, and the journey would take longer than expected. He estimated that he would have to rest in Laoyan Town for the night.

It wasn't until 10 o'clock that Gu Jia drove to the county government.

Chen Shi took Xie Shanquan on a research trip. This time, without Chen Shi even asking, Gu Jia took the initiative to get in the car. Her car had too low a chassis and couldn't drive on the roads in the towns and villages below.

Gu Jia said, "I have good news for you. Governor Zhu called me and said that the provincial government has approved the expressway project in your Chunyang County. We can now officially raise funds and start the bidding process."

Chen Shi asked, "Isn't Governor Zhu going to allocate any funds to Chunyang County?"

"What are you thinking? It's already good enough that they approved your Chunyang, a poor county."

The provincial government won't approve a single penny; if you want to build roads, you'll have to solve the funding problem yourself.

Chen Shi looked at Gu Jia: "Will your company headquarters approve the proposal I put forward?"

"I will try to negotiate with the company's shareholders, but you need to do the preliminary work well. Road construction involves land acquisition, and you will have to pay for that yourself."

Chen Shi thought for a moment. Land expropriation would cost at least one billion yuan, and the Chunyang County government did not have that amount of money.

Gu Jia looked at Chen Shi: "County Chief Chen, your county government must pay this amount before I can persuade the shareholders to invest."

Chen Shi gritted his teeth: "President Gu, the Chunyang County government will find a way to resolve the land expropriation compensation. Can you give me a definite answer: what are the chances that your Jiajia Group will actually invest?"

"I reported this matter to the group president, and he personally supports me. The group headquarters has already established an expert group to conduct an investment evaluation. The president has spoken to them, and the probability of the investment evaluation being approved is very high."

Passing the assessment means convincing the shareholders that there is no risk.

Gu Jia asked, "County Chief Chen, do you know what the biggest risk is in building a highway?"

Chen Shi thought for a moment: "A technical issue?"

Gu Jia shook her head: "The technology is very mature now. We can build roads on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so other places are not a problem."

The biggest risk in investing in highway construction is land acquisition; once the land acquisition is complete, everything will proceed smoothly.

There was a company that was building a highway. The land acquisition took two years, and the land acquisition compensation increased from 2 billion to 5 billion. Villagers along the route all built houses, which was too risky and doubled the cost.

"Chen County, as long as you get the land acquisition sorted out, I can convince the shareholders to see that investing in this highway will minimize the risks."