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

Chen Shi looked at Xiao Ning: "Any cadre who is perfunctory and fails to earnestly implement the county government's policies and documents shall be dismissed. Don't let them occupy positions without doing their job; let capable and decisive cadres take over."

Chen Shi then looked at the village cadres of Yumi Village: "Your leadership team in Yumi Village has serious problems. Your ideological awareness needs to be improved. You are helpless when the villagers do not agree to sign. This is a sign of incompetence."

The construction of the expressway is not only to facilitate the villagers' travel, but also to promote the economic development of Chunyang County. As the economy develops, every villager will benefit, and they will not have to leave their homes to work in coastal areas. Instead, they can have a stable job right at their doorstep.

Land expropriation is not like a vegetable market where you can haggle. Farmland will be expropriated at a uniform rate of 50,000 yuan per mu, and this will be strictly enforced.

The air grew still; no one spoke. Even the nearby villagers stopped what they were doing and looked in this direction.

Seeing that Chen Shi had said so much, Xie Shanquan quickly handed him his thermos.

Chen Shi took the thermos, drank a few sips of water, and thought that there was no point in saying anything more; he had to make them feel the pain.

"That concludes today's inspection. We're returning to the county government."

Xiao Ning quickly said, "County Chief Chen, it's already past one o'clock. Let's go to town for lunch."

Chen Shi glanced at Xiao Ning: "Do you think I'm still in the mood to eat?"

Xie Shanquan quickly walked to the car, opened the door, and Chen Shi got in to head back to the county town.

Xiao Ning's face darkened, and village head Xu Guangqiang jogged up to him: "Secretary Xiao, let's go back and hold a meeting to discuss this and strictly implement the county government's land expropriation policy."

Xiao Ning said coldly, "You have to be careful with land expropriation. Don't cause any mass incidents. Whoever causes a mass incident, I'll dismiss them."

Xiao Ning quickly walked to the car. The director of the Party and Government Office hurriedly opened the car door and Xiao Ning got in. He still didn't believe that Chen Shi could do anything to him.

A deputy county head, not even a party secretary, can be dismissed just like that? Dream on.

Xu Guangqiang watched Xiao Ning's car leave, feeling troubled. He was like a tight headband on his head, wondering how to expropriate the land. If the villagers were easy to talk to, they would have been expropriated long ago. Why wait until now?

No one will back down unless we teach them a tough lesson.

Chen Shi returned to the county government and rested for a while. The land acquisition could not be delayed and should be completed as soon as possible. If it was delayed, it might take a year or two to complete the acquisition.

Looking at the time, it was almost 3 PM, so I called Xu Mo.

Chen County

"Director Xu, is Secretary Zhang free right now? I'd like to come over and give you a brief report."

"County Chief Chen, Secretary Zhang has a lot of things to do today. Is your work here urgent? No, you can come and report tomorrow morning."

"It's a bit urgent, Secretary Zhang, could you spare some time?"

"Chen County Magistrate, please come here, I'll make arrangements for you."

Chen Shi asked Yang Bin to take him to the county committee office, where they arrived at Xu Mo's office. Xu Mo stood up to greet him: "County Chief Chen, you've come at just the right time. Secretary Zhang has just finished his work and is resting. If you go now, you'll only have ten minutes to give your report, as Secretary Zhang will be holding a meeting later."

Chen Shi nodded and went to Zhang Xiangdong's office: "Secretary."

"Chen Shi, sit down."

Xu Mo poured Chen Shi a cup of tea and left the office.

Chen Shi got straight to the point: "Secretary, there is something very important I need to report to you."

A week ago, I convened a mobilization meeting for the land acquisition for the expressway. The top officials of the five towns along the expressway attended, along with relevant leaders from the Transportation Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, and Public Security Bureau.

This morning, I went to Yumi Village in Heyuan Town to inspect the land acquisition situation for the highway project. To my surprise, a week has passed and not a single mu of land has been acquired in Heyuan Town.

Villagers are still planting crops along the highway. This is a serious problem. If things continue like this, when will the highway be completed? Even the initial land acquisition process alone can delay things by one or two years.

Zhang Xiangdong asked, "What do you think caused this?"

"I looked into it today and found that the top leader didn't take it seriously, and the people below didn't carry it out seriously either, just doing it perfunctorily."

I suggest that Xiao Ning, the Party Secretary of Heyuan Town, be transferred and replaced by a capable and decisive cadre.

Land expropriation must be carried out swiftly and decisively; it cannot be delayed. If it is delayed, the villagers will all be watching and waiting, fearing that they will suffer losses if they sign the agreement.

We must treat everyone equally. The expropriation of farmland should be 50,000 yuan per mu, not a penny more. We must ensure absolute fairness.

During land acquisition, we cannot be afraid of villagers causing trouble; this is a normal phenomenon. Where there are interests involved, there will be disputes. We must resolve these issues decisively. The top leader cannot be afraid of trouble or try to appease the situation; they must handle it resolutely.

Zhang Xiangdong nodded, agreeing with Chen Shi's opinion: "Where would be a suitable place to transfer Xiao Ning?"

Xiao Ning's inaction necessitates a disciplinary transfer to deter the top officials of the other four towns.

"Xiao Ning is afraid of trouble, so transferring him to the CPPCC office as director is a suitable option for him to retire peacefully."

"Xiao Ning has been transferred. Who will replace him?" Zhang Xiangdong asked again.

Chen Shi already had someone in mind. Last year, when he inspected the greenhouse vegetable base in Heyuan Town, he had a good impression of Shi Fu, the mayor of Heyuan Town, who was a capable person.

"Shi Fu, the mayor of Heyuan Town, is a good candidate. Appointing him as the Party Secretary and Mayor will give him more power, which will allow the land acquisition work to proceed more effectively."

Zhang Xiangdong nodded: "Okay, I'll exchange opinions with a few Standing Committee members and convene a Standing Committee meeting as soon as possible to implement it."

"Thank you for your support of my work, Secretary."

Zhang Xiangdong smiled and said, "You're leading the charge, and I can't hold you back. The highway is a key project for the county committee this year. Anyone who dares to slack off will be dismissed. Go ahead and do it."

As Chen Shi left Zhang Xiangdong's office, he knew he couldn't be lenient with a leader like Xiao Ning who was so perfunctory.

Feeling uneasy, Xiao Ning invited Zhang Kaizhi and Gao Rong to have dinner at a family restaurant in the courtyard.

With a forced smile, Xiao Ning poured wine for Zhang Kaizhi and Gao Rong: "County Chief Zhang, this morning, Chen Shi went to Heyuan Town to inspect the land acquisition situation for the highway. He was very angry to see that not a single acre of land had been acquired in Heyuan Town. He threatened to dismiss me from my post. Will he really do it?"

Before Zhang Kaizhi could speak, Gao Rong interjected, "He's just an executive deputy county head, yet he acts like he's the top official in Chunyang County, able to dismiss whomever he wants. He doesn't have that kind of power."

Xiao Ning said with a worried look, "Chen Shi is Secretary Zhang's confidant. Secretary Zhang should support what he says."

Gao Rong said, "Chunyang County is not Zhang Xiangdong's personal fiefdom. There is still County Magistrate Zhang here. Every time there is a personnel adjustment, Zhang Xiangdong has to consult County Magistrate Zhang's opinion. With County Magistrate Zhang here, we can rest assured."

Zhang Kaizhi said slowly, "You don't have any leverage over Chen Shi, do you?"

Xiao Ning quickly replied, "No."

Zhang Kaizhi continued, "If Chen Shi wants to dismiss you, he needs an excuse. As long as you don't give him that excuse, there's nothing he can do about it."

Land expropriation is inherently a difficult task. It's not uncommon for us to fail to expropriate even a single acre of land in a week, let alone a year. If villagers disagree to sign, we can't force them to. We are a people's government, not a bandit group.

Xiao Ning nodded repeatedly, his heart finally at ease. He raised his glass and said, "What County Chief Zhang said is very true. There's nothing we can do if the villagers don't agree to sign. I'd like to toast you two leaders."

The three clinked glasses, and Xiao Ning finished his drink.

I like the game of power, starting with the police officers at the local police station.