Chapter 316: First Step in Building a City from Scratch: Land and Policies!

Dawn was just breaking, and Shanwan Village was still shrouded in a thin morning mist, so quiet that only occasional clucks of chickens and barks of dogs could be heard.

The turbulence and promises of last night seemed not yet dispersed, settled in the cool air.

At the center of the courtyard, Lu Qingshan held a branch and crouched on the ground. He hadn't rested, or rather, the flame that had burned in his chest last night made sleep impossible. In his mind appeared his wife Lin Yue'e's gentle smile and his daughter Xiao Xue's cute face; to give them a future as solid as rock, even the grandest blueprint had to be set in motion immediately.

The branch traced intersecting lines across the damp mud, and a huge, rough master plan had already taken shape.

There, it would no longer be a barrier imprisoning Shanwan, but the cornerstone of the future.

"Brother, you didn't sleep all night?"

Lu Qingjun yawned and stepped out of the house, and upon seeing the odd symbols on the ground and his elder brother's focused profile, his drowsiness vanished almost entirely. He felt that today's elder brother was somewhat different from yesterday; the aura was steadier and sharper, like a peerless sword about to be drawn from its sheath.

"I can't sleep." Lu Qingshan stood, brushed the mud from his hands, his voice calm yet unmistakably forceful. "Qingjun, go call Ahu, get the vehicle started; we need to go to the county, then straight to the city."

Lu Qingjun paused. "Go now? It's not fully daylight yet. Why go to the county and the city?"

"To get land, to get policies." Lu Qingshan said succinctly.

He walked to the stone table in the courtyard, dipped his finger in the tea spilled last night, and drew a large circle on the rough stone. "Our three factories are currently clustered, but we will inevitably need to expand; space is limited, management inconvenient, and transport costs high." He added several tightly linked small squares inside the circle. "Later we will build more factories—food, beverage, medicinal herbs, clothing, even machinery… we can no longer operate so scattered. I will gather all factories in one place, with unified planning and management."

"I'll call this place the Shanwan Industrial Industrial Park."

"Industrial… Industrial Park?" Lu Qingjun mulled over the unfamiliar term, his eyes flashing with thought. Though he hadn't heard it before, his merchant's instinct instantly grasped the massive potential it held.

"Yes." Lu Qingshan nodded, pressing his fingertip firmly on the stone table. "Not just factories, but also supporting warehouses, logistics centers, office buildings, even our R&D center."

"Integrate the entire industry chain into a single, efficiently operating whole. That is the true core competitiveness of Shanwan's future."

Lu Qingjun's breathing grew a bit rapid; he instinctively braced the icy edge of the stone table to steady himself. He had thought his elder brother's plan was merely to open a few more factories, but he hadn't expected that his elder brother intended to conjure an entire industrial new city out of Shanwan's barren land!

"But brother, something this big can't be done by us alone, right? Village land belongs to the village, but to need such a vast area… will the county and the city agree?"

"That's why we must go." Lu Qingshan wiped the water stains from his hands, his gaze burning as he looked at him. "We aren't going to ask; we're going to give them an irresistible future."

"An opportunity that will lift Jiangyuan County, and even the whole Baishan City economy, onto a higher tier."

"Come with me; you're the general manager of our factories, and some commercial details need you to handle."

Lu Qingjun's heart leapt. He understood this was not merely a report but a negotiation, a declaration of muscle and resolve. He nodded vigorously, the drowsiness vanishing, replaced by a flame matching Lu Qingshan's. "Alright! I'll go call Ahu right away!"

The jeep jolted over the Cuoyi Ban Lu (Scrubbing Board Road) leading out of the mountains, wheels kicking up clouds of dust. Behind the wheel, Ahu (Zhao Tiezhu) gripped the steering wheel, trying to keep the ride steady, his ears perked high as he listened to the backseat conversation, his face full of astonishment.

In the vehicle, Lu Qingjun held a small notebook, the pen tip trembling slightly from excitement, listening to Lu Qingshan's narration while rapidly jotting it down.

"First, land. We need the county and the city to step in and unify the planning of the barren slope northwest of Shanwan extending to Zhenli, requiring at least five hundred mu."

"Five hundred mu?!" Lu Qingjun shouted, "Brother, that's bigger than our whole village, right?"

"That's only the initial phase," Lu Qingshan said evenly. "Second, policies. Taxes, labor, water and electricity—we need the best support policies: Three-year Tax Exemption, Five-year Half Tax. This will save us a huge amount of early costs, letting us put the money where it matters."

"Third, infrastructure. The road to the industrial park must be rebuilt, widened to a two‑way four‑lane highway, at least able to let large trucks pass freely. The power grid must be expanded, a dedicated line drawn in; otherwise, when all this machinery starts, the whole Shanwan will trip the breakers."

"Fourth," Lu Qingshan looked out the window, his gaze far‑reaching, "we must also build sizable living facilities for the workers, including a Second-round Investment Attraction for commerce, revitalizing the local consumer economy, making it lively; workers need places to spend their earnings, we can't create a ghost town. Supporting Children's School, Workers' Hospital, Cultural Palace must keep pace, so workers feel secure, treat this as home, and work diligently."

Lu Qingshan spoke point by point, his thoughts clear, logic meticulous, as if the industrial park had been built in his mind thousands of times.

Lu Qingjun was completely stunned, the pen in his hand halted. His elder brother's thinking had long transcended a single village or factory; it was from a macro regional economic perspective, laying out moves. This was no longer just building factories; it was forging an ecosystem, a city! This scale left him feeling far out of reach, yet also filled him with boundless admiration.

"Brother, will the county and the city really agree to all this?" he still worried, the terms were so generous it sounded like a robbery.

Lu Qingshan watched the scenery flash backward through the window, a hint of Confidence curving his mouth.

"They will."

"Because we are not demanding, we are giving."

"We bring them thousands of jobs, a steady stream of tax revenue, and tangible achievements."

"More importantly, a new rural development model that can be promoted across the province and even the nation."

"Such a good thing, why would they refuse?"

The vehicle jolted sharply, as if urging them to quickly hurl this magnificent future forcefully before everyone.