Chapter 147: County Land Acquisition Office Director Huang Qishan

Overnight, Chunshan County became active in the expressway notice. First, there were many cars with foreign license plates on the street, and the hotels in the county were full of foreigners. There were also more people coming and going in the organs of various bureaus, and even those who had nothing to do with the expressway were flushed.

Chunshan County was filled with an unprecedented joy, as if a golden avenue was in front of everyone, and everyone would find wealth that originally belonged to them from this legendary expressway. The expressway is a symbol of civilization and an inevitable product of modern economic development. Having an expressway is equivalent to having an ID card leading to the outside world.

Cadres in the whole county began to move, thinking about being able to enter this road construction project with epoch-making significance.

The County Party Committee assessed the situation and decided to hold a meeting of the heads of various bureaus and offices.

Guan Peishan made a long speech at the meeting, which was both enthusiastic and earnest. He raised the road construction project to a political level, saying that for this expressway construction, cadres and masses in the whole county must take out the revolutionary courage of the year to suppress bandits, no matter how great the difficulties and how heavy the tasks, only by completing the tasks can they reflect loyalty to the Party and responsibility to the people.

Liu Qimeng had been listening to Guan Peishan's speech with half-closed eyes, occasionally opening his eyes and writing a few sentences in the notebook in front of him. Others thought he was recording the importance of Secretary Guan's speech, and even Guan Peishan thought he was recording his speech.

An important topic of this meeting was the establishment of the County Land Acquisition and Relocation Headquarters.

There was no suspense at all. Guan Peishan is the Secretary, so he is the Commander-in-Chief, fully responsible for land acquisition and relocation work. Liu Qimeng is the County Magistrate, so he is the Deputy Commander-in-Chief. The headquarters has two

After Guan Peishan finished speaking, his sharp, piercing eyes swept across the meeting room. He picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip.

The usual meeting format was that after Secretary Guan finished speaking, County Magistrate Liu would begin to assign specific work tasks. But a situation arose during this meeting; County Magistrate Liu did not speak immediately after Secretary Guan finished. Instead, he leisurely picked up his teacup as well. He blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface with a loud sound, and through the microphone in front of him, a "puff" sound directly struck everyone's ears.

The meeting room turned cold. The heads of the various bureaus and committees all learned from Liu Qimeng and squinted their eyes; some also picked up their teacups and began to drink. The meeting room was filled with the sound of tea-sipping.

Guan Peishan waited for a while, and seeing that no one spoke, he had no choice but to open his own mouth and say, "County Magistrate Liu, why don't you share your own opinions?"

This sentence from Guan Peishan effectively sealed Liu Qimeng's mouth, preventing him from acting on his own initiative to seize the lead in making arrangements.

Liu Qimeng could, of course, hear the subtext in this. He turned his face slightly, smiled at Guan Peishan, and said, "I have no particular opinion. I'll just say one thing: I will fully cooperate with Secretary Guan's instructions and resolutely do a good job with the preliminary preparations for the expressway. Not only will I not cause trouble for the state, but I also won't cause any trouble for Secretary Guan."

Guan Peishan smiled with satisfaction, set down his teacup, and said, "The County Party Committee and the County Government must take responsibility. County Magistrate Liu and I are the main persons in charge of this work and are fully responsible for it. However, County Magistrate Liu and I cannot put all our energy into this one matter; there are hundreds of thousands of common people in Chunshan County, and there are more things that require our consideration." He tapped the table and raised his voice, saying, "Building an expressway is a feat of the present that benefits the future; of course, it also benefits the present. Although not everyone in Chunshan County will benefit directly, it will certainly benefit our descendants. That the expressway can pass through our Chunshan County is an affirmation from the organization and a trust from the state. Currently, among the thousands of counties in the country, fewer than one-fifth have an expressway. What is this? It is an honor, it is an opportunity. It is the precursor to our Chunshan County moving toward the whole country and the whole world. We must cherish it doubly, go all out, and make the deeds of Chunshan County building the expressway a model for others in the future."

After hearing Secretary Guan's second speech, the emotions of the attending cadres were clearly much more stirred. First, the director of the County Highway Bureau patted his chest and said he would definitely make the project a model project.

Director An of the Development and Reform Bureau said with a smile, "Director Chen, it's not certain that this project will be done by your Highway Bureau."

Upon hearing this, Director Chen became anxious. With a red face and thick neck, he said, "With such a large project, are we going to let outsiders do it? Can the fat water flow into an outsider's field? Secretary Guan, don't you agree?"

Guan Peishan said with a cold face, "The matter of the project is not something our county can decide. What 'fat water flowing into an outsider's field'? You have no awareness at all."

Guan Peishan's scolding made Director Chen wither, and he sat there with a bitter face, silent for a long time.

Liu Qimeng did not miss the opportunity to say, "Director Chen, don't be anxious. Although the expressway is a state construction project, it will also consider our local actual situation. As long as we are capable, we don't fear the bidding process!"

Guan Peishan glanced at Liu Qimeng, his face showing displeasure.

Director An of the Development and Reform Bureau immediately spoke up, "Today's meeting is to decide the composition of the two administrative agencies under the headquarters. As for the project, now is not the time to talk about it. The land hasn't even been requisitioned yet, so how can we carry out the project?"

The Development and Reform Bureau is an agency directly under the County Party Committee. It just so happens that the director is not on the same side as Secretary Guan Peishan. Guan Peishan had wanted to find an opportunity to replace the director several times, letting him go to the CPPCC to be a vice chairman, but Liu Qimeng had always opposed it, saying that Director An had good work ability and had not yet reached retirement age, so it was inappropriate to replace him, and the matter was dropped.

Land requisition and demolition is a very sensitive job. Guan Peishan thought of many people, even thinking of bringing up Deng Hanyu to take the position, but he worried that people from other bureaus and committees would object. If a large County Party Committee and County Government couldn't even find a director for the Land Requisition and Demolition Office, did they have to go down to the townships to recruit someone?

Finally, a person surfaced in his mind, and this person was the County Youth League Committee Secretary, Huang Qishan.

Huang Qishan was a cadre sent down by the Municipal Party Committee. Not only was he young, but what made people feel more at ease was that this person had a high level of education, had grassroots work experience, and had no entanglements with other cadres in the county. He was a young cadre who could be seen clearly.

Thinking was one thing, but there had to be a reason to push him forward. Guan Peishan called Huang Qishan to his office, and after a series of gentle and warm inquiries, he finally stated his decision. After leaving Huang Qishan, who was completely unprepared, feeling at a loss, he felt a thousand times grateful.

The idea of Huang Qishan serving as the director of the Land Requisition and Demolition Office was not thought of by Guan Peishan alone; someone else had thought of it at the same time. Therefore, less than half an hour after Huang Qishan walked out of Guan Peishan's office, County Magistrate Liu Qimeng also called him to his office and directly told him his own thoughts. This made Huang Qishan think that this was a decision by the County Party Committee and the County Government, and he kept thanking the organization for its trust.

At this moment, Liu Qimeng understood that Guan Peishan had already taken the lead. Regarding the candidate for the director of the Land Requisition and Demolition Office, the two of them had not yet formally discussed it. In the past, when encountering such matters, it was usually Liu Qimeng who nominated and Guan Peishan who confirmed; occasionally there were differences, and they would each take a step back. But today, without saying anything beforehand, both of them thought of pushing Huang Qishan out as a dark horse.

As soon as Director An's voice fell, Liu Qimeng spoke first, saying, "Director An's opinion is indeed the focus of this meeting. How about this, I recommend someone, and you all see how it is."

Before Guan Peishan could speak to stop him, he pointed at Huang Qishan and said, "I recommend Little Secretary Huang of the County Youth League Committee to serve as the director of the Land Requisition and Demolition Office."

Guan Peishan looked at Liu Qimeng in surprise, thinking bitterly in his heart, Liu Qimeng, you old fox, how did you read my mind?

Since things had reached this point, he had no choice but to take the lead in raising his hand and saying, "I agree."

The other cadres looked at each other, and helplessly followed suit by raising their hands in agreement.

Although the work of land requisition and demolition was not a good job, it was definitely a lucrative one. For them, who had been cadres for many years, their hearts were as clear as a mirror. Originally, their eyes were all fixed on this piece of fat meat; even if they couldn't eat it themselves, as long as the person chosen was their own person, they would more or less be able to get a piece of the action—others eat the meat, I drink the soup! Now that Huang Qishan was suddenly proposed, it was like a muffled blow to everyone's head. This kid didn't interact much with everyone usually, and no one had ever seen what color underwear he wore, so how could they see what was inside his underwear now?

Once their beautiful wishes fell through, everyone became disheartened, but their eyes were all fixed straight on Huang Qishan.

Huang Qishan showed a rare calmness, his smiling eyes meeting the various gazes, his face calm and unruffled.

After everyone lowered their hands, Guan Peishan said, "Comrade Huang Qishan has been elected as the director of the Land Requisition and Demolition Office by a unanimous vote." He let an encouraging gaze linger on his calm face and said, "Land requisition and demolition work is related to the smooth progress of the expressway project. Comrade Qishan, you must be mentally prepared."

Huang Qishan immediately expressed his stance, saying, "Please rest assured, Secretary, County Magistrate, and please rest assured, organization, and please rest assured, leaders."

A series of "rest assureds" made Huang Qishan appear sincere and righteous.

Guan Peishan said with a smile, "Comrade Qishan, this is the organization's trust in you. In order to cooperate with your work, I suggest that your office be equipped with three deputy directors, to be served by the deputy director of the County Public Security Bureau, the deputy director of the Finance Bureau, and the deputy president of the Court, respectively. What are everyone's opinions?"

Liu Qimeng immediately expressed his agreement. The other cadres had no choice but to raise their hands in agreement.

In this way, it turned out that Liu Qimeng nominated Huang Qishan, and Guan Peishan nominated the three deputy directors; the two of them cooperated tacitly, and the scene was suddenly harmonious.

Next, they discussed the candidates for the Project Command Office. With the cooperation just now, Guan Peishan and Liu Qimeng both understood very clearly that this was a period of dividing the world into two; no one could monopolize the top spot, and the best way was still for each to nominate their own people.

The candidates for the Project Command Office were much easier to decide. After all, whether there was a project to do or not was another matter. The expressway project could not be controlled by a County Party Committee and County Government; how could state construction allow local will to change it?

But having this office could be considered a precaution.

For the Project Command, one must first be familiar with project construction. With this premise, what followed was much easier. Guan Peishan clarified a task: the Project Command must secure the project tasks for this time, no matter how heavy the tasks were or how great the difficulty.

Guan Peishan's requirement again made many cadres afraid to reach out and take this job. One had to know that if they couldn't secure the project tasks, they would not have completed the work assigned by the County Party Committee; even if they weren't sinners, they would be useless people.

The meeting lasted for a day, and in the end, no one stood up to take the responsibility. It was still Guan Peishan who named names, rigidly stipulating that the person in charge of the Project Command be sent by the County Government.

Liu Qimeng said nothing, and after the meeting dispersed, he left without a word. Before leaving, he called Director An of the Development and Reform Bureau, and the two of them, one after the other, went to his office with heavy hearts.