Chapter 1343

Su Xinghui said without hesitation: "No, what I said is non-negotiable, don't say more—when the rectification is done, then I'll let you start work."

Shen Dayou felt a surge of unnamed anger; he wanted to say, "Don't push people too far," but the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back—he thought of Su Xinghui's behind-the-scenes connections, he caved, and only smiled awkwardly: "Alright, Secretary Su, I'll go back and discuss it with the shareholders."

After saying this, he took his leave from Su Xinghui.

Su Xinghui didn't give much thought to Shen Dayou's visit today; he had firmly decided one thing: the quarry could only resume operations once rectification was complete—if not, it stays shut.

That evening, Rao Songnian and others returned, and Su Xinghui, Lü Xianghui, Director Wu, and Director Wang accompanied them to a work meal, strictly following the new reception expense standards—held in the canteen. Su Xinghui had warned Rao Songnian and the others in advance: "This time it's a bit of a hardship, next time I'll treat the experts to dinner in the county at my own expense."

Rao Songnian and the others fully understood Su Xinghui; they said this was already very good—if it were exotic delicacies and gluttonous feasting, they wouldn't even be comfortable.

In fact, the new reception standard at the canteen wasn't low at all: Rao Songnian's group of seven people had a meal budget of seventy yuan. In the mid-1990s, pork in Shanxian County cost only five yuan per jin, fish only two or three yuan per jin; these professors and students hardly drank alcohol, so seventy yuan was more than enough for a lavish meal—even including a substantial lamb hotpot.

In short, seventy yuan couldn't buy fine wine or wild game, but it was more than enough for everyone to eat well and be full—Rao Songnian and the others were very satisfied.

After eating, Su Xinghui arranged several reception rooms for them to rest in that night.

They chatted in Su Xinghui's office; Rao Songnian said he was confident he could rapidly expand the Ma Tou mountain goat breeding scale in Shanxian County; Luo Ping and Huang Chuanyong also said they had already collected soil samples from several villages to take back for testing, and would recommend several high-yield forage grasses suitable for Ma Tou mountain goat breeding to be planted widely on the available pastoral wastelands here.

Rao Songnian also made a suggestion to Su Xinghui: if he wanted to promote animal husbandry in Matou Town and Shanxian County, besides raising Ma Tou mountain goats, he could also raise a dual-purpose breed of yellow cattle—Jiangnong No. 1, developed by Jiangcheng Agricultural University by crossbreeding Luxi yellow cattle as the dam.

Luxi yellow cattle are one of China's five famous cattle breeds; they are large-bodied, grow quickly, reaching slaughter weight in just one and a half to two years, with maximum weights exceeding two thousand jin, and they are gentle-tempered, hardy, disease-resistant, have high meat yield, and strong reproductive capacity in females.

The meat yield of Luxi yellow cattle exceeds fifty percent, and the meat quality is excellent, with marble-like marbling, earning the reputation of "five-layer fatty meat"; its price is much higher than ordinary yellow beef.

Moreover, Luxi yellow cattle are also high-quality leather cattle: their hides can be machine-split into six layers, and demand currently outstrips supply, mainly sold to the military—military personnel's belts, boots, and other leather gear are all made from this hide, whose price is also very high.

Of course, Luxi yellow cattle have some drawbacks, such as underdeveloped muscles in certain areas and insufficient milk secretion in females, falling short compared to some foreign specialized beef breeds.

To address these shortcomings, Rao Songnian, over the past few years, has conducted crossbreeding experiments using Luxi yellow cattle as the dam and other superior yellow cattle breeds, including famous foreign beef breeds, and has now selected a superior yellow cattle breed—Jiangnong No. 1.

Jiangnong No. 1 retains all the advantages of Luxi yellow cattle and incorporates the strengths of those superior sires; now it grows and fattens faster, with fuller muscles in the hindquarters and thighs; a one-and-a-half-year-old bull can reach around two thousand jin, with maximum weights approaching two thousand five hundred jin, generating economic value of over ten thousand yuan.

Upon hearing of this cattle breed, Su Xinghui immediately became interested and asked whether it was suitable for raising in Matou Town.

Rao Songnian said: "Of course it's suitable—Matou Town is a medium-to-high altitude area with mild weather year-round; as long as you plant suitable forage grasses, this is the perfect place to raise this cattle."

Su Xinghui said: "That's perfect—then please, Professor Rao, oversee the promotion and provide guidance here; Director Lü, you'll accompany these professors throughout these days."

Lü Xianghui nodded: "Understood."

Su Xinghui also turned to Luo Ping and Huang Chuanyong: "Professors Luo and Huang, please give extra attention to the forage grass issue; also, if any medicinal herbs are suitable for planting here, please advise us."

Both nodded and agreed.

The water sample test report from Min Tong's technician came out: three springs in Matou Town had excellent water quality—natural premium mineral water. After synthesizing all conditions, Min Tong and Mai Yongyuan decided to build a plant in Xiuyan Village, closest to the Matou Town Government, to produce mineral water.

The project's investment is twenty million yuan—already the largest foreign investment in Shanxian County's history—filling Matou Town's cadres with delight; especially ordinary cadres, whose income directly correlates with the town's economic development; Secretary Su had brought in so many investors, and now a massive investment had landed—their income increase was certain.

Party Secretary Shi Lianxi and Village Chief Shi Anlu of Xiuyan Village were ecstatic—they never imagined Matou Town's first foreign-invested enterprise would land in their village.

What did a twenty-million-yuan mineral water plant mean for their village? It meant annual fixed compensation payments, and at least a hundred villagers employed at the factory—how could they not be thrilled?

Min Tong and Mai Yongyuan were equally delighted; their mineral water production had hit a bottleneck, and now that they'd found this water source, accelerating construction could let them catch this year's peak sales season.

China's mineral water market was still burgeoning; their Xianrenquan brand mineral water, having entered early with superior quality, was extremely popular and held a very high market share—but as the market grew larger, their current output was constraining their development.

To maintain Xianrenquan's market share, the currently most important thing was to find new high-quality water sources and expand production; these springs they found in Matou Town solved their urgent problem.

Both sides maintained maximum sincerity, so negotiations for this cooperation project were swiftly concluded, and they quickly reached an investment agreement.

The Zhenzheng Prefecture had already begun land acquisition work with Min Tong and others in Xiuyan Village; Su Xinghui instructed Party Secretary Shi Lianxi, Village Chief Shi Anlu, and other village cadres to do ideological work and policy explanations among villagers, preventing excessive demands.

He also told Min Tong and others to be generous in land compensation, paying up to the national standard's upper limit; Min Tong and Mai Yongyuan agreed—earlier production meant earlier profits, and compared to earnings, this compensation was negligible.

Moreover, this factory was being built in Su Xinghui's jurisdiction; they naturally wouldn't do anything to make Su Xinghui's job difficult.

Thus, land acquisition in Xiuyan Village proceeded very smoothly.