Chapter 149

Peng Kehong thought to himself, what the hell am I happy about? I don't know why things turned out like this either! On second thought, it seemed like Zeng Xianglin had caused today's events. If Zeng Xianglin hadn't insisted, maybe this matter would have just faded away. Now, he even hated Zeng Xianglin.

People like him would never reflect on their own mistakes and would always push the responsibility onto others. This was the typical face of a petty person.

Peng Kehong had suffered a huge setback today, but his actions had also brought trouble to Su Xinghui. In the future, when he received a pager message, where would he go to return the call? It was fine during the day, as he could go to the Post and Telecommunications Bureau, but what about at night? There wasn't even a public phone here.

Life without a mobile phone was truly too inconvenient.

After thinking for a while, Su Xinghui decided that in the future, every time he made a call from the Party and Government Office, he would record the time and pay according to the rate, paying each time he made a call.

When he mentioned this to Wei Bingyi, Wei Bingyi thought about it and nodded in agreement.

Today, Wei Bingyi also hated Peng Kehong quite a bit; he had also paid dozens of yuan in phone bills.

During this period, Su Xinghui ran to various villages even more diligently. He asked the village cadres to strengthen the mobilization work among the villagers. He guaranteed to the village cadres that the products from their village's special breeding and special planting industries would definitely be sold. If they couldn't be sold, they could come to him, Su Xinghui.

Some time ago, the mobilization work in some villages was not carried out effectively, mainly because the villagers were worried that their products wouldn't sell. Now that Su Xinghui had given such a guarantee, and with the example of Ye Zhugou Village in front of them, the village cadres' concerns were much smaller, and the efficiency of the mobilization work improved significantly.

After the Shang Meng Highway officially started construction, Zhang Kaishan came to Meng Hu Ling Township again. He was not only checking the construction situation of this road but also checking the progress of agricultural industrialization in Meng Hu Ling.

Now, every village was carrying out economic projects suitable for their characteristics. For example, some of the wild game in Ye Zhugou Village was ready for market, and the special breeding farm in Qishuping had also introduced stock from Ye Zhugou and was in the breeding stage.

The Eucommia protection forest in Wild Boar Gully had already started raising seedlings. Rare tree species such as fragrant fruit trees, southern yew, and magnolia in villages like Hutou Village, Taohua Village, and Hujia'ao were also being raised. The climate in these places was relatively mild, so seedlings for these tree species could be raised even in winter.

The planting of Chinese medicinal herbs and fruit trees in several villages could only start after the spring of next year, but they had already begun preliminary preparations, such as plowing the land, collecting seeds, and contacting high-quality tree species.

These projects had already applied for special funds, and if there were no accidents, the funds would be in place soon.

Zhang Kaishan was quite satisfied with this work progress and praised the relevant staff in Meng Hu Ling Township.

Afterwards, Zhang Kaishan met with Su Xinghui alone. He first asked if Su Xinghui had any difficulties here that needed his help to resolve.

Su Xinghui said, "Uncle Zhang, there are no difficulties that need resolving right now. It's just that the villagers have some concerns about whether the Chinese medicinal herbs and fruits they grow will be able to sell."

Zhang Kaishan nodded and said, "That is a problem. This problem cannot always be solved by you alone. You have already solved the sales problem for the Ye Zhugou special breeding farm and the bamboo weaving factory. It seems the county needs to play a role as well."

Su Xinghui said, "The county does have a Chinese medicinal herb company and a food factory, but their scale is a bit small. If our township plants on a large scale, they may not be able to digest it all. Therefore, we still need to think in advance about how to solve this problem, either by letting the county enterprises expand their scale or by finding ways in the province."

Zhang Kaishan nodded. Meng Hu Ling was vast and sparsely populated, making it the largest township in the county. The total area of barren hills suitable for special planting added up to at least over one hundred thousand mu. Even if we don't say all of it is used for special planting, just using half would result in a huge output, which the county enterprises absolutely couldn't digest.

For example, yellow peaches and citrus can bear fruit about three years after planting, and reach a peak production period two or three years later. The yield per mu can reach over five thousand jin. At that time, the total output of these fruits could reach hundreds of millions of jin. What a huge number! Can the small food factory in the county digest it?

These problems must be considered in advance. This is also part of the agricultural industrialization proposed by Su Xinghui. If it is not considered clearly in advance, it will be too late to consider it when the fruit trees start bearing fruit in three years.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Kaishan said, "Okay, I will consider this problem. I still agree with the point of view in your article: set up enterprises locally in Meng Hu Ling, either by cultivating them yourself or by introducing investment from outside. Setting up enterprises locally can digest these agricultural products, increase the township and county's fiscal revenue, and also solve employment and increase farmers' income."

Su Xinghui said, "There is at least one year until the harvest of annual herbaceous Chinese medicinal herbs, and at least three years until the fruit trees bear fruit. The time is still relatively ample. How about this, I will also go to Jiangcheng when I have time to see if I can find any good ways."

Zhang Kaishan nodded. He now trusted Su Xinghui's ability to handle affairs quite a bit. He said to Su Xinghui again, "By the way, Xinghui, I heard that you had some conflicts with Shan Xiaolong and the others last time?"

Su Xinghui said, "How did you know?"

Zhang Kaishan smiled, "It's not like Qian Dapeng and Tao Yanbin, who hang out with Shan Xiaolong every day, haven't been saying it outside, claiming that you made them lose face and that one day they will make you look good."

Su Xinghui then told Zhang Kaishan what happened that day. After hearing it, Zhang Kaishan said, "Of course you were right to do that. The wild game in that special breeding farm is the property of the common people, so of course you couldn't let them take it away for nothing. However, you still need to be careful in the future; this group of theirs is heartless and ruthless."

Su Xinghui said, "Uncle Zhang, this group of Shan Xiaolong's is completely a black sheep in Shang Jun County, committing all kinds of evil. When will they get the punishment they deserve?"

Zhang Kaishan was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Do you think I don't want to? But now is not the time yet. However, Xinghui, rest assured, as long as the time is ripe, I will definitely not let them go unpunished."

Su Xinghui certainly knew why Zhang Kaishan said it wasn't the time yet. Shan Guozhi had great influence in Shang Jun County. To move against Shan Xiaolong's group, one must topple Shan Guozhi. But to topple Shan Guozhi, how easy is that? Shan Guozhi also had leaders supporting him in the region.

However, Su Xinghui asking Zhang Kaishan this now was certainly not to make Zhang Kaishan go head-to-head with Shan Guozhi now; he was just testing Zhang Kaishan's attitude.

Su Xinghui said, "Uncle Zhang, I think Secretary Ji must also be very dissatisfied with County Head Shan's arrogance."

Zhang Kaishan was startled. He couldn't help but raise his head and look at Su Xinghui. After a long time, Su Xinghui also looked at him with a smile.

For Zhang Kaishan, he wanted to topple Shan Guozhi every moment, because he knew that Shan Guozhi's group was the tumor of Shang Jun County. As long as they were there for one day, Shang Jun County would never develop well.

In the past, Zhang Kaishan had no power and no backing, so it was impossible for him to fight Shan Guozhi. He just thought about this idea.

Now, Zhang Kaishan had met Lu Zhenghong through Su Xinghui and had a foundation in the province. However, this relationship was still relatively fragile and not solid. Therefore, he had to be steady and not act too hastily; otherwise, it would only be a sign of lacking political wisdom.

Of course, now that he had connections in the province, some people in the county were actively leaning towards him, and Shan Guozhi's foundation was beginning to loosen.

He had also thought about whether he could gradually control the situation in Shang Jun County if he joined forces with Comrade Ji Tao. However, Zhang Kaishan didn't think much of Comrade Ji Tao; this person was clearly here in Shang Jun County to pad his resume.

However, now that Su Xinghui had said this, he couldn't help but start to re-evaluate Comrade Ji Tao. Even if he was here to pad his resume, as a County Party Secretary, could he really tolerate County Head Shan Guozhi being so arrogant and domineering in front of him? Did he have no thoughts at all?

He thought to himself that if he were Comrade Ji Tao, he should also seize this opportunity while Shan Guozhi's foundation was loosening.

After a long time, Zhang Kaishan nodded to Su Xinghui.