(I've been continuously updating for two months and it's really tiring. Yesterday I was too exhausted to update, sorry about that.)

  In 1993, the province's steel output was less than three million tons, and the provincial-owned Huaihai Steel Group had an annual output of just over one million tons; the municipal steel plant, as the third-largest steel enterprise in the province, had a steel output of only about five million tons.

  Taking this as a reference, Shen Hua wants to make Meixi Steel Plant reach a scale of one million tons. In other people's eyes, it may be somewhat overly ambitious.

  However, He Qing saw with his own eyes how the Meixi Steel Plant developed under Shen Hua's management over the past six months, and he believed that as long as Shen Hua was given enough time, it was not impossible to develop the Meixi Steel Plant into a large steel enterprise with an annual output of one million tons.

  Of course, this is also Shen Hua putting the long-term goal of Mei Xi Steel Plant at one million tons. If he were to say his true intentions out loud, it may not be something that He Qing She can bear at this time...

  Shen Huai said to Yuan Hongjun, "In order to get the attention of the city, we need to report the project at a high level; in fact, it's not necessary for He Tang to take out all 600 mu of land at once. No matter what, as long as He Tang can provide us with some land, we will pay an annual occupancy fee of 600 yuan per mu to He Tang Town, which will be used to compensate the farmers who lost their land."

  "When it comes to being close, when it comes to money, Yuan Hongjun is also not giving in. He said: 'Six hundred yuan per mu of land, isn't that a bit too little? Our Hexiang is poor, most farmers rely on farming for survival, if we take away the land from their hands all at once and don't give them enough compensation, how can they survive? If the steel factory raises this money by one more time, it will be easier for us to do our work..."

  Yuan Hongjun did not expect Shen Hua to directly bring up the issue of money, although he intentionally raised the land price by a factor of two, he still looked uncertainly at Chen Xueqi beside him: he himself didn't quite understand this.

  Chen Xueqi nodded and said, "One mu of land is short of 1,200 yuan, and the village work is also very difficult to do; after all, the steel plant's favorite piece of land belongs to Lishacun..."

  If 600 yuan per mu were compensated to farmers, it should be enough. In recent years, the prices of grain, cotton, oilseed rape and other agricultural products have not risen, but fertilizers and pesticides have been rising sharply. Farmers who only plant fields work from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, and their income per mu is unlikely to exceed 200-300 yuan.

  However, the steel plant compensated Hecang Village for land acquisition, and if there was no benefit to the town or village, why would they make such an effort?

  Shen Hua said to Yuan Hongjun and Chen Xueqi: "Now the industrial land in the development zone is only 30,000 yuan per mu, and it's already flat. If Hetang Town can do a good job of 'three connections' before handing over the land, we can also offer this price..."

  Seeing Yuan Hongjun's embarrassed expression, Shen Hua also knew that Hetang Town did not have the ability to flatten large-scale land, and continued to say, "Of course, I still have a plan, I don't know if Secretary Yuan and Mayor Chen can accept it?"

  "What plan?" asked Yuan Hongjun.

  "We can apply to the district, and have Li She and Cai Jiaqiao two villages separated from He Tang and merged into Mei Xi Town," Shen Huai looked at Yuan Hongjun's eyes narrowed, knowing he wouldn't be happy with such a plan, and continued, "We can give He Tang some appropriate compensation..."

  Shen Hua wanted to take over the two villages at the confluence of Mei Creek River and Zhejiang East Branch, which naturally made Yuan Hongjun unhappy. Who would be willing to let others openly grab a piece of their territory? But when discussing this topic at the table, Yuan Hongjun had no choice but to follow Shen Hua's lead, and couldn't help asking: "What kind of compensation is there?"

  "The footpath from the east side of Mei Xi Steel Factory to the dock in the south, connecting with Xia Mei Highway in the north, I plan to build it into a secondary urban road. The merger of Li She and Cai Jiaqiao villages, taking this road as the boundary, will make it convenient for the two towns to share this highway. To the west of this highway, Mei Xi Town will plan to develop an iron and steel industrial park; to the east of the land, He Tang Town can also plan to develop industry and build factories," Shen Huai said, "how about this condition?"

  Yuan Hongjun and Chen Xueqi exchanged a glance, unable to deny that Shen Hua's condition was indeed very tempting.

  Getting rich before fixing the road is a simple yet profound truth. On a smaller scale, it means convenience for commuters; on a larger scale, it means that industrial supporting capabilities must keep up with development needs.

  Yuan Hongjun also tried to attract some investment, but not only were outsiders unwilling to build a factory in Hetao, even locals were unwilling to invest in Hetao. In the end, it was because Hetao's infrastructure was too poor, there were no roads, no electricity, and even taking the water route, there wasn't a single decent dock, who would be willing to set up their business in such a remote place?

  A three-year transition period has been set, during which the two towns will be financially independent and all construction funds will need to be raised separately.

  Yuan Hongjun also knew that Meixi Town planned to widen the Xiamei Highway this year - of course, Meixi Town would only widen its own section of the Xiamei Highway and could not help Hetang repair the road. At that time, Hetang Town will be very passive.

  Heting Town is going to follow Meixi to start working on the Mei Highway, where will the tens of millions of road repair funds be raised from?

  If it's not repaired, the common people will see that Mei Creek Town is repairing the road on their side, while this side is still a bumpy gravel road. Won't they curse them as incompetent? If the road isn't repaired, investment will also stop at Mei Creek, and the gap between He Tang and Mei Creek will become even wider.

  It's not just a matter of losing face, he and Chen Xueqi have no foundation in Tangzhai District, no upper-level connections. If the district's economic development doesn't go well in the future, they will be directly removed from their positions. What can they say to defend themselves?

  If Meixi Town is repairing the lower Mei highway at the same time, and another high-grade highway is built on the new boundary between the two towns to the south, Hetang Town can share it, then Hetang Town can directly use this highway as the main road, temporarily without having to worry about the expansion of the lower Mei highway.

  In addition, Meixi Town concentrated on the west side of this road to develop the steel industry. With the road, industrial supporting facilities such as water, electricity and gas will also follow soon. In the future, Meixi Steel Plant will also build a power plant in the Jiangnan area, which will provide the most basic industrial supporting capacity for Hetang Town to attract investment and build factories on the east side of the road.

  Although Shen Hua was about to take away the two villages of He Tang, this matter would not make anyone happy, but Yuan Hongjun had to admit that Shen Hua's condition was too tempting. With He Tang's own ability, it could only squeeze out 4-5 million construction funds every year, and it would take ten years to accumulate enough money to build a high-grade highway.

  Another thing, the two villages that Shen Hua focused on are located at the confluence of Mei Creek River and Zhujiang River, with no direct exit passage, very poor. If these two villages are really divided out, they will only alleviate the financial pressure on Hetang Town.

  Yuan Hongjun and Chen Xueqi remained silent for a long time, then Shen Huai said: "Secretary Yuan, Mayor Chen, you go back and discuss it among yourselves, which plan are you willing to adopt? We'll finalize it as soon as possible. Once we've reached an agreement, the work at the district level will be easier..."

  Yuan Hongjun saw that He Qing was silent and didn't speak, so he asked: "Three plans, is Mei Creek Town fully prepared?"

  "Secretary Shen is the leader of our Meixi Town, he has the overall development plan of Meixi Town in his mind, and we are all at ease. Another thing is that this matter is mainly handled by the steel factory, and the town is just doing some coordination work..." said He Qingshe.

  Although Shen Hua's plan also surprised him, and he had not heard Shen Hua mention it beforehand, in front of Yuan Hongjun and Chen Xueqi, he still had to maintain consistency with Shen Hua. He Qing She thought carefully and realized that Shen Hua might want to directly merge Li She Village and Cai Jiaqiao Village into Mei Xi Town, so that Mei Xi Town would have a direct passage to the river. In this way, building docks, warehouses, and small power plants along the coast of Li She Village could ensure that they were all within the jurisdiction of Mei Xi Town, and the benefits would not flow to outsiders...

  Shen Huai's three plans, whichever one, are not something Yuan Hongjun can digest in a short time. He said: "We will discuss this matter as soon as we get back, but should Mei Xi first collude with the district?"

  Shen Hua nodded and said, "I will find an appropriate opportunity to report this matter to Secretary Yang and Mayor Pan..." If it were up to him, he would have liked to directly merge HeTang Town over, but to implement this plan, he must get Tan Qiping's direct support. At this time, Shen Hua was very skeptical that Tan Qiping would support him in doing so, and could only take a step back and first merge the two villages blocking the exit of MeiXi Steel Factory into the river.

  Dishes were served one after another, and even according to the lowest consumption standard, a full table of dishes was still very rich.

  Yang Lili never entered the private room again, and the two cheongsam-clad waitresses also stopped slacking off. It seemed they were too lazy to bother with this table anymore. Shen Huai saw that three bottles of Xijiu had been opened, and everyone's faces were flushed, so he suggested putting away the wine cups and stopping drinking for the night.

  Yuan Hongjun also knew that they didn't have much contact with each other, and since the party and government leaders of both towns were present, it wasn't suitable to arrange other activities. Since no service staff came up to their private room for half a day, everyone went downstairs together to settle the bill.

  Just as I walked to the corner of the stairs, Yang Lili happened to lead another group of guests in.

  This group of guests had about eight people, standing at the elevator entrance waiting for the elevator to come down. There were quite a few of them, blocking the staircase next to the elevator and not showing any intention of giving way.

  Chen Xueqi and the owner of the Yang surname's sand and gravel yard walked in front, saying "excuse me" twice, seeing that this group of people did not intend to let them pass, also knowing that customers who often consume at Yingwang International are either rich or noble, and it is not something that their township officials and small bosses can afford to offend, so they could only turn their heads back to look at Shen Huai and Yuan Hongjun walking in the back.

  Nowadays, there are more and more people who are lawless and domineering. Shen Huan couldn't just fight with them whenever he met them, so he stood at the corner of the stairs, planning to wait until they got into the elevator before doing anything...

  This group of guests chose this point to enter the Yingwang International, it is unlikely that they came to dine, and should be heading to the fifth or sixth floor for entertainment. Among them, there were three people who Shen Hua knew:

  One is Ge Yongqiu's uncle, also the head of the production safety department of the municipal steel plant, Zhou Dazui; another is the director of the municipal steel plant, Gu Tong; one is the former deputy director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, Song Sanhe.

  Shen Hua knew that Song Sanhe had given Duo Kai, then went to Wan Hu Corporation controlled by Gao Xiaohu to serve as deputy general manager. The Wan Hu Corporation mainly relied on the monopoly of the city's steel plant's steel sales to make a fortune, and Song Sanhe followed Gu Tong and Zhou Dàmǒu together, Shen Hua didn't think it was strange at all.

  It's strange that among the guests waiting for the elevator, Song Sanhe, Gu Tong and Zhou Dazui were still in a slightly later position, apparently brought over to accompany them.

  Yang Lili led the way, surrounded by the crowd, and the two young men who had just come down from the elevator were talking with their heads held high. The one on the left was about thirty years old, and his face looked like it was molded from the same template as Gao Tianhe's.

  Shen Huai had rolled over Gao Xiaohu's two luxury cars at the north gate of Meixi Steel Plant half a year ago, but from start to finish, he had never met Gao Xiaohu in person. He didn't expect to run into him on an occasion like this...