The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

My third uncle, Sun Dewen, was a capable man in the village, serving as the village accountant.

Under Jiang Yiming's guidance, he raised turtles on several dozen acres of land.

Unlike other types of fish, soft-shelled turtles require high investment costs and carry significant risks.

If you succeed, you'll earn a lot.

Although only a few dozen acres were used for farming, nearly 200,000 yuan was invested.

For a farmer, especially in 2004, an investment of 200,000 yuan was by no means a small amount.

When Jiang Yiming and his group arrived, their third uncle had already prepared the meal.

Spiced turtle eggs, "King Turtle Chicken", frog and wild boar hot pot, stir-fried wild rabbit meat, and stewed wild pheasant with potatoes are all kinds of wild game.

"Secretary Lu, welcome, welcome."

Sun Dewen said enthusiastically.

"Accountant Sun, I'm sorry to bother you."

Lu Hansheng laughed and said, "Originally, I was going to take you to Old Zhao's house in Hongtun Village for dinner, but Secretary Yiming said you were all ready, so I came along."

“Yiming told me a long time ago. He said he was inviting you to his house for dinner, and I started preparing the meal a long time ago. The wild boar meat has been stewing in the pot since this morning.”

Sun Dewen smiled and said, "Yiming, you keep an eye on Secretary Lu while I go prepare some side dishes."

Jiang Yiming was his nephew, while Lu Hansheng was a leader in the township. Subconsciously, Sun Dewen felt that Lu Hansheng held a higher official position.

"Accountant Sun, what you're saying makes me afraid to eat. I should be the one taking care of Secretary Yiming, not the other way around."

Lu Hansheng personally served the bowls and chopsticks.

Wang Lifeng stepped forward and said, "Secretary Lu, please sit down. I'll serve the two leaders."

"Okay, give the young people a chance to shine."

Lu Hansheng smiled and said, "I heard that Secretary Wang is about to be promoted. Congratulations!"

Xinping County is such a small place, so any news that comes out spreads everywhere.

The news that Wang Lifeng was about to be appointed as the director of the duty room of the county party committee office naturally spread.

"Thank you, Secretary Lu."

Wang Lifeng humbly replied, "Secretary Jiang's words are an encouragement to me. I will take this opportunity to work hard and bring him honor."

"Third Uncle, get a pot of your turtle eggs soaked in wine, let's all have some today."

Jiang Yiming laughed.

"The wine used to soak turtle eggs is very cheap, so how could I possibly offer it to you?"

Sun Dewen laughed and said, "I'll get you some good wine."

Then they brought out a case of liquor, all labeled in English.

"Accountant Sun, you even have such a fancy bottle of red wine at home."

Lu Hansheng laughed and said, "Alright, let's not drink baijiu today. Let's have some foreign liquor instead."

"Third Uncle, just listen to me, get a pot of that turtle egg-infused liquor you made. Secretary Lu and I want to drink some baijiu today. This red wine isn't strong enough."

Upon seeing that it was this kind of wine, Jiang Yiming became even more determined to have his third uncle soak turtle eggs in the wine.

When Lu Hansheng heard Jiang Yiming say this, he nodded in agreement and said, "That's right, the weather is so cold, let's have some strong liquor."

Having no other choice, Sun Dewen had to bring out the wine infused with turtle eggs.

The group thoroughly enjoyed their drinks.

“Secretary Hansheng, I went to the city a few days ago and had a meal with a senior colleague from the Finance Bureau. After the New Year, she will arrange an agricultural subsidy for our county. This fund will mainly be used to support the breeding of special fish, and I plan to allocate 300,000 yuan to your Xigou Township.”

Jiang Yiming said, "You should oversee how this money is used."

"Thank you, Secretary Yiming, for your care and support for Xigou Township. On behalf of the people of Xigou Township, I would like to raise a glass to you."

After Lu Hansheng finished offering a toast, he smiled and said, "Accountant Sun's turtle farming area is the largest in our Xigou Township. This year, the business is doing well. With this funding, we can support farmers like Accountant Sun to expand and strengthen their operations."

"Thank you, Secretary Lu. I'd like to offer you three toasts."

Sun Dewen quickly poured wine and toasted Lu Hansheng.

"We should thank Secretary Yiming."

Lu Hansheng suggested, "Let's all pay our respects to Secretary Yiming."

“Secretary Hansheng, I can drink the wine, but this credit has nothing to do with me. The money should be allocated to your township, and your township should oversee its use. I have one condition: the standards must not be lowered, even for my third uncle, everyone must be treated equally.”

Jiang Yiming spoke frankly.

He brought Lu Hansheng to his uncle's house for dinner today, naturally hoping that Lu Hansheng would take care of his uncle.

He personally would not violate relevant laws and policies for personal gain, nor would he allow his relatives to act recklessly in his name.

However, if his relatives and friends meet the relevant conditions, he would never let them give up their benefits just because he is afraid of what others will say.

He is not the kind of person who only cares about his own interests.

Just like this time, if his uncle meets the conditions set by the township, he naturally hopes that his uncle can receive the relevant subsidies.

"Secretary Yiming, rest assured, we will definitely keep a strict eye on things and will never give anyone grounds for criticism."

Lu Hansheng assured.

After they had a drink, Jiang Yiming asked, "Third Uncle, I remember you don't have any friends doing business outside. Where did you get this foreign liquor?"

"Oh, this case of wine was recommended by Mayor Fei. It's priced at 999 per case, but he asked me to pay 588, saying it was an internal price for me."

Sun Dewen laughed and said, "I don't know anything about red wine. You can take it back and drink it later. Don't let me waste it here."

"If you don't drink red wine, why spend so much money to buy it?"

Jiang Yiming said.

A box contains four bottles, averaging over a hundred yuan per bottle, which is still quite expensive.

Sun Dewen glanced at Lu Hansheng, smiled and said, "It's nothing. I was just thinking of buying a case to keep at home. When you come, can you have some?"

“Secretary Hansheng and I are old friends. You don’t need to worry about him. Just tell the truth.”

Jiang Yiming noticed his third uncle's hesitation and spoke up.

"Accountant Sun, don't worry, just say what you think. I'm definitely on Secretary Yiming's side."

Lu Hansheng laughed.

Sun Dewen then said, "This case of wine was assigned to me by Township Chief Fei. He called me and asked me to get a case. I didn't want to offend him, so I had no choice but to buy it. I heard from other people in the township that many people have been assigned this kind of wine."

"Did Fei Feng do it?"

Lu Hansheng said with a stern face, "That Fei Feng, I never expected him to have done so many bad things behind my back!"

"Secretary Yiming, I will investigate this matter together with the previous ones and report back to you then."

"Don't get involved in this matter. I'll have someone investigate."

Jiang Yiming said, "We both know Fei Feng's background. You don't need to offend Wang Xianming. It's more appropriate for me to step in."

"Alright, then I'll wait for Secretary Yiming's news. If he needs my cooperation, I will definitely cooperate fully and will not hesitate to act because of his background."

After the meal, Jiang Yiming returned to the county.

The next morning, Jiang Yiming took the initiative to go to the office of Chen Xujian, the secretary of the county discipline inspection commission.

"Secretary Yiming, why did you come here in person?"

Chen Xujian quickly stood up to greet him: "You could have just made a phone call and I would have come to your office. Why did you have to come all the way here?"

He then personally brewed tea for Jiang Yiming.

"After sitting for a long time, I wanted to get out and move around, and before I knew it, I came here."

Jiang Yiming smiled and asked, "What are your thoughts on the meeting on optimizing the business environment held yesterday?"

"They're so inhuman! They just plucked the peaches from the peaches, stealing all the fruits of our hard work over the past year."

Chen Xujian said indignantly, "What disgusts me even more is that they put the pressure and tasks on the Discipline Inspection Commission, telling me not to just focus on village cadres, but to arrest more cadres at the deputy section chief level and above."

"Do you think I don't want to arrest them? Every time there's the slightest hint of trouble, a bunch of calls pleading for leniency come in. How am I supposed to solve the case? I can ignore the lower-ranking ones, but I can't just ignore Jiang Xuangui and Zhang Yuntao calling personally to plead for leniency, can I?"

"Now they say I can only handle small cases. They've said both good and bad things to me, and I'm caught in the middle. Now, many people want to stay far away from me, and some even pray that something bad will happen to me, because they feel that I've wronged them."

“Even Jiang Xuangui and Wang Xuanming and a few others don’t like me. They gave me a task, requiring our Discipline Inspection Commission to handle an average of one case per month, and cases below the deputy section chief level don’t count; we must catch people at the deputy section chief level or above to count as one case.”

"This work requires efforts from all aspects to truly optimize the business environment. Simply arresting a few people by the Discipline Inspection Commission won't solve the problem at all. They're making things difficult for our Discipline Inspection Commission!"

"I suspect you've been implicated because of me. They see how much you support me, so they have no choice but to suppress you."

Jiang Yiming said, "Since they've given you a mission, then just arrest them."

“I have no problem with arresting people. If I want to investigate, I can always find problems. The key is that Xinping County is such a small place. Even arresting a village party secretary can bring more than a dozen calls asking for leniency, not to mention that a deputy section-level or higher cadre is arrested every month. I don’t know if my phone will be ringing off the hook, but I’m afraid I’ll be ringing off the hook.”

"This is a difficult matter. Anyway, I plan to give a self-criticism speech at the end of the year."

"That's not necessary."

Jiang Yiming laughed and said, "I've come to see you because I've brought you some business."

"Since the establishment of the environmental optimization working group last year, it has indeed achieved good results, and many party members and cadres no longer dare to accept bribes. However, there are always countermeasures to policies, and they collect kickbacks in roundabout ways."

“Some Party members and cadres use their positions to forcibly impose red wine and gift boxes on enterprises. A case of wine that originally costs a dozen yuan becomes ten times more expensive when it is imposed on enterprises. Some gift boxes that cost a few yuan become tens of yuan when they are imposed on entrepreneurs.”

"Business owners dare not speak out. Even if they are unwilling, they dare not complain for fear of retaliation. These things may not seem like much when allocated to businesses, ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, but they add up to a considerable amount."

“I asked around and found out that an official had acquired more than 100 cases of liquor, which was basically all distributed. At a profit of 50 yuan per bottle, he could have made at least 20,000 yuan. If we really investigate this, it’s damaging the business environment and is a form of bribery.”

"Then I will investigate based on your lead."

Chen Xujian asked, "Secretary Yiming, is there a scope?"

Jiang Yiming came to him, which must mean he had someone to investigate, so he naturally wanted to find out the details.

"The township also needs to investigate thoroughly. I heard that Fei Feng, the deputy head of Xigou Township, is involved in related matters. Please arrange for someone to verify this to avoid wrongly accusing him."

Jiang Yiming said.

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to investigate and verify immediately."

Upon returning to his office, Jiang Yiming instructed Wang Lifeng to notify the County Party Committee's Supervision Office to formulate a plan to include county leaders in the supervision team. Subsequently, a notice was issued, in conjunction with relevant officials from the Fisheries Bureau and the Agriculture Bureau, to strengthen supervision of the excavation of rice-shrimp paddies, striving to complete the county's minimum target of 250,000 mu (approximately 16,667 hectares).

With county leaders leading the inspection teams, the townships below dared not slack off anymore and worked overtime to complete the assigned tasks and targets.

Lu Hansheng from Xigou Township also reported the situation to him.

"Secretary Yiming, I've investigated, and it's true that some of the subsidy funds were misappropriated or embezzled. I've already ordered Zhao Mingyuan and Fei Feng to return the funds. So, should we not punish them this time?"

Lu Hansheng inquired.

“Secretary Hansheng, I know you are worried about interference from Secretary Xuangui and County Head Xianming, but we can’t stop the investigation just because we’re afraid of their interference.”

Jiang Yiming said, "Let the Discipline Inspection Commission investigate. If it's just a minor issue, we can let it go. But if it involves other issues, we'll deal with them all at once."

"Okay, I'll cooperate fully."

After assigning the tasks, Jiang Yiming immediately began arranging a county-wide rural work conference.

On Friday afternoon, Xinping County held a rural work conference and made arrangements for agricultural and rural work in 2004.

More than 200 people attended the meeting, including county leaders, heads of county-level departments, heads of township and sub-district party and government organs, and representatives of agricultural enterprises.

The meeting was chaired by Jiang Yiming, and county party secretary Jiang Xuangui and county head Zhang Yuntao delivered speeches respectively.

"Currently, our county's agriculture and rural economy are at a new stage of development. The national government has made a major decision to promote the strategic adjustment of the agricultural and rural economic structure, and has proposed to take increasing farmers' income as the central task and basic goal, and has formulated the policy of giving more, taking less, and loosening control. Our county has adopted a series of policies and measures, and the agricultural and rural economic development has achieved good results."

Our county's agriculture and rural economy continued to develop steadily, farmers' incomes continued to recover, and rural society maintained a stable situation. However, we must also be aware that the development of agriculture and the rural economy still faces many contradictions and difficulties, the main one currently being the slow growth of farmers' income in our county.

The overall requirements for agricultural and rural work in our county in 2004 are: to conscientiously implement the spirit of the Party's meetings, firmly establish and earnestly implement the scientific outlook on development, adhere to the requirements of coordinating urban and rural economic and social development, uphold the principle of giving more, taking less, and loosening control, adhere to the Party's basic rural policies, adjust the agricultural and rural economic structure, expand farmers' employment, strengthen support for agriculture, improve grain production capacity, strive to achieve rapid growth in farmers' income, and realize comprehensive development of the rural economy and society.

Solving the problem of increasing farmers' income is not only an urgent and arduous task for our county at present, but also a long-term and challenging task in the future; it is not only a basic goal of rural work, but also a major issue in the overall economic work.

To increase farmers' income, we must take more direct, clearer, and more forceful measures.

First, we will increase support for the "two yellows" industry. This will be achieved through policy formulation and subsidies to further promote its development; second, we will develop integrated rice-fish farming models…