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

"Congratulations, County Chief Zhu! Congratulations, Director Du! This is a joyous occasion, you must treat us to a meal."

Chen Zixin and the others offered their congratulations.

"Haha, please, please, you must."

Zhu Xinglei and Du Zhengqiang were overjoyed.

"Secretary Yiming, can you still have a drink? I'll have someone bring some snacks to go with your drinks, and we can chat while we drink?"

Zhu Xinglei, beaming with joy, said, "I must toast Secretary Yiming a few times to thank you for recognizing my talent!"

"Yes, Secretary, I'm also feeling a bit thirsty. I happen to have a few bottles of good wine in my trunk. Let's have a few drinks together!"

Du Zhengqiang quickly added.

Seeing that everyone was in high spirits, Jiang Yiming laughed and said, "Now that it's my turn, how could I let you prepare food and drinks?"

He immediately called Ding Li and asked him to get some braised dishes.

After the braised food arrived, Jiang Yiming brought up a box of straw from his basement.

Everyone sat together, drinking and chatting.

Du Zhengqiang and Zhu Xinglei were very happy and drank the most.

"You two take it easy. It wasn't easy for me to save up this good wine. You can't finish it all at once."

Jiang Yiming, worried that they had drunk too much, smiled and tried to dissuade them.

"Hehe, there's never a chance to take advantage of the Party Secretary normally, but this time I'm going to take full advantage of him."

Du Zhengqiang and Zhu Xinglei also knew that Jiang Yiming was a very wealthy man and wouldn't be stingy with the wine.

However, they restrained themselves somewhat to avoid getting drunk and losing control.

"Secretary Yiming, am I eligible to be reinstated as the Director of the Education Bureau?"

Chen Wei asked with a smile.

Have you ever thought about moving the location?

Jiang Yiming inquired.

Chen Wei's eyes lit up, and he smiled, "Secretary Yiming, do you have any suitable positions for me?"

"I plan to transfer you to the position of director of the county party committee office. You haven't been the director of the education bureau for very long, and this time the time is quite tight. It's all a lateral transfer, not a promotion, so the city's procedures are simplified. Therefore, you will temporarily serve as the director of the county party committee office and will not be able to join the standing committee for the time being. We will find a way to transfer you after things stabilize."

Jiang Yiming smiled and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

"I would be willing to serve as the deputy director, let alone the director, if I could work alongside you, Secretary Yiming."

Chen Wei laughed and said, "I would only refuse if I were out of my mind."

The director of the county party committee office and the director of the education bureau are both at the level of section chief. Relatively speaking, the director of the education bureau has much more lucrative opportunities, since he manages the entire education system, which involves six or seven thousand teachers and staff—a huge team.

However, the position of director of the county party committee office is definitely a highly sought-after position.

The person who can sit in this position must be a confidant of the county party secretary.

As long as the top leader doesn't cause any problems, the potential for future development is enormous.

Under normal circumstances, the director of the county party committee office would be promoted to deputy director level, and would directly join the standing committee.

Therefore, Chen Wei could not refuse.

"Congratulations, Director Chen! Congratulations, Director Chen!"

Everyone raised their glasses in celebration.

Chen Wei will be the chief steward of the county committee in the future, and these people are very likely to ask Chen Wei for help in the future. They are all sincerely toasting Chen Wei.

"Secretary Yiming, what are your plans for Wang Hao, the director of the County Party Committee Office?"

Chen Wei inquired.

"Gao Guochang, the head of the United Front Work Department of the County Party Committee, will soon be transferred to another county or district, and Wang Hao will take over as the head of the United Front Work Department of the County Party Committee."

Jiang Yiming said.

"Secretary Yiming's arrangements were truly excellent!"

Everyone admired Jiang Yiming's arrangements.

The head of the United Front Work Department of the county party committee presides over the overall work of the United Front Work Department.

The United Front Work Department is a functional department of the Party Committee responsible for united front work. Its main responsibilities include understanding the situation, grasping policies, coordinating relationships, arranging personnel, building consensus, and strengthening unity. It is responsible for liaising with democratic parties, coordinating the work with non-party members, studying and implementing the guidelines and policies for working with democratic parties and non-party members, supporting democratic parties and non-party members in fulfilling their duties and playing their roles, and supporting and assisting democratic parties and non-party members in strengthening their own development.

In terms of job responsibilities, apart from having voting rights at the Standing Committee meetings, the daily work is not considered core.

Reassigning Wang Hao to the position of Minister of the United Front Work Department would weaken his influence.

As a result, among the eleven members of the county party committee standing committee, those who could strongly support Jiang Yiming included Chen Xujian, secretary of the discipline inspection commission; Chen Zixin, deputy county head; Zhu Xinglei, deputy county head; and Du Zhengqiang, secretary of the political and legal committee and director of the public security bureau.

Furthermore, given that Jiang Yiming himself and the head of the People's Armed Forces Department generally do not make statements, it is at least a five-on-five situation.

Hua Wentao, the head of the Organization Department, had taken the initiative to curry favor with Jiang Yiming when Jiang Xuangui was the secretary.

Jiang Yiming plans to talk to him tomorrow, believing that he will support him in some aspects.

"County Chief Zhu, you used to be quite close to Jiang Xuangui. Could you help me make connections with the remaining Standing Committee members and try to get their support as much as possible?"

Jiang Yiming said, "Given this situation, my job will be much easier."

"Secretary Yiming, don't worry, I'll talk to them tomorrow. If there's an opportunity, I'll ask you to step in again."

Zhu Xinglei immediately agreed.

The group chatted until after 11 p.m. before finally breaking up.

The following day, an enlarged meeting of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee was held.

Jiang Yiming originally planned to convene the meeting after the adjustment of the county party committee standing committee, but because Jiang Xuangui was taken away for investigation, the county party committee standing committee had not been held for some time, and some important matters urgently needed to be discussed at the meeting.

Therefore, it was necessary to convene the meeting immediately.

The county party committee standing committee had accumulated eighteen agenda items, plus one additional agenda item added by Jiang Yiming at the last minute, for a total of nineteen agenda items.

The first dozen or so items were all passed.

The last item on the agenda was to suspend the Cultural Square project.

"Comrades, since the cultural square project was initiated, many problems have arisen, the most critical of which is funding. Due to the limited fiscal revenue of our county, it is simply impossible to support such a large project, which has led to many problems. The recent petition by teachers and staff was a conflict caused by this."

Jiang Yiming said, "Although the petitioning incident has come to an end, the matter is still in front of everyone. If this mess is not handled properly, it will cause conflict again."

"According to the previously established tone, the funds should be raised through corporate equity investment and land sales. This is a short-sighted approach, and I personally strongly opposed it before. Now I am bringing this up again for discussion, not to criticize anyone."

“I propose to suspend the cultural square project and wait until Xinping County’s economy develops further and the fiscal funds are sufficient to support the construction of the cultural square project before starting construction again.”

"Please feel free to speak your mind and share your thoughts on this proposal."

“Secretary Yiming, I personally believe that suspending the Cultural Square project at this time is extremely irresponsible. The project has involved a great deal of manpower and resources in the process of surveying, designing, financial evaluation, and bidding. More importantly, we have signed a contract with the winning company. If construction is stopped now, it would be a unilateral termination of the contract, which is illegal. Not only would we have to pay huge compensation, but it would also tarnish the reputation of our county government, showing that our county government has no contractual spirit, and it would affect the credibility of our county government.”

Wang Xianming, a member of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee and Executive Deputy County Head, was the first to object: "Therefore, I personally oppose suspending the construction of the Cultural Square project."