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

After the meal, Du Zhaolin called the other township officials together for a discussion meeting.

“Secretary Zhaolin, I know your township is in great difficulty. In fact, all the townships in the county are struggling. So you should pick the most urgent needs and see if the county can help you with something.”

Jiang Yiming said.

"Thank you, County Head."

Du Zhaolin said, "What we urgently need now is to build a cement road to connect with other towns. It's too difficult for us to go out, especially on rainy days when the road is impassable."

“I had already thought about this on my way here. I spoke with Director Wang of the Transportation Bureau a few days ago and asked him to make sure that all townships have access to roads next year. This road in your township is one that must be opened.”

Jiang Yiming said, "Building roads is not a problem, but have you thought about how to improve the situation in your township?"

“I’ve thought about it, but many things can’t be implemented. There’s a saying in our township: ‘Xichuan Gaotai Township, nine out of ten years there’s no harvest, men go out into the mountains, and women dig for wild vegetables.’ Our township is really too poor. Because of the lack of water, a lot of land can’t be cultivated, and there are no other sources of income. Everyone is getting poorer year by year.”

Du Zhaolin said, "I'll take you to Niujiao Village later, and you'll be able to experience what poverty is like."

“If it weren’t for the relief provided by the county, they probably wouldn’t be able to survive.”

"Don't worry about whether it can be implemented yet. Just bring up your ideas and I'll go back and study them. We're here to solve problems. If there were no problems, wouldn't we have already started developing?"

Jiang Yiming said, "We are not afraid of difficulties, but we are afraid that you Party members and cadres will not do your job, will not think about the people, and will not think about how to lead the people out of poverty and how to lead everyone to a well-off life."

"County Magistrate, then I will report my thoughts to you."

Du Zhaolin said, “Our township is not only on the border of Xichuan County, but also on the border of Yiyang City. A dozen kilometers ahead is the territory of Linjiang City. We are located in a mountainous area, so developing industry is definitely not feasible. The infrastructure is inadequate, and the roads are impassable. No company is willing to come to this remote mountain village. Therefore, we can only start with agriculture. I inquired and found that our climate here is quite special and very suitable for growing early-maturing vegetables. If every household grows vegetables and transports them to the county town to sell, it will definitely improve our situation a lot.”

"Have you ever thought about how many people there are in our county? If your township grows all the vegetables, can the people of our county eat them all?"

Jiang Yiming said, "Moreover, other towns also grow vegetables."

"This……"

"Your development strategy is generally sound, but it is somewhat narrow-minded."

Jiang Yiming said, "We want to sell our vegetables to Yiyang city, Linjiang city, and even the provincial capital, Jiangcheng."

"Although we are not far from Linjiang city, there is no road to take us there."

Du Zhaolin said, "This is also what I mean by objective conditions, which limit our development."

"No road can be built, but people are adaptable and won't die from holding their pee."

Jiang Yiming said with a determined expression, "We want to build a road from Xichuan County to Linjiang City to open up communication between the two cities!"

Everyone was stunned.

"Ahem, the county magistrate's idea is excellent. I believe we will be able to achieve this goal in the next few years."

Tang Zhichao quickly tried to smooth things over for Jiang Yiming.

In his view, it is simply impossible to achieve this goal within the next five or even ten years.

Leaving aside whether Xichuan County has the funds to repair roads, let's talk about Linjiang City.

If the neighboring city of Linjiang has no intention of building roads, Xichuan County can't very well build roads on their territory.

Therefore, in his opinion, Jiang Yiming must have said something wrong, so he quickly interjected, adding that in the next few years, Jiang Yiming's words would be fine.

As a subordinate, you should be ready to help your leader out of awkward situations at any time.

Jiang Yiming understood Tang Zhichao's meaning and smiled, "Director Zhichao, what I meant was that this road must be completed within the next two years. After we get back, our main task will be to study how to implement the road construction and how to develop agricultural industries to help farmers get rid of poverty."

Tang Zhichao and the others didn't know where Jiang Yiming got the courage to say those words, but since he had made his stance clear, they couldn't say anything.

In the afternoon, led by Du Zhaolin, they went to Niujiao Village.

It was only then that Jiang Yiming truly understood what the poorest village was like.

Almost none of the children go to school; they all stay home to do chores. Even so, they still can't make ends meet.

Many people are pale and thin, and some are malnourished.

"Did your township not receive poverty alleviation funds and supplies?"

Jiang Yiming looked at Du Zhaolin and questioned him.

“County magistrate, our township does have some, but very few. In addition, there are too many poor people, so the amount allocated to each person is very small.”

Du Zhaolin said with shame, "I went to the Civil Affairs Bureau many times, but there was no response."

"Director Zhichao, write this down and check whether the poverty alleviation materials and funds for Gaotai Township have been delivered."

Jiang Yiming looked at Du Zhaolin and the others with a stern face and said, "If it's a problem with the Civil Affairs Bureau, I'll deal with the Civil Affairs Bureau. If it's a problem with your Gaotai Township, I'll deal with the cadres of your Gaotai Township!"

Since there was no road access to Niujiao Village, Jiang Yiming and the others walked into the village, which took a considerable amount of time.

By the time they returned to the township government, it was already dark, so Jiang Yiming stayed overnight in Gaotai Township.

Gaotai Township is located in a remote area and there is no road access, so there are no hotels at all.

Du Zhaolin invited them to stay at his home, but Jiang Yiming declined.

"Let's just make do in the township government office."

Jiang Yiming naturally couldn't go to Du Zhaolin's house to rest.

Then, the township officials brought blankets, put several tables together, and they lay down to rest.

Because it was winter and quite cold, the village officials lit a small fire in the house, put wood on it, and let it burn to release heat.

Jiang Yiming tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep.

The image of the villagers, trudging along in their worn-out shoes, remained vivid in his mind, lingering there.

His top priority is to help all the people in the county develop and escape poverty.

"If we can open up a road connecting Xichuan County with Linjiang City, we can sell vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products from Xichuan County to Linjiang City, which would be a great development opportunity for Xichuan County."

Jiang Yiming thought to himself, "He can grit his teeth and repair the road in Xichuan County, but what about Linjiang City?"

Jiang Yiming suddenly realized that Yi Pingchuan had already gone to Linjiang City to serve as the vice mayor, in charge of departments such as road traffic.

"It seems I should pay a visit to this old friend."

Jiang Yiming planned to go to Linjiang City to find his roommate Yi Pingchuan after he had prepared all the necessary information.

After all, when asking Linjiang City to build roads, one must find a reason, rather than relying on personal connections to push these things forward.

If it were a small project, he believed Yi Pingchuan would help him, but such a long route would require a lot of funding, and the project would definitely need the support and approval of the city leaders to get started.

The next day, after returning to his office, Jiang Yiming summoned the heads of the Transportation Bureau, Agriculture Bureau, Land and Resources Bureau, Development and Reform Bureau, and other departments to discuss the road construction.

"You may be wondering why we've notified you to attend a meeting when road repairs should only require the transportation bureau to come."

Jiang Yiming said, "Then let me make it clear to you that this matter requires everyone's cooperation to make it happen."

"First, let me explain my idea. I plan to build a road from the county seat to the border between Gaotai Township and Linjiang City."

“It’s pointless to just repair the road on our side; it must be extended to Linjiang city. We’ve brought you here to ask for your advice on how to persuade Linjiang city to invest the funds to build this road.”

"I don't need your answers now. Go down and think it over carefully. I will handle this personally."