Chapter 37 Challenging the City Government
Xu Zonggang continued to explain the situation to the villagers.

"It is an agricultural company called Muhe that is planning to lease land to grow forage grass. The land contract fee for the villagers is calculated based on 300 kilograms of wheat per mu of land."

Hearing this, some people began to murmur.

"This year, the purchase price of wheat is 0.6 yuan, so 300 kilograms is 180 yuan."

"Growing grass? That thing is useless except for feeding cattle and sheep. Can you make money?"

"I won't take responsibility! I want to keep my land for growing food myself." said an old man among the villagers
Someone took the lead and the crowd started to make noise again.

One of the skinny young men asked loudly, "Will they pay us for the contract for the wasteland we reclaimed before?"

"Second child, your land has been barren for several years, what good things are you still dreaming of?"

Erwazi glared at him and said, "No one can touch my land without paying."

Someone asked again and again.

"Can I keep some land for myself? I want to grow some vegetables."

"If we grow grass instead of grain, what will we eat?"

"Isn't 180 yuan for the contract fee too little? We still have to pay taxes to the government."

The villagers were discussing loudly.

When Xu Zonggang saw the chaotic situation, he stood hunched in front of everyone and waved his hand to signal for silence.

As he moved, most people fell silent, with only a few still chattering.

But as the atmosphere gradually became quieter, the noise gradually died down until it disappeared.

Xu Zonggang looked at all the villagers in Shuangqiao Village. There were only about eighty people in the village, including men, women, young and old.

Although these people, including the children, are not pale and thin, most of them look old. Many people in their thirties and forties look like they are in their forties or fifties.

Even children look dark because of long-term exposure to the sun.

The clothes they wore were even more worn out, and many men and children even went shirtless to keep cool.

When everyone's eyes were focused on him, Xu Zonggang cleared his throat and said:

"The boss who came to lease the land said that he wants all the land in the village this time. And not only our land, but also the wasteland between us and Yuanba Village."

The crowd was amazed, and someone couldn't help asking, "What's the use of those wastelands? You can't even grow wheat on the land you reclaimed."

"Forget wheat. Two years ago, I wanted to grow some grass to feed sheep, but the grass didn't grow well."

"Hehe, that's not my business. He has to pay the money he deserves."

"That's right, that's right. I don't care who he is. I have to give him every penny he deserves..."

"Village chief, I don't want to rent out my land. I want to keep it for growing food."

Looking at the villagers' reactions, Xu Zonggang was not surprised at all.

For some older people, the land is their roots.

Moreover, most villagers are short-sighted and profit-seeking. They can quarrel for half a day in the village just because someone has planted a few more vegetables on the ridge of his field.

Now that such a rich boss has come, these people have to find ways to make profits for themselves.

"Let me make it clear first. No one is allowed to cause trouble for me this time, especially you, Erwa. Your few acres of land have been left uncultivated for many years, and you are still thinking about the contract fee."

"And does that land belong to you? It's state property." Erwazi was a silly-looking man with a buzz cut, about 30 years old, and not very smart.

"Village chief, didn't you say that whoever reclaims the land owns it?"

Xu Zonggang scolded him harshly, "Do you have the guts to take care of those plots of land? You've been stealing and robbing people all day long. It's your old mother's ability that she didn't starve you to death."

Other villagers followed suit and said, "Village Chief, Erwazi isn't very smart, why are you so angry with him?"

"You're the one with a stupid brain!" As he said that, Erwazi was about to hit someone.

Xu Zonggang felt a headache when he saw the villagers making a scene again.

Never mind. I've said everything that needs to be said.

Let the people from Alfalfa Company solve the headaches.

……

On the other hand, when Guo Yang and others were on their way back to the county town, leaders from the city and county called them one after another.

Guo Yang only said that he had conducted a preliminary investigation of the scene, but encountered some problems and wanted to communicate face to face with the leadership teams of Jinta County and Jiuquan City.

If the issue can be resolved successfully, I would like to invite the main responsible leaders from the city and county to have dinner together in the evening.

After hearing what Guo Yang said, the leadership team knew that the project was most likely stable. Even the calmest people became excited at this moment.

As for the banquet, the first time it must be arranged by their host.

The city and county had heard about the project to improve 20 acres of saline-alkali land, but basically no one thought that it would fall on them.

Especially the leaders of Jinta County, when they learned that the site of the 5-acre saline-alkali land improvement project invested by Muhe with 20 million yuan was located in Jinta, the leadership team felt like they had won the lottery.

These are all political achievements!
You should know that Jinta County’s GDP last year was only over 8 million!
In the past two years, with the advancement of the western development, their county has also gained a lot of projects.

But most of them are municipal projects, and many are directly implemented by central and state-owned enterprises, making it difficult for local governments to get involved.

Most of the companies that fall into their trap are private enterprises, which originally came with the intention of making money or securing project funds.

If their policies and financial subsidies are not in place, or if they ask for too much, these private enterprise bosses will often just pack up and run away.

With so many districts and counties involved in the western development, anyone with some connections and means can easily get project subsidies anywhere.

After receiving the news, the leadership team of Jinta County hurriedly contacted Alfalfa Company, and the city leaders called to ask how the Alfalfa team was doing with their inspection.

They could only let out an "ah", their eyes were completely dark and they knew nothing.

After several contacts, we learned that two off-road vehicles and a pickup truck were heading towards Shuangqiao Village, Tianxin Town.

After they contacted Guo Yang, everyone in Jinta County who learned of Guo Yang's whereabouts hurried to Jiuquan.

City government, conference room.

Facing many leaders of Jinta County and Jiuquan City, Guo Yang calmly put forward his demands.

"Dear leaders, Muhe has already initially decided on the project site: 20 mu of saline-alkali beach near Shuangqiao Village and Yuanba Village in Jinta County."

"But after our initial investigation, we found that there are huge problems with the domestic and irrigation water sources in saline-alkali land, which greatly increases the difficulty of water conservancy and road construction."

"According to the previous provincial policies and funding for water conservancy projects and roads, it is not enough to support the completion of the various supporting projects needed for the improvement of 20 mu of saline-alkali land and subsequent forage planting and processing."

“The difference, or the remaining irrigation canals, I hope the city and county can find a way to solve it.”

(End of this chapter)