Chapter 41: Tackling the Toughest Bone of All!

Once the party committee leadership team was finalized, an enlarged joint meeting of the town's party and government officials was convened.

The members of the party and government leadership team, heads of the five administrative offices, one service station, and two centers, as well as the party branch secretaries of various villages, attended as non-voting delegates. The main agenda was to reshuffle the town leaders assigned to liaise with the villages and the resident village cadres.

Tang Ye's seat was right next to Wang Kaicheng. He was fully mentally prepared; today's meeting was destined to be extraordinary.

Wang Kaicheng greeted Tang Ye with a beaming smile and then began to chair the meeting, "Our town government has undergone quite a few changes recently. Today, we are primarily here to discuss with everyone how to carry out our subsequent work. In particular, the leadership assignments for liaising with each village need to be re-drafted. Now, please share your thoughts."

Cao Debiao took the lead to speak, "I suggest adjusting the liaising leader for Qianjin Village to Comrade Tang Ye. As an official undergoing temporary attachment here, he should step deeper into the grassroots."

Chen Zhihua stroked his teacup, his brow furrowing. He hadn't expected Cao Debiao to dig such a massive pit directly for Tang Ye.

Qianjin Village was the furthest village in Pinghu Town, and also the only one without a paved highway.

Building a road required funding, which had long been a stubborn, intractable problem.

The party secretary of Qianjin Village was named Tian Daming. A former soldier with strong work capabilities and a solid popular foundation, he was nonetheless a thorny character who frequently went against the town authorities. Ordinary resident village cadres simply could not control him; instead, they would end up being ordered around by him in circles.

Chen Zhihua raised a dissenting opinion, "Comrade Tang Ye is unfamiliar with grassroots work and lacks experience in party affairs. Assigning him to liaise with a complex party branch like Qianjin Village probably won't yield good results. Comrade Kaicheng served as the head of the armed forces department for many years previously; why don't you take charge of Qianjin Village, Kaicheng?"

Wang Kaicheng hadn't expected Chen Zhihua to turn the guns back on him. He smiled faintly and said, "Young people should be given heavier burdens. If you employ someone, you must trust them implicitly; if you harbor doubts, do not employ them. Secretary Chen, you should have confidence in Comrade Tang Ye."

Tang Ye remained calm and composed, thinking to himself that officialdom is the ultimate arena for the art of language.

Black could be painted white, bad could be turned into good, and the left could be justified as the right.

What appeared to be a discussion surrounding his work arrangement was actually a covert confrontation between Wang Kaicheng and Chen Zhihua.

Wang Kaicheng had also been suppressing his frustration lately. With the weather this cold, it was bad enough that Chen Zhihua had taken the lead in sweeping the streets, but he had also resorted to moral blackmail to drag Wang Kaicheng into the street-sweeping crew as well. Even the most even-tempered person couldn't tolerate that!

Tang Ye smiled faintly, "Since Mayor Wang trusts me so much, I cannot shrink back in the face of battle."

Chen Zhihua was slightly startled, never expecting that Tang Ye would willingly jump into the trap himself.

Looking at it from another angle, perhaps Tang Ye wanted to crack the hardest bone and fight the most glorious battle.

Only, Qianjin Village wasn't just a hard bone; it was a rock that was both stinky and hard!

Wang Kaicheng returned to his office.

Cao Debiao walked in and laughed loudly, "That kid Tang Ye doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. He actually dared to take over that rotten mess of Qianjin Village."

Wang Kaicheng touched his nose, his tone laced with sarcasm, "Don't gloat too soon. Tang Ye's capabilities are obvious to all; who knows, he might actually make something of it."

Cao Debiao fished a cigarette out of his pack and curled his lip, "Tian Daming of Qianjin Village is notoriously unreasonable. Previously, Xu Yiping had a relative who contracted a fish pond in Qianjin Village to engage in aquaculture, only to be driven away in less than two months. The uproar was huge at the time, and even Xu Yiping couldn't do a thing about it."

Seeing that Cao Debiao's craving for a cigarette had flared up, Wang Kaicheng frowned, a complex smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "I wonder how Comrade Little Tang will deal with that thorny problem, Big-Headed Tian!"

The joint meeting of the party and government concluded.

Tian Daming knocked on the door of Tang Ye's office.

Tang Ye tossed a pack of cigarettes to Tian Daming.

Seeing that they were the ten-yuan-a-pack Qionglin brand cigarettes, Tian Daming stood on no ceremony. He pulled one out, retrieved a matchbox from his pocket, lit the cigarette, and smoked in silence by himself, not uttering a single word.

A ball of fire had been burning in his chest; during the party-government joint meeting, Wang Kaicheng had criticized him by name on multiple occasions.

Although Tang Ye wasn't the one who had stabbed him in the back, Tian Daming viewed Tang Ye as being in the same camp as Wang Kaicheng. Therefore, as soon as he finished his cigarette, he began demanding support from Tang Ye, "Mayor Tang, I heard you're an attached official sent down from the municipal party committee with great skills. Since you've now been assigned to liaise with our village, please help us solve a few problems without fail. First is the highway. Every other village has paved roads leading to every household, but our Qianjin Village is still stuck with mud roads."

Tang Ye's attitude was unequivocal, "Since the party committee has arranged for me to liaise with Qianjin Village, I naturally must solve your problems. As for the road construction, let's put that aside for a moment; the issue of land transfer is something we must resolve. Right now, all the other villages are pushing forward with this policy, but Qianjin Village alone has made no progress. If you don't respond to the policies, it's hard to get corresponding support!"

The rural land transfer policy originated in 2002.

The "Rural Land Contracting Law" promulgated in 2002 laid the legal foundation for land transfer, beginning to permit, to a certain extent, the transfer of contractual management rights for rural land.

In the early days of reform and opening up, rural areas implemented the household contract responsibility system. With economic and social development, some farmers moved to cities for work, resulting in idle rural land.

The land transfer policy emerged in response to this, allowing farmers to transfer their contracted land management rights, which increased farmers' incomes and facilitated the optimal allocation of land resources.

When executing this policy, Qianjin Village was far from proactive. For instance, when someone took an interest in a plot of land and wanted to lease it, the villagers were unwilling to transfer it, resulting in a waste of resources, a loss of income for the villagers, and an inability for the village to leverage external capital to improve people's livelihoods.

Tian Daming twisted the corner of his mouth, "You're a leader, so you must have plenty of methods. Why don't you accompany me for a walk around the village? With you popularizing the policy for the folks, it will be much easier to push forward."

Tang Ye recognized that Tian Daming would be difficult to deal with, but he knew he could not back down, "Alright. I have a meeting shortly. I'll head to Qianjin Village in the afternoon!"

In the afternoon, Tang Ye arrived at his designated contact village—Qianjin Village.

Accompanying Tang Ye was also a deputy director of the general office named Guo Liang.

Tang Ye was the deputy mayor liaising with the village, while Guo Liang was the resident village cadre, functioning essentially as his deputy.

Autumn had arrived, and rain fell frequently. Qianjin Village sat right beside Pinghu Lake, and the fierce wind whipped their raincoats until they snapped loudly in the air.

Tian Daming stood at the entrance of the village waiting, a large yellow dog crouching beside him.

As Tang Ye and Guo Liang drew closer, the dog suddenly leaped up from the ground and began barking loudly at the two of them.

Guo Liang was startled and nearly fell off his bicycle.

Tang Ye remained unmoved.

Tian Daming gave a sharp reprimand.

The large yellow dog whimpered a few times, circled their trouser legs twice to identify their scent, and then began panting with its tongue out and wagging its tail.

"Let's go on our village visits! Secretary Tian, please lead the way!"

Tian Daming blinked and said with a smile, "It's raining! Today can just count as getting acquainted. Shall we have a little drink? I have some home-brewed grain liquor at my place."

Tang Ye had prepared in advance, having packed pig's head meat, peanuts, and other drinking snacks from the town. He modestly said, "We can chat as we drink, just make sure we don't overdo it!"

Arriving at Tian Daming's home, old newspapers were spread across the table, and the food was laid out. The men began drinking cup after cup.

After a few cups of sorghum liquor, Tang Ye felt a warm glow spread through his stomach, "The liquor looks unassuming and the taste isn't particularly extraordinary, but drinking a lot of it doesn't go to your head."

Tian Daming's eyes lit up, and he laughed, "I didn't expect you to have such a discerning palate!"

Tang Ye put down his chopsticks, "Can we switch to smaller cups so we can have a few more rounds?"

Tian Daming had purposely chosen large cups, thinking to himself that this fellow turned out to be a paper tiger after all. He provoked him by saying, "I don't have small cups here. If you can't drink anymore, just say so, we won't force you. But whatever amount you drink represents how much respect you're showing to Qianjin Village."

Tang Ye cracked a smile, "Then I'll down three cups first to show my respect for Qianjin Village."

Tang Ye drank three consecutive cups without changing his expression.

"Fess up honestly, what is your true alcohol tolerance?"

"I've never had this kind of high-proof grain liquor before, so I don't know how much I can handle."

"If it's beer, how much can you drink?"

Tang Ye extended a single finger.

"A whole crate?"

"I can drink continuously without stopping!"

Tian Daming figured that Tang Ye must be drunk and running off at the mouth, committing the ultimate taboo at a drinking table. He thought to himself that if Tang Ye tried to duck out of drinking later, he would slap him in the face. He said with a sarcastic tone, "Qianjin Village lacks everything else, but the liquor flows freely!"

Tang Ye tossed a peanut into his mouth, "Secretary Tian, before long, our village won't lack a single thing!"

Guo Liang had long been a resident village cadre and frequently dealt with Tian Daming, but his alcohol tolerance was average. After two cups, he covered his mouth and rushed outside to vomit.

Seeing Guo Liang make a fool of himself, an imperceptible smile touched the corner of Tian Daming's mouth.

The local folk custom was just like this: how much ink you had in your belly didn't necessarily mean you were capable, but if you could hold a lot of liquor in your belly, it represented good character and the ability to handle matters reliably.

Next, Tang Ye intentionally used the opportunity to learn about the situation in Qianjin Village through Tian Daming.

Among the thirteen villages in the town, Qianjin Village ranked dead last. While other townships had started paving roads and building multi-story houses, Qianjin Village was still uniform in its rows of low, red-brick houses.

However, although the village's economy was failing, Tian Daming possessed high aspirations and felt that Qianjin Village was no worse than anywhere else.

Tian Daming's gaze darkened, "To be honest, our village ranks at the bottom of the town every single year, and it doesn't sit right in my heart! I haven't been a competent village head, and I've let everyone down."

"Secretary Tian, I can empathize with how you feel. Let's put our heads together and see if we can find a path to give the two thousand villagers a good life."

Tian Daming had been drinking for a full hour and began to feel dizzy and disoriented.

Yet Tang Ye's eyes remained clear, his speech wasn't slurred at all, and he acted as if nothing had happened. Tian Daming instantly realized he had underestimated his opponent.

Tian Daming summoned the village accountant and another village official. From drinking into the dusk, a wheel-tactics assault still failed to take Tang Ye down.

"Accountant Liu, hurry up and pour a toast to Mayor Tang!"

"I want to have this drink with Secretary Tian!" Tang Ye still possessed full combat capability, lifting a cup to launch an offensive against Tian Daming.

"You drink with our Accountant Liu!"

"Don't rush, Accountant Liu. Once I finish this cup with Secretary Tian, I'll drink with you."

Tian Daming had originally intended to use wolf-pack tactics to teach this young mayor a lesson, but he hadn't expected Tang Ye not to flinch in the slightest.

Under Tang Ye's nearly provocative gaze, a surge of fiery heat leaped from his chest, and he reluctantly raised his cup.

Not long after finishing it, he hurriedly shoved two pieces of pig's head meat into his mouth, trying to suppress the churning alcohol fumes in his stomach.

Suddenly, his body went limp, and he slid straight off his chair down to the floor.