jdhmnovel Chapter 133: Raising Funds to Build Roads
Chapter 133: Raising Funds to Build Roads
Qi Tongwei did not listen to one side of the story. Based on the two men's size, he was afraid that the other party was pretending to obey but actually disobeying their advice.
He ordered the two to gather village representatives to hold a meeting at the village office.
Qi Tongwei was the first to go down the mountain.
In order to let all the villagers know the town’s ideas and listen to their opinions, Qi Tongwei also called on all villagers to come and attend the meeting on the radio.
At 10:30 in the morning, the villagers' representative meeting was held in the open space in front of the village office.
A few benches and a long table make up a simple conference hall.
Everyone just sat outside, enduring the cold wind.
Hundreds of villagers surrounded the village in three layers, and many people were gathering outside the village office.
"Is this the mayor? So young? Where is the old mayor?"
"I don't know, and I don't know if this mayor is capable."
"New people, new atmosphere. I heard that the new mayor graduated from a prestigious university. In ancient times, that would be a top scholar. He must be much better than the others."
"That's not necessarily true. As the old saying goes, if you don't have hair on your lips, you can't do things well."
"..."
The villagers talked about all kinds of things.
Qi Tongwei tapped the microphone, and a huge dull sound came from the speaker.
The villagers' voices gradually faded away.
"Good morning, fellow villagers. I am the new town mayor, Qi Tongwei.
Enough of small talk. This time I came to our Dashu Village for only one thing: to raise funds to build roads."
"Everyone knows the situation in our town. From the time the farmers rose up to the present, they have been working hard to make a living, but they still cannot get enough food and clothing. What is the reason?
One reason is that we can’t sell our products. The animals we hunt and the crops we grow can all be converted into money to buy the daily necessities we need, but we can’t get out of the mountain roads that are nearly 100 kilometers long.”
"Secondly, when we are not busy with farming, we can go out to work, but we are blocked by this mountain. If we go back and forth, how much income will we lose each year? Think about it, isn't it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, people started talking.
There is no doubt that building the road is a good thing and everyone is looking forward to it, but everyone is also worried that this young mayor will shout slogans like the previous townsmen.
At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "Mayor, four years ago our town said we would build a road, and we collected some money at that time, but nothing happened. So do you think your words will count this time?"
Qi Tongwei frowned. Is there such a thing?
He had discussed this issue with Zuo Ping and others before.
But they all said that the situation in the town was special at the time, and the work could not be carried out without the consent of the village heads, so it was left unresolved.
Qi Tongwei also understood that the people were even more ferocious in previous years, and it was indeed difficult to get money from the people.
But now someone told me what happened to the money I had received before.
Qi Tongwei looked at Wu Jiuzhong and Wu Datao, who were staring at the villager with gloomy expressions.
Qi Tongwei understood what was going on instantly.
Seeing Qi Tongwei's unfriendly look, Wu Jiuzhong pointed at the villager who had just spoken and slammed the table, saying, "What are you talking about? When have we ever collected money?"
The villager wanted to say something when someone suddenly pulled him from behind. The villager's face changed and he dived into the crowd again.
Qi Tongwei asked coldly: "Wu Jiuzhong, I remember that four years ago, you were the Party Secretary of Dashu Village, right? When did our town collect money for road construction? Do you want to come forward and explain?"
Wu Jiuzhong said with a smile: "Mayor, that's not true. He must have remembered it wrongly and mistook other funds for this."
Even a blind man could tell that something was wrong here. Wu Jiuzhong enriched himself by using the town's name and put the blame on the town government.
The villagers also noticed that something was wrong, but due to Wu Jiuzhong's pressure, no one dared to speak out.
"Mayor, how much money should each person contribute to the fundraising?" another villager asked.
"Twenty per person." Qi Tongwei paused and added, "And I will have people make every sum of money public to ensure that it is used effectively."
"It's too many. Mayor, there are seven people in our family, but three of them are children wearing open-crotch pants. Can we just pay the adults?" said another villager.
"How can this be possible?" Before Qi Tongwei could even open his mouth, another villager had already retorted: "If your child doesn't pay now, does that mean he won't have to take this road when he grows up?"
"Yes! We are the ones who suffer from building the road, but the ultimate beneficiaries will be future generations. We cannot refuse to pay just because we have children at home." Someone else echoed.
"That's not what I meant..." The villager was a little embarrassed, "It's just that my family is really in financial difficulty. It's really hard to come up with so much money all at once."
"If we don't have money, we can borrow it or do odd jobs. We have to scrape together the money, otherwise our descendants will still be poor."
...
It seems that the villagers are not as resistant to road construction as Wu Datao and others said, and they are even very willing to do so.
A road has trapped several generations, how can the people not be able to distinguish right from wrong?
In addition, everyone has more or less heard of Jinshan County next door. Now that this opportunity has come to them, they will definitely support it.
Qi Tongwei glanced at Wu Jiuzhong and Wu Datao again. These two people cannot be kept. They are bullies and cheaters, and are undoubtedly black sheep.
Qi Tongwei clapped the microphone again, and the villagers gradually quieted down.
“I know it’s not easy for everyone!
But roads must always be repaired. This is not only related to ourselves, but also to the development of future generations. The mountain roads in our Guying Town are all original ancient roads, forty kilometers long, most of which are useless detours.
I have consulted experts and re-surveyed the route. If this road is repaired, we can shorten it by at least 20 kilometers.
If it can be put on a large truck, it will cost at least one or two million.
The town can pay for the bulk of the problem, but each of us still has to contribute a small share, otherwise the town will be under too much pressure.
In addition, our Dashu Village is relatively wealthy, and many villages cannot even afford this amount of money. So, I hope everyone can understand the government’s difficulties.”
When they heard that it would cost one or two million, many people were dumbfounded and too embarrassed to say anything more.
Even though there are nearly 150,000 people in Lone Eagle Town, it seems that if every person contributes 20,000, the total amount can be raised to 3 million.
But in reality, except for a few wealthy villages, it is very difficult for other villages to come up with this money, and it is considered good if they can raise millions.
Qi Tongwei continued to add, "In addition, I will arrange for town staff to collect this money from each household, and it will not go through the village. If anyone in the village claims to be collecting on behalf of others or overcharging, please refuse."
In order to reassure the villagers, Qi Tongwei even bypassed the village office and completely tore off the faces of the two men.
The two men's faces changed, and they finally suffered the loss.
It had only been a few days since the big scene happened, and the two of them were already scared out of their wits, and had put aside many of their little thoughts.
The meeting was very successful and also established initial trust between the villagers and the town government.
In order to consolidate this trust, Qi Tongwei asked Xiao Long to arrange trustworthy personnel to secretly collect evidence of corruption against Wu Jiuzhong and Wu Datao.