Ji Yang did not go to Wen Valley, but continued towards the government seat of Kuzhu Town.
After another two hours, he finally saw Kuzhu Town. The source of thɪs content is N()velFire.net
Looking around, the place surprisingly resembled a fortress, with buildings made of very primitive wooden structures, almost devoid of any modern touch.
Seeing the state of the town, Ji Yang frowned. In modern society, there still existed a place .
"It’s really unexpected that, in this day and age, there is still a town without roads!"
"Leader, this place used to be Huang Family Village. Later, the county upgraded it to a town for easier management. Frankly speaking, it is still essentially a large village."
Ji Yang understood in his heart that Huang Family Village was the largest village, and the other people were likely scattered across various mountaintops.
When Ji Yang and his group entered the village, they found many children still in a state without clothes, even seeing a few little girls completely bare.
Looking at the villagers squatting or sitting in front of their houses, he noticed they gazed back with a somewhat frightening look.
Some people were simply lying on the ground without any mats or the like.
Entering the village, the smell of livestock’s manure hit them straight on, making breathing somewhat difficult.
As he was observing, he saw Huang Song leading a group of people to greet them.
"Secretary Ji, I heard strangers were coming. I didn’t expect it to be you inspecting our work, welcome," Huang Song greeted from afar, extending his hand.
Ji Yang noticed that the villagers were all watching.
Looking at the people arriving with Huang Song, most of them looked familiar, probably some local officials.
With a slight smile, Ji Yang shook Huang Song’s hand and said, "I wanted to take a sudden look, have I disrupted your work?"
Huang Song quickly replied, "You are the first county party secretary to visit our place, Secretary Ji. You are a good leader who truly works for the people. With your arrival, various aspects of our situation will greatly change. On behalf of all the locals here, I welcome you."
The other officials also took the initiative to shake hands with Ji Yang and greet him.
Seeing their demeanor, Ji Yang remained composed, as this visit was meant to observe the situation. Since it was a major Huang village, his arrival probably already caught their attention.
Ji Yang also realized that although it was called a town, there essentially were no outsiders visiting, the place still maintained a very backward state.
Following Huang Song and others, they quickly arrived at the center of the village, a large courtyard with a big square and some ancient houses around.
"Secretary Ji, this place used to be the house of a tyrannical landlord in Huang Family Village, which later became the seat of the town government, and has been preserved in its original state."
Ji Yang looked around and suddenly had an idea, if the village were developed, it could possibly be transformed into an ancient fort-like scenic area.
Of course, now was not the time to think about these things, Ji Yang felt that his first task was to understand the situation here thoroughly.
"Secretary Ji, we are too poor. You have been to many big places and have developed many areas. Your arrival is timely, as you can help us determine what we need to develop. Our locals are very poor."
In speaking, Huang Song even seemed somewhat emotional.
Looking at him, Ji Yang really couldn’t see any obvious issues with him.
However, seeing the conditions along the way, Ji Yang felt dissatisfied inside. Regardless, maintaining such poverty meant definite inaction by local officials.
The following time was taken by Huang Song and others introducing the situation of the town. Currently, the town head was also Huang Song, so he was effectively handling dual roles.
After observing, Ji Yang discovered that the town’s armed department head was named Huang Dayong, who did everything according to Huang Song’s looks—clearly his man.
Additionally, there was Deputy Secretary Fan Guohai, who did not have the surname Huang but Fan. Ji Yang curiously asked and learned that even though Huang Family Village mainly consisted of people with the surname Huang, there were also others who had joined, building houses around Huang Family Village, and belonging to its periphery. Reportedly, some of these people were descendants of government personnel settled after counterinsurgency operations in the mountains. Initially, these people didn’t have much power, but as their numbers grew, there were occasional conflicts with the Huangs, gradually gaining some influence. When outsiders couldn’t come, some of these other surnamed people entered the town government.
Besides Fan Guohai, there was also a secretary of the disciplinary committee named Li Mingchang who clearly wasn’t aligned with Huang Song’s group.
Observing for a while, Ji Yang noticed that Li Mingchang and Fan Guohai seemed to be banding together for warmth.
Not exactly unified, then.
With such a realization, Ji Yang felt more assured. As long as they weren’t unified, there was much he could do here.
Of course, having been in officialdom for so long, Ji Yang also knew about the existence of double agents; outwardly they may not seem allied, but secretly they could be colluding. If that was the case, and he was not careful, he could be set up by them.
Ji Yang certainly did not underestimate these local officials, as many young elites trying to gain experience often fell at their hands.
He took everything in stride, revealing nothing of his thoughts while smiling and discussing development ideas with them.
Seeing Ji Yang’s attitude, the faces of Huang Song and others had even more smiles.
"Secretary Ji, your personal visit makes us happy. We know there are rules, public funds misuse for dining is not allowed, so today I’m treating personally, at my own expense, which should pose no issue. We might lack other things here, but we do have plenty of wild delicacies. Today, I invite you to taste our mushroom chicken. The chicken is a free-range mountain chicken and the mushrooms were freshly picked by us from the hills."
Ji Yang smiled and said, "I’ve been wanting to taste mushroom chicken, and today I’ll get a good chance."