In name only: I will break the chess game in Handong!

The unpleasant truth has already been stated upfront.

Next comes the specific arrangements.

"Let's talk about the industrial park first. Next, our Luzhou will apply to Beijing for a national-level industrial park. The location of the park will be determined after the approval process."

Has the Director of the Transportation Bureau arrived yet?

"Secretary Chen, I'm here!"

The director of the transportation bureau stood up abruptly.

"Director Liao, your transportation bureau should survey all the roads in the city and widen those that need to be widened during this period."

Roads need repairing; to get rich, build roads first. The city will soon have a new subway project and an airport expansion project—these are major undertakings that must be undertaken immediately, and we can't afford to be careless!

"Please rest assured, Secretary Chen! Our Transportation Bureau will certainly live up to our mission!"

"Besides these major projects, the only thing that's confirmed and that I can tell you about right now is the establishment of a university!"

The university is a private institution, and its application has been submitted to the provincial party committee for review and approval, and is awaiting approval from the Ministry of Education. The approval process should be completed in the next few days. The university will be named Yuehu University. Instead of planting thousands of acres of tea plantations near Yueya Lake, it would be better to use the land to build a university. This university is very important! It will determine whether the industrial park can maintain its international advanced level in the long term.

Director Qiu of the Land and Resources Bureau, please conduct an inspection after the meeting to see how much area can be designated. The area should be no less than 5,000 mu. Comrades from the Environmental Protection Bureau should also be involved. We must ensure the university's establishment while preventing it from polluting Crescent Lake. Luzhou needs both economic prosperity and environmental protection!

"Mayor Sun, you're in charge of implementing this matter."

Sun Liancheng nodded.

"Please rest assured, Secretary Chen!"

At this moment, the director of the finance bureau timidly raised his hand.

"Um... Secretary Chen, the large projects you mentioned will probably cost a lot of money... Our municipal finance bureau only has a few billion yuan available right now, which I'm afraid won't be enough to support them..."

Chen Luo smiled and nodded.

"The establishment of the university does not require a single penny from our municipal finances, and the investors will even rent or purchase the land at market prices."

Furthermore, the central government will be allocating funds to Lüzhou to support its development, so there's no need to worry about money.

"clear!"

"Alright, then the meeting is adjourned. The comrades from the Land and Resources Bureau and the Environmental Protection Bureau will provide a plan within a week, confirm the land, and start construction once the investors arrive in a week."

After the meeting, Chen Luo returned to his office.

I had just sat down and had a cup of tea when the phone rang.

"Minister Hao, hello!"

"I'm not as good as you. You applied to a university without saying a word? You think you're so great!"

Chen Luo explained with a smile, "Minister Hao, isn't this what Luzhou needs for development?"

"Yes, Elder Li gave me instructions yesterday. It's extremely urgent. He told the Ministry of Education to give your Luzhou the green light. I convened a Party group meeting yesterday to vote in favor. I just received your project application from Handong."

This is the first time something like this has ever happened!

Chen Luo felt somewhat embarrassed.

"Ahem, Minister Hao, which one...?"

"Stop with the 'this' and 'that'. We'll handle this as a special case. I've seen the project proposal. Moon Lake University—it's a very poetic name. Anyway, it's not spending the Ministry of Education's money, so we don't care what you do."

"Yes, thank you, Minister Hao!"

"Tsk, you're too kind, aren't you?"

What I was trying to say was, I'm about to retire and have nothing to do. Now that your university is up and running, are you short of a president? I'd like to volunteer; would you and your husband be happy to accept?"

"Ah! Minister Hao, this is such a wonderful surprise! A warm welcome indeed! With your support, Yuehu University is sure to have a bright future!"

"Okay, if you agree, I'll hang up now."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Luo's smile never stopped. It was like a pillow coming to someone who was sleepy. Chen Luo had been thinking of asking the retired president of Peking University to come and oversee things for a couple of years, but now it seemed that he didn't need to trouble the old man.

"However, Minister Hao's rank seems a bit too high..."

After thinking about it, Chen Luo became conflicted again.

The president and party secretary of Peking University are only at the vice-provincial level, while the president of his own university is a retired ministerial-level official. Chen Luo could already see the ridiculous scene in the future.

"Never mind, Minister Hao's willingness to come is ultimately a good thing!"

Shaking his head, Chen Luo continued to study the development plan map of Luzhou. The location of the industrial park was crucial!

Time slipped away little by little.

The next morning, the Ministry of Education issued an announcement approving the establishment of Yuehu University in Lüzhou, and noted that the investor was Dongsheng Investment Company!

Other information, including the 6,000-acre site and the initial investment of 40 billion yuan, caused a huge stir in the education sector and society at large.

The investment of 40 billion yuan is only a couple hundred billion yuan a year for Peking University and Tsinghua University. This is just the initial investment. In the future, more than 10 billion yuan will be injected every year. This is a level of funding that some of the top 985 universities in China do not have.

At the home of the glass tycoon of Fujian Province.

Looking at the news reports, Mr. Cao felt particularly bad. He also wanted to build a university and had the resources, but his project proposal had been submitted to the Ministry of Education for several months and was still under review. It was like throwing a stone into the sea without any news. On the other hand, Yuehu University was approved as soon as it was submitted. Mr. Cao felt extremely frustrated.

In particular, some people on the internet compared his company with Dongsheng, one with an initial investment of 10 billion yuan and a continuous annual investment of no less than 1 billion yuan, while the other had an initial investment of 40 billion yuan and an annual investment of no less than 10 billion yuan. Netizens, not wanting to miss out on the drama, called on him, saying that as long as he was willing to follow suit, the Ministry of Education would definitely approve it immediately.

The most shocking thing is that this comment was actually liked on the Ministry of Education's official website...

However, it must be said that Luzhou moved very quickly.

In just three days, the land was allocated, totaling 7,000 mu, and Dongsheng leased it for 50 years at once.

The annual rent is 200 million yuan, and a one-time payment of 10 billion yuan was made to the Luzhou Land and Resources Bureau!

This news was truly earth-shattering.

Others may not know, but this is the office of the Secretary of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee.

Li Dakang's eyes turned red. Ten billion! For just seven thousand acres of land, this money is practically free.

Most local governments provide land and policies for free, eager for universities to be established there, but Lüzhou does the opposite.

This isn't all...

On the last day of December, the National Development and Reform Commission issued an announcement approving the construction of a national-level industrial park in Lüzhou. At the same time, the State Council issued a notice to change Lüzhou's fiscal status to a second-level fiscal system.

Two more major announcements have arrived!

People with unique perspectives across the country have all focused their attention on the land of Lüzhou. One or two pieces of news may be a coincidence, but the issuance of several consecutive pieces of news and policies is no coincidence!

Among them, real estate developers were the first to react!