At 6:30 in the evening, Zhang Hao accompanied Mayor Jiao to the appointment on time. The location was in the guest house under the Ministry of Energy. The other party directly asked for a large box.
Seeing the guests arriving, Minister Yin first glanced at his watch, then stood up to greet them:
"Lao Jiao, is this Director Zhang? I've really admired his name for a long time."
"Yes, that's him."
Jiao Huaxian smiled and nodded.
"Hello, Minister Yin!" Zhang Hao greeted.
After being polite, Minister Yin immediately changed the topic: "You two are late, you will have to punish yourself with three cups later."
"Minister Yin, I'm really sorry!" Jiao Huaxian apologized and quickly explained: "To be honest with you, we both left half an hour early, but we didn't expect the road to be so congested. It's only a short five kilometers.
The journey actually took four to fifty minutes."
"It's rush hour now, there's nothing we can do."
Minister Yin replied.
Jiao Huaxian couldn't help but sigh: "Zhucheng is developing so fast. The last time I came here for a meeting, it was still summer and there were not so many people on the street.
It truly deserves to be the capital. Compared with this place, our Minde is simply standing still.”
"Indeed, the development of the capital is a bit scary."
Zhang Hao followed closely and echoed.
While arranging the waiters to serve the dishes, Minister Yin shook his head and explained: "The capital is indeed developing very fast, but it is not as exaggerated as you said. There are many reasons why there are so many more people.<
/p>
First of all, all federal agencies and units have been relocated here, as well as company headquarters, representative offices in major cities, etc., which add up to at least hundreds of thousands of people;
Secondly, since the beginning of the year, due to the unstable political situation overseas, millions of immigrants have poured in one after another, and there should be many more to follow. Most of these people are wealthy people, and the new immigration policy cannot stop them at all; p>
Finally, many people from our mainland have chosen to move here, especially in the northern region. According to the latest statistics, the number of immigrants from the mainland is almost two or three times that of overseas immigrants."
"There must be three million people here, right? It's more than the original population of Zhucheng. Can it be accommodated?"
Zhang Hao couldn't help but be surprised.
"Of course it can't be accommodated. One-third of the people here are scattered to several surrounding cities.
Zhucheng has also worked hard. In order to cope with this wave of immigrants, just last month, it just annexed the three southernmost towns in Xiangshan and prepared to carry out large-scale construction to build a number of affordable housing.
They will move back after the house is built."
Minister Yin gave a very detailed introduction.
Zhang Hao couldn't help but said in surprise: "Why do you have to stay in Zhucheng? Just say that the neighboring Huicheng, Xiangcheng and Shencheng are all super first-tier cities. Which one is not better than Zhucheng?"
"Because the capital has the largest military district in the federation."
"Uh, never heard of it? Where is the military region?"
Zhang Hao scratched his hair.
This reason is indeed very powerful. Rich people have no shortage of food and drink, but the most pressing issue is safety.
"It's on Hengqin Island. Hengqin Island is also the largest island in Zhucheng. It covers an area of about one hundred square kilometers. There is not only an army base on the island, but it is also the location of the naval headquarters. It is said that one million troops will be stationed."
"One million? There don't seem to be so many troops in the entire federation, right?" Zhang Hao frowned.
Since the end of the Civil War, the Federation has laid off two-thirds of its army in one fell swoop. In the following decades, it has carried out several rounds of major disarmament, eventually controlling the total number of troops to less than one million.
Instead, the National Guard emerged.
Minister Yin smiled and explained: "This army is nothing. The superiors have just passed a resolution to expand the army and are preparing to expand the army to five million."
"What? Is there really going to be a war?"
Zhang Hao almost jumped out of his chair.
In the dream, although there was an expansion of the army, it only increased the size of the army to two million, which was less than half of the size in reality.
The butterfly effect is getting bigger and bigger.
"Don't worry, Director Zhang. It won't be a war. The main purpose is to be prepared."
Minister Yin did not explain much.
Seeing that the topic of conversation was too heavy, Jiao Huaxian quickly interrupted:
"Minister Yin, what should we drink tonight?"
Just as the three of them were talking, the waiter had already served all the dishes. It was a simple three dishes and one soup, including meat and vegetables, which was pretty good.
"No more drinking, I have to get up early for a meeting tomorrow morning!"
Minister Yin shook his head.
Jiao Huaxian put down the Moutai in his hand: "Then I won't drink it. Drinking is harmful to the body. Let's eat more food."
Upon seeing this, Zhang Hao immediately picked up the teacup in front of him:
"Minister Yin, Mayor Jiao, I would like to offer you a cup of tea instead of wine."
"Dr. Zhang is so polite!"
……
Half an hour later, the three of them had almost eaten.
After all, there are only three dishes in total, plus a kelp and pork ribs soup, and you won’t be able to eat any more.
Jiao Huaxian took the opportunity to ask: "Minister Yin, when will the refinery project we submitted be approved?"
"This... I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to handle!"
"What's the reason? I don't understand. Aren't the more refineries the better? Does your Ministry of Energy still think the output is too high?" Jiao Huaxian looked confused.
"Old Jiao, if only things were that simple." Minister Yin couldn't help but sigh.
Zhang Hao couldn't help but interrupt: "How to say?"
"To tell you the truth, the prospects of several oil-producing areas in the Middle East are unclear, and crude oil production is very unstable. Without crude oil, building more refineries is useless."
"Why? You can't reject our project just because of subjective guesses, right?"
Jiao Huaxian said dissatisfied.
Minister Yin shook his head: "This is called risk control. Now that supplies are tight, limited resources should be used wisely instead of blindly expanding production capacity."
"Minister Yin, please stop talking to me in a bureaucratic manner. There is no one else here. Can you tell me what's going on?"
Jiao Huaxian asked softly.
Minister Yin took a sip of tea calmly, and after thinking for a moment, he finally revealed the answer:
"Lao Jiao, it's okay to tell you. Don't spread the word. The higher-ups are planning to comprehensively upgrade the Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Zone in Echeng. They plan to directly increase the existing 12 million tons of oil refining capacity to 45 million tons per year. You are also out of luck.
It just hit the muzzle of the gun."
"Isn't this bullying? Our Minde is thousands of kilometers away from Huicheng, what impact can it have?"
Jiao Huaxian was full of anger.
Minister Yin said earnestly: "Lao Jiao, at this critical moment, we must obey the overall situation."
"Only state officials are allowed to set fires, but ordinary people are not allowed to light lamps?"
Jiao Huaxian doesn’t want to give up easily.
Since the higher-ups attach so much importance to the petrochemical industry, he must actively strive for it.
Zhang Hao immediately advised: "Minister Yin and Mayor Jiao are also forced to do so. Recently, Minde has received a lot of investment, totaling more than 200 billion. The city really needs a refinery."