84: Chapter 83 Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee (Part 1)

8:00 PM, Provincial Party School dormitory.

After typing the final punctuation mark, Zhu Wenhao read through his article, titled "Practical Operations and Risk Control for Debt Resolution via Asset Securitization in Qingjiang County, Linjiang City," from beginning to end.

There were no rambling, long-winded arguments, nor were there heaps of obscure academic jargon.

There were a few economic data points involving the provincial fiscal retention ratio that could not be calculated accurately based on grassroots experience alone.

He picked up his phone and called Su Qinghan, who was far away in Linjiang City.

The call was answered quickly, accompanied by the rustling sound of flipping pages.

"Checking up on me?" The woman's uniquely clear voice flowed through the airwaves.

"Checking accounts." Zhu Wenhao leaned back against his chair. "What is the bottom-line ratio from the Provincial Public Security Department regarding the local debt retention base for Qingjiang County over the past three years? You handled this business when you were at the Finance Bureau; give me an accurate figure."

Su Qinghan didn't even pause to think, reeling off a string of numbers instantly.

Along with the fluctuation thresholds after policies tightened over the last two years, she analyzed it all with perfect clarity.

Her background as a Master's graduate from Renmin University gave her a terrifying intuition in the realm of data.

After verifying the data, the two tacitly chatted for a moment about the weather in Linjiang and the food in the cafeteria.

There was no mutual expression of longing, nor any sticky romantic sentimentality.

Trapped in this meat grinder, things like romance were too expensive and too luxurious.

For people of the same kind, it was enough to discuss business when there was business and check in when there wasn't.

Hanging up, Zhu Wenhao entered the data into the model.

After reviewing it repeatedly and confirming that the logical loop was airtight, he clicked send.

The email went straight to Study Committee Member Cao Rui's inbox; the task was complete.

At that moment, his phone rang abruptly.

The caller ID displayed a familiar number.

Zhu Wenhao glanced at the screen, his peripheral vision sweeping over Zhou Xu, who was buried in typing at the desk next door.

He stood up with his phone and pushed the door open to leave.

Inside the room, Zhou Xu stopped his fingers, turned his head to look at the door that had opened and closed, and let out a very faint sigh.

After thinking for a while, Zhou Xu put on noise-canceling headphones and pulled his attention back to the screen.

On the open balcony at the end of the corridor, the night breeze was cool.

Connecting the call, Secretary Zhu Tianhe's lowered voice came through.

"Wenhao, the old leader asked me to give you a call."

After the Standing Committee meeting concluded, Minister Xiao Dingyu contacted Secretary Zhu Tianhe immediately, and his purpose could not have been clearer.

Through Secretary Zhu Tianhe, he intended to convey the bloodless slaughter that had taken place at the Standing Committee meeting that afternoon to Zhu Wenhao in its entirety.

2:50 PM.

Ten minutes remained before the meeting officially began.

As the standing committee members stepped into the venue one after another, they discovered an extremely unusual phenomenon.

Governor Zhou, who always arrived in the meeting room at the last five minutes, and Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua were surprisingly already sitting behind their respective nameplates today.

Judging by their posture, they hadn't even left the room during lunch, and the ashtray was piled high with cigarette butts.

The two leaned back in their chairs, occasionally conversing in low voices, their gazes sweeping over the standing committee members as they entered one by one.

Arriving early and occupying the home-court advantage was meant to exert psychological pressure on those entering afterward.

They were using this method to announce that they were going to set the tone for today's Standing Committee meeting.

The attending standing committee members were no fools, and none of them went over to join in the commotion.

Everyone silently found their seats, pulled out their chairs, sat down, and opened the meeting agenda in front of them, acting as if they hadn't seen the anomaly from those two.

Governor Zhou picked up his teacup, lifted his eyelids slightly, and his gaze crossed the long table, landing on Secretary Gao Zhiyuan of the Jingjiang Municipal Committee.

Secretary Gao Zhiyuan kept his head down, staring at the thin agenda sheet, feigning ignorance of Governor Zhou's gaze.

However, there was a very brief pause in his fingers as he turned the page.

This slight, inconsistent movement betrayed the inner turmoil of this top official of Jingjiang.

3:00 PM sharp.

Provincial Party Committee Secretary Lao Liguo walked in with long strides and sat directly in the main seat.

"Comrades, let's begin the meeting."

Secretary Lao Liguo pressed his hands on the edge of the table and went straight to the point.

According to meeting protocol, the first item on the agenda was to study the important instructions and the spirit of the documents from The Capital.

This work was always the responsibility of Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua, who was in charge of party and mass affairs.

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua cleared his throat and opened the compilation of materials prepared in advance by Secretary-General Zhao Rui.

He read through the documents one by one, from economic development to grassroots governance, with clear logic.

When he read the final document, Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua's voice came to an abrupt halt.

"Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Elimination of Local Gangster Forces and Their Protective Umbrellas."

Signed by: The Capital Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

This document had not been in the meeting outline at all before!

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua's brain raced.

Why did this document appear at this critical juncture, hidden in the pile of materials, neither sooner nor later?

Secretary Lao Liguo was playing a game of open plotting!

If he read it out verbatim, it would be tantamount to endorsing the "Anti-Gang Office" agenda that Secretary Lao Liguo was forcefully pushing today, providing the most direct policy and legal basis.

If he didn't read it and skipped the document, once someone made an issue of it afterward, the heavy charge of "concealing the spirit of the Central Committee's instructions" would be pinned on him, and he, the full-time deputy secretary, would be in serious trouble.

He was caught in a dilemma.

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua gripped the edge of the paper, caught in an impossible situation.

At the main seat, Secretary Lao Liguo did not urge him but spoke in a slow and measured tone.

"Comrade Jianhua, why did you stop?"

"Isn't there one more document left to convey? I see you staring blankly at the document."

Secretary Lao Liguo leaned forward and added a meaningful jab.

"Or is there some problem with the layout or content of this document?"

"If there are errors or omissions, point them out now in front of everyone. I will severely criticize Secretary-General Zhao Rui for his dereliction of duty in not strictly reviewing the documents."

This move to force his hand was extremely ruthless.

It kicked the ball directly to Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua's feet.

If you don't read it, then it's the Secretary-General's work error for putting the wrong document in.

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua gritted his teeth tightly. "Secretary Lao, you are overstating it. There is no problem with the document; my throat was just a little dry, and I was catching my breath."

After saying that, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and read the guiding opinions on eliminating gangster forces from beginning to end.

The document conveyance was finished.

Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua drank more than half a cup of water to cover up his inner sense of defeat.

The next agenda item was for Executive Vice Governor Wu Jianguo to report on the completion of provincial economic indicators for the first three quarters.

After a long string of dry data was read, Secretary Lao Liguo gave a tactical cough.

"Comrade Wu Jianguo's report just now was very detailed. For the economy to develop, the social environment is the foundation."

"Combined with the spirit of The Capital's document that Comrade Jianhua just conveyed, safety construction is a matter of urgency."

"Now, let Director Qi Shan of the Provincial Public Security Department give a special report to all standing committee members."

Director Qi Shan, who had been sitting in the corner in the observer's seat, stood up upon hearing this.

He took out the carefully crafted "Request Report on the Establishment of a Special Campaign Office for Eliminating Gangs and Evil Forces Province-wide" from his briefcase.

His voice was resonant, and his articulation was clear.

Director Qi Shan read out the core content of this report, from the covert nature of local gangster forces and their erosion of grassroots political power to the urgency and necessity of establishing a specialized agency, analyzing it point by point.

During the intervals of his speech, Secretary-General Zhao Rui distributed the photocopied report text to each standing committee member one by one.

The carefully worded report, combined with the recently read guiding opinions from The Capital.

Legal principles, emotional logic, and timing—everything was covered.

Director Qi Shan finished his report, put away the document, and sat back in his seat quietly.

There was only the rustling sound of flipping pages in the meeting room.

Secretary Lao Liguo closed the report and turned his gaze to Secretary Lei Zhen of the Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

"Secretary Lei Zhen." Secretary Lao Liguo called his name. "You are the person in charge of our Jiangnan Province's political and legal work. Regarding this proposal from the Provincial Public Security Department, speak from a professional perspective and share your views."

Secretary Lei Zhen put down the pen in his hand and crossed his fingers on the table.

He was a capable general in Deputy Secretary Yang Jianhua's camp; at this moment, he had to stand up and withstand the pressure.

"Secretary Lao, I have two points to share."

"From the content, this material from the Provincial Public Security Department has deeply grasped the spirit of the instructions from The Capital Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and the situation is analyzed very thoroughly. It is clear that Director Qi Shan has put a lot of effort into this and has also done a great deal of grassroots research work."

Praise first, then criticize.

This was the standard routine for rebuttals within the system.

Sure enough, Secretary Lei Zhen's tone shifted abruptly.

"However. Leaders, when we carry out work, we must not only pay attention to policy basis, but even more so to organizational procedures."

"Why was I, the Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, completely unaware of such an important report beforehand?"

"Why did this document not appear on the desk of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission for review in advance?"

He didn't give Director Qi Shan a chance to rebut and turned his head to look at Executive Vice Governor Wu Jianguo.

"Executive Vice Governor Wu, the Provincial Public Security Department is also a constituent department of the Provincial Government in name. I would like to ask, did this material appear on the approval circulation slip of the Provincial Government General Office before today's meeting?"

Executive Vice Governor Wu Jianguo shook his head cooperatively.

"The Provincial Government has not received the relevant request."

Secretary Lei Zhen got the answer he wanted and refocused his firepower on Director Qi Shan.

"Director Qi."

"Did you or did you not go through the submission process for this document?"

"If you did submit it and the staff below suppressed it and didn't report it, that would be a serious dereliction of duty! I would have to thoroughly investigate the relevant responsible persons in the Political and Legal Affairs Commission and the Provincial Government General Office!"

"Why did such a major work deployment not appear on the desk of the supervising leader?"

The fatal weakness.

Secretary Lei Zhen did not attack the necessity of establishing the Anti-Gang Office, because that would be going against the policy of The Capital.

He grabbed another vital point with extreme shrewdness—

Procedural justice.

The most insurmountable red line within the system.

If you report across levels and don't follow the procedures, even if your proposal is perfect, in the face of organizational rules, it is still wrong.

The air seemed to freeze.

All eyes converged on Director Qi Shan.

How would this Director of the Provincial Public Security Department resolve this fatal, undermining interrogation?