official career

Chapter 2974 Reaching into the Police Station

Qin Feng didn't know how Zhao Hongjian had negotiated with Feng Li'an and Cao Fanyi at the provincial level regarding this matter. In any case, in the end, all parties dropped the matter. From the day the fire broke out at the sports center, all parties made high-profile statements, and the whole of Shazhou had an atmosphere of impending storm.

That very evening, news broke that the Municipal Public Security Bureau had shut down the Yang family's underground casino. For over a decade, no one had dared to touch the Yang family in Shazhou, but this time the Municipal Public Security Bureau had actually dared to raid their underground casino. Everyone believed that a bloodbath was about to erupt in Shazhou, and the entire landscape would be reshuffled.

Countless people got up early the next day, ready to watch the drama unfold, but from the second day onwards, both the province and Shazhou City remained calm and quiet, as if nothing had happened.

Even the high-profile statements made by the provincial and municipal party committees the day before regarding the fire at the sports center suddenly disappeared without a trace, ultimately ending the matter in a way that was all talk and no action, a case of starting strong but ending weakly.

A joint investigation by the provincial government, the Shazhou City Public Security Bureau, and the safety supervision department ultimately confirmed that the arson was intentional, caused by an internal conflict among the migrant workers. The arsonist was arrested and is being handled according to normal judicial procedures. Huayang Construction Company, a subsidiary of Huayang Group, was fined 20,000 yuan and ordered to strengthen employee safety training, increase fire safety facilities, and other rectification measures.

Jiang Longjun slammed his fist on the table during the meeting that day, demanding a comprehensive investigation of Huayang Group and ordering all of Huayang Group's projects in Shazhou to be suspended for review. However, this order was never implemented or advanced and ended without any follow-up. All the departments responsible for carrying out this matter knew perfectly well that no one would be foolish enough to carry it out voluntarily, and they all chose to "forget" Jiang Longjun's order.

Huayang Group was ultimately fined 20,000 yuan and continued construction. However, due to the fire at the sports center project, a team of experts, comprised of relevant municipal government departments and Huayang Group, conducted an inspection and assessment of the main structure of the sports center project. The final conclusion was that there was no risk to the main structure of the project, and apart from some ancillary structures that needed to be demolished and rebuilt, the rest could proceed with normal construction.

The fire incident ended there. Similarly, the police raid on the underground casino started with great fanfare but ended very quietly in the end.

The underground casino was shut down, and a large number of criminals were arrested on the spot. All of them were dealt with according to normal judicial procedures. According to the investigation, the ringleader of the underground casino was Huang San, who committed suicide out of fear of punishment. The case ended there, and the chain of evidence was complete.

The underground casino was located beneath the Lixin Hotel, but the investigation revealed that the hotel's general manager had colluded with Huang San to provide the casino with a venue, access, and convenience. The general manager confessed to all the crimes, confirming that it was his personal doing and that the Lixin Hotel was unaware of it, and the Lixin Group was not involved. As a result, the general manager was imprisoned, while the Lixin Hotel continued to operate normally without any impact.

However, during the investigation, the Public Security Bureau found some clues about Yang Zhihao's illegal and criminal activities, so they launched a full-scale search and arrest operation for Yang Zhihao throughout Shazhou City.

Huang San is dead. Following Qin Feng's instructions, Jiang Yunpeng keeps a close eye on Yang Zhihao. As long as the Public Security Bureau keeps an eye on Yang Zhihao, it means that Qin Feng has the lifeline of the Yang family in his hands. If the Yang family causes trouble again like this time, Qin Feng will use Yang Zhihao as a breakthrough point to attack the Yang family again, putting the Yang family in a very passive position.

Just as Qin Feng had guessed, Yang Zhihao disappeared without a trace. No matter how the Municipal Public Security Bureau investigated, even after searching the entire Shazhou City, they could not find any clues about Yang Zhihao's whereabouts.

The matter concerning Yang Zhihao was a tacit cooperation between Qin Feng and Yang Guoqiang. Qin Feng knew that Yang Guoqiang would hide Yang Zhihao and ensure that the Municipal Public Security Bureau would never find him. Yang Guoqiang also knew that Qin Feng did not really want to arrest Yang Zhihao, but he had to cooperate with Qin Feng to prevent the Municipal Public Security Bureau from catching him.

"Mayor, news just came in that Ding Shunsheng, the Organization Minister of the Ping Shun Municipal Party Committee, was taken away by the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection today." Chen Guohua hurriedly walked into Qin Feng's office.

"I already know about this. Yu Hanyi called me before he left to report it, and Tang Zeyan just called me too." Qin Feng looked at the newspaper calmly, without even looking up, as if it were nothing at all.

"Tang Zeyan?" Chen Guohua was somewhat surprised. He didn't know why Tang Zeyan was calling Qin Feng at this time to discuss this matter.

"Mayor, it's obvious that Jiang Longjun is targeting you. Everyone knows that Ding Shunsheng is Xie Kang's most trusted man, and as far as I know, Ding Shunsheng doesn't have any major problems. Of course, someone did report him, but the report is from a year ago, and it's not a big deal. The report is about his time as the deputy mayor of Ping Shun City five years ago..."

"Did he violate any rules or regulations?" Qin Feng interrupted Chen Guohua and asked.

“Yes, that’s true, but…” Chen Guohua wanted to argue, but Qin Feng interrupted him.

"Since he has violated the rules and regulations, there is no 'but' about it. It is reasonable and legal for the organization to investigate him. I cannot and will not plead for him, so there is no need to discuss this matter any further. He has only himself to blame."

"It was Xie Kang who called you, wasn't it? Why didn't he dare call me himself and instead asked you for help? Because he knows he's too ashamed to plead with me. Since he knows he's too ashamed to plead, why did he still ask you to come? Tell him that he's already being lenient by not punishing his own people for not managing them properly, and he still expects me to clean up his mess and bail them out?"

"From now on, if anything like this happens, I'll yell at whoever comes to me." Qin Feng was furious.

"Yes, Mayor, I know. I know that Ding Shunsheng brought this upon himself, and Xie Kang also bears undeniable responsibility in this matter. Now you are also in a passive position. But that's not what I want to talk about. What I want to say is that Jiang Longjun's recent series of actions are clearly aimed at you."

"Recently, they've been making things difficult for us in several organizational and personnel adjustments, appointments, and disciplinary reviews. This is clearly targeted. Mayor, what exactly does the Municipal Party Committee mean? Logically, everyone has an understanding to maintain stability and not cross any lines, but recently the Municipal Party Committee has gone too far. This can't continue," Chen Guohua said.

"The fire at the sports center has been completely dealt with, and the police's crackdown on the underground casino has also come to an end. Our Shazhou has returned to peace, so Jiang Longjun started to make a move against me."

"First, it's retaliation for my attack on the Yang family's underground casino without his permission last time. Second, it's to suppress me, to teach me a lesson, to let me know who's in charge in Shazhou, and to blame me for not respecting him."