Right path to power

After the meeting, Lin Xiao and Yang Songfeng left the police station.

Qu Ningbo offered to stay and continue discussing specific matters. He kept a close eye on the two typical cases pointed out by Lin Xiao and demanded that the Public Security Bureau investigate the situation as soon as possible and hold the responsible parties accountable.

Zhong Haibo also stated on the spot that a special task force would be immediately established to solve the case within a specified time, and that the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, Ni Kesheng, would lead the investigation and handling of those who neglected their duties.

When Zhao Lixun was in office, Zhong Haibo was just a marginal deputy director. Not only did other members of the bureau's party committee look down on him, but even several middle-level cadres didn't give him a good look.

Now that he has become the branch director, he naturally wants to establish his authority by making three bold moves.

Of course, he has the confidence to back it up.

After all, Guan Dawei, Jiao Dayong, Ni Kesheng and others would support him because of Lin Xiao, which would help him to fully control the branch office.

Although the branch office was mainly led by the municipal bureau leaders, he really wanted to make a good impression on Lin Xiao.

Political Commissar Xiang Jinhuai had a gloomy face throughout. He had been temporarily in charge of the work for so long and had made many connections. With the help of District Chief Yang Songfeng, he had originally hoped to be promoted to a permanent position on the spot, but in the end, he failed to achieve his wish.

This reshuffle at the municipal bureau is extremely significant, with four new members added to the bureau's Party committee. At this rate, his position as the second-in-command will likely become merely a figurehead.

At the work meeting, Zhong Haibo proposed that the Public Security Bureau should take the initiative and cooperate with the key tasks of the district party committee and government. The immediate focus should be on strengthening the investigation and crackdown on environmental cases, establishing a special task force with himself as the team leader and Guan Dawei and Jiao Dayong as deputy team leaders, to vigorously promote this work.

Qu Ningbo expressed his agreement and suggested that the public security, procuratorate and judiciary should work together effectively.

He also pointed out that actions speak louder than words, and that the police should demonstrate their professionalism through iron discipline, strict work style, and concrete actions.

Two days later, the Public Security Bureau held a mobilization meeting for the 100-day campaign.

At the meeting, Zhong Haibo made comprehensive arrangements for work including risk investigation in key areas, rectification of obstruction of official duties, retaliation against staff members performing their duties, and purification of the public security environment in the jurisdiction.

All personnel of the Public Security Bureau, the heads and instructors of each police station, and leaders of the District Procuratorate and the Court attended the meeting.

Qu Ningbo, Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the District, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

After two days of intensive work, all the perpetrators who assaulted Xu Wenbo were apprehended and brought to justice.

During the initial interrogation, the group gave a unified story, insisting that they acted on impulse because they disliked law enforcement officers, and that no one instructed them; it was purely their own personal behavior.

But Guan Dawei quickly saw through their trick and instructed the criminal investigation team to conduct a comprehensive investigation and evidence collection, which quickly opened up a breakthrough.

These individuals were not unemployed individuals, but rather temporary workers hired by the security team of Huanyu Plastics Company in the industrial park.

Subsequently, Zhou Huayu, the CEO of Huanyu Plastics Company, was summoned to the station.

When questioned, Zhou Huayu was arrogant and refused to admit any involvement. He even threatened to complain to the city and province authorities, saying that Zhenxing District was suppressing legitimate investors and infringing on the business interests of enterprises.

Immediately afterwards, the security captain of Huanyu Plastics Company was also summoned.

At first, the security captain denied it outright, but with witnesses and physical evidence, he eventually admitted that he had contacted several perpetrators, but all of them were instructed by the boss, Zhou Huayu.

The police interrogated Zhou Huayu again. Faced with the security captain's testimony, call records, bank transfer records, and other evidence, Zhou Huayu finally confessed.

He confessed that he only asked the security captain to find someone to "teach" Xu Wenbo a lesson, mainly to put pressure on Xu Wenbo so that he would stop blocking his company's environmental protection issues. He did not say that he would "take drastic measures".

However, these hired personnel were used to being arrogant and domineering, and they didn't hold back, directly causing the person to suffer severe fractures.

In fact, during the investigation and evidence collection process, the Public Security Bureau learned that Huanyu Plastics was Zhou Huayu's life's work, mainly engaged in the processing of plastic particles, and its wastewater and exhaust gas had long exceeded the standards.

This environmental crackdown forced the company to halt production for rectification, leaving it facing default on large orders, with hundreds of employees waiting for their salaries, and the rectification requiring substantial investment. These multiple pressures have nearly destroyed its livelihood.

Zhou Huayu was naturally unwilling to let his years of hard work go to waste, and relying on his extensive network of contacts in the park, he harbored a侥幸 mentality and thus came up with a crooked idea.

Of course, the task force did not stop there.

Further investigation into the financial transactions and private connections uncovered two more companies involved in the incident within the industrial park.

One of them is Hengshun Hardware Foundry. This factory has long exceeded the standards for smoke and heavy metal emissions, and has always been perfunctory in its rectification efforts. In this rectification campaign, it has been listed as a key enterprise to be shut down and rectified.

The other company is Longtai Paper Chemical, which mainly relies on illegally discharging wastewater to reduce costs and is simply unable to meet production standards. If it is required to rectify the situation, it will be equivalent to shutting down completely.

The task force's analysis revealed that although the three companies had different business models and pollution problems, they were in a highly similar situation: they were all key targets of this environmental rectification campaign, suffering heavy losses and having no way out.

The three business owners usually colluded and shared information, and their interests were also intertwined. They had previously met privately several times to complain about the excessive crackdown and to discuss countermeasures.

Although the other two companies did not directly contribute money or personnel when Zhou Huayu took action, they were aware of it beforehand. They not only tacitly approved and condoned it, but also secretly supported and promoted it. Their shadow can be seen behind the popular online posts.

Their goal is clear: to pressure the inspectors into backing down, disrupt the pace of rectification, and buy their own companies breathing room, or even room to survive.

At this point, the truth behind this series of events has become completely clear.

This is not simply a matter of blocking, posting online, or assaulting people, nor is it a retaliation by a single company. Rather, it is an act of malicious retaliation by a group of illegal interest groups within the industrial park, who banded together to exert pressure and deliberately retaliate against public officials in order to obstruct the district committee's special environmental protection rectification campaign.

Looking at the thick stack of interrogation materials, Zhong Haibo immediately instructed: organize, sort out, and consolidate all kinds of evidence, and transfer them to the procuratorate as soon as possible, so as to make the case airtight.

At the same time, Xu Wenbo, despite his minor injuries, did not leave the front line. He not only personally led a team to conduct on-site inspections of the pollution situation in the park, but also invited experts from the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau to provide support, assessed the environmental conditions around the park, and invited nearby residents to participate in discussions on the remediation work.

Based on feedback from various parties, the Environmental Protection Bureau launched the "Environmental Protection Volunteer Action Plan" to encourage more people to join environmental protection efforts and leverage the role of public oversight.

Lin Xiao had seen all of Xu Wenbo's work, and the key point was that it had achieved good results.

Therefore, it is clear that Xu Wenbo has passed the evaluation, and the next step is to officially appoint him to a permanent position.

During this period, Lin Xiao, accompanied by Xie Guangyan, also visited some veteran comrades in the district and conducted research in many townships.

When talking with the veteran comrades, Lin Xiao clearly felt that they had a lot of complaints about the work of the district. They all said that Zhenxing District was once the leader of the city's development, but in recent years it has gradually declined, making their past achievements lose their luster.

During his research in townships, Lin Xiao also discovered that the work style of township cadres was sluggish and inefficient, lacking clear plans and goals for future development, and some were even just going through the motions.

Lin Xiao saw all of this and began to devise rectification measures in his mind.

As the top leader, the first thing to manage is people, and building a cadre team is the core task.

That day, Lin Xiao arrived at the office early in the morning.

After a short while, he asked Ji Xiuwu to invite Wang Kangzhou, the deputy secretary of the district party committee, to his office. He shared his impressions of the recent rural research trip and proposed to motivate the entire district's cadre team by having Wang Kangzhou take the lead in drafting a cadre team assessment and incentive mechanism.

Wang Kangzhou smiled and readily agreed, but as he turned to leave the office, a chill crept onto his lips.

Not long after, Lin Xiao received an internal phone call from Cai Zili, the executive vice mayor.

As soon as the call connected, Cai Zili's questioning voice came through the receiver:

"Comrade Lin Xiao, I heard that you are planning to pursue criminal charges against the business owner involved in the assault case in Zhenxing District? I mentioned to you before that everything should be done step by step, and we should not be too hasty. If the case is handled so seriously, it may cause a chain reaction."

Once word gets out, it's inevitable that some hesitant investors will have reservations. You need to understand, this isn't just a matter for your Zhenxing District; it will negatively impact the entire city's business environment. If this standard is applied to all areas, who will be willing to invest and build factories in our prefecture in the future?

Through the microphone, Lin Xiao gave a cold laugh, but her tone remained restrained: "Mayor Cai, I am aware of the details of the case. But whoever broke the law must bear the corresponding responsibility. I also believe that the Public Security Bureau, the Procuratorate, and the Court will handle the matter in accordance with the law and regulations, and the District Committee will not interfere with their normal duties."

On the other end of the phone, Cai Zili's face immediately darkened.

Lin Xiao's words were a reminder that he shouldn't interfere in his subordinates' work.

"You don't need to talk to me with these official platitudes," Cai Zili's tone became stern. "I won't interfere in anything, but I hope you can grasp the overall social impact of the case. The companies involved involve a lot of production capacity and employment. I need to know when a clear conclusion can be given, and when the companies can resume work and production. That's the result I want."

Before Lin Xiao could even respond, Cai Zili hung up the phone.