Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

"You should have heard of him." Zhou Pei zoomed in on the photo on the screen. "The Provincial Public Security Department's Organized Crime Investigation Division has a relationship chart of people involved in organized crime. Nie Shichang's name appears on the periphery of Shen Wangshan's network of connections."

In the 1990s, when Shen Wangshan first started his business in Shiqiao, part of his initial capital came from a private lending institution called "Changsheng Trading Company"—in short, an underground money lender that charged exorbitant interest rates. The actual controller of Changsheng Trading Company was Nie Shichang.

As Shen Wangshan's business grew larger, Nie Shichang's role changed from a financial backer to a behind-the-scenes advisor, specifically helping Shen Wangshan handle external relations that were not suitable for him to do locally in Yi'an—such as approvals in the provincial capital, project approvals, and cross-regional cooperation.

But Nie Shichang was an extremely shrewd man. He never personally participated in any substantive business, nor did he ever stay in Yi'an for long.

Within Shen Wangshan's inner circle, Qian Shouyi was in charge of accounting, Zhou Wenxuan was in charge of administration and public relations, Ren Pengfei was in charge of enforcement, and Nie Shichang's role was that of an "external brain"—he did not hold a position in Fengmao Group, did not receive a salary, and did not own shares, but Shen Wangshan regularly transferred funds to him every year through at least three shell companies.

After Shen Wangshan's case came to light, the task force traced these financial transactions, but made no breakthrough in the investigation of Nie Shichang himself, because the legal representatives of all the shell companies were other people, and he himself never left any trace in any written documents. All the transfers were nominally "investment consulting fees".

Later, due to the main focus on investigating the core murder case and the incomplete chain of evidence, the investigation into Nie Shichang was temporarily suspended.

"Now his nephew Xu Yaozong is reshaping the building materials market in Yi'an using the same model."

Jiang Ruolan stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen and drew a line between the names of the three deceased and Xu Yaozong. "Shen Wangshan is dead, but Shen Wangshan's 'external brain' is still alive."

Nie Shichang remotely controlled the operation from the provincial capital, while Xu Yaozong carried it out in Yi'an.

Their ambitions may not extend beyond building materials—building materials are merely the most basic sector, an industry with the most stable cash flow and the easiest to form a monopoly in the short term.

The prosperous dynasty is the information node, Zhao Baoshan and Cui Changhe are the outer execution layer, and Yu Xiaomei is a link in the information transmission process.

These three men were executed simultaneously because Xu Yaozong was cleaning house—either they knew too much, or they made a mistake during a mission, or Zhao Baoshan wanted to defect—his attempt to flee with 50,000 yuan showed he knew what he was going to face. But he didn't escape.

Zhou Pei nodded: "Your judgment is basically the same as mine. Taking action on New Year's Eve and eliminating three targets simultaneously is both establishing authority and closing the net—cutting off those unstable or potentially problematic links all at once. After that, Xu Yaozong will only have absolutely obedient people left."

"Then let's pull him and Nie Shichang out together before he finishes cutting off all his tails."

Jiang Ruolan put down her pen, turned around to face everyone in the conference room, and spoke in a low voice, but each word was like a steel nail that had been tempered in fire: "From now on, this case will be codenamed 'New Year's Eve Special Case' and will be jointly investigated by the Provincial Criminal Investigation Corps and the Yi'an Municipal Bureau."

The two main targets are Xu Yaozong and Nie Shichang.

All social relationships, fund flows, communication records, and travel routes of all individuals involved in the case are under surveillance, and any abnormalities are to be reported immediately.

Xu Yaozong is in Yi'an, and Nie Shichang is in the provincial capital. These two, uncle and nephew, are in the foreground and the background respectively. I haven't seen such a complete criminal organization structure since I beat up Shen Wangshan.

They are more cautious, more secretive, and better at using legal shells to protect themselves than Shen Wangshan.

But they made a mistake that Shen Wangshan had never made—they acted too quickly.

Shen Wangshan took thirty years to become what he was, and they want to replicate his empire in three months. Too fast, and it will become unstable. Instability will create cracks. Our mission is to find those cracks and then tear down the entire wall.”

The official approval document from the provincial department arrived in Yi'an on the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year.

The "New Year's Eve Special Case" was officially listed as a key case supervised by the Provincial Department and jointly investigated by the Provincial Department's Criminal Investigation Corps and the Yi'an City Bureau. Jiang Ruolan served as the head of the special task force, and Zhou Pei served as the deputy head.

The core members of the task force held a closed-door meeting on the evening of the second day of the Lunar New Year. The meeting room door was locked from the inside, the blinds of the windows were drawn tightly, and on the table were the complete investigation reports of the three crime scenes, the business registration files of Xincheng Trading, the personal background investigation materials of Xu Yaozong and Nie Shichang, and a supply chain diagram of the building materials industry in Yi'an City that had just been completed by the technical department.

On this chart, Xincheng Trading appears at least 60 percent of the building material supply nodes—sand, cement, steel bars, pipes, paints, and almost all major building material categories have Xincheng's presence.

The acquisition of these supply contracts was highly concentrated in time, all occurring within six months after the verdict in the Shen Wangshan case.

Jiang Ruolan used a laser pointer to draw a circle on the supply chain diagram, circling the name of Xincheng Trading:

"Xu Yaozong accomplished in six months what Shen Wangshan took ten years to achieve—a monopoly. He didn't start from scratch; he had a mature template and readily available resources—given to him by Nie Shichang."

This relationship between uncle and nephew was not simply that of a behind-the-scenes financier and a front-line agent, but rather a more sophisticated division of labor: Nie Shichang provided funds, information, and political resources in the provincial capital, while Xu Yaozong was responsible for the specific operations and violent enforcement in Yi'an.

Intelligence was transferred and benefits were exchanged through the network of Cui Changhe, Zhao Baoshan, and Huangchao Shengshi.

She flipped to a newly made cross-reference table of evidence and pointed to three rows of data highlighted in red with the tip of her pen: "Ma Guoqing - foreman of the steel reinforcement team at the Binhe Road construction site; Zhao Baoshan is the sand and gravel supplier for the construction site. Yu Xiaomei - waitress at Huangchao Shengshi KTV; Cui Changhe's Jiefeng Company is the linen supplier for Huangchao Shengshi."

Zhao Baoshan and Cui Changhe are brothers-in-law. These three lines converge on Xu Yaozong—Zhao Baoshan and Cui Changhe are both Xu Yaozong's suppliers and external executors, while Yu Xiaomei is the information node of Huangchao Shengshi, responsible for collecting intelligence on both the construction site and entertainment venue lines.

Their deaths, like their identities, were also carried out according to their roles—the execution-style killings at the construction site in the north of the city were for deterrence, the staged accidents in the rental houses in the west of the city were to silence witnesses, and the silencing of witnesses in the demolished buildings in the east of the city was to eliminate unstable factors.

Three murders, three motives, but the same command system. That command system has now been scaled back.

Xu Yaozong and Nie Shichang have two possibilities: either lie low and wait for the storm to pass, or speed up the process and eliminate all remaining obstacles. Considering they are moving three people at the same time on New Year's Eve, I lean towards the second option.

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