Official statement: Tongwei is dead! You chose Ruijin, didn't you?

It was just dawn in the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee compound.

Li Dakang stayed up all night in his office.

On the large desk, there is a list of land reform projects in Jingzhou over the past decade.

He held a red pen in his hand and circled it again and again, making the paper bright red, looking like a death warrant from the King of Hell.

The secretary pushed open the door to bring breakfast. Seeing his bloodshot eyes, she carefully advised, "Secretary, please eat something to tide you over. You've been up all night..."

Li Dakang glanced at the bowl of plain porridge and pickled vegetables, his stomach churning with acid. He waved his hand and said, "Leave it there."

The secretary put down the tray and was about to turn and leave when Li Dakang called out to him, "What time will the provincial government's working group arrive?"

"We'll be there promptly at 9:30 a.m."

Li Dakang glanced at his watch; it was 7:15. "Notify Yi Xuexi, the heads of the Finance Bureau, the Natural Resources Bureau, and the Urban Investment Group to meet in the small conference room before 9:00. Anyone who is even a minute late will have to write a 2,000-word explanation and submit it to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection on the spot."

The secretary's heart skipped a beat. She quickly agreed and ran out to make the call.

After the door closed, Li Dakang leaned back in his chair and vigorously rubbed his throbbing temples.

The echoes of Meng Huaichuan's words at yesterday's conference are still resonating.

This new provincial governor hasn't even officially completed the procedures with the National People's Congress yet, but he's already sharpening his knives.

As the economic center of Handong, Jingzhou absolutely cannot avoid this first blow.

The only thing he can do now is to hand in his paper voluntarily.

It wasn't to show off his high level of awareness, but to prevent someone else from handing in the exam for him.

Having risen to this level within the system, Li Dakang knew all too well the ins and outs of it.

The most terrifying thing in officialdom is not that there are problems with the work you do, but that your problems are written into reports by others using their own logic and language.

By then, you won't even have a format for explaining yourself; you'll have to accept whatever judgment people make of you.

Rather than passively taking a beating, it's better to take off your underwear first, at least that way you can prove you're not hiding anything.

.........

Nine o'clock in the morning, in the small conference room.

Yi Xuexi sat beside him, holding a thermos, while the director of the Finance Bureau, the director of the Natural Resources Bureau, and the head of the Urban Investment Group sat upright.

Everyone was looking down, their eyes closed, their minds seemingly absorbed in the atmosphere, which was as oppressive as a funeral.

Li Dakang walked in right on time, and without saying a word, slammed a thick stack of documents onto the conference table.

"This is the first summary of the self-inspection of major land projects in Jingzhou. Today, the provincial government working group came, and we will not talk about objective factors or difficulties, but will take the initiative to hand it over directly."

The director of the Natural Resources Bureau flipped through two pages, his face grim.

"Secretary, isn't this first draft a bit too rough? Some project approval processes haven't been fully verified yet. If we hand it over rashly, won't it make our municipal party committee and government seem uninformed and lack a solid work style?"

Li Dakang stared coldly at him: "It's better to be unclear about the facts than to pretend you are. If you cover it up now and wait for the provincial task force to find out, it won't just be a lack of integrity; it will be resisting organizational investigation!"

The finance bureau chief swallowed hard and whispered, "Secretary, several urban investment projects involve year-end loan renewals from several major banks. If we submit these half-baked documents now, the financial institutions will definitely get nervous. What if they withdraw the loans..."

"They were already nervous!"

Li Dakang interrupted him bluntly, "Do you think Meng Huaichuan's trip to Handong was a publicly funded vacation? When he was dismantling local government debt in Jiangbei, those bank presidents were more informed about the news than you are! If you don't proactively squeeze out the pus now, what will you use to fill the hole when it explodes?"

The head of the city investment group wiped his sweat and smiled apologetically: "Secretary, the historical reasons for those projects in the southern city development are indeed too complicated, involving the handover of several leaders..."

Li Dakang sneered, "If it's complicated, just write 'complicated.' Don't give me that 'normal progress' nonsense in your reports. You used to love using those four words when reporting on your work, and what happened? 'Normal progress' ended up being sent to the Discipline Inspection Commission!"

Several bureau chiefs were severely reprimanded, and the meeting room fell silent.

Yi Xuexi sat down next to him and slowly blew on the tea leaves floating in his cup.

Li Dakang turned to look at him: "Old Yi, you're the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, why don't you say a few words to set the tone?"

Yi Xuexi put down his cup and looked around: "I only have one sentence. In the materials, whenever it says 'as requested by the leader' or 'instructed by the leader,' you must clearly add in parentheses: which leader gave the instruction, when, in what form, and whether there were any formal meeting minutes. Don't let the word 'leader' take the blame for the dead, and don't cover up the shame of the living."

Upon hearing this, several bureau chiefs broke out in a cold sweat.

Isn't this just blatantly trying to bite someone?

The director of the Natural Resources Bureau, steeling himself, mustered his courage and asked, "Secretary, what about your previous instructions on those projects...?"

Li Dakang paused for a moment.

He knew this problem would come sooner or later.

In the past, when undertaking large-scale development projects, he approved many "special cases" requests in order to speed up the progress.

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "My instructions should be accompanied by the original documents. Do not delete, do not modify, and certainly do not embellish them for me. I signed them, and I take responsibility for it."

Everyone was stunned.

Previously, Li Dakang was extremely protective of his own and the most domineering, and he was most averse to others using his instructions for their own purposes. Today, however, he actually took the initiative to reveal all his cards.

Yi Xuexi glanced at Li Dakang and felt a certain degree of approval in his heart.

Despite his fear, Li Dakang at least didn't try to be clever at this critical moment.

.........

At 9:30 a.m., the provincial government working group sent by Meng Huaichuan arrived on time.

The delegation was led by He Jingzhong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Provincial Government.

He Jingzhong was a seasoned bureaucrat; upon entering, he skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point:

"Secretary Dakang, we won't engage in that kind of formalism of listening to reports. We'll go straight to the accounts, the project drafts, and the chain of responsibility."

Li Dakang casually pushed the stack of materials over:

"Secretary-General He, this is the first version of the self-inspection materials that Jingzhou has compiled overnight. The table of contents for all the original attachments is at the end."

"Whichever you need to see, we'll retrieve it on the spot. We won't waste a single minute of your time."

He Jingzhong was clearly somewhat surprised.

Before he arrived, he was mentally prepared to argue with those old hands in Jingzhou for three days.

After all, Li Dakang was notorious for being possessive of his food, and getting the real account book out of him was harder than plucking feathers from a miser.

Unexpectedly, Li Dakang immediately slid to his knees upon entering the room today.