The Official Ladder: I ascend to the pinnacle of power, wielding the power of life and death.

"What's wrong, Brother Long?"

After Long Shaolin hung up the phone, Jiang Yiming asked.

“Thousands of teachers, staff, and medical personnel from your county have petitioned the city. Secretary Wei has notified the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee to convene a meeting to discuss and handle the relevant matters.”

"Go ahead and do what you need to do. I'll pack up and head to Peking University campus."

Jiang Yiming said, "Don't worry about me."

"Okay, I'll go back now. Call me anytime if you need anything."

Just as Long Shaolin left, Jiang Yiming's phone rang.

"Yiming, Zhang Yuntao has indeed made his move."

Chen Zixin said, "You're absolutely right. Those who can become county magistrates do indeed have certain skills."

"How is the situation now?"

Jiang Yiming inquired.

“This petition was clearly planned and carried out in several batches. More than a thousand people surrounded the county government compound, several hundred went to the city, and dozens went to the province.”

Chen Zixin said, "It is said that those dozens of people went to the provincial capital by detouring from the neighboring county, which made it impossible to guard against them. If they hadn't been guided by an expert, they would never have been able to be so united and so organized in their petitioning."

What was Secretary Jiang's reaction?

"I haven't seen him yet. I heard he's in the city and is heading straight to the municipal government compound to persuade the petitioners."

Chen Zixin said, "There's something I'm about to tell you that you might not believe."

"what's up?"

"Zhang Yuntao may have joined forces with Wang Xianming."

"No way?"

Jiang Yiming was quite surprised.

Wang Xianming has always been a staunch ally of Jiang Xuangui. Even when Ma Qiyun was the secretary, Wang Xianming did not leave Jiang Xuangui because Jiang was at a disadvantage.

Now that Jiang Xuangui is the Party Secretary, Wang Xianming has even less reason to betray him.

“I didn’t believe it at first either, but all the signs now suggest that it is very likely true.”

Chen Zixin said, "I heard that yesterday noon was a luncheon hosted by Wang Xianming's group. He invited Jiang Xuangui on behalf of a certain company, but in the end he didn't go."

"Yesterday at noon, Jiang Xuangui drank too much, and it was at this time that representatives of faculty, staff and medical personnel gathered together to discuss today's petition."

"The people from the Stability Maintenance Office discovered this situation and reported it directly to Jiang Xuangui, but they were unable to get through to Jiang Xuangui by phone. In the end, they left the decision to Zhang Yuntao and Wang Xianming. Zhang Yuntao and Wang Xianming had the people from the Stability Maintenance Office warn them, but they did not take any substantial action, which gave them the opportunity to petition today."

"Of course, there are many things in between that we were not involved in and are not very clear about, but today's situation is definitely due to Wang Xianming's indulgence."

"If that's the case, there's a good chance that Zhang Yuntao and Wang Xianming joined forces to push things along."

Jiang Yiming said, "However, thinking about it, this possibility is not small. Wang Xianming has been in the position of executive deputy county head for eight years and has never been promoted to deputy secretary. Jiang Xuangui has not recommended him to the city to serve as deputy secretary in other counties. In addition, after Jiang Xuangui became secretary, he had more people under him and paid less attention to Wang Xianming, which caused Wang Xianming's dissatisfaction. Wang Xianming is not young either. If he cannot become county head in the next two years, his career will come to an end."

“This matter is rather complicated, so you should stay out of it. You and Du Zhengqiang must maintain social stability in Xinping County, especially ensuring the safety of petitioners.”

"Ok."

Chen Zixin laughed and said, "When are you coming back? Are you so lovey-dovey with your sister-in-law that you don't want to come back?"

At this time, Chen Zixin was unaware that Jiang Yiming was injured.

"I encountered a bit of an accident here, and I'm still dealing with it."

Jiang Yiming said, "I'll probably go back in a couple of days."

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"I had a minor conflict with someone, and I'm already trying to resolve it."

Jiang Yiming said, "Don't worry, the city leaders are already aware of this matter, and they are sending people to investigate."

"Okay, take care of yourself."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Zixin immediately went to the county public security bureau.

"Director Du, are you aware of Yiming's injury?"

"We understand. We initially suspect that someone is retaliating against Secretary Yiming. We have already sent Comrade Luo Zhengyang to the city to investigate and handle the matter together with the higher authorities."

"okay, I get it."

Chen Zixin said, "Wait for me, I'll make a phone call first, and then we can discuss things."

Walking to a secluded spot, Chen Zixin called his maternal uncle, Qiu Dacheng.

"Zixin, what brings you here to call me?"

"Uncle, I haven't called you in a while, so I wanted to say hello."

Chen Zixin smiled and asked, "How have you been lately?"

"I hate sudden displays of concern. Are you up to something again? Or do you need something from me?"

"What are you saying? Can't I, as a nephew, even care about my uncle?"

"If you really care about my health, come visit me more often. Okay, I have things to do now. If you really have nothing else, I'll hang up."

"No, no, no, I do have something I want to report to you."

"I knew something was up, kid. What is it?"

"Our county's deputy secretary, Jiang Yiming, was assaulted in the capital. It's said that both the city and county governments have sent people to the province to contact the public security bureau in the capital through the provincial department to investigate the specific circumstances?"

"Yes, that's true. They're on their way."

"Uncle, Jiang Yiming is not only my classmate, but also my good brother. You must take this seriously and try to get justice for my brother."

“He’s your good friend. Okay, I’ll send a deputy director to lead the team over.”

Qiu Dacheng said, "However, I'm not doing this for nothing. Listen to your uncle and transfer the relationship to the public security system."

"Let's forget it. My whole family works in the public security system, so I won't join in."

Chen Zixin said, "Uncle, please stop trying to persuade me. If I really wanted to join the public security system, I would have already followed your advice during my first year of work."

"Let's not talk about this anymore. I'm going to the provincial capital next week, and I'll visit you and your aunt then."

"Alright, don't stand your aunt up again, she misses you terribly."

"Don't worry, I will definitely keep my word this time."

Chen Zixin smiled and said, "Uncle, you really care about my brother's affairs."

"Should I, as the top leader, go and decide personally?"

Qiu Dacheng said irritably, "Don't worry, I'll personally follow up on this. I'll call you to 'report' when I have any news, is that alright?"

"Uncle, if you say that, I dare not respond to you."

Chen Zixin said awkwardly, "You're busy, I won't disturb your work."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Zixin returned to his office and discussed with Du Zhengqiang the work of maintaining safety and stability in Xinping County.

"Director Du, Secretary Yiming means that we should maintain order and not use force to suppress others, so as not to escalate the conflict."

"I have already instructed them to only maintain order and not to arrest anyone."

Du Zhengqiang said worriedly, "I don't know if County Chief Yuntao can persuade them to leave. The longer it drags on, the greater the pressure on us will be. If someone stirs up trouble, things may become difficult to control."

"Don't worry, County Chief Yuntao will definitely be able to persuade them."

Chen Zixin said with certainty.

Zhang Yuntao wanted to use this opportunity to rise to power, not only to bring down Jiang Xuangui, but also to demonstrate his ability to coordinate the overall situation.

The ability to quickly resolve the issues raised by petitioners demonstrates the capacity to coordinate the overall situation.

Only in this way can we gain the city's approval.

Sure enough, news came soon after that Zhang Yuntao had successfully persuaded the faculty, staff and medical personnel to return home.

With Wei Shanghua personally intervening and guaranteeing that salaries would be paid within three days, a group of people from the city, including faculty, staff, and medical personnel, returned to Xinping County.

"Secretary, I've come to make a self-criticism."

Jiang Xuangui lowered his head and criticized himself, saying, "It's my fault for not doing my job well and causing trouble for the city."

"You still know you haven't done your job well?"

Wei Shanghua reprimanded, "I've told you so many times that no matter what you do, you should think of the people first. But you, in order to get the project started, have disregarded the lives of the faculty, staff and medical personnel and stopped paying their salaries!"

"I'm just asking, have your salaries and those of the staff in your county government offices been suspended?"

"No, no."

"How dare you say you don't have it?"

Wei Shanghua rebuked, "On what grounds do you only stop paying the salaries of teachers and medical staff, but not those of county-level government employees?"

"Do you think faculty, staff, and medical personnel are easy to bully? So you target them. Let me tell you, a county can do without administrators like you, but it can't do without faculty, staff, and medical personnel!"

"I won't talk to you much today. You'd better get back to the county and sort things out. If anything goes wrong again, you'll see how I deal with you!"

"Okay, Secretary, I will come to apologize to you in person after I have finished dealing with this."

After leaving the municipal party committee compound, Jiang Xuangui immediately called Wang Hao, a member of the county party committee standing committee and director of the county party committee office.

"Notify all members of the Standing Committee that a meeting will be held in two hours."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xuangui immediately called Wang Xuanzhong, a member of the Party Committee and Director of the Political Department of the County Public Security Bureau.

"secretary."

After Wang Xuan answered the call, he quickly greeted the caller.

"Selected, how's things going on your end?"

"Fortunately, we arrived in time and stopped them before they reached the gate of the provincial party committee compound, but they refused to leave and insisted on causing trouble in the province."

"What are you good for? You're a member of the county public security bureau's party committee. You have to be tough on troublemakers and not let them run wild!"

Jiang Xuangui said with a stern face, "No matter what, you must bring him back to me!"

“Secretary, you know Lu Huagang, who is leading the team. He has a temper like a rock in a latrine, smelly and hard, and you can’t persuade him at all.”

"Then we'll take coercive measures and handcuff him. That'll make him behave."

Jiang Xuangui said, "We need to diversify our methods and work on multiple fronts. While you're working on this, you could also call someone to detain their family members and have them persuade them to talk to the perpetrators. Wouldn't that be more effective?"

“I selected you as a comrade and placed you in this position despite strong opposition. I have high hopes for you and plan to promote you further. If you can’t even handle this kind of thing, then I have to doubt your abilities.”

"Don't worry, Secretary. I will definitely handle this matter well and will not let you down."

Wang Xuanxuan looked excited and quickly stated, "I will definitely bring the person back tonight."

"Okay, that's exactly what I've been waiting to hear."

Jiang Xuangui said, "Once this matter is resolved safely, I will recommend you for commendation!"

"Thank you secretary."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xuangui immediately called Wang Xianming.

"Wang Xianming, how did you become the executive deputy county head and head of the project office?"

Jiang Xuangui berated him harshly: "You can't even handle such a small matter properly, and such a serious mass petition incident has occurred!"

This is a serious dereliction of duty on your part!