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

On his way back, Chen Wei received a meeting notification.

"Secretary, the city has notified us that a meeting will be held at 4 p.m. in the conference room on the fifth floor, chaired by Mayor Luo Zhangwen."

Chen Wei immediately reported the notification to Jiang Yiming.

Jiang Yiming checked the time; it was around eleven o'clock.

"Notify all Standing Committee members that the meeting will begin at 12:20 and should be kept under 40 minutes. We will depart for the city center at 1:00."

Jiang Yiming made the arrangements.

"Okay, Secretary."

Chen Wei immediately called all the members of the county party committee standing committee.

Around noon, Jiang Yiming arrived at the office.

Before they could even sit down, Zhang Yuntao stormed in with Wang Xianming.

"Secretary Yiming, isn't it too arbitrary of you to suspend the work of Directors Zhang Xiangsheng and Zhao Quan so abruptly?"

Zhang Yuntao said unhappily, "They just failed to supervise properly, and you suspended them from their posts?"

"Secretary Yiming, I suspect you're using this as an excuse to suppress them!"

Wang Xianming added fuel to the fire, saying, "You think they're close to County Chief Yun Tao, so you're using this as an excuse to deal with them? This will discourage other cadres. You've seriously violated political rules!"

"Moreover, the Environmental Protection and Water Resources Bureau is directly managed by the county government. Your direct interference is far too domineering!"

"Since you say that the Environmental Protection Bureau and the Water Resources Bureau are managed by the county government, then I'd like to ask, how do you manage them?"

Jiang Yiming said in a deep voice, "Boats illegally mining sand are everywhere along both banks of the Yusha River. The pits left behind after the illegal mining are shocking and pose a great safety hazard. The drowning of three students yesterday was largely related to the sand pits left by the illegal mining!"

"At the same time, there were multiple gambling dens on the illegal mining vessels, involving more than 100,000 yuan in gambling funds."

"Some people made multiple reports, but not only did the problem not get resolved, they were also retaliated against and dared not report again. What does this show? It shows that law enforcement officers leaked the informants' information to those illegally mining river sand!"

"Why did these law enforcement officers leak information to those illegally mining river sand? You should understand even without me saying it!"

"After the police arrested the people illegally mining river sand yesterday, they immediately conducted a surprise interrogation of them. According to the confessions of some of them, a considerable number of people in the Water Resources Bureau have become corrupt!"

"Did this happen in just one or two days? As the leaders of the Water Resources Bureau and the Environmental Protection Bureau, didn't you notice anything at all?"

Zhang Yuntao and Wang Xianming were rendered speechless by Jiang Yiming's rebuttal, stammering and unable to utter a word.

"I have said what I needed to say."

Jiang Yiming said, "The two of them have already been summoned by the Discipline Inspection Commission. If you want to plead for them, go directly to Secretary Xu Jian at the Discipline Inspection Commission, not me."

“Secretary Yiming, you’ve misunderstood. We just wanted to come and ask about the situation.”

Zhang Yuntao immediately changed his expression and said with a smile, "Since these two people dared to break the law, they must be dealt with seriously. We must not be lenient with corrupt officials like this. We must deal with them one by one. I fully support your decision."

"The Standing Committee meeting is about to begin. I'll go back and prepare. You can take your time."

After saying that, he made a hasty escape.

Wang Xianming dared not linger and hurriedly followed Jiang Yiming out of his office.

Chen Xujian arrived shortly afterward.

“Secretary Yiming, Director Zhengqiang and I have spoken. After their intensive interrogation, it seems that about one-third of the cadres in the county water resources bureau are involved. If this is reported truthfully, it could have a significant impact.”

Chen Xujian said, "Should we set a standard? If they exceed this standard, then we'll deal with them according to Party discipline and national law. If they fall below this standard, we'll just make them return the embezzled funds and have them talked to."

Jiang Yiming thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Report the facts. Deal with it as it comes. Since they reached out, they should have expected this outcome."

“Secretary Yiming, as the secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, I am even more eager to deal with them than you are, after all, this is also a result of our Discipline Inspection Commission’s work.”

Chen Xujian said, "But once the matter is exposed, it will have a negative impact on the image of Xinping County."

"Besides, Minister Ma also governed Xinping County. With so many corruption cases happening now, it will definitely affect him as well."

"Alright, you can proceed with the interrogation according to the previous plan. I have a meeting in the city this afternoon, and I'll talk to Minister Ma then, and then make a decision based on the specific circumstances."

Jiang Yiming hesitated for a moment, then did not insist.

The two then walked together toward the small conference room.

At this time, all the members of the county party committee standing committee had arrived.

"Now that everyone's here, let's start the meeting."

Jiang Yiming said, "I have something to do later, so I'll have a short meeting. It's mainly about dealing with Zhao Quan, the director of the county water resources bureau, and Zhang Xiangsheng, the director of the environmental protection bureau."

“Last night, I went to Liji Township for an undercover investigation and found more than a dozen boats illegally mining sand along the Yusha River. I asked Director Chen Wei to contact the Water Resources Bureau, but the Water Resources Bureau did nothing.”

"Not only that, these people illegally mining river sand have formed a group and have been beating and threatening those who report them. Director Chen Wei and I were almost beaten up last night."

"Subsequently, I notified the Public Security Bureau to dispatch officers, who seized more than forty boats. These boats contained not only gambling operations but also dangerous items such as hunting rifles. If we had let them continue like this, who knows what problems would have arisen!"

"In fact, according to the cases sorted out by the Public Security Bureau, there are more than ten cases directly related to this gang of illegal sand mining. Among them, two cases involved murder and five cases involved serious personal injury. They often fought each other to seize sand mining territory, resulting in two deaths and seven serious injuries."

"Moreover, the illegal mining of river sand has caused serious damage to the ecological environment and resulted in significant losses to the Party and the country. In particular, the pits left by illegal sand mining can create whirlpools, causing some people who go hiking in the wild to drown. The three primary school students yesterday were very likely involved in this situation."

"Even if I don't say it, everyone understands that the reason why such a large-scale illegal sand mining incident could occur is not something that happened overnight. The relevant departments did nothing, and even covered it up, colluding with them and becoming their henchmen, tipping them off."

"As far as I know, the money they gave to the relevant leaders was carried in sacks."

"Speaking of this, I can't help but think of something Director Zhengqiang told me a couple of days ago. Some time ago, our county conducted a special anti-pickpocket operation and caught a very special thief. What made this thief so special?"

"According to his confession, he was the thief in the sensational theft at the county government compound in 02. You might not believe it, but he said he not only stole a large amount of cash from a county leader's home, but also a considerable amount of gold bars and calligraphy and paintings, which, apart from the calligraphy and paintings, were worth over a million yuan!"

"As for which leader he took it from, he is still trying to remember. I think he will remember soon. When that happens, no matter which cadre is involved, we will deal with them resolutely and without any leniency."

Jiang Yiming brought this up deliberately to put psychological pressure on certain people, so that they would take action as soon as possible and walk into his trap.