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

"Brother Erbao, there's not enough time. I only know that Yinhai Company was established last year and recently got some government projects. There must be someone behind it, but I don't know exactly who. Maybe we should not take any action to avoid offending someone we can't afford to offend."

The man in the floral shirt offered his suggestion.

Zhang Erbao frowned and asked, "How big is the project they got?"

"The projects aren't very big."

"If they can't even get big projects, what kind of background do they have?"

Zhang Erbao scoffed, "Which one of them has connections? Doesn't they all get big government projects?"

"Brother Erbao, maybe Yinhai Company has just been established and is testing the waters, or perhaps it's a newly established company with insufficient manpower and can only take on small projects?"

The man in the floral shirt said, "How about we find out more before we make a move?"

"Time waits for no one. The project bidding is tomorrow. If we don't kick them out today, and they win the bid tomorrow, it will be too late even if we find out their background."

Zhang Erbao immediately declared, "Let's do it first and talk about it later!"

"So what if he has some connections? As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Even if he's a dragon, he'll have to coil up before me when he comes to Xichuan County!"

"Alright, enough talk. Tell the brothers to get to work. Be quick and efficient. Once we're done, we'll leave and have some fun in another city before we come back."

"Okay, Erbao, you go first and wait for our news!"

The man in the floral shirt then got out of the car and waved to a van not far away. Immediately, five or six men rushed out and followed behind him.

The group hurried towards the hotel.

Zhang Erbao watched the man in the floral shirt go inside, then drove away.

In a nearby parking lot, two people were sitting in a car.

They are Liu Guangji, deputy director of the county public security bureau and director of the Daxing Subdistrict Police Station, and Bai Yiming, captain of the county public security brigade.

"Director Liu, should we take action now and catch them in the act?"

"No rush. If we rush in now and don't even make a move, wouldn't we have rushed in for nothing?"

Liu Guangji said, "Besides, if we rush in to arrest them the moment they make a move, wouldn't that clearly tell everyone that we already had the information?"

"Yes, Chief, how did you know Zhang Erbao was going to order his men to beat someone up?"

Bai Kongming asked in confusion.

"Your boss is a fortune teller, a genius strategist, he can predict the future."

Liu Guangji laughed.

"I guess it was Secretary Xu who notified you."

Bai Kongming laughed.

"Kid, you're pretty good, you guessed right every time."

Liu Guangji said, "Tell me how you guessed it."

"I sensed a conspiracy."

Bai Kongming laughed and said, "If we hadn't been waiting here beforehand, I wouldn't have guessed it, but since you and I were here waiting for the rabbit to run into the tree stump, I guessed there was more to this than met the eye."

"I suspect it's a trap set by Secretary Xu to lure Zhang Erbao into, so that they can catch him and thus influence Standing Committee Member Zhang."

"I've heard that Standing Committee Member Zhang has always been at odds with Secretary Jiang, and Secretary Xu is a supporter of Secretary Jiang. He might use that idiot Zhang Erbao to drag Standing Committee Member Zhang down with him."

"If we think about it more deeply, perhaps this whole scheme was set up by the Party Secretary himself."

"Don't talk nonsense, this has nothing to do with the Party Secretary."

Liu Guangji said, "Let's just do our own thing and stop making unfounded analyses."

"However, according to what you said, we should be even less likely to catch them in the act."

"Notify the brothers to stay hidden, keep watch, and wait for my order to make the arrest."

"Yes, Director, I'll notify them immediately."

Bai Yiming immediately gave orders to his men to closely follow the movements of the black van.

As for when to close the net, that depends on Liu Guangji's word.

The county government compound was brightly lit.

Because all members of the county party committee standing committee are scheduled to attend a meeting at 8:30 p.m. today, cadres from various departments inside the building are afraid to leave.

At 8:30 a.m., the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee convened on time.

"Keeping everyone waiting."

Jiang Yiming was the last to enter the meeting room. He immediately explained, "The training course for county (city, district) party secretaries across the province will start the day after tomorrow. I have to rush to the province early tomorrow morning. If this meeting is not held today, I don't know when it will be postponed. Some important matters cannot be delayed, so I can only ask everyone to work overtime tonight."

"Okay, let's start the meeting."

The first item on the agenda is to study the relevant important documents from the central, provincial, and municipal governments and understand their spirit.

Aside from the leader reading the document aloud, everyone was taking notes with their heads down. After all, everyone is usually quite busy, and they only have time to take notes during meetings.

The second topic is an analysis of the economic performance in the second quarter.

The third item on the agenda was to review and approve the "2005 Basic Construction Project Investment Plan".

The fourth item on the agenda was to hear a report on the implementation of the responsibility list for optimizing the business environment in the second quarter.

When discussing the implementation of the responsibility list for optimizing the business environment, Zhang Yufeng steered the conversation to municipal infrastructure improvement projects.

"Secretary, the municipal infrastructure improvement project is closely related to the vital interests of all the people in the county. It should be included in our county's key projects and given financial support..."

Jiang Yiming interrupted, "Comrade Yufeng, what topic are you referring to?"

"What I said was not within the scope of the submitted agenda..."

"Don't say it in the meeting if you don't have it; it breaks the rules!"

Jiang Yiming reprimanded, "Go back and study the 'Rules of Procedure for the Standing Committee Meeting of the County Party Committee' and the 'Standards for Meeting Affairs of the Standing Committee Meeting of the County Party Committee' carefully. Any agenda item that has not been submitted must not be discussed at the meeting. Go back and copy it three times and hand it in to me!"

"Alright, let's move on to the next topic."

Two more topics were then discussed.

Just as the meeting ended and everyone was preparing to leave, Zheng Tao, the director of the county government office, quietly walked up to Huang Shaohua.

"County magistrate, the person in charge of Yinhai Company has been beaten, and two of his teeth have been knocked out."

Zheng Tao reported in a low voice.

Huang Shaohua's face was ashen. He called out to Jiang Yiming, who was about to leave, "Secretary Yiming, there is something I need to report to you."

"What is it, County Magistrate Shaohua?"

Jiang Yiming inquired.

“A serious incident occurred at the Xichuan Hotel. The owner of a company called Yinhai was assaulted. Yinhai is a well-known enterprise that our county has attracted. This incident may affect our county’s investment attraction efforts. I suggest that a special task force be set up to thoroughly investigate this matter and get to the bottom of it, no matter who is involved.”

Huang Shaohua said.

“I agree with County Magistrate Shaohua’s opinion. Inform Director Liang to immediately set up a special task force, with him personally in charge, to handle the case swiftly and severely, and to catch the real culprit in the shortest possible time, so as to give the person in charge of Yinhai Company an explanation.”

Jiang Yiming said, "The discipline inspection department should be prepared to coordinate, and any cases involving public officials will be severely punished."

After the order was issued, the county public security bureau immediately organized police forces to begin the investigation.

After returning to her office, Zhang Yufeng immediately closed the door and called her younger brother, Zhang Erbao.