Nominal: The pinnacle of power began in the sixth province of Handong.

No one expected that Gao Yuliang, who had always remained indifferent, would speak up at this moment.

It seemed as if he was speaking up for Xia Qing.

In the eyes of the Standing Committee members, Gao Yuliang was a very shrewd and calculating figure.

Aside from saying a few words on behalf of his eldest disciple Qi Tongwei, Gao Yuliang mostly observed the situation quietly.

This time, Gao Yuliang not only spoke up on his own initiative, but even spoke up against the arrangement of the provincial party secretary.

This inevitably led to speculation among the public.

Is Gao Yuliang trying to curry favor with Xia Qing?

It should be noted that there are countless people who covet the Xia family behind Xia Qing.

However, Xia Qing was an organization minister who didn't understand the business.

Even if it's to befriend Xia Qing, it shouldn't be done at this time.

After all, once you get to the place, no matter how powerful your background is, you ultimately have to rely on your own abilities to win people over.

An organization minister who doesn't understand the business is useless, no matter how powerful his background is.

Going to offend a powerful leader for his sake is ultimately not worth the loss.

This is also the fundamental reason why the Standing Committee members have remained silent and have not taken the initiative to show goodwill to Xia Qing.

Seeing this situation.

Tian Guofu could barely suppress the smile on his face.

He waited a long time, but Gao Yuliang never showed any weakness.

Last time, Gao Yuliang said a few words for Qi Tongwei's sake, but he still managed to get away unscathed.

I never expected that I would take the initiative to step forward today for Xia Qing.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Later, I'll work with Secretary Sha to give Gao Yuliang a good beating.

If this provincial third-in-command loses at the Standing Committee meeting.

Their prestige and influence will be greatly diminished.

In the eyes of the other members of the Standing Committee, this was a tiger with its teeth pulled out, posing no threat whatsoever!

Sha Ruijin was also quite surprised, and his cautious nature made him start to think things through:

Gao Yuliang took the initiative to speak up for Xia Qing.

Is this Gao Yuliang taking the initiative to make amends, or have the two reached some kind of consensus?

After meeting me that day, Xia Qing did indeed go to Gao Yuliang's place.

Can the two of them reach a cooperation agreement in such a short time?

Perhaps Xia Qing felt that only by joining forces with Gao Yuliang could they have the power to contend with me?

Thinking of this, Sha Ruijin couldn't help but laugh.

It seems that the newly appointed Minister of Organization has not yet grasped the situation.

Once you arrive in Handong, cooperating with me, Sha Ruijin, is the wisest choice.

Only in this way can Xia Qing steadily accumulate seniority and achieve results.

Perhaps he felt that immediately trying to clean up the mess left by the former minister would be detrimental to his ability to establish a firm foothold in Handong.

Very well, let's take this opportunity to give Xia Qing a little pointer.

Sha Ruijin looked at Xia Qing and said:

"Comrade Chunlin's plan is still the same old method, so there is no point in re-examining it."

A vague and ambiguous statement.

Everyone knows that it will be difficult to introduce a completely new assessment method in the short term.

Finally, we still need to pledge our loyalty to Sha Ruijin and wait for his signature.

I thought that was the end of it.

Gao Yuliang suddenly spoke up:

"Then please clarify, Secretary Sha, is it that the old evaluation method is ineffective, or that there are a number of older, unsuitable candidates among those to be promoted? If a few individuals are unsuitable, Secretary Sha could simply name them and remove them from the list. Why freeze the entire process and repeatedly revise the evaluation method?"

The audience was silent.

Gao Yuliang is going to challenge Sha Ruijin!

Anyone with eyes to see knows that Sha Ruijin froze this group of cadres in order to veto Qi Tongwei's promotion to vice-provincial level.

It seems that Gao Yuliang intends to bring up the matter of Qi Tongwei's promotion to vice-provincial level again.

But Sha Ruijin could no longer respond.

At the previous Standing Committee meeting, Li Dakang started by crying at a grave, followed by Tian Guofu. After the two pawns finished their performances, Sha Ruijin finally decided to freeze the appointments of 125 cadres, including Qi Tongwei.

After all, flattery and scheming are far from sufficient reasons why a public security bureau chief who has served for more than four years has not been promoted to deputy provincial level.

Some things are better left unsaid.

If Sha Ruijin were to name Qi Tongwei now and then repeat the reasons he gave through Li Dakang and Tian Guofu last time...

Sha Ruijin will only become a laughing stock in the entire Standing Committee.

Which provincial party secretary would make such a frivolous decision?

All the Standing Committee members instinctively sat up straight, not daring to breathe too loudly.

They wanted to see how Sha Ruijin would respond.

She was even more afraid that if she breathed too loudly, Sha Ruijin would call on her to answer.

Sha Ruijin's emotions weren't greatly affected, but his tone was noticeably colder as he said:

"These officials whose accounts have been frozen do indeed have problems. If we continue using the old methods, these problematic individuals won't be identified, and our cadre appointments will face serious issues. Is this interpretation acceptable, Secretary Gao?"

To everyone's surprise, Gao Yuliang completely avoided answering Sha Ruijin's question, instead looking directly at Xia Qing and saying:

"Minister Xia, did you hear that? Secretary Sha has made it clear: the problem lies in the evaluation methods; they can't find those problematic officials."

After saying that, he opened his thermos and took a sip, seemingly not intending to say anything more.

Xia Qing understood that Gao Yuliang was giving her a message.

Whether or not we dare to follow now will directly determine whether we can establish an initial cooperative relationship with Gao Yuliang later!

For Xia Qing.

By cooperating with Gao Yuliang, he could prevent the Han University gang from collapsing too quickly, thus counterbalancing Sha Ruijin's Sha family gang and creating a relatively stable political environment for himself, giving him time to achieve results.

This is what Xia Qing wants to see.

So, Xia Qing answered without hesitation:

"Secretary Sha, Secretary Gao, I understand. I guarantee that within a week, I will introduce a brand-new, more detailed assessment method to ensure that in the reassessment of these 125 frozen cadres, we can both screen out the truly problematic ones and retain the truly outstanding talents."

Gao Yuliang was still drinking tea, but the slight upturn of his lips revealed his satisfaction.

Sha Ruijin's expression turned sour.

Xia Qing's words made his stance clear, provided time, and offered a guarantee.

There's no reason for me to deny it anymore.

But the most crucial thing is...

Xia Qing meant to filter out those that were indeed problematic and keep those that were not.

This statement is quite ambiguous.

If Xia Qing comes up with a new method of investigation, and when he re-examines Qi Tongwei, he can conclude that Qi Tongwei is indeed innocent.

That would have been a very difficult situation to resolve.

I can't very well let Li Dakang and Tian Guofu talk about mourning at the grave again at the Standing Committee meeting, can I?

We can't just forcibly reject Qi Tongwei again, can we? That would give the impression of a one-man show, and that wouldn't look good if word got out.

Now we're in a very passive position.

Sha Ruijin quickly opened the lid of the thermos.

He rarely drinks water during Standing Committee meetings, especially when the situation is under his control.

But now, the situation is clearly out of control, making his throat feel dry.

Gao Yuliang delivered the final blow at this moment:

"I also assure the Standing Committee that I will thoroughly review the new assessment methods introduced by Minister Xia to ensure that everything is in order before signing and submitting them to Secretary Sha for approval."

This has completely put Sha Ruijin in a difficult position.

The initiative in the assessment method fell entirely into Xia Qing's hands!