Chapter 234: Chapter 224: Voting
"I disagree with Comrade Lu Yihang’s statement!" Wang Zhanting suddenly spoke up; it was imperative to speak because as soon as Lu Yihang spoke, he defined the nature of the Poison Dragon Gang. Although everyone present knew that the Poison Dragon Gang was a criminal gang, it had never been mentioned in high-level meetings before, nor had the criminal nature of the Poison Dragon Gang been stated in any situation. If Lu Yihang defined it now, it would be too late to reverse it.
"Well, tell us your views?" Hua Muyun waved his hand, stopping Lu Yihang from speaking further. Seeing Hua Muyun gesture to him, Lu Yihang naturally refrained from speaking.
Wang Zhanting was momentarily lost, not anticipating Hua Muyun would directly ask him; for a moment, he couldn’t find anything to say, sweat started slightly appearing on his forehead. He glanced at Liu Kunnan, who pretended to attentively listen to Wang Zhanting’s words without any intention of speaking, and at this moment, District Mayor Duan Weiming (a high-level deputy provincial standing member, and traditionally one of the standing committee members) suddenly spoke: "Actually, I also feel Comrade Lu Yihang’s words are too arbitrary. It’s not confirmed whether the Poison Dragon Gang exists in Yanjing, and the city bureau doesn’t have a unified stance yet!"
The Poison Dragon Gang’s headquarters is in the old district, and the relationship with Duan Weiming is multifaceted, so naturally, he disagrees with this view.
"I agree with Comrade Duan Weiming’s view. Does this gang exist in Yanjing?" Wang Zhanting saw Duan Weiming speak and followed along.
"Your statements are extremely irresponsible. The Poison Dragon Gang, led by Poison Dragon, now dares to hunt down a martyr’s orphan sister, and to what extent will you continue to protect them?" Lu Yihang’s voice grew louder, resonating like a bell, startling those present.
"Your statement is the most irresponsible one!" Duan Weiming replied coldly: "Everything must come with evidence, where is the evidence? You can’t simply claim it’s a criminal gang based on one’s word! You can’t judge someone solely because of their nickname!"
Having remained silent, Liu Kunnan now spoke softly: "This matter may need careful deliberation; it’s not appropriate to be too intense!"
Wang Zhanting and Hua Muyun were quite surprised, not expecting Liu Kunnan, who hadn’t spoken before, to speak now. Though he seemed neutral, his suggestion of careful deliberation had already disrupted Hua Muyun’s determination to reach a conclusion tonight.
"I actually think Comrade Lu Yihang has a point!" Liu Kunnan spoke, and Gong Shenglong, the third deputy secretary of the municipal party committee who had always firmly followed Hua Muyun, also began to express his stance. (Note: Earlier, it was forgotten that Qu Yongbo is the dedicated deputy secretary; now corrected, Gong Shenglong is the third deputy secretary! Moreover, among the three neutral standing committee members, one is Lu Yihang, one is the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, and the extra is the dedicated deputy secretary Qu Yongbo. Both the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee and Qu Yongbo have parachuted from Jingji.)
The reaction from the Wang Family, Hua Muyun hadn’t anticipated being so intense, which now strengthened his resolve to dismantle the Poison Dragon Gang. If the opposition from the Wang Family wasn’t so determined, Hua Muyun might not have made up his mind to handle the Poison Dragon Gang.
Both parties had spoken, making their attitudes clear, and among the three neutral committee members, the leading neutral member, Commander Lu Yihang of the Yanjing Military Region, was no longer neutral this time, showing a clear inclination, while the remaining two neutral committee members had not spoken.
Hua Muyun calmly watched the others; he didn’t want to draw conclusions so early, promising Xiao Lin to delay for at least two hours.
It was rare for disputes to reach such a level in the standing committee meeting; usually, matters going to the standing committee had already exchanged opinions privately, where the standing committee meeting was merely procedural, rarely debated so intensely, leading to such a heated stage at the outset.
Now, nobody was speaking, everyone was silent, or waiting for Hua Muyun to speak and vote, up to now, Hua Muyun spoke once at the beginning before remaining silent, while Wang Zhanting and other recently arrived committee members didn’t know Liu Kunnan and Hua Muyun had spoken, unable to grasp Hua Muyun’s intentions.
"Comrade Duan Weiming’s statement seems sound; it’s not right to define too arbitrarily!" After a minute or so of silence, Hua Muyun suddenly spoke, glancing around the room, and slightly tapped his teacup twice on the table.
The city mayor Liu Kunnan was startled by Hua Muyun’s words, looking at Hua Muyun, puzzled by why Hua Muyun’s assertion appeared aligned with Wang Zhanting’s stance. However, though it appeared aligned on the surface, after collaborating for over four years, Liu Kunnan knew Hua Muyun was not easily comprehensible, pondering for a moment, what Hua Muyun meant by these words.
It would be impossible for him to disagree with dismantling the Poison Dragon Gang; without such intention, he wouldn’t have convened an emergency standing committee meeting, especially considering it was already midnight, yet his tone clearly leaned towards the Wang’s side.
Hua Muyun’s statement left Gong Shenglong and others slightly stunned, carefully contemplating whether Hua Muyun’s words expressed agreement or disagreement, or whether he saw the heated dispute and decided to pause for the moment.
This isn’t an impossible situation. As the leader, even with the Hua Family’s strong stance, it’s impossible to have a one-man rule in the current political system. This meeting was the most intense one held by this team, with attitudes reaching a boiling point from the start, Hua Muyun, as the leader, naturally needed to slow down the pace.
At this moment, the Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs of Yanjing suddenly spoke, saying in a deep voice, "I quite agree with Comrade Lu Yihang’s statement. The Poison Dragon Gang, led by Poison Dragon, indeed has the nature of a gang. I have quite a bit of material on Poison Dragon here!"
The Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs is originally one of the three major neutral giants, not belonging to any local faction in Yanjing. He was originally parachuted from Jingji as an official. Nowadays, the standing committee generally focuses on economic and personnel arrangements for appointments, very rarely on such targeted topics. His remarks astonished those present, even Hua Muyun didn’t anticipate it.
At this moment, Hua Muyun was quite glad to have agreed to Xiao Lin’s request. The Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs showed evidence that the Poison Dragon Gang was of gang nature, which was certainly not instructed by him.
"Secretary Hua, if possible, I will call my secretary to bring over the documents now!"
As things reached this point, the results far exceeded expectations. Hua Muyun naturally nodded and said, "Good!" Then he called the staff at the door to bring the Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs’ phone. It could be expected that Wang Zhanting would definitely not admit defeat so quickly, and there would be many more verbal battles later, thus meeting the condition to delay Xiao Lin’s case for two hours.
The Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs did not hesitate, took the phone and dialed directly, then said, "Sort out the materials regarding the Poison Dragon Gang and bring them to the municipal party committee!"
One sentence suffocated everyone present, except Hua Muyun, who knew what the real task was.
Although the secretary who sent the materials arrived at the standing committee within ten minutes, it felt like a century had passed for those attending, especially Wang Zhanting and others whose thoughts turned over countless times. If the materials were complete, then the Poison Dragon Gang probably wouldn’t escape disbandment. If things reached this stage, the Wang Family would indeed suffer huge losses in this battle.
The materials delivered were A4-sized papers, about as thick as a political essay, divided into dozens of files. After distributing the files, the secretary left, leaving behind a group of silent committee members.
The air was tense, no one spoke, everyone was looking at the files handed out by the secretary. But do they really care about the contents of the files? No one knows, just that everyone seemed to be reading seriously, but as for their thoughts, only they knew.
More than half an hour passed, and not a single person spoke in the large committee room. Occasionally, the sound of flipping pages could be heard. Whether their minds were on the pages, others couldn’t tell. After the intense dialogue before, now it had become silent.
Whether it’s Hua Muyun’s side or the side of Wang Zhanting and Liu Kunnan, at the moment, both men had their brows furrowed deeply. The written materials were very detailed and thorough, not like something forged temporarily, nor could it be done. The question was how long Hua Muyun had been at this plan. Of course, they wronged Hua Muyun; he had no interest in this at the outset. Everything in Yanjing was under the Hua Family’s control, and his governance philosophy had never deviated. Just this time, the Poison Dragon Gang provoked Xiao Lin, leading to this incident.
And the most restless was naturally Duan Weiming. Although the materials didn’t involve him, the detailed information collected by the political and legal committee, it’s hard to believe there wouldn’t be any related to him. The more he read, the more alarmed he became, sweat lightly forming on his forehead, even less daring to speak.
The Poison Dragon Gang more or less tangled with various government officials tied to the Wang Family. Now with the move against the Poison Dragon Gang, it’s uncertain to what extent it’ll go. If thoroughly investigated, among the committee members present, aside from Duan Weiming, at least one other would fall, another being the deputy mayor in charge of the economy.
"I agree with Comrade Lu Yihang’s statement. The Poison Dragon Gang is indeed a gang-like group with vile behavior. If not eliminated, Yanjing cannot have clear skies!" Qu Yongbo, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.
Although Qu Yongbo and the Secretary of Political and Legal Affairs were both parachuted officials, they generally maintained a neutral stance at committee meetings. Most times, their voting intentions were essentially opposite. Unexpectedly, Qu Yongbo agreed to dissolve the Poison Dragon Gang this time. Was it because of last night’s incident? Logically, the Qu Family, a prominent household in Jingji, shouldn’t fear the Hua Family.
Unnoticed, the committee meeting had gone on for almost two hours. Hua Muyun realized that since Qu Yongbo had spoken up, the matter could be considered resolved, he announced, "Let’s vote!" (to be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian () to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)