Nominal: Hou Liangping blocking the door? He was slapped away!

The heavy pistol pressed down on the wooden podium, the dull thud of metal colliding with solid wood echoing throughout the hall.

"The first rule."

His heavy fingers tapped on the gun barrel as he surveyed the suited local officials below the stage.

"Starting today, all enterprises and projects in Handong Province that involve national defense security, major transportation arteries, and are directly related to the military industry will be removed from the provincial government's GDP assessment list."

"These projects have been uniformly incorporated into the 'Military-Civilian Integration Support Sequence' of the Handong Provincial Military Region."

"Anyone who dares to interfere in these projects, grab quotas, or obstruct funding will be arrested directly by the military region's security department."

After those words were spoken, the entire auditorium fell silent, not even a cough could be heard.

The Party Secretaries of Yantai and Guzhou sat in the front row, their ballpoint pens falling to the ground, not daring to bend down to pick them up.

When Li Dakang, sitting in the audience, heard this rule, his tightly clenched fist finally relaxed.

The heavy machinery plant and special steel plant in Jingzhou have always been his trump cards, and also the fat meat that Chu Pingshan most wanted to devour. Now, with just one sentence from Shen Zhong, these enterprises have been given bulletproof vests.

He Xia, the Party Secretary of Lüzhou City, sat in the middle row, straightened her back, and adjusted her collar.

The new energy industrial park in Lüzhou and the military-civilian integration project of Huari Heavy Industry have been completely under the control of the military.

The provincial government's audit team will never be able to set foot in Luzhou again.

Chu Pingshan sat in the front row, his ballpoint pen leaving a deep mark on his notebook.

Shen Zhong's cut was extremely ruthless.

As a major province for heavy industry, Handong has almost all of its highest-quality and most valuable chassis manufacturers that are related to the military industry.

Shen Zhong essentially took away nearly a third of Chu Pingshan's high-quality assessment resources.

Before the audience could fully process this rule, Shen Zhong announced the second one.

"Rule number two."

Shen Zhong picked up the sidearm and skillfully pulled the slide.

A bright yellow bullet ejected and landed on the podium, spinning around.

Qi Tongwei and Zhou Weiguo, who were standing next to him, stepped forward at the same time, and the Dragon Tooth Special Forces members on both sides of the auditorium pulled their rifle bolts in unison.

The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed in the enclosed space.

"The local governments engage in economic competition, but the military region doesn't interfere."

"If the vicious competition like yesterday were to occur again, leading to mass bloodshed or damage to basic livelihoods and military preparedness channels, it would be disastrous."

"The provincial military district's special operations brigade will directly take over local security."

"The top officials of the cities involved, along with their protectors, were all transferred to military courts for preliminary investigation without having to go through the provincial discipline inspection commission process."

"Did you understand?"

The top officials of the thirteen cities and prefectures below all straightened their necks, beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads.

No one dared to doubt Shen Zhong's determination to fire.

The Zhong family, such a powerful clan, was dismantled so easily; Old Man Zhong is still in death row waiting to be shot.

These local party secretaries are nothing but a fart in the face of real military violence.

The bottom-ranking elimination system that had thrown Handong into chaos was directly nipped in the bud by Shen Zhong using the most ruthless physical means, eliminating any possibility of disorderly involution.

Sha Ruijin sat on the platform, his face ashen, his knuckles white as he held the teacup.

He had originally hoped that Chu Pingshan would use this radical policy to completely muddy the waters of Handong, causing local factions to fight each other.

Once the subordinates have fought tooth and nail, the provincial government will step in as a savior to clean up the mess and then naturally take over all the province's resources.

Now it's all over.

With just a few words, Shen Zhong forcibly froze the pool of water.

Sha Ruijin turned to look at Chu Pingshan, hoping that this newly appointed acting governor could come up with some countermeasures, at least to argue his case procedurally.

Just when the atmosphere in the entire venue was so tense that it was hard to breathe.

Chu Pingshan suddenly stood up.

He raised his hands and clapped them together forcefully.

The sudden applause sounded particularly jarring in the empty auditorium.

"General Shen's words were resounding."

As Chu Pingshan clapped, he turned to face the local officials below the stage.

"The two bottom lines drawn by the military region are very timely and very necessary."

"The provincial government firmly supports General Shen's decision."

"Local economic development must never come at the expense of national defense and social stability."

"After returning to their respective cities, each city should immediately compile a separate list of projects involving military-civilian integration, as required by the military region, and submit them to both the provincial government and the provincial military region for dual filing."

Chu Pingshan's statement stunned everyone present.

A few drops of tea spilled from Sha Ruijin's hand onto his trouser leg; he had never expected his political ally to back down on the spot.

Shen Zhong looked at Chu Pingshan, who was leading the applause, and put the bullets on the table back into the magazine.

His instincts as a veteran soldier told him that something was amiss. Chu Pingshan had backed down too quickly and too decisively.

But Shen Zhong did not react on the spot. He put his gun back in its sheath, turned around and walked off the podium.

After the meeting.

Outside the compound of the Handong Provincial Military Region.

Vehicles from various cities and counties began to leave one after another.

Li Dakang and Gao Yuliang walked side by side toward the Jingzhou No. 1 car.

Sitting in the back seat, Li Dakang loosened his tie and let out a long sigh.

"I'm finally alive."

"With Shen Zhong establishing these two rules today, Chu Pingshan's last-place elimination system has become a toothless tiger."

Gao Yuliang took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead and put the thermos aside.

"Those chassis companies in Jingzhou that are involved in heavy manufacturing have been saved."

"The pressure on our heads has suddenly decreased."

"As long as things are done within the framework defined by Shen Zhong, the power struggle between Jingzhou and the provincial government can still be maintained on a level playing field."

Li Dakang snorted coldly.

"Chu Pingshan's behavior of leading the applause at the meeting today truly exemplifies the Machiavellian tactics of bureaucrats to the extreme."

"Even when the military region points its finger at you and berates you, you can still pretend to be concerned about the bigger picture."

"This person is even more difficult to deal with than Sha Ruijin."

Gao Yuliang unscrewed the thermos and took a sip of hot water.

"Chu Pingshan is taking advantage of the situation to back down."

"If we stubbornly resist the military region, we'll suffer the consequences. So we might as well go with the flow and pin the blame for breaking the rules on those municipal party secretaries below."

"We need to hurry back and review all the high-quality projects that Jingzhou has on hand. Anything that can be related to the military industry should be immediately registered with the military region."

the other side.

The black Audi belonging to the Hantong Provincial Government drove smoothly on the highway back to the city.

In the back seat, Chu Pingshan lowered the partition, blocking the driver's hearing.

He took out an old-fashioned mobile phone with no markings and dialed an encrypted number.

The call connected, and a slightly aged yet authoritative voice came from the other end.

"Pingshan, how's the situation in Handong?"

Chu Pingshan leaned back in his leather seat, watching the roadside trees recede into the distance outside the window.

"Godfather, I've achieved my first goal."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"Shen Zhong didn't stop you?"

"He not only obstructed it, but also used the highest authority of the military region to directly interfere in the local economy."

Chu Pingshan took out the Handong economic report, which had been covered with corrections and alterations, from his briefcase.

"When I put forward that bottom-ranking elimination policy, I never expected it to actually be implemented."

"The local faction in Handong has been keeping their resources too tightly under wraps. Unless we take drastic measures, they will never reveal their core assets."

"I created this huge mess just to force Shen Zhong to take action."