In name only: The land of Handong, I shall rule its fate.

When Chen Yanshi received the news from Dafeng Factory, he was tending to his flowers and plants at the nursing home.

Wang Fuzhen stood by, handing over tools, her expression hesitant and reluctant to speak.

The couple lived a very comfortable life in their detached villa with a small courtyard of nearly 100 square meters.

Compared to life in a government retirement compound, it's not much worse.

Jingle Bell!

The old-fashioned mobile phone suddenly rang, unusually loud.

"Old Chen, something terrible has happened!"

Zheng Xipo's son, Zheng Shengli, shouted, his voice trembling with tears.

"My dad... my dad was taken away by the Discipline Inspection Commission last night, and I've only just been released. All the workers at Dafeng Factory were also surrounded by the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Government, and the Provincial Department, including those who were at home; they were all taken back to Dafeng Factory."

"The gasoline in Dafeng Factory was transported away overnight, the watchtower was dismantled, and the trenches were filled in."

"I heard it was an order issued by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee."

"My dad... has his own signature on the shareholder pledge documents for Dafeng Factory and Shanshui Group, saying... saying he'll be imprisoned for fifteen years."

"Old Chen, please save my father, please save the workers at Dafeng Factory."

Chen Yanshi's hand trembled, and his phone almost fell to the ground.

"Shengli, don't worry, let me make a call and ask."

Chen Yanshi offered a reassuring remark and then hurriedly hung up the phone, intending to ask Gao Yuliang for clarification.

How could the provincial party committee help the Jingzhou municipal party committee and government to bully innocent workers at Dafeng Factory?

That despicable Li Dakang! And that Qi Tongwei too!

"etc!"

Wang Fuzhen grabbed the old man's arm, her expression uneasy, and asked, "Twenty tons of gasoline? Why did I hear Shengli say that there were twenty tons of gasoline, trenches, and watchtowers at Dafeng Factory?"

"Old Chen, is that you...?"

The old-fashioned mobile phone was very loud, and Wang Fuzhen could hear it clearly from the side.

"I did it to help my fellow workers."

Chen Yanshi pushed Wang Fuzhen aside, rushed out of the nursing home, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee.

He immediately dialed Gao Yuliang's number while in the car.

"Yuliang, what happened at Dafeng Factory?"

Chen Yanshi, speaking with the air of a seasoned leader and senior official, openly questioned a provincial third-level official.

"Former boss!"

Gao Yuliang's voice betrayed his exhaustion. "Yesterday, Li Dakang accompanied the newly arrived Executive Vice Governor Lin Zhiyuan on an inspection of the Guangmingfeng project. They discovered that the Dafeng factory's gates were closed, yet production was still ongoing. They also found watchtowers, sandbags, and trenches within the factory area."

"Governor Lin immediately gave instructions, demanding that Secretary Dakang thoroughly investigate the Dafeng Factory incident. Tongwei was ordered to investigate Dafeng Factory and found that there were also 20 tons of gasoline and a large number of Molotov cocktails and hand grenades. Governor Lin reported to Governor Liu and the Provincial Party Committee, convened the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, and made a judgment immediately."

"In order to avoid leaking information, we members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee stayed in the conference room until four o'clock before leaving."

Chen Yanshi, the former deputy chief prosecutor, naturally understood the weight of the resolution passed by the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee.

"Yuliang, Dafeng Factory's actions were a bit excessive, but they were trying to protect..."

He hadn't finished speaking.

Gao Yuliang's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Old leader, I have a question for you."

"What's the problem?"

Chen Yanshi was somewhat displeased; he hadn't finished speaking yet.

"Were you aware of the violent resistance to demolition at Dafeng Factory?"

Gao Yuliang's emotions were more solemn than ever before.

"What violent confrontation?"

Chen Yanshi was taken aback.

"The factory has sandbags, watchtowers, trenches, and twenty tons of gasoline."

Gao Yuliang spoke slowly and deliberately, "Old Chen, are you aware of these things?"

Chen Yanshi opened his mouth, wanting to say he didn't know, but he swallowed the words back.

Of course he knew.

The workers at Dafeng Factory complained to him that the government wanted to forcibly demolish their factory, and they had no choice but to defend themselves.

After listening, he not only did not stop him, but also gave him some guidance.

Otherwise, Cai Chenggong wouldn't know anything about the best defensive structures like trenches and sandbags.

"I…"

Chen Yanshi wanted to say something more.

"Old Chen, that's twenty tons of gasoline! You're an old man who's been on the battlefield and liberated the country, you know best the consequences of an explosion."

"You'd better not get involved in this matter anymore."

Gao Yuliang interrupted him again, no longer even willing to address his former superior.

Gao Yuliang hung up the phone immediately.

Chen Yanshi held his phone, sitting blankly in the back seat of the taxi, remaining silent for a long time.

But he was not willing to give up.

"Drive faster, sir!"

Chen Yanshi slapped the seat in frustration.

But I just got off the bus.

Chen Yanshi was stopped at the entrance of the Jingzhou compound.

"You young comrade, I need to see Li Dakang!"

Chen Yanshi said angrily to the gatekeeper.

Do you have an appointment?

"reserve?"

Chen Yanshi's eyes widened. He had been to the Jingzhou compound so many times, when did he ever need to make an appointment?

The security guards kept their eyes down, knowing exactly who this restless retired leader was, and finding him incredibly annoying, but they didn't want to offend him too much.

In Jingzhou and Handong, everyone knows that Chen Yanshi is the former leader of Gao Yuliang, the full-time deputy secretary and secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and that his son, Chen Hai, is already the powerful director of the provincial anti-corruption bureau in his forties.

"Mr. Chen, please wait a moment, I'll inform you..."

The group looked at each other, and could only say helplessly.

"What are you reporting?"

Chen Yanshi pushed them aside and walked straight inside, saying, "I'll go up myself!"

I had just arrived at the foot of the municipal party committee building.

Chen Yanshi bumped into Li Dakang, who had just hung up the phone.

"Li Dakang, how could you send people to keep all of Dafeng Factory's more than a thousand workers inside the factory? This is a violation of their personal freedom."

"This is oppression of the working class, a violation of the law, and a breach of organizational regulations."

Chen Yanshi said angrily.

"Old Chen, I really need to have a good talk with you, the former deputy chief prosecutor, about the law."

Li Dakang didn't even offer the most basic verbal respect, and his cold gaze instilled a sense of inexplicable fear in Chen Yanshi.

"secretary."

The commotion downstairs at the municipal party committee building had already attracted a lot of attention.

Secretary Kim quickly ran downstairs.

"Go find Secretary Haiping and Secretary Shuli, and find a meeting room. I want to have a good talk with Comrade Chen Yanshi, the former deputy chief prosecutor of the provincial procuratorate, about the political and legal issues in Handong, in my capacity as the person in charge of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee and the deputy leader of the Dafeng Factory resettlement guidance group."

"you…"

Chen Yanshi was filled with shock and anger.

Li Dakang's words were tantamount to subjecting him to a slow, agonizing death in front of everyone.

My chest hurts!

"Let's go, Comrade Chen."

Li Dakang's expression was indifferent.

He almost lost both his political life and his personal life. What right does Chen Yanshi have to rush to the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee to hold him accountable?

Since we're already here, we might as well stay.

Inside a conference room.

Xiao Jin served the tea, then closed the door and left.

Chen Yanshi sat alone on one side, facing Li Dakang, while Sun Haiping and Zhang Shuli stood like two giants on the left and right.

"Comrade Chen Yanshi."

"We interrogated Zheng Xipo, the chairman of the Dafeng Factory union, and You Ruixing, the treasurer. Both of them accused you of instructing the workers at Dafeng Factory to build watchtowers, trenches, and sandbags. They also said that you suggested using the factory's gasoline to help protect the factory."

"After receiving the testimony, our municipal discipline inspection commission questioned other workers, and most of them mentioned this point."

"Comrade Chen Yanshi, is there anything you'd like to say?"

Zhang Shuli went straight to the point, getting to the heart of the matter.

Before Chen Yanshi could speak up, Sun Haiping said, "Comrade Chen, you are a veteran who transferred from the military to the front line of political and legal affairs. You have served as the director of the Jingzhou Public Security Bureau and the deputy chief prosecutor of the provincial procuratorate. You know the law best."

"Are you aware of the consequences if the Dafeng factory were to explode?"

same question.

This was the second time Chen Yanshi had heard it today, but he still felt his throat was dry and he couldn't speak.

A long silence followed.

"The workers were indeed overly emotional, but they had a reason for it. The land of the Dafeng Factory, worth 1 billion, was stolen by Tsai Cheng-cheng in conjunction with the Shanshui Group."

"That was the life-saving money for more than a thousand workers and their families."

"Moreover, Cai Chenggong and the workers have repeatedly assured me that they will not set fire to the gasoline drums, but will only pour them into the trenches when Shanshui Group forcibly demolishes the factory to block the demolition team from entering. The workers just want to protect their factory."

Chen Yanshi spoke his own set of principles, his voice growing louder and louder, as if he had stood on the right bottom line, and his previous lack of confidence vanished.

"Chen Yanshi!"

Li Dakang could no longer tolerate this absurd logic and angrily retorted, "Are you protecting the employees of Dafeng Factory, or are you harming them?"

"Twenty tons of gasoline are crammed into a warehouse. If the temperature gets too high or there's even a tiny spark, it could explode. Are you trying to protect the workers?"

"Even if you protect the workers, what about the 6.8 million people of Jingzhou who live on the edge of a powder keg every day? They're not as important as the thousand or so workers you, Chen Yanshi, are talking about!"

"The land is worth one billion yuan."

"Chen Yanshi, back then you were in charge of restructuring Dafeng Factory. You really didn't know the land belonged to the state! Are you genuinely unaware, or are you feigning ignorance and stealing state assets!"

"Furthermore, converting industrial land into commercial land requires paying substantial land transfer fees and land appreciation tax of 5.5 million yuan. Can the workers afford that much money?"

"I forgot you also have shares in Dafeng Factory. You have a share in the billion! You have money and you can keep your only political achievement. No wonder you're so busy every day."

"There are only about 500 workers who hold shares. What are you and Dafeng Factory trying to do by conspiring with another 800 ordinary workers? Are you trying to incite a crowd to disrupt society?"

"Outrageous! Completely lawless!"

"The Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee and I will definitely handle the Dafeng Factory case thoroughly, making it a national model case, and severely punish offenders!"

"You Chen Yanshi, Cai Chenggong, Zheng Xipo, You Ruixing, and Wang Wenge, who injured the armed police, none of you will escape."

"Establish comrades and follow the procedures."

"Take him into custody."

"I have a meeting of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee tonight."