Nominal: The Handong Game, the Energy System's Counterattack

Li Dakang truly lives up to his reputation as a master of shifting blame in Handong. Old Liu had just turned his attention to Zhao Donglai.

He directly pinned the blame on Cheng Du, the director of the Guangming District Bureau.

However, Zhou Chuyi had something in his hand, and after exchanging a glance with Governor Liu, he directly helped Cheng Du explain.

"The laid-off workers and shareholders of Dafeng Factory were emotional, and often hundreds of people would gather at the factory for a long time."

"They also formed what they called 'factory protection teams' and built those fortifications."

"Their police cars and personnel."

"They were blocked by barbed wire and trenches from a great distance, and couldn't even get close to their factory area."

"The barbed wire, trenches, and protective barriers surrounding the factory area have completely blocked all access to and from the Dafeng factory."

"As soon as the police officers approached, they were met with collective obstruction, confrontation, verbal abuse, and even encirclement by the workers."

"It is completely impossible to enter the factory area to carry out investigation, law enforcement, and stability maintenance work."

"Look, look, resisting the government—isn't that what terrorism is all about?"

Before Zhou Chuyi could finish speaking, Su Zhenzhong shouted again.

They seem determined to label Dafeng Factory as a terrorist site.

Seeing everyone staring at him, he raised his head and said, "What? Did I say something wrong? I said nothing wrong."

Okay, everyone stopped looking at him and started looking at Zhou Chuyi, letting him continue.

"Comrade Chengdu can't solve this problem, what should we do?"

"Of course he reported it according to regulations."

"Comrade Cheng Du has repeatedly reported the dangers, hidden dangers, and pressure to maintain stability at Dafeng Factory to Zhao Donglai, the director of the Jingzhou Municipal Bureau."

"Explain in detail the danger, risk, and urgency of the situation."

"Request the Municipal Public Security Bureau to dispatch police forces, coordinate the handling, and intervene in advance."

"But... Director Zhao Donglai has consistently ignored it, never asked about it, and left it unattended."

"From the reporting records I checked, there were at least three such instances."

"Comrade Chengdu also met with Comrade Zhao Donglai several times to report on the problems at Dafeng Factory."

What was the answer you received?

Zhou Chuyi glanced at all the standing committee members and tapped the table.

"He told me that Director Zhao Donglai told him not to make a fuss."

"Also, tell Comrade Cheng Du not to get involved in the affairs of Dafeng Factory."

"Helpless, Comrade Cheng Du had no choice but to send people to keep an eye on Dafeng Factory from the outside so that he could deal with any emergencies in a timely manner."

"However, the Jingzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau has never deployed any substantive measures to deal with the situation, allowing it to continue to deteriorate and for hidden dangers to accumulate."

"Comrade Zhao Donglai, do you know anything about the situation at Dafeng Factory? Secretary Dakang, of course, said he didn't know, and he himself wouldn't dare to say he did."

"This 'I don't know' means I don't want to know, I'm unwilling to know, not that I can't know!"

Zhou Chuyi raised his voice considerably, and the entire conference room fell silent.

Everyone knew that Zhao Donglai was about to be in big trouble.

"Fortunately, the newly appointed Party Secretary of Guangming District, Zhao Dehan, can still contact his old leader and we can talk to him."

"After he learned about the situation, he brought Comrade Chengdu to report it to me."

"To be honest, I was terrified when I heard his report."

"After understanding the situation, I immediately reported it to Governor Liu."

"Governor Liu ordered me to handle this matter on behalf of the provincial government."

"In urgent situations, we must act expediently. Since the Jingzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau is not handling this matter, I have assigned Luo Junzhen, the provincial department director in charge of public security and traffic management, to take charge."

"Together with Comrade Zhao Dehan, Secretary of the Guangming District Committee, Comrade Sun Liancheng, District Mayor, and Comrade Cheng Du."

"The comrades from the provincial fire brigade and the oil and gas group quickly established a special working group."

"The disposal of these 20-plus tons of gasoline should be carried out under the general premise of not escalating conflicts and maintaining overall stability."

Hearing that Zhou Chuyi was looking for Luo Junzhen from the provincial department, instead of Qi Tongwei, he was surprised.

Gao Yuliang felt a bit resentful and cursed Qi Tongwei's stupidity in his heart. He criticized Qi Tongwei for not reporting his work to Zhou Chuyi.

Unexpectedly, the consequences came true immediately. If he had the merit of disposing of more than 20 tons of gasoline from Dafeng Factory, wouldn't that have been an extra advantage in his chances of becoming a vice-provincial governor?

Now, the credit has been taken by someone else, and he, the director of the provincial department, may not even know anything about it.

It's truly infuriating how little he can learn; Gao Yuliang is at a loss as to how to teach Qi Tongwei.

"As everyone knows, Dafeng Factory is facing demolition, and there are also equity disputes involved, which has a lot of public sentiment."

"In order to prevent the situation from escalating and causing any problems."

"Under the pretext of a province-wide fire safety inspection at the end of the year, the oil and gas group was forced to purchase more than 20 tons of gasoline, which was then quickly transferred."

Zhou Chuyi's story continues.

"When Comrade Luo Junzhen reported to me later, he said that when they went to pump out the oil, they found that two of the oil storage tanks were old and leaking oil."

"Fortunately, they handled it in time; otherwise, a tiny spark could have blown the entire Dafeng factory to smithereens."

"In just two days, the 116 mass incident occurred when the security team of Dafeng Factory set fire to their privately stored gasoline at the gate."

"If the gasoline hadn't been removed beforehand, wouldn't they have gotten agitated and set the gasoline tank on fire?"

"This live broadcast to the world is more than just a mass event."

"It's possible that what everyone witnessed was a massive explosion affecting hundreds of thousands of people!"

At this point, Zhou Chuyi slammed his fist on the table, "You, Comrade Li Dakang, as the Secretary of the Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee..."

"It's true that you were unaware that your Dafeng Factory in Guangming District, Jingzhou City, had more than 20 tons of gasoline stored there."

"But you don't know what's going on at the gate of Dafeng Factory? Doesn't your city bureau chief Zhao Donglai know?"

"Furthermore, is Zhao Donglai really unaware that Dafeng Factory illegally stored more than 20 tons of gasoline?"

By this point in the meeting, the entire situation within the Standing Committee had completely changed.

Nobody seems to care much about the issue of cadres in Handong Province that Sha Ruijin just mentioned.

The more than 20 tons of gasoline from Dafeng Factory have attracted everyone's attention.

Sha Ruijin regretted calling on Governor Liu to speak earlier.

Now, everyone's attention in the entire venue has been completely drawn to what Governor Liu and Zhou Chuyi are saying.

"The situation shouldn't be like this; it can't go on like this," he thought, glancing at the group of Standing Committee members.

Finally, his gaze fell on Zhou Chuyi. "Very good, Comrade Zhou Chuyi has only been in Handong for a few days."

"He discovered such a serious problem and eliminated the source of danger in advance."

"Here, we, the members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, would like to commend him for preventing a very serious incident that endangered public safety."

Clap clap clap clap clap, everyone applauded Zhou Chuyi, for he had saved everyone's lives.

If a major explosion had indeed occurred, no one in the entire Handong Provincial Party Committee or Jingzhou Municipal Party Committee could escape responsibility.

Zhou Chuyi calmly accepted the applause, saying, "This is what I should do as a cadre of the organization."

"I cannot allow this hidden danger threatening the lives and property of hundreds of thousands of people in Jingzhou to remain there."

Just as Sha Ruijin was about to continue speaking, Zhou Chuyi thought he should keep bringing up the matter, but then he saw Lao Liu signal him to calm down.