Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

The strong smell of rust-preventing oil, mixed with the salty dampness of the sea breeze, permeated the huge steel-structured warehouse in Zero Dark Harbor.

It was a unique, adrenaline-pumping flavor, characteristic of heavy industry.

Lin Yang casually tossed the heavy military crowbar onto the wooden rubble at his feet, making a dull thud.

His gaze, like a searchlight, carefully swept over the sets of brand-new, precise gears and guide rails, their surfaces gleaming with a cold, hard luster. This was not merely a cold machine; it was a sharp blade to break through Western blockades, a super engine capable of bringing about a qualitative leap in the precision of domestic military manufacturing.

"Chen Feng." Lin Yang straightened up, turned his gaze away from the machine tool, and looked at the towering man beside him.

"Here!" Chen Feng immediately straightened his back, his eyes shining brightly.

"These three five-axis CNC machine tools were 'snatched' from under the noses of those overseas conglomerates with real money and enormous risks." Lin Yang's voice was deep and stern, exuding absolute inviolability. "From now on, they are top-secret national assets."

Lin Yang stretched out his finger and pointed it in mid-air.

"You personally select the men. From the Special Operations Division, choose fifty of the most accurate marksmen and the most discreet brothers. Allocate ten heavy military trucks; three as decoys and two as the rearguard. Load these three machine tools onto the trucks overnight, transport them with the highest level of armed escort, directly via the internal military highway, and send them to the confidential military workshop of the Third Heavy Machinery Group inland!"

"No one, no unit, no checkpoint of any level along the route is allowed to open the luggage for inspection! Anyone who dares to forcibly stop the vehicle..." A chilling murderous intent flashed in Lin Yang's eyes, "No need to ask for permission, fire a warning shot immediately. If they dare to approach again, shoot them on the spot!"

"Understood! As long as the machine is there, the machine will be there! I, Chen Feng, will give my life to ensure that not a single piece of paint will be chipped off these national treasures!" Chen Feng shouted as he accepted the order, then turned and strode out of the warehouse to begin urgently mobilizing manpower.

Lin Yang took out a clean white handkerchief and carefully wiped the little bit of anti-rust oil on his fingertips before turning to look at Shen Yan beside him.

"Let's go back to the Special Economic Zone Management Committee. Let's see how our local officials have cultivated this golden land these past few months."

Two jeeps covered in yellow mud drove back onto the bumpy dirt road and sped toward the core office area of ​​the special economic zone.

Outside the car window, the sun was blazing.

This land, designated as a special economic zone, is currently engulfed in a dazzling frenzy and chaos. Everywhere there are excavated foundations and dump trucks loaded with sand and gravel. Migrant workers from various places, speaking different accents, are sweating profusely on the scaffolding, shirtless.

This is a vitality full of wild growth, but in the eyes of a superior like Lin Yang, who is used to high order and meticulous planning, this vitality will soon turn into a disaster if it lacks iron-fisted guidance.

The office of the Special Administrative Region Management Committee was converted from an abandoned secondary school.

The three-story red brick building still bears the faded marks of slogans on its exterior walls. The courtyard is filled with bicycles of various models and several old Volga cars.

When Lin Yang's jeep drove into the compound, the atmosphere in the entire management committee instantly became heavy.

Everyone knows that the chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, who sits at the center and holds the power of life and death over the macroeconomy, has personally arrived today.

On the third floor, in the first conference room, which was converted from a large classroom.

The seven core members of the Special Economic Zone Management Committee had already taken their seats at the long, pieced-together conference table half an hour in advance.

On the table sat a rough porcelain tea mug, filled with cheap jasmine tea.

No one spoke; even the sound of drinking water was kept to a minimum.

Liang Qiming, the director of the management committee, is a veteran cadre in his fifties who was transferred from an inland province. At this moment, he is holding a handkerchief and constantly wiping the fine beads of sweat from his forehead.

Sitting to his right was Zhang Jianye, the deputy director in charge of infrastructure construction; to his left was Su Chenghai, the deputy director in charge of investment promotion.

In front of each person was a thick notebook, filled with densely written speech notes.

Today is the first "democratic life meeting" since the establishment of the Special Administrative Region.

In this special era, the democratic life meeting is an extremely serious organizational activity. It requires cadres to come together to conduct criticism and self-criticism, analyze their thoughts, and identify problems.

But Liang Qiming and the others knew very well that Lin Yang, a ruthless figure, hadn't come to sit in on this meeting to listen to them read from prepared speeches or go through the motions. This was a "trap" where they could lose their positions at any moment.

The sound of steady, powerful leather footsteps echoed down the corridor.

Each strike felt as if it were treading on the very hearts of the seven officials in the conference room.

The door was pushed open.

Shen Yan walked in first, then turned to the side.

Lin Yang, wearing a simple white short-sleeved shirt, strode into the conference room with a blank expression. He ignored the crowd who stood up to greet him, walked directly to the top of the conference table, and sat down with an air of superiority.

"Please sit down." Lin Yang's voice was not loud, but it carried an unyielding sense of pressure.

Everyone sat down cautiously.

Lin Yang leaned back slightly, his deep gaze sweeping across both sides of the long table as if it were a physical object.

"The special economic zone has been established for more than half a year now," Lin Yang said slowly, his tone so calm it sent chills down one's spine. "The central government provides the policies, and I grant you foreign exchange and authority. The power you wield is greater than that of an entire province in the mainland."

"Today's democratic life meeting, I won't talk about achievements. Those achievements were built with the country's money and land, which is only to be expected. Today, we'll only talk about problems."

Lin Yang tapped the table lightly with his fingers.

"Liang Qiming, you're the class monitor, you go first. Tell me, what glaring stains have you drawn on this blank sheet of paper in the past six months?"

Liang Qiming swallowed hard, feeling his throat go dry. He opened the notebook in front of him, cleared his throat, and began to analyze himself in a standard, impeccable official tone.

"President Lin, as the team leader, I bear an unshirkable responsibility for the work done over the past six months. First of all, my thinking is not open enough, and my understanding of the central government's grand blueprint for developing a market economy is not thorough enough. When faced with the influx of overseas capital, I still have a conservative mindset of 'fearing to make historical mistakes,' which has led to excessively long approval processes for some large foreign investment projects, affecting the development speed of the special economic zone."

"Secondly, in terms of work style, I still retain remnants of bureaucracy. I haven't gone deep into the grassroots level, haven't shown enough concern for the practical difficulties encountered by my colleagues, and haven't been able to effectively resolve them..."

Liang Qiming's voice echoed in the conference room, eloquent and sincere, his attitude sounding extremely upright.

The other deputy directors nodded in agreement, ready to follow the same approach after Liang Qiming finished speaking, and deeply analyze their own shortcomings of "not studying in depth" and "not working meticulously enough".

Snapped!

Just as Liang Qiming was about to turn to the next page and continue reading, Lin Yang suddenly grabbed the rough porcelain teacup on the table and slammed it heavily on the table!

The spilled tea landed on the back of Lin Yang's hand, but he didn't even flinch.