Nominal: The pinnacle of power began in the sixth province of Handong.

Chapter 160 is temporarily suspended.

After Zhao Lichun spoke with Governor Liu.

The four units—disciplinary inspection, auditing, procuratorial, and public security—withdrew from the front line of the investigation into Huilong Group.

Huilong Group has returned to calm.

This is the province's soft-line response to Zhao Lichun's pressure.

Zhao Lichun kept his word. Seeing that Governor Liu understood his meaning and acted accordingly, he immediately stopped further smearing Sha Ruijin. The accusations came to an abrupt end, all videos related to the Luzhou Resort were taken down from online media, and the issue of Mirror Weekly about Sha Ruijin was also discontinued.

The investigation team in Lüzhou City was thus given a respite and was able to conduct further investigations.

But what Zhao Lichun didn't expect was...

Everything was within Xia Qing's calculations.

Xia Qing also took into account that he would exert pressure on the anti-corruption efforts in some way.

Therefore, the province will use the investigation into Huilong Group as bait to quell Zhao Lichun's pressure.

The real battleground has shifted to the secret investigation team led by Lu Liang, deputy director of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, who is making every effort to track down officials who have dealings with the Shanshui Group.

After announcing the procuratorate's withdrawal from the investigation of Huilong Group, Chen Hai immediately joined the secret investigation team in Lüliang to investigate Shanshui Group.

The Discipline Inspection Commission also switched to cooperating with the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

A clandestine power struggle is quietly unfolding beneath the seemingly calm surface of Handong.

Prior to this, Zhu Zhichao had already held a meeting with Chen Hai and Ling Jiang.

This explained Governor Liu and Xia Qing's intention to shift the main focus of the anti-corruption investigation to the Shanshui Group, and asked Chen Hai and Ling Jiang for their understanding and cooperation.

Chen Hai was already planning to participate in the new round of investigations, so he was very supportive.

After careful consideration, Ling Jiang also stated that he was willing to cooperate with the province's decision to terminate the audit of private enterprises such as Huilong Group, but the audit of state-owned enterprises in Handong Province could not be stopped.

The reason is that if everything is stopped, it would be tantamount to telling Zhao Lichun that the audit of state-owned enterprises was actually a pretext for auditing Huilong, which would expose the original purpose.

Zhu Zhichao thought it made sense, so he asked Ling Jiang to continue the comprehensive audit of state-owned enterprises.

Zhu Zhichao also kept his promise to report the results to his superiors.

He tasked Ling Jiang with leading the drafting of an experience report on auditing state-owned and private enterprises, detailing the problems existing in Handong Enterprise.

Meanwhile, the procuratorate, led by Chen Hai, included examples of cooperating with the audit department in investigating the flow of funds, which led to a major money laundering case. It also sorted out the financial crime interest chain between state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, and submitted it as a basis for higher authorities to make decisions.

Finally, Zhu Zhichao, on behalf of the provincial government, summarized, reflected on, and outlined the next steps, and submitted this report to the central decision-making body.

In this way, the provincial government, the audit department, and the procuratorate can all obtain highly valuable achievements and commendations.

Although this long period of work has come to an end, it was not in vain.

The most anticipated event is when the anti-corruption bureau discovers a breakthrough in its secret investigation into the dealings between the Shanshui Group and its officials.

Then everything will turn around and you'll be in control again.

Several entities that had temporarily fallen silent are about to launch a new offensive against Huilong Group and even the Zhao family in the central task of the comprehensive anti-corruption campaign in the new year!

What we need to do now is race against time.

Furthermore, they should be patient and temporarily yield to Zhao Lichun.

As for the fourth public security bureau's economic crime investigation branch, Zhu Zhichao considered it carefully.

Arrange for them to return.

There is no other reason.

In his recent work, Zhu Zhichao clearly noticed that the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment was struggling to keep up with the workload. The tasks assigned to them by the Public Security Department were becoming increasingly cumbersome, making it difficult for the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment to balance the workload from both sides.

Is it true that the Public Security Bureau really has so many problems, or is someone deliberately undermining the work standards of the Economic Crime Investigation Division?

That remains to be seen.

In short, after this incident, Zhu Zhichao developed doubts about the Public Security Bureau.

As a precaution, the Public Security Bureau will no longer participate in the secret investigation of the Shanshui Group.

In order to complete the charade, Zhu Zhichao had already taken the lead in terminating the operation and could no longer appear in public to lead the secret investigation of the Shanshui Group.

Therefore, the important task of conducting a secret investigation into the Shanshui Group naturally fell to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing is now the commander-in-chief of the secret investigation operation, holding the lifeline of the comprehensive anti-corruption work and the trump card to launch a counterattack against Zhao Lichun.

The responsibility is immense; both Governor Liu and Zhu Zhichao have high expectations for Xia Qing's work!

Everything was arranged, and all that was left was to wait for Xia Qing's results.

Except for one person.

When Hou Liangping walked into Ji Changming's office carrying a stack of confessions, all of which he had obtained from Liu Xinjian,...

Ji Changming looked at the huge pile of confessions, and the densely written accusations against officials at all levels and cadres of major state-owned enterprises in Handong.

Ji Changming only needed a quick glance to realize that this was no confession at all. It was clearly a fabricated list of names made up because he couldn't withstand Hou Liangping's interrogation and coercion.

Unexpectedly, Hou Liangping actually took it back as a treasure?

Don't you even have basic judgment?

Ji Changming remained silent, waiting for Hou Liangping to speak.

Hou Liangping wiped his sweat and said smugly:

"Old Ji, wasn't I great? It wasn't easy to get Liu Xinjian to talk; it took a lot of effort!"

Ji Changming said coldly:

Do you yourself think the list on this page is credible?

"It has to be credible! Absolutely true! How about this list, take me to report to Secretary Sha?" Hou Liangping said impatiently.

Ji Changming sighed softly. Although everyone said that Sha Ruijin had gone to Beijing for training, the ministerial-level leaders in Handong knew the inside story: Sha Ruijin hadn't gone anywhere. In order to cover his tracks, he had returned to Beijing and retired.

If I need to report this now, who should I contact?

So, Ji Changming paused for a moment and then spoke:

"Liangping, your work ethic is commendable, but the province's current plan is to terminate the investigation into Huilong Group and the Oil and Gas Group. As for Liu Xinjian... I'm afraid he'll have to be released."

Hou Liangping was taken aback by these words and said with great dissatisfaction:

"Old Ji, are you kidding me? Terminating the investigation? Letting Liu Xinjian go? What about the whole anti-corruption campaign? What about all my efforts over the past month? Old Ji, you'd better give me an explanation today, or else..."

"Hou Liangping, I'm reminding you again, when you're at work, you should use your job title!" Ji Changming was finally provoked by Hou Liangping, and he didn't know how to explain it to him.

Should we tell him that the province, under pressure from Zhao Lichun, terminated the investigation and actually shifted its focus to the Shanshui Group?

Ji Changming would never tell Hou Liangping, a man who has neither the rank nor the cunning, about these major decisions and plans made by the province.

It's definitely a bad thing.

But Hou Liangping kept asking.

Anyone with even a modicum of political acumen would unconditionally follow the leader's instructions at this time, instead of asking questions here.

Ji Changming said impatiently:

"The formalities are all completed, and I'll arrange for Liu Xinjian to return to the oil and gas group immediately! Don't worry about it!"