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

Chapter 100 The Truth Behind the Crying at the Grave

Sha Ruijin was very satisfied with Li Dakang's speech.

He understood his intentions so quickly; he's a promising talent!

Xia Qing sensed something was wrong as she listened to these words.

This is a strategic retreat; Li Dakang deliberately exposes his own wounds to attack Gao Yuliang.

What amazing teamwork!

However, Li Dakang deliberately avoided the issue of cadre personnel, and Sha Ruijin and Tian Guofu did not mention this aspect either, but only made a fuss about Ding Yizhen and Qi Tongwei.

In this way, as the organization minister, he could no longer refute Secretary-General Qian in the same way he had just refuted him.

Now, Li Dakang has challenged Gao Yuliang to a duel.

For now, it all depends on Gao Yuliang's performance!

The other members of the Standing Committee also understood the situation at the meeting.

All eyes turned to Gao Yuliang and Li Dakang.

To everyone's surprise, Gao Yuliang remained completely unfazed, and smiled faintly:

"Comrade Dakang, your words are a bit deliberate. From what you're saying, if Ding Yizhen has a problem, then Qi Tongwei must also have a problem? Do they have some kind of nepotistic relationship? Or are they like in martial arts novels, sharing life and death?"

Gao Yuliang's words drew chuckles from several Standing Committee members, and Li Dakang, not to be outdone, continued:

"What I mean is that Qi Tongwei and Ding Yizhen are remarkably similar in some ways..."

At this point, Li Dakang paused deliberately, looked at Sha Ruijin, and said somewhat apologetically:

"Um... Secretary Sha, may I say?"

Secretary Sha smiled and extended his right hand, gesturing for the others to proceed.

"Of course, a democratic life meeting is about speaking freely. I don't think comrades will really take your well-intentioned reminders to heart."

"Alright, then I'll tell you, I'll tell you." Having received Sha Ruijin's imperial approval, Li Dakang relaxed considerably and began to speak fluently:

"Qi Tongwei and Ding Yizhen are actually quite similar. When it comes to running around, giving gifts, and asking for favors, they're both incredibly cunning and slippery. Such cadres may be good at navigating interpersonal relationships, but can they really do a good job? Ding Yizhen has already run into trouble, and I really don't want Qi Tongwei to run into the same problem! Let's not talk about anything else, just about that grave-crying incident. Comrade Xia Qing might not have heard of it, so I'll emphasize it..."

"Let me say something about the grave-crying incident." Xia Qing suddenly interrupted Li Dakang, who was greatly displeased, but he also knew that Xia Qing was not someone he could afford to offend, so he could only frown in dissatisfaction and throw the pen in his hand onto the notebook.

Xia Qing didn't care about any of that and said:

"During the period of cadre freeze, I led the Organization Department to conduct a focused investigation on Qi Tongwei, and gained a new understanding of the incident of crying at the grave. It is true that Comrade Zhao Lichun paid respects to his father, and Qi Tongwei cried along with him. But do you know what kind of experience his father had? He was a soldier who participated in the Sino-Vietnamese War! Qi Tongwei was present at the time and heard this glorious history, and he had immense respect for Zhao's father! In addition, as a member of the public security front, thinking of his comrades who were wounded and sacrificed, and thinking of the three bullets he had been shot, Qi Tongwei was overwhelmed with grief, and that's why he couldn't control himself and burst into tears!"

Xia Qing's words were like a bombshell, leaving everyone's minds buzzing!

What happened?

Wasn't Qi Tongwei crying at a grave a joke from a previous Standing Committee meeting?

How did it turn into a touching story of heroes appreciating each other?

Sha Ruijin and Tian Guofu exchanged a glance, sensing that something bad was about to happen.

Before Sha Ruijin could even speak, Xia Qing immediately interrupted, giving him no chance to take control of the situation:

"Fellow citizens, I am not a soldier, but I have a deep admiration for soldiers. They are true heroes, guardians! Therefore, can you understand it this way: Qi Tongwei, as a public security officer in peacetime, paying high tribute to the heroic predecessors who participated in the war, isn't this a continuation and inheritance of the revolutionary spirit? Qi Tongwei's tears at the grave prove that old soldiers never die, and the military spirit lives on forever!"

"Great!" Before Xia Qing could finish speaking, deafening cheers erupted from the conference room.

Sha Ruijin was incredulous to see that the military region leader, who usually only raised his hand and never spoke, was now sitting upright with tears in his eyes, clapping vigorously!

Applaud when someone speaks at a meeting!

Aside from flattering the top leader, it's simply impossible!

Li Dakang was also surprised. Xia Qing's interjection completely changed the atmosphere of the scene!

Xia Qing nodded to the military region commander, then smiled at Li Dakang, calmly as if nothing had happened, and said:

"Comrade Dakang, my supplementary remarks are finished. You may continue."

"..." Li Dakang really didn't know what to say.

And you're talking about crying at a grave?

It has been characterized as an uncontrollable emotion and a spiritual legacy.

Or should we continue to bring up those rumors about Qi Tongwei?

Li Dakang was unsure.

He did not have any concrete evidence that Qi Tongwei had committed any wrongdoing.

The whole "running and delivering" thing is just hearsay.

So much so that Li Dakang could only use the story of crying at a grave as an excuse, which was the most explosive material he could come up with.

Having lost his confidence, Li Dakang didn't know how to continue speaking for a moment.

Seeing this, how could Gao Yuliang possibly let this opportunity slip by?

Wasn't it you, Li Dakang, who just led the attack against me as my pawn?

Now I'm going to retaliate, so don't get angry!

Thinking of this, Gao Yuliang smiled and continued the conversation, saying:

"Since Comrade Dakang has nothing to say, I'll say a few more words. First of all, I thank the organization for giving Qi Tongwei justice. As the secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, I couldn't bear to hear the rumors spread by my subordinate, the director of the Public Security Bureau."

As Gao Yuliang spoke, he nodded to Xia Qing, who returned the gesture with a smile.

Gao Yuliang continued:

"To be honest, Qi Tongwei has his shortcomings, and I admit that I failed in my supervision and education, so I must make a self-criticism. But if anyone says that I, Gao Yuliang, practice nepotism, that would be biased. You all should remember Yi Xuexi, right? He was handpicked by Comrade Ruijin and promoted two ranks ahead of schedule to become the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Jingzhou City. Back when I was in Luzhou, I transferred him here to be the Director of the Transportation Bureau. Guess what happened?"

As Gao Yuliang spoke, he held up three fingers and said with emotion:

"Three terms. Before Yi Xuexi came, all three leadership teams of the Transportation Bureau had problems. After Yi Xuexi came, none of the team members had any problems, and those long-standing issues were resolved one by one. This alone is enough to prove that I, Gao Yuliang, have the ability to judge people. At the same time, it can also be seen that whether a team is good or not, and whether it will have problems, depends on whether the leader himself is capable."

As soon as Gao Yuliang finished speaking, the expressions of several people present immediately changed.

First was Li Dakang, whose eyes twitched as he pretended to be busy fiddling with a fountain pen.

Because Gao Yuliang repeatedly mentioned the issues of the leadership team and the relationship between the team leader and the team leader.

On the surface, it was praising the good atmosphere of the team led by Yi Xuexi, but in reality, it was practically an insult directed at Li Dakang.

Which of the Standing Committee members here has a bad work atmosphere in their team, or someone has gotten into trouble?

Li Dakang, you know.

Sha Ruijin's expression was even more interesting.

It's simply because Gao Yuliang's choice of words and sentence structure are full of sarcastic and unsettling meanings.

The terms "handpicked," "exceptional," and "promoted two ranks" all describe Sha Ruijin as an autocratic, domineering, bureaucratic secretary who is above the rules.

Most importantly, Gao Yuliang used EasyLearning as an example, and Sha Ruijin couldn't refute anything.

After all, Yi Xuexi's exceptional promotion was something he himself proposed at the Standing Committee meeting.

To deny the ease of learning is to deny one's own ability to manage people.

What if it's definitely easy to learn?

Excuse me, but that definitely proves Gao Yuliang's ability to judge character.

Because Gao Yuliang had long recognized Yi Xuexi's abilities, he transferred him to be the director of the Transportation Bureau!

For Sha Ruijin, the current situation has become...

You either deny your own judgment in choosing people, or you'll be contradicting yourself.

Alternatively, one could acknowledge that Gao Yuliang was a wise and capable person who did not practice nepotism.

Both sides are extremely disadvantageous!

As Sha Ruijin was struggling with this problem, Secretary-General Qian quickly reacted and interrupted, saying:

"Secretary Yuliang is right, Comrade Yi Xuexi is indeed very capable. But if it's really as you say, and you have such good judgment of people, why didn't you help Yi Xuexi advance further back then? So, it seems that factionalism and cliques still exist! You have to admit that, don't you?"

"Old Qian, I have to criticize you for what you just said. Your ideological awareness needs improvement," Gao Yuliang replied calmly.

"Those with outstanding abilities should be placed in the most suitable positions to give full play to their talents. Besides, if we promote people regardless of their abilities, wouldn't that become a power-centric approach? Wouldn't it be putting the cart before the horse to promote people to do their jobs well? Look at role models like Shi Chuanxiang, Wang Jinxi, and Lei Feng—none of them held high-ranking positions. But that didn't hinder their willingness to serve the people. This spirit is what we should learn from."

At this point, Gao Yuliang glanced at Secretary-General Qian, who was sitting at the very end of the table, and said with a half-smile:

"Old Qian, I know you haven't made any progress in twenty-two years, so it's understandable that you're resentful. What you've said is just to tell everyone that you're very capable, but you haven't sided with any powerful figures, so you've been overlooked, right? Here are two things I want to correct you on: First, Handong is a plain area, where are all those powerful figures coming from? Second, your bureaucratic mindset is quite serious."

Secretary-General Qian was a little dizzy. Gao Yuliang's series of punches almost turned him into a petty person who was pursuing progress but could not get it and could only resort to sophistry.

He gritted his teeth, glared at Gao Yuliang, and said:

"That professor has so many fallacies!"