Changing direction, starting with state-owned enterprises

After the Standing Committee meeting ended, the freshly issued list of personnel appointments and removals was distributed through organizational channels at top speed, immediately sending an indescribable shock through Jingzhou's official circles. After all, it had only been rumor before, yet the appointments were publicly announced the very next day-an efficiency unprecedented in Jingzhou's history.

Deputy Mayor Wen Zhiyuan, newly appointed Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau Director Luo Yong, Finance Bureau Director Zhang Yongning, Guangming District Deputy Head Cheng Du, and the others rushed to Lin Yanzhou's office at the first opportunity to declare their support. Their words were earnest and their manner humble as they thanked the mayor for "recognizing their worth" and vowed to bend their backs to the task until their dying breath, never betraying his trust.

Lin Yanzhou looked at these newly minted "people of his own," with little joy on his face. "There's no need for thanks. Selecting talent for the organization is part of my job. I hope you'll uphold your principles, put the people at the center, and get your work moving as soon as possible."

With that, he had his secretary escort them out. At that moment, all he could think of was how Li Dakang had controlled the Standing Committee yesterday. At their level, only complete control of the Standing Committee counted as control of the situation.

He clearly understood that these people's allegiance at this moment rested on his position as mayor and Li Dakang's "tacit approval," not on any true personal authority of his own.

Without control of the Standing Committee, his orders would ultimately never get beyond the municipal government. Li Dakang could invoke collective decision-making at any time to veto the municipal government's decisions. What he could so easily give them, he could just as easily take away.

He paced to the window and looked at the officials hurrying through the courtyard below. Among them were several deputy mayors on the Standing Committee who had voted in his favor at yesterday's meeting.

He considered whether to convene a meeting of the municipal government's Party leadership group and make contact with the team left behind by the previous mayor, Wu Xiongfei.

Of the two Standing Committee members currently in the municipal government, Ding Yizhen was firmly in Li Dakang's camp, but he had yet to figure out whose man the executive deputy mayor was.

The other Standing Committee members all seemed to have connections to the power network Li Dakang had cultivated over the years.

For now, he appeared to have won a few chess pieces, but he was still far from shaking up the entire board.

I can't keep attacking head-on. Lin Yanzhou made up his mind. If he blindly tested Li Dakang's limits again, his proposed candidates would be shot down at the next Standing Committee meeting. After all, Li Dakang had spent years building his position in Jingzhou. With his predecessor Zhao Lichun having left on promotion, Li Dakang, as Zhao Lichun's most successful secretary, would surely inherit part of his political legacy. That made Li Dakang's defensive lines in Handong far too solid. He had to blaze another trail.

He pressed the intercom button. "Chen Mo, have the General Office bring me the files on the Jingzhou Zhongfu Shantytown Redevelopment Zone project. Then have the Government Research Office compile all the operating results, project investments, audit reports, and personnel assessment reports for municipally owned state enterprises over the past three years and send them to my office. Be quick, and keep it confidential."

"Also, make the arrangements under the name of a survey of municipally owned state enterprises' operations. Starting next week, I'll visit the key enterprises one by one. Make Jingzhou Urban Investment Holding Group the first stop."

Since it was temporarily difficult to break all the way through the Party and government apparatus, he turned his gaze toward another behemoth-the municipal state-owned enterprise system, which commanded vast amounts of funding and resources.

This might be a relatively weak point in Li Dakang's territory of power. As mayor, his primary goals were economic development and public welfare, and neither could do without money. If he could properly consolidate the municipal state-owned enterprises and get a clear picture of their hidden debts, it would certainly be a major asset in his future efforts to develop Jingzhou.

Meanwhile, Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Zhang Shuli was equally heavy-hearted. Shut away in his office, he repeatedly examined several irregular entries in former Environmental Protection Bureau Director Wang Bin's bank transactions that his subordinates had submitted.

These records pointed to a third-party company unrelated to the Guangming Peak Project. Pursuing the trail would require coordination with financial institutions elsewhere, creating too much of a stir to escape certain people's notice.

Should he heed Li Dakang's hint to "follow Party discipline and the law, and keep a sense of proportion," and close the case here? Or should he take an enormous risk and keep digging in the direction Lin Yanzhou had indicated?

As he hesitated, the director of the Case Management Office knocked and came in, bringing a confidential summary of a complaint. According to the summary, an anonymous letter sent to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection alleged that the Jingzhou municipal government had violated regulations during land acquisition and demolition for the Guangming Peak Project, overstated the area eligible for compensation, and fraudulently obtained state compensation funds. It directly named Deputy Mayor Ding Yizhen, who had overseen the matter at the time, and the officials responsible for handling it in several districts.

Zhang Shuli's heart gave a sudden jolt. The provincial commission had forwarded the letter to the municipal commission to "handle as appropriate." This was procedure, but it was also a probe and a form of pressure.

Yet Tian Guofu was a cadre dispatched by the central leadership. At this moment, he should all the more have seized this lead to open up the situation for the newly arrived provincial Party secretary. Instead, he had forwarded the complaint to Jingzhou's discipline inspection commission. What exactly was his intention? Zhang Shuli was suddenly at a loss. Was it a coincidence? Or was someone deliberately pushing him into this fire?

He picked up the red secure telephone and, after much hesitation, called Li Dakang's secretary first. He briefly reported the complaint forwarded by the provincial commission and asked for instructions on how to handle it.

"Secretary Zhang, please stay on the line. The secretary is meeting an important guest. Give me a moment, and I'll report this to him." Footsteps sounded at the other end. Before long, the secretary's voice returned. "Secretary Zhang, the leader's position is that the discipline inspection commission should simply handle it in accordance with the law and regulations."

"In accordance with the law and regulations" again! A wave of helplessness washed over Zhang Shuli. Once again, Li Dakang had chosen neither to state a position nor to intervene, throwing the pressure and the decision entirely back onto him.

At that moment, in Shanshui Manor, Ding Yizhen looked at Zhao Ruilong, despairing agitation appearing on his face for the first time.

"We've lost too much this time. And I heard from people at the discipline inspection commission that they seem to be investigating privately still! Can Li Dakang keep the commission under control or not?"

"And there's Lin Yanzhou. He's started probing the state-owned enterprises! A lot of those old accounts at Jingzhou Urban Investment won't stand up to scrutiny!"

Zhao Ruilong stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray. "What are you panicking for? Li Dakang's refusal to take a position means he's protecting us! He's even more afraid than we are of this blowing up! As for Lin Yanzhou..."

A vicious glint flashed in his eyes. "He wants to examine the financial accounts? Fine, let him. The waters of Jingzhou run deep! Does an outsider like him really think he can sound out all the whirlpools and hidden reefs? He might drown before he even gets his hands on a fish!"

Lowering his voice, he instructed Ding Yizhen, "Have your people in the state-owned enterprise system cooperate properly with Mayor Lin's survey. Don't leave out a single piece of information that should be provided, and don't say a single word more than you should."

"Also, muddy the waters a little. Steer him toward those old accounts and problems left over from the past-former Mayor Wu Xiongfei's 'shantytown redevelopment project,' for example, Ouyang Jing's 'Jingzhou City Bank,' and Secretary Dakang's 'Dafeng Factory demolition.' Let him sink into them until he can't pull himself free!"