Chapter 153: A Timely Intervention!

Tang Ye rushed toward Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory in a great hurry.

From a distance, he saw a dense crowd.

The villagers and the factory workers were like fighting cocks.

Eyes wide, staring each other down, they were in a standoff!

It wasn't just the people from Qigang Village who had come; those from the neighboring village had also gotten involved, totaling three or four hundred villagers.

This brother Zhao Bin must have downed plenty of booze at noon.

His face was red down to his neck, and he was currently shouting at the top of his lungs, trading insults with the Factory Director of Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory, Yang Wanli.

Yang Wanli was no pushover either; besides the security guards, he had also called in a group of helpers.

Ren Jun and the police officers had a hard time separating the two sides.

Although Tang Ye hadn't shown his face, he had received a text message and knew he was hiding nearby, so he went to find him.

"Town Mayor Tang, Zhao Bin from Qigang Village has brought people to Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory to demand land payments."

Tang Ye understood the situation perfectly.

The land payment was merely a pretext!

When Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory originally relocated to Pinghu Town, it requisitioned land from two villages, with the requirement that the costs be paid off within five years; two years had passed so far.

The money had indeed reached the Government's account, but starting this year, the pollution around the factory had become outrageously severe; one could smell a strange odor from far away, and the villagers could no longer go on living like this. Therefore, Zhao Bin and the Village Chief of the neighboring village had conspired to simply refuse to accept the money.

Tang Ye had come here to look before, and the pollution was indeed very severe.

The river, which used to be clear to the bottom, had now become a stinking ditch, and from far away, it was enough to make people cover their noses.

Chen Zhihua loved fishing, but he would never come near this area even if it killed him, because the fish caught here all had a strange smell and were completely inedible.

The reason Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory relocated to Pinghu was also because the pollution was too severe; Xia Haiqiao had attracted twenty million in investment at the time, but in fact, he had found a hot potato—it looked like he had gained political achievements, but in reality, he had dug a huge pit for those who followed.

"What should we do?" Ren Jun asked for instructions.

Tang Ye rubbed his chin, "Let's wait and see for now! Observe the situation."

Ren Jun realized that both sides were at each other's throats; rushing in might escalate the conflict, and it would be very easy to draw the focus onto himself.

Breaking up a fight requires technique.

It's like a war between nations; let them fight until they are exhausted, and when they have little strength left, stepping in as a peacemaker might yield miraculous results.

The Factory Director of Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory, Yang Wanli, had long found Zhao Bin an eyesore; he would run to his office every few days, threatening that if he didn't fix the environment, he would go to the petition office.

Today, Yang Wanli had also come prepared, having called a group of idlers from the city, and he was full of confidence.

While the commotion was ongoing, someone ran over to report: "Factory Director Yang, we caught two sneaky guys nearby, holding cameras and snapping away at our factory buildings."

Yang Wanli was burning with rage; his first reaction was that Zhao Bin was playing dirty and had found people from the media.

These days, the media loves to stare at factories to pick faults, and once they put a news article in front of you, they just wait for you to pay them to keep quiet. The old factory's relocation was precisely because they didn't pay attention to the media, which was why they were driven to Pinghu.

Before long, the two men were shoved and pushed by security guards to the factory gate.

Yang Wanli glared and interrogated them like a prisoner: "What are you two doing? Why are you sneaking around our factory?"

One was in his forties, and the other was in his early thirties.

The younger man reached out and pushed the security guard away, sneering as he said: "We are reporters, and we have the right of supervisory power."

Yang Wanli was amused, "You're reporters? Fine, take out your press cards and let me have a look."

The younger man froze for a moment, pretending to be calm, "I didn't bring my press card with me."

Yang Wanli laughed even harder: "No press card? Then you're fake reporters!" He turned his head and ordered the Captain of the security guards: "Smash the camera for me!"

The Captain of the security guards rushed over, snatched the camera, and smashed it hard on the ground. The younger man didn't fly into a rage, but stared at Yang Wanli with cold eyes, while the older man didn't say a word, his face gloomy.

Yang Wanli thought killing the chicken to scare the monkey was working, and triumphantly provoked Zhao Bin: "Do you think calling a backyard media outlet works? Get out of here now, or you'll regret it!"

Zhao Bin was also bewildered, looking at these two people who had suddenly appeared, feeling suspicious in his heart.

However, just based on Yang Wanli's arrogance, he wasn't going to show weakness, and he sneered: "Oh? Then I'd like to see how you plan to be 'not polite'."

Before his words had even faded, with an "Ouch," Zhao Bin screamed, instinctively touching the top of his head—his hand was covered in blood!

When the villagers saw their Village Chief was injured, they swarmed forward and started fighting with the other side.

When the middle-aged man saw that things were out of control, he was so angry that his eyes were almost spitting fire.

The younger man hurriedly protected him, saying nervously: "Let's retreat first!"

In Yang Wanli's eyes, the two "reporters" were the culprits.

He leaned into the thug's ear and whispered a few instructions.

The thug walked toward them with an icy expression.

The younger man was caught off guard and kicked to the ground by the thug.

The thug picked up the wooden stick in his hand and was about to strike the middle-aged man in the face.

At this critical moment, the thug's wrist was suddenly gripped tightly.

Before he could even see who had arrived, he took a kick to the stomach and flew out like a kite with a broken string.

"Mayor Jiang, are you alright!"

Tang Ye's shout was incredibly loud.

Jiang Jing looked at Tang Ye with a face full of surprise, "You know me?"

Tang Ye hurriedly introduced himself: "My name is Tang Ye, I am the Town Mayor of Pinghu Town, I am truly sorry, I arrived late!"

At this moment, Ren Jun fired several shots into the sky with a "Bang, bang, bang."

These gunshots were like a stabilizing needle; both sides suddenly calmed down.

Tang Ye breathed a sigh of relief; this farce had come to a temporary halt.

Tang Ye hadn't expected that Jiang Jing would actually bring a Secretary to Pinghu for an unannounced visit; he inwardly called himself lucky—if he had arrived a step later and Jiang Jing had been beaten, it would have been the end of him.

As for Yang Wanli, his face was deathly pale, and his legs were even starting to tremble.

Didn't these two say they were reporters?

How did a Mayor pop out?

Tang Ye had long harbored the intention to take action against Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory, so he had previously spoken to Zhou Chengwu about this matter.

Jiang Jing came for an unannounced visit today; she was likely acting under instructions.

Furthermore.

Having received a warning from Du Chengfeng earlier, Tang Ye had long anticipated that she would come for an unannounced visit!

Taking action at this moment was perfectly timed!

Although Jiang Jing was fuming, she knew this was because Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory was too arrogant and had nothing to do with the local government.

Regarding the closure of Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory, there were differing voices among the city leaders, especially since Mayor Xiao Jingyu had once issued instructions on the Hualin factory, and it was he who had relocated the Hualin factory to the relatively backward Pinghu.

Although Hualin Pharmaceutical Factory caused heavy pollution, its products were very popular in the domestic market, its profits were good, and it contributed about five million in tax revenue to the locality every year.

For a small town like Pinghu, this was a very considerable income.

In recent years, the County Party Committee and the County Government also knew that Hualin had serious pollution problems, and they had allowed it to survive while maintaining an attitude of continuously strengthening governance.

For the local residents, having the opportunity to work right at their doorstep meant that several hundred yuan a month was a significant income for an ordinary farming family.

On one hand, the air was filled with strange odors, and the small river had turned yellow and black, to the point where it could not even be used to water vegetables;

On the other hand, their family situations had truly changed; there were more meat dishes on the dining table, and household appliances like televisions had entered their homes.

Pollution and hard cash were so closely linked that it troubled countless grassroots governments, becoming a universal problem.

The police officers escorted the main personnel involved from both sides to the Police Station.

Tang Ye suggested inviting Jiang Jing to have a simple meal in town.

Jiang Jing waved her hand, "Once the polluting enterprise is dealt with, I will come back to eat!"

Tang Ye's expression was solemn as he nodded heavily and replied, "Mayor Jiang, rest assured, I will definitely carry out active rectification, and I will not be ambiguous at all!"

But in reality, he was already overjoyed inside.

Jiang Jing's visit this time was equivalent to handing him an "Imperial Sword"!

Regarding environmental governance, Tang Ye had always had a standard in his heart.

From the bottom of his heart, he admired those new types of enterprises that had less pollution and higher technological content, feeling that this was the right path for development.

However, the industrial layout at the grassroots level was not that simple.

Sometimes, even if one was clear about it in one's own heart, one still had to wait for the leaders above to nod; only after obtaining permission could one truly put it into practice.