Chapter 1050: Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee, Furious and Demanding Accountability

The atmosphere at the Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee meeting was oppressively frightening, even the usual chain-smokers sat properly, not daring to touch their cigarette packs.

Zhang Jiangbo, who loved to flaunt his identity and status and wanted to set himself up as a Jingcheng playboy, kept his head down looking at his notebook; at this moment he vaguely felt dozens of sharp eyes fixed on his body.

If he dared to utter a word at this time, he would likely be cut down on the spot by those piercing gazes.

This atmosphere lasted a full five minutes before Zhao Secretary, whose face was dark enough to drip water, began to speak:

"Comrades, speaking honestly, I never thought our city would actually receive such a high-level investigation. Moreover, they didn't even need to greet our city; they directly inspected the situation in Lieshan Xian."

"I really want to know, what great crime have we committed? What happened in Lieshan Xian? Why did the Jingcheng investigation team move in without orders or notification? Secretary Zhang, I want to hear your explanation, after all you are the Lieshan Xian County Party Secretary, and all major and minor events in Lieshan Xian are under your control."

Zhang Jiangbo felt his head buzzing; at this moment he just wanted to find a crack to hide in, and he regretted coming into this muddy situation.

Previously, he had thought the matter too simple—he believed that whether it was him or Jia Guolong, the sole purpose was to deal with Su Yang. He thought that, standing in his position as Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, handling Su Yang would be easy—just a matter of minutes.

But after repeatedly hitting a wall, and even being scolded bloody by Jia Guolong, he had no choice but to push this so-called Sha He river sand mining issue onto everyone.

He never expected things to develop to the point of being uncontrollable; even when he called Jia Guolong, Jia Guolong was helpless and even told him, "Let him fend for himself."

Not only him, but according to Jia Guolong's own words, even if his father showed up now, he wouldn't be able to intervene in this matter, and it's no longer something they at their level can decide.

When Zhao Secretary fixed his gaze on him and told him to speak, the others' eyes also locked onto him in unison. Those eyes seemed to say: "You're the culprit; if it weren't for you, how could all this have happened?"

He felt wronged, but even with the so-called Jingcheng youth aura on him, he couldn't withstand the collective pressure from the Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee.

He hurriedly explained: "Zhao Secretary, Mayor Wang, comrades, regarding this matter I had already reported to Zhao Secretary earlier, but some parts may not have been detailed enough; today, taking this opportunity, I will give everyone a full account again."

"The reason this high-level investigation team was provoked is due to several factors. One is that after our county issued the new environmental protection law and related policies from the Environmental Protection Bureau, we still recklessly destroyed natural resources—this also counts as hitting the gun's muzzle, and this incident is the fuse of the whole event."

"Of course, before this incident occurred, whether it was me or County Magistrate Su, we wanted to lift the lid and settle everything here once and for all, but someone has always been secretly sabotaging us, and the people involved are too many; once uncovered, it would be riddled with holes."

"What truly made the situation uncontrollable was the suicide of Former County Magistrate Tong Guohua, and he still had several letters of accusation on him, pointing all the blame at Su Yang."

"Whether Su Yang has any problems is unknown; he is still under investigation. But Su Yang has indeed done a lot of work for our county and is well loved by the common people; now, because of this matter, the common people almost daily come to the county government to cause trouble, and some even shout for County Magistrate Su to be returned to them—I'm also quite troubled."

Zhaikai couldn't wait for his long-winded speech; he cut in directly: "You've talked for half a day without mentioning the cause of this incident. As I know, it's because a truck driver hauling sand on Sha He got drunk and collided with a farm tricycle, causing the vehicle to overturn and people to die—three died outright, a major accident, and that is the true cause of this matter."

"What exactly is the situation with this person? Has our county's investigation cleared it up? Was it premeditated or just a random accident?"

As soon as he said that, everyone's expressions shifted; previously they had only focused on the incident itself, not considering other factors. And hearing this, could it be that they suspect Zhang Jiangbo of playing tricks, setting up this scheme to deal with Su Yang together with Zhao Nanxing and them?

Zhang Jiangbo's face suddenly changed; he even stood up, excitedly saying: "Zhao Secretary, this matter has nothing to do with me. Of course the county has its own problems, the leadership lacks unity, and I will examine myself."

"But as the team leader, I couldn't possibly do something that harms others and myself. According to the investigation results from the County Public Security Bureau, the so-called truck driver had already renovated his house two or three months ago and left some savings for his family."

"According to his normal income, that would be impossible, but so far no trace of such funds entering his account has been found. Now the Public Security Bureau is also investigating the people he has contacted in the past six months; preliminary judgment is that this incident was premeditated, and precisely because of this, it triggered the subsequent chain of events."

Zhaikai's face grew even darker; if Zhang Jiangbo's explanation isn't clear enough, if he still has suspicion, then he can breathe a sigh of relief—after all, it's just Zhang Jiangbo stirring up trouble.

"If that's the case, then this matter isn't hard to solve, because we've found the root. But if Zhang Jiangbo is also unaware, then it means someone set a trap, dragging everyone into it—not just targeting Su Yang, not just the Lieshan Xian County Party Committee and county government, but also pulling these people from our city into it."

"You should know, letting Jingcheng come down directly to investigate, completely bypassing us, is how distrustful this is toward us; and he just took office and encountered this—it's no less than being hit over the head with a stick. The most tragic part is that, to this day, we still haven't figured out who swung that stick."

"Moreover, his anger hasn't subsided; he coldly asked: 'Besides the matter being premeditated behind the scenes, the National Television interview program that directly pointed out problems with the Yingbin Dadao project—was it invited, or did they come on their own?'"

"There are so many counties nationwide; I won't even mention that, but within our province there are over eighty counties, so why did it have to be Lieshan Xian? And they interviewed so many people, yet in the broadcast footage only those few who were extremely dissatisfied with the project, even those full of negative evaluations of Su Yang, appeared."