Li Dongfang believes in He Jiaguo's character and believes in He Jiaguo's ability. If you didn't believe in He Jiaguo's character and ability, you wouldn't have made such a big effort to get He Jiaguo to be the mayor's assistant. Just as He Jiaguo knows him, he also knows He Jiaguo very well. When He Jiaguo was a researcher in the research office of the Municipal Party Committee, he often took him down to run, and if it weren't for the young man who followed Zhao Huizhu to study abroad, he would have transferred him to be his secretary.

Now, He Jiaguo is finally in place. For Li Dongfang, this is the only thing that is gratifying among the many troubles he has encountered in this time. This thirty-six-year-old young doctor does not have the slightest official spirit and twilight, and may be able to bring him a ray of sunshine on this gloomy day. Then, let this young man go into battle with this sharp spirit, cut through the chaos with a quick knife, slash him first, and see how the princes and the upper and lower sides react!

He Jiaguo said it right, Xiajiang's game of chess is indeed going to die, and it is indeed difficult to return, but the root cause of this situation, He Jiaguo may not know. This is by no means like what He Jiaguo accused, it is just the mistakes of some historical decisions, and the incompetence of some mediocre officials, but there are deeper and more acute reasons. As Li Dongfang, who walked step by step from Shayang Village to the post of secretary of the Xiajiang Municipal Party Committee, he knew too well the unspeakable sorrow in this.

It's the machine that's wrong, there's a big problem.

When the coals stepped on his feet, he knew that it hurt, and it was a heart-to-heart pain, a pain that tormented the soul. The pain makes you want to cry, but you can't cry or scream. Your feet are charred with coals, your flesh smells burnt, you sweat profusely, your heart trembles, and you have to laugh. What coals? Where are the coals? The road under our feet is paved with April flowers! Scorched taste? Where does the burnt smell come from? It was clearly the fragrance of flowers. You cover up the past with strong nerves, light a few new piles of coals, and ascend with a pair of miserable burning feet, and the next one will come, anyway, the iron-clad officer of the camp. How can this be done, is it only the feet and conscience of the top players that burns? It is the foundation of the ruling power of the Chinese Communists!

I first realized this problem half a year ago, that is, after Li Dongfang became the leader of Xiajiang City.

Prior to this, whether he was the deputy mayor in charge or the mayor, Li Dongfang never doubted the power machine he was in, and it could even be said that he had been doing the gears and screws of this machine conscientiously for 30 years. Since joining the party in the Taiping Commune in Shayang County, a suburb of Xiajiang, and serving as the secretary of the Taiping Commune Committee, it has been 30 years, and he has strictly demanded himself according to the standards of the Communists, abided by the party's organizational principles, and operated synchronously with the power machines at all levels. Yes, he is a good man, since he was twenty-eight years old when he was the deputy county magistrate of Shayang County, the reputation of a good man has been called up and down. Twenty-eight years old, what a proud age! It should be the age when he should do something in a hurry and get into some trouble, but he is steady, he didn't get into any trouble, and he won the appreciation of the leader and the respect of his subordinates with his youth. No matter who is the number one, no matter which county-level team he is in, or later in the city party committee team, Li Dongfang can always put himself in the right position, and he has never had an awkward relationship with any number one leader. Even if you don't agree with the decision-making of the top leader, you don't fight, at most you will put forward some opinions at the meeting, and whether the top leader listens or not is the matter of the top leader. Democratic centralization, centralized power is the leader of each other. Therefore, when Zhong Mingren was secretary of the Xiajiang Municipal Party Committee and criticized certain leading comrades, he openly said: "I hope that everyone will learn from Comrade Li Dongfang and put themselves in the right position, and don't think that the earth will stop rotating without you. ”

Zhong Mingren is the most prestigious secretary of the municipal party committee in the history of Xiajiang, and he is also the secretary of the municipal party committee with the most spirit of reform and pioneering spirit. He has set things that no one will object. In 1984, when the Xiajiang Outer Ring Road was launched, the conditions were quite difficult, and the budget of 600 million yuan was less than 200 million yuan if the funds were fully available. The big boss thought about it for a few days, and slapped the table, "it, be an official, go home and pick up the child!" Infrastructure, the merit is in the future, the money is not enough, everyone makes up, all counties, townships, departments and enterprises, all come to me to make a contribution! "Some cadres below didn't buy it, resisted softly, refused to contribute, and some cadres even went to the province to reflect. Zhong Mingren was on fire, took the head of the organization department of the municipal party committee, carried the official seal of the organization department, ran one unit at a time, and dismissed four department-level cadres and three township party committee secretaries in a week, and also gave a briefing to the party and government cadres of the city. As a result, those who didn't understand the idea were also passed, and the outer ring road forced Zhong Mingren to work in full swing, and the traffic situation in Xiajiang has undergone fundamental changes. The buildings on both sides of the Outer Ring Road have not only created a new historical image of Xiajiang City's reform and opening up, but also brought considerable economic benefits to these units.

Now it seems that this road really made Zhong Mingren right, if it is delayed until today, it is estimated that the demolition alone will have to increase the funds by 500 million or 600 million, and the entire outer ring road will not be able to be taken down without 15 to 200 million.

Zhong Mingren's courage in doing business left a deep impression on Li Dongfang. At that time, Li Dongfang not only did not doubt the far-reaching and long-lasting side effects that Zhong Mingren's courage might bring, but also sincerely believed that the number one should be like this. By the time Zhong Mingren proposed to go to the International Industrial Park, the opposition was almost inaudible, and everyone's awareness of environmental protection was generally poor at that time, so the International Industrial Park was successfully launched, in Zhong Mingren's words, it was a big step in three years. This latter step is really not clever, and some polluting companies that have nowhere to take root abroad, such as Taiwan's electroplating company, and international rowing companies that produce benzene pollution, have all come over. It is not terrible to get things done at this point, and it is completely possible to gradually correct them, close a few polluting enterprises a year, make some structural adjustments, and gradually attract some high-tech enterprises to them. However, the terrible thing is that just because Zhong Mingren grasped the political achievement project, and because Zhong Mingren later became the secretary of the provincial party committee, in the next fifteen years, no one dared to raise this topic of pollution head-on. What are the cadres below afraid of? Aren't you just afraid of Zhong Mingren's courage?! In the final analysis, this spirit is still the rule of man, and the rule of man can benefit the people under certain special conditions, like the outer ring road; But the rule of man will also create disasters, like an international industrial park.

Zhao Qigong's style is different from Zhong Mingren's, with a smile on his face, a very gentle appearance, when he was a deputy with Zhong Mingren, the position was also very correct, as long as it was decided by Zhong Mingren, it would never be implemented overnight. After becoming the secretary of the listing committee, although he was still smiling, although he was still so gentle, he was not weaker than Zhong Mingren in his bones. Zhao Qigong opened his mouth and closed his mouth to democratic centralism, but where is the real democracy! With a stroke of the pen, the 30 square kilometers of Shayang County will become a new area. At that time, Li Dongfang wanted to do some landmark projects on the outer ring road, and also put Times Avenue on the agenda. Zhao Qigong didn't think about it, and said half-truthfully, Comrade Dongfang, your position has always been very correct in the past, and you will still have to put yourself in the right position in the future, although you are the mayor, you are still the deputy secretary of the municipal party committee, and there must be democracy and centralization! Li Dongfang immediately understood, no matter what he thought, he still had to follow Zhao Qigong's wishes, unless he didn't want to be the mayor and didn't want to work with Zhao Qigong. Later, I learned that Zhao Qigong's reluctance to continue to make a fuss on the Outer Ring Road was selfish, and he wanted to get rid of Zhong Mingren and create his own new achievements. As soon as Zhao Qigong was concentrated, the land in the new area was speculated, and 30 billion yuan of funds from all over the country flocked to it, and for a while, the land price was higher than that of Wangfujing in Beijing and Nanjing Road in Shanghai. Zhao Qigong thought that he was successful, and he was once very proud, and he also wrote a set of old style poems praising the new area and published them in the "New Poems" of the Provincial Writers Association. When the real estate bubble disappeared, Zhao Qigong still did not change his words, insisting that this was a remarkable achievement in the interests of the people.

Although Zhong Mingren was thrown off from the unusual, and in the end caused a passive situation, Zhao Qigong would talk to the big boss at every meeting, and said again and again that the big boss left a pioneering and good foundation for Xiajiang, and also left a valuable spiritual wealth for the vast number of Xiajiang cadres and masses, and all our achievements today are made on the good foundation left by the big boss. Zhao Qigong never mentioned the international industrial park, as if there was no such thing as pollution, which made Li Dongfang feel very awkward. After talking to Zhao Qigong today, I realized that Zhao Qigong is not without conscience, but like him, he is bound by this power machine.

Of course, this machine of power binds and makes man.

It is precisely because of this kind of restraint that Li Dongfang has continued to put himself in a correct position under Zhao Qigong, has a harmonious working relationship with Zhao Qigong, and is it possible for him to take up the leading post of secretary of the Xiajiang City CPC Committee today. Li Dongfang knew that it was Zhao Qigong's three-hour talk with all the members of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee that prompted the big boss Zhong Mingren and the Xichuan Provincial CPC Committee to make this major appointment and dismissal that would determine his political fate. Prior to this, the big boss Zhong Mingren was skeptical about his courage and ability to take charge of himself.

We must admit that when Zhong Mingren, Zhao Qigong, and other leading collectives of the provincial party committee talked to him, and when he presided over the city's party and government cadres meeting for the first time in his capacity as secretary of the Xiajiang City CPC Committee, he did have a feeling that he had come out of the way, and his head was full of the grand blueprint for cleaning up the old rivers and mountains from scratch. Coupled with the enthusiasm of the new mayor Qian Fanxing, what else can he say? Of course, it is incumbent upon us to step onto the stage of history and stage a cross-century drama! Taking advantage of the great opportunity of the central government's development of the western region, we will make the Times Avenue magnificent, and let the big boss Zhong Mingren see if he Li Dongfang can only be his deputy? Gave him the position of number one, who is he worse than?! At least he won't build an international industrial park, and he won't make a new district to throw there! His political achievements will be solid and stand the test of history!

The machine of power and historical inertia almost shaped Li Dongfang into another Zhong Mingren and Zhao Qigong. The status has changed, and the mentality has always changed unconsciously: when I am a deputy, I always want the first leader to be more democratic and less centralized; As he wished, he became the leader, but he felt that there was too much democracy under his hands, and he should be a little more centralized anyway. But whenever you hear different opinions, you are disgusted, and you take the experience of your daughter-in-law who "put yourself in the right position" back then, isn't this a typical mother-in-law mentality? Can the top leaders driven by this mentality implement real intra-party democracy? Can a situation of collective leadership be formed? Can we not repeat the mistakes of the rule of man? Times Avenue is really so desperate to get on the horse, no one can stop it, but who dares to guarantee that it is not another mess? In the past six months, everyone has talked too much about Times Avenue! What is even more serious is that there are no objective conditions for starting the horse at all, Xiajiang's finances are almost bankrupt, the national economy has been hovering at a low point, so many enterprises cannot pay wages, and nearly 200,000 people have been laid off. Zhao Qigong's words today are even more unusual: "Singing the Internationale and shooting the 'Communist Party,'" and "Arresting more corrupt elements is not your or mine's political achievement, nor is it in line with our political interests." When it comes to political achievements, it is simply reckless of the consequences! Is this still about political achievements? This is irresponsible to the people, to history! The corrupt elements involved in the Tian Zhuangda case heard a provincial party committee leader speak like this, and they were afraid that they would wake up laughing in their dreams. There are also so-called political interests, which are also very unspeakable. How do you compare your political interests with the interests of the country and the people? You can't get your political interests at the expense of the interests of the country and the people.

However, it is not easy to stop this historical inertia and change the routine of the operation of this power machine, even though he is now the number one, and even though he wants to change it all today. But some comrades don't want to change at all, such as Mayor Qian Fanxing. Qian Fanxing is a cadre who has been promoted from such "rules" as ministries, commissions, bureaus, and offices, and has never taken up a substantive post in such a "block" as a prefecture, city, or county, so he naturally longs for some political achievements and wants to prove himself to the provincial party committee with practical actions that work hard and quickly. Half a month ago, there was a rumor that the provincial party committee was worried about his courage and ability, so it sent a bold mayor to work with him.

The magnetic field of power is thus formed, and all the iron filings are moving towards the magnetic poles, what do you do? There is no good way. It can only be changed slowly in the process of adaptation, and at a certain time try to turn its poles. This work is arduous and complicated, and it will come at a price, and it will depend on the art of brilliant leadership, political wisdom, perseverance and fighting spirit, and even the sacrifice of some front-line comrades. Today, he has talked to He Jiaguo about this issue. This is not just an emotion, it is already an imminent mission.

Until the last moment, he will never attack lightly, and at the last moment, he will definitely fire with his gun.

This gun may be He Jiaguo, this young man is rarely servile and charming, whether it is to Zhong Mingren or Zhao Qigong. He believed that as long as he truly represented the interests of the party and the people and pulled the trigger, He Jiaguo's gun would surely shoot a series of bullets of conscience and justice.

He Jiaguo thought of a specific problem again: if he did this, how would Qian Fanxing react? Will he be accused of political manoeuvres? What will Zhong Mingren and Zhao Qigong think? What will be the outcome of the real implementation of intra-party democracy? Does this intra-party democracy support his choice of seeking truth from facts, or does it support Qian Fanxing's political performance program? If things backfire and there is an open confrontation at the future Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, will he exercise the power of "centralization" of the number one leader? In addition, can these two big men understand the gradual adjustment and rectification, and wipe their butts for the two "political achievements" left by Zhong Mingren and Zhao Qigong? There are also Xiushan immigrants, Tian Zhuangda's case, the lawsuit of Hongfeng Shopping Mall, and 200,000 layoffs...... The more you think about it, the more you do things.

At this time, it was already past two o'clock at night, and Li Dongfang couldn't sleep after taking sleeping pills twice.

Li Dongfang simply didn't sleep, quietly got up from the bed, and walked to the balcony in the dark to smoke. When I was smoking, a terrifying thought suddenly popped into my heart: How could Zhao Qigong say such outrageous words as "singing the 'Internationale' and shooting the 'Communist Party'" today? Just because of Tian Zhuangda's case, will it affect his past political achievements? Could there be a deeper mystery in this? What is the relationship between him and Tian Zhuang? Didn't he have a personal purpose in nominating Tian Zhuangda as the chairman and general manager of the Municipal Investment Company?

I can't think about it! If Zhao Qigong is trapped, Chen Zhongcheng, secretary of the Political and Legal Committee and director of the Public Security Bureau, is afraid that he will not be innocent, and Chen Zhongcheng was also picked up by Zhao Qigong, and until now he still only recognizes Zhao Qigong, and reports everything to Zhao Qigong first.

I couldn't help but be shocked, I didn't know that the cigarette butt burned my hand.

Mrs. Ai Hongyan came to the balcony and silently draped a coat on Li Dongfang.

Li Dongfang blew his hand that was burned by cigarette butts, and said to Ai Hongyan: "Leave me alone, go back to sleep!" ”

Ai Hongyan didn't leave, snuggled up to Li Dongfang and asked, "Dongfang, what are you thinking about in the middle of the night?" ”

Li Dongfang smiled reluctantly: "I didn't think about anything, I just couldn't sleep, just calm down." ”

Ai Hongyan said pityingly: "Can your heart calm down?" Xiajiang is like this now! ”

Li Dongfang hugged Ai Hongyan: "Yes, yes, there are a lot of annoying things, when I am a leader, the hot coal stepped on my feet, I finally know that it hurts!" Looking up at the starry sky in the middle of the night, he couldn't help but sigh havoc, "Alas, who will realize the big dream first?" I know it all my life! ”