Chapter 1838: Leniency and Strictness

Gu Hongcheng and Chen Zixing looked at each other and knew that Zhao Qiuwei didn't want to get involved in this matter anymore.

Chen Zixing simply asked, "Old Zhao, don't you want to report this to the provincial government?"

Zhao Qiuwei said: "Chaojiang is the core of the three cities, and Jiangtou is the economic leader. We in Jiyang are relatively backward. Whether I participate or not will not affect the overall situation, so please don't embarrass me."

Chen Zixing said, "Okay, in that case, Lao Gu and I won't force it. You just continue to be a good person and don't cause any trouble for us."

Zhao Qiuwei smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm not that kind of person."

After the three of them finished chatting, Chen Zixing and Gu Hongcheng prepared to take action against Liu Fusheng.

Of these two people, Gu Hongcheng has to listen to Chen Zixing. After all, Chen Zixing is on the provincial party committee side and has Tang Shaoying's protection.

Gu Hongcheng returned to the office and was about to deal with Liu Fusheng, but his secretary came to report that Liu Fusheng was already at the door.

Upon hearing this, Gu Hongcheng frowned, feeling that things were going to get bad.

"Please invite Secretary Liu in."

Even if he didn't want to see Liu Fusheng, Gu Hongcheng couldn't let him stand outside the door.

Liu Fusheng walked into the office and didn't beat around the bush with Gu Hongcheng: "Mayor Gu, you seem to have some opinions on the Thunder Operation I proposed?"

Gu Hongcheng didn't want to confront Liu Fusheng head-on, so he smiled and said, "Secretary Liu, you worry too much. My speech at the meeting was just about the facts. Privately, I definitely support your work."

Liu Fusheng said with a half-smile: "Support my work? I guess Mayor Gu should have discussed it with Secretary Chen and submitted opinions to the province to find someone to suppress my plan, right?"

Gu Hongcheng smiled awkwardly and didn't respond.

Liu Fusheng said: "Mayor Gu once promised me that he would fully support my work. Alas, now it seems that your promise is just talk and cannot be taken seriously."

Gu Hongcheng was speechless. After thinking for a while, he sighed and said, "Secretary Liu, we Chaojiang people are very disciplined and reasonable. If someone respects me, I will respect him. But now, you want to take our cake, and we can't just sit there and wait for death."

Liu Fusheng shook his head and said, "What you said is all about human relationships. Do we, the leading cadres, still need to pay attention to the code of conduct in the official career?"

"Mayor Gu, don't forget that we are all public servants. Our purpose is to serve the people. If you don't work with me, I won't say these words to you. However, since you are the mayor of Chaojiang City, you can't just think about your Gu family. You must also look at the overall situation and lead the entire Chaojiang City and all the people in the Chaojiang area to a happy life."

Gu Hongcheng nodded and said with a smile: "What Secretary Liu said is not wrong at all. However, sometimes we still have to proceed from reality. Our place is very different from the backward old industrial base in the Northeast..."

Liu Fusheng nodded and said, "Very good, then let's proceed from the actual situation."

As he spoke, he opened his briefcase, took out a document, and threw it in front of Gu Hongcheng: "Take a look at these first. Operation Thunder is about to begin. Do you think these are enough to be considered as the results of our preliminary stage?"

Gu Hongcheng narrowed his eyes. He didn’t expect that Liu Fusheng still had evidence in his hands?

When he flipped through the documents, his face changed drastically, because these things were all evidence of illegal smuggling activities by members of the Gu clan and their bullying and criminal activities in Chaojiang City.

There are seven core members of the Gu family and more than fifty people in the group. Let alone the initial results, even the finale is significant enough.

The things in Liu Fusheng's hands were provided in batches by Hong Chengli, Director Liu of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, and Zhao Qiuwei.

In addition to the Gu clan, there is also the Chen clan and many other families in the Chaojiang area.

Just the evidence he showed to Gu Hongcheng was enough to cause serious damage to the Gu clan.

After reading these things, Gu Hongcheng's face turned very ugly, and even his hands holding the information were shaking a little.

Liu Fusheng smiled and said, "Mayor Gu has asked me a lot of information and helped me with a lot of work before. Secretary Tang should not know about these things, right?"

Hearing this, Gu Hongcheng's eyelids twitched again.

He said in a hoarse voice: "Secretary Liu, I was sincerely helping you at that time. Even if I didn't get any credit, I did work hard, right? The arson case was successfully solved, and we have no longer interfered with each other. I never thought that you would secretly collect dirt on us and try to frame our Gu family... Your method is not fair enough."

Liu Fusheng smiled and said, "I have done things with a clear conscience and have done my duty to the country and the people. These materials are evidence of crimes or frame-ups, fabrications. I'm sure Mayor Gu knows better than me, right?"

"Mayor Gu can say that I am not upright enough, but ask yourself, are your actions upright enough? What your Gu family has done is to dig into the country's corners, harm the public and enrich yourself, and disregard the interests of the people. Moreover, you have been doing this for decades!"

"As you are in this position, are you worthy of the trust of the organization and the responsibility on your shoulders?"

Gu Hongcheng looked at the ceiling, feeling very annoyed, but he could not win the argument with Liu Fusheng at all. Whether in terms of reason or words, he was no match for him.

Gu Hongcheng, Chen Zixing, and Zhao Qiuwei value personal and family interests the most. When there is a conflict between the interests of the country and the interests of the family, they will instinctively help their families solve some minor difficulties and troubles.

They don't even think there is anything wrong with doing this because everyone does it and they are used to it.

Now that Liu Fusheng had brought this up and questioned him, Gu Hongcheng really had nothing to say.

Liu Fusheng said: "Now there are only two options for Mayor Gu. One is to stick to your opinion and make your Gu family the primary target of Operation Thunder. I will not hesitate to purge the Gu family of their crimes based on the clues."

"The second way is to continue to cooperate with me."

Having said this, Liu Fusheng stopped talking.

Gu Hongcheng asked: "If I cooperate with Secretary Liu, then these things..."

Liu Fusheng said: "I will not condone any criminal, but within the scope permitted by law, if they voluntarily surrender, I will definitely recommend to the judicial authorities to give them a lighter sentence."

After a pause, Liu Fusheng said seriously, "I'll tell Mayor Gu the truth. My purpose in coming to Chaojiang is to put an end to the rampant smuggling activities here. However, leniency and severity are the most basic criminal policies in our country. When it comes to handling specific cases, we must be strict when dealing with criminal suspects with serious crimes, and we must be lenient when dealing with criminal suspects with minor crimes and legal circumstances that can reduce the punishment."

"If there are people in the Gu family who take the initiative to admit their mistakes and try to make up for their crimes, I will not punish them with one blow. Instead, I will provide them with a chance to confess and be treated leniently."