Chapter 2871 It's Not Up to Us to Decide

“I think we can’t let them go. There are two reasons why I say we can’t let them go. First, we’ve arrested more than a hundred people under Yang Zhihao’s command. It can be said that we’ve taken down half of Yang Zhihao’s criminal gang. This has greatly weakened their strength, which is very beneficial for us to completely wipe them out in the future.”

"At the same time, many of the more than one hundred people arrested are key members of criminal gangs. If we keep them in custody for interrogation, we will definitely uncover a lot of criminal information that we did not have before. Most importantly, this is all solid evidence. When it comes time to take action against this criminal gang, these confessions will be very important."

"That's one thing. The second thing is morale. With so many members of the Yang family arrested in the previous operations, the morale of the entire Public Security Bureau is high. The fear of the Yang family has dissipated a lot, and everyone is eager to take on the Yang family."

“If we announce the release of the people at this time… Mayor, the morale that we have worked so hard to build up will be gone in an instant, and there will definitely be strong negative emotions. Everyone will start to have all sorts of wild thoughts, which will seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the entire Public Security Bureau, and will also have a great impact on the Public Security Bureau and the Municipal Government at the social level,” Jiang Yunpeng said.

Jiang Yunpeng is a very smart person. He only talks about things within his work scope, and when he expresses his opinions, he only touches on them briefly. After he finishes speaking, he shuts his mouth and doesn't continue.

Qin Feng remained seated on the sofa, smoking. Sun Yuanwei, Chen Guohua, and Jiang Yunpeng also remained silent, waiting for Qin Feng to make his statement.

Qin Feng took a big drag on his cigarette and then stubbed it out.

“I understand your opinions, but there’s really no need to listen, because I’m already very clear about all of this, and my attitude on this issue is completely consistent with yours.”

"If the Yang family is a malignant tumor growing on the people of Shazhou, then Shao Hongli is a malignant tumor on our municipal government. As long as this malignant tumor is not removed, the municipal government will not get better, and the whole of Shazhou will not get better."

"Moreover, Mayor Yuanwei's analysis was very accurate. This is no longer just a problem with Shao Hongli. There are signs that the Yang family and Jiang Longjun are working together to suppress me, and Shao Hongli is the tool they are using to suppress us. If Shao Hongli is allowed to land safely this time, our situation will become more and more difficult in the future."

"Without the check and balance from the No. 1 Middle School incident, Jiang Longjun will definitely choose to continue using the balancing tactic, keeping us and Shao Hongli in check and balance. This is very disadvantageous to us and also very disadvantageous to the people of Shazhou."

As Qin Feng reached for his cigarette case again, Chen Guohua, who was standing next to him, handed him a cigarette and lit it for him.

"You understand the reasoning, and I understand it very well too. This cancerous tumor of Shao Hongli must be removed. If it isn't, the consequences will be endless. And this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of it. We've practically got our hands on Shao Hongli by the neck. If we miss this chance, we may never find such a good opportunity again." Qin Feng continued after taking a drag on his cigarette.

After Qin Feng finished speaking, the other three breathed a sigh of relief.

"But... whether to continue the investigation is not up to us, whether to let Shao Hongli go is not up to me, and we don't even have the power to decide whether to release him. All these decisions are in Jiang Longjun's hands."

"Yes, of course I can let the investigation team continue the investigation, even under pressure from Jiang Longjun. But doing so would be tantamount to completely going against Jiang Longjun. Have you thought about the consequences of doing so?"

"Of course, I am not afraid of the pressure from Jiang Longjun, nor am I afraid of going against Jiang Longjun. I dared to come to Shazhou alone back then, so I have that much courage and determination. What I am worried about is the future work of our municipal government, and what I am worried about is you. Completely becoming enemies with Jiang Longjun would be fatal to the work of the municipal government and your development, at least for now."

"Putting all that aside, just talking about this matter, I can continue the investigation despite Jiang Longjun's pressure, but you also need to understand that the municipal party committee can easily find a reason to order the investigation to stop. What will happen then? Wouldn't that be even more awkward?"

“Continuing the investigation without following the municipal party committee’s orders is pointless. We’ve already investigated almost everything we could. The next step is to dig deeper into the public officials behind it. The main target is Ding Wenbo, who is practically out in the open.”

"But the problem is that the Discipline Inspection Commission is not cooperating. What can we do? Only the Discipline Inspection Commission has the authority to investigate further. Let alone investigating Shao Hongli, if the Discipline Inspection Commission does not cooperate, we can't even do anything to Ding Wenbo."

"Everyone needs to understand that the problem now is not whether we should continue the investigation, but that we simply have no way to continue the investigation."

“Today, Jiang Longjun has made a direct threat to me: if we don’t give up the investigation and release the people, he will have the Discipline Inspection Commission intervene to investigate Huayang Group’s takeover of the project.”

"As you all know, during the process of Huayang Group taking over the project, due to the special circumstances, there were indeed many special cases that needed to be handled specially. If Jiang Longjun insists on holding onto these issues, it will be very detrimental to both Huayang Group and Mayor Yuanwei."

"At the same time, Jiang Longjun also knows about my past relationship with Huayang Group, so if he wants to make a fuss about this, it will put me in a very passive position and completely affect the overall situation."

“These are just the surface effects; in reality, Jiang Longjun can and should do much more.”

"So, everyone, we have no choice but to obey Jiang Longjun's orders. The investigation must end here, and some people must be released. We can't afford to offend Jiang Longjun now," Qin Feng said through gritted teeth.

After Qin Feng finished speaking, all three of them fell silent, and the entire office became very quiet.

What was originally a great situation has suddenly taken a 180-degree turn, which is hard for anyone to accept.

"Mayor, can we report this directly to the provincial authorities? Or report it to the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection? If we get this to the provincial level, then Jiang Longjun won't be able to investigate it however he wants anymore," Chen Guohua asked.

"First, how do we report to the province? Should Mayor Yuanwei report to us or should I report to us? And to whom should we report?" Qin Feng countered.

"We are in a very passive position in two ways. First, continuing the investigation is the responsibility of the Discipline Inspection Commission, which is not within our scope of work. We are not in a legitimate position to speak on this matter, let alone report to the provincial authorities."

"The second point, and also the crucial one, is that we don't have any conclusive evidence of Shao Hongli's illegal or criminal activities. As of now, we don't even have conclusive evidence to report Ding Wenbo. This is precisely why Jiang Longjun dares to protect Shao Hongli so recklessly." Qin Feng took a deep drag on his cigarette.