Origin (3)

  Nowadays, the overall situation in officialdom is like a restaurant during the planned economy era, where there are always people waiting for seats at every table. Recently, the province held an unprecedented event, openly selecting twenty deputy department-level leaders, requiring that only officials who were at least at the level of deputy director or had been in a deputy director position for more than four years could sign up. As a result, over 4,300 people signed up to compete for these twenty positions. This is not surprising, as being an official has too many benefits: stable and substantial salaries, cheap or almost free housing, official cars paid for by taxpayers, and luxurious treatment that includes all expenses paid for eating, drinking, and entertainment. Officials absolutely belong to the class that enjoys the best of everything, who wouldn't want to enter this class? The position of Public Security Bureau Director is even more a coveted job with real power.

  As soon as the director died, the officialdom of Silver City immediately surged with dark waves, and the upper and lower levels surrounded and attacked together. Inside and outside, strange plans emerged one after another, making Mayor Xia Bohu and Secretary Wu Xiuzhi afraid to enter their offices during work hours, afraid to enter their homes after work, and afraid to answer phone calls while walking on the road.

  What made Secretary Wu Xiuzhi laugh and cry was that the 58-year-old chairman of the Municipal Literary Federation, a quasi-retired old man, actually coveted the position of Public Security Bureau director. Relying on his relative being the deputy secretary in charge of personnel affairs at the Provincial Party Committee, he came to Wu Xiuzhi's home to recommend himself.

  Wu Xiuzhi held back his anger and made some ambiguous promises, finally getting rid of the chattering chairman of the Literary Federation. The next day, as soon as he went to work, he hastily contacted Mayor Xia Bohu, Director of the People's Congress Zeng Congming, and Minister of Organization Department Guan Yuan to hold a meeting.

  He adopted the usual method used by leaders when encountering difficulties: collective discussion, collective responsibility, and pushing any trouble onto the collective. This is not surprising, as Wu Xiuzhi was already 58 years old. For cadres at his level, unless a miracle occurred, the possibility of being promoted was extremely low.

  He had already begun to prepare for retirement in his mind, and his greatest pursuit now was to land safely and peacefully. Historical experience and realistic summaries told him that at this age, he no longer had the capital to engage in turmoil. He naturally did not want to disturb his hard-won peaceful and harmonious state of mind, nor destroy the balanced and harmonious external environment he had built up over many years.

  Therefore, he naturally handed over the responsibility of solving this problem to the "collective".

  This meeting, of course, will not have any specific results. It's simple: the four leaders were completely unprepared for the sudden death of the Public Security Bureau chief, and they didn't have an emergency plan in place for the intense competition that followed his death. So no one can immediately propose a suitable candidate. Even if someone has a candidate in mind, they wouldn't dare to bring it up at this time. The person who is proposed first will not only be subject to unnecessary suspicion but also often cannot get what they want in the end. This kind of thing cannot be solved by holding meetings; meetings can only determine the direction and principles. Meetings are just a formality for confirming specific issues that have been negotiated beforehand, like signing a contract - you need to discuss it first before signing. After carefully analyzing the current situation of the cadres in Silver City, who are eager to move and secretly surging, the four leaders with decision-making power on personnel appointments finally reached a consensus on an important issue: the candidate for the Public Security Bureau chief will be selected from among the existing deputy-level leaders within the bureau. This approach is beneficial for narrowing down the competition range, ensuring a smooth transition of public security work, and maintaining social stability and cadre team stability. Soon, the major principles determined by the municipal party committee and government were intentionally or unintentionally spread out from the city hall compound, and non-public security system cadres like the chairman of the Writers' Association automatically dropped out of contention. The officialdom finally calmed down a lot.

  However, this grand principle is like a condenser, concentrating the original broad competitive contradictions into the small scope of the Public Security Bureau. The already not very peaceful Public Security Bureau has become even more restless. If we choose cadres from within the Public Security Bureau to fill the vacancy, based on their positions and seniority, there are four candidates with the strongest chances of winning: Jiang Weisheng, the political commissar and deputy director in charge of the Political Department, Discipline Inspection and Supervision, Police Affairs Supervision, and the Communist Youth League, Women's Federation, and Trade Unions; Yao Kaifang, the deputy director in charge of branch bureaus, entry-exit administration, household registration, internal security, and guard work; Peng Yuanda, the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation, anti-drug efforts, and public order, known as the "acting bureau chief"; and Zhuang Yang, the deputy director in charge of logistics equipment and training. These four individuals are all around 46-48 years old, with heavy workloads in their respective positions, and it's still a big step up to the next level. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses, their own power bases, and their own rivals. At this point, the competition has entered a white-hot stage, with each candidate showing off their skills, openly and secretly vying for position, making it seem like anyone could become the bureau chief, yet also seeming somewhat uncertain.

  When a deputy is promoted to the top position, there will inevitably be a vacancy for the deputy position. This in turn sets off those section chiefs, directors and team leaders who are eager to move and restless. The Public Security Bureau is like a hot pot with a layer of oil on the surface that appears calm as water, but beneath which the temperature has already exceeded boiling point.