EBE Chapter 342 Secret Talks of the Document Party
Chapter 342 Secret Talks of the Document Party
As soon as Luo Congmin entered the Finance Department, he dismissed dozens of local officials from their posts.
This move only added fuel to the fire of an already turbulent situation.
Earth: Earth Union Building.
A group of officials are entering the conference room one after another.
Unlike previous meetings, this one was not a routine meeting of the Local Federation, but rather a spontaneous meeting organized by these Local Federation officials.
Therefore, almost all the seats on the dais were empty.
Since the completion of the third phase of the construction of the Ring World, the Lin Party, led by Lin Xuan, has moved to live in the Ring World.
Ostensibly, it was to monitor the coalition, but everyone knew perfectly well that the Lin Party had been doing the same thing for the past few hundred years since it came to power.
Escape for your life.
Whether it was Luo Congmin, or Wang Miao, Ding Yi, Wei Cheng, Bi Yunfeng, and Cao Bin, these people consistently carried out the tasks assigned to them by Lin Xuan from beginning to end.
Even when necessary, Lin Xuan's strategy for the group was to prioritize protecting people over protecting civilization.
This policy is not only unacceptable to outside parties, but even the Lin Party itself is somewhat bewildered. Without human civilization, what use are these individuals?
Are we supposed to expect these old folks who've lived for hundreds of years to create another civilization?
But Lin Xuan's words were never wrong. Although the Lin faction members thought it was outrageous, they always carried out Lin Xuan's words to the end.
If you don't understand, then do it first, and then try to understand it later.
Therefore, today, only a small number of mid-level officials from the Earth Alliance are responsible for the office work in the Earth Alliance Building. Over time, they have formed a faction of secretaries, led by the six secretaries.
The conflict between the party and the party is not as head-to-head as the doves and hawks of the past; the relationship between the two is more like that of mutual support.
If Luo Congmin wants to get things done, or if Lin Dang wants to get things done, it's not something that can be done by simply making a decision or issuing an order.
Luo Congmin also turned a blind eye to the smuggling and corruption of the "paper party".
As long as the party that advocates writing articles knows which side to take at crucial moments, she can forgive and forget many things.
The Financial Secretary is one of the "paper party" members. Luo Congmin chose to take action against the paper party at this time to send a warning to others.
Now that arms smuggling can no longer be kept secret, if Luo Congmin continues to ignore this matter, many low-level officials in the local government will likely lose heart.
But who I choose to do it, and how I choose to do it, are all matters that require careful consideration.
Logically speaking, since the smuggled weapons originated from Luo Congmin's personal guard, the Sun and Moon Fleet, the person primarily responsible should be Lei Diaz.
However, Luo Congmin skipped over the person primarily responsible and instead began investigating the second person responsible, Liu Yiwu, the Financial Secretary.
This move sends a signal that Luo Congmin is forcing the members of the "literary faction" to immediately take sides.
Liu Yiwu was the first to be dealt with, but he will definitely not be the last.
Once all six ministers had arrived in the conference hall, the meeting naturally began.
After Lin Dang left, the positions in the six ministries became vacant. The three ministries of military, agriculture, and finance were recommended by the local liaison committee, while the ministries of education, science, and industry remained the same three people.
When Lin Dang was on Earth, these three had almost no real power, leading everyone to believe that Rediaz was the Minister of Military Affairs, Wang Miao was the Minister of Engineering, and Ding Yi was the Minister of Science.
However, according to the rules established by Luo Congmin, the mere fact that immortals cannot govern makes it impossible for these three to control the Six Ministries.
At least not in name only.
Now that the Lin faction is gone, everyone can finally unleash their full power.
That's why the "document party" was formed, and that's why this meeting took place.
But the positions of these six ministers are quite interesting.
The "three old and three new" policy was undoubtedly orchestrated by Luo Congmin; no one would believe it without his authorization.
"No one from the Lin Party is here today. Heaven, earth, you, and I know the truth. We have already set up signal jammers around the area, so no one can hear about this meeting. Everyone can speak freely. Here today, nothing you say is a crime."
"So, everyone, if you have any opinions, let's come up with a set of rules."
The Minister of Military Affairs spoke first, his gaze sweeping over the Minister of Science beside him.
The latter, seeing that the other person was looking at him, simply looked away and had no intention of responding.
These old folks all understood one thing very well: no matter how chaotic the Earth Alliance was, it wasn't their place to jump out and oppose Luo Congmin. They still vividly remembered how Lin Xuan had killed people in this very building back then.
Anyone who isn't a fool wouldn't choose to step forward at this moment.
Moreover, his position is also very awkward. Minister of Science, for some reason, among the six ministries, the person in this position changes exceptionally quickly. People say that this is the result of Luo Congmin's emphasis on science and technology over humanities, which has led to too many scientists. If you don't do it, there are plenty of people who can.
But the Minister of Science always felt that things weren't so simple; this position seemed to have some kind of magic, and no matter who took it, they wouldn't last long.
Just like the Grand Commander, it is a high-risk profession.
"Minister of Finance, Luo Congmin's remarks this time were clearly aimed at your Finance Department. Don't you have anything to say?"
Seeing the Minister of Science in a difficult position, the Minister of Engineering, a colleague, passed the buck to the Minister of Finance.
“Liu Yiwu works for the Ministry of Finance. Now that he has been found guilty of embezzlement and bribery, you, his superior, will probably not be able to escape responsibility either.”
The Minister of Engineering spoke with a hint of schadenfreude on his face.
But the Minister of Finance just rolled his eyes when he heard that.
"Embezzlement and bribery? That depends on whose money you're embezzling."
"If I remember correctly, last year the Engineering Department submitted a 120 billion yuan construction project to the Earth Federation, saying that they wanted to build a statue on the Jupiter base. The Ministry of Finance approved the funds readily that year. Where is the statue now?"
The Minister of Engineering was taken aback. He was about to say something, but then seemed to remember something and had to shut his mouth again.
"And you!"
The Minister of Finance said, pointing to the Minister of Science.
Where exactly has the Ministry of Science and Technology spent its research funding over the years?
When the Minister of Science realized that the criticism was directed at him, he quickly stood up.
"Don't try to pin this on me. Every research project we undertake undergoes rigorous approval. If you don't believe me, you can ask the Minister of Education. The joint postgraduate training program also shares this project funding."
As the Minister of Science spoke, he tried to pull the Minister of Education up to confront the Minister of Finance, but the Minister of Education simply closed his eyes and pretended to be dead.
"Ah."
The Minister of Finance gave a cold laugh.
"Does your project also include feeding pigs mangosteen alcohol?"
"At the beginning of this year, your science department was jointly reported by 11 master's and doctoral students, with more than 120 pages of evidence of their crimes. Do you think everyone has forgotten about it?"
The Minister of Science was taken aback, but then immediately argued.
"This was indeed an oversight on our part, but the relevant personnel have already been punished. We urge the Minister of Finance not to make a mountain out of a molehill..."
"Making a mountain out of a molehill? Fine, fine, then... I'll list a few more things for you."
"In February of this year, your science department was embroiled in a scandal, allowing students to participate in experiments without protective gear, resulting in dozens of students contracting cancer. You then paid compensation to settle the matter, but the compensation money was actually from the Earth Federation's public funds. Is this true?"
"In March of this year, the Science Department sold a batch of particle sentry cannons, which were still in the experimental stage, to the Group Alliance. Afterwards, they reported the loss and made a huge profit from the finance department. Is this true?"
……
As the other party recounted his crimes one by one, the Minister of Science was speechless for a moment.
The Minister of Science seemed to get more and more excited as he spoke, and began pointing his finger at the officials present, scolding them one by one.
"You embezzled 120 trillion in infrastructure funds from the border planet construction project, causing the people sent there by the Earth Federation to live in temporary housing for half a year, and there is still no result."
"Last month, to celebrate your birthday, you secretly embezzled 600 million from the third phase of the RimWorld project. If I remember correctly, this year should be your 57th birthday. That means if you continue to embezzle this amount every year, you have embezzled at least 10 billion from RimWorld to celebrate your birthday since you took office."
"You...and you all, whose ass is clean?"
"You dare to do it but you don't want to admit it?"
“The Ministry of Finance did accept bribes, but the people who accepted them were all you. President Luo isn’t here today, so let’s be frank. If you dare not help the Ministry of Finance through this crisis, I’m willing to expose all of your misdeeds.”
Seeing the Minister of Finance's fierce expression, everyone present suddenly felt a chill.
They suddenly understood, and suddenly they all understood, why Luo Congmin went directly to the Financial Secretary to cause trouble, bypassing so many levels.
The Ministry of Finance has almost complete control over the bribery records of officials in the entire local government alliance. Luo Congmin couldn't possibly be unaware of this; he just hadn't paid much attention to it before.
But now, if the finance minister brings this matter into the open, the problem will become much bigger.
Although Luo Congmin wouldn't be as ruthless as Lin Xuan in killing people for every problem, she would definitely find a few people to make an example of.
This is the current situation.
A group of people surrounded Luo Congmin, who was holding a revolver with only a few bullets in it.
But nobody wants to be the first one to be killed.
So everyone is hesitant to act rashly. Now everyone understands that Luo Congmin can't thoroughly investigate this matter at the critical moment of the battle, so as long as they can get through it, they will consider themselves successful.
In other words, to get through this, all you need to do is drag everyone else down with you.
In an instant, the once unbroken group of document critics began to suspect each other.
After all, nowadays, no matter who it is, as long as they are brought down and given an explanation, the matter can be temporarily put to rest.
They were originally allies, but in the blink of an eye they became enemies.
The principle of "better to die than to die" is something everyone understands.
For a moment, glances flew between people throughout the venue. Everyone present was cunning and calculating; they didn't want to scheme against others, but at the very least, they didn't want to be schemed against and made scapegoats.
But just as everyone was weighing the pros and cons, one of the local committee members suddenly raised his hand.
"I have an idea. We're in control now, so why don't we just kill Luo Congmin and replace him with someone else? That way we won't be held accountable, right?"
Everyone present was stunned by these words.
Everyone looked at the local committee member who was speaking with the same care and concern they had for children with intellectual disabilities.
When the local committee member saw everyone suddenly turn to look at him in silence, he panicked and a sense of foreboding arose within him.
After about three seconds of silence, two guards stepped forward and dragged the idiot out.
"Wait a minute...didn't we agree that we could talk about anything at today's meeting? Why are you going back on your word!"
"boom!"
The conference room door closed again.
The first blood of the document party has been given away, but the death of just one person is obviously not enough.
Everyone looked at each other, and eventually all their attention focused on the six ministers at the head of the group.
"Today, one of these six people must go down."