The Tai Family.

Tai Zhengkang sat by the window on the second floor of his study, a wave of disappointment washing over him. He had prepared for many years, hoping to use this exhibition incident as a gambit to completely surpass the Gui family, but it had ended in failure.

Just now, a phone call had come from Tai family's upper connections, with a single piece of advice for Tai Zhengkang: handle it with a low profile and quickly resolve the matter.

The meaning of this sentence was too clear. The upper levels were directly telling Tai Zhengkang that if he admitted defeat, he had to accept it. Now that things had reached this point, even the Pu family couldn't come forward to protect them.

The upper connections had already retreated, and on the border, many of the Tai family's people, including police officers, had been arrested. Once this matter was exposed and escalated, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Why did Gui Mengjun bring the Pingxi King's guard battalion commander when negotiating on the island? The intention was very clear: if you knew what was good for you and admitted defeat, then for the sake of the Pu family, Little Pingxi King would not push you to the brink. But if you continued to stubbornly resist, a report from the Southwest Theater of the China region to the Lao Sanjiao military and political headquarters, followed by a little media hype, would make the impact of this armed border crossing potentially cost many people their heads.

The director of the Hanoi Police Department would definitely be going in, and if the military and political departments investigated further, the Tai family would be unable to stay out of it. The upper levels wouldn't go to the Southwest Theater of the China region to argue or litigate for the sake of a local family; that was unrealistic.

Considering all of the above, compromise was the only way out!

Although the Tai father and son were unwilling, they had no choice but to admit defeat.

Tai Zhengkang sighed deeply, feeling very frustrated, because he had also considered You Yifan and You Chengcheng. These two had very complicated backgrounds in District One, and their family influence was also very large. If something happened to them in Lao Sanjiao, what would the You family think?

*We cooperated with you, and you can't even protect our descendants. What good are you?*

Offending the You family meant that even if the Tai family secretly went solo in the future, it would be difficult for their goods to flow into District One.

Tai Zhengkang felt that he had to protect this relationship, so he also had to consider how to exonerate You Yifan.

...

The next morning, a little after eight o'clock.

In a villa on the outskirts of Kun City, Xiang Jingyang, the commander of the Southwest Theater of the China region, wiped away sweat after jogging several laps around the courtyard and returned to the pavilion, ready for breakfast.

Inside the main house, Xiao Qinglong approached with a large stack of documents: "Commander!"

"Hey, how many times have I told you, when there's no one else around, call me Xiao Yang, or even Yangyang," Xiang Jingyang said with a smile. "Sit down, eat with me, Uncle!"

Xiang Jingyang looked very much like his mother, with fair skin and handsome features. If it weren't for his position, he would be a handsome man in his thirties on the street, looking sunny and approachable.

Xiao Qinglong didn't stand on ceremony, bending down to sit on a chair, picking up breakfast, and pointing to the documents: "This is the information passed on by Hanoi. There's a list of punishments on it. Take a look."

Xiang Jingyang smiled: "Just tell me, I won't read it."

"Wen Lai, the director of the Hanoi Police Department, will definitely be detained. One deputy director of the Lao Sanjiao Police General Bureau will be removed from office, and all involved police officers and special police members will be strictly investigated… Also, the military will announce some departure lists. Continue to pursue along this line, directly pull out the Tai family, and give them a good cleanup," Xiao Qinglong said expressionlessly. "At least one person must be sentenced to death!"

Xiang Jingyang paused: "How many people are on the list?"

"Sixty or seventy people, all on the Tai family's line," Xiao Qinglong replied.

"Mm." Xiang Jingyang didn't say anything else, just picked up his bowl of porridge and ate his breakfast.

Seeing that he didn't respond, Xiao Qinglong didn't press him, just relaxed and ate breakfast with him.

After a few minutes, Xiang Jingyang finished his meal, reached for the documents, glanced over them roughly, and then picked up a lighter from the table, neatly setting them on fire.

Xiao Qinglong was stunned: "Hehe, what's the meaning of this?"

"Wen Lai has to be dealt with, because you already warned him for me, but he still didn't get off the bus, so we can't be soft on him." Xiang Jingyang got up, threw the burning papers into the trash can, clapped his hands, and turned back to continue: "It's right to arrest two people from the Tai family. You and the others can handle the specific operations."

Xiao Qinglong blinked: "Okay, and then?"

"Let's stop at Wen Lai's level. Enough is enough. Everyone has to save face," Xiang Jingyang said with a light smile. "Are we really going to let Lao Sanjiao take down a cadre at the level of a deputy director of the General Bureau for this little thing?! Alas, how deep is the water of military supplies? If we continue to investigate, what if we investigate imperial relatives?"

Xiao Qinglong nodded slowly.

"How many years of effort, twenty or thirty years, does it take to emerge in politics? With one sentence, we're wiping out the political future of sixty or seventy people. How many families would this involve, how many people would we offend?" Xiang Jingyang waved his hand and said softly, "Kill the chicken to scare the monkey, stop when you've made your point. I can't be a executioner for others when I'm so young."

Xiao Qinglong immediately nodded in agreement: "Understood!"

Xiang Jingyang bent down and sat down again, looking at Xiao Qinglong with his hands clasped: "When are they coming?"

"This afternoon. You can see them whenever you have time," Xiao Qinglong replied.

Xiang Jingyang looked up at the distant scenery, paused for a moment, and then said, "Uncle, go back to the city and get something for me from my house."

"What is it?" Xiao Qinglong asked.

"There's a calligraphy scroll in my study, with an inscription given to my father by an old monk from Chuan Province when he led the expeditionary force to the south." Xiang Jingyang said with a light smile, "Hang it in my headquarters office."

"Okay." Xiao Qinglong didn't ask any more questions, just nodded readily.

Although Xiang Jingyang wasn't very old, and was a junior among the many commanders in the China region, he had inherited the political genes of his mother, father, grandfather, and the entire family. His political skills were very mature, his view of problems was very accurate, and his military attitude was also relatively tough, just like his father.

The king was young, but he already had the potential of a dragon. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to sit in this position based solely on his father's achievements.

...

In the afternoon.

Gui Mengjun arrived in the suburbs of Kun City, and after joining up with Su Tianyu and the others, they took a car to the Southwest Theater Command to meet Wang.

At the same time.

The situation on Little Shuangniu Island had been completely reversed. After careful consideration, Jing Yan greeted the Tai family and ran away in advance.

On the way back, Jing Yan hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to cut his losses decisively and remove the hidden dangers once and for all. He couldn't always be controlled and threatened by others. Since he couldn't solve the problem through Su Tianyu, he would find a way to solve it himself.