After Yu Zheng and Gu Baishun met privately, they began to work hard to canvass for votes.
Objectively speaking, although Yu Zheng is a man of complicated thoughts and is good at taking advantage of opportunities, he still has a lot of prestige and connections in the entire Coders Association. He told Gu Baishun before that if he could only rely on Lao Li, he could get at least one-sixth of the total votes, and this was not an exaggeration.
In the 16 branches of the Coders Association, in addition to Zhou Peng and Yang Dong, there are several other branch presidents who have always had a good relationship with him. In addition, Zhou Peng died suddenly, and Jing Yan died in District 1. These people were unsure and worried about which direction to go, so once he took the initiative to contact them, the matter was half done.
Longcheng, in a teahouse in Xinghai District.
Yu Zheng crossed his legs, put his hands in his pockets and looked at the three branch presidents and said, "Personally, I think Lao Li's side has a better chance of winning, and they are willing to pay. If you want to come over, I can act as a middleman, and we can decide the direction under the table."
"Mr. Yu, it's not that we don't trust you." A middle-aged fat man frowned and said, "After all, Tan Hengqiang is the commander of the garrison, a damn warlord! If we follow Lao Li and make him angry, what if he plays dirty?"
"Haha, actually, the risks are equal." Old Yu said with a smile, "Tan Hengqiang is not easy to mess with, but is Old Li easy to mess with? Zhou Peng jumped up and just cursed Wei Xiangzuo, what happened in the end? He died in the police department, and it was determined to be a sudden heart attack. Jing Yan always thought he was good, and just made two moves in secret, and he was cremated on the spot in District 1! And that Dong Pengyu, is he finished too? I guess he will be sentenced to at least ten years."
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but sigh.
"Alas, no matter how big the plate is, it's useless in front of the power. The higher-ups will do whatever they want to you." The fat man sighed.
"You are right." Yu Zheng agreed and added, "When the upper echelons fight, people like us are the ones who suffer. There is no way to completely avoid danger. We can only make relatively correct choices within a limited time. I think Lao Li has the advantage and is willing to pay. If things really work out in the future, it won't be difficult for you to enter any parliament you want."
A man in his fifties thought for a long time and asked, "How much red envelope can Lao Li give for the referendum?"
"Each branch president will receive 5 million, and the voting backbones of each division will also receive separate red envelopes," Yu Zheng replied.
"Can you make it less? Zhang Ming has already offered 8 million."
"... The more he opens, the less confidence he has." Yu Zheng responded wittily: "What do you think?"
The three of them were silent.
"Give us a little more, five hundred is a little too little." The fat man spoke first: "Mr. Yu, give us more, we won't forget you, what do you think? Haha!"
Yu Zheng grinned and said, "I understand what you mean. Okay, I'll talk to them later."
"Okay, let's do this first. Once the price is determined, if it doesn't work out, we'll just go with Lao Li." The person next to him took the lead in expressing his opinion: "Not for money, not for status, just to support this mayor who is dedicated to the people!"
"Hahaha!"
Having said that, the four of them smiled at each other.
…
Two days later, on a weekend afternoon.
Inside the Longcheng Garrison Headquarters, Tan Hengqiang was leading his grandson and walking slowly in his small garden.
"Grandpa, a hyena... Look, it's baring its teeth at me." The little boy pointed at the beast in the cage and said happily.
Tan Hengqiang bent down and pinched his grandson's cheek lovingly: "Tell grandpa, are you still afraid?"
"I'm scared. I always have nightmares at night..." The grandson lowered his head and said, "Mom said she also has nightmares."
On the day after Jing Yan was cremated, police officers from District 1 rescued Miss Tan Hengqiang and her family of three. Soon after, Old Tan sent someone to take them back to Longcheng.
Although the girl and her family of three did not suffer any substantial harm in this incident, it did scare Old Tan. Before this, he had never thought that someone would dare to touch their loved ones.
The infighting within the Coders Association involved too many forces and the intensity of the conflict actually exceeded Tan Hengqiang's expectations.
According to the information from the District 1 police investigation, it is very likely that Jing Yan was the one who kidnapped his daughter's family. In terms of motive, Jing Yan first killed Zhou Peng and then killed Wei Xiangzuo. This is obviously a tactic to sow discord. The other party wanted to make Lao Tan and Lao Li fight to the death.
Judging from the evidence, the place where the girl's family of three was found was also rented by Jing Yan's men.
Although there are many suspicious points in this case, Lao Tan has also considered whether someone is framing Jing Yan, but in fact, it doesn’t matter who the murderer is.
What’s important is that the intensity of this struggle has completely escalated to the point of life and death, and Lao Li’s desire to control the Coders Association is also extremely strong.
After the incident, Tan Hengqiang was filled with anger, but he had no place to vent it. Because the day after Jing Yan's death, all his direct troops in Longcheng had fled, and now even their shadows could not be found.
In the small garden, Tan Hengqiang held his grandson's hand and walked slowly back.
At the garden entrance not far away, Zhang Ming stood beside the railing, his back bent like an old eunuch.
As soon as Tan Hengqiang saw him, he knew something bad was going to happen, and he felt inexplicably irritated.
"Is there something?" Tan Hengqiang asked Zhang Ming as he walked.
Zhang Ming came over immediately, nodding and saying, "I received news that Lao Li is preparing for a general offensive. They are going to canvass for votes and hold a referendum to remove me from the position of chairman. This is forcing me to show up... Commander, we have no other choice now. If we want to protect the market, we can only canvass for votes as soon as possible!"
"You want money again?" Tan Hengqiang asked with a frown.
"Yes, if you want to canvass for votes, you have to spend money." Zhang Ming said immediately: "But we are the defending party. As long as the referendum votes do not exceed half, even if most people only abstain, they can't take me down."
"If I give you money, can you protect it?" Tan Hengqiang asked very directly.
Zhang Ming's forehead was covered with sweat. "It's hard to say! No one can predict the result until the referendum is over. It's too chaotic outside right now, everyone is trying to snatch people."
"Let's talk about it tonight." Tan Hengqiang replied indifferently and led his grandson to the headquarters.
Zhang Ming was somewhat surprised by the other party's attitude. He could clearly feel that Tan Hengqiang's enthusiasm for the Coders Association seemed to be rapidly declining.
Not far away, Tan Hengqiang had just walked into the main gate of the headquarters when he saw the guard coming over and saying, "Commander, Commander An wants you to go to his place for a drink."
"This old An really wants to lie down!" Tan Hengqiang grinned: "Okay, tell him I'll be there in a while."