boyutpedia Chapter 23 Raging Tide
Chapter 23 Raging Tide
The following morning, the audit team moved to Tiancheng Construction as scheduled.
Xu Feng, still dressed in a formal suit and with a solemn expression, led the team directly into the venue and immediately stated the unified message: This round of auditing will follow the Tianke model, with stricter and more stringent standards.
The entire audit team immediately began their work, simultaneously verifying the financial, contract, cost, and engineering aspects, leaving no blind spots, no leniency, and no room for compromise.
On the first day of the investigation, Tiancheng found a bunch of solid, hard problems.
Scattered labor services without formal contracts, temporary employment without compliant registration, small on-site emergency expenses without detailed invoices, visas for some old projects lacking closed-loop procedures for many years, and materials transferred locally without formal circulation ledgers... Each and every one of these is a real, definitive violation that can be characterized, can be held accountable, and can be directly written into a formal audit report.
Unlike Tianke's minor procedural flaws, Tiancheng's problems genuinely violated internal control red lines.
Upon seeing this, Xu Feng's spirits lifted, and the disappointment that had been building up in his heart vanished.
Sure enough, Tianke was just an exception; the other subsidiaries could not withstand a thorough investigation.
He immediately ordered that all issues be recorded, characterized, and summarized strictly, without accepting any on-site explanations or industry conventions, and that all issues be investigated and classified according to the highest standards.
The news spread to all subsidiaries that afternoon.
Wang Yang's face darkened instantly, Zhou Jianshe gritted his teeth inwardly, and Qi Lu shook his head and sighed. Everyone understood that Zhao Xiankun was serious now.
Resentment began to quietly gather.
Over the next few days, the audit team continued its investigation, uncovering real violations in each of the companies, from Tiancheng to Tianhe, and then to Tianzheng. Each company was severely criticized, publicly notified, and required to rectify the issues within a specified timeframe.
Xu Feng would give a separate report to Zhao Xiankun every night, with a thick stack of reports containing a dense list of problems, each violation more serious than the last.
As Zhao Xiankun looked at the report, his expression gradually improved, and he felt quite satisfied.
Although Tianke's attempt to go public failed, the comprehensive review process yielded fruitful results. It served as a wake-up call for all subsidiaries, strengthened the group's control and authority, and solidified the foundation for its IPO compliance—a triple win.
But Zhao Xiankun didn't notice that outside the office, the morale of everyone in the group's industrial sector was gradually cooling down, and resentment was piling up.
No one opposes the audit itself; what everyone opposes is the harsh approach of applying a one-size-fits-all approach without considering the well-being of frontline workers, forcibly exposing industry unspoken rules, and imposing blatant accountability.
Xia Ming watched the whole thing with a cold eye, not saying a word, not taking sides, and not stirring up trouble. He simply quietly gathered up the internal records of Tianke, guarded his own gate, and watched the resentment outside gradually gather into a tide.
He knew in his heart that the more thoroughly Xu Feng investigated, the more people he would offend, and the more severe the backlash would be in the end.
The storm was already brewing, and Xu Feng's fate was sealed long ago.
Meanwhile, Lin Chen, far away at the top, looked at the audit and public opinion briefing handed over by the risk control department, a knowing smile flashed across his eyes, but he remained calm and continued to sit firmly in the center, controlling the overall situation of the listing.
With people's hearts in turmoil and resentment gathering, it was precisely the best opportunity for him and Wang Mingyu to win over the hearts of the people, reshape the landscape, and leverage top-level power.
Within Yinghai Group, an unseen power struggle is quietly unfolding.
The news that three subsidiaries, Tiancheng, Tianhe, and Tianzheng, were being thoroughly investigated by the audit team spread like a cold wind throughout all of Yinghai Group's industrial operations within just half a day.
What was originally just an internal rumor circulating within the office quickly spread to the project department, construction site, material yard, and labor teams. From management to middle-level key personnel, and even veteran construction workers on site, everyone was discussing this matter in private.
On the second morning after the audit team arrived at Tiancheng, Wang Yang couldn't contain his anger.
The general manager's office on the third floor of Tiancheng's office building was closed. Only a few core deputies and Su Xiao, the head of the cost department, were inside. On the table was a thick stack of rectification forms that had just been returned by the audit team, covered with red annotations, each point being taken very seriously and strictly defined.
Wang Yang slammed his fingers heavily on the rectification form, his face ashen, and he shouted angrily in a low voice, "Look at this! Look at this carefully! Is this what you call audit rectification? This is deliberately finding fault, deliberately making things difficult for the people working on the front lines!"
The vice presidents next to him all lowered their heads, their faces grim, and no one dared to speak.
Su Xiao stood aside, calmly reviewing each question marked in red, her brows furrowing inwardly.
Tiancheng does indeed have long-standing problems such as lax internal controls, non-standard processes, and outdated record-keeping. In recent years, with its diverse operations, numerous small projects, and frequent emergency work, it's inevitable that some procedures couldn't keep up with the pace of on-site operations. To be honest, these problems objectively exist, and rectification is justified.
However, Xu Feng's characterization was clearly excessive.
A routine nighttime emergency meal allowance at a construction site, a small amount of several thousand yuan that was actually reimbursed, was directly classified as "non-compliant expenditure, suspected of being a disguised welfare distribution";
A long-standing, temporary, piecemeal moving service fee was directly deducted from the bill as "circumventing labor service compliance filing and a major deficiency in internal control management";
Several old, unfinished projects that were over ten years old were missing an outdated visa attachment. The current project manager was directly held accountable, required to submit a written self-criticism, and had his performance score deducted.
It was all the old rules, the old practices, the unspoken rules of the industry. Previous auditors and group risk control officials had all tacitly approved it, and no one had ever questioned it. But when it came to Xu Feng, everything was treated in a one-size-fits-all manner, everything was blown out of proportion, and everything was attributed to management negligence and loss of risk control.
Wang Yang grew increasingly angry, his chest heaving: "How much revenue does Tiancheng generate throughout the year? How much cash flow do we handle? How many difficult livelihood security projects do we undertake? When the group needs money, we give it; when the group needs deadlines, we rush to meet them; when the group needs stability, we maintain stability! And now, as they rush to go public, they turn around and treat us, the hard workers, like thieves, like criminals, showing no mercy and disregarding anything practical!"
Chen Simin gave a wry smile: "President Wang, there's no use saying this now. Xu Feng has the imperial sword in his hand, the chairman's backing, and the legitimacy of compliance from above. We can only accept it."
"Accept it? Why should I accept it?" Wang Yang's temper flared. "This has been the industry's way for decades. Which construction site in Shanghai Construction Group, Suzhou Construction Group, or the Municipal Engineering Corps hasn't made flexible adjustments? Which site has strict, written procedures for every single thing? He sits in his air-conditioned office at headquarters, what does he know about the difficulties of working on the front lines! If you really push us too far, projects will stop, sites will be abandoned, and government-enterprise communication will be disrupted. Let's see who can withstand the consequences!"
The room fell silent instantly upon hearing this.
Everyone knew in their hearts that what Wang Yang said was both an angry outburst and the truth.
Municipal and public welfare projects are interconnected; a single misstep can have far-reaching consequences. If the audit is too intense, morale is low, and no one on the front lines is willing to take responsibility, then even a slight delay in construction or a minor public opinion crisis will ultimately cost Yinghai Group itself and the entire listed company its share of the burden.
Chen Simin spoke up at the right moment, his tone calm and composed, suppressing the anger in the room: "President Wang, don't be impulsive. It's no use getting angry; we need to handle things properly. Let's follow the requirements first. If we can supplement the data, we'll do so overnight; if we can close the loop, we'll do it immediately; if we can standardize the records, we'll do it right away. We'll make sure to maintain a proper appearance, without contradicting, resisting, or giving anyone any leverage against us. We can harbor resentment, but we can't openly resist."
Wang Yang looked at Chen Simin, his anger subsiding slightly: "So we're just going to let ourselves be bullied? Let him manipulate us for nothing?"
"We won't let ourselves be bullied for nothing." Chen Simin's eyes were clear. "The more Xu Feng investigates now, the more people he offends. The higher-ups see it, and everyone around him sees it clearly. Now is not the time to confront him head-on; it's time to wait for the wind to blow. Let's stabilize things first, avoid any trouble, and prevent the group from being implicated. People will speak up for us later."
Wang Yang hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath: "Fine, I'll listen to you. I'll just have to swallow this for now."
While Tiancheng could tolerate it, its other subsidiaries couldn't.
That same afternoon, Zhou Jianshe, the CEO of Tianhe Construction, sent a scathing message directly into a private group chat of industry leaders:
"Auditing is fine, compliance is fine, but don't use rigid rules from headquarters to strangle those who actually do the work."
One sentence instantly ignited all emotions.
In Tianhe, Xu Feng abruptly halted all advance payments to long-term labor teams, imposing a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach that ignored the tight schedule and the workers' need for unpaid wages. Zhou Jianshe went to the audit team's office three times to try and resolve the issue, explaining his difficulties in every way, but Xu Feng wouldn't budge, simply replying, "We're following the group's regulations. On-site difficulties are irrelevant to the audit."
Zhou Jianshe had been working in engineering for thirty years, always pragmatic and hardworking, but he had never been treated so coldly and inhumanely before, and he was heartbroken on the spot.
Following this, Qi Lu, the general manager of Tianzheng Municipal, also made a statement in a private meeting: "If this kind of sweeping investigation continues, some of Tianzheng's remote municipal sites will not have enough compliance records and manpower, which may lead to loopholes in operation and maintenance. Who will be responsible and who will cover the losses needs to be made clear."