Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 163 - 132: The Unwinnable Battle

Chapter 163: Chapter 132: The Unwinnable Battle

Sailing into the Wusong Water Area, there happened to be a supervision boat from the East Sea Port Supervision carrying out law enforcement, enabling several hindered sea ships to enter the Huangpu River waterway. The Bai Shen passenger ship could just follow them.

immediately turned around and sailed back to the Liuhe Port Water Area at top speed.

Escorting the Bai Liu passenger ship filled with passengers to the border between Linghai and Changzhou at the Sanhe Town South Waters, where it was handed over to 002 for escort, and then returning to the main channel at top speed to meet and carry passengers to the Sixteen Piers Pier and take on passengers from the Bai Shen...

On the morning of the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, two oil tanks were nearly empty.

Han Yu had to navigate 001 and the meeting 002 to escort the Bai Liu into the North Branch Channel.

After spending over forty hours on the ship, many things could not be clearly communicated over the radio. As soon as 001 docked at the dunship fueling station, Xu Sanye took the Binjiang Port Passenger Pier’s transport boat back to the Yanjiang Police Station dunship first.

Han Xiangning felt so dirty she was eager to go back and shower and change her clothes, so she left with the transport boat as well.

Station Chief Qian knew that Han Yu and Captain Wang were exhausted, and quickly had two workers pull out the fuel hoses.

"How much salted fish do we add?"

"Fill it up."

"Should we bill it to you, or to the Third Team of Port Supervision Bureau?"

A child from a poor family knows how to manage life.

Under normal circumstances, Han Yu would not hesitate to say bill it to the Third Team of Port Supervision Bureau.

But the Director had given instructions that this escort mission was a police station operation, to help Linghai people working away from home return for the reunion of the Spring Festival and also for outsiders living in Linghai to go back to their hometowns for the holiday. It was not a joint law enforcement with the Port Supervision, they couldn’t burn someone else’s fuel.

He also said that asking for this and that before was for work purposes, but now the escort is to ensure the success of the Spring Festival transport, a duty of the police station, and they shouldn’t be seeking someone else to reimburse fuel costs while doing their job.

Han Yu looked at the departing transport boat, weakly said: "Bill it to us then, I’ll take the oil ticket over later."

"There’s no hurry for the oil ticket, have an apple first."

Seeing Captain Wang come out, Station Chief Qian quickly went back to get another one and smiled, "Captain Wang, take this, it’s from my spouse’s work unit, very sweet."

"Thank you. I have bad teeth and don’t really eat sweet things anymore. Give it to Salted Fish."

"Station Chief Qian, one is enough for me."

"Alright, you guys come up and sit for a while, several oil tanks need to be filled, it’s going to take a while to refuel."

Han Yu was also curious about the situation at "base", took a bite of the apple, and curiously asked looking at the few small boats catching eel fry in the river outside the navigational markers, "Station Chief Qian, why are there still boats fishing for eel fry here?"

"Director Zhang and Instructor Li came back specifically to meet Bai Liu. You’re on escort duty, and they are also busy escorting, they have no time to chase away those fishing for eel fry."

"They’re escorting the Bainiu Line?"

"The daily passenger flow of the Bainiu Line is no less than those few large passenger liners you’re escorting. 002 and the small 001 come here to refuel three times a day, their travel distance these two days isn’t shorter than yours."

Lv Xiangping came over and curiously asked, "What route does the Bainiu Line serve?"

Station Chief Qian was about to answer when Captain Wang laughed and said, "The Bainiu Line is the shipping route between Bailong Port and Niu Peng Port on Zhuangming Island. This route has been suspended and resumed several times, even our shipping company operated it."

Han Yu really didn’t know this and looked up to ask, "Our shipping company also operated this route!"

"Operated it, don’t believe me? Ask your dad when you get back."

Captain Wang took a sip of water from his large tea mug and recounted like an inventory, "This route was initially opened by the public-private partnership Shenzhuang Sand Wheel Transport Office in April of ’56, but back then it was from Bailong Port to Haihong Port on Zhuangming Island, with a distance of thirty-five kilometers, running one round trip per tidal cycle.

Later, Haihong Port became silted up, and the route changed from Cangfang Port to Bailong Port. In May ’58, the route was extended to South Gate Port on Zhuangming Island, operated by Shenhai Castle No. 4 passenger liner. The whole distance was fifty kilometers, taking four to six hours, but the extension was canceled after just a few months."

Unexpectedly, the history of the Bainiu Line is so old...

Han Yu subconsciously asked, "Why was it canceled?"

"The passenger source was limited, the more they operated, the more they lost, and eventually, not only was the extension removed, but eventually the Bailong Port to Cangfang Port route had ceased operation too."

As a Linghai local, Captain Wang had lingering concerns about the East Sea’s annexation of Zhuangming Island, or to be precise, why the East Sea didn’t annex Linghai as well.

He pointed in the direction of Zhuangming Island and said bitterly, "The East Sea side only considered economic benefits, terminating service upon demand. But there are so many Linghai people on the island, and people on the mainland have so many relatives there, they shouldn’t stop visiting each other due to administrative division adjustments.

So after stopping for a few months, the county had our shipping company - which at that time wasn’t yet called a shipping company, it was still a shipman cooperative - operate the route with Linghai No. 5 boat.

The county didn’t expect the route to make money at that time, it was just to solve the transportation problems for the people on the island and the mainland. Surprisingly, the operation went well. Also because of its good performance, the route was taken over by the Binjiang Shipping Company in ’63."

Linghai is by the riverbank, but Linghai’s distance from the Yangtze River is also "far."

Other places aside, take Bailong Port for example.

The passenger pier belongs to the Binjiang Port Authority, the long-distance bus station belongs to Binjiang Long-distance Bus Station, even the ship locks are managed by the Transportation Department.

The units that are doing well and can collect money all belong to the superiors; the county doesn’t have direct revenue and the finances are so tight, that even if they wanted to manage, they wouldn’t have the capacity.

In fact, the situation in the city isn’t much better.

Binjiang Port is the largest inland river port, but the port belongs to the Port Authority, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Transport; the benefits are all taken by the Ministry of Transport.

It’s difficult for the city to gain direct revenues from the Yangtze River, city finances are just as strained, so naturally they wouldn’t give money to the City Bureau to establish a Water Police Division like our brother Police Bureau.

Just as Han Yu was pondering the reasons why the county and even the city were reluctant to manage the river, Captain Wang continued: "Our shipping company has had a successful route, but they operated it for seven years and then suspended it."

Lv Xiangping followed up with: "What happened after that?"

"After the residents on the island and the shore had complaints, they resumed operations after a year. Considering the customer sources and the constant siltation of the waterway, the starting port for Zhuangming Island was moved from Cangfang Port to Niu Peng Port, leading to the establishment of the current Bainiu Line."

"Captain Wang, which company owns the Jiangnan Passenger vessels 901, 904, 905, 906, and the Xin Hai ships currently running this route?"

"They are said to belong to Bailong Port’s ship center station, but in fact, they are of the Binjiang Port Authority."

This route is very important to the Linghai people!

Although the voyage is only ten kilometers with just half an hour’s sailing time, it acts like a bridge, connecting millions of people on the shore and the island.

Usually, four ferries operate daily, with extra runs added as the Spring Festival approaches, reaching up to ten trips per day, with daily passenger flow exceeding ten thousand!

Having had many out-of-province classmates during his secondary technical school days, Han Yu understood the acute desire of the people from the island and the shore to return to their hometowns for the New Year or to pay New Year’s visits; he muttered: "This line must not be interrupted; we must ensure the waterway remains clear."

Station Chief Qian chuckled: "That’s exactly what Secretary Chen of your county committee said."

"Has Secretary Chen visited again?" Captain Wang asked in surprise.

"County Magistrate Lu came yesterday and gave your station twenty thousand yuan, saying that no matter what, the waterway’s clear passage must be ensured."

"What about those boats that fish for eel fry, is the county going to manage this or not?"

"Don’t mention your county; even if all the law enforcement units in Binjiang were combined, there are less than ten boats that can truly enforce law on the river. With tens of thousands of boats on the river fishing for eel fry, can you manage them all?"

Station Chief Qian let out a soft sigh and added: "The county can only manage its own people, telling the Transportation Bureau, Agricultural Bureau and a few townships along the river to send cadres to villages to do publicity and persuasion, with loudspeakers blaring every day. The Bureau of Industry and Commerce also seems to have taken action, specifically targeting those traders buying eel fry."

Han Yu asked: "Does it work?"

"How can I say this, it has some effect on our local waters. People see they can’t fish here, so they all run upstream or downstream."

Station Chief Qian touched the corner of his mouth and continued: "The Port Supervision Bureau only has five supervision boats, having to manage such a long stretch of water, they are running ragged, totally worn out.

Furthermore, most of those fishing fiercely are from other places. Whether fishing boats are sailing on the river or engaged in fishing operations, including traffic accidents, they are all under the jurisdiction of the Fishery Administration Port Supervision.

They’re not afraid of the Port Supervision at all; Director Zhu says their bureau can’t handle it anymore. For ordinary vessels involved in traffic accidents, they arrange for supervision boats to rescue, to handle the situation. As for whether or not to fish for eel fry, they can’t manage it, so they’ve stopped trying."

Lack of law enforcement capabilities, not to mention Binjiang which isn’t economically very strong, even the wealthy East Sea, all units combined have only about twenty boats capable of enforcing law on the river.

Moreover, how can you manage it well when there are two traffic management departments for a single river because of different types of vessels...

Han Yu realized that this battle against illegal eel fishing would be hard to win. Unsure of what to say, Lv Xiangping curiously asked: "Station Chief Qian, what about the Fishery Administration Port Supervision? They are the main governing bodies, why don’t they manage it?"

"Binjiang Fishery Station only has one law enforcement ship, not even as many personnel as your Yanjiang Police Station who can go to the river. Unlike you, they don’t have guns and artillery. Relying on them to manage nearly a hundred kilometers of waters, how could they?"

"If they don’t have the strength, why don’t they let someone else manage it?"

"You have to ask the superiors. It’s not something the county can decide, even the city or provincial level can’t decide it either."

Station Chief Qian thought for a moment, then chuckled: "Actually, the Fishery Administration is very powerful, it’s just that their enforcement power isn’t on the river, but on the sea."

Han Yu, puzzled, asked: "With the waterway being blocked by boats illegally fishing for eel fry like this, why doesn’t the city report it to the province, so the province can report it to the Ministry of Transport?"

"There’s no need for such a cumbersome step-by-step reporting; Binjiang Port’s passenger traffic is the busiest of all the ports along the Yangtze River. Every year during the spring travel, leaders from the Ministry of Transport come to inspect the Binjiang Port. The leader was at Bailong Port this morning and even inspected on board your 002 on the river."

"What did the Ministry of Transport leaders say?"

"They are the leaders of the Ministry of Transport, not the Ministry of Agriculture, what can they say. However, I heard from the people at the ship lock management office that the leaders praised your county committee and government, as well as Bailong Port Police Station and your Yanjiang Police Station."

"And then?"

"Then they left, it seems like they went to East Sea; the leader is inspecting along the way, and there are still several places to go."