Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 231 - 176: First Post of the Yangtze River

Chapter 231: Chapter 176: First Post of the Yangtze River

At four in the afternoon, a dunship at the Yanjiang Police Station.

Xu Sanye, dressed in the deep blue work clothes of a dock worker, is carrying a maintenance manual compiled last year by Han Yu and Master Zhou, inspecting the ship’s mechanical and electrical equipment along with Liang Xiaoyu.

They check each cabin; after inspecting the anchor windlass and the electrical switch cabinets, they sign off in the maintenance log, then head to the duty room to change over to the maintenance manual for the 001 to conduct its daily inspection.

"This base screw is loose, bring over a wrench to tighten it."

"Yes."

Xu Sanye stands up straight, puts down the maintenance manual, and picks up a rag to wipe off the oil stains on the pipes.

Liang Xiaoyu fetches a wrench, squats down and, while tightening the auxiliary machine’s base screws, asks curiously, "Director Xu, when are Salted Fish and Sister Ningning coming back?"

"In the next few days, if not tomorrow then the day after."

No sooner had Xu Sanye’s words fallen when he hears Director Jin shouting from outside, "Director Xu, Salted Fish is calling for you!"

"My hands are dirty; I’m not going up. You take it."

"Okay."

Jin Weiguo, knowing long-distance calls are expensive, runs back to the command and dispatch room to continue the call, while Xu Sanye steps out of the engine room. Just as he raises his head, Jin Weiguo has already finished the call and comes out.

"Is Salted Fish coming back?" Xu Sanye smiles and asks.

Jin Weiguo laughs, "He and Ningning just arrived at East Sea. They’re planning to stroll around Nanjing Road before heading to Sixteen Piers Pier to board the Bai Shen to return."

"That means they can be home by early tomorrow!"

"And after they return, they won’t be leaving for a while. The Captain and the Political Commissioner, along with the police special envoy on the ship, have arranged for him to take a vacation, for over two months."

Xu Sanye knows all the courses Salted Fish and Liang Xiaoyu need to learn and muses, "Taking a break for over two months is perfect for going to Binjiang to enroll in a computer class. He plans to take a self-study exam in computer technology, but learning computers, unlike anything else, requires hands-on operation, and he definitely can’t learn it by self-study alone."

He was treating the two fish like sons, in absence of his own.

Jin Weiguo thinks of Han Xiangning and can’t help but laugh, "Director Xu, let’s inspect later, come up and have a smoke."

Xu Sanye had a craving for a cigarette, turns back to look at Liang Xiaoyu, and agrees with a pleased smile, "Alright, let’s have one."

He jumps back onto the dunship, heads to the bathroom to wash his hands with soap, and Jin Weiguo happens to come down just then. The two of them walk into the Port Supervision duty room, smoking and chatting leisurely.

"Director Xu, do you think Salted Fish and Xiang Ning’s thing will work out?"

"The two kids went on a trip together; there shouldn’t be any problem."

"The key is Xiang Ning sees Salted Fish as a younger brother, and Salted Fish sees her as an older sister. Plus, Xiang Ning was raised in the army and is kind of straightforward. If we don’t make it clear, she won’t think about it herself."

Jin Weiguo taps the ash from his cigarette and continues, "Boys are generally not as mature as girls early on, and Salted Fish is two years younger than Ningning, just turned eighteen after the New Year, and won’t think about that aspect either."

Xu Sanye looks outside and laughs, "Isn’t that good? Both kids are still young, and now that late marriage and late childbirth are promoted, there’s no need to rush into a romantic relationship."

"Ningning is not so young anymore; she will be twenty after the New Year."

"Are you worried about unexpected twists and turns?"

"Some colleagues at our bureau don’t understand the situation and want to introduce someone to Xiang Ning."

"How did you know?"

"Director Zhu called and told me."

Xu Sanye realizes the seriousness of the problem and strokes his mouth saying, "Xiang Ning is about to turn twenty, indeed, this is an issue."

Jin Weiguo, also fond of Little Salted Fish and does not want to leave things to chance, suggests, "Director Xu, if it were any other kids, they should date and gradually deepen their understanding to build a relationship. But Salted Fish and Ningning are different; they are already very close and have an emotional base. There’s no need to keep hiding, better to make it clear sooner."

"That makes sense. I’ll call Master Han later to seek his opinion."

"When we make it clear, it’s best to involve Director Zhu and ask him to persuade Xiang Ning. Actually, we don’t need to do much persuading. Mainly, girls are shy. If we make it clear like that, she definitely won’t agree."

Xu Sanye weighs for a moment and nods, "Alright, let’s settle on that!"

""

After finishing the conversation about Little Salted Fish and Han Xiangning, Jin Weiguo shifted the topic to the tasks assigned by the leadership of the bureau.

"Director Xu, leaders from the Yangtze River Port Supervision Bureau are planning to come over for an inspection in a few days, and Director Feng intends to invite them to take a look here. Not sure if that’s convenient?"

Xu Sanye disliked leaders coming for inspections, to be more precise, he disliked receiving leaders, but since they were so concerned about Salted Fish’s personal matters, he really couldn’t refuse, so he could only smile and ask: "What are they inspecting?"

"They’re looking into how our two organizations are sharing office space and conducting joint law enforcement."

"Those things should be investigated at Director Yu’s office; he and Political Commissioner Wang are very supportive of your work. The Water Police Station has been mostly carrying out joint law enforcement with you guys every day, except for fighting against water bandits."

"Our facilities here are better than those at Director Yu’s, and the superiors want to conduct a comprehensive survey; our place is just one of the points."

Jin Weiguo was well aware that he couldn’t beat around the bush when discussing work matters with Xu Sanye. He walked over and closed the door, looking somewhat embarrassed as he said: "The superiors didn’t decide to conduct this survey for no reason. It’s actually because of a few pencil-pushers in our bureau. In the summary of achievements two months ago, they described our joint law enforcement in such flowery terms that it not only made it to the newspapers but also became the subject of a paper."

Xu Sanye asked in confusion: "The superiors aren’t pleased?"

"Not only are they not displeased, but they also plan to promote our experience. However, there are all kinds of birds in the forest, and someone from the Mountain City Changjiang Port Supervision Bureau published an article claiming that joint law enforcement has more disadvantages than advantages. It stated that advocating for joint law enforcement is a sign of lacking confidence in one’s own law enforcement capabilities."

"That’s interesting."

"Director Xu, we’re being targeted, and you can actually laugh."

Jin Weiguo handed over a cigarette, his face bitter as he said: "They’re escalating the issue, claiming that advocating joint law enforcement is for the purpose of charging fees. They also said joint law enforcement could lead to the borrowing of our port supervision’s legal administrative power, result in overreach of authority, and cause multiple agencies to interfere, which would inevitably lead to ’three disorders’ on the water."

Xu Sanye didn’t expect that there were such people within the port supervision system, almost certain that the article was written by someone who works in an office, someone with a high theoretical level but no understanding of the grassroots hardships. He couldn’t help but laugh and ask: "Three disorders on the water, which three?"

"Management disorder, charging disorder, and fine disorder. They said it very unpleasantly, claiming that the process of joint law enforcement is one of multiple management agencies reciprocally acknowledging, contacting, and sharing interests."

"What is your superior’s attitude?"

"The superiors said that without an investigation, there would be no right to speak, so they intend to come and conduct field research."

"A good thing has turned out this way; is Director Feng having a headache?"

"Director Feng, who came from the military, has a fiery temper. He was so angry that he banged his fist on the table. He said that if the person who wrote the article was in our bureau, he wouldn’t criticize or deliberately make things hard for him. Instead, he’d transfer him directly to the enforcement inspection team and have him enforce laws on the river for a few months. He would soon find out whether joint law enforcement has more advantages or disadvantages."

Internal strife within the Yangtze Port Supervision System, what does it have to do with the police.

Xu Sanye didn’t want to receive leaders, nor did he want to get involved in their affairs, and asked, "When does your superior plan to come?"

"The day after tomorrow at noon."

"I’ll call Director Yu and ask him to partake in the reception."

"You’re the director; it won’t be appropriate if you are not present."

"Director Yu is the head of the bureau, and it would appear more important if the Water Police Station joins the reception. And if I don’t participate, Old Li and Old Zhang will be there."

Xu Sanye gave a smile and added meaningfully: "Reporter Wang is good at public opinion supervision and news reporting. But when it comes to verbal warfare like this, Director Yu is very skilled. He used to be the top writer at the City Bureau, and I’m sure he can convince the leaders."

In terms of bureaucratic writing, that colleague from the Mountain City Changjiang Port and Navigation Supervision Bureau who deals with matters indifferently is truly far behind Scholar Yu.

For example, establishing so many water police rooms and water public security checkpoints in one go–in reality, the Water Police Station didn’t contribute much money or staff; it was just that the Port Supervision Bureau and the Binjiang Port Police Station helped coordinate the corresponding office spaces.

The personnel were mostly from the police stations along the Yanjiang area of the various district and county police bureaus, and the majority were cooperative defense team members, but the positive effects brought were tremendous.

Now the superiors demand that stability overrides everything, and all the police bureaus are required to set up patrol and riot police teams to increase the "visibility of police presence."

Taking the opportunity, Director Yu put forward the concept of "visibility of police presence on water" and indeed, after patrolling the Binjiang Waters, you can see many water police rooms, water public security checkpoints, and even water public security police squads.

Some time ago, during the "Tough Stand on Water," leaders from the Provincial Department rode on 001 to inspect, and they were very satisfied with the work of the Binjiang Water Police.

When they visited the dunship of the Yanjiang Police Station, the leaders from the Provincial Police Department even spontaneously exclaimed, calling Yanjiang Police Station "the First Post of the Yangtze River"!

Jin Weiguo realized that Director Yu was an expert in such matters and murmured: "It’s fine to invite Director Yu, Director Xu, where will you be the day after tomorrow?"

Receiving a bunch of leaders, whom he had never met before and who weren’t even from his own system, what’s the fun in that...

Xu Sanye thought for a moment and couldn’t help but chuckle: "Didn’t you say Ningning is almost twenty, and we can’t delay the matter of Salted Fish and Ningning any longer? The two kids are coming back tomorrow; the day after tomorrow, I’ll go to Binjiang with them. We can invite Master Han and his family, as well as Han Ning and his family. If Director Zhu has time, let’s invite him too and just clear the matter up."

...

PS: Just for clarification, the first party on the Yangtze River to own a dunship and to have an old tugboat transformed into a law enforcement boat was the Water Police Station of Zhenjiang Public Security Bureau, and they are truly "the First Post of the Yangtze River."