Binjiang Police Affairs
Chapter 266 - 192: Let Them Learn Their Lesson!

Chapter 266: Chapter 192: Let Them Learn Their Lesson!

Navigating on the canal, the time spent waiting for lock passage can be longer than the actual sailing time.

The vanguard of Han Yu’s fleet had been waiting outside the Liu Laojian ship lock for a day and a half, during which six thieves who climbed aboard to steal goods were caught, and two who forced buying and selling under the guise of petty trading.

The capture process was somewhat twisted.

Initially, there were also six thieves who tried to steal by climbing aboard. One of them, seeing the situation go south, jumped into the river. Since the mooring site was very close to the shore, that guy managed to escape.

Another one had already been pinned down and handcuffed, but the assisting crew member wasn’t careful enough, allowing the thief to jump into the river with handcuffs on and escape.

Han Yu and Ma Jintao led the crew ashore in pursuit, only to stir up the villagers, who not only refused to help block the path, but actively obstructed in every conceivable way.

After finally catching up with the thief, an old sailor ended up being tied up by the villagers, who, lacking legal awareness, absurdly demanded an exchange of captives.

Facing a crowd of over a hundred people, Han Yu didn’t want the old neighbors to get hurt, so he had no choice but to make the exchange.

To add insult to injury, shortly after getting back to the ship, those two scoundrels gathered another fifty or sixty villagers and came to the riverside, some in small rowboats, others in concrete boats, surrounding Linghai Tuo 012. They clamored for the release of the previous four caught.

Infuriated, Han Yu ordered Ma Jintao and Lv Xiangping to don their uniforms and fire warning shots, while instructing Liang Xiaoyu and Zhu Baogen to prepare the high-pressure water cannon.

Those lawbreakers thought they were immune to consequences and ignored the warnings.

With Han Yu’s command, Liang Xiaoyu and Zhu Baogen turned on the water cannon.

Although the water pressure was set to low, the power of the water cannon was not to be underestimated. In an instant, it washed plethora of outlaws from both large and small vessels into the icy cold canal.

With the firing of warning shots and the use of high-pressure water cannons, the disturbance was huge, scaring the lock workers into quickly reporting the incident.

By the time the local police from the Police Station arrived, Captain Wang and Captain Fan had already, according to the contingency plan, organized members of the Cooperative Defense Team and the fleet’s crew to recapture those two rascals using assault boats and small skiffs.

As for the others who fell into water, most of them seeing the tide turning against them, swam ashore and fled.

The slower swimmers were fished out one by one, with the help of crew members from other ships waiting for lock passage.

In the presence of the Local Police, they were given a lesson, making sure they understood that the Linghai fleet was not to be trifled with, before handing them over to the police.

All the crew members waiting for lock passage witnessed the scene, which was immensely satisfying for those who had been plagued by such nuisances.

Reporter Wang seized the opportunity to conduct interviews on others’ ships.

Meanwhile, Han Yu returned to the command cabin and reported back to Director Xu, who was waiting for lock passage in Si Hong, via the powerful radio.

"Those two scoundrels got away, and then they dared to come back in greater numbers?"

"One of them didn’t run; we had no choice but to let him go. Inconceivably, he pushed his luck, coming back with five or six dozen more, all armed. I couldn’t really open fire; I had to teach them a lesson with the water cannon."

"That was a close shave."

"What close shave? I was too careless; I underestimated the poor legal consciousness of the crowd – favoring relations over justice, even daring to tie up our crew."

In such a situation, Xu Sanye had no better idea either.

He thought his disciple’s handling of the matter was fine, as ensuring the safety of their own people came first. He looked up at Chen Zikun who was listening in with a pallid face, lit a cigarette, and with a smile asked, "Salted Fish, with all that commotion you caused, did the comrades from the Police Bureau say anything?"

"They just checked our IDs; nothing else."

"Their work was not done well. Their jurisdiction is nearly becoming a den of thieves; it’s no wonder they had nothing else to say."

Xu Sanye snorted coldly, then asked, "So you’re saying you now have eight lawbreakers in custody?"

Han Yu quickly replied, "Yes."

"Why didn’t you hand them over to the Local Police together?"

"Director Xu, if we handed them over just like that, our local counterparts wouldn’t be able to do much with them, at most they’d detain them for a few days."

"Do you have a better idea?"

No one knew whether those who escaped would gather more people to come back.

Han Yu peeked at the riverbank and, clutching the transmitter tightly, said, "Director Xu, we can’t always escort like this, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do any other work. And our escort isn’t just about catching these few thieves, but also to serve as a deterrent, letting them think twice before messing with Linghai’s ships in the future."

Xu Sanye laughed, "You’re spot-on. We’re here to establish authority."

Han Yu breathed a slight sigh of relief and struck while the iron was hot, "Here’s what I’m thinking, since we’ve already caught them, we can’t just let them go like this. We need to teach them a lesson they’ll remember."

"How do you plan to make them remember? Most of them have been dealt with more than once. But due to insufficient evidence, both canal colleagues and local colleagues could only hold them for a few days even if they caught them."

"I’m thinking of handing them over to the Canal Police Department."

"What do you mean?"

"The Canal Police Department is in Huaiyin, but we’ve already passed Huaiyin. South of Huaiyin, there’s a police outpost for the Canal Police Department, but north of it, there’s none. We can only keep them confined in the crew cabins of the barge for now.

"Once we get to the dock to unload the yellow sand and then head to Xuzhou to load coal, on our way back we’ll pass Huaiyin and hand them over to the Canal Police Department."

This round trip takes half a month, and that’s if everything goes smoothly.

Xu Sanye laughed, saying, "That’s a good idea, detain them for half a month to give them some time to reflect."

"Director Xu, do you agree?"

"I agree, but two things to pay attention to: one is to make sure they don’t escape again, and the other is to watch their health conditions."

"Understood!"

Detaining for half a month doesn’t count as illegal detention.

After all, the fleet is sailing, and it really did pass Huaiyin.

What’s more, all those criminals were caught on the canal, and it’s reasonable and legal to hand them over to the Canal Police on the return trip.

Chen Zikun can even imagine those criminals spending the next half a month in the dark hold, having to urinate and defecate right there without seeing the light of day—what if they escape, what if they can’t stand it and jump into the river? They will only be given a bucket.

As for food, just ensure they don’t starve to death.

When they’re handed over to the Canal Police on the way back, their colleagues will surely deal with it by the book—if detention is warranted, they’ll detain, and if the circumstances are too minor to hold them, when released, they’ll still have to make their way back from Huaiyin to their home in Si Hong.

Chen Zikun is certain that this "journey" will become an unforgettable memory in the lives of those criminals.

As he was secretly contemplating what kind of masters raise what kind of disciples, Salted Fish, although not yet a full-fledged disciple, was already showing a great deal of his master’s style; Xu Sanye began to report the situation on his end.

"This morning we encountered something even more outrageous than your situation."

"What happened?" Han Yu asked curiously.

Xu Sanye gnashed his teeth and said, "We had just arrived at the lock and were busy anchoring when we ran into the ’Tiger Team’. A small tugboat with 100 horsepower towing six shabby cement ships, anchored outside our fleet. Seven guys jumped aboard, claiming our fleet’s waves had caused a hole in their ship."

A ship isn’t made of paper; how could it possibly be breached by waves?

This is really far-fetched.

Han Yu instinctively asked, "What happened next?"

Xu Sanye tapped away at his cigarette ash and said coldly, "They demanded money, saying that the damaged ship had cost them over twenty thousand, and they wanted us to pay two thousand in damages or else they wouldn’t let us pass through the lock. To gather evidence, I had Captain Li argue with them.

But they went even further, actually trying to seal our cockpit and take control of our radio and intercom, preventing Captain Li from calling the police. I didn’t show them any courtesy—I took them all down, though now I think about it, I have some regrets."

Han Yu asked, puzzled, "Regrets about what?"

Xu Sanye glanced toward the lock and said with a hint of regret, "I handed them over, both people and boats, to the Local Police. Your idea of detaining them first and transferring them later came too late. Otherwise, I could’ve also taught them a lesson."

So the Director also wanted to teach those criminals a lesson!

Han Yu couldn’t help but laugh, "Director Xu, opportunities are still there. The further north you go, the more these small fleets. Among these small fleets, there’s bound to be a lot of ’Tiger Teams’."

The security of the canal is indeed not optimistic; water bandits are truly rampant.

Xu Sanye took a deep breath and nodded, "You’re right, the opportunities are plentiful. On our way to Xuzhou, we’ll catch a group, and we’ll catch another on the way back. If Political Commissioner Wang and Director Zhou’s second and third escort fleets are lucky, they may catch a few more.

Director Yu and Wu Ren Guang can request the Canal Police and Local Police on the land side to break a few big cases as well, going back and forth like casting a net, we could establish the reputation of the Binjiang Water Police and Linghai Police, so in the future, those water bandits and river bullies will think twice before messing with our Linghai ships!"

Speaking of Director Yu and Wu Ren Guang, Han Yu asked eagerly, "Director Xu, did you catch those bastards who intentionally sank ships, extorting 150,000 from the shipping company?"

"We caught them, and they all confessed to their crimes."

"What about the 150,000, can it be recovered?"

"We got it back; they hadn’t had a chance to spend the money yet after splitting it within their gang."

"That’s great, Director Yu and Captain Wu are really impressive."

"What’s so impressive about them, the case was solved by the Canal Police Department and Local Police. They just sat there ’supervising’ with the directives from the City Bureau leaders and some county leaders."

While Xu Sanye said this, he actually felt quite satisfied with the work of Director Yu, and with reflection, he added, "The Canal Police Department really has it tough. With such a long jurisdiction, so few police, outdated transportation and communication tools, and very little funding."

Han Yu deeply agreed, musing, "The Local Police along the river also have it hard. The two officers from the Police Stations that came this afternoon didn’t even have a motor tricycle between them; they came cycling over, drenched in sweat."

The economic situation is tough, the Police Bureau has no money.

Xu Sanye sighed and extinguished his cigarette butt, "I’ll send a telegram to wall grass, asking him to talk to Manager Jiang of the shipping company. The Canal Police Department has been a great help this time; perhaps we can express our gratitude with 50,000 from the recovered losses."

Han Yu didn’t expect such a suggestion, promptly reminding, "Director Xu, the shipping company is also facing difficulties now."

Xu Sanye looked up, "The shipping company does have difficulties, but the county wouldn’t just sit by and watch the company collapse; they will definitely come up with a way to help the shipping company through this difficult time.

More importantly, as a company engaged in water transportation, they will surely have their fleets run through the canal in the future. Giving 50,000 now as a gesture of thanks means that if any issues arise on the canal later on, the Canal Police Department will surely take it seriously and help."