Binjiang Police Affairs

The seventh day of the first lunar month, the official return to work after the holiday.

The new year should bring a fresh start, and Shi Shengyong first organized the police and auxiliary police to clean up and then convened the first meeting of the new year.

One must be faithful in carrying out tasks entrusted by others.

After the meeting and arranging the work for the following days, he returned to his office to call Principal Gu of the Four Factory Junior High School, and after making the request to Principal Gu, he hurriedly called Han Yu.

"I've spoken to Principal Gu, your child can attend school here on a temporary basis without having to transfer, as transferring would be too troublesome."

"What about the middle school exams?"

"Your sister and brother-in-law are just coming to Bailong Port to lay low, they won't stay in Bailong Port for long, and once things blow over and they return, the child can continue school there."

"That's true, they can't possibly stay in Bailong Port for three years, the higher-ups also wouldn't allow Bailong Port to become my Han Yu's family business."

Good news seldom goes beyond the gate, while bad news spreads far and wide.

Shi Shengyong had heard about the conflict between the Port Authority and the Changhang Bureau on the fourth day of the lunar year when Political Commissioner Wang returned to Linghai, and couldn't help but laugh and ask: "Salted Fish, how is the investigation of the fire accident at Binjiang Port going?"

Holding the phone and looking at the Bai Shen passenger liner just leaving the pier, Han Yu replied with a bitter smile, "The cause of the fire has been identified; the timber was self-igniting. It wasn't caused by fireworks or electrical issues, nor was it arson."

"Self-ignition? Are you mistaken, how can it self-ignite in this cold weather!"

"It really is self-ignition. I didn't participate in the investigation, but I called and asked—the leaders from the City Bureau Fire Brigade said that after clearing the ashes, they could clearly see a big hole in the middle of the wood, indicating that the fire started from the inside."

Han Yu paused, then added: "The timber that caught fire wasn't raw logs, but processed imported lumber. The sawdust generated during processing wasn't cleaned up properly, and when bundled, it was extremely tight, nearly air-tight.

During transportation by sea, the timber blocks were subject to friction due to the motion, and the generated heat couldn't dissipate in time, leading to smoldering inside the blocks. By the time they were lifted onto the dock and stacked tightly, despite being stored in the open air, there was no ventilation, ultimately leading to a large blaze."

It was the first time I'd heard that wood could self-ignite.

Shi Shengyong pondered a bit, then asked, "Was this result determined by the investigation of the City Bureau Fire Brigade?"

"Not just the City Bureau Fire Brigade, experts from the Changhang Public Security Bureau Fire Brigade also came. They didn't only survey the scene, but also repeatedly questioned over a hundred dockworkers, ruling out other possibilities, and then combined those findings with the survey to reach this conclusion."

"So you mean there's no one to hold responsible then?"

"There is."

"Whose responsibility is it?"

They say that family shame should not be spread abroad, but this matter has already caused a huge stir, and it's impossible to cover up.

Han Yu sighed softly, and said helplessly, "The Port Authority leadership believes we were slow to respond, taking over an hour from the discovery of the fire to the start of formal firefighting efforts. They believe if we could have begun firefighting immediately, the economic damage wouldn't have been so severe."

Shi Shengyong mused, "It does seem a bit wrong that the fire burned for over an hour before we started to put it out."

"Director Shi, it's not as simple as you think."

"What do you mean?"

"Firstly, there's a reason for our slow emergency response. Secondly, and most importantly, many timber blocks were ignited from the inside. By the time the dockworkers on duty discovered the open flames, the massive piles of timber were like an enormous furnace on the inside. Plus, with strong winds at the riverside, the fire was already very fierce. Even if the personnel and equipment from the Binjiang Port Police Station Main Fire Brigade were all in the port district, they could not put it out on their own."

Eager to convince his colleague, Han Yu continued: "The 001 offshore firefighting system, after its upgrade and renovation, has an offshore discharge capacity of 3,600 cubic meters per hour, meaning it provides a ton of water per second to the shore-based water cannons and hoses.

Add to that the water extracted from the river by two fire engines of the Binjiang Port Main Fire Brigade, as well as fire-fighting water supplied by the municipal network from over a dozen assisting units, and we used over 12,000 tons of water in an hour and a half to get the fire under control."

What does over 12,000 tons of water look like...

Shi Shengyong couldn't quite imagine it and simply asked in return, "Are you saying that although the emergency response wasn't timely, it didn't have much of an impact on fighting the fire?"

"It takes time for the 001 to get from Bailong Port to Binjiang Port, it takes time to mobilize firefighting personnel and equipment from along the river, and it takes time to request reinforcements from the 119 Command Center, as does getting ready for the general attack."

Han Yu pulled out a chair and sat down, adding, "To put it in the words of the expert from the Changhang Public Security Bureau Fire Brigade, extinguishing such a big fire within just three hours is close to a miracle, whereas in other places, it wouldn't be that easy to put it out even within a day."

Shi Shengyong smiled and asked, "So are you saying that Director He is off the hook?"

Talking about the ongoing situation in the Binjiang Port District, Han Yu felt bitter inside and said with a wry smile, "Not only is Director He off the hook, he's counterattacking."

"Counterattacking?"

"Before the Spring Festival, the Binjiang Port Police Station conducted a major fire safety inspection of the port district. During the inspection, they found safety hazards at the No.3 Pier timber yard. According to regulations, for outdoor storage of timber, the pile height should be less than 8 meters with 1.5-meter-wide paths between them for inspection.

There should be fire lanes between each pile, and when storing such large quantities, they should be stored in groups. Each group should be less than one thousand square meters in area, and there should be a distance of more than fifteen meters between groups. At that time, a rectification notice was issued on the spot."

Shi Shengyong was taken aback and asked, "Did the docks not take it seriously?"

"The timber was supposed to be directly hoisted up and transported away, but because it was close to the New Year, the shipper couldn't find enough trucks, so the dispatch let the dockworkers pile it up like that. Thinking that the timber would be transported away after the holiday, they didn't rectify according to the regulations."

"So, after all this, it's their own responsibility, and the Port Authority leadership must be quite embarrassed."

"Director He is holding on to this issue, and Secretary Miao is very embarrassed."

"What's with your Director He holding on so tightly?"

"I heard they want to issue a fine, a heavy one."

"Daring to fine the Port Authority's money, aren't they worried that the Port Authority won't pay your salaries!"

"Using Director He's words, 'the law is the law', we can't neglect law enforcement just because our funding comes from the Port Authority. As for our bureau's funds and our policemen's salaries, if the Port Authority doesn't pay up, Director He can go to the higher-ups."

This would be like the Linghai Police Bureau fining the Linghai City Government!

Shi Shengyong had never encountered such an amusing situation and said with a certain schadenfreude, "Clearly being from the same family, why make such a fuss."

"Exactly."

Han Yu sighed helplessly, "Director He has been good to me, and Secretary Miao has been very caring towards me. They're fighting like gods, and here I am caught in the middle like a little demon, now I even dare not return to the city area."

Shi Shengyong could understand the young man's feelings at the moment and advised, "Don't think too much, besides, the leaders never intended for you to pick sides, otherwise your bureau wouldn't have transferred your sister to Bailong Port, and the Port Authority wouldn't have transferred your brother-in-law over either."

"I know they don't want me to be trapped in the middle, but the more they do this, the worse I feel in my heart."

"In any job, you will definitely encounter these kinds of conflicts. You are only a deputy director now; imagine when you reach higher leadership positions in the future, you'll face more and more issues like this. So, you shouldn't think too much. Otherwise, how can you keep working, how can you live your life?"

"That's true."

"Moreover, we have more important things to think about and do."

Realizing this, Han Yu subconsciously stood up, "Director Shi, any progress on your end?"

Shi Shengyong peeked outside, laughing, "Yesterday afternoon, a comrade from the bank called saying someone had transferred eighty thousand yuan into that account!"

"From where?"

"Zhehai."

"Where in Zhehai?"

"Ningbo."

Han Yu asked eagerly, "What about the eighty thousand yuan?"

Shi Shengyong lit a cigarette, calming his excited mood, and said with a smile, "Just as you expected, shortly after that eighty thousand yuan was transferred from a bank in Ningbo, within less than an hour, it was withdrawn in more than a dozen transactions from several ATMs in East Sea."

"What now?"

"It's hard to find the person who withdrew the money, but the one who transferred it into that account should be easier to track. Right after we got the call from the bank yesterday, I sent Jianghai to Ningbo. He arrived this morning and is now requesting assistance from colleagues in Ningbo, should be able to find the person who transferred the money soon."

"Keep a close eye on it, and careful not to scare them off!"

"Don't worry, if there's a problem on my end, I'll take responsibility. Now it's on you."

Smuggling cases are hard to investigate, and catching perpetrators in the act is equally difficult.

Han Yu could certainly read between the lines of his neighbor's words, pondering, "I just so happened to have been to Ningbo, I have some friends there, too."

Director Shi asked quietly, "Friends aren't enough, we need a boat."

"I'll figure something out. We should be able to borrow a boat, but the key is that we don't have law enforcement powers over there."

"Once we have a case filed, we have jurisdiction."

"Director Shi, this isn't as simple as you say, at sea it's different than on land. Strictly speaking, both our local police and industrial police don't have law enforcement power at sea."

"That's your problem, you'd better figure it out."

"We've only established that someone in Ningbo is wiring money to the Snakehead, we can't be sure the Snakehead will organize smuggling from Ningbo."

"That's true, but you must be prepared for the possibility that the smugglers will board a ship from Ningbo."

"Got it, I'll figure out a solution."

Now that there's progress next door, Han Yu can't afford to drop the ball at a critical moment, and no one knows when the Snakehead will act.

Han Yu couldn't care less about the ongoing struggle between Director He and Secretary Miao, and immediately dialed the former Binjiang Port Director's number.

After Director Feng understood what was going on, he couldn't help but ask with a laugh, "Salted Fish, managing the North Branch Waters isn't enough for you, now you're managing the sea and smuggling?"

"Not caring when you don't know is one thing, but I can't ignore it now that I do."

"I do have a few friends in the Navy, and they're all leaders. But it's a military force; their ships aren't something you can mobilize whenever you want."

Han Yu asked with an embarrassed face, "What about the Marine Supervision Bureau?"

Director Feng laughed, "I used to be in the Port Supervision, not the Marine Supervision. Although both were under the transport system, I never had dealings with them. How about this: I'll first help you contact friends in the military, they are familiar with Marine Supervision. I'll ask them if, in an emergency, we could perhaps borrow a law enforcement ship."