Chapter 1399 - Comrade Team Leader
"As you are well aware, the Political Security General Administration does not collect intelligence on individual Elders." Zhao Manxiong had used this phrase to reject all such overtures. "It is highly improper for you, as an Elder, to make such a request of us."
"Can you say that with a clear conscience?"
"Do you believe in ghosts and deities?"
"What?!"
"If you do, I can swear an oath." Zhao Manxiong spoke in his unhurried manner.
After reviewing the detailed record of this conversation once more, Zhao Manxiong signed his name and the date and closed the cover of the memorandum. He opened the smaller of the two safes in his office and placed the memorandum inside.
"A secret police is a dangerous thing. Comrades, you don't understand." He muttered to himself as he locked the heavy steel door.
A rhythmic knock sounded at the office door. His secretary brought him the latest two periodicals and one newspaper. Only when he saw the newest issue of The Morning Star did he realize it was Saturday.
He opened The Morning Star and skimmed the table of contents. By his estimate, this issue would inevitably be full of denunciatory essays attacking "Emperor Zhao" and the Hangzhou Station, and naturally there would be no shortage of articles defending him either. This was an old trick of the Propaganda Department. Before the Executive Committee had taken a concrete position and the Council of Elders' wind had settled on a direction, the Propaganda Department was always "neutral."
The first article was aggressive in tone. The title: "Jeju Satellite Ascends to Heaven, Hangzhou Red Flag Falls to Ground." The byline read: Spartacus Regiment Iron Fist Creative Group.
Comrades, in the Council of Elders' history of expansion, Jeju Island is undoubtedly a successful model: fast, cheap, highly profitable, with few future troubles—it has already embarked on the broad highway of positive feedback. The Hangzhou Station, meanwhile, has become the exemplar of a negative case study: Elder Zhao spent astronomical amounts of time, manpower, and material resources, yet not a single basic objective has been accomplished. Were it not for some fortunate coincidences, the Hangzhou Station would already have faced catastrophe.
Why has such a great disparity emerged? The key lies in the difference in ideological lines. The ideological line is the root of everything. If the line goes astray, the greater the investment, the more the results diverge from the goal. The reason Jeju Island succeeded is because it followed the mass line: destroy the government, slaughter the great households, liberate the slaves, and use the commune system to organize the laborers. This line comes from the masses and goes to the masses. When the government and great households are destroyed, no one will rise to oppose us. When the laboring people are liberated and organized, the people are grateful, and heroes like Jin Sanshun and model units like the White Horse Team naturally emerge.
Regrettably, some among us have forgotten the masses, divorced themselves from the people, and pinned their hopes on the bureaucratic-gentry ruling class—this is the height of folly. They spend their days in social intercourse with great households and gentry, flirting and cavorting, drifting about in blissful complacency, as if they themselves had become elegant, noble Ming gentlemen. This is called forgetting one's roots. This is called betrayal!
Do we not have cautionary examples? Back then, how prosperous was the Ziming Tower? It stood as a veritable lighthouse of fashion trends for the great households of South China—yet at the slightest hint of trouble, it revealed its feet of clay. Only when Comrade Elder Guo returned to Guangzhou, backed by gunboats and bayonets, did the Ziming Tower manage to stand firm.
The common people are a blank sheet of paper. They can be reformed and shaped into citizens of a new society. Practice in Taiwan, Hainan, and Jeju Island has proven this.
However, for the royalty and gentry of the Zhu Ming dynasty to receive our Commonwealth's salvation is harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. They are merely astonished or fearful of our ingenious arts; at heart, they still regard us as barbarians. The gentler ones want to assimilate us; the more radical want to exterminate us.
Therefore, we must abandon all illusions about the Zhu Ming ruling class. Zhu Youjian and Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chengzong and Wu Sangui, Wang Cheng'en and Shi Kefa—to us, there is no difference. Strictly speaking, these people are no different from the Spanish Governor in Manila, the Portuguese Bishop in Goa, or the Tokugawa Shogun in Edo. Between us and them, compromise and cooperation are temporary, local, and relative; struggle and destruction are permanent, comprehensive, and absolute. Toward them, we have nothing but jihad.
I see many heads—heads wearing tall black gauze caps, round heads—in the capital, in Nan Zhili, in Hangzhou, all ripening like watermelons. The land of the Zhu Ming seems like a melon patch waiting to be harvested.
...
Zhao Manxiong made a mark on the article with his pencil. Next was another: "Whose Realm Is the Hangzhou Station?—Is the Council of Elders' Jiangnan Strategy Building an Empire for Someone Named Zhao?!!"
Zhao Manxiong glanced through it and made another pencil mark. The fire directed at Zhao Yingong was quite fierce indeed. He flipped through the following pages—wall-to-wall bombardment articles, many of which also dragged up past affairs of the Guangzhou Station and Leizhou Station. Shandong matters were raked up as well.
Emperor Zhao has some skill, Zhao Manxiong thought. He was clearly trying to drag all the overseas stations down with him, playing the game of "rise together, fall together." The overseas Elders and their backers in Lingao would inevitably jump out. When the time came, old and new grudges would erupt together, everyone would be pulling hair and tearing at each other, and no one would have time to worry about the Hangzhou Station.
Naturally, Zhao Yingong's aim was to muddy the waters—the muddier, the easier to get through. As for Zhao Manxiong, he had no interest in what fate awaited this member of his namesake clan. His only interest was in the security departments of the various overseas stations.
These security departments currently received dual leadership from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau and the Ministry of Colonization and Trade. Although members of the Group of Ten had been secretly planted among them for counterintelligence purposes, and security department members also received professional guidance and training from the Political Security General Administration, they did not fall under the administrative purview of the Political Security General Administration.
This crisis at the Hangzhou Station—especially the emergence of Hao Yuan—gave him an excellent opportunity to infiltrate the overseas station security departments. He did not aspire to seize leadership of the security departments, but at the very least he could establish a "Political Security Group" within them and openly insert his own personnel.
He must make full use of this opportunity. However, sending someone to join the inspection team was a high-risk matter. He had to fully grasp the spirit of the Executive Committee and the "wind direction" of the Council of Elders.
Just as Zhao Manxiong was earnestly studying the political winds, in a conference room in the Executive Committee compound, the person already confirmed as the leader of the inspection team—Comrade Yi Fan, head of the Special Audit Committee for the Elimination of Corruption and Malfeasance, abbreviated "Cheka"—was in a meeting.
Those speaking with Comrade Yi Fan at this moment were Ma Qianzhu and Cheng Dong, the direct supervisor of the Cheka. Also present was Li Yan, Director of the First Division of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.
Obviously, Cheng Dong was merely an observer. Everyone knew that when it came to matters concerning the overseas stations, the issues were never merely financial—they were more often about resource allocation and policy regarding the Mainland Strategy.
"...Comrade Yi Fan, your task is weighty." Ma Qianzhu sat on the sofa, his body leaning slightly forward. Due to his long years of busy work, his forehead was already half-bald. "Many of the current problems at the overseas stations did not accumulate overnight. Most are the products of long-term expedients and the jockeying for departmental interests. Therefore, I hope that on your visits to the various sites, you will not only discover problems from the account books but also identify problems in all aspects—especially structural problems."
"Yes, Comrade Ma Qianzhu." Yi Fan felt both excited and delighted at this moment—Leader of the Central Inspection Team! In more "traditional" terms, he was an Imperial Commissioner. Though he carried no Shang Fang sword in hand, a pen for writing reports was just as weighty. One word for life, one word for death. How many people's political fates would be in his hands! He felt almost giddy.
Ma Qianzhu seemed to read his thoughts and continued, "You are now a person dispatched by the Center. What the local areas tell you and show you will inevitably be dressed up. You must have the discernment to see objective facts—do not be misled."
"Yes, rest assured. I will guard against arrogance and impatience, approach everything with a learning attitude, humbly and prudently doing all work well..."
Ma Qianzhu waved his hand. "No need for declarations of resolve. The situation at the overseas stations is very complicated right now. Some clearly irregular matters also had their unavoidable circumstances at the time. Some project investments are already quite large. Some projects involve local hearts and minds. Some may even have connections to certain central ministries and commissions. For all these projects, first, you must ascertain the specific details without omission; second, you must handle them prudently and soberly estimate the consequences. Do not act rashly."
"Before receiving instructions from the Executive Committee, I will not make any relevant decisions." Yi Fan nodded with the utmost sincerity, thinking to himself that Old Ma's instructions were hedging and his attitude somewhat ambiguous—he should be careful. "There are just a few points I would like to clarify."
"Go ahead."
"If major problems are discovered during the inspection, do we have the authority to take immediate action? For example, detaining personnel or freezing accounts."
"The Cheka possesses various coercive powers, and the inspection team has them as well." Ma Qianzhu said. "However, any measures must be premised on not disrupting the normal operations of the overseas stations—unless the inspection team determines that the current operations pose a major risk to the Council of Elders or to the overseas station itself. You are there to clarify problems, not to carry out purges."
"The final authority to resolve problems still rests with the Executive Committee and the Council of Elders."
"Correct. I'm relieved that you understand this." Ma Qianzhu nodded approvingly. "This inspection team will also include comrades from the Political Security General Administration and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. Their areas of work differ from yours, but I will speak with them and have them fully cooperate with your work."
"Yes, I will also fully cooperate with their work." Yi Fan understood the implication.
"The Industrial Sector, Agricultural Sector, and General Staff will also be sending a few people along," Ma Qianzhu said as if it were of no consequence. "As the team leader, you must do a good job of unity work."