Chapter 2337 - The Hearing (V)

Ma Jia stood and announced: "Next is the hearing on whether the Political Security Bureau was derelict in its duties during the Wuzhou Incident." He turned and signaled. "Comrade Zhao Manxiong, please."

Zhao Manxiong had been sitting rigidly in the venue for some time. His appearance was unchanged—a somewhat faded black cotton uniform jacket, and that same harmless smile. Ma Jia noticed something peculiar: despite his considerable reputation and imposing build, Zhao Manxiong possessed a special ability to become invisible in public settings, somehow escaping notice.

Zhao Manxiong took his notebook and proceeded to the hearing seat. After the routine oath and identity declaration, the inquiry into the Political Security Bureau began.

Since its establishment, the Political Security Bureau had been a thorn in many Senators' sides. Though the charge of "monitoring Senators" had never been substantiated, to many the slogan "Ubiquitous" on propaganda posters hung like the Sword of Damocles. The spies the Pol-Sec Bureau had planted in various industries and departments, while theoretically not monitoring Senators, could undoubtedly mention Senator behavior "in passing" in their reports.

Consequently, there had always been voices within the Senate calling for the Bureau's abolition. But the Pol-Sec Bureau's utility was obvious, particularly for departments heavily dependent on it for intelligence and security work. The Senate's upper echelon mostly held favorable views of the Bureau, and Zhao Manxiong deliberately maintained a low profile—Pol-Sec personnel rarely appeared in public, and seldom conducted high-profile arrests. So the abolitionist movement had never succeeded.

But for those Senators most hostile to the Pol-Sec Bureau, "This department must die" had become an article of faith. They spared no effort seeking allies everywhere, seizing on every major accident to find fault—determined, it seemed, not to rest until the Pol-Sec Bureau was destroyed.

The Wuzhou Incident obviously presented them with another fine opportunity. A group of people were rubbing their hands together, ready to drag out Zhao Manxiong—this "Conspirator in the Shadows," this "Grey Eminence of Bairen City"—to criticize and discredit him, thereby ridding themselves of the Pol-Sec Bureau once and for all.

Sure enough, the moment Zhao Manxiong took his seat, someone requested to speak.

Zhao Manxiong coughed lightly and turned to Ma Jia. "Comrade Chairman, before the comrades' inquiry begins, I have a small request. I hope you will approve it."

"Please speak."

"I anticipate today's inquiry will cover many topics—there seem to be quite a few comrades eager to speak. To save everyone's time, I'd like to ask the inquiring comrades to speak one by one first, forming an inquiry outline, after which I will answer according to that outline. This would avoid repetitive speeches and answers. If anyone is dissatisfied with my answers or has supplements, they may continue asking after I've completed one round."

Ma Jia nodded. He was actually quite concerned about his old colleague. The current situation was unfavorable to the Pol-Sec system, and Zhao Manxiong would indeed find it difficult to mount a defense.

He turned to the attendees. "Does anyone object?"

Though someone complained this was "Zhao Manxiong's trick," most Senators considered the request reasonable—they too couldn't bear chaotic, shouting-style questioning.

The inquiry proceeded. Starting with the first questioner, Zhao Manxiong didn't open the notebook in his hand, merely listening carefully and nodding slightly from time to time. Beyond that, nothing revealed what he might be thinking. His face maintained an inscrutable smile throughout.

There were many questioners, but their main points concentrated on two issues. First: Wuzhou was a key frontline city with a Senator stationed there—why was there only one political security officer, transferred from the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, with no other manpower or material support? Luo Yangming, who had zero political security experience, could only function with extremely limited backing. Second: severe lapses had occurred in the political vetting of Jiang Yougong, Liu Youwang, and others. Did the Pol-Sec Bureau's control of the political review process still serve any purpose?

Ma Jia saw that no one else wished to speak. "Does anyone else have questions?"

He asked three times. Confirming no one wanted to speak further, he nodded to signal Zhao Manxiong could begin.

Zhao Manxiong nodded, unhurriedly opened his notebook, and said in his characteristically gentle tone:

"Comrades, by my count just now, a total of fifteen queries have been raised concerning the Pol-Sec Bureau. Specifically..."

He repeated everyone's inquiries one by one, then said, "...I trust I haven't missed any. But that's roughly the complete list. Does anyone object?"

Seeing no objection, Zhao Manxiong continued:

"...Actually, these fifteen queries can be reduced to two main areas: First, the insufficient deployment of our forces in Wuzhou—obviously a serious shortfall. This is a fact, and I have nothing to defend. Second, lapses in political security work under our Bureau's responsibility. I summarize it this way—I trust everyone agrees? Oh yes, there was also something about Senator security work. Comrade Pan already addressed that earlier; it falls outside our authority, so I won't respond to it."

"Just spit it out already! Stop rambling!" someone cursed from below.

"Let me state our position first—this is also the Political Security Bureau's official stance. Regarding the two main issues everyone has raised, we have nothing to defend. Indeed, our investment in Wuzhou was zero, and our political review work was done poorly, with serious breaches. These are facts. The comrades' criticisms are entirely correct. These are also the directions we will improve in the future..."

"I doubt you'll get the chance to improve..." someone interjected sarcastically. Ma Jia rapped the gavel, his face stern. "Silence! If you have questions, please speak separately during the second round of inquiry!"

"...Although the responsibility lies with us, I want to remind everyone to first familiarize themselves with some basic background materials..." He turned to Ma Jia. "Please allow me to distribute some basic materials via slides."

"Permitted."

The venue dimmed. No one knew what medicine this secret police chief had in his gourd; whispers filled the room, faces showing curiosity. Ma Jia himself had no idea what to expect. He'd initially thought Zhao Manxiong would employ the "Stand at attention and take your beating" routine to muddle through, but seeing him distribute materials with such confidence, he knew there was something more afoot.

Slides passed one by one. They turned out to be various reports, budget requests, institutional expansion proposals, and staffing increase applications submitted by the Political Security Bureau—all of which, without exception, had been rejected.

"...Before launching the Liangguang Campaign, my Bureau submitted a plan for Pol-Sec work in Liangguang to the Senate, including specific plans for establishing branch offices in various counties, along with related personnel and budget drafts. However, these plans were all rejected during the review stage. Only the budget for establishing a branch in Guangzhou and a memorandum on personnel transfers between our Bureau and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau were passed. So strictly speaking, except for Guangzhou Special City, no city in the Liangguang region has a formal Pol-Sec branch." Zhao Manxiong spoke unhurriedly. "Later, after occupying Guangzhou, we submitted a second modified budget plan, drastically reducing the scale and establishment of various branches. It too was rejected in the supplementary budget review. So currently, my Bureau's branches and personnel in various locations are all transferred Foreign Intelligence Bureau officers. Because there is no relevant budget, they've been 'dispatched' temporarily in the form of long-term business trips—of course, thanks to extra subsidies from Guangdong local leaders and finance departments, we've been able to maintain minimum operations of the Pol-Sec system..."

The venue erupted. Some attendees had participated in budget reviews, others hadn't. But a few among them knew exactly what had happened, because the operation to "Snipe Pol-Sec Expansion" had been precisely hosted and coordinated by them. After successfully rejecting the relevant proposals, they had even held a celebratory banquet. Now they remembered how they had mocked Zhao Manxiong and his people as "Cosplay Masters" and "Soviet-enthusiasts without political brains" at that celebration.

Ma Jia was startled too. He knew about this matter. When the budget plans had been shot down twice, he had discussed with Zhao Manxiong how to handle the follow-up. One option was to continue working the issue, trying to pass it in supplementary budget reviews. But that required time. Meanwhile, a plan was proposed to take an administrative route: having the Guangzhou Branch Bureau issue "dispatch" orders, with local governments subsidizing local branch expenses. Of course, in reality local governments everywhere faced chaotic situations and fundamentally couldn't provide subsidies or coordination, so local branches were essentially "one-man institutions" similar to Luo Yangming's, staffed by local intelligence agents.

But this wasn't sustainable, because theoretically Pol-Sec operated under "Vertical Leadership"—funds came from the central budget. This approach amounted to "Localization." So Ma Jia's suggestion had been to start lobbying immediately, aiming to pass the proposal in the supplementary budget review.

However, Deputy Director Zhao's attitude at the time had been strangely ambiguous. He showed neither disappointment nor resentment, instead expressing that he "completely understood the Senators' sentiments and would gradually conduct persuasion work."

Could it be that he realized long ago something like Guangdong would happen, and prepared his retreat right then? Ma Jia's heart tightened—Very likely!

He recalled that after the Trouble in Lingao incident, Zhao Manxiong had frequently submitted various reports—budget increases, personnel increases, new institutions, all manner of plans and proposals regarding organization and work. Every time the Senate met to review such matters, Pol-Sec Bureau applications invariably appeared, but without suspense, most were either shot down or only "partially passed." In truth, the Pol-Sec Bureau hadn't grown much over these years. Both personnel and funds had remained at very low levels.

(End of Chapter)