Chapter 349: The Aftermath of the Dugu Incident

“Dugu Qiuhun’s loyalty to the Transmigration Group is reliable. Treating him this way will be disheartening.”

“If we don’t handle it this way, the masses will be disheartened,” Ma Qianzhan sighed. “Do you think I want this? But the voice of the people is there, and we must give them an answer.”

Ma Jia thought to himself, it seems the Director-General is about to “execute Ma Su with tears in his eyes.”

At this moment, Wen Desi spoke slowly, “Director-General, I don’t think we should make an example of Dugu Qiuhun and completely discredit him. He’s still young, after all! It’s inevitable for young people to be easily misled and make small mistakes. I think a month of confinement is enough. After he gets out, we can arrange a position for him in another department to redeem himself.”

Xiao Zishan thought this punishment was far too light, almost insincere. The new head of the Planning Yuan, Wu De, said, “President Wen, your proposed solution is too lenient—the masses will not accept it.”

“The masses will definitely not accept it. Our protection of Dugu Qiuhun will result in the entire group losing its cohesion.”

Ma Qianzhan still insisted on a strict and severe punishment for Dugu Qiuhun, but everyone advised against it. Wen Desi coughed:

“Did Dugu Qiuhun make an organizational mistake or a line mistake? I think it’s mainly an organizational mistake.” The members of the Executive Committee realized that President Wen was making a key speech.

“The nature of his problem is very serious, so the Director-General’s request for the most severe punishment for Dugu Qiuhun is correct,” Wen Desi said. “Of course, it’s not accidental that he made such a serious mistake. It’s the result of a long-term lack of proper guidance, which has led to the formation of erroneous concepts—especially a personality cult. I believe this point should be clarified in the disciplinary document.”

The air in the conference room suddenly became a bit stagnant. Everyone was waiting to see what President Wen would say next, and what position they should take after he said it.

“Comrades, as for personality cults, it’s good for the natives to worship us. It would be best if they saw us as gods—or at least as representatives of gods on earth, like archangels. Of course, I know most comrades disagree. But within our group, blind worship of any individual is very harmful. Everyone has seen the consequences. Dugu Qiuhun is a victim of this erroneous concept,” President Wen said eloquently.

“But we should also see that Dugu Qiuhun’s loyalty to the Transmigration Group is primary. In the spirit of ‘curing the sickness to save the patient,’ we should give him a way out.”

The members of the Executive Committee thought to themselves that “loyalty to the Transmigration Group” was more like “loyalty to the Executive Committee.”

Wen Desi’s tone made it clear that he wanted to give Dugu a way out, which was a great surprise to most of the Executive Committee members. Only Ma Jia knew—Dugu Qiuhun was ultimately just a pawn, and now he had become a discarded piece. Even if he were “checkmated,” it would have little effect on the outcome of the game on the board.

Ma Qianzhan still had a lot of influence. The cadres of most departments trusted him. The fact that no one else came forward to compete when he announced his candidacy for Secretary of State was very telling.

Seeing that the time was right, Ma Jia proposed a new disciplinary plan.

Dugu Qiuhun would be dismissed from all his posts and ordered to make a profound self-criticism. He would be assigned to Ye Yuming’s “Heaven and Earth Society” as an agricultural technician, to reflect while laboring. After a year, his situation would be reviewed to consider whether to arrange other duties for him. At the same time, he would be banned from holding any military or police positions in the future.

“A special bulletin will be issued regarding the handling of this matter,” Wen Desi said. “The points I just mentioned will be included. Does anyone have any objections?”

Everyone expressed no objection, and so the plan for dealing with Dugu Qiuhun was decided.

The Executive Committee decided: to dismiss Dugu Qiuhun from his post as director of the Dongmen City Police Station and transfer him from the police headquarters; to revoke his concurrent post as commander of the Bairen City peripheral garrison; and to revoke all other administrative positions and titles he held. He would be placed under “residential surveillance” by Wu Nanhai for one month. Depending on his repentance, he would then be handed over to Ye Yuming to be assigned work in the Heaven and Earth Society under his command, where he would be subject to “observation.”

The observation period would last for one year. During this year, the General Political Security Department would send personnel to secretly observe him. After passing the observation, he would be reassigned to a new job, but he would no longer be able to work in violent institutions such as the police or the army.

The decision would be communicated to all Transmigration members. To prevent the materials from falling into the hands of the natives, the decision would only be announced on the internal network BBS.

Seeing that the matter was finally resolved in a relatively harmonious manner, everyone was satisfied, except for Dugu Qiuhun. Even Dugu Qiuhun, the biggest victim in this incident, was left with a way out. Although the decision was severe, his political future was not completely written off. After the observation period, he could re-emerge to dedicate his loyalty to the Executive Committee.

Xiao Zishan proposed to start the next agenda item, but Ma Qianzhan indicated that he had more to say:

“Comrades, although this incident has exposed the shortcomings in our work, there are also bright spots. For example, the native policeman Zheng Ergen, who insisted on principles and refused to open the armory, is very good! Without his persistence, things might have gotten worse. We must commend such a model—”

Wen Desi snorted, “Director-General, you can really find a silver lining in any bad situation. Your dialectics are too powerful.”

“Shouldn’t insisting on principles be commended?” Ma Qianzhan said.

“Of course, insisting on principles is a good thing,” Wen Desi said. “But this is a family scandal. If we commend him, aren’t we announcing that Dugu Qiuhun did something wrong? We can’t tarnish our own image in front of the natives.”

Ma Qianzhan retorted, “President Wen, are you also going to engage in ‘great, glorious, and correct’ propaganda?”

“Of course,” Wen Desi said without a care. “If we admit that we also make mistakes, won’t it seriously shake the natives’ confidence in us? Logically, this group of native police should all be secretly executed…”

Everyone looked incredulous, and some even showed fear in their eyes. Wen Desi’s words turned back, “Of course, we are civilized people and cannot do such things. But we can’t commend him openly. Just give him some benefits secretly, and everyone will understand.”

“After we occupy Sanya, we will also need to set up a public security agency there. Why not promote him to be the deputy director of the police station there?” Wu De suggested. “Just send him far away.”

Some of the other native policemen from the police station would go with Zheng Ergen to Sanya, while others would be drawn out to prepare for the establishment of Lingao’s third police station—Bopu Police Station. In this way, only a few people would be left in the original Dongmen City police force, and the vacancies would be filled by newly graduated police cadets.

Who would fill the vacancy of the director of the Dongmen City Police Station was a delicate matter. In the past, Dugu Qiuhun’s position was very special. As the director of the police station, he was under the leadership of Ran Yao, but in fact, Ran Yao only had operational guidance over him. His real authority was as the commander of the peripheral garrison, responsible for the direct security of Bairen City and controlling the garrison company. In terms of his duties, he was in the position of a “confidant,” and in this respect, his status was no less than that of the captain of the special reconnaissance team, which was regarded by the Executive Committee as the “Praetorian Guard.”

Now that he was finally removed, the next person to hold this position would inevitably become the focus of the Executive Committee. Wu De suggested that Mu Min take the concurrent post. She was already the political instructor of the Dongmen City Police Station and a true professional from the police academy. It was a bit of a waste of her talent to have her working on the affairs of the Li district.

Most importantly, Mu Min was a true outsider, with no background connections to anyone. Everyone would be at ease with her in charge of the peripheral security and public order of Bairen City.

As for Li Yiyang, the company commander of the garrison company, in recognition of his firm stance, he was awarded the highest honor of the Transmigration Group, the “Commendation Order of the Senate,” which was also circulated throughout the army. The Executive Committee intended to establish Li Yiyang as a model of “obeying orders in all actions.” At the same time, the Executive Committee instructed Xiao Zishan to put Li Yiyang on the “priority promotion” list.

“The promotion of military officers is not decided by me, is it?” Xiao Zishan said. “Isn’t that under the jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Department?”

“This is the first issue we need to discuss, the cadre system,” Ma Qianzhan said.

“Everyone has opinions on the appointment of cadres,” Wu De said. “Everyone feels that the appointment of cadres is not transparent, and this is also a fact.”

“The fact is that everyone has opinions on the treatment of cadres, not on who becomes a cadre,” Wen Desi said. “But in order to fully demonstrate respect for public opinion, we still need to create a very transparent system.”

According to the “Common Program” stipulated at the Second Plenary Session, all cadres below the Executive Committee are appointed and dismissed by the Executive Committee. Among them, personnel changes of People’s Commissars and the main leaders of departments must be approved by the Senate. The appointment and dismissal of cadres below the level of minister and People’s Commissar do not require the approval of the Senate.

This clarified the appointment and dismissal system for cadres. The Executive Committee decided to first establish a cadre management agency. To ensure that the power of the Transmigration members remains unchanged, the cadre management agency would adopt a dual-track system. The personnel management of Transmigration cadres would be the responsibility of the Organization Department of the General Office of the Executive Committee, while the appointment and management of native cadres would be the responsibility of the Cadre Department of the People’s Committee of Civil Affairs.

The Organization Department was a key department in another time and space. Everyone had doubts about who would control this department. In the end, it was decided to place it under the General Office. Although the director of the General Office of the Executive Committee was a member of the Executive Committee, he had no voting rights and had the least influence in the Executive Committee, so it was not easy to cause a power imbalance.

All elders—as long as they have not been deprived of their political rights—are eligible to serve as administrative officials at all levels. For ease of management, Ma Qianzhan’s proposal for grading, ranking, and salary has finally been approved. Without definite ranks and military ranks, it is very inconvenient in daily affairs, especially in the army, where natives have military ranks but Transmigration members do not.

To avoid conflicts among Transmigration members due to the hierarchy of cadres, the Executive Committee decided to continue the past concept in the new system—that is, the material treatment difference between various levels is extremely small, and the concept that the salary income from the highest level to the lowest level is only different by a factor of 2 will continue to be followed.