Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Six: Handover

The various departments under the former Internal Affairs Committee soon moved out of the Internal Affairs Committee compound. Ran Yao and Zhao Manxiongski completed the handover procedures.

“Most of the materials in these files are yours now,” Ran Yao said, pointing to the rows of wooden filing cabinets in the room, which were numbered.

“That’s a lot,” Zhao Manxiongski commented.

“What’s stored here is actually the secret materials of several departments. There aren’t that many people, so the organizations aren’t very finely divided. Many signs, few people,” Ran Yao said, pointing to the cabinets.

“These are the political assessment materials of the native cadres,” “these are the political assessments of all the native employees,” “these are the surveillance reports,” Ran Yao introduced the contents of the cabinets one by one, corresponding to the register in his hand. “These are the interrogation records—I’m taking some of them with me.”

“Of course, of course,” Zhao Manxiongski said, looking at the neatly arranged filing cabinets. “I can see you’ve done a lot of work.”

“Yes, the general framework has finally been set up,” Ran Yao said. “I think we can address each other as ‘you’.”

“Oh, of course, of course,” Zhao Manxiongski nodded repeatedly.

Finally, Ran Yao took him to a separate room in the innermost part. Inside, there was only one filing cabinet that was not too large. It was locked and sealed. The seal was changed daily.

“The materials in here are the political assessments of the elders,” Ran Yao said in a low voice. “They are now yours.”

He took out a key from his pocket, opened the cabinet, and took out the registration ledger from inside.

It was a thick 16-mo booklet, like a phone book, arranged in English alphabetical order of the names. It had not only a serial number but also the date of compilation and a record of access—every time new materials were added or accessed, it was recorded.

“There are 521 copies in total, not a single person is missing. You can count them.”

“Even the children?”

“Yes, but the assessment content inside is blank,” Ran Yao said with a wry smile. “You have to be careful with this set of internal political assessments. The people on the Executive Committee don’t acknowledge them.”

Finally, Ran Yao took a small box from the filing cabinet, opened the lock, and took out a list of documents.

“These are the files on the Handmaid’s Revolution,” Ran Yao said. “There’s nothing explosive, but it’s all firsthand, original material.”

“Let the future Ph.D. students in political science study them,” Zhao Manxiongski said slowly.

The handover was completed quickly. Zhao Manxiongski claimed that he had nothing to count, and that was indeed the case—Ran Yao was a professionally trained person, and his management was meticulous. All kinds of material ledgers were clear and there was no ambiguity. For the files he was taking with him, Ran Yao also provided a list. Zhao Manxiongski signed the handover list and sincerely thanked Ran Yao for the materials he had handed over.

Afterward, Ran Yao introduced him to several current department heads in the General Political Security Bureau, including Wu Fo, the head of the technical department, Zhou Botao, the head of the operations department, and You Guotuan, the political security commissioner of Lingao County. They knew a little about Zhao Manxiongski: this person was an “adviser” to the Internal Affairs Committee. Ran Yao and some other big shots often went to his office, so although they didn’t know Zhao Manxiongski’s background, they guessed that he was at the level of a “mastermind behind the scenes.”

Seeing his broad-mindedness, fat body, smiling face, and very benevolent appearance, the few elders, who were all experienced in society, knew that such a person had many twists and turns in his stomach. Hearing that he was also a Ph.D. in political science, specializing in the study of Stalin-era politics, they all became vigilant and put on the appearance of harmless little white rabbits to welcome the new leader. Wu Fo immediately said that everyone was preparing to hold a collective banquet for the new leader. The location was set at the Lotus Pavilion of the South China Sea Farm. The dishes here were simple and not likely to arouse the “corruption” association of the masses.

Zhao Manxiongski readily accepted the banquet. It was generally not appropriate to refuse such a thing as a new official dining with his subordinates. Subsequently, Wu Fo hosted a banquet for the new director at the Lotus Pavilion.

Several other transmigrator members who worked in the bureau also attended the banquet. There were really few elders working in the General Political Security Bureau, Zhao Manxiongski thought.

The dishes were very simple, all fresh aquatic products, vegetables, and poultry and eggs produced by the farm and the port. As usual, there was no meat. Zhao Manxiong did not say much polite nonsense, but directly asked a series of questions about the work of the General Political Security Bureau.

The main content of the inquiry was the work of the General Political Security Bureau. Everyone knew that this was a debriefing, so they all perked up and introduced the content and current situation of their work.

“Is no one in charge of the Enemy Work Department?”

“It was originally Lin Biguang’s responsibility. He has now been transferred to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau,” Wu Fo explained. In fact, he was the only elder in the Enemy Work Department, and there were very few native staff. After he was transferred, the entire Enemy Work Department was left unattended.

Another department on the organizational chart that was unattended was the Social Work Department, which was originally under the responsibility of Luo Duo, but he had been on loan to the Great Library for a long time and was not on duty.

Zhao Manxiong nodded. The establishment of the Security Bureau was very complete, but there were many vacancies. Why didn’t Ran Yao fill all the positions? If it was said that there was a lack of professional personnel, the Transmigrator Group originally did not have many professional personnel in this area.

At the dinner table, Zhao Manxiongski immediately introduced the newcomer he had brought: Wu Mu.

“This is the director of the bureau’s office, Comrade Wu Mu,” Zhao Manxiongski said slowly. “In the future, many administrative matters will be handled by Comrade Wu Mu.”

Zhao Manxiongski continued to work in his own office. What Ran Yao left him was a both systematic and incomplete organizational system—in the past, many institutions were shared by the powerful departments, such as the interrogation department. The interrogation department of the General Political Security Department was responsible for interrogating both “dangerous elements” and ordinary criminals. Now this interrogation department was divided into two. The person in charge, Zhou Dongtian, was still a part-time employee. It was hard to say whether he would choose the National Police or the General Political Security Bureau—or worse, he would ask to maintain the status quo and continue to be the director of the printing factory, only coming to work part-time.

The lack of cadres was the most difficult problem for the General Political Security Bureau—whether it was elders or qualified native cadres, but the problem was not limited to this. Although Ran Yao was not unfamiliar with internal security work, his main energy was not on this—Zhao Manxiongski keenly sensed that Ran Yao did not like to do secret service work. This could be felt from the situation he had learned since he took over.

He deliberately did not let this institution play its greatest role—the General Political Security Department did a lot of work, but it was always busy with the most basic transactional work. Everything it did had a strong technical color, like a skilled painter who could draw many beautiful patterns, but had no ideas or aesthetic taste of his own. Not to mention, this department did not even have the most basic work program and organizational principles.

Zhao Manxiongski decided that he must first refresh the entire institution from the organizational structure and guiding principles. After considering for a whole night, he wrote a “Memorandum on Political Security Work” and sent a copy to all members of the Executive Committee.

In the “Memorandum,” Zhao Manxiongski pointed out that the function of the State General Political Security Bureau is: within the jurisdiction of the entire transmigrator country, in accordance with the provisions of the “Common Program,” under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, to carry out the tasks of reconnaissance, suppression, and elimination of all political and economic anti-Transmigrator Group organizations, espionage, and banditry.

“Secret work is the main principle of the Security Bureau’s work,” “when investigating and monitoring the activities of hostile factions or suspects, it must be absolutely secret.” At the same time, the General Political Security Bureau, with its centralized system and organization, regularly and systematically exposes and eliminates all open, secret, and hidden hostile organizations and actions to protect and consolidate the political power.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of this department, it must have a strict and powerful organization and the special powers necessary to perform various special tasks. Zhao Manxiongski wrote a special section in the memorandum: “Organizational Outline of the Political Security Bureau.”

Since the area occupied by the Transmigrator Group is still very small, there is no need for it to be too large and comprehensive. Therefore, at this stage, the General Political Security Bureau only has three departments: investigation, execution, and technology. The unattended Enemy Work Department and Social Work Department are abolished. The General Political Security Bureau will not set up field branches for the time being. Instead, it will adopt the method of “special commissioners” in places where political security personnel need to be dispatched.

Zhao Manxiong assigned the following responsibilities to the Investigation Department: 1. To accept the orders of the director and handle all matters of the Investigation Department; 2. To plan, compile, and train for open and secret investigation work; 3. To review the materials obtained from investigations and pre-trial confessions; 4. To handle the inspection of mail, telegrams, books, and newspapers, and matters related to land and water transportation; 5. To arrange for “hidden cadres” for internal security; 6. To be responsible for political assessment work.

The Execution Department is responsible for: 1. To accept the orders of the director and handle all matters of the Execution Department; 2. To plan and compile political and military training for local security agencies, and to manage all matters related to firearms, ammunition, and equipment; 3. To handle the arrest, disposal, transfer, and management of prisoners; 5. To handle all statistical matters of the General Bureau and its local agencies; 6. To handle pre-trials, sort out confessions, propose interrogation and disposal opinions, and submit them to the court.

The Technical Department is responsible for: 1. To accept the orders of the director and handle all matters of the Technical Department; 2. To manage, store, and maintain various technical equipment; 3. To support the activities of various departments in accordance with regulations; 4. To conduct technical investigation activities.

An office is also set up as a department directly under the leadership of the director, responsible for: all administrative affairs of the General Bureau; keeping secret documents and seized evidence, and conducting secret communications.

This organizational structure was quickly approved by Ran Yao after it was submitted. To be cautious, he also sent a copy to all members of the Executive Committee. All the members of the Executive Committee circled on the copy, and no one raised any objections.