Chapter 415: Opening Fire

The atmosphere in the Executive Committee meeting room was a bit chilly. The committee had relocated to the old county government office in Lingao, and with the move came the long-overdue installation of a geothermal air conditioning system. Finally, they could hold meetings without placing large basins of ice around the room.

The “Sun Umbrella” case had concluded. The principal and accessory culprits had all been brought to justice. The Culture Festival, though delayed by a few days due to the incident, had proceeded without further issue. The gentlemen of the Plaid Skirt Club were, for the most part, satisfied.

But many Elders were not. Some, like Qian Shuixie, who was present at this very meeting, were genuinely displeased. Others merely feigned dissatisfaction, sharpening their knives in the Senate, preparing to stir up another storm.

Spread before the committee members was the investigation report from the “Sun Umbrella” Case Inquiry Committee, a tome as thick as a large dictionary. The file box contained not only the committee’s final report but also a wealth of supporting materials: individual reports from the Political Security Bureau, the National Police, and the General Office; transcripts of testimonies; personal accounts from those involved; excerpts from original files; expert witness statements, and more.

On the day of the attack on the Ogura, at Qian Shuixie’s behest, the Standing Committee of the Senate had passed a resolution. It authorized the selection of three Elders, all unaffiliated with the incident, to form an inquiry committee to investigate any potential dereliction of duty in the handling of the “Sun Umbrella” case.

The chairman of this committee was Wei Haogu from the Office of Truth—a position he’d landed by drawing lots. The experts were Salina and Jiang Shan. Salina, though employed by a powerful agency, was a non-voting consultant with few ties to the Elders within the department, ensuring her objectivity. She also possessed sufficient professional knowledge. As for Jiang Shan, the Intelligence Bureau and the Political Security Bureau had always operated in separate spheres. He was unlikely to be overly protective and could provide thorough analysis of the available information.

Now, the report was complete. It summarized the “Sun Umbrella” case as follows:

The Political Security Bureau’s internal surveillance network had performed the best among all departments. Even with the intelligence the terrorists had acquired to prepare, they were still discovered. While Lin Ming and Si Maqiu were not initially detected, monitoring individuals who were not engaged in specific activities but merely gathering public information was inherently difficult.

However, there was a clear error in the direction of the investigation. The Political Security Bureau had focused most of its energy on Lin Ming, neglecting the group led by Zhuo Yifan, which had already raised red flags during routine checks.

When it became clear the enemy was about to make a move, no timely and decisive action was taken to apprehend them. There were also significant flaws in the surveillance of the suspects and the on-site command structure. Critically, when the terrorists launched their attack, the on-site capture operation suffered a major failure, resulting in significant casualties among the security forces.

Logically and in retrospect, the decision not to rush the arrest in the “Rain Umbrella” case was largely correct. However, the timing for closing the net was poorly chosen. Furthermore, a critical oversight was the failure to provide adequate protection for the Elders who needed it, thereby exposing some of them to unnecessary danger.

The security work of the Garrison Battalion was fraught with serious problems: the Elders’ itineraries were effectively public knowledge. Wang Qisuo, an uninvolved party, had easily obtained the travel plans of Elders for the following day. The escort company was understaffed, forcing the use of soldiers from regular garrison companies for protection details. The security detail for the Elders was also woefully inadequate; despite warnings from the Political Security Bureau and certain Elders, the three young Elders were assigned only a single guard.

The National Police was severely understaffed, leading to an overstretched and undertrained police force. The police presence at the Culture Festival was spread too thin, and communication with the Political Security Bureau was poor. Additionally, some individual officers displayed a lack of discipline and a lax attitude.

The report concluded: A weak sense of the enemy’s presence pervaded the security agencies, indicating that the leadership prioritized operational matters over political and ideological work. Coordination between departments was poor. In undertaking security for a major event with insufficient police manpower, the idea of mobilizing the militia and navy was never even considered, demonstrating a top-to-bottom complacency and a lack of awareness of the mass line.

The command structure had obvious flaws. Too many departments were involved, with unclear responsibilities and authorities, resulting in a multi-headed command and low efficiency.

Communication between the Political Security Bureau and the police was inefficient. The Political Security Bureau was overly secretive. The police were bogged down with administrative tasks, had a bloated departmental structure, were inadequately trained, and possessed poor information processing capabilities.

The report’s recommendations were as follows:

• Broadly establish mass organizations. We cannot rely solely on the Political Security Bureau’s informants and the police’s semi-permanent network of sources. The former has too low an information-sharing rate, and the latter’s eyes are not numerous enough.
• Bolster the police force and strengthen their training. If conditions permit, a mounted police unit should be established. Mounted police offer the highest tactical mobility and striking power.
• Develop protocols for deploying militia units from factories and mines to provide ready support to the police force.
• Establish a professional water police force.
• For major events, establish a unified command headquarters for all security and counter-terrorism matters, reporting directly to the Chairman of the Executive Committee. The military must be involved to ensure a certain number of regular troops or militia are available as a final emergency reserve.
• Create a professional protection service for the Elders, such as a Secret Service-type unit. It is clearly inappropriate to use an unprofessional unit like the Garrison Battalion for this critical task.

…

Evidently, none of the parties involved were pleased with such a report. But for now, they all remained silent.

“The problems outlined in this report are all objective facts. As the head of the Political Security Bureau, I must conduct a self-criticism,” Ma Jia began. “However, I believe that the Political Security Bureau’s general direction in this operation was correct, and it did indeed play its proper role.”

Ma Jia’s opening statement clearly staked out his position. Of course, he was the representative of the Judiciary, and the directorship of the Political Security Bureau was a concurrent post. It was understandable that he would defend the agency.

“I partially agree with Director Ma’s assessment,” Qian Shuixie said, his words causing a slight sense of dissonance among those present. “The professional work of the Political Security Bureau was not the problem. In fact, one could say it exceeded the expectations for the kind of unprofessional organization we have built.”

His tone shifted. “But I must regretfully point out that the Political Security Bureau has a problem with its political stance, and it is a significant one…”

Ma Jia frowned slightly. Speaker Qian usually had the demeanor of an American politician. What had gotten into him today?

“The fundamental principle of the Senate is that the interests of the Elders are paramount,” Qian Shuixie’s voice began to tremble with emotion. “Regrettably, throughout this entire case, I did not see the Political Security Bureau uphold this principle. I won’t go into the specifics; the report is quite clear.”

Wen Desi nodded. “Old Qian, I understand how you feel. Although I don’t have children myself. The security work in this matter was a considerable failure.”

“This isn’t a failure of security work, it’s a failure of guiding ideology!” Qian Shuixie had been suppressing his rage, but it now boiled over. While he was proud of his daughter’s “adventure,” the thought of what could have happened filled him with terror. To make matters worse, every time his wife, Aibeibei, came home, she would start a fight about it, accusing him, “As Speaker of the Senate, you can’t even protect your own daughter! And you still want to have a son? Not a chance!”

“When the path is wrong, the more work you do, the more reactionary you become.” A few phrases from the depths of his memory surfaced in Qian Shuixie’s mind, feeling perfectly suited for the moment. “I believe the Political Security Bureau should be disbanded. Its functions should be handled by the police, not by some SS or KGB-style entity!”

Another chill fell over the room. Among the committee members, Wu De, Si Kaide, and He Ming drew a sharp breath. All eyes turned to Wen and Ma.

Ma Qianzhu frowned. “My personal view is this: we must look at both sides of every issue. Shortcomings in our work are inevitable. We are all comrades in the same Senate. There should be a basic level of trust. It’s not appropriate to escalate this to such a high level of principle…”

“You call this escalating?” Qian Shuixie was about to explode. “Using Elders as bait—and I’m not just talking about Duoduo! There were two other underage Elders on the Ogura! Are they not Elders? What exactly is the Political Security Bureau protecting?!”

“Speaker Qian, all matters require investigation. You must have evidence for your words. What proof do you have for your accusation that the Political Security Bureau used Elders as bait? Is there a single word in this report that mentions the Bureau using Elders for a honey trap?” Ma Jia retorted, indignant. “Besides, when did the Senate ever authorize the Political Security Bureau to be responsible for the personal safety of the Elders?”

Qian Shuixie was momentarily speechless. He had thought it was self-evident, but on reflection, he had no concrete evidence to present.

“Failing to immediately arrest the suspects, allowing them to carry out terrorist attacks in Lingao, that is a crime against the Elders!” he slammed his hand on the table.

“If doing more work makes one more reactionary, then much of our practical work cannot be carried out,” Ma Jia countered. “I’m not saying there were no problems in this operation, or that the problems were small. But to ignore the successes and relentlessly focus on certain issues is not the correct approach.”

“Alright!” Wen Desi coughed, interrupting the argument. “I don’t think we need to debate who is right and who is wrong here.” He tapped the report in front of him. “The report is here. Everyone surely has their own thoughts. Whether this report hits the mark, whether a new investigation is needed—it’s not for us, the public servants of the Elders, to decide. I propose we leave it to the Senate to vote on…”

Qian Shuixie pressed on. “And the matter of restructuring the agency…”

“On that matter,” Wen Desi said, “I think it can be submitted to the Senate for discussion along with the report’s recommendations for improvement. Of course, that’s assuming the report is approved. If a new investigation is required, we will wait for the new report before discussing it further.”