Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1525 - 291: Leveraging Advantages! (Part 2)

"Leaders, it’s a bit of a coincidence. Director Feng passed me some information: the Ministry of Transport is planning to build a rescue center in the East Sea. They’re also considering that the East Sea Salvage Bureau’s current base is relatively far from the shoreline, and apparently they’re in the process of choosing a site for a new base."Seeing the four leaders looking thoughtful, Han Yu laughed and said, "In the East Sea every inch of land is worth gold; where are you going to find coastline to build a rescue base? The Pudong coastline is long enough, but it’s all tidal flats over there. You walk all the way to the shore and it’s hard to even see seawater. Building a base there would basically mean you first have to put up a cross-sea bridge and build port berths out in the sea, otherwise the rescue vessels won’t be able to dock.

I think the area around Dongqi estuary has pretty good conditions in all respects: the water is deep enough, it’s relatively close to the main and auxiliary waterways into the Yangtze River and Huangpu River, and it’s not that far from the East Sea ocean-going anchorage either. If the Ministry of Transport were to build the rescue base in Dongqi, that would mean we’d not only have a rescue base, we’d also have the mother ships needed for rescue, and the personnel who’d be assisting us would be the most professional there are."

Vice Mayor Qin really had no idea there was this opportunity with the Ministry of Transport. After weighing it for a moment, he couldn’t help but laugh and say, "The Linghai Reserve Camp is jointly built by Linghai and the Ministry of Transport’s Changhang Bureau; the Rescue Boat Team can likewise be co-built with the Ministry of Transport’s Salvage Bureau. With you involved, I’d bet the Salvage Bureau leadership will definitely be interested."

"I think it’s feasible." Deputy Director Yuan laughed. "Salted Fish, if you have time you can make a trip to the East Sea and report to Commander Yu in person. Commander Yu attaches great importance to the submarine rescue project; he might even accompany you himself to talk to the Salvage Bureau."

Director Feng’s old subordinate, Vice Commander Yu, has been promoted.

He used to be deputy commander of the base; now he’s the base commander, General Rank!

Han Yu didn’t want to bother Commander Yu over this kind of matter, and quickly said, "Director Feng has already helped me submit the matter of the Ministry of Transport’s East Sea rescue base siting. I’m told they agreed to give it some consideration. This kind of thing isn’t something we can secure just because we want to; where it’s ultimately built will depend on what the experts say.

Even if they ultimately don’t consider Dongqi, we can still cooperate with the Salvage Bureau. They’re very interested in co-building with our brigade; they even want to transfer my brother‑in‑law back from the East Sea Navigation Vocational College. I’ve also reported to Captain Shen at headquarters. Captain Shen said that since they’re interested, we can give them the organizational table for one company."

This is the Binjiang Naval Reserve Rescue Ship Brigade!

Although the East Sea Salvage Bureau is under the Ministry of Transport and is not an East Sea unit per se, once it carries the words "East Sea" in its name, is the Binjiang Naval Reserve Rescue Ship Brigade still really Binjiang’s?

Vice Mayor Qin felt that wasn’t quite appropriate and mused, "Salted Fish, if all we need is a rescue base on the shore, we in Binjiang can completely solve that ourselves."

"Mayor Qin, Binjiang doesn’t even have a seaport!"

"We didn’t have one before and we don’t have one now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have one in the future."

"We’re going to build a seaport in Binjiang?"

Vice Mayor Qin smiled as he said, "The city doesn’t have such a plan, but Dongru does. The Dongru County Party Committee and county government saw that Fengda County of Salt Sea actually scraped together its own funds to build a port, planning to endure several hard years, mobilize every force that can be mobilized, and self‑finance the construction of a port."

The matter of Fengda County building a port had already been heard of three years ago. Doing the math, Fengda Port should be close to completion and going into operation.

Only back then, what people heard wasn’t about how Fengda County’s cadres and masses, with no financial support from their superiors, sold off their pots and pans to build a seaport. What they heard was that in order to build the seaport, Fengda County actually misappropriated water conservancy construction funds allocated by the superior authorities.

In ’97, a typhoon, torrential rains, and a storm surge hit at the same time, and several districts and counties in Salt Sea suffered considerable economic losses.

At the time, port construction had already started; with the misappropriated water conservancy funds and who knows how much manpower invested in the seawall, the seawall was almost breached. The then Fengda County Party Secretary W knew very clearly what it would mean if they couldn’t hold it. He led from the front, stood fast on the seawall commanding emergency repairs, and almost lost his life.

Precisely because he risked everything to hold the line, their previous investment didn’t go down the drain, and in the end the superiors apparently didn’t pursue responsibility for their misappropriation of water conservancy construction funds.

Who would have thought that three years later, the "Little Seven" who was almost invisible in Binjiang would quietly launch a "satellite" and plan to, just like Fengda County, sell off everything to build a port.

Han Yu really admired the boldness of the leadership in Dongru County. Curious, he asked, "Where do they plan to build Dongru Port?"

"At Big Ocean Mouth."

"Big Ocean Mouth is also tidal flats. If they want to build a port there, relying solely on dredging is clearly unrealistic."

"Just like you said earlier, they’ll first have to build a bridge out at sea, with the berths for ships all built out in the water. So the investment is enormous."

"If Dongqi Port really can be built, then it’ll be a genuine seaport. And since it’s a seaport, it’ll need coastal tugboats to assist cargo ships in berthing. If Dongqi Port can be equipped with one large‑tonnage tugboat, we won’t have to go begging to the East Sea Salvage Bureau."

"Which is why I suggest you don’t rush to decide who to cooperate with just yet."

"Fine, this isn’t something that can be rushed anyway."

As they were chatting, Old Fang and Feng Qingshan knocked and came in.

Commander Wang had been waiting for this moment. Smiling at them, he asked, "Old Fang, how much did we make this time?"

"Four hundred eighty‑six thousand five hundred."

"That much!"

"Mainly because a lot of citizens came to take photos as souvenirs, and the warship models sold well. If we were relying only on selling drinks and snacks and collecting parking fees, we’d never have made that much."

Vice Mayor Qin was also stunned by the figure, and couldn’t help laughing as he asked, "How much did you collect in parking fees?"

Old Fang chuckled. "Not much from parking, only twenty‑six thousand two hundred."

"That’s net profit, right? You don’t have to share it with the cooperating unit?"

"That’s right, Mayor Qin. The four hundred eighty‑plus thousand I just mentioned is also our brigade’s net profit."

"So the cooperating unit also made a killing!"

"They provided the manpower, the effort, the capital, and the equipment; they did most of the actual work."

"That’s true. You people basically conjured something out of nothing, didn’t do anything yourselves, and still raked in that much, so you really can’t begrudge them whatever they earned."

"Mayor Qin, we didn’t do nothing!" Han Yu grinned. "We did a ton of work, especially with selling the models. Commissar Fang even personally went on the front line to help shout out to customers. These past few days, we’ve also organized comrades from the cadre rest home to help deliver models to all the units that ordered them; we’ve been run off our feet."

He’d already heard before coming that Salted Fish had used the Binjiang Ship’s return to Binjiang to do some business and make money. He hadn’t expected they’d make this much.

Deputy Director Yuan smiled and nodded, then lifted his head and said meaningfully, "Comrade Qingshan, you heard that, right? Old Fang has practically put everything on the line for construction of the Rescue Boat Team. Now it’s up to you!"

Feng Qingshan snapped to attention and saluted. "Deputy Director Yuan, rest assured, I’ll learn from Commissar Fang, get up to speed quickly, and absolutely won’t let our superiors down."

"Just learning from Old Fang isn’t enough; you also need to make use of your own strengths."

"I know. I’m a diver by trade..."

"I’m not talking about your professional strengths."

"Besides diving, I...I..."

Seeing Feng Qingshan frowning in distress, Vice Mayor Qin couldn’t help but laugh. "Director Yuan is talking about your old unit!"

Feng Qingshan was completely puzzled. "Mayor Qin, what about my old unit?"

Sure enough, he was an honest type who didn’t know how to leverage connections.

Deputy Director Yuan didn’t want to beat around the bush with him. Gesturing for him to sit, he laughed and said, "Your old unit is our Navy’s highest academy for engineering management and technical command. The existing submarine rescue equipment will be shipped to Binjiang in a few days; that equipment was designed and manufactured twenty years ago and can’t meet frontline units’ needs.

Your brigade will next need to upgrade and modify the existing equipment, and even build new, more advanced systems. That’s scientific research work and requires technical strength. Your old unit has so many experts and professors; they can absolutely help."

Back when they dug Old Feng over, Han Yu already had this in mind; he hadn’t expected that Deputy Director Yuan and Vice Mayor Qin had thought of the same thing.

Han Yu was delighted. He patted Old Feng’s arm and, striking while the iron was hot, laughed and said, "Political Commissioner Feng, you just took office today. It wouldn’t be appropriate to rush back to Hanwu. While you’re familiarizing yourself with the day‑to‑day work of the cadre rest home and the Rescue Boat Team, you can first get in touch with the leadership of your old unit and a few experts and professors from the relevant departments. After a while, then you can go back to Hanwu and formally ask the academy leadership and its experts and professors for help."