"I think there's a problem!"

"What problem?"

Vice Minister Ren looked at the directors and deputy directors of Jiangnan Maritime Bureau and Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau, knocked on the table and said bluntly, "Comrades, you are the law enforcement departments responsible for maintaining water traffic safety, you are the waterborne traffic police on the Yangtze River's Jiangnan section. Tell me, why did a situation occur where a ship ignored command and dispatch and insisted on passing under the bridge in fog?"

Vice Director Mei suddenly realized why the Jiangnan Province leaders had slammed the table.

Jiangcheng is a city straddling both banks of the Yangtze River, and right in front of it is the Yangtze River Bridge. What if it didn't hit another ship but hit the bridge; what if it knocked the bridge down?

"Everyone, I privately asked the comrades who participated in the investigation. They told me that situations of ignoring command and dispatch happen from time to time. What does this indicate? Can Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau keep water traffic safety under control? If it can't, I'll have the local Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau take over."

Vice Minister Ren took a deep breath and continued, "If the local Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau also can't do it, I'll have the Transportation Department take over!"

The local leaders were angry now; this was no small matter.

Director Mei hated the iron for not becoming steel, and turned to look at his subordinates.

Huang Yuanchang broke out in a cold sweat and didn't dare look up at the leaders.

They belong to the Ministry of Transport Maritime, a vertically managed unit; Vice Minister Ren could only vent his anger. Seeing that they all kept silent, he stood up and said, "Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to report to Secretary Chen and Vice Governor Wu. Director Mei, please have your subordinates give me some materials before the start of work tomorrow, or I won't even know how to speak to Secretary Chen and Vice Governor Wu."

What "give me some materials"—this was a demand for rectification.

Vice Director Mei's head was pounding, but his subordinates were indeed useless. He could only brace himself and say, "Alright."

The provincial and municipal leaders both left.

Vice Director Mei said darkly, "Lift your heads, all of you. Think carefully about what shortcomings exist in your work. Tell me why ships transiting Jiangcheng Waters don't obey commands!"

"Director Mei, we didn't do our work well. I'll make a self-criticism."

"What use is a self-criticism? When a problem occurs, you solve the problem!"

What happened next left Director Mei torn between laughter and tears. Some started complaining, going on and on about difficulties, such as there not being enough law enforcement personnel, very few Law Enforcement Vessels, and so on.

Some said these were historical legacy issues: the Marine law enforcement force is older on average, the overall education level is not high…

Director Mei got angry and said sternly, "Huang Yuanchang, your turn. You're the director of Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau; you bear primary responsibility. Tell me what's going on, and say something useful!"

"Director Mei." Huang Yuanchang steadied himself and raised his head. "I am responsible; I haven't led the team well. Especially in law enforcement, we… we have shortcomings."

"What shortcomings?"

"Jiangcheng is the provincial capital, with many state-owned shipping enterprises. Our Marine's predecessor was Port Supervision, and Port Supervision was split off from Port and Shipping Enterprises. That directly led to our law enforcement personnel, when it comes to violations by state-owned enterprise vessels, worrying about offending people and not daring to enforce the law."

Huang Yuanchang took a deep breath and continued, "Secondly, the Jiangcheng waterway isn't deep enough; there are few ten-thousand-ton ocean-going ships calling at Jiangcheng Port. Usually we mainly regulate inland river vessels, and our enforcement team's law enforcement level has been treading water, unlike the downstream brother Maritime Bureaus, where there are many foreign ships and giant vessels, and the external environment has forced them to constantly improve their supervision and enforcement level."

Now that sounded like something.

Vice Director Mei asked coldly, "How do you solve these problems?"

"First we must rectify the enforcement team's work style. To give a simple example: Jiang Han 21 ignored the Control Center's instructions and insisted on passing under the bridge in fog. If this kind of situation occurred in the jurisdiction of Binjiang Maritime Bureau, the Binjiang Maritime Bureau Control Center and the subordinate Maritime Departments would immediately decide to dispatch law enforcement personnel by Sea Patrol Boat to give chase on the river."

Huang Yuanchang looked back at the several leaders, then continued, "We have to chase; if we don't, if we don't stop them, a water traffic accident will occur. But in our Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau we just can't achieve that. I'm an unqualified director; I make a self-criticism."

Anyone working in the provincial capital has some background, or is an old hand.

Huang Yuanchang took office at the end of last year; it was perfectly normal that the people below didn't listen to him. After all, three feet of ice do not form in a single day.

Vice Director Mei realized he ought to give Huang Yuanchang some strong support and gestured for him to go on.

"Secondly, in waterborne law enforcement we need a comrade who is swift and decisive and not afraid of offending people. For example, Comrade Han Xiangning, who just reported the accident investigation findings. She's known in Binjiang as the 'Fine Master'. When she was Big Commander of Port Patrol at Bailong Port, any vessel, big or small, entering her jurisdiction would all slow down and proceed at reduced speed.

Later she served as Linghai Port Director. Linghai Port was under construction, and traffic conditions in Linghai Waters were extremely complicated, but thanks to her efforts not a single liability incident occurred. 'Enforcement must be strict, violations must be investigated'—easy to say, not so easy to do. What we need right now are exactly talents like her."

Vice Director Mei already had a good impression of Han Xiangning, and turned around to say, "Director Yang, Director Tang, Friend Yuan Chang has already laid it out to this extent. You should state your position."

"Director Mei, we must support Friend Yuan Chang's work."

"First we rectify the team's work style. Whoever doesn't listen to instructions—if they should be disciplined, discipline them; if they should be transferred out, transfer them without the slightest hesitation, absolutely no mercy!"

"Yes."

"Next, we have a heart-to-heart talk with Comrade Han Xiangning and transfer her to Jiangcheng as soon as possible. She's currently at Director level; we can give her an exceptional promotion to deputy division director, transfer her to Jiangcheng Maritime Bureau as deputy director in charge of waterborne law enforcement."

How could Han Xiangning possibly leave Binjiang? If she came to Jiangcheng, wouldn't that mean she and Salted Fish would be living apart in two different places?

Director Tang's head was pounding, but he couldn't openly oppose this in front of the leaders, so he could only look at the director.

Director Yang didn't know the situation and said without thinking, "Director Mei, we'll talk with Comrade Han Xiangning later. As for the exceptional promotion to deputy division director, I think she should be willing."