Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1503 - 277: Welcome Ceremony!

At 8:10 in the morning, nearly an hour before the Binjiang Ship was to enter the port, the temporary bleachers set up for the ceremony were already filled.Commander Wang of the Military District and Political Commissioner Chen arrived before dawn, as did Vice Mayor Qin. The three had just finished inspecting all the preparations when they received a message via walkie-talkie that Secretary Lu had arrived.

The three hurried to greet him, briefly reporting on the preparations made, and accompanied Secretary Lu to first greet the old revolutionaries and veteran cadres attending the ceremony to welcome the Binjiang Ship back to Binjiang.

The old revolutionaries mainly came from three guesthouses in Binjiang, but the central seats under the bleachers were reserved for four old Red Army veterans specially escorted by the Civil Affairs Bureau!

Although the revolutionary spirit knows no rank, in many occasions and retirement benefits, seniority in revolutions is recognized, and experience matters.

Secretary Lu went around shaking hands with the old revolutionaries, engaging in warm conversations with them for quite a while. Accompanied by Vice Mayor Qin and City Committee Secretary Yang, he then proceeded to the second bleacher on the left to greet former leaders and veteran comrades from Binjiang.

Binjiang is now a prefecture-level city, but before the reform and opening up, it was called a region.

There was no City Committee or Municipal Government back then, only a regional committee and executive office. Naturally, there was no City Secretary or Mayor, only a Regional Secretary and Prefecture Commissioner.

The regional leaders back then, unlike current city leaders who move frequently, would usually retire in Binjiang. It was rare for them to ascend to the provincial level.

A former Prefecture Commissioner in his nineties, rarely seen nowadays, had arrived!

He was not just an old leader but also an old revolutionary, though he did not lead troops in battles; he was primarily engaged in local or underground work.

Secretary Lu, who visited and consoled him annually, was quite familiar with the old leader, needing no introduction from Vice Mayor Qin or Secretary Yang. He held the old leader’s hand for nearly ten minutes before greeting other veteran leaders attending the ceremony. He then accompanied Commander Wang of the Military District to visit representatives of the liberation army and the Armed Police Force stationed in Binjiang in the neighboring bleacher.

The 105th Army Special Warfare Group is not stationed in Binjiang but trains there, so it is essentially part of the Binjiang garrison.

Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang of the 105th Army, along with Commander Liu of the Special Warfare Group and Political Commissioner Liao, were invited to attend the welcome ceremony. Seeing Secretary Lu personally coming to greet them, they, like the Land, Sea, and Air Forces representatives present, stood to attention and saluted.

"Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang, how is the troop training going?"

"Thank you for your concern, Secretary Lu. The training is going smoothly and successfully. We will complete our training mission in four days."

"Have you been training for nearly a month?"

"Yes, time flies; we are about to return soon."

"I’ve been so busy these days that I haven’t had the chance to visit and comfort the troops."

"Secretary Lu, you have already been very supportive and caring towards us. Moreover, Mayor Qin and Commander Wang have visited us on your behalf."

Even among the garrison representatives, Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang received different treatment, something other military and political officers envied, though some things are beyond envy given that the 105th Army is an elite Air Force unit and Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang holds a high-ranking officer position.

With lesser forces and ranks, they can only stand aside.

However, Secretary Lu had no more time for pleasantries with Deputy Chief of Staff Jiang; after shaking hands and greeting the front-row garrison representatives, he went accompanied by the leaders of the People’s Congress, Political Consultative Conference, Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and Chamber of Commerce to the far-right bleacher to visit the National People’s Congress deputies, Political Consultative Conference members, and representatives of patriotic overseas Chinese and entrepreneurs in Binjiang.

After briefly greeting two entrepreneurs, Secretary Lu was surprised to see Old Ge, for old times’ sake, wearing a white shirt and a red tie, standing boldly among the entrepreneur representatives, applauding!

"Ge... Master Ge, you’re here too."

"Hello, Secretary Lu, I just arrived."

Turning back to look at the garrison representatives’ bleacher, Secretary Lu felt puzzled: "Old Ge, are you sitting in the wrong place? You’re a senior expert with the Linghai Reserve Camp and Binjiang Naval Reserve Rescue Ship Brigade. How did Salted Fish arrange this? You should be sitting over there!"

Old Ge didn’t expect "Boss Lu" to come so early, and even less did he expect him to greet everyone; he felt awkward, sheepishly explaining, "Secretary Lu, I’m not in the wrong place. I have taken a second job, found new employment; I came with Mr. Bao from our Hong Kong Industrial Park."

The Hong Kong Industrial Park, created by Changzhou in imitation of Guzhou’s Singapore Industrial Park and the Taiwanese Business Industrial Park, is an industrial park but not as large as Guzhou’s.

When the Hong Kong tycoon signed the investment agreement, Secretary Lu and Mayor Wang attended the signing ceremony.

Recalling that Old Ge was present throughout the investment promotion, Secretary Lu suddenly realized, shook his hand, and laughed, "Bringing investors in and providing good service is akin to setting them on a proper path, ensuring they succeed. Master Ge, you’ve found a good job!"

"Thank you for your support, Secretary Lu. Allow me to introduce, this is Mr. Bao from our Hong Kong Industrial Park; Mr. Bao is from Hong Kong."

"Hello, Secretary Lu!"

"Mr. Bao, welcome, welcome; it’s a pleasure to meet you."

Ge Sheng’s background is indeed strong, and his network is indeed vast.

From the pier to here, many officers and government officials greeted him, and even Binjiang’s top official, Secretary Lu, was having a jovial conversation with him.

Mr. Bao was very excited, hurriedly took out a prepared business card, and respectfully offered it with both hands, "Secretary Lu, this is my business card; please look after me."

"It’s not about guidance but certainly about care. Mr. Bao, actually, I should thank you for investing in Binjiang." Secretary Lu accepted the business card and looked at Old Ge again, half-jokingly asking, "Master Ge, where’s your business card? Should I start calling you President Ge?"

"Please don’t make fun of me, Secretary Lu. A business card... I do have one."

"Give me one, so we can easily stay in touch in the future."

"Alright, Secretary Lu, just a moment."

...

Secretary Lu specially wore a military uniform for today’s event.

He wore an army-standard shirt on top and army officer’s trousers on the bottom, just without any rank. As the First Political Commissioner of the Binjiang Military District, dressing like this for such an occasion is quite normal.

To accompany Mr. Bao for today’s event, Old Ge wore a white shirt and a red tie, looking rather like a groom, which seemed somewhat comical.

After Secretary Lu finished greeting representatives from various social circles, as he was returning to the "main pavilion," Vice Mayor Qin whispered to Secretary Lu without changing his expression, "Secretary Lu, Old Ge is quite impressive now, he’s the Deputy General Manager of the Hong Kong Industrial Park, with an annual salary of 240,000, even the personal income tax he has to pay is more than our salaries."

"An annual salary of 240,000!" Secretary Lu was shocked, with an incredulous look.

"That’s just his salary. Besides that, he also has opportunities every year to go to Hong Kong, and even to countries like Australia and Malaysia for tourism and vacation."

"Is this some kind of mistake? How does he deserve such a high salary and these benefits?"

"That Hong Kong businessman was actually introduced by him to Xiang Ning. It’s said he’s very close with the chairman of their board, and they value him greatly."

"This old slick is quite a talker. If I had known he was such a talker, we should have asked the Investment Promotion Bureau to hire him as a consultant."

"Now he looks down on it. Salted Fish said he wants to ’separate government and enterprise,’ planning to resign from his part-time roles at the Linghai Reserve Camp and the Rescue Boat Team, and focus solely on working for the Hong Kong boss."

"Working solely for the Hong Kong boss? He’s actually thinking of making money wholeheartedly."

Having spent a lifetime as a cadre, having been a leader, and now retreating to a secondary line but still able to gain a deputy revocation.

And now, unexpectedly, he runs off to a Hong Kong-funded company to work as a deputy general manager with a high salary, capturing all the benefits!

Thinking back to how he turned the well-functioning Binjiang Flood Control Rescue Camp into the Linghai Reserve Camp, Secretary Lu was displeased, and immediately took out his phone to call Secretary Qian of Linghai City W.

Secretary Qian might have been in a meeting, or perhaps busy with something else; the call didn’t go through.

Secretary Lu simply settled for the next best thing and dialed Linghai Mayor Shen Fan’s number.

"Secretary Lu, this is Shen Fan, do you have any instructions?"

"Comrade Shen Fan, I just ran into Ge Weidong. He’s one of your cadres in Linghai, and he actually ran off to help Changzhou with investment promotion. Moreover, he successfully introduced a Hong Kong businessman to Changzhou, bringing in a project worth hundreds of millions. What are you doing over there? How are you handling the work with your old cadres and investment promotion?"

It’s just as feared!

Shen Fan felt stressed, and with a troubled face, he replied, "Secretary Lu, we are aware of this situation. We haven’t been attentive enough to the old comrades. Our work with the old cadres and investment promotion was not done well. We need to reflect on this; I must review our shortcomings."

"How many times have I emphasized that old comrades are a precious resource? Especially someone like Ge Weidong, who is experienced yet full of energy; you should care for them more, give them a stage to showcase their strengths, and allow them to contribute to economic construction. But what did you do? You let Changzhou steal your valuable asset and missed out on a project worth hundreds of millions!"

"Your critique is correct, Secretary Lu; I will review our faults."

"What’s the use of a review, just pay attention from now on."

"Yes!"

"Boss Lu" was upset, and Shen Fan suffered the consequences.

Vice Mayor Qin suddenly regretted informing "Boss Lu" about Old Ge venturing into profit-making, after all, Shen Fan was his old subordinate.

Just as he was feeling regretful, Secretary Lu pocketed his phone and asked, "Old Qin, where’s Salted Fish?"

For the City Committee and Municipal Government, the welcoming ceremony in the morning is very important. In five minutes, Mayor Wang will accompany the provincial leaders staying at Wushan Hotel and the Director of the provincial double support office to attend the welcoming ceremony.

However, in the eyes of Salted Fish, the morning welcoming ceremony is an official activity and not that important. It is the public open session in the afternoon that is critical; when citizens visit, only then can he unite with several partner units of the Rescue Boat Team to do business and make money.

A wise man learns from a fall.

Vice Mayor Qin wouldn’t be foolish enough to tell Secretary Lu that Salted Fish is urgently preparing for the money-making plan in the afternoon, as he turned and looked towards the distant Binjiang Port Control Room and reported, "The Binjiang Ship arrived at the sea anchorage half an hour ago; he needs to command the safe docking of the Binjiang Ship. With so many people suddenly gathering at the dock, he also has to combine efforts with the police, health, firefighting, armed police, and other departments to ensure safety."