Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 974 - 645: China Linghai!

At half past three in the afternoon, Deputy Mayor Shen, Huang Yuanchang, Jingzhou City's Vice Mayor Ji, Captain Peng of the 132nd Regiment, Political Commissar Yang, Secretary Yuan of Angong County, and County Magistrate Huang, along with other leaders, successively arrived at the Yang Liu Village section of the Yangtze River embankment.

Deputy Mayor Shen was truly there to greet the hometown soldiers.

Local leaders and military leaders said they came to welcome the Linghai Reserve Camp's water rescue operations and water logistic support troops, but each had their own agendas.

Vice Mayor Ji mostly came on behalf of his superiors to see what waterborne equipment the Linghai Reserve Camp had, to assess how much the addition of the water unit could enhance the combat effectiveness of this emergency rescue assault team composed of forces from the navy, army, and air force.

Captain Peng and Political Commissar Yang of the 132nd Regiment were both there to watch the spectacle and to see if they could procure some of the materials needed by their regiment. The "Hong Kong Garrison" not only had money but also strong logistical support, and this wealthy unit couldn't be overlooked.

Secretary Yuan and County Magistrate Huang came not only to strive for rescue materials but also to plead with Vice Mayor Ji, Deputy Mayor Shen, and Huang Yuanchang not to redeploy the Linghai Reserve Camp elsewhere. The flood control pressure on Angong was too high; with over 600 kilometers of dikes in urgent need, the highly combat-effective Linghai Reserve Camp absolutely couldn't leave.

The happiest was Zhang Erxiao.

Previously, he was exhausted from running around, trying to ensure everyone had meals and clean water, almost reaching his breaking point.

With the arrival of the water unit, things would become much easier; the boats had everything, and the next steps were just purchasing vegetables and some necessary supplies.

The soldiers of the 132nd Regiment were also looking forward to it.

Most were filling sandbags below the dike, but now they had lost interest in work, finding various excuses to take leave and come up to the dike, eager to see if the "Hong Kong Garrison" naval unit had arrived.

The dispatch work for rescue operations initially started very tense, but after a day and night of coordination, everything was now on track.

Han Yu was not as busy as before and didn't even need to personally handle the dispatch anymore.

Since last night, the "on-duty officer" system had been restored, with the on-duty officer responsible for directing and dispatching the six teams executing rescue tasks outside.

After reporting the situation of the emergency rescue assault team to Vice Mayor Ji, Captain Peng pulled Han Yu aside and asked, "Salted Fish, I heard a transport fleet came along; what's being carried, and is there anything useful for our regiment?"

With Old Ge, the senior expert and senior liaison officer, the relationship between the Linghai Reserve Camp and the superior units was as good as it could get, and now Captain Peng and Political Commissar Yang, like Deputy Mayor Shen and Huang Yuanchang, called him "Salted Fish."

The material list had been reported early.

Han Yu peeked at Old Ge, who was chatting with Vice Mayor Ji and other leaders, and replied without changing expression, "Mainly rescue materials, but how those stakes, stones, woven bags, and steel pipes are allocated is not for me to decide."

"We don't need rescue materials; I meant the other things."

"There is a ship full of relief items, mainly mineral water, instant noodles, sausages, cookies, and biscuits. These relief items were donated by our Linghai Party cadres, and ultimately, it's Director Ge and Secretary Wang, who came with the fleet, who will decide whom to give them to."

"What about Mayor Shen?"

"Mayor Shen has the ultimate say but usually won't involve himself in these minor matters."

With Director Ge in charge, it was a good arrangement.

Captain Peng turned back and smiled, "Commissar, have a word with Director Ge later; we're not greedy; we don't want a whole ship, just a truckload."

Political Commissar Yang also believed Director Ge was likely to agree, so he laughed and said, "Alright."

In terms of active-duty troops participating in flood relief, they were definitely among the first to head to the frontline of flood control and had always fought in the toughest and gravest rescue situations in Angong County. The officers and soldiers were very tired, and due to funding and transportation issues, the materials were extremely scarce.

Han Yu didn't think Captain Peng was asking too much and said, "Captain, Commissar, Secretary Wang called to say he brought 400 life jackets and plans for us to swap them. If you're not afraid of dirt and wear, I can give you the old life jackets we change out."

"We're not afraid! And frankly, given our hasty deployment, the whole regiment only has about twenty life jackets; we'll take as many old life jackets as you can spare!"

"Actually, the ones we're wearing now aren't that old; Secretary Wang might want us to swap them for publicity reasons."

"Publicity?"

Han Yu looked a bit embarrassed, "The new life jackets have writing on them."

Captain Peng paused and suddenly understood, "Hahaha, I get it, you have a thoughtful Secretary Wang."

While they were talking, cheers erupted from the front of the dike.

Peeking out, they saw that the soldiers of the 132nd Regiment who had been working below the dike were suddenly on top of it, waving towards the river alongside Dongdong and other officers of the Linghai Reserve Camp.

A Yangtze Police 110 boat appeared before them, faintly visible were two people standing at the bow.

Soon after, a huge twin-hulled fleet slowly sailed forth under the push of two large tugboats; its decks filled with red flags and banners, the sight from afar was quite magnificent!

The subordinates all rebelled, running up the dike without permission.

Li Shousong was furious, shouting, "It's their reinforcements that arrived, not our reinforcements. They're happy, but why are you so excited?"

"Commander, the Seventh Company went up first; we thought everyone was going up."

"Who said our company went up first? Which eye saw that?"

"Well then, it must be the Ninth Company."

"Alright, alright, enough with these useless words; can't you have some ambition? You're just all about eating, eating, eating. Were you reincarnated starving ghosts?"

"No, we just came up to see... "

Now everyone knew there would be good food tonight.

The "Hong Kong Garrison" logistics team even requisitioned a few trucks from the 132nd Regiment this morning to purchase numerous vegetables and beer from Angong County.

Because they bought too much, the inspection team couldn't unload it all, so Master Dai called over a dozen soldiers from the Second Company to help.

Li Shousong turned around to look at the position of the leaders to make sure they were far enough not to hear, then shouted, "Everyone listen carefully, we're having a buffet tonight, and I want you all to be civilized! Don't just see fish or meat and keep stuffing it into your lunchbox, pay attention to your table manners and think more about others, understand?"

"Understood!"

"I'll have the inspectors watching closely. If anyone embarrasses us by eating like a starving ghost, gulping down food and stuffing themselves, see how I'll deal with them!"

"Commander, can we drink some beer tonight?"

"We'll see."

"Yes, sir."

...

As Li Shousong emphasized the dining discipline for the evening, Han Yu looked at everything happening in front of him, dumbfounded, unable to believe this was his water parade on the river.

The signs of "Yangtze River Police" and "Binjiang Police" on the police barge were gone, replaced with the eleven large characters saying "China-Linghai Economic and Technological Development Zone!"

The big barge retrofitted with old equipment also had a new name, with twelve large characters "China Linghai Port Engineering Construction Command" on the top of the ship.

Many slogans embodying the spirit of reform and opening up were written in artistic font on the walls of the barge's superstructure:

Oriental commerce hub, modern Linghai.

Changing every year, transforming greatly every three years.

Three years of hard work, building a first-class port.

...

On the ferry of Lingda Ferry Company, the front read "Linghai people welcome you!", and the back said "Linghai people welcome you to come again!"

On the floating crane of the Port Authority were the words "Master skills through constant practice, ensure safety with caution," with the signature "Linghai Port District Management Committee."

What kind of unit the Port District Management Committee is, when it was established, is unknown.

Safety production slogans such as "Rough work without carelessness, meticulous work requires attention; safety relies on caution, family can be at ease," are more prevalent than temporary red banners' slogans like "One side in trouble, all sides support," "United we stand, fighting floods together," which were dazzling.

In short, Secretary Wang made the water parade flashy, not to promote the Linghai Reserve Camp, but to advertise Linghai Port, Linghai Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the Linghai Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government.

Looking around, he couldn't see a single slogan about the Linghai Reserve Camp.

But then again, reserve forces are different from active-duty forces, without support from local party committees and government, they can't even be organized.

Vice Mayor Ji was stunned, took a long moment before turning back to ask, "Mayor Shen, you've moved your whole house here!"

Deputy Mayor Shen was equally surprised that Secretary Wang would decorate the fleet like this, composed himself, and smiled as he explained, "When our development zone was first established, at the beginning of Linghai Port project construction, it was really bare-bones, we could only work on the boats."

"What's the situation now?"

"After two years of effort by all cadres and the public in the development zone, we've started to take shape, the Management Committee office building has been completed, and the new headquarters building of Linghai Port Co., Ltd is also built and in use. By this time next year at the latest, the port will be operational."

Vice Mayor Ji, also in charge of industry, asked curiously, "How much investment has there been in the port?"

"We've divided the port project into three phases, with a total investment of 1.7 billion RMB. The ongoing first phase involves an investment of over 600 million yuan."

"Your resources are substantial, we couldn't manage it ourselves."

"Not possible just by ourselves. We rely mainly on activating resources, attracting investment, involving stake based on Yangtze River coastline and land for the port."

...

Deputy Mayor Shen hadn't grasped the situation on the boats, Master Ge worried about being found out later, smiled and chimed in, "Mayor Ji, Secretary Yuan, County Magistrate Huang, I happen to be free this afternoon, so I'll join Deputy Mayor Shen in accompanying you on the boat visit."

"Alright, alright, Master Ge, it's much appreciated."

"No trouble, not at all."

Money makes a difference.

Those two big barges anchored by the riverbank would make anyone unfamiliar really believe this was the Linghai Economic and Technological Development Zone, and a big port is about to be built here!

Secretary Yuan and County Magistrate Huang watched with envy, as the water transport fleet appeared before their eyes.

National Hygienic City, National Civilized City Zhangjia Port is here!

Top 100 county ranking fourth Shuzhou City is here!

The widely known Huaxi Village arrived!

Everyone's attention shifted from "China Linghai," even though the fleet co-established by Shuzhou, Zhangjia Port, and Jiangyin is not as large as Linghai's, it still drew cheers from the observing 132nd Regiment soldiers and curious onlookers.

Deputy Mayor Shen touched his lips, looking somewhat displeased.

Master Ge furrowed his brow slightly but quickly smiled again.

Reporters from Linghai TV Station and Linghai Daily paused for a moment, immediately turning their cameras towards the Linghai fleet.