Chapter 147: The Homicide Case of Shalon County Public Security Bureau

  As April arrived, Xu Shaojie's mind couldn't focus. The words of Xu Guangkun kept echoing in his mind, making him feel that at any moment, Ding Yuanshuai would be adjusted. According to normal timing, after July, it would enter the second half of the year, meaning the provincial party committee might adjust the team in Huaiyang City at any time. During this period, Xu Shaojie was almost counting down the days.

  Xu Shaojie had already prepared himself to find Chen Dengxiang. This matter couldn't be told to anyone; it was a choice made when there was no other way out. Xu Shaojie knew that starting anew in a different place wasn't easy, and time would pass quickly. His work abilities weren't clear even to Chen Dengxiang, who relied on his relationship with Chen Mubiao to decide his future prospects.

  Xu Shaojie also thought of Tang Wenjun, but entering the public security force was an even more dire situation. Xu Shaojie wasn't familiar with public security work and wanted to break through the situation, which seemed as difficult as ascending to heaven.

  The crackdown has begun. In recent years, every now and then, a crackdown is launched, it's already a convention. Since the early 1980s, when the crackdown first started, many rounds have been carried out. Xu Shaojie remembers very clearly that during the first crackdown, he had just entered middle school and was walking out of the house with his classmates when they saw police blocking off main roads in the county town, busy arresting people. One by one, young people were being taken away from their homes. He and his classmates killed time by fighting cocks. Later, the police came to his home and took away his older brother Xu Yijie. It wasn't until then that Xu Shaojie knew how severe the crackdown was. When he followed his father to visit Xu Yijie, he saw that Xu Yijie's face was covered in bruises, and his father almost couldn't hold back tears.

  Xu Shaojie saw the deputy secretary in charge of politics and law, Zhu Zongxiang, hurrying into Secretary Ding Yuan's office. He didn't even have time to greet Xu Shaojie. Zhu's secretary was pacing back and forth in the corridor, and when Xu called out to him to come in and sit down, he didn't seem to hear. Xu felt a sense of foreboding - had something happened?

  Soon, Xu Shaojie received a call from Secretary Ding Yuan.

  "Shao Jie, inform Mayor Huang and Secretary Lu to come to my office, you prepare to take notes."

  Huang Haitao came in with a gloomy face and didn't say a word. Lu Changzheng was already sitting in the office. Xu Shaojie was busy making tea for everyone, while Yu Huixiang, Qian Dazhi and Zhu Zongxiang's secretary were all sitting in Xu Shaojie's office.

  "Alright, let's have a brief meeting. Secretary Zhu, please introduce the situation. Little Xu, take notes."

  Xu Shaojie began to record nervously as Zhu Zongxiang spoke. Xu's face slowly changed, and it turned out that something had happened at the Salong County Public Security Bureau. During the severe crackdown period, there were many criminal cases, and generally speaking, suspects who were caught could not avoid suffering physical pain. Torture and forced confessions were common occurrences and were not considered news. However, this time, the Criminal Police Brigade of the Salong County Public Security Bureau had gone too far. They had arrested a thief, but because the suspect was a repeat offender with a bad attitude, the police lost control and beat him to death. The thief's family insisted on seeing his body, and the police realized they had made a mistake. They immediately reported it to the county government, which temporarily suppressed the news.

  However, the main leaders of the county government then made a big mistake. After collective research, they asked the Public Security Bureau to announce that the suspect had died by suicide. This led to trouble, and soon the news leaked out, causing a huge stir in the county. The deceased's family members went to the county government building with banners, shouting for justice. The police did not do any persuasion work and instead detained the family members again, making the situation worse.

  The main leaders of the county government had not expected that someone would report the incident directly to the provincial authorities. A reporter from the Legal Daily was on his way, and the county leaders were panicked. Only then did they report the situation to the municipal government.

  Xu Shaojie thought of the phrase "grass mud horse people's lives" and perhaps had an unusual feeling. Xu Shaojie hated this kind of thing happening, where ordinary people's lives are worthless and officials protect each other, fully revealing their true nature.

  "Now, the incident of Shalon County Public Security Bureau's criminal police team beating people to death has attracted attention from both the Provincial People's Congress and the Provincial Government. Although reporters from Fazhi Daily have not arrived yet, I think the Municipal Party Committee should come up with a plan to handle this matter. The Shalon County Party Committee and County Government mishandled this incident and have lost their qualification to continue handling it, so I suggest that the Municipal Party Committee take over the handling of this matter."

  Xu Shaojie, who was recording, shook his pen slightly.

  "Alright, everyone knows what happened. The case of coercive interrogation leading to death is severe, especially the inadequate handling by the Shalong County Party Committee and Government has caused a lot of passivity. Now we need to take control of the situation. As for the detailed process of the incident, there are no specific materials yet, only a phone report from the Shalong County Party Committee and Government. I'll assign tasks: Secretary Zhu, as the person in charge of political and legal work, immediately request that the Shalong County Party Committee and Government provide detailed materials, including the cause of the incident, who specifically used violence, and so on. Secretary Lu, find out if the leaders of the Shalong County Party Committee and Government are involved and to what extent. We'll hold a secretary office meeting at 7 pm tonight to discuss this matter. All municipal committee members should not leave town. If everything goes smoothly, we can form an opinion by tonight and release our handling opinions as soon as possible. It's better than waiting for the provincial party committee and government to investigate."

  Ding Yuan paused for a moment and asked Huang Haitao.

  "Mayor Huang, do you have any other opinions?"

  Huang Haitao shook his head and didn't say a word. Xu Shaojie estimated that Huang Haitao was probably aware of this matter long ago.

  After the meeting, Ding Yuan kept Xu Shaojie behind.

  "Shao Jie, what's your opinion? I saw you taking notes just now, and there was something unusual about it. I've never seen that before."

  "Secretary Ding, I feel that this matter is not simple. In my understanding, Mayor Huang should be aware of this matter, but just now in the meeting, Mayor Huang didn't say anything. And Secretary Zhu said that the municipal party committee should handle this matter. The Public Security Bureau killed someone, and the leaders of the Salong County Party Committee and government concealed the incident. Now it's too late to cover it up, let the municipal party committee handle it, but who knows what they mean?"

  "Hehe, Shaojie, things have to be dealt with, otherwise we will be more passive. Now I am still the municipal party secretary, and I must take responsibility. When things are reported, they must be handled."

  "I think it's necessary to handle this matter seriously and eliminate all human interference."

  "It's not that simple, Shao Jie. From now on, you'll be in charge of leading, and then you'll understand."

  Ding Yuan's face was somewhat desolate, as if he had thought of something.

  "Secretary Ding, someone has to take responsibility for this matter. The police officers from the Public Security Bureau who took action will be dealt with, and so will the leaders of the county committee and government."

  "Disposed of improperly, and later even detained the deceased's family members. Originally it was already a mistake, but now it's an even bigger mistake. If this gets out to the news media, Huaiyang City will be affected."

  At 7 o'clock in the evening, the secretary's office meeting was held. Unexpectedly, Ding Yuan asked Xu Shaojie to attend the secretary's office meeting and take good notes. Originally, Xu Shaojie was not qualified to attend the secretary's office meeting, so he felt a little nervous. After completing all the service work, Xu Shaojie sat down in the corner, holding his notebook ready to take notes. Huang Haitao looked at Xu Shaojie but didn't say anything.

  Zhu Zongxiang reported the situation, and a copy of the material was given to each secretary attending the meeting. The material detailed many things, including who took action, when the suspect died, and subsequent handling, all clearly stated. However, Xu Shaojie found that the key information in the material had changed. The collective opinion of the county party committee and government had become "properly handled", but how to properly handle it was very vague. The subsequent turmoil was entirely due to the improper handling by the police officers of Salong County Public Security Bureau.

  Ding Yuan's face was expressionless. In dealing with the police officer's issue, the secretary's office quickly formed a unanimous opinion: to seriously deal with the police officer who used violence and to immediately arrest those suspected of violating the law. The specific work would be handled by a joint investigation team composed of the Huaiyang City Procuratorate and Public Security Bureau, which would start working on it right away. When discussing leadership responsibility, everyone fell silent, and no one spoke up for the time being. This kind of thing could be either big or small, and could be handled or not handled.

  "I think this matter, in terms of the facts, the public security police have committed illegal crimes and should take responsibility. Moreover, the leaders of the Shalong County Party Committee and government also handled it immediately. Although they were unable to control the situation, which led to some negative impact, mistakes made during work and violations of laws and disciplines are two separate issues."

  Zhu Zongxiang's speech was still reasonable. After Zhu finished speaking, Huang Haitao continued to express his opinions.

  "I agree with Secretary Zhu's opinion, mistakes occurred in the work process, and the situation was not controlled well. In the future, we must pay more attention to it. Criticism and education are necessary. We still need to protect our cadres below, their work is very hard, they are on the front line. For those police officers who broke the law and committed crimes, we must deal with them seriously and give a satisfactory answer to the deceased's family and the masses."

  Xu Shaojie lowered his head, he knew that things had been settled this way.

  As expected, Ding Yuan simply said a few words and agreed to the proposal. Next, regarding compensation and post-disaster relief, things became much simpler, as the secretary's office meeting only set down the principles, while specific matters were handled by the Shalong County Party Committee and government.

  The meeting was not long, the municipal party committee standing committee was held immediately after, Zhu Zongxiang reported all matters, conveyed the opinions studied by the secretary's office meeting, Huang Haitao and Ding Yuan respectively made speeches, there were no new ideas at all. Ding Yuan finally arranged for the municipal party committee office to draft a brief report as soon as possible, reporting to the provincial party committee, provincial people's congress, provincial government and provincial political consultative conference, minimizing the impact.

  An incident that seemed to be brewing into a storm has been resolved like this. It can be imagined that the ones who suffered losses are still the ordinary people at the bottom, while the leaders will not have any impact in this matter.

  After the meeting, Xu Shaojie sent Ding Yuan to his office. He thought Secretary Ding was about to leave, but instead, Ding asked him to sit down and have a talk.

  "Shao Jie, you may not fully understand what happened today. I'd like to discuss it with you based on my own feelings. I've always thought you should accept it, but your emotions aren't right. As for the principles of being a person and doing things, I don't want to say much more. You have your own understanding, so let me just talk about some specific official matters, using today's discussion about the Shalun County Public Security Bureau as an example."

  Xu Shaojie was focused and serious, these aspects were what he lacked, although it can be experienced in future work, but being able to receive guidance will be of great help for the future.

  "You may not be satisfied with what happened today, thinking that we should take stronger measures to deal with those derelict leaders. Your understanding is not wrong, but I didn't do it that way, and you know the reason why. When you encounter similar problems or major corruption cases in your future work, you should have a clear mind about how to handle them. Generally speaking, as a local party and government leader, apart from following certain rules, you must also get things done practically. The incident at Shalong County Public Security Bureau is a good opportunity, but unfortunately, according to conventional practice, I would ask the Discipline Inspection Commission to intervene. If the Discipline Inspection Commission handles this matter, it will have much greater deterrent power, and subordinates will know that the Discipline Inspection Commission handles all matters with some flexibility, from severe punishment to leniency, depending on the specific situation. This way, those officials who usually don't do their job or disobey superiors can be taken down in a legitimate manner. Sometimes, relying solely on organizational measures to adjust personnel requires consideration of the impact, and every leader has some relationships behind them, so it's not easy to deal with someone unless you have strong backing and control over everything. In reality, such situations are rare. Huang Mayor is doing well in this regard, and you should learn from him more. As for Shalong County Public Security Bureau, the reason I didn't take action was that I haven't fully grasped the situation in Shalong County. Under these circumstances, handling it would drag on for a long time, and ultimately, nothing might come of it. So, you should pay attention to these issues in your future work."

  What Ding Yuan said wasn't very systematic, but Xu Shaojie made an effort to think over every word of Secretary Ding's, and gradually he came to understand some things - the official world wasn't as simple as he had imagined.

  The matter of the Shalon County Public Security Bureau seemed to have ended like this, but the trouble was far from over. After Huaiyang City reported the handling method, the provincial party committee leaders were dissatisfied. Xu Shaojie saw Ding Yuan Secretary frowning, apparently thinking deeply, as such a situation had never occurred before.

  "Shao Jie, it seems you're right. I shouldn't be weak. The more I think about maintaining stability, the easier it is for problems to arise. The provincial party committee's opinion is clear: a leader must take responsibility. This responsibility isn't easy to bear. It looks like the days ahead won't be calm."

  Xu Shaojie immediately called Chen Mubiao, and he learned of a stunning situation. The one who was dissatisfied was Provincial Committee Deputy Secretary Sun Zhi-chao. Sun Zhi-chao probably had not forgotten the matter of adjusting the main leadership of Huaiyang City. He was very dissatisfied with the opinions studied by the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee. Now, the focus of the conflict is no longer in the Shalong County Public Security Bureau or the Shalong County Party Committee and government, but rather in the handling opinions studied by the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee. Sun Zhi-chao believed that the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee was protecting its own interests, so he demanded a serious handling of the matter.

  Xu Shaojie couldn't help but sneer, with power in his hands, everything he said made sense. Sun Zhi-chao wanted to hold the Huaiyang Municipal Party Committee responsible, it would be better to say that he was holding Secretary Ding Yuan responsible. It was clearly Zhu Zong-xiang who put forward the suggestion, but ultimately, it was Secretary Ding Yuan who made the decision. Therefore, if anyone had to take responsibility, it should still be Secretary Ding Yuan.

  Entering May, Xu Shaojie felt that Ding Yuan, the secretary, might be leaving Huaiyang City soon. The incident at Salong County Public Security Bureau was a catalyst, allowing Sun Zhi-chao, the deputy secretary of the provincial party committee, to bring up old matters again.