Chapter 1389: Chapter 193: Pursuit on the Water (Part 2)

At half past nine in the morning, many trucks and buses were waiting in line outside the Lingda Car Ferry to cross the river.

For safety, all passengers riding the buses had to get off and walk along the right pedestrian passage to board the ferry.

The Linghai Police Bureau Development Zone Branch Port Security Inspection Station had set up two desks beside the passenger passage. There were two computers on the desks. Two armed policemen and six auxiliary police officers were busy checking passengers’ identification cards.

Old Yan, now the station chief, was busy maintaining order when he suddenly noticed a familiar Santana driving up the emergency lane.

"Xiao Liu, you continue checking, I’ll go over there."

"Alright."

Old Yan touched the rarely worn pistol at his waist and quickly approached the car, looking at the "Boss Lady" who had just opened the door and got out. He asked with a smile: "Chief Han, why do you have time to come to the port for inspection today?"

"Inspection? The Linghai section is no longer my jurisdiction." Han Xiangning looked back at the queue behind her, holding the car door, and explained: "I need to cross the river for a meeting, Uncle Yan. Could we have a bit of leeway to cross first? Otherwise, I’ll be late."

"Are you kidding? Of course, we can have leeway. The port is under your Maritime Department. Besides, you are the former leader of the Linghai Maritime Bureau. You must be given priority to cross!"

Han Xiangning smiled: "Thank you."

"There’s no need to thank. By the way, what kind of meeting is across the river?"

"A meeting to promote the construction of the Yangtze River Bridge project. Originally, it had nothing to do with our Maritime Department, but I am a member of the Bridge Office. The city asked me to attend, so I must go."

"It’s an important meeting. If the bridge can be built earlier, it won’t be as congested here."

Rarely returning to the old jurisdiction, Han Xiangning suddenly remembered something, walked to the side, and said with some embarrassment: "Uncle Yan, I want to ask you for a favor."

"What favor? Just say it directly."

"My sister called a few days ago, saying her colleagues at Changhang Hospital gave her a lot of clothes. She plans to have them brought back by a long-distance bus from the Linghai Bus Station to East Sea. I’m usually busy and don’t have time. How about letting her tell the driver to leave the clothes with you here, and then I’ll come with Salted Fish to pick them up or you can pass them to Xiao Yu?"

No need to ask, it must be Han Ning who got them from someone else, to come back as second-hand clothes for Little Han Han.

The couple, one holding a deputy chief position and the other a director position, earn quite a bit together, but because they bought a house in East Sea, they live like this, making the child wear second-hand clothes for years.

Old Yan didn’t know what to say to her, quickly agreed: "No problem, let the driver leave the clothes at our police office, and I’ll have Captain Chen bring them to you."

"Placing them with Chen Zikun works too."

Coming all the way from the Changzhou Maritime Office, passing several ship locks, the officers at the Water Police Station were checking the Seaman’s Certificate at the locks. Then, remembering the junior was also checking on the river today, Han Xiangning turned toward the pedestrian passage curiously asked: "Uncle Yan, I heard you caught several fugitives?"

A security inspection station has long been set up at the port, but the criminals caught in the past months are not as many as those caught in the last ten days.

Old Yan couldn’t help smiling: "As of 8 a.m. today, we’ve caught nine."

"So many!"

"There are also many passengers crossing the river from here. We now work in three shifts, conducting checks 24 hours. As long as a fugitive on the wanted list reaches us, he can’t escape!"

...

Meanwhile, the Yangtze River Police 110 was speeding across the water.

This morning’s task was to check the Seaman’s Certificate on the vessels moored at Lang Mountain Anchorage.

Han Yu stood on the rear deck, holding a binocular to observe an ocean-going vessel anchored nearby, while using a walkie-talkie to shout: "Yangtze River Police 110 calling Hai Xun 36, received, please respond."

"Received, received, 110, go ahead!"

"There’s a dangerous goods ship at Lang Mountain Quarantine Anchorage not hanging a mooring ball, there’s a dangerous goods ship at Lang Mountain Quarantine Anchorage not hanging a mooring ball!"

"Understood, I’ll remind them to hang it up quickly."

Hanging a mooring ball means that when a vessel drops anchor, a spherical sign must hang at the bow.

The mooring ball is two sizes larger than a regular basketball, entirely silver-grey, with reflective functions. Hanging it on the flagpole at the bow can alert other vessels to avoid it.

Han Yu put down the binoculars, tapped the top cabin of the Yangtze River Police 110 with his elbow: "Xiao Chen, slow down, there’s something floating near the port side, go over and see what it is?"

"Yes!"

Changhang Bureau’s driver Xiao Chen slowed down promptly, steered the patrol boat over, and saw it was a stick of bamboo. It was nearly 8 meters long, the thickest end had a diameter of around 30 centimeters, while the thinnest end was almost 15 centimeters thick.

Collecting floating bamboo on the river is not easy.

Firstly, the bamboo had been soaked in river water for quite a while, making it very slippery. Additionally, the Yangtze River Police 110 only had a two-meter-long hook rod, and it took the crew nearly 10 minutes to retrieve the bamboo from the river.

The Armed Police on duty at Customs changed shifts.

The current leader’s last name is Wang, called Wang Xiaosheng.

In response to Han Yu’s suggestion, he was tying up the just salvaged bamboo with rope, while asking puzzledly, "Secretary Han, bamboo isn’t worth much, why bother salvaging it?"

"If the bamboo floating on the river is not cleared in time, it will drift into the waterway. Those big ships won’t see them and they might collide with their hulls, affecting navigation safety."

Han Yu held onto the railing and continued, "Besides, we only realized it was bamboo when we got closer. What if it’s a thicker, heavier, and harder piece of wood? The ship’s propeller spins fast, and if hit by wood, it will get damaged."

Just what is this young Secretary Han, an anti-smuggling policeman or maritime, managing everything...

Several armed police soldiers found it odd that Yangtze Police 110 had already slowly approached several inland cargo ships anchored together.

"Attention all crew, attention all crew, we are the police from Changhang Public Security Bureau Binjiang Branch, and we are conducting a routine patrol with the Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau. Please prepare your ID and Seaman’s Certificate for inspection!"

Xiao Yu’s Mandarin has improved a lot compared to before.

Han Yu bent over and took a look, then put on gloves, picked up the pre-coiled rope and threw it to loop around the ship’s mooring post.

Changhang Bureau’s police Xiao Li, carrying a micro machine gun, was the first to leap onto the cargo ship.

The four assisting armed police soldiers followed closely, but they weren’t wearing Armed Police uniforms; rather, as per regulations, they wore customs inspection attire and carried no firearms or ammo.

This was a husband and wife ship. The owner was chatting with colleagues on a neighboring ship, while the ship woman was at the stern doing laundry. Seeing the police and customs boarding for inspection, she quickly came forward.

"Hello, would you please show your ID and Seaman’s Certificate."

"Oh, right away."

Checking ID was the task of Xiao Li and Xiao Yu, while Han Yu led the armed police soldiers to inspect the cargo hold, confirming it was carrying building materials, unlikely involved in smuggling. He then boarded the ship anchored inside, continuing the inspection.

Altogether eight ships were quickly checked.

Nothing suspicious, but Han Yu didn’t return to Yangtze Police 110. Instead, he started chatting with the crew.

"Boss Yang, how’s business this year?"

"Not as good as last year. Too many ships, too little cargo, fuel prices have risen but freight rates haven’t, it’s getting harder."

"My family also has a ship, my father runs water transport like you, he says the same thing." Han Yu glanced around and then asked, "Boss Yang, how’s the security in Binjiang? Have you encountered extortion?"

"Not really." The ship captain was puzzled why customs police would ask such things, lit a cigarette, hesitated, and said, "It’s just loading and unloading is more troublesome than before."

"How is it more troublesome than before?"

"The stones we transport are loaded from the Jiuwei Port; previously you’d line up, when the ship ahead was full, you’d load. Now, queuing doesn’t work, many cut in line, without money you might wait three or four days and still not load."

There was a small island in the area, called Jiangxin, within Jiuwei Port’s river surface, and due to years of developing the Yangtze River coastline, smaller docks have diminished, making that small Jiangxin a hub for building material water transport, growing into Binjiang’s largest sand and gravel market.

Some time ago when assisting Fishery Administration in clamping down on illegal eel fry fishing, Han Yu passed by there and found dozens of "three no" small boats engaging in private ferrying.

Those private ferries were not safe, most small boats only had simple ladders for passengers to board and disembark, with firefighting facilities and safety measures on board being extremely basic or even absent. Both crew and passengers failed to wear life jackets as required, posing safety risks.

Furthermore, the Yangtze River waterfront section’s waterway is very busy, all sorts of transport ships including large hazardous material ships navigate or dock there. These small boats often cross the waterway recklessly to snatch business, posing threats to maritime traffic safety.

On the morning of February 23rd this year, a private ferry crossing the waterway within Jiuwei Port collided with a cargo ship loaded with building materials. The private ferry capsized on the surface, throwing all 5 people aboard into the water. Fortunately, nearby ships rendered immediate aid, rescuing those 5 onto the shore, averting serious consequences.

Han Yu had just mentioned this to Sister Zhu over the phone a few days ago, little did he expect Jiuwei Port’s water building material market could have situations where without payment, one couldn’t dock or load shipments.

"Boss Yang, is it the people at the dock receiving the money?"

"It seems not."

"Who do you pay to load then?"

"Someone named Third Brother, looks like a gangster, heard he used to be a small foreman for loading and unloading. Basically, whoever’s ship loads first and who loads later, is now up to him."

"If you don’t pay, he won’t let you load?"

"He has a gang under him, a strong dragon can’t suppress a local tyrant, would we dare provoke them?"

Third Brother?

Whose brother is he!

Han Yu felt this matter needed attention, subtly asked, "How much do you typically pay before he lets you load?"

"No regular amount." The ship captain said bitterly, "Paying more or less depends on the number of ships, when there are fewer ships, it’s 200, when more, it’s 500. Can’t be a cent short."