Chapter 1985 - Economic Crime Investigation Bureau

"Our collection operations have barely completed two quarters—losses remain containable, which means we must strangle this kind of abuse in its cradle. Absolutely no appeasement." Ai Zhixin's palm struck the table with resounding force. "Let these people discover whether the Senate's Finance and Tax Bureau has teeth. Let them learn whether they dare continue playing clever games. Investigate freely. Remember—don't fear implication, don't fear offending powerful interests. I have complete confidence in your abilities!"

"We serve the Senate and the People!" The four naturalized citizen cadres rose in unison.

"Excellent. Then I hereby announce the establishment of the Guangzhou Finance and Tax Bureau Case 712 Luo Family Stamp Tax Special Task Force. Director Wang Qiyi will serve as overall leader. Municipal Direct Management Division's Zeng Juan as Team One Leader, with Municipal Tax Statistics Division's Xu Zhewei and Municipal Tax Assessment Division's Chu Xiaoran as members—responsible for account book review. Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau Economic Investigation Division Investigator Yao Yulan as Team Two Leader, with Municipal Economic Crime Investigation Division Investigator Huang Ping as member—responsible for investigation execution. I expect unity, cooperation, and the full deployment of your respective strengths to complete this task perfectly, delivering a satisfactory result to the Senate and the people."

"Upon dismissal, absent personnel will be notified separately by the Municipal Bureau Office," Wang Qiyi added. "The Task Force will work centrally from Room 114."

Economic Crime Investigation Division? Zeng Juan's eyelid twitched. What unit is this? Why have I never heard of it?

As early as the "Grain Collection Bureau" period in Lingao, Ai Zhixin and his fellow Wudaokou Senators had harbored ambitions to construct a departmental armed force modeled on the Song Dynasty Imperial Tax Police Regiment. They weren't alone in this aspiration—Senators of varying rank and influence all schemed to build organizational muscle: Health Enforcement Brigade, Industry and Commerce Enforcement Corps, Communication Security Corps, Agricultural Reclamation Armored Division... the proposals multiplied prolifically. A veritable wave of departmental armed force construction swept through the Senate. Senators argued publicly while forging private alliances. The Great Library found itself retrieving and printing various pamphlets at Senators' behest, each purporting to demonstrate the "necessity," "rationality," and "conformity to international practice" of these proposed institutions.

Naturally, the consistently correct Executive Committee shot down virtually all such initiatives. To date, only the Health Department had succeeded, securing a unit with "business guidance authority" within the police system: the Health Police.

Even this limited victory failed to extinguish the Wudaokou gentlemen's dreams—Ai Zhixin included—of establishing a violent law enforcement apparatus under their complete control. Following the Finance and Tax Bureau's establishment and its temporary co-location in Guangzhou, far from Lingao's oversight, Ai Zhixin perceived an excellent opportunity for breakthrough. He spared no effort promoting his vision to the Wang Qiyi couple. Initially, the Wangs resisted. Being older, they favored stability and security in all matters—they had no fondness for violence, much less desire for gun barrels under their authority. From their perspective, at least within the Finance and Tax Bureau, gun-carriers represented massive cost and minimal output compared to those adept at manipulating ledger books. Besides, the naturalized citizen cadres they'd cultivated were precious assets—masters of theories centuries ahead of this timeline. Wasting them on armed enforcement seemed criminally inefficient.

But time and evidence shifted their assessment.

Three months prior, during first quarter collection preparation, Ai Zhixin had presented crucial materials at a closed meeting in the small conference room.

These materials weren't Ai Zhixin's fabrication. Rather, they represented a compilation of economic intelligence gathered by various departments during routine operations following the Senate's entry into Guangzhou. Some data emerged from social surveys, other fragments from confessions extracted during major investigations. Though the information remained largely fragmented, it sufficed to illuminate the true character of South China's premier trading port and its merchant princes. The couple's position gradually evolved from "this cannot be done" to "perhaps we should attempt it."

After extensive secret discussions, Ai Zhixin drafted a formal proposal and reported to Wudaokou. Following over half a month of internal deliberation, the document was submitted to the Administration Council via Cheng Dong. The Wudaokou faction's private consultation network—long established and highly effective—canvassed reactions across the spectrum, from original Executive Committee heavyweights to Soy Sauce Senators of all tiers. They settled on a strategy: "Advance Two, Retreat One."

The "Retreat One" component abandoned insistence on replicating the old timeline's Tax Police Regiment model, minimizing or eliminating violent attributes. The "Advance Two" component exploited current ambiguities in departmental power and responsibility boundaries, plus numerous vacancies in social management frameworks, focusing instead on expanding supervision scope and law enforcement authority.

The application's core content divided into two major sections. Part One articulated foundational principles—background, significance, and necessity—for establishing an Economic Crime Investigation Division. Guangdong Province had only recently been liberated. Beyond Guangzhou and key provincial towns, Senate governance remained superficial at best. Given severe shortages in naturalized citizen cadres and National Army security forces, government control would demonstrably lack both depth and breadth for the foreseeable future. Even within prefecture-level Guangzhou—which received the Senate's concentrated attention—economic management at the transmigrator social level remained essentially blank. Facing massive capital requirements for old city renovation, new city construction, and comprehensive social governance, the Senate lacked effective economic supervision and management systems. Most departments possessed little clarity even regarding economic affairs within their own jurisdictions. Excluding the Finance and Tax Bureau, other departments' economic expertise was approximately nil—fundamentally inadequate for fully mobilizing Guangzhou's economic capacity.

A more critical consideration: this timeline bore no resemblance to the old one. No unified, centralized, powerful social security environment existed here—nothing comparable to what the Red regime had established. Instead, conditions more closely paralleled early American development. Under such circumstances, adhering rigidly to old timeline's purely civilian administrative structures was obviously incompatible with reality.

As the Senate's sole economic management organ, the Finance and Tax Bureau should shoulder responsibility for managing the social economy and filling governmental functional vacuums. Following three principles—overall planning, unified construction, and professional division of labor—the proposal recommended the Senate establish a politically reliable, rapidly responsive, professionally competent composite talent team serving as the sharp edge of social economic management. Transform passivity into initiative. Enhance popular law compliance through decisive action. Guarantee 100% execution of Senate directives. Ensure society's long-term stability and economic order.

Part Two detailed organizational structure, responsibility scope, authority parameters, and personnel allocation recommendations for the Economic Crime Investigation Division. Following Cheng Dong's directive of "hands and feet as extensive as possible, public profile as minimal as possible," the proposal first suggested establishing the Economic Crime Investigation Division with deliberately low visibility as a Finance and Tax Bureau directly subordinate secondary unit, operating exclusively at Provincial (Municipal) levels under regional Finance and Tax Bureau Directors' command.

Second, the Division's responsibility scope would transcend mere tax-related cases, encompassing supervision and inspection of the entire social economic order, including financial markets. Primary focus: cracking down on serious illegal behaviors affecting economic management order—financial fraud endangering tax collection and management, manufacturing or trafficking counterfeit currency, smuggling, obstructing normal company and enterprise management.

Regarding authority, Division personnel would carry weapons and possess mandatory powers including summoning suspects and witnesses, arresting criminal suspects, conducting searches and tracking operations. To prevent loss of effective evidence and assets, the Division could implement preservation measures—prior sealing and freezing of relevant materials and assets. Meanwhile, considering this timeline's indigenous population generally possessed minimal legal awareness, with violent resistance to lawful authority occurring regularly and illegal activities frequently protected by force, the Economic Crime Investigation Division required appropriate self-defense capability. This would ensure investigators' personal safety while generating effective deterrence against lawless elements, facilitating smooth investigation and inspection operations.

Regarding execution, beyond detaining and auctioning assets according to law, the Division could independently prosecute criminal suspects. These authorities would operate under case-by-case approval protocols. Sealing and freezing required consent signatures from Finance and Tax responsible officials at County (District) level or higher. All other actions required consent signatures from Provincial (Municipal) level Finance and Tax responsible officials to achieve validity.

Third, acknowledging the generally low educational attainment among naturalized citizen military and political cadres under Senate governance, and considering the Economic Crime Investigation Division faced no immediate heavy violent law enforcement demands, the proposal recommended selecting physically capable professional cadres from departments like the Finance and Tax Bureau Inspection Division for armed law enforcement training in Lingao. Additionally, noting that Senator Salina's partial responsibilities in the old timeline Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives substantially overlapped with Economic Crime Investigation Division functions, and that Senator Salina herself possessed both extensive frontline law enforcement experience and considerable accounting knowledge, the proposal recommended the Organization Department solicit her personal views on serving as Division head.

Appended to the main document came an explanatory page—a postscript. Experience had taught them that beyond genuine power brokers with vested interests, Lingao's Senate contained legions of Soy Sauce constituents who "vote against whatever I don't understand." This postscript employed deliberately blunt language to convey fundamentals: currently, various economic problems—financial fraud, tax evasion—operated without departmental oversight. The Finance and Tax Bureau, as the appropriate counterpart possessing relevant professionals, should establish comprehensive management and supervision systems, particularly for strictly punishing those who feign compliance or brazenly attempt defying Senate law. Old timeline finance and tax departments operated as purely civilian entities because the state provided ubiquitous security environments. This plane's grassroots social chaos was self-evident. If finance and tax cadres could only operate as unarmed civilians, they'd be lambs for slaughter. Consequently, for subordinate personnel safety, necessary self-defense measures were mandatory.

Wang Qiyi frowned slightly. "Salina has already been positioned as candidate for General Guard Bureau Director. She's unlikely to transfer to this new department."

"That actually works in our favor," Ai Zhixin replied with evident satisfaction. "What do the Executive Committee heavyweights detest most? Waste. This General Guard Bureau Director position essentially functions as a glorified bodyguard chief. Lingao already has Wu Yayang serving that role. Why create redundancy?"

(End of Chapter)