Chapter 2335 - The Hearing (III)

His nervousness showed in his slightly halting speech.

"I've read the investigation team's report thoroughly. I believe our current problems are far from ordinary. The Wuzhou matter, while certainly Senator Xie's personal responsibility, involved failures across multiple departments. Reading through the report several times, I found flaws at almost every link. Small problems left unsolved accumulated until they finally exploded into something this catastrophic."

He pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket. The audience section immediately burst into laughter. In recent years, the more active participants in Senate meetings had all learned to memorize their points and improvise. Except for formal statements and official reports, almost no one pulled out a draft—let alone a slip of paper resembling a cheat sheet.

The Senator's face reddened. He coughed once and said:

"I personally identify five main parties responsible for the Wuzhou Incident across various departments."

"Good lord," Dong Shiye muttered.

"First, Senator Xie privately took Cai Lan as a life secretary—a serious violation of the Senate General Office's Regulations on Life Secretary Candidates. Cai Lan herself was also a criminal. Senator Xie threw the Senate's constitution and organizational discipline to the wind. He must bear primary responsibility.

"Second, Political Security and Intelligence work suffered major failures. The Political Security Bureau had no personnel or organizational presence in Wuzhou except for a single covert operative. It had absolutely zero monitoring of Sanhezui Camp—a prisoner camp housing a thousand people! There was no intelligence feedback or warning whatsoever regarding the corruption of naturalized cadre Liu Youwang and garrison personnel Jiang Yougong—their drinking, womanizing, bribery, and abuse of refugees and prisoners. The Bureau sat idle while Sanhezui Camp was severely infiltrated by Pseudo-Ming enemies, allowing disaster to brew unchecked.

"Third, the Senator Bodyguard Bureau performed with extreme unprofessionalism. A Senator's close protection force was woefully thin. A Senator stationed on the front line had only a five-person guard team. When the enemy struck, they were annihilated instantly.

"Fourth, Guangdong's military commanders must also bear primary responsibility. National Army officers like Jiang Yougong were severely corrupt, lacking any discipline, and were heavily exploited and infiltrated by the enemy. Ex-Fubo Army personnel like Jiang Suo, who defected from the Senate to the Ming State, were familiar with our army's training methods and combat tactics, causing enormous casualties. The General Staff Political Department's ideological work and internal security work bear undeniable responsibility.

"Fifth, Comrade Ma Qianzhu of the State Council, Comrade Wen Desi the Guangdong Regional Director, and Comrade Xiao Zishan the General Office Director, as heads of the relevant departments, also bear certain leadership responsibilities."

He stuffed the paper back into his pocket and fell silent for a moment, as if conducting an internal debate. After a long pause, he finally spoke again:

"I believe the Wuzhou Incident has given us a severe warning. Our situation today appears vastly promising. But the problems within our institutions have reached a point that cannot be delayed. The Senate should conduct a comprehensive Rectification of Style and Discipline across all departments."

He hurried from the podium, and the audience section fell completely silent. His speech had been like a machine gun, sweeping through everything. Every potentially responsible party had been hit.

In recent years, internal Senate conflicts had grown refined. For any controversial matter, all sides adopted precision-strike strategies. Who was friend and who was foe had been determined through backroom deals before the meeting. No one engaged in indiscriminate attacks like this.

This man's barrage left the attending Senators momentarily unable to distinguish friend from enemy, unsure how to react. Only after a considerable pause did someone offer scattered applause.

"Is he dropping an atomic bomb directly?"

Ma Jia stroked his chin, equally puzzled. What's his angle? A Senator who rarely engages in politics suddenly opening fire—is someone behind this? Or is it purely his own concern for the Senate?

"Something's off. I wonder if someone's pulling his strings."

"I don't think so," Ma Jia said. "If someone were directing him, there would be key targets—he wouldn't throw everything into one pot with such sweeping criticism. I suspect this is his own doing."

"If that's the case..."

"Though he's spraying everyone, there's no malice in it. No ideology, no power plays. He's simply fed up. Our current atmosphere, frankly speaking, is foul."

"Could his proposal be someone's attempt to intervene in various departments?" Dong Shiye immediately thought of power grabs.

Perhaps guessing his thought, Ma Jia smiled slightly. "No, no—not likely."

Just then, Senator Pan Jiexin stood and requested to speak.

"I believe the Bodyguard Bureau bears no responsibility in this matter. First, this Bureau is a new institution established only after the Third General Assembly. Many operational frameworks haven't been established yet; imperfection is foreseeable. Moreover, we haven't seen this Bureau's work report or relevant charter. At the General Assembly, beyond stating it was 'responsible for Senator security work,' no specific regulations were made regarding duties, authority, or working methods. Looking at the situation in Lingao specifically, except for changing the affiliation of personnel in the Lingao Garrison Battalion and adding more guards, there's been no significant change to Senator security work.

"In various dispatched stations—Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Jeju, Hong Gai, and other sub-bases, as well as much of newly occupied Guangdong—military management still largely prevails. Senators in these areas often hold both military and governmental authority. Thus the bulk of security work for these Senators is conducted by local Senate armed forces, namely the Fubo Army and National Army. The Bodyguard Bureau provides only close personal protection. From this perspective, five personal guards is not too few. Assigning them blame on this basis seems unjustifiable.

"But we should also recognize that VIP protection is a specialized system, different from the training objectives of the military, and also quite distinct from police work. Relying solely on military-police systems to protect dispatched Senators is neither professional nor reliable. For instance, when Senators travel on business or transfer posts, there are no dedicated officers protecting them across jurisdictions, creating gaps during handovers. Constantly rotating the security personnel around Senators, drawing from different localities, makes it easy for enemy spies to exploit vulnerabilities.

"This is a hearing, not a trial. Problems exposed, large or small, should all be laid on the table. Speak plainly. Insufficient resources, insufficient manpower, unclear rights and responsibilities—all of it can be said. Let's work together to find solutions."

"Naturally the Power Departments stick together," someone in the audience said sarcastically.

Pan Jiexin ignored it and continued: "...In summary, I completely agree with the previous comrade's position—the Senate should launch a Rectification of Style and Discipline. Not because I reject the Senate's work, but because certain problems must be solved. We can no longer handle things tepidly under the banner of 'considering the overall situation.' If we don't address style and discipline properly, similar vicious incidents will recur again and again. That would truly be a stain on the Senate!"

Someone below chimed in: "Especially the Pol-Sec Bureau, that black den!"

"And the Fubo Army! Jiang Suo's defection, Liu Youwang's corruption—they're all from the military system! The Rectification must start with the Fubo Army!"

...

"Look," Ma Jia said softly, "those few in the audience are the ones with ulterior motives."

At this point, more people joined the speaking queue:

"We must emphasize criticism and education, adhering to the principle of curing the sickness to save the patient, learning from past mistakes to prevent future ones. Above all, we must avoid expanding the scope. Plain and simple: such things ultimately hurt naturalized citizens most. Being crude and heavy-handed easily damages people and chills hearts."

Three or four people rose in succession to offer support. Ma Jia noticed they were all "unknown" ordinary Senators. Clearly they hadn't come simply to sit in the audience and applaud, drifting with the tide. They were genuinely dissatisfied with the Senate's status quo and were stepping forward to support the proposal one by one.

Several people in the audience showed uneasy expressions. Obviously, events were not unfolding as they had anticipated. Hai Lin's expression was particularly complex—years earlier, he would have leaped up in "wholehearted approval" by now. But today, he was no longer so impulsive. If a genuine rectification occurred, one targeting all Senators and all departments, that would include him and the Timber Processing Industry coalition.

At this moment, Zhou Wei requested to speak.

"This one probably wants to fire cannons too—though not an atomic bomb," Dong Shiye said.

Zhou Wei made no comment on the preceding speeches. He merely offered general remarks on a few deficiencies exposed by the Wuzhou Incident.

"...I personally believe that although Senator Xie's work in Wuzhou had its flaws, it was not a failure. We must recognize that Senator Xie had very few resources at his disposal, yet bore enormous responsibility. His administrative achievements in Wuzhou during this period are plain for all to see. His main mistake was actually in failing to vet his personnel properly. On that point, I think few of us can claim immunity." He gave a light cough. "The real problem is that various departments dispatched too few cadres and armed forces to Wuzhou. Given Wuzhou's importance and the responsibilities placed on Comrade Xie, such limited resource allocation was practically setting him up for failure. Even someone like Liu Youwang, the prisoner camp manager—though personally corrupt and indulgent—was just one man managing a place housing a thousand. It would indeed be difficult to detect hidden dangers. The problems at Sanhezui cannot be blamed entirely on him.

"Then, should we pursue the responsibility of departments that dispatched cadres and armed forces to Wuzhou? I personally believe that would also be inappropriate. Because Wuzhou's problem is fundamentally a resource allocation problem. When total resources are insufficient, no department or individual can change the overall situation. If Senator Xie hadn't made certain mistakes, something similar might not have happened in Wuzhou—but it might have happened somewhere else. This may simply have been inevitable."

(End of Chapter)