Chapter 38: Is It Dereliction of Duty?

"Let me ask you, did you set up an ambush in advance? Did you catch the poachers completely off guard?"

"Otherwise, how could you possibly defeat a larger force with a small one?"

"The leadership's estimate is spot on; that is indeed what happened!"

"In the struggle against poachers and bringing them to justice, you did a good job on that front."

At this point, Tong Liguan changed his tone. "However—"

"However, what?"

"However, how did you manage to anticipate the poachers' movements so accurately that you could set up a prior ambush and catch them off guard?"

"You must understand that in that vast and boundless forest, achieving something like that is by no means easy."

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoyang felt a slight sense of relief. So this was what Tong Liguan was concerned about.

He took a deep breath and slowly explained, "Actually, this wasn't wild guessing or mere coincidence. I did the investigative and preparatory work beforehand."

"I thoroughly and meticulously analyzed every minute detail of the poachers' activities, searching for patterns from the clues they left behind."

"I didn't just focus on the times they chose."

"I also carefully studied their probable routes, which were often hidden deep within rugged and difficult mountain terrain."

"Every single route was carefully selected in an attempt to avoid the routine patrol paths."

"Along those trails, they truly came and went like ghosts."

Jiang Zhaoyang continued, "Yet, it was precisely these seemingly irregular behavioral patterns that, after repeated comparison and logical deduction, gradually revealed a certain underlying regularity."

"Combined with these hard-won clues, I was able to make a relatively accurate judgment, even though that judgment was still fraught with uncertainty."

"Therefore, I decided to act with a clear target in mind, taking a leap of faith to set up an ambush near the hidden path they were most likely to take."

Tong Liguan, however, suddenly chimed in, "Since you were so familiar with the activity tracks of these poachers, why didn't you set an ambush before their poaching activities began to catch them all in one net and completely sever this chain of crime?"

"This was something entirely within your power to do!"

"Because of your dereliction of duty, many rare animals were slaughtered by these poachers!"

"This time, the report we received from the forest public security bureau is truly heartbreaking."

"The poachers' woven sacks were packed to the brim with state-protected animals."

"Among these animals, there were even national first-class rare protected animals—endangered species, some of which are now down to just a handful of individuals left worldwide."

"Every single one lost is an irreversible damage to our natural heritage."

"Their existence holds immeasurable value for ecological balance."

Jiang Zhaoyang felt a chill strike his heart, involuntarily shuddering as if a blast of cold air had surged from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head.

His eyes were filled with confusion and incomprehension.

What was Tong Liguan trying to imply?

Was he accusing him of "cultivating bandits to secure his own position"?

Setting an ambush along the path rather than at the actual poaching scene?

This was no longer nitpicking; this was a groundless accusation.

It was purely splitting hairs and deliberately looking for trouble.

Jiang Zhaoyang felt a lingering wave of fear. If he hadn't carried out this operation, the consequences would likely have been far more severe.

The accusations then would certainly have been harsh: rare animals in the forest are dwindling day by day, poachers are running rampant, what responsibility should you bear?

They might even have slapped a heavy label on him, accusing him of colluding with the poachers and acting hand in glove with them.

At that point, he would truly have had no way to clear his name.

Sure enough, Tong Liguan's next words fell heavily, "Your approach of using poachers to elevate your own standing is deeply problematic."

"Not only has it damaged our image, but it has also dealt a severe negative blow to forest conservation efforts."

"You could clearly have nipped their intentions in the bud, thereby protecting those rare animals from falling victim to their cruelty."

"Yet you didn't do it. For the sake of claiming credit and catching them red-handed, you chose to strike afterward."

"You could have prevented the disaster and taken more forceful measures, but you chose inaction."

"Isn't this dereliction of duty? Shouldn't you be disciplined?"

"What?" These words completely subverted Jiang Zhaoyang's worldview.

"Don't hold a grudge against me; this is Secretary Lin's view."

"Secretary Lin is burning three fires upon taking office, and his first fire is to rectify official conduct, aiming straight at acts of dereliction, negligence, and inaction."

"You happened to walk right into the line of fire."

"According to you, I am in the wrong then?" Jiang Zhaoyang felt a sense of suffocation, as if an invisible giant hand was gripping his throat.

"Since you were able to deduce the movements of these poachers, you could be said to know them inside and out. Why didn't you trace them back further and set your ambush before the hunting rifles were raised?"

Going in circles, the conversation had returned to the exact same starting point.

Jiang Zhaoyang was left speechless. When someone is determined to condemn you, a pretext is never lacking.

"The place where I laid in ambush was deduced based on probability, not a hundred percent certainty of encountering them."

"Otherwise, why wouldn't I have invited the forest public security bureau to jointly intercept or apprehend them beforehand?"

"Besides, even if I possessed divine foresight and pre-knowledge, able to predict the poachers' movements, if I had simply followed behind them and launched a sudden attack the moment they fired their guns, wouldn't I have startled them and become their target of gunfire?"

"If those enraged poachers had turned their guns and fired at me, would the one injured or killed have been me?"

"So, simply because of a fear of death, a fear of that unknown danger, you think you should abandon your duties as a forest ranger and let rare protected animals be slaughtered by poachers?"

"Isn't that dereliction of duty?"

Tong Liguan's stern voice came through the telephone line, every single word heavy as a thousand pounds, pressing oppressively on Jiang Zhaoyang's chest.

"When they make an example of you, are you wronged?"

Listening to Tong Liguan's reprimand, Jiang Zhaoyang suppressed the blazing fire deep within his heart.

"Ha," Jiang Zhaoyang finally spoke, his voice low and dripping with sarcasm. He slightly raised his chin, curving his lips into a cold sneer that hid utter contempt, "Lin维泉 wants to crush me right here, and you've come to play the jackal to the tiger?"

"People like you always excel at bowing before absolute power, only to turn around and brandish the whip of morality against the weak."

"Do you enjoy acting like a master-driven hound, wagging your tail and begging for scraps in front of him, while baring your teeth at me?"

"You—?" Tong Liguan on the other end of the line was left utterly speechless by Jiang Zhaoyang's counter-question.

His face instantly flushed red with shame and anger.

"Fine, let's stop beating around the bush and wasting breath."

"Just tell me directly what kind of disciplinary action you intend to give me."

"Is it to strip me of my public position and leave me with no ground to stand on?" Jiang Zhaoyang's voice carried a trace of imperceptible mockery.

"Expulsion? Don't talk about just you; even your master might not be able to pull that off. Leaving aside the fact that I'm a selected grassroots cadre, he might not even be able to do that to an ordinary civil servant."

Yet, Jiang Zhaoyang also understood very well that once he received any disciplinary mark, a plucked phoenix is no better than a chicken, and his qualifications and status as a selected cadre would instantly vanish into thin air.