Chapter 591 - Foreign Intelligence Bureau
After a week of investigation, two of the candidates were swiftly eliminated. One man's consumption records revealed that he drank rum at cafes every single day, often finishing his daily quota. Colleagues reported that whenever he drank, he held forth loudly on current affairs and had been cited for drunk and disorderly conduct on multiple occasions. Such a person was immediately stricken from the list. The second candidate showed relatively balanced metrics but lacked any management experience. When Ming Lang interviewed him, it became painfully clear that his entire conception of intelligence work derived from thrillers like 007—pure fantasy.
That left Jiang Shan.
His personnel file was exceptionally long. Dai Xie, the representative from the Central State Council, snorted after reviewing his materials: "This is practically a standard-issue elite." Dai Xie had served as Ma Qianzhu's subordinate in the Planning Committee and transferred to the Central State Council when the Committee was restructured into the Planning Agency.
The profile was indeed impressive: Jiang Shan, 33 years old. Master of Psychology (Social Psychology). Master of Business Administration (Enterprise Management). Bachelor of Medicine (Bio-engineering). Born into a traditional Chinese medicine family (possessed rudimentary knowledge of pulse diagnosis and prescription). Two years of marketing experience at IBM. Six years of engineering, business, planning, and investment work at a central power enterprise. Served as project manager for large-scale single-unit wind power projects. Came from an airborne troop family; familiar with light weapons shooting and combat techniques.
"I believe he's relatively suitable," Ming Lang said. "This directorship primarily involves intelligence analysis and administrative management. Based on his professional background and career trajectory, he has development potential."
His confidential evaluation characterized the man as gentle yet resilient, soft on the surface but steely within, with calm and methodical thinking. Broadly speaking, he was an appropriate leadership candidate.
Financial records were equally unblemished. This man almost never frequented cafes to drink. Monthly circulation coupons were spent only on occasional supplementary meals in the cafeteria. He didn't smoke at all.
Informal reports indicated he was quite sociable but never commented on current affairs.
"Comrade Jiang Shan has arrived," the female clerk announced. A moment later, the man Ming Lang had studied countless times in photographs walked through the door. 178 centimeters tall, 63 kilograms. His body was very well-proportioned—broad shoulders, long legs—a typical athlete's physique, radiating health. His hair was cropped extremely short, lending him a capable, energetic appearance.
Ming Lang thought that were it not for his round, almost baby-like face lending him an overly delicate look, this man could easily have served as a model of the "Pure Chinese" under the "New Chinese Order."
"Hello, Comrade Ming Lang!" The newcomer greeted him briskly, offering a refreshing smile that immediately put people at ease. He wore a crisply ironed training uniform without a speck of mud, exuding a faint scent of disinfectant—he was currently working in the Ministry of Health laboratory as a member of the vaccine research and development team.
"Hello. Please, sit." Ming Lang inclined slightly from his seat.
"The air here is quite pleasant," Jiang Shan observed, surveying the office with what appeared to be genuine appreciation.
"It's nothing special—offices are wherever they're assigned," Ming Lang replied.
He cleared his throat: "Entrusted by the Executive Committee and the Senate, I hereby inform you—" He set down the document in his hand. "I won't bother with the official boilerplate. I'm notifying you that you are now Deputy Director of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau—though in practice, you'll serve as Executive Deputy Director."
"I thank the Executive Committee and the Senate for their trust." Innocent excitement flickered across Jiang Shan's face. "And of course, I also wish to thank you—"
"No, this has nothing to do with me," Ming Lang interjected quickly. "We followed standard organizational procedures."
"Of course, of course." Jiang Shan then uttered a string of appreciative remarks, deftly narrowing the distance between them. It was evident he had done his homework on Ming Lang—he had clearly researched his family situation.
"You flatter me." Ming Lang nodded, maintaining his polite smile, thinking: I've encountered plenty of your type. Seemingly effortless to befriend, but possessing considerable "internal cultivation." Easy to know, difficult to know deeply. "Naturally, there remains a seven-day publicity period for your appointment. But since the Senate has already passed it, the publicity is essentially a formality."
Several hours later, Jiang Shan arrived at his office. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau was a decidedly modest institution. What had been called the "Intelligence Committee" was actually just a joint conference body, with personnel regularly dispatched from various external-facing departments to participate in exchange and consolidation. Most administrative work had been handled by the General Bureau of Political Security. Now that a separate department was established, personnel from other institutions had all been withdrawn. Jiang Shan found himself a commander without troops.
The Foreign Intelligence Bureau didn't even possess its own independent compound; he had been allocated merely a two-story building. Rooms were stacked with file boxes transferred from other departments, still sealed with strips. The most classified materials hadn't yet been delivered—he would need to retrieve those from various departments personally.
Jiang Shan selected an office. As Executive Deputy Director, he believed he had that authority. He chose a room at the end of the second-floor corridor. The location was ideal; only the area was rather generous. He thought he might partition off a meeting room, which would suffice for convening personnel.
The office contained only a standard desk and chair—standard-issue configuration. Should he require "upgraded configuration," he would need to draft a requisition list and submit it to the General Office.
No rush to acquire equipment now, Jiang Shan concluded. The General Office would help him procure office furniture. His first priority was manpower and organizational structure. As the famous maxim goes: "Work is primarily about personnel arrangement."
Jiang Shan had never conducted intelligence work, but everyone here had started from scratch, building something from nothing. Moreover, he had access to a powerful database for reference. Their configuration couldn't possibly be worse than what existed in this spacetime.
He organized his thoughts and spread a sheet of white paper on the desk. To accomplish anything, one must first understand one's goals and positioning. The intelligence department belongs to the power apparatus—an important component of any regime—but its standing among "important" government departments can vary enormously.
Setting aside behemoths like the CIA, the Red Army's General Staff Intelligence Directorate, or MI5—where exactly did the Lingao regime's foreign intelligence agency position itself? Or rather: who were the future "enemies"?
Jiang Shan understood perfectly that intelligence work acknowledges no friends. "Friends" planting spies on one another is hardly rare in this profession. Never mind the French with their double-dealing—even America's most stalwart ally, that most loyal British servant, wouldn't hesitate to plant intelligence personnel in the United States.
Who were the Transmigration Group's enemies? He first drew a flag on the paper and wrote "Ming" beneath it—Great Ming. Then he drew several iron anchors with arrows marked "Liu," "Zheng," and "Li." Third came a head sporting a queue—Later Jin. Next, he sketched several three-masted ships flying different flags: British, Spanish, Dutch. After some reflection, he finally added a minority-style headdress representing the local Li and Miao peoples.
First: Great Ming. Undoubtedly, though Great Ming's national power was declining, in terms of territory, population, and economic strength, it remained the Transmigration Group's foremost opponent—and the most dangerous. If Great Ming ever decided to confront the Lingao regime with the same gravity it devoted to Later Jin, they would face a monumental crisis.
Fortunately, Great Ming's internal strife was catastrophic. Its energy hemorrhaged into internal friction. Combined with a ruinous fiscal situation, unless Chongzhen himself turned his attention to the Hainan theater, no overwhelming challenge would materialize.
Since Great Ming served as the Transmigration Group's primary source of population and materials—and was simultaneously the key target of the Group's incursion—Great Ming was obviously the paramount focus of intelligence work. He drew a "1" beside it.
Intelligence work on Great Ming already possessed considerable foundation, particularly through the Guangzhou Station and Leizhou Station. Guangzhou Station monitored the central activities of the entire Guangdong province, while Leizhou Station provided early-warning capability against large-scale land and sea attacks launched by Great Ming toward Lingao.
Unfortunately, figures from the commercial department lurked behind both stations. From the Executive Committee's perspective, these stations would continue to prioritize trade over intelligence work for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, their existence provided an excellent basis for intelligence operations. Guangzhou Station's infiltration of Guangdong's power center had yielded fruit, and through control of the Qiwie Escort Agency, it had gradually penetrated numerous areas of Guangdong and neighboring provinces. With their support, intelligence personnel could dig deeper still.
Later Jin. They currently formed no direct interest relationship with the Transmigration Group. Following Li Luoyou's visit, Later Jin might become a trade partner—but nothing more. Later Jin was viewed as a border menace by Great Ming, but to Lingao it scarcely merited acknowledgment. This regime was destitute, built on extreme internal oppression and reliance on external plunder—little more than a bandit-style local power. In the near future, it posed no threat to the Transmigration Group. In the complete future, eliminating it would be trivial. Intelligence activities against Later Jin could be placed last. He wrote a "5."
The pirate-merchants operating along the South China coast—represented by "Liu," "Zheng," and "Li"—were now approaching the apex of their power. Zheng Zhilong wielded immense wealth and influence, constituting the Transmigration Group's greatest maritime threat. Fortunately, Li Kuiqi kept him in check; he wouldn't threaten the Group immediately. He remained only a potential danger.
Liu Xiang posed the most immediate maritime menace. Moreover, he had colluded with the Spaniards and already struck at Lingao once, suffering defeat. It was not unreasonable to assume he harbored a grudge.
Jiang Shan drew a "2" beside "Liu."
Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and British. These four constituted the primary foreign powers in East Asian and Southeast Asian waters. The British maintained the smallest presence in Southeast Asia—merely factories in India and Siam—with limited strength. They had already established trade links with the Transmigration Group. Not a current priority.
Spanish and Portuguese flew under one king but harbored divergent agendas. Their coastal presence in China was modest, and their ambitions equally so—they merely wanted to preserve what they had. They wouldn't pose a significant threat to the Transmigration Group. And the Group had no immediate designs on either Macau or Manila. Of these two locations, the former was Europe's gateway to China; the latter, a transit station for silver imports. The Senate judged it wise to let them continue operating for now.
Jiang Shan considered the Dutch most dangerous among these four powers. Not merely because they commanded the strongest forces in Southeast Asia, but because they were the most aggressive and ambitious. If Spanish fantasies of conquering China were mere idle talk, the Dutch had genuinely deliberated the question. He knew that in 1622 the Dutch had launched an expedition against the Chinese coast, seriously intending to establish coastal colonies. Only after discovering China's sheer size and the impracticability of their goal had they retreated from Penghu and relocated to Taiwan.
As for the local Li and Miao peoples on the island, Jiang Shan ranked them last. Their strength was limited, and two dedicated departments already handled them—the Religious Affairs Office and the Li and Miao Affairs Office had both accomplished substantial work. He needn't intrude on their territory; intelligence consolidation and analysis would suffice.
Having established priorities, he turned to organizational structure, which needed to be submitted to the Organization Department for review the next day. After extensive consideration, Jiang Shan decided to first establish the Intelligence Analysis Division. Intelligence work begins, above all, with analyzing open intelligence. This was as true in the seventeenth century as in the twenty-first. Most intelligence could be obtained through public channels. The Transmigration Group didn't need to learn the Emperor's marginal notes on memorials. Under ancient productivity conditions, any government measure became visible fairly quickly through bureaucratic operations.
The plan he ultimately submitted established five divisions. The First Division—the Domestic Division—would specifically target the Great Ming government. The Second Division—the Overseas Division—would address Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and British forces, with expansion as necessary. The Third Division would handle miscellaneous unclassified forces, currently focusing on pirates and maritime merchants along the Chinese coast, eventually incorporating future actors like Li Zicheng. The Intelligence Analysis Division would specialize in analyzing and consolidating collected intelligence. The Support Division would provide various forms of support for intelligence activities.
Additionally, an Office would handle all administrative, personnel, and archival work, as well as coordination. Given the existence of cross-organizational institutions like Guangzhou and Leizhou, cross-departmental coordination would inevitably prove demanding.
His organizational plan received swift approval, except for the Support Division. The Executive Committee determined that the Foreign Intelligence Bureau could rely on support from other departments. Within Great Ming, it could depend on the Ministry of Commerce; if force was required, the Special Reconnaissance Team could be deployed. Jiang Shan recognized this was not worth contesting. In the past, there had been too many Elders without positions; now there were clearly too few.
He recruited his first Elder: Wang Ding. As if to contrast with Jiang Shan, this man was approximately thirty, about 1.6 meters tall, with a face so unremarkable he would vanish into any crowd. Yet Jiang Shan considered him advantageous for intelligence work—first, he was taciturn; second, his appearance attracted no attention.
Moreover, he had worked as a subordinate functionary in a certain powerful department. Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he'd seen pigs run. He spoke lucidly about intelligence analysis and offered original insights.
Wang Ding had failed to make a name for himself in Lingao. Watching Chang Shide flourish abroad, he had developed aspirations for an overseas intelligence posting.
"I think you'd do better to remain here at headquarters as Chief of the Intelligence Analysis Division," Jiang Shan told him.
"But I'd prefer to go abroad—to places like Jiangnan to serve the organization..." Wang Ding had harbored this intention for some time. Establish a small business as an intelligence station in Jiangnan, then dabble in silk and tea trade—those being the only Jiangnan specialties he knew. The Qinhuai Eight Beauties were too expensive to dream about, but acquiring a few Suzhou and Hangzhou beauties as concubines remained within the realm of possibility.
"Heh." Jiang Shan shattered his pleasant fantasy without mercy. "Do you imagine the Executive Committee doesn't know your little calculations? Look—anyone dispatched to Jiangnan must be capable of both generating profit and gathering intelligence. Do you really think they'd choose you?"
Of course not. This was beyond wishful thinking. Wang Ding possessed sufficient self-awareness to recognize that much.
"If you absolutely insist on dispatch, being sent to Shaanxi or Liaodong is more realistic."
"Forget it. I'll be this division chief." Wang Ding immediately abandoned his dispatch request. He scratched his head. "I did do intelligence analysis back in the day. Consider me half a professional."
"Exactly. Speaking honestly: what's so wonderful about being dispatched? Breaking away from the core is never advantageous."
"Fine, fine. I firmly obey the organization's arrangements." Wang Ding said. "Tell me—what's our first order of business?"
"Finding people to serve as division chiefs and office director, obviously. Otherwise we can't function." Jiang Shan said. "But that comes later. First, let's discuss how to actually conduct intelligence work."
"I oversee intelligence analysis..."
"Please. This isn't the CIA with its rigidly compartmentalized regulations. Right now, my entire staff consists of you." He produced a silver cigarette case. "Smoke one?"
"Gladly." Wang Ding immediately recognized this wasn't locally produced Lingao tobacco, but genuine old-spacetime cigarettes. Privately imported cigarettes had been virtually exhausted after two years. Only recently had salvage from a shipwreck yielded some American cigarettes for distribution.
But looking more closely—it was actually Chunghwa. He started. The preciousness of a Chunghwa cigarette far exceeded that of condoms.
"You still have Chunghwa?"
"Yes. I brought a private stock. Preserved quite well. Go ahead—smoke." Jiang Shan produced a matchbox and struck a light for him.
Caught off guard, Wang Ding hastily drew from the flame, then inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.
"Magnificent. The authentic taste of the old spacetime." Wang Ding's expression turned nostalgic.
"Now. Tell me your views." Jiang Shan slipped the cigarette case back into his pocket. In truth, he didn't smoke at all. He'd brought cigarettes purely for public relations purposes.
"Our intelligence work, at the current stage, is inevitably an appendage of trade activities. I think we must acknowledge this clearly." Wang Ding said. "On this point, we need to position ourselves correctly."
(End of Chapter)