Chapter 288: Personnel

What does this mean? Lin Baiguang thought. Either these Jinyiwei officials were law-abiding and had not been pulled into the Gou family’s schemes, or the Gou family considered these people insignificant and not a hindrance to their business.

Lin Baiguang was not sure which it was. He had no time to worry about it now. He had many other things to arrange.

Next, he began to establish an intelligence station in Qiongzhou Prefecture. This organization, which Ma Benyuan feared, was still a castle in the air. Lin Baiguang had nothing but a paper plan and a budget of three hundred taels of silver from the Intelligence Committee for establishing the station.

As for the source of intelligence agents for the local station, he decided to first serve as the station chief himself, to personally guide the local work. Many short-term training classes, such as the intelligence work training class, had been held, but the trainees were generally too young. It was obviously not feasible for them to take charge on their own.

Lin Baiguang had some reservations about the Executive Committee’s practice of only training young natives for key positions. Although young people had the advantage of being quick to learn and easy to brainwash, the result of blindly emphasizing the training of children and adolescents was a lack of key cadres who could take charge of the overall situation in many places. In his view, a person’s loyalty could not be achieved by brainwashing alone.

Just as there is no hate without reason, no love without reason, there is no loyalty without reason in this world. To make subordinates loyal, you have to give them enough practical benefits, often win them over psychologically, and it’s best to have a banner of idealism flying high. With these three things, most people can be managed. Fierce loyalty is not necessarily something only children can achieve.

Judging from the attitude and practices of the Transmigration Group towards its native employees, they had already formed a considerable degree of loyalty. The only thing that Lin Baiguang thought was lacking was the banner of idealism.

So far, the Transmigration Group had not proposed a clear ideology. Using the shell of the Great Ming as a disguise was convenient and safe, and could also offset many of the natives’ concerns about “rebellion,” but from another perspective, it also deprived those ambitious people of hope. In any time and place, there is a large group of people who are dissatisfied with the existing order. They are full of dissatisfaction with reality and eager for change, but they are also very clear that their own abilities are not only insufficient to raise a banner and call for followers, but they don’t even have the ability to be a local tyrant.

If someone could give them such an opportunity, this group of people would also burst out with great power to fight for what they could not get in the old order. When Lin Baiguang was drinking with the recruited pirates, he had heard them ask more than once what the Australians planned to do in the future. Almost everyone hoped that one day the Australians would raise their flag and fire their cannons, to contend for the Central Plains, so that they could also become followers of the dragon, and have their wives and children ennobled.

When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom captured Yong’an, they couldn’t wait to proclaim themselves kings and enfeoff kings. To later generations, it might seem a bit too hasty, but for the people involved, it was a real taste of being a general and a minister. It also fully demonstrated the leadership’s determination to “carry the revolution to the end” and boosted morale.

Now, the Executive Committee’s deliberate blurring of its intentions, while stable, was not conducive to boosting morale. It could easily lead everyone into a state of being content with small gains. If the boss has no ambition, how can he attract capable people? Even Oda Nobunaga on the four islands of Japan knew to carve a seal with “Tenka Fubu” (rule the world by military force) and stamp it everywhere to let the world know his ambition.

He must talk to the Executive Committee about this idea when he returned, to raise the banner of ideology. And on the issue of personnel, the current personnel system was too strict, even more so than the Communist Party of the past, which was not conducive to carrying out work.

Lin Baiguang’s concept of personnel was to be unconventional. No matter what kind of person you were, as long as you could be used by him, you should be used. Of course, the premise was that he could control them. He believed that this was what reflected a leader’s skill in using personnel. He was quite disdainful of the Executive Committee’s method of first looking at whether someone was “reliable” and had a “clean history.” Of course, he would not say this to anyone. Just as in the past, in the county, he never talked to anyone about his views on the style of certain people in the county party committee.

This time, for the personnel configuration of the intelligence station in Qiongzhou Prefecture, he chose Gao Di.

In terms of seniority, Gao Di could be considered a “veteran” among all the native employees. And he had also served as an intelligence agent in Guangzhou for a period of time, so he was an experienced intelligence officer. He was very intelligent and very familiar with the ways of the market, making him an ideal candidate for a spy.

But this person was too smart and agile, and with his seniority and different status—legally speaking, he was still a slave of Wen Desi in the Great Ming. Being a slave, especially the slave of the chairman of the Executive Committee, was a status that could make one look down on others. As a result, he sometimes showed a bit of arrogance, and naturally became an unpopular figure. After returning from a business trip to Foshan with Huang Tianyu and Liu San, although the trip to Foshan had timely exposed Qianqian’s true colors and he had rendered a meritorious service and received a commendation, he was quietly “sidelined” in the department. He was not assigned any tasks, nor was he included in any training. For a time, he looked a little dejected.

Lin Baiguang believed that Gao Di had a talent for being an intelligence officer, and his loyalty was not bad. The reason he had fallen to such a state was nothing more than his arrogance and high self-esteem, which had made others jealous. This kind of person was very motivated to work. As long as he was given more medals and commendations, he would work his heart out.

Lin Baiguang believed that Gao Di had more ambition than other natives and must be utilized. The reason was precisely because his family was the earliest to “follow the dragon,” but now they were far behind the latecomers: his parents were just ordinary commune members when they first arrived in Lin’gao, assigned to work in various places by the production team leader every day. Later, they were transferred to the small kitchen under the arrangement of Xiao Zishan. His sister was a bit more successful, but she was also just a life secretary for Wang Luobin. This was obviously a great stimulus to Gao Di.

As for the other one, it was Gao Di’s companion when he went to Foshan, Chen Tong. Chen Tong was a top student from the first term of the intelligence work training class. He had been interning at the Intelligence Committee and was considered by everyone to be a future elite on the intelligence front.

Whether they were elites or fanatics, Lin Baiguang planned to use Qiongzhou Prefecture as a stage to see their actual work ability.

He returned to his quarters in the temple. Chen Tong and Gao Di were waiting for him. When Lin Baiguang went out, he deliberately did not tell them what to do, and even gave each of them one tael of silver for pocket money.

Qiongzhou Prefecture was a much more prosperous and colorful world than Lin’gao. They were both fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers, an age when they were naturally active. With money in their hands and free time, whether they could control themselves and wait quietly in the temple for him to return was a very simple test.

Obviously, both of them had enough patience to wait for him to return and issue orders. Lin Baiguang called them into his room.

The first thing was to find a place for the intelligence station. This Qiongzhou Prefecture intelligence station would have to exist for at least three or four years. They couldn’t rely on renting a room in a temple. They needed a stable base.

Qiwei already had an inn here, but Lin Baiguang decided not to include Qiwei’s branch in the intelligence network. If the intelligence station was compromised, the negative impact on Qiwei would be too great and would affect its business in other places. Besides, the Transmigration Group did not yet have full control over Qiwei, and many things could not be made known to them yet.

As for using the name of the Runshitang pharmacy, although it was now almost completely controlled by the Ministry of Health, the fact that Runshitang was a shop in Lin’gao was an unavoidable reality. Using its name would arouse suspicion from those who were already wary of “Lin’gao”—which was also inappropriate.

He decided to purchase an existing house locally.

“Gao Di, you go and find a house, whether it’s for rent or for sale,” Lin Baiguang said. “It will be used as the intelligence station in the future.”

Gao Di had often been in the market in Guangzhou, and it was easy for him to do this kind of thing. But he was a native of Guangzhou, and here he would be an outsider. The bad habit of bullying outsiders was common in both ancient and modern times, not to mention that the “house fibers” who were real estate agents were often very difficult old hands. Whether Gao Di could handle it would depend on his ability.

“Yes, sir,” Gao Di asked. “What’s the budget? How big should it be? Are there any special requirements?”

“The budget is not much, only one hundred taels,” Lin Baiguang said. “This is the house for the future intelligence station. You can decide what kind of house to choose.”

Lin Baiguang believed that finding a house for an intelligence station required not only being eloquent and good at dealing with people, but also having good judgment. Only with a comprehensive consideration of the upcoming intelligence work could a suitable house be found. This was a test of this child’s ability.

“Whether it’s buying, mortgaging, or renting a house, it can’t be solved in one or two days,” Gao Di said. “It will take more than ten days…”

“The matter of finding a house is up to you. You have full authority. Here are twenty taels of silver for your expenses these days,” Lin Baiguang deliberately did not give him any instructions, giving him a free hand.

If Gao Di messed up, it would at most be a waste of a little silver. But if he appointed the wrong person, the consequences would be much more serious. The role of people in intelligence work was too great.

“Yes, I’ll go to the market to have a look.”

After assigning the task of buying a house, he then ordered Chen Tong to inquire about a person.

“This person is named Hai Shuzu, and he is from a local prominent family. You go and find out the details of his family,” he said, giving him twenty taels of silver. “This is your expense money.”

“I’ll go right away,” Chen Tong nodded honestly and took the silver.

Hai Shuzu was from a prominent local family, and the Hai family had a great reputation here. It didn’t cost much to inquire about him. However, there was both common knowledge and valuable inside information. This would depend on Chen Tong’s ability to collect intelligence.

“I’ll give you ten days.”