Chapter 37: The Intelligence Work Conference

Were Guo Yi and the others merchants or spies? Their identities and affiliations had never been clearly defined. However, it was clear that their merchant component was larger. Whether it was the Guangzhou Station or the Leizhou Station, their main task was to sell goods and import materials and manpower for the transmigrator group. Intelligence gathering was just a side job.

As for the Leizhou Station, it was not only involved in sales and imports, but also in the sugar and alcohol production of the light industry department, the improved cultivation of sugarcane by the agricultural department, and the agricultural combination jointly promoted by the Tiandihui and Delong.

“…These two stations, other departments have a much deeper involvement than we do. It’s probably impossible for us to directly command them.”

“That’s right,” Jiang Shan thought. The Guangzhou-Leizhou system had become accustomed to its unique status as a political, economic, and intelligence complex. It was a complete fantasy to bring these two stations under the intelligence bureau’s system—neither the Executive Committee nor the Yuanlaoyuan would agree. If he were to directly demand that this belongs to us and that belongs to us, the newly established Foreign Intelligence Bureau would only be met with a rebuff.

The Foreign Intelligence Bureau sounded impressive, but it was actually a shell company. No one would take it seriously until it had sufficient strength.

“We must rely on the organization, connections, and work of the overseas stations,” Jiang Shan said. “Of course, we can start from scratch and send less conspicuous intelligence personnel to the mainland. But—”

“But the Executive Committee won’t approve, right?” Wang Ding said. “You know as well as I do what the Executive Committee wants. They don’t like waste. Every council member is a treasure trove of knowledge and skills, even the so-called useless otaku. As for sending native intelligence agents, I’m not sure how many people are available.”

Jiang Shan thought he had no idea about the intelligence system’s foundation. He would have to wait until all the transferred materials were in place and he had reviewed them.

The two of them spent a whole day and night reading all the transferred materials. The materials transferred from various departments were a motley collection. Fortunately, the quantity was not too large. The most valuable, of course, were the materials from the former Enemy Work Department transferred from the Political Security General Bureau. In the past, the small amount of intelligence work was mostly handled by the Enemy Work Department of the Political Security General Bureau.

“Lin Biguang has set up a base in Qiongzhou—this can probably be considered a pure intelligence station,” Jiang Shan said.

Lin Biguang’s station in Qiongzhou, the Wanfeng Rice Store, not only had five native intelligence agents, but he had also developed a local intelligence network headed by Ma Benyuan. At the same time, he had done a lot of work in assisting the production and transportation of the Jiazi coal mine, which was a remarkable achievement.

Even the business operation of the rice store was not bad. According to the financial report he submitted, the profit of the Wanfeng Rice Store was already enough to sustain the operation of the intelligence station itself, and even had a small surplus.

“If Lin Biguang were willing to come back and take up a post, he would be more than qualified to be the director of the Third Department,” Jiang Shan commented.

Wang Ding thought, “If he were willing to come back, would it be your turn to be the director of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau?” But he didn’t say it out loud. He said, “There’s also the Zou Monk Temple in Leizhou, which is also a professional intelligence station.” Chen Tianxiong had specifically requested that this temple be rebuilt as an intelligence station. His activities in Leizhou were now basically based there.

“I think we should call everyone back for a work conference,” Jiang Shan said thoughtfully. “Including representatives from Guangzhou and Leizhou. This is firstly to show them respect, and secondly, we will have a lot to coordinate with these places in the future. If we don’t talk it over face-to-face, there might be problems.”

“Hmm, actually, you can reserve some positions for the dispatched personnel—they don’t necessarily have to come back to take up the post. Guo Yi can be the director of the First Department, and Lin Biguang can definitely be the director of the Third Department. There’s no need to select from the council members in Lingao…”

“You’re making empty promises,” Jiang Shan said jokingly. “Once they become department heads, they can’t afford not to be serious, right?”

“Yes, the man on the spot is better than the man in charge! One always has to be more attentive to one’s own duties. Besides, the people on the front line know more about the work. What’s the use of suddenly promoting a few people who read spy novels to be department heads? Will the front-line staff be convinced?”

“That’s true, but they are all on the front line. I’m afraid they can’t do what a department head should do—being a leader involves a lot of administrative work,” Jiang Shan said. “Guo Yi would probably be happy to be the director of the First Department, and the Executive Committee might not have any objections. But in the future, when the intelligence bureau needs to arrange for personnel to work in the Great Ming, how do we discuss and communicate with him? The process is too complicated.”

“Hmm.” Wang Ding realized he had overlooked this point. He regretfully negated his own idea. “It seems that won’t work.”

“The ideal situation would be to transfer the front-line personnel back to be department heads and send new intelligence personnel out,” Jiang Shan said. “This way, the leaders have experience, and the new recruits can get training on the front line.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible right now.”

Jiang Shan also knew this was probably not feasible. In ancient society, business relationships and personal connections were very close. Transferring someone like Guo Yi would mean that many business and social connections in Guangzhou would be severed. This was not the same as a modern large corporation where senior executives could be easily replaced.

“Let’s hold an intelligence work conference first and get everyone on the same page,” Jiang Shan made up his mind. “I also need to visit the various departments first to understand the specific situation.”

“Alright. What should I do then?” Wang Ding asked.

“As for you, go visit the people on this list first and have a casual chat with them,” Jiang Shan said. “They are all council members who have volunteered to join the intelligence work. You’ve worked in a powerful department before, so you must have a knack for judging people. See if they really want to do this kind of clandestine work or if they want to be the Ming Dynasty’s 007.”

“Okay. I’ll go in a bit,” Wang Ding asked. “We don’t want the latter, right?”

“No, we can take the latter too—at least they have enough enthusiasm,” Jiang Shan said. “The premise is that I know how much manpower and financial budget I can get.”

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The first intelligence work conference of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau was held in Bopu. The participating institutions included: the Ministry of Commerce, the Religious Affairs Office and the leaders of the “two religions,” the Li and Miao Affairs Office, the Political Security General Bureau, and personnel from the two overseas stations: the representative from Guangzhou was Zhang Xin, and the representative from Leizhou was Chen Tianxiong. Lin Biguang from Qiongzhou also returned to attend the meeting.

The meeting was held in Bopu—in the private villa that Wu De was building for himself. After the Second Plenary Session, to avoid being questioned by the council members on this issue, he had handed over the property rights of the villa to the General Office. Because this place was quiet and secluded, and not as conspicuous as being in Bairen City, it became a good place for holding small-scale secret meetings.

The Executive Committee had long believed that the issue of intelligence work needed a large-scale integration and cleanup. The first was to eliminate the interference of the political security department in the intelligence system, and the second was to integrate the existing systems to avoid a situation where orders came from multiple sources.

Modern people are very sensitive to intelligence. Almost every department wanted to have its own intelligence organization or simply act as one itself. Even a department like the Agricultural Committee was submitting reports to create a “Red Flower Society” within the Tiandihui system—an organization that would act as small merchants and peddlers, traveling through the countryside while collecting intelligence and conducting propaganda. The General Staff was also planning to establish a General Staff Intelligence Bureau…

This nationwide fervor for intelligence gathering had to be corrected. The Foreign Intelligence Bureau was the bucket of cold water that the Executive Committee poured on the heads of the various departments.

At this intelligence conference, it was clarified that foreign intelligence gathering would be the responsibility of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, and all foreign intelligence activities must be planned and filed with the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. No department was allowed to conduct foreign intelligence activities without reporting. At the same time, it was reiterated that no department was allowed to establish its own intelligence organization or create special personnel for it.

Under the premise of unified command of intelligence work, it was stipulated that all intelligence summary and analysis work would be the responsibility of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. All intelligence collected by various departments must first be submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, which would then summarize and analyze the intelligence before distributing it.

Intelligence analysis is a key part of intelligence work, and it can even be said to be the crucial work. In the past, the intelligence collected by various departments, except for the Political Security General Bureau, was mostly sent up without analysis. The recipients were generally the Executive Committee and “possibly useful departments.” The latter was a vague concept. For example, the daily market commodity retail price telegrams from Guangzhou collected by the Guangzhou Station—the recipients were all the Executive Committee. After the Executive Committee received it, the recipients of the copies of this intelligence were rather vague: the Ministry of Commerce, the Foreign Trade Company, the cooperative, and even the Agricultural Committee and the Civil Affairs Committee could theoretically need it.

Out of a sense of responsibility, the General Office would send a copy to all possibly needed departments. This was not only wasteful but also involved the energy of the receiving departments—this intelligence was provided to various departments in its raw form without being refined, analyzed, or summarized. The work of judging and interpreting the intelligence became the responsibility of each department. The person in charge had to spend a lot of time reading and judging whether this thing was useful to them. Some people who were too lazy to ask would just file it away.

According to Wang Ding’s plan, all intelligence would now be initially summarized and analyzed in the analysis department and then classified and compiled according to its timeliness and content. Each department would submit to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau the categories of intelligence it needed, and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau would then distribute it to each department according to the security level. As for urgent and important intelligence, it would be sent directly to the Executive Committee member in charge of that matter and the corresponding department to ensure a response in the shortest possible time.

Secondly, a shared general intelligence database would be established. All collected intelligence materials would be compiled into booklets by category and date and stored in the database. When departments needed it, they could directly access it according to their department’s security level, instead of filing it away separately as in the past, where it would become a pile of dead material that only a dedicated person would go to check.

In terms of division of labor: Li and Miao affairs intelligence was classified as “internal affairs,” and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau would no longer be involved in the collection and organization of intelligence in this area. This intelligence work would be led by the Li and Miao Affairs Office, with assistance from the Political Security General Bureau and the Religious Affairs Office.

A key link in foreign intelligence work: the affiliation of the overseas stations was clarified at the meeting—the overseas stations were under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Colonies and Trade. In the past, the status of the overseas stations had been unclear, sometimes considered part of the intelligence circle, sometimes the business circle, and sometimes the Planning Committee. Ultimately, it was because the matters they handled were numerous and complex, and of irreplaceable importance. Now that their affiliation was clarified, coordination among all parties would be easier.

At the meeting, it was decided that the overseas stations had an obligation to support the various activities of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. To facilitate the effective command of the overseas stations by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, all station chiefs would also serve as the heads of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau’s intelligence stations, forming a de facto superior-subordinate relationship with the director of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.

As a result, Guo Yi of the Guangzhou Station and Wen Tong of the Leizhou Station became the heads of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau’s intelligence stations. In the future, every established overseas station would have the obligation to collect local intelligence and support the activities of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. Of course, in practice, they could delegate specific intelligence matters to other council members at the station.

Besides the overseas stations, the Religious Affairs Office was also designated as a “key support unit” for the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. In particular, Zhang Yuchen’s “New Daoism” was considered by all parties to have great intelligence infiltration value. Chen Tianxiong, in particular, mentioned that the Zou Monk Temple in Xuwen was a very suitable base for “New Daoism” to use, serving as both a missionary base and an intelligence station.

Zhang Yuchen, who had just returned from the Sanya development zone with a dark tan, was very enthusiastic about this proposal. He proposed that “New Daoism” was prepared to cooperate closely with the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. He was willing to contribute the graduates of the “New Daoism” “Daosheng Training Class,” which was currently in preparation, for dual training in missionary work and intelligence. This way, once the Daosheng graduated, they would become the dual vanguards of ideology and intelligence work when they expanded to the mainland.

“Your Daosheng Training Class doesn’t have a single person, yet you’ve already contributed them to so many people?” He Ying, the head of the Religious Affairs Office, sneered. “One moment you’re contributing to the Li and Miao Affairs, the next to the Political Security General Bureau for internal security, and now you’re contributing to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.”

“I am just pointing out how much of a role ‘New Daoism’ can play in our cause,” Zhang Yuchen said, his expression unchanged. “As for the source of the Daosheng, I have submitted many reports.” The implication was that the reason it hadn’t been effective was that he hadn’t been given the manpower.

Seeing that his Lingao church was being ignored, Wu Shimang quickly spoke up, stating that although the Lingao church was somewhat restricted in its missionary work on the Chinese mainland, the “Catholic” faith could enable them to play a greater role in activities targeting Europeans. Moreover, in comparison, the Lingao church already had a group of sufficiently devout believers who could be used, unlike the “New Daoism,” which could only talk about potential roles. The Lingao church was ready to “be put into battle” immediately.

“Our believers are very devout, yes, very devout,” Wu Shimang said. “They sincerely welcome martyrdom, so you don’t have to consider the consequences when you ask them to perform any task.”

“What task would be good for the old nun at your place to perform?” Zhang Yuchen said, feigning a pensive look.

A burst of laughter immediately erupted at the conference table. Wu Shimang was not embarrassed and argued reasonably, “What’s wrong with an old nun? An old lady like that wouldn’t attract attention anywhere—that’s a very good intelligence officer!”

“I think you should just forget it. Don’t bother the old ladies in the convent,” He Ying said. “They have served the Lingao church enough. Just let them live out their old age in peace.”

“There are also many young, devout believers,” Wu Shimang said, eager to express the work he had done in this area. “I believe that natives with firm beliefs are very suitable for intelligence gathering work—at least they won’t betray us.”

Jiang Shan felt that using religion for intelligence gathering was a good idea and immediately expressed his “sincere gratitude” for the support of the Religious Affairs Office.

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After the Bopu intelligence work conference, Chen Tianxiong and Lin Biguang were invited to a small meeting with Jiang Shan and others at the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.

These two were considered the basic intelligence personnel of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau abroad. Jiang Shan valued them very much and was very polite in his speech. The first thing was to invite Lin Biguang back to serve as the director of the Third Department or the office director.

“No, I’d rather be a special agent stationed abroad,” Lin Biguang shook his head without any ceremony. “I don’t like office work. I want to do something practical outside.”

“Alright.” Jiang Shan knew that this kind of person was difficult to persuade easily, and persuading him further would be beneath his own status. “I’d like to hear your views and suggestions on the work of this agency.”

Lin Biguang smiled. “Actually, I don’t have many opinions. The first thing is people. We need to add a lot of people.”

“I also think we have too few people,” Jiang Shan nodded. “But now council members are a rare resource…”

“I’m not talking about council members,” Lin Biguang shook his head. “As you said, council members are a scarce resource. How can we just throw them onto the mainland to do grassroots intelligence work? The death of any one of them would be a major loss. I’m talking about native intelligence personnel.”

Lin Biguang reminded Jiang Shan that several intelligence personnel training classes had been held in the past, but the number of people was very small, not nearly enough. Personnel training needed to be stepped up.

“Native intelligence personnel have no experience. We need to give them more opportunities to practice. I suggest we increase the manpower investment in Qiongshan County. The newly trained intelligence personnel can all be sent to me,” Lin Biguang said.

“Oh?” Jiang Shan wondered what he meant. Although Qiongshan County was the attached county of Qiongzhou Prefecture, it was still just a county town on Hainan Island. In the eyes of the Executive Committee, it was just an apple that they hadn’t picked yet. If it weren’t for the existence of the Jiazi coal mine, there would be no need to invest too much intelligence power here.

“Before I explain, let me first talk about our activities in Qiongshan County.”

He first reported on his work in Qiongshan County.

The activities of the Wanfeng Rice Store, the work on the Hai family, Ma Benyuan’s local intelligence network…

“…In Qiongshan County, we have already made great progress,” Lin Biguang said. “The entire bureaucracy of Qiongzhou Prefecture is almost like a sieve.”