1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 86 He Xi's Skills ([-])

The north of Yazhou City faces the Ningyuan River, and there are only three city gates in the east, west and south.The area to the north of the city is called "Official City" by the people, that is, the location of Yazhou's various yamen and local officials' residences.The local bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty was basically distributed according to the "three divisions", that is, the administrative, military, and judicial functions were divided into three divisions. way to limit the power of magistrates.Although Yazhou is only a small place, the system of separation of powers also has a complete setup.

To put it simply, Yazhou's administrative judicial system consists of one person from the fifth rank who knows the state, the second-in-command from the sixth rank, the second-in-command from the seventh rank, who is in charge of the judicial order, and the officials from the ninth rank who manage the officials. There is one head, one Confucian scholar in charge of the education system, and three teachers.Of course, the subordinate counties also have their own positions for low-level officials such as magistrates, county magistrates, and registrars.

The situation of Yazhou's military system is much more complicated than that of the administrative judicial system.Probably the Daming Military Department never considered how to coordinate the wartime military command system in a small place like Yazhou. The military commander of the Yazhou garrison is just a commander, with the staffing of two thousand households under its jurisdiction.This is also impossible. The highest commander of the garrison garrison in the entire Qiongzhou Mansion is only a commander of the same level as the participating generals, with eleven thousand households under its jurisdiction - of course, this is only paper data, the actual soldiers The number is far below the requirements of the preparation.This brings up a problem. When it comes to war, Yazhou Water Village should have listened to the dispatch of Yazhou City, but the commander of the garrison in Yazhou City is just a fluke, and he is two levels lower than the Shuizhai General. It was as absurd as the colonel had to command the major general, and the resulting chaos in the chain of command seemed inevitable.

Although the highest officer of the garrison is only a fourth-rank official, his treatment is slightly better than that of the third-rank Yazhou Shuizhai He Wenhui and General He Shen. , this oil and water are much richer than the water village.Of course, for the working group, it is definitely easier to deal with corrupt officials than honest officials. This gentleman has some minor problems, but it is a good thing for the working group's activities in Yazhou.

"Wait!" Zhang Guang interrupted He Xi's explanation: "I don't understand something."

Zhang Guang was assigned to work with He Xi today. Although there is still a little resentment for not being Zhao Xiaoruo's follower, Zhang Guang is no longer a child, and the priorities are still clear.Along the way, He Xi explained to him the bureaucratic system of Yazhou. These boring and abstract things made Zhang Guang feel dizzy, but he still tried very hard to write down these messy knowledge.

"If you have any questions, feel free to ask." He Xi was wearing a cyan straight robe and a black square scarf, walking leisurely on the street with eight-character steps. At first glance, it looked like that.

In contrast, Zhang Guang, who was wearing a white Taoist robe, seemed a little uncomfortable. He always had to subconsciously lift the hem of his clothes with his hands, for fear of being stepped on by himself.Zhang Guang lowered his voice and said, "Why isn't this information in the training materials of the Executive Committee?"

"Because the previous action team did not collect such detailed information when they came to Yazhou." He Xi said with a look of course: "If they can finish the work in one visit, the executive committee will send us to do it. Well?"

"But we've only been here for two or three days..." Zhang Guang had already woken up after only half a sentence--of course, this information was collected by the unremarkable He Xi in the past two or three days.

"Old He, you are... amazing!" Zhang Guang, who had figured out this section, could only express his sincere admiration for He Xi's ability.

He Xi's face did not show much pride: "This is just some basic public information. As long as you master the correct method, it is not difficult to collect this information."

"Old He, tell me, how exactly did you do it?" Compared with the information knowledge that He Xi popularized, Zhang Guang was obviously more interested in the methods he used to collect information.

"Let's talk about the training content last night." He Xi did not immediately answer Zhang Guang's question, but instead brought the topic to the previous training: "In this era of no media and underdeveloped information media, if necessary What is our basic method to collect some local military and political intelligence?"

Zhang Guang remembered this very clearly, and immediately replied: "First, find a suitable intelligence source, and then try to establish a relationship with it."

"So in a place like Yazhou, what kind of talent is a suitable source of intelligence in our eyes?" He Xi continued to ask.

Regarding this question, Zhang Guang thought about it before answering: "Government staff, such as some low-level officials, or staff of senior officials, these people have access to some non-public information and have a better understanding of the insider of the local officialdom. , while not as inaccessible as senior officials.”

He Xi nodded with satisfaction and said, "That's right, but I'll add one more, as well as the officials' families. This is also a very important information channel. During the war of liberation, many senior generals and officials of the enemy army were Those who choose to surrender or revolt after being instigated by their families. What we need to do as an intelligence officer is to gradually approach and win over these personnel, so that they can provide us with information consciously or unconsciously. The next question is, how do we Can you build relationships with these people?"

Zhang Guang replied: "It would be too rash to go directly to the house. If you go to the yamen to visit, there are many people in that place, and it is inconvenient to speak, so it should not be effective. I think you should find some public places where it is convenient to talk, such as teahouses, In places like restaurants and restaurants, it won't be too abrupt when you come into contact with each other."

"I don't see that you are quite talented." He Xi praised Zhang Guang with a smile: "For unfamiliar people, it is not safe to have direct contact at work and at home, and some public places where they often go out, It can be used as a breakthrough. The yamen and official residences in Beicheng are relatively concentrated, and officials are high-income people in Yazhou, so some consumption places here are the key areas that we pay attention to.”

Speaking of this, He Xi stopped, raised his finger and pointed forward: "Did you see the teahouse in front? That's where we're going today."

In Zhang Guang's opinion, this shop with a tea banner is far from the spacious and bright teahouses of later generations. There are only seven or eight tables in the shop, and the lighting is not very good. Zhang Guang almost entered when he entered. Kick over a stool.Zhang Guang couldn't help but wonder, the information He Xi said was really collected in such a place?
Unexpectedly, before the two sat down, someone in the store greeted He Xi: "Isn't this shopkeeper He?"

He Xi immediately changed the route of travel and went straight to the table: "It's Master Kong! I didn't notice when I came in just now, I'm rude!"

Standing behind He Xi, Zhang Guang quickly glanced at the things on the table, a pot of tea, a plate of steamed buns, and a bowl of vegetable porridge. It seems that this teahouse is also doing breakfast business in addition to tea.However, looking at the content of this breakfast, Zhang Guang speculated that the "Master Kong" in front of him was probably not a big man, but when the man was sitting, the tonic on his chest was blocked by more than half, and his official rank could not be seen for a while.

Before Zhang Guang could think about it, He Xi had already pulled him to sit down at the table: "It just so happens that my cousin and I haven't had breakfast yet, so let's have fun together."

Before waiting for the official surnamed Kong to answer, He Xi loudly called Xiao Er over: "According to Lord Kong's style, two more! In addition, another pot of good tea, what is the most expensive one in your shop... Anyway, bring it here. That's it. Also, the money on this table is on my head."

Zhang Guang can understand now that He Xi is playing the "local tyrant star" he said last night.Of course, He Xi plays a very knowledgeable local tyrant - he asked for the same breakfast twice, so that the "Master Kong" at the same table would not lose face; he asked for the most expensive pot of tea to show himself. Luxurious; in the end, Xiao Er and one should settle accounts together, which not only shows his generosity, but also shows his favor and win over "Master Kong".

Obviously, "Master Kong" liked his tricks very much, and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper He, how embarrassing this is!"

He Xi said nonchalantly: "Little money, it's just small money, Master Kong, don't be polite." After speaking, he turned around and introduced to Zhang Guang: "Master Kong is a famous person around Zhizhou, and this is the correspondence of officials at all levels under Yazhou. The subordinate officials and the miscellaneous servants are all under the jurisdiction of Lord Confucius.”

Zhang Guang had heard He Xi explain the bureaucratic system in Yazhou before, and at this time he already understood that the "Master Kong" that He Xi called was only an official in the Yamen of Zhizhou. A bureaucrat, almost everyone in the yamen who has a formal establishment is considered his superior.Although this position is low, but because of the nature of the work, the contact information is very wide.

To put it simply, in the entire yamen, except for the official officials appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, all the subordinate staff, stewards, and yamen have to deal with the staff, which is somewhat similar to the personnel department or the human resources department of later generations. The taste is relatively small, but the power is relatively small, and it also integrates the functions of some logistics departments.He Xi can get acquainted with officials of this kind of department, so it is no wonder that he can quickly grasp so much information.

Taking advantage of the breakfast time, He Xi chatted with Limu Kong casually. Zhang Guang heard it clearly from the side, and he basically said gossip that did not involve the specific affairs of the prefecture, but among these gossips It seems that there is indeed a lot of information that can be used, and He Xi will seize the opportunity to ask questions without incident.For example, Kong Limu casually complained that the recently dispatched prisoners refused to accept the management, and He Xi would take the opportunity to inquire about the approximate number of prisoners dispatched to Yazhou every month, how to manage them, and so on.Before arousing suspicion from Kong Li, He Xi would deftly divert the topic to another place, talking about the price of fields outside the city of Yazhou and last year's grain harvest, etc.

If it wasn't for He Xi's teaching of some simple intelligence knowledge last night, Zhang Guang felt that it would be difficult for him to realize that He Xi was collecting intelligence information purposefully.As for the Kong Limu who was excited and boasted because of He Xi's flattery, Zhang Guang thought that he probably didn't realize that He Xi's approach to him had ulterior motives.

(End of this chapter)