Chapter 86 He Xi’s Skills (1)
Yazhou City is adjacent to the Ningyuan River in the north and has only three city gates, east, west and south. The area to the north of the city is called "Guancheng" by the people, which is where Yazhou's Yamen and local officials' residences are located. The local bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty was basically distributed according to the "three departments", that is, the Department of Proclaiming Administrative Affairs, the Department of Commanding and Envoys, and the Department of Punishing and Prosecuting Envoys. These three departments were in charge of administrative, military, and judicial functions. Through the decentralization of powers, way to limit the power of local officials. Although Yazhou is only a small place, the system of separation of the three powers is also fully set up.
To put it simply, the administrative justice system of Yazhou includes the main officials, who are the magistrates of the state from the fifth rank, Tongzhi from the sixth rank as the second-in-command, Tongjian several from the seventh rank who are in charge of judicial and public security, and officials from the ninth rank who manage the officials. There is one person who is responsible for the education system, one person for Confucianism, and three people for discipline. Of course, each subordinate county also has its own low-level official positions such as county magistrate, county magistrate, and chief registrar.
The situation of Yazhou's military system is much more complicated than that of the administrative judicial system. Probably the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty had never considered how to coordinate the wartime military command system in a small place like Yazhou. The military commander of the Yazhou garrison was just a command officer, with the personnel of two thousand-household stations under his jurisdiction. There is nothing that can be done about it. The highest officer of the garrison in Qiongzhou Prefecture is only a commander with the same rank as a general, and he has eleven thousand households under his jurisdiction. Of course, this is only paper data. The actual number of soldiers is The number is far from meeting the establishment requirements. This brought up a problem. When it came time to go to war, Yazhou Water Village was supposed to listen to Yazhou City's orders, but the garrison commander of Yazhou City was just a subordinate, two levels lower than the water village general. This is as absurd as a colonel commanding a major general to fight, and the chaos in the command system that will result seems inevitable.
Although the highest officer of the garrison is only a fourth-rank official, his salary is slightly better than that of He Wenhui, a third-rank officer in Yazhou Shuizhai. After all, he has a staff of one or two thousand people, and even if he is living on empty wages, he will live privately. Tian, this oil and water is much richer than water village. Of course, for the working group, corrupt officials are definitely easier to deal with than honest officials. This Lord Qian has some minor problems, which is actually 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 he still felt a little bit resentful about not being able to become Zhao Xiaoruo's follower, Zhang Guang was no longer a child and he could still distinguish priorities. Along the way, He Xi explained to him Yazhou's bureaucracy system. These boring and abstract things inevitably made Zhang Guang dizzy, but he still worked hard to write down these messy knowledge.
"If you have any questions, just ask." He Xi was wearing a green straight jacket and a black square scarf, walking leisurely on the street with a figure-footed step. 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. Zhang Guang lowered his voice and said: "Why is this information not included in the training materials of the Executive Committee?"
"Because the action team did not collect such detailed information when they came to Yazhou before." He Xi said matter-of-factly: "If they could just come and get the job done, the executive committee would send us to do it." What? ”
"But we've only been here for two or three days..." Zhang Guang only said half a sentence before he realized that this information was of course collected by the ordinary-looking He Xi in these two or three days.
"Old He, you are... amazing!" Zhang Guang, who had figured this out, could only express his sincere admiration for He Xi's ability.
There was not much pride on He Xi's face: "This is just some basic public information. As long as you master the correct methods, it is not difficult to collect this information."
"Old He, tell me, how did you do it?" Compared with the information knowledge 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 answer Zhang Guang's question immediately, but instead brought the topic to the previous training: "In this era when there is no media and the information media is not developed, if necessary What is our basic method for collecting some local military and political intelligence?”
Zhang Guang remembered this very clearly and immediately replied: "First we must find a suitable source of intelligence, and then try to establish a relationship with them."
"So in a place like Yazhou, what kind of people are suitable sources of intelligence in our eyes?" He Xi continued to ask.
Regarding this question, Zhang Guang thought for a while 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 inside story of local officialdom. , while not being as inaccessible as senior officials.”
He Xi nodded with satisfaction and said: "You are right, but I would like to add one more, there are also officials' families, which is also a very important intelligence channel. During the Liberation War, many senior enemy generals and officials were Those who choose to surrender or revolt after being instigated by their family members. What we need to do as an intelligence agent is to gradually approach and win over these people and let them provide us with information consciously or unconsciously. The next question is how do we do it. Can you establish a relationship 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 not convenient to talk. I think it will be ineffective. Use public places where it is convenient to talk, such as teahouses, restaurants, restaurants, etc., so that you will not appear too abrupt when you come into contact with the other person. ”
"I don't see that you are quite talented." He Xi smiled and praised Zhang Guangdao: "For strangers, it is not safe to have direct contact at work or at home, and some public places they frequent, It can be used as a breakthrough. Yamen and official residences are relatively concentrated here in Beicheng, and officials are high-income people in Yazhou, so some consumption places here are the key areas for us to focus on.”
Having said this, He Xi stopped and raised his hand to point forward: "Did you see the teahouse in front? That's where we are going today."
In Zhang Guang's view, this shop with a tea flag was far from the spacious and bright teahouses he remembered from later generations. There were only seven or eight tables in the shop, and the lighting was not very good. Zhang Guang almost missed it when he entered. Kick over a stool. Zhang Guang couldn't help but wonder, was the information He Xi mentioned really collected in a place like this?
Unexpectedly, before the two of them sat down, someone in the store already greeted He Xi: "Isn't this shopkeeper He?"
He Xi immediately changed his route and went straight to the table: "It's Mr. Kong! I didn't notice when I came in just now. I'm so rude!"
Zhang Guang stood behind He Xi and quickly glanced at the things on the table, a pot of tea, a plate of steamed buns, and a bowl of vegetable porridge. It seemed that in addition to selling tea, this teahouse was also doing breakfast business. However, looking at the content of the breakfast, Zhang Guang speculated that the "Master Kong" in front of him was probably not a big shot. It was just that more than half of the breasts on his chest were blocked when he was sitting, and his official rank could not be seen for a while.
Before Zhang Guang could recover, 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 some fun together."
Before the official surnamed Kong could answer, He Xi called the waiter over loudly: "Follow Mr. Kong's style, two more servings! And a pot of good tea, the most expensive one in your shop... Anyway, bring it here That’s it. Also, the money from this table will be counted on my head.”
Zhang Guang finally understood that He Xi was playing the "local tycoon star" he had mentioned last night. Of course, He Xi plays the role of a very well-informed rich man - he ordered two identical breakfasts to avoid losing face to his tablemate "Master Kong"; he also ordered a pot of the most expensive tea to show off his Generous; in the end, the waiter must settle the accounts together. This not only shows his generosity, but also shows his goodwill and win over "Master Kong".
Obviously "Master Kong" liked his trick very much, and said with a smile: "Shopkeeper He, how embarrassing is this!"
He Xi said nonchalantly: "It's just a small amount of money. Don't be polite, Master Kong." After that, he turned to Zhang Guang and introduced: "Master Kong is a famous person around Zhizhou. The documents of all levels of government offices under Yazhou's rule. The subordinate officials and miscellaneous servants are all under the jurisdiction of Master Kong. ”
Zhang Guang had heard He Xi explain Yazhou's bureaucracy before. At this time, he already understood that the "Master Kong" whom He Xi called was just an official in Zhizhou Yamen. His official rank ranged from ninth grade to the real bottom. As a bureaucrat, almost everyone with a formal establishment in the yamen is considered his superior. Although this position is low, due to the nature of the work, I have access to a wide range of information.
To put it simply, in the entire yamen, except for the few formal officials expressly appointed by the Ministry of Personnel, all subordinate staff, managers and yamen servants have to deal with the bureaucracy, which is a bit similar to the personnel department or human resources department in later generations. taste, but the power is relatively smaller, and it also integrates the functions of some logistics departments. He Xi could get to know officials from such departments. It was no wonder that he could quickly master so much information.
While eating breakfast, He Xi chatted casually with Li Mu. Zhang Guang heard clearly from the side. They were basically talking about gossip that did not involve the specific affairs of the state government, but among these gossips It does seem to contain a lot of information that can be used, and He Xi will seize the opportunity to continue questioning as if nothing happened. For example, if Kong Limu casually complained that the prisoners who had recently been assigned were dissatisfied with the management, He Xi would take the opportunity to inquire about the approximate number of prisoners assigned to Yazhou every month, how they were managed, etc. Before arousing Li Mu's suspicion, He Xi would cleverly lead the topic to other places, chatting about the price of fields outside Yazhou City, last year's grain harvest, etc.
If He Xi hadn't taught 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 for a purpose. As for the official Kong Limu who was so excited and boastful because of He Xi's flattery, Zhang Guang thought that he probably didn't even realize that He Xi had ulterior motives for approaching him.
(End of chapter)