Section 43: The Great Minghua

In order to enhance the actual experience, they also specially organized a visit to the county government -- except for the inner office, they all went around, and there were officials to give special explanations everywhere.

Wang Zhaomin and Master Wang were also invited to hold "symposiums" from time to time. He is different from the "reformed" government clerks, the level is higher, and his identity is more subtle. In order to prevent him from being suspicious in the face of a large group of people and unwilling to talk deeply, Xiong Buyou is generally invited to the office to chat in the name of "drinking tea and eating wine".

There is a small courtyard in the county office, which has been slightly tidied up and repaired, and there are some flowers and trees. The environment is more elegant. It is specially used to contact the county officials, and the atmosphere here is relaxed and quiet, and it is relatively convenient to talk to each other. In order to keep in touch with each other, the county office also organizes some activities such as tea tasting and banquets here from time to time.

Master Wang's "teaching" is here. But he didn't know that he had this "honor". While he and Xiong Buyou were talking, there were actually people sitting around - the place had been specially remodeled, and it seemed that there was no one around, but in fact the students were sitting in the dark room listening to their chat.

Master Wang is very willing to come to the county office for pastime and chat. Originally, he was bored in the county government - Lingao originally belonged to a place where "business was light", and with the continuous interference of Australians in county affairs, he had nothing to do except "wait for the reason to be enshrined" to transfer official documents and engage in official articles in the county. Moreover, the Australians made the summary court and took away more than half of the master's main business, "criminal name".

Now that someone is having a treat to chat, Wang Zhaomin is, of course, every time he is invited, he must drink, and then he talks about it. So much so that the topic of each conversation of Xiong Buyou has to be prepared in advance, so as not to make his conversation endless.

But the content of his casual chat is very valuable to the traversal. As the master, Wang Zhaomin's observation and understanding of officialdom is more in-depth and comprehensive than that of officials. Moreover, the master traveled all over the world, saw a lot of things, and his vision was far greater than that of the government secretary in a small county town. And there is contact with the upper, middle and lower classes of society. Li Yan's request to the county office to invite him to hold a "symposium" was to a large extent also intended to broaden the horizons of expatriates and enhance their understanding of the social situation in the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Zhaomin's symposium was recorded -- reviewed and compiled into materials after returning -- but there was no on-site interpretation. He said it officially, and Li Yan asked everyone to repeat what he said into a report after they went back. This will first test the expatriate's mastery of official language, and secondly, exercise the expatriate's ability to "restore" the content of intelligence.

Another major indigenous instructor of the Ming Social Situation Lecture was Zhou Shizhai, an adviser to the Police Headquarters. He taught all kinds of Ming society and the rules and risks of going out

Travel in ancient societies was tiring and dangerous, and both rich and poor people encountered great risks when traveling. Zhou Shizhai has walked through darts and nursed hospitals, and has extremely rich social experience.

“…… Walk long distances in the outer walkway, and remember to burn your feet and not wash your face every day. He passed on his experience to everyone one by one, "As long as there are conditions, you have to burn your feet and pick bubbles to soothe your muscles and bones, but you don't have to wash your face." ”

Not washing your face is to prevent the skin of your face from cracking. The roads are dusty, the sun is poisonous, and it is easy to get sunburned and cracked. The ancients had no sunscreen, so they had to use dust as a cover.

As for the places to be careful on the road, there are even more like cows, Zhou Shizhai focused on how to avoid living in black shops, which places are easy to become places for thieves to rob, and how to arrange sleeping at night to avoid being stolen......

“…… Once you are on the road, you must not reveal your money. Zhou Shi Zhai Chunchun taught, "There are many people who have seen wealth along the way. In addition to bandits, there are many bandits waiting for opportunities at the foot of the car and ship shops. Then he said that he once crossed the river on the dart road, and the boatman saw that they were escorting a lot of goods, so he temporarily started to rob the dart, and the dart board finally managed to protect the dart and get out.

Many of the knowledge and tricks explained by Zhou Shizhai are accumulated in the long-term dart game, and they are of great practical value to the intelligence personnel sent abroad. Not only did the Intelligence Bureau invite him to give lectures, but the Police Headquarters also specially collected and compiled the content of his lectures as reference materials.

Liu Gang, who had been selling illicit salt for the Ministry of Colonization and Trade for a long time, was also brought in, and he made his fortune by trafficking illicit salt for the Crossing Group. This time, he was quietly invited to teach about the business and illegal trade of the Ming Dynasty, especially how to trade in the Ming Dynasty as a small and medium-sized merchant.

As for He Xin, who was rescued by Lin Baiguang, he was specially recalled from Qiongshan and gave a series of lectures on the Ming Dynasty's Ji Academy, which also included many ways and methods of entertainment and pastime in the Ming Dynasty. They learned the rules, jargon, scams, consumption standards and taboos of the high courts.

When He Xin heard that he was going to return to Lingao, he was so frightened that he thought that he was going to fall into the hands of the demon of Fu Youdi again. I didn't expect to come back and teach a group of strange people how to visit the courtyard, eat flowers and wine, and shake the stalls......

Natives of all occupations under the control of the Syndicate, who were deemed to be of great use in their knowledge and knowledge, were "invited" to a sedan chair at night and quietly carried into the training center, where they would then talk face-to-face with several chiefs in front of a tight curtain and teach them all the things they wished to know. No one knows what's behind the curtain, but smart people probably guess that there is also an Australian chief sitting behind it, because when someone's earthy accent is too heavy, there will be a chief who will say it again in Australian Mandarin.

In order to enhance the sense of substitution of the expatriates, Yu Eshui conducted a life-scene drill, in which indigenous personnel played different roles. He assigns one life scene at a time, and then assigns an expatriate to take on one of the roles. The natives play one or more of the others. Expatriates are sent to invest in the store, and the natives are the bosses and guys; Go buy maids, the natives are tooth people; When it comes to business, Bumiputera is a business partner; When you go to the government office, the natives are the gatehouse, the officer, the master and the county official......

The indigenous people used in each performance try to use indigenous people who have had such professional experience. In order to be as accurate as possible. In order to inspire the courage of the natives to make things difficult for the expatriates, Yu Eshui scored each performance, and the natives who performed the most in the difficult expatriates could get additional rewards.

At the end of each performance, everyone gathers for a replay-style analysis. Yu Eshui specifically asked the expatriates to remember the jargon and cuts used by various characters, and to understand the thinking patterns and methods of the other party.

"Don't have a 'I'm Superman' feeling. There is no loss at any time. Yu Eshui ruthlessly hit them in class, "You are small citizens in the 21st century, and you will not be big people in the 17th century." Without crossing the whole group, you are nothing. Unless it is necessary and approved by the General Directorate, do not rush anywhere to show that you are different, knowledgeable, and outstanding; Don't go around talking about 'democracy' or 'one country, one political party, one leader' and the like. Sending everyone to Daming is not for you to be scientists, politicians, or anything else. Your task is to be 'like a Ming people.'" ”

In order to ensure that they are "like", it is necessary to enhance the sense of substitution, and at every other stage, the expatriates have to go out for internships as Ming people. The scope of the internship ranges from simple shopping and hiring servants to trying to make your own small business...... Everyone has to make it impossible for others to recognize their identity.

Personnel from the Operations Division of the Directorate General of Political and Social Security follow up and monitor the expatriates to see if they are detected by the Bumiputera. Li Yan believes that the natives of Lingao are the people who get along with the people who cross the most, and if they can be fooled, it will not be a problem to go to the mainland.

Later, such operations were developed into a confrontational exercise. The two sides set the place and the number of people, and then the trainees of the Intelligence Bureau and the Political Security Bureau identified each other and arrested each other.

After a general belief that they would not have a problem and that they were disguised as well, the expatriate senators would make several long land trips, alone or in groups, under the covert escort of the special reconnaissance team. The destination of the trip is generally Qiongshan County. The expatriate elders, like all natives, took simple luggage and a small amount of coiling, and set out on foot or in a sedan chair. This kind of travel will give them a first-hand feel for the environment in the future - Lingao has been transformed and "modernized", which is very different from the real 17th century time and space.

In Qiongshan County, they can operate under the covert protection of Qiongzhou Station for a few days to half a month to experience the social conditions under the rule of the Ming Dynasty. After this trip was deemed qualified, the expatriate veterans had the opportunity to go to Guangzhou to see the big city scene of the time and space.

In addition to the camouflage course, the veterans learned everything they might need for intelligence work, they learned tracking and counter-tracking, martial arts and the art of using daggers; master simple surveying and cartography; Learn to accurately judge the number of people, the size of objects, and the length of distances based on visual inspection alone; learn to use the radio, encrypt and decrypt - all this had to be done by the senators themselves until there were no reliable native telegraphers; Radio stations are precious and limited in quantity, so most of the time encrypted letters need to be used, and the intelligence bureau has developed a method of ciphering: in fact, it is written in rice soup and developed with iodine wine. Daming does not have iodine wine except for crossing the crowd, so there should be no problem with secrecy.

They also had a simple set of special codes: the "center" was the headquarters of the Intelligence Agency; "Swimming" is traveling; "Sick" is to be arrested; "Wet and dry work" is assassination; "Legends" are fake identity experiences; "Wine" refers to a secret medicine; And "pipa" is a radio station; The "neighbor" is the General Directorate of Political Protection; Hawkers are traffic officers......

Zuihou, they were sent to the field exploration team, and spent four weeks of wilderness survival training under the guidance of Liu Zheng and others, ensuring that they could be used in case they needed to escape.

At the same time as the intensive training of the Intelligence Training Center Part B, the indigenous intelligence personnel of the Intelligence Training Center Part A are also stepping up their training, and their courses are more and more intensive than those of the veterans, and the content is mainly on intelligence operations. This group will be sent as an attaché to the senators. This group of attachés were all men - it was inconvenient to take women on the road without settling in.

On this day, Li Yan gathered everyone together and announced a news:

"Everyone, pack up and go to Parkview Green now."

After arriving at Parkview Green, I learned that this was for them to choose their own "life secretary". Li Yan announced that the selected life secretaries will receive additional intelligence training in Part A, and when each of them is stable in their work place, they will be gradually sent to their respective sides to take up intelligence work.

"The leader is really sympathetic to us." Someone is grateful.

There are also people who don't appreciate it very much: "Didn't you say that you can buy a woman casually?" What else do you want to do with the life secretary? ”

"Life secretary is safer than you guys buying women outside, isn't it?" Li Yan said, "And it can also help you do intelligence work, killing two birds with one stone." What's so bad? ”

As soon as I said this, everyone was relieved. At the moment, everyone chose the girl they wanted after reading the materials, and most people spent the amount of the maid subsidy to buy a C-level maid, and some people fell in love with a higher level, so they could only register first and wait for the follow-up lottery. Anyway, the maids won't be in place anytime soon - according to the "center" jihua, they won't be sent until at least three months after they've settled in the area.

Dongmen City is near the head office of the cooperative, and there is a large building. This house is one of the few traditional houses in Dongmen City, with a large front yard for cars and sedan chairs, and two compartments for stacking goods.

The main house is a cabinet room, the wooden counter is polished with raw lacquer tung oil, and there are many kinds of goods inside, but unlike the cooperative, all the goods sold here are from the mainland: cloth from Songjiang, silk and candied fruit from Suzhou and Hangzhou, porcelain from Jiangxi, tea from Fujian, citrus ...... A wide variety of goods from the north to the south. If it weren't for the fact that the population has increased several times in recent years, it is unimaginable that everyone has a little spare money in their hands.

The second entrance is the main hall looks very magnificent, the square brick paving, the upper haode Guangdong sour branch wood strips, official hat chairs, large porcelain vase, a carved large screen stands in the middle of the hall. Under the eaves of the porch hung eight wind lanterns with the words "Quanfu" written on them - it stands to reason that this was overstepping. But the south has always been far away from the emperor of the sky, and no one will pay attention to it, let alone in Lingao.

With such a big style, at first glance, it is a traditional and solid big-name business. Everyone knows that this brand is the number one "imperial businessman" in Lingao, the property of the Australian royal comprador Lin Quanan.

In such a spacious shop, there is a designated supplier of the Ministry of Commerce, Lin Quanan, director of the Dongmen City Business Association.

This Lin Quanan three years ago, everyone who knew him, including himself, never dreamed that one day he would be called "master", let alone accumulate such wealth.

He sat in a closet at the back of the hall, surrounded by business papers and large account books. Mr. Lin was about thirty-five or sixteen years old, but he was already dark-skinned and full of wrinkles, and he looked like a man in his early fifties. He was a man of bitter origin. For almost 20 years, I spent my life in carrying burdens and selling along the village, living a day of cooking and eating.

At this time, he was wearing a Nanjing Xiangyun gauze robe bought from Guangdong, pedaling a pair of straw slippers made by Kaifeng Chenqiao, and looking at the account book intently. Mr. Lin is a businessman who dares to be the first in the world, in the early years, he did not know how to read and write, and then the business became large, and he was the first to do business for the "thief", he did not hesitate to participate in the literacy class run by the Australians, read and write, learned to plan and keep accounts - this kind of account is Australian-style accounts, even the numbers are Australian-style. It was very satisfying to him - because then no one could see it.

A quill is stuck in an inkwell on the table, and Lin Quanan does not know how to write with a brush, he learned this method of writing with water from Australians.

He was examining the pages of the great account book before him; Each page is printed with horizontal and vertical lines, with liabilities on the right and assets on the left. On the first page of the account book, it is written in large letters: "Chongzhen three years, Gengwu year." ”

After Lin Quanan finished reviewing one of Zuihou's accounts and carefully corrected the above mistake, he leaned back in his chair tiredly, feeling a little depressed.

The trading in the store is not bad, and the gross profit is about 30%. But the quantity of goods sold in this way was too small - he was used to selling goods in batches and batches, and he was not very used to doing business in this way.

In the past two years, I have been used to doing a big business with smooth sailing. Lin Quanan recalled that three years ago, he was just a small trader carrying a burden through the streets and alleys, and his capital was only four or five hangings. Relying on the purchase of vegetables, pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks for the "thief" - the Australian lord who went to the village to visit the village, he made a fortune in a year and opened this Quanfu store. Then, under the instructions of Master Xiong, he gradually expanded his footprint to the entire Qiongzhou Mansion, buying all kinds of goods for the Australian masters. Money-making is soft--the house and the shop have doubled twice in three years: even the glass windows, porcelain toilets, porcelain bathtubs, and tap water used by Australian gentlemen have been used, not to mention small objects such as hot water bottles and crystal mirrors. Not only can he afford to marry a wife, but he has now accepted a second-room concubine.

It all came from the Australians who came on iron boats. Australians are their own lucky stars and gods of wealth.

Recently, he felt that the light of this lucky star had dimmed a little. The ledgers show that his biggest customer, the Australian, has been dealing with him less and less in the past six months. He only made a few big deals in timber, and sold a lot of goods from the north and south, but the quantity was not large.

Now Australians supply vegetables, pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks by themselves, and the vegetables they grow can't eat by themselves and are used to make pickles and pickles for sale; As for the pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, they have recently been able to even eat meat once a week for their tuanding. The ships under the hands of the Australians brought in a steady stream of what they needed from all over the world, and naturally there was less and less left for their own business.