"Business travel means going deep into the enemy's territory. Whether it is the Ming Dynasty, Hou Jin Dynasty or European colonists, they are all natives of the 17th century. We should not use the moral principles and behavioral norms of the 20th century to apply to their actions.
Here, on behalf of the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Directorate-General of Colonization and Trade, I announce a 'note', which is the risk you may encounter when performing your mission. It would be better for everyone to understand..."
This notice was prompted by Jiangshan's insistence. Yu Eshui objected. However, in the end, it was implemented in accordance with Jiangshan's intention. Jiangshan's meaning was simple: let everyone talk about the scandal first.
His intention was to fully explain the difficulties and dangers of intelligence work, fully inspire everyone's heroism, and avoid complaining later.
"Okay, okay, you're blathering like an old lady." A strong man sitting in the back row said impatiently, "I'm not afraid of death if I sign up, don't talk about so many vain things..."
"It's better for everyone to know about it so that they can be mentally prepared for the situation they will face in the future." Wang Ding remembered the information about this person. His name was Huang Hua, a native of Heilongjiang, who originally worked in a machinery factory under the Manufacturing Directorate Department.
When he filled out the form, his ambition was to work as a webmaster at the Houjin site. This person's resume stated that he had done business, had a certain business acumen, understood mechanical skills, was familiar with the geography and scenery outside the customs, and knew some self-defense skills.
He can speak Korean fluently and can speak Shanxi dialect, so he is a suitable candidate for the post-financing job.
"This is not a question of whether you are afraid of death or not. Sometimes I am afraid that life is worse than death." Wang Ding said and began to read out the instructions.
What you need to know is as follows: You are participating in a dangerous job. First of all, you will run around in bad road conditions and experience the hardships of the journey; whether you go by land or water, you may encounter bandits. Unless you have the courage to do so.
If you are angry, you can persuade the bandits to surrender, otherwise they will end up dead in the street.
Township warriors, government officials and soldiers are no better than bandits. People in some places will not hesitate to rob and kill a passer-by, even if the passer-by only has a few pieces of dry food and a piece of rags.
In terms of hygiene, cities are not necessarily better than rural areas, and may even be worse. Generally speaking, diseases are always prevalent in densely populated areas. The water and food that local people can adapt to are likely to be intolerable to the stomach of modern people. Food and
In addition to bacterial infections, water also carries the risk of parasites.
Poor hygiene is likely to make you sick. Even if there is no hygiene problem, you may still get sick. If you are injured while performing a task, you will not have any health services except a small amount of medicine and local traditional Chinese medicine. A dog bite,
Being stabbed by a rusty knife may kill you - even if you have to rush back to Lingao, the journey is long and you will probably die on the way.
You may have to deal with an infestation of parasites such as fleas, bed bugs and ticks - which are abundant in this time and space, not necessarily among the poor - and these parasites will not only make you feel uncomfortable and bumpy,
It will also bring about all kinds of strange diseases, which may not be effectively treated in modern time and space.
Finally, once arrested on the mainland, the Foreign Intelligence Service cannot launch rescue immediately: if you are unlucky and there is no radio station nearby or no one notifies you in time, the headquarters may not know that you have been arrested until the prescribed contact period has passed.
A few months may have passed by the time someone is dispatched to rescue you. Being arrested does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with your work or that your identity is exposed. The Spaniards will arrest you just because you are Chinese.
It may be because you are a Han; as for Ming Dynasty, maybe just because you are doing business and have a few money, you are attracted by someone like a Dongchang fanzi or a county official who hopes to make some extra money; even if
Pretending to be poor is not necessarily safe. You may be arrested and tortured just because a murder occurred in the local area and the government needs to find an outsider with no roots as a scapegoat.
In the Ming Dynasty, the post-Jin Dynasty or European colonists, all levels of government, dictatorship agencies and even private groups will torture you, some for confession, and some just to squeeze money out of you. The prisons in this time and space not only have no basic human rights, but even survival.
You may not have the power, and you may be killed by the jailer in various ways. And this is an era of good men, so fair and clean modern people are likely to be brutally murdered by some obscene uncle...
"...Even if you are rescued, you may still suffer from psychological and physical disabilities and shadows due to the torture and um...all kinds of other torture..."
This deliberately described horrific prospect caused a stir among the people - it didn't look like the 17th century, but more like hell on earth.
"If anyone feels that they are not suitable for this job, they can still withdraw from the job." Wang Ding said, "The transfer procedures of the Organization Department have not been completed yet. We will return the registration materials and will not leave any records."
The scene became very quiet. Of course, no one at the scene said that they were afraid: first of all, they couldn’t put aside their dignity, and secondly, the example of Leizhou in Guangzhou was there, and it seemed that they had never heard of such a terrifying situation. At least he, outsiders,
People in Pai are living well and nourished.
"Humph, this is just a disclaimer." Huang Hua commented, and then said loudly: "Okay, I understand. If anything happens in the future, it has nothing to do with you, it's all our fault! I'll sign a life and death certificate to the General Administration.
That’s it.”
According to the agreement between them and the Ministry of Colonial Trade, the elders sent abroad belong to both parties, regardless of each other. As for the training, all training is undertaken by the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the specific courses to be offered will be decided after discussion by each department.
Li Yan originally wanted Hu Qingbai to allocate the classrooms and dormitories in Fangcaodi for intelligence personnel training. However, Jiang Shan believed that this place was too busy with people coming and going. It was also too "modern" and lacked a sense of Ming Dynasty life.
Sense of immersion. In the end, only Department A of the intelligence training center was established in Fangcaodi. Department A specialized in training indigenous intelligence personnel, including dispatch personnel, office personnel and intelligence analysts.
Department B of the Intelligence Training Center, where specially trained veterans are dispatched as personnel, is located in the residence of Yuan Gou'er's family in Lingao County. This place has been vacant. Not only is the building area large enough, but there is also enough open space in the backyard and surrounding areas for expansion.
New buildings. Moreover, Lingao County is still a well-preserved local specimen of Ming Dynasty society.
Xiong Buyou, the director of the county office, went to Sun Ruiwu, the official, and immediately "sold" the house without an official at a low price. In fact, it was a real deed for free money, and it was a few officials in the county who benefited.
The construction company slightly renovated and renovated the place, mainly adding living and training facilities, and the Intelligence Bureau Training Center was established. For the sake of confidentiality, there is no sign or gate here, and only two reliable indigenous people are arranged to guard the gate. The personnel and
All supplies come in and out at night.
The training plan was formulated by Jiangshan. As for the curriculum, it was mainly based on the suggestions of Wu Mu from the General Administration of Political and Security, Chen Tianxiong from Leizhou Station, and Yu Eshui.
Since most people want to go to the Ming Dynasty for activities, the training course is mainly to make them "like a Ming Dynasty person". On the contrary, it is less troublesome for those who are willing to go to the European territory - they do not need to pretend to be the Ming Dynasty people.
How to be like the people of the Ming Dynasty only belongs to one topic. Relying on historical data alone is not enough. Fortunately, they have long-term accumulation in Guangzhou and Leizhou. They have mastered the real details of life, customs, social conditions and other aspects.
First-hand information.
The first level is appearance, which is the easiest to deal with. When everyone enters this training class, they stop cutting their hair and start growing their hair - those who are interested in using a monk as a cover for their identity are exempted from growing their hair. Depending on the face shape and the cover that each person wishes to choose
Due to their status, some people have to grow beards.
In order to have a sense of belonging, except for wearing training uniforms during certain trainings, everyone usually wears Ming Dynasty clothes for daily life and class. There are no modern supplies in the dormitories. The dormitories they live in all maintain the style that Ming Dynasty should have.
In this way, he slept on a hard board bed with sheets made of local homespun cloth, and the pillows were the hard rectangular pillows used by the ancients. The windows were covered with paper, and candles or oil lamps were lit at night.
Every day’s meals are prepared by the indigenous people as “pure Ming Guangdong flavor” or “pure Ming Fujian flavor”. These two flavors are completely different from the familiar Cantonese and Fujian cuisine. We also eat “Yikku Rice” two days a week.
": Mainly sweet potatoes, black flour and other miscellaneous grains - not the "coarse grains" sold in small packages in supermarkets that are more expensive than rice, but the grains that real farmers use to make a living. Corn steamed buns are made with stubble.
Yes, the residue will fall off when you bite it, and you can’t swallow it after chewing it for a long time; the sweet potato porridge has skin, and it tastes like only sweet potatoes and skin, with not a few grains of rice...
This kind of dietary arrangement is to allow the elders to adapt to the meals of this time and space in advance, so that the elders who are accustomed to polished rice and white flour will not be able to eat or have diarrhea when they arrive on the mainland. After the D-day, everyone will eat brown rice for a long time, which will be a real problem for the real people.
I have become somewhat accustomed to the whole grains, and my gastrointestinal adaptation has not caused any severe reaction.
Then came the issue of accent and identity. After everyone discussed, it was thought that it would be best to pretend to be a person from Guangdong. This is mainly because the difference between ancient and modern Cantonese vernacular is relatively small, and many people in the time-traveling group can already speak the Cantonese vernacular of this time and space. In addition, there are
The existence of the Guangzhou Station makes it easy to obtain household registration and identity. When necessary, you can even build a cover "home" for expatriates.
Language learning mainly focuses on Mandarin. If you can speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin, you can get by in many situations. Of course, it is still a bit difficult to communicate with local people, but this can be learned slowly in the dispatched area.
As for writing, everyone must practice calligraphy. It doesn’t have to be good at writing. At least they can use calligraphy to write letters and keep accounts. As for simplified Chinese characters, Yu E Shui doesn’t think it’s a big problem – this kind of vulgar characters is used in social life.
It is also very extensive. As for classical Chinese, there is even less need. As long as you can speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin, you can cope with it by writing directly in spoken language - the level of most businessmen is about this.
After passing the appearance and language tests, you can generally blend into the Ming society. Of course, there is still a lot to learn in the future. Especially the living habits and mental outlook that a Ming person should have: if a modern person feels afraid or angry, the indigenous people may
Don't take it seriously. What the natives felt intimidated or frightened may be indifferent to modern people.
"Don't overflow with sympathy, let alone just complain about injustice." Yu Eshui emphasized, "Don't think that ancient society has simple folk customs. Many of the scam routines in today's society have been passed down since ancient times. At least you will lose money, at worst you will lose money.
It will cause endless trouble! As for fighting injustices in the street, don’t think that you are a superman just because you came to the 21st century. Even if you can protect yourself, once you offend people in the local area, you will not be able to gain a foothold, and all your business in the local area will come to nothing.”
Yu E Shui took a sip of water: "I advise everyone to forget all the plots you read in martial arts novels, such as heroes saving beauties, drawing swords to help, casino feats... These are all irrelevant to our work, and they are very harmful to the work!
Sometimes it can even be quite fatal!
"Unless approved by the headquarters, with a complete action plan and necessary foreign assistance, do not attempt to organize underground societies in the local area - there are also underworlds in the Ming Dynasty, often with deep roots, and the government can do nothing about it. The methods used are no worse than those of younger generations. You
It will not be easier to be a godfather in the county town of Ming Dynasty than it is to be a godfather in the county town of the old time and space.
…
Even in the relationship between men and women, they are reminded to pay strict attention.
"Of course you can't ask everyone to abstain from sex for a few years. Once you can settle down in the local area, the headquarters will arrange a reliable life secretary to accompany you. Don't just visit brothels, you will get various sexually transmitted diseases - there was a syphilis epidemic in the late Ming Dynasty.
Enter the period when there is a huge outbreak; do not provoke married women. The law of the Ming Dynasty stipulates that it is not illegal for a husband to kill an adulterer and an adulteress. The headquarters has worked hard to train you to go to the Ming Dynasty, not to let you be Ximen Qing and beheaded by Wu Song.
Well, don’t mess with yellow girls..."
"You can't go to high-end brothels?" Someone questioned, "Last time you said in the lecture that high-end brothels in the Ming Dynasty were a kind of social place. If we pretended to be big businessmen, we would definitely go to such places.
There is also gambling, and sometimes work needs may not be avoided.”
"Of course, this is another matter." Yu Eshui said, "But the high-end court is a gold-selling cave, and there are a set of rules here. People who don't understand will spend money in vain and be laughed at - neither am I
I understand very well. There is someone under Lin Baiguang who is very familiar with this. In the future, please ask him to tell you about eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, so that you will not be deceived."
"This is great."
Someone continued to ask about women: "Can we buy women locally?"
"Yes," Yu Eshui nodded, "relatively speaking, buying a woman is the safest. But buying a woman must go through formal procedures and channels..."
The so-called formal procedures and channels are to try to buy from local merchants and dealers. Although the price is more expensive, you will not encounter "white pigeons".
"Or if you like a girl from a small local family, you can ask someone to get her hair stretched. If the price is right, you can still negotiate."
"What should I do if a local family likes me and wants to marry their daughter to me?" someone asked.
Yu E Shui spread his hands: "This involves policy issues, I can't answer them."
Li Yan, who was sitting on the side, smiled and said: "As long as you don't bring a wife or girlfriend, the headquarters will not object to you marrying a wife or taking a concubine locally. As long as their reliability can be guaranteed. But if you marry a wife, this'
The wife's status must also be guaranteed when traveling across the group. In other words, if you change places or return to Lingao in the future, you will not be able to marry another wife. Do you understand?"
"Got it!" Everyone responded with excitement.
“Remember, the deeper you go into the mainland, the harder it will be for the headquarters to support you,” Li Yan emphasized in class. “In Guangdong and Guangxi, we have the protective umbrella, the Qiwei Escort Bureau, and our special reconnaissance team.
The navy can even go to bombard Guangzhou when necessary, but there is nothing where you go, and it may take several months for the headquarters to receive news from you. You have to rely on yourself for everything. Although the flaws in the details of life are not like in modern times
It is so deadly in intelligence operations, but it will also attract attention if accumulated too much."
Then someone comes to teach them various common etiquette and coping behaviors. They need to know when to bow according to their own status, when to kowtow, and how to address others according to their relationship... These courses are usually taught by the most reliable indigenous personnel.
Zhang Xingjiao is one of them. As a scholar, even though he lives in a small county in the southern border, he is very aware of the advancement and withdrawal of various etiquette.
The biggest help in this regard actually came from Wang Ci. This county education edict was deceived by Xiong Buyou in the name of "We have always admired the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty and hope to learn a few things." Wang Ci has always been deceived by Australians.
The advantages in all aspects weighed him down, especially since he now relied entirely on "food from outside" to maintain the county school and Moli Xuan. The pain of this kind of internal and external interaction was much more intense than that of the people in the county government who were drunk and dreaming.
Now I suddenly heard that there is a group of Australians who are "Xinxiang Jiedao", and when I saw that their clothes and hair styles had changed into Ming Dynasty costumes, I was so excited that I almost shed tears.
He came to teach the knowledge of etiquette and etiquette. He even insisted on not wanting any reward and worked for the training class for several years in vain.
Then we recruited clerks and government officials from the study class who were working hard to "study" and "reform their thoughts" to teach them the operating model of local government in the Ming Dynasty, the way of doing things, various bad rules and customs, as businessmen, landlords, wandering monks, etc.
How to get along with all kinds of people in the county government; what activities to carry out and which people in the county to establish relationships with, how to bribe and divide the spoils, and how to avoid disaster and escape if something goes wrong...