Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 383 New Intelligence Layout
After the meeting, the dignitaries from various countries in Indochina who gathered in Bangkok left one by one with different thoughts. But Zhu Youdong could not leave for the time being.
"It's already the end of September. If we count the days, Liu Yun and You Yi should have given birth by now, right? I'm such a bad father."
Shaking his head helplessly, Zhu Youdong said to Xiong Tingbi: "Mr. Xiong, I will be returning to Beijing in a few days. If you have any needs, please speak up now. Otherwise, it will be too inconvenient for me to travel through thousands of mountains and rivers when I return to Beijing."
"Your Majesty, as for the money, we have taken it from the Siamese treasury. And I heard that President Cao will soon lead many wealthy merchants in the country to Bangkok to discuss the use of the land of the five states with me. So I am not worried. As for the army, General Liu's three towns have already begun to deploy defenses, so I have nothing to worry about. It's just the people, the officials who govern the five states. After all, these five states are surrounded by other barbarian states. If we don't govern well, I am afraid it will affect the stability of the entire Nanyang."
"Mr. Xiong is right. So, who do you want?"
"Your Majesty, I really started to take charge of things in Kuandian, Liaodong, and later went to Yunnan and Guangdong. So, if Your Majesty approves, I would like to transfer a small number of officials from these three places."
"Haha, it makes sense to use some people you know well. I agree. Please ask Mr. Xiong to make a list later. I will discuss it with the Grand Chancellor after I return to Beijing."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, I would like to directly recruit 300 people from the students who graduated from Fangshan School this year."
"ah?"
"Your Majesty, the Five States are the new territory of the court. And from what I see from your majesty's ambition, I'm afraid you want to use the template of the Five States to force changes in the country. Therefore, the Five States must have a new look. In the future, many new management methods and new laws will probably have to be implemented in the Five States first and then circulated back to the country... Therefore, it is not okay for those domestic candidates who only know eight-part essays to fill the Five States. Therefore, please send students from Fangshan School directly. Fangshan's students may write ordinary articles, but they have learned dozens of times more than ordinary candidates. In addition, they are all young people. Coming to the Five States will definitely make the Five States change with each passing day."
As expected, Mr. Xiong himself is not really a bad-tempered person, but a student-crusher. The so-called student-crusher means that if you are better than me, it doesn’t matter how you treat me. If you are weaker than me, no matter how you try to please me, I will still be unfriendly to you.
And who would be weak if he was qualified to crush the poor students? In fact, he was very smart! Zhu Youdong did not remind Xiong Tingbi of the layout of the Five States New Policy to force domestic reforms, but he still guessed it.
"Okay, Mr. Xiong, I agree to this. I will take care of it when I return to Beijing."
"In this case, I have nothing to worry about."
After Xiong Tingbi stepped aside, Zhu Youdong looked at Xu Xianchun.
"Xu Tongzhi, if you hadn't been planning in Siam for many years, our conquest of Siam would not have been so easy this time."
"I dare not. The power of our Ming Dynasty is far greater than that of Siam. Even if there are no ministers, the emperor will lead the army in person and will surely be unstoppable and sweep away all the enemies."
"Hahaha, I won't say these words. Without you and the Jinyiwei's sacrifice, the ocean currents and wind direction alone would have killed Li Guozhu and his men . I am very clear about the contributions of you and your men."
After affirming his subordinates' contributions again, Zhu Youdong said solemnly: "I believe you have also seen that I have different divisions of labor between you and Tian Ergeng. In comparison, he is more responsible for internal affairs, and you are more responsible for external affairs."
"Yes, I understand your Majesty's intention. As your Majesty said, in today's world, the world has become closely integrated because of the Age of Exploration. If our Ming Dynasty can continue to stand at the top of the world, we must face the competition from the world's powerful countries head-on."
"That's right, so I will give you a new task now."
"Your Majesty, please give your instructions."
"At present, almost all of the intelligence that the Ming Dynasty has about the West comes from hearsay from the Jesuits. The situation in India and the Ottoman Empire is even darker. Therefore, after you are stationed in Bangkok, you must begin to deploy intelligence personnel in these three places."
"Well, Your Majesty. It's not that I'm refusing, but according to the descriptions in the six major newspapers, the races of the people in these three places are different from those in our Ming Dynasty. There are obvious differences in appearance. When I sneaked into Siam in the past, I was almost exposed several times because of my appearance. Should I start intelligence work in these three places?"
"Hahaha, Xianchun. What time is it now? Why are you still thinking about doing it yourself like you did more than a decade ago? Your job is to train personnel, set up sites, and collect and analyze intelligence. Don't do it yourself again. Why did I choose you instead of Ergeng to be in charge of external intelligence? Isn't it because you have a better family background than Ergeng, you have read more books than him, and your thinking is more meticulous?"
"Your Majesty, I am ashamed to hear you say that. In that case, I accept this mission. Your Majesty, please outline the specific strategies and goals."
"Hmm..." Pulling his thin green beard, Zhu Youdong also felt annoyed: the Jesuits described the twins in Spain a lot, and he knew very well what their specific identities were now. But who was the Ottoman time traveler? The age of their previous sultan didn't match, and the age of the new sultan didn't match, and it was said that he was mentally retarded - Allah couldn't send a mentally retarded person to travel through time, right? So what was the identity of this time traveler? Well, according to the shining of the seven stars, among the seven time travelers, except for Rudolf, this one was the only one who didn't reach the top. Could he be the governor of some place? After all, given the nature of time travelers to stir up trouble, it doesn't make sense that he hasn't started to make efforts yet.
As for the time traveler from India, it was even more strange: when I first came here, although I sensed that he was very far away, at least his general location was still in the Indian Peninsula. But in the past few years, I sensed that he was even farther away. And now that I have arrived in Bangkok, although I have clearly sensed that he is to the west of me, the location is so strange, it is not the same as a few years ago - it seems that this guy has returned to the original place?
Alas, it turned out that I was too focused on domestic affairs in the past few years, so I was caught off guard by Siam and Japan, and I also had almost no information about other time travelers.
I hope it’s not too late to make amends now.
"Xianchun, this is what I think. The intelligence personnel should be divided into long-term and short-term. For the long-term, we need to find children from India, the Ottoman Empire and Western Europe, both male and female. Then we train them from a young age. For the short-term, we hire homeless people, sailors, merchants and so on from these three places. Using them as a bridge, we can find ways to contact and get in touch with officials from these three places. Then we can obtain intelligence.
As for the goal to be achieved. I want to know about Spain's military, technology, economy, and the specific operation of the so-called "Justice League". It is said that Europe is now caught in a European war. I also want to know the situation of this war, the battlefield situation, etc...
As for Osman, it is said that a wise man was born here. Your task is to find out who is the wisest person in this country. Well, this kind of person's various actions should be similar to those of me and Raja Buddha.
As for India, what you need to find out is whether there were also strange phenomena in this place eighteen years ago and six years ago. If so, where did it happen? Which state of India does that place belong to? What is the situation of that state now...
That's about it. Anyway, this is hard work, and I know you're having a hard time. So don't be too anxious about the time. Three to five years will be enough to have something roughly ready. But you have to hurry up and gather the local children for training."
"The task assigned by the emperor..." Xu Xianchun smiled bitterly, but soon his eyes became firm again: "I will do it for the emperor even if it costs my life!"
