The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 361 Training
Cao Er was taken aback upon hearing this and blurted out:

"Take him away? Where are you taking him?"

Jiang Han glanced at him and said indifferently:
"Naturally, he should be taken away from the army. I have other plans."

"By the way, once we get back, we should immediately have someone send over the military records of these thirty people."

"All their paperwork and records in the military were also cancelled."

"Remove them from the military? Cancel their personnel files?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Er appeared extremely distressed.

Don't be fooled by how badly he berated these people just now; it was all just angry words born of disappointment and frustration.

In fact, these elite soldiers were his most prized possessions, his reliance for charging into battle and tearing through enemy lines.

Having more than thirty pieces removed at once felt like having flesh cut from his body.

Cao Er, with a bitter face, still tried to plead his case:
"Your Majesty, these are the pillars of our central army."

"Aren't you afraid the structure will collapse if so much is removed at once?"

"How about... you leave some for me?"

Jiang Han glanced at him and smiled:

"Stop trying to play the poor card with me!"

"Didn't we leave you over seventy scouts?"

"I refuse to believe that just because you took away thirty or so men, you, Cao Er, can't fight?"

"Hurry up and execute the order!"

Having said that, he ignored the sullen Cao Er and turned to wave at Yang Lin and the others:

"All of you, come with me."

Jiang Han led all thirty-odd soldiers back to the secluded camp they had been in before.

Once everyone had lined up and stood in formation, he solemnly announced:

"You now number thirty-six, the best of the best who have passed through layers of selection and all the assessments."

"The reason you were singled out is not to be incorporated into the forward selection team, but to be given other important roles."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the astonished faces, and slowly explained:

"Not long ago, I established a new department in the army called the Investigation Bureau."

"It was mainly to gather intelligence on the capital, Huguang, Fujian and other places."

"Therefore, I intend to train you to become full-time spies, so that you can gather intelligence from all sides for my Han army in the future and carry out special missions when necessary."

Upon hearing this, someone in the queue couldn't help but ask:
"Your Majesty, is it... is it like the Ming Dynasty's Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

"Flying fish robes and embroidered spring knives?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Han shook his head:
"No."

"To be more precise, they should be like the night scouts in the border army, but with a wider range of activities and deeper infiltration."

"You should be well aware that the war in the Central Plains has not yet ended, the powerful enemy in Liaodong is eyeing us covetously, and outside of Sichuan, the situation is turbulent and unpredictable."

"If the Han army wants to remain invincible and then contend for the world, it must not be deaf and blind."

"Therefore, I need a professional and elite scout team to delve into the heart of the enemy's lair and gather intelligence."

"The previous assessments were simply to select those with the potential to scout out, nothing more."

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was going on.

It turns out that those seemingly strange exam questions actually had such a profound meaning behind them.

However, they still didn't quite understand why passing the assessment was considered a prerequisite for becoming a spy.

To dispel everyone's doubts, Jiang Han had no choice but to patiently explain:

"I don't need to elaborate on how harsh the conditions and how dangerous the situation are for spies like night scouts."

"Not only must one be brave, but also quick-witted and patient; neither can be lacking."

"Take the observation camp we just mentioned, for example. It tests memory, observation and reasoning abilities."

"And these are the most basic qualities of a qualified spy."

He analyzed it in detail:

"For example, the simplest way is to identify the commander of the troops just by recognizing the camp flag."

“Even military tactics and factions can be gleaned from this.”

"By observing the amount of fodder, one can roughly estimate the number of people in the group and even how long they might stay."

"These seemingly insignificant pieces of information, when put together, become extremely valuable intelligence."

In the Ming Dynasty army, "fodder" was a compound word, with grass being grass and fodder being fodder, and the two had different uses.

"Grass" refers to roughage for livestock, such as rice straw, wheat straw, alfalfa, etc. After harvesting, it is dried, bundled into "grass bundles", and stored in the open air or in hay sheds. It is the daily staple food for livestock.

Moreover, grass has more than one use; in the military, it can be used for starting fires, making beds, and even constructing temporary shelters.

"Feed" specifically refers to concentrated feed for supplementing the nutrition of livestock such as horses and cattle. It belongs to "refined grains" and needs to be stored separately in granaries or special feed rooms.

The military system of the Ming Dynasty had clear standards, such as "an army of about three thousand men, equipped with eight hundred horses, and requiring one thousand bundles of hay and forty shi of fodder per day".
A qualified scout can roughly estimate the size of the enemy camp's troops, the proportion of cavalry, and even their logistical support simply by observing the size of the haystack from a distance.

Only then did everyone understand Jiang Han's good intentions. Seeing this, Jiang Han beckoned to Hei Zi beside him and introduced him to the others:

"This is Lieutenant General Fang, who is also the head of the Investigation Bureau."

“From this day forward, you thirty-six of you will be directly under his command and at his disposal.”

"He was in charge of all training matters."

At that opportune moment, Hei Zi stepped to the front of the line, clasped his hands in greeting, and said:

"From now on, I'll have to rely on the brothers for help."

"Sharing joys and sorrows, sharing joys and sorrows."

Jiang Han finally breathed a sigh of relief after completing the task.
"Alright, it's getting late. Everyone must be tired. Let's go back and rest."

"You have two days to go back to your original camp and pack your personal belongings."

"Remember, this troop deployment is a military secret, and you must not disclose the details to anyone."

"Anyone who disobeys this order will be executed without pardon!"

"At dawn two days from now, gather here precisely for a comprehensive training session by Fang Can."

Upon hearing this, everyone clasped their hands in unison and responded:
"I obey the king's orders!"

They then dispersed and returned to their original units to pack their belongings.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and all thirty-six people were present and assembled at the camp on time.

Their military status has been cancelled on the official roster, and a copy is only available in the Confidential Office of the Investigation Bureau.

This means they will have no way out.

The training will be personally led by Hei Zi, and Jiang Han will also frequently come to provide guidance.

The first step was to review and reinforce the basic subjects.

Although the spies will mainly operate in towns and villages in the future, Jiang Han always believes that a qualified spy must master survival skills in various environments.

Therefore, skills such as stargazing for navigation, wilderness survival, trace erasure, and long-distance covert raids have been included in the training curriculum.

Although most of these skills are only needed by night watchmen on the grasslands, it's always good to have more skills.

In Jiang Han's words, these skills may not be useful in ordinary times, but they might save his life in a critical moment.

For veterans like Yang Lin, who have served in the military for many years and have extensive experience, these subjects are not difficult; they only require systematic review and intensive training.

The training focused on intelligence expertise.

First, there was the secret code transmission. Hei Zi gave everyone a copy of Zhu Xi's "Questions on the Great Learning" as a unified codebook.

Following Jiang Han's suggestion, he adopted a simple yet effective coding method, namely, using the "page-line-character" sequence for positioning.

This method is simple and aims to enable students to master and apply it in the shortest possible time.

For example, to transmit the message "Attack the city at noon tomorrow," one must first find the corresponding character in the codebook:

“明”字，假设位于第5页第3行第2字，那么编码就写成：5-3-2；

“日”字，位于第12页第1行第4字，那么编码就写成：12-1-4；

And so on, the entire message will eventually be converted into a string of numbers.

After receiving the encrypted text, the recipient takes out the same version of "The Great Learning" and, according to the received string of numbers, finds the corresponding page, line, and character in sequence to read out the original information.

During the training session, Hei Zi patiently and repeatedly emphasized the importance of the codebook and required them to practice repeatedly to achieve fast and accurate encoding and decoding.

Next comes the disguise of identity, which is the key to infiltrating behind enemy lines.

Based on their potential future assignments, Yang Lin and other trainees were divided into three groups for targeted training.

The Beijing group will focus on learning the etiquette, speech, and behavior of shopkeepers, such as how they greet customers and how they keep accounts.
Sometimes they would even dress up as peddlers, laborers, or vendors who roamed the streets, striving to be as lifelike as possible.

In addition, trainees also need to know some basic information about the institutions of the central government.

For example, what is the Cabinet, what are the functions of the Six Ministries, and how can we accurately identify the correspondence between the insignia patterns on officials' badges and their ranks?

We must not only pay attention to officials, but also to ordinary people.

As the political center, the capital city certainly has more sources of information than other places, so spies need to learn to glean potential intelligence from casual conversations in teahouses and taverns.

This is a delicate task. Trying to teach these talented people to act like scholars fanning themselves or merchants calculating accounts has really driven Hei Zi to despair.

At the beginning, the group made many mistakes in even walking, sitting and lying down. The scholars walked in a way that resembled a patrol or sentry duty.

Jiang Han, who was watching from the sidelines, shook his head repeatedly, finding it amusing, and could only personally demonstrate and teach.

The spies sent to Fujian not only needed to understand business affairs, but also needed to be familiar with boats and waterways, and learn basic sail handling and rowing skills, so that they wouldn't be completely clueless when they arrived.

Jiang Han also pointed out that they could recruit some skilled shipbuilding craftsmen from the coastal shipyards.

The situation in the Hubei and Hunan regions is more complicated.

Although the fighting in the Central Plains has temporarily subsided, the conflict between the rebel army and the government forces will certainly not end so easily.

Although Gao Yingxiang was dead, Zhang Xianzhong was still sharpening his sword in Gucheng.

Therefore, the spies sent out were mainly disguised as itinerant doctors.

They need to learn battlefield first aid, treat sword wounds, prepare simple wound medicines, and also master a set of talking points to deal with interrogations.

Jiang Han also emphasized that it is best to work in small groups of two or three people, pretending to be master and apprentice, brothers, etc., so as to cover for each other.

(End of this chapter)