"Piling" is also the jargon of the East Factory. As a spy organization with a long history, the East Factory has long formed a set of professional and efficient means of "spreading information".

It is mainly divided into two types: 'sitting and remembering' and 'driving'.

The former can be understood as the East Factory openly stationing guards to monitor various government offices and city gates in the capital. Anything that happens in each government office and city gate must be reported to the East Factory special envoy in a timely manner.

However, the East Factory had limited manpower, with only more than a thousand people actually working. It was not enough to just monitor the capital, let alone directly monitor outside the capital. Although it could rely on the thousand-household and hundred-household offices of the Jinyiwei stationed in various provinces and prefectures to get information, the Jinyiwei were not its own people after all, and the two were in competition with the emperor, so the East Factory still hoped to get first-hand information on its own.

We have to admit that the profession of spies has innovative thinking and organizational skills far beyond the social average. Someone silently gave a thumbs up...

They adopted the method of "driving stakes" in various places to make up for the shortage of manpower. In the words of later generations, it means to develop informants in various states and counties, and use these part-time agents to monitor local movements.

The East Factory found that honest people were unwilling and unable to do this job. On the contrary, those idle beggars and hooligans who were wandering around were born to be good at getting information. Moreover, these people of questionable character were also happy to serve the East Factory, so that they could cheat and bully others under the banner of the East Factory. The two sides naturally hit it off.

The East Factory used this method to establish countless secret agents across the country. Not only did it not cost anything, but it also made a lot of money by colluding with others and extorting money.

~~

However, as far as Zhang Jing knows, it has been difficult for the East Factory to find suitable hidden stakes in Jiangnan in recent years. The stakes that were laid in the past have basically been dug up...not to mention planting hidden stakes in Jiangnan Group.

"Indeed." Shen Yingkui nodded and said, "The Jiangnan Group or Zhao Hao hates idle people very much. Under their instruction, the Jiangnan government not only carries out large-scale 'elimination of villains' and eliminates gangs and sects in the territory every year, but also constantly 'sweeps out idle people' on weekdays, that is, clears out beggars and gangsters on the streets, and arrests them as soon as they see them."

"Can the government catch this?" The eunuchs were all shocked and said, "Besides, aren't those thugs and ruffians in league with the jailers and yamen runners? Are there any who would fight against themselves?"

"This is the scary part about the Jiangnan Group." Shen Yingkui said in a deep voice: "They don't rely on officials to crack down on gangs and eliminate evil, but on the militia and the workers' self-defense force!"

"Militia, Workers' Guards, what are those?" These eunuchs are all eunuchs from the deep palace. They have just arrived at the East Factory and are completely in the dark. They haven't figured out what's going on in the capital yet, so how can they know about the new tricks in Jiangnan?

"It's similar to the militia that protects the countryside and arrests thieves." Shen Yingkui explained: "The Jiangnan Group also took advantage of the imperial court's order to prepare for the Japanese invasion and organized militias in the countryside and workers' guards in the city."

"But the difference is that the militia should be under the control of the county magistrate, while the militia and worker guards only listen to the Jiangnan Group because they all come from the farms and factories of the Jiangnan Group." Shen Yingkui smiled bitterly, "And from what I see, although they are militia, their armed training and military discipline are far superior to the imperial army. I'm afraid that only the personal soldiers of famous generals such as Qi, Li, Ma, Liu, and Deng can fight against them, right?"

"Isn't that an exaggeration? A bunch of peasants can fight better than the government troops after some training?" The eunuchs didn't believe it again.

Shen Yingkui's eyes showed that he was talking at cross purposes again.

"Okay, okay, let's not go off topic." Zhang Jing waved his hand and said, "It's not easy to just drive the stakes directly, so how about bribing their internal people?"

"This was possible 20 years ago." Shen Yingkui sighed, "At that time, the Jiangnan Group was just starting out. It was easy to bribe their people, or even plant spies. But since the first year of the Wanli reign, they established the Bureau of Secrets and started the 'Prince Operation'. Over the years, it has become an impenetrable iron wall."

"I don't believe it. How could there be someone who can't be bribed?" The eunuchs didn't believe it.

"Don't disbelieve me. Those old employees who have worked for more than 10 or 20 years have lost their minds and regard Jiangnan Group as more important than their lives." Shen Yingkui sighed again.

"To work as a worker now, you have to graduate from elementary school at least. You have to study in the school run by Jiangnan Group for six years. People are crazy. And they are all cunning. Do you want to bribe them? They will promise you on the surface, but then they will report you! You have to let the Security Bureau arrest you that night..."

Judging from Shen Yingkui's anguished tone, it was obvious that these were all traps he had fallen into.

"Then bring them back and torture them severely. I don't believe there is anything the East Factory can't pry open!" The Chief of Criminal Affairs said sinisterly, "There's no need to go to Jiangnan. Don't they have offices in every county? Just bring a few back!"

"Idiot, won't that alert the enemy?" Before Shen Yingkui could speak, Zhang Jing angrily shouted, "You must not provoke the young minister without the emperor's approval!"

The factory manager was really afraid of Zhao Hao. If the young cabinet minister incited the censors to make another move, even gods would not be able to save this rootless man.

"It's right for the factory manager to be cautious." Mr. Shen closed his folding fan and said coldly, "To put it bluntly, the young cabinet minister has been in cahoots with Feng Bao for so many years, and the factory guards have long been infiltrated by him. I'm afraid that as soon as we take action, someone over there will tip him off. By then... it's not impossible that Dongchang Hutong will be flooded again."

"They dare?!" the big officials said angrily.

"What is there to be afraid of? The three main halls have been burned down seven or eight times. What's the big deal if the East Factory is burned down two or three times?" Shen Yingkui sneered.

"If you can't drive the pile in, and forceful tactics don't work, then what's the point of sending any news?" Zhang Hua spat.

"I just mean that it's hard to take action against Jiangnan. Besides, they are very restrained in China, so it's hard to get any solid evidence against them." Shen Yingkui said calmly, "But it's different overseas. Jiangnan Group has been madly immigrating overseas, at least two million people a year. They can't identify all the immigrants from all over the country."

"And it is said that they relied on the fact that the emperor was far away and acted very arrogantly - it is said that they set up their own government overseas, trained the army, and registered the households as citizens. Even the common people regarded them as 'government' and did not care about the imperial court at all!"

"Is it so exaggerated?" Zhang Jing hissed and sucked in cold air.

"Why don't we send someone overseas to check and find out?" Shen Yingkui said in a deep voice, "If the rumors are true, we will have a lot of evidence against them."

He opened his folding fan again and said complacently, "And the best part is, we can find out the details of Jiangnan Group without them noticing anything!"

"Oh?" Zhang Jing's eyes lit up immediately. Being able to get the job done without alerting Zhao Hao was simply the best he could ask for. "Please tell me in detail, sir!"

"It's very simple. Just follow their rules! As long as the people we send out behave themselves, no matter how powerful their secret service is, it has nothing to do with me." Shen Yingkui raised three fingers and said:

"There are currently three ways to go overseas in an open and aboveboard manner. The first is immigration, which is the most important way. Almost 99% of people who go overseas take this route. You can apply in 1,400 counties across the country, and it is also the one with the most relaxed review process."

"We can send more people in." Zhang Jing nodded and said, "A blind cat will always catch a dead mouse. There are so many blind cats."

"But their immigration office is not completely unselective. Those clerks have learned the art of physiognomy similar to that of the detectives. If they see that you are a gangster or a government official, they will directly reject you. Anyway, there are many people who want to go, so they would rather let someone go than let him go..."

"Then we can't use those stakes..." Zhang Jing lit another pipe and puffed on it, saying, "None of them look good."

"Yes, it would be best to recruit a new group of spies who look honest and are no different from ordinary people." Shen Yingkui nodded and said:

"The second way is to be a crew member. Jiangnan Group used to run its own shipping business, but now their territory is too large and their population is too large. It is no longer enough to rely on their own shipping capacity. So many years ago, they allowed private individuals to run shipping within their framework."

"Jiangnan Group has very strict control over these so-called 'private freight' operations. Captains, first mates and the like must all graduate from their shipbuilding schools and have worked for their shipping companies for a certain number of years."

"So many things..." The eunuchs were secretly shocked. In their opinion, only those who wanted to be officials needed to go to school and take exams, but they didn't expect that under the Jiangnan Group, everyone had to take exams...

"The requirements for sailors are much simpler. All they need is a seaman's certificate. You can pass the test by taking a six-month fast-track training course at the seaman's academy. We can arrange for people to take the test, and as long as they pass the test, shipowners will hire them on board. The advantage is that they can move around and learn about the situation of their ports and navies."

Shen Yingkui continued:

"The third type is free travel. Before going out to sea, you just need to go to the group's local offices to apply for an overseas pass, and you can move around in their territory. The main applicants are businessmen, tourists, and those visiting relatives."

"It's not necessary to talk about visiting relatives. You really need relatives overseas to do this. Few businessmen apply for free travel. Even if they plan to do business overseas, they will first apply for immigration. Who would be reluctant to give up dozens or hundreds of acres of land? And I heard there is also a kind of investment immigration, which makes it much easier to do business after applying."

"So, apart from those visiting relatives, the people who apply for independent travel the most are scholars who love to travel. This type of travel is more convenient, but they will become the focus of their surveillance..."

"Then let's do it in multiple ways. Hire a few hundred spies and spread them out, and we'll eventually get something!" Zhang Jing nodded fiercely and said with determination, "Sir, you will be fully responsible for this matter. Don't let the people from the original East Factory get involved. It must be kept secret. Do you understand?!"

"Yes, Mr. Factory!" All the eunuchs responded in unison. Finally, Zhang Hua asked in a low voice: "Godfather, how long will this take?"

"Who cares? It's not a bad thing to spend a little longer..." Zhang Jing knocked off the ash from his cigarette and said calmly, "Your Majesty can't just change the general halfway through, can he?"

ps. Sorry, sorry, my mother was discharged from the hospital again today, and my wife worked overtime at night. I just finished one chapter. Let's see if I can write another chapter. Don't wait.