Chapter Nineteen: Intensive Training Class

  In December 1937, China established the Central Special Work Committee, which was in charge of intelligence work for the whole Party and army.

  In October 1938, the General Political Department of the Military Commission issued the "Decision on the Purge Work and Organizational Regulations in the Army"

  In January 1939, the Central Politburo made the decision "On Consolidating the Party"

  On February 18, 1939, the Central Secretariat issued a document entitled "Decision on the Establishment of the Social Department", which referred to this secret organization as the "Central Intelligence Bureau" internally and vaguely as the "Central Enemy Zone Work Committee" externally.

  This is the young Chinese central first-level leadership organization responsible for intelligence and security work after "Central Special Branch". The first minister was Kang Sheng, who had served as Minister of Central Organization Department and Deputy Representative to the Third International. Pan Hannian, Kong Yuan, Li Kenong and other most famous intelligence experts successively served as deputy ministers.

  The Social Department is, within **organization**, always mysterious and unpredictable. In fact, it's the Intelligence Headquarters, Special Operations Headquarters, Security Headquarters.

  In accordance with the central requirements and the needs of the struggle against Japan and Chiang, soon after, social departments were established in various leading organs at all levels of the Eighth Route Army, responsible for intelligence security, counter-espionage and counter-subversion work within their respective troops.

  It was against this backdrop that the Shandong Branch and the Shandong Column organized a training session.

  Outside Shouguang City, a remote farmhouse.

  Golden rape flowers have become a paradise for butterflies, these beautiful butterflies are not affected by the war, they fly in the sky one moment and dive into the depths of the flower powder the next.

  Sometimes a gentle breeze blows by, and the rape flowers suddenly surge up with golden waves, making people feel breathtakingly beautiful.

  Just at that time when the sky had just come, twenty eight-route army cadres with different accents suddenly arrived.

  The whistle blows at the village entrance station, and here it is temporarily isolated from the world.

  More than 20 cadres, only two are female, the oldest is over 40, and the youngest has just graduated from school. Everyone eats, lives, studies and works together.

  During the study period, you are not allowed to leave the village for 24 hours.

  No attendants or security personnel allowed.

  No leave is allowed.

  No contact with the outside world is allowed.

  Stricter still is the rule for some courses where note-taking is forbidden and students are only allowed to listen and memorize.

  The instructor's level is high, and the student's level is not low either.

  The lecturer on the stage is a well-known leader in various fields of Shandong Province, and the audience listening to the lecture are all elite soldiers from various parts of Shandong who have fought bravely in the battle to defend the front line.

  Qiao Xiangwen, Deputy Director of Social Department of Independent Brigade and Head of Chajian Science and Technology Section, was one of the trainees.

  At that time, the Shandong Column had a limited number of intelligence personnel, and those with cultural background were even scarcer. To address this, each division and detachment selected a batch of politically reliable and experienced military and political cadres from the front-line regimental and battalion-level commanders to fill the social work department and take charge of intelligence security work.

  Although these cadres have rich command and combat experience and political ideology work level, they lack professional skills and techniques in intelligence work.

  The first intelligence reconnaissance officer training class is now open!

  Lesson One: The then branch bureau leader lectured on the cultivation of revolutionaries.

  He told everyone through his own revolutionary practice that relying solely on bravery, relying solely on brute force, the revolution cannot achieve final victory. It is also necessary to continuously improve one's moral cultivation level. Moral cultivation includes political cultivation, theoretical cultivation, and moral cultivation. The trainees present have all been on the battlefield, risking their lives for the revolution, making contributions with their revolutionary ideals, passion, and fearlessness of sacrifice. However, in future battles on the hidden front line, it will no longer be about charging forward, but rather relying on wisdom, strategy, and high moral cultivation to fight a life-and-death battle against counter-revolutionary activities. This is also a thrilling battle that requires everyone to have higher revolutionary awareness, courage, and higher moral standards. Because they often need to fight in the enemy's rear, working with various types of people, counter-revolutionary activities require good moral cultivation, otherwise it will not work. He also specifically cited the example of Gu Shunzhang within the party.

  Gu Shunzhang, also known as Gu Fengming, joined the Communist Party of China in 1924. In 1925, he participated in the Shanghai May Thirtieth Movement and led a strike by tobacco factory workers. He later served as the head of the Central Political Protection Bureau, responsible for security work within the central government agencies. He was an expert in intelligence gathering and counter-espionage work. After May 1927, he successively held positions such as member of the Central Military Commission, head of the military special operations department, and person in charge of the Red Army's special operations bureau, specializing in counter-espionage and intelligence collection work. In April 1931, Gu was responsible for escorting Zhang Guotao and others through Wuhan to the Hubei-Henan-Anhui revolutionary base. On their return journey, they were recognized by a traitor at Hankou's new market. On April 24th, he was arrested by the Nationalist Party's Wuhan Pacification Office detective agency, immediately defected, and voluntarily offered to sell out the Communist Party organization and its members to the Nationalist Party's special agencies. Early party leader Qu Qiubai was betrayed and killed due to Gu's actions. Soon after, Gu joined the Nationalist Party's special operations organization, specializing in destroying the Communist Party organization, suppressing revolutionary activities, and repressing progressive movements.

  Analyzing his life trajectory and the reasons for his changes, lacking revolutionary integrity and morality is the most important reason. On one hand, he was enthusiastic about blind and adventurous actions in his work, repeatedly suggesting using explosives to blow up several large hotels in Shanghai, and even proposed using armed robbery against foreign ships. On the other hand, taking advantage of his special position, he indulged in a dissolute life, eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling, gradually becoming corrupt. Moreover, he looked down on everyone, often flaunting his qualifications, talking about history, and refusing to listen to the advice of comrades and friends. For a period of time, he even disapproved of Zhou Enlai's work arrangements, transforming from a high-ranking party official and head of intelligence and security work into a sworn enemy of revolutionaries and a vicious dog of reactionaries.

  The first public wanted notice in Chinese history was issued against Gu Shuzhang, signed by Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic.

  The provincial party committee leader even brought the wanted notice from that year to teach the students.

  He read out the wanted notice in a thick Anhui accent:

  Soviet Temporary Central Government Special Order:

  To all levels of Soviet government, the Red Army and local Red Guards, and to inform the nationwide working people, peasants and laboring masses:

  We must strictly guard against the counter-revolutionary plots and intrigues of the Nationalist Party. We must arrest and bring to justice the traitor Gu Shunzhang. In Soviet-controlled areas, if this traitor is encountered, he should be apprehended and tried by a revolutionary court; in White Terror areas, every revolutionary fighter and every poor peasant has the responsibility to eliminate him.

  The capture and elimination of the traitor Gu Shunzhang is the glorious and conscious responsibility of every revolutionary fighter and working people.

  Listening to vivid examples and lively explanations, Qiao Wen and others frequently responded with warm applause, the classroom atmosphere was very active.

  The next course entered into professional training.

  No lecture notes, no textbooks, no theories, no formulas. Leaders and experts with rich experience in intelligence work from all over the country combined with examples to carry out a series of training sessions. Some taught how to select targets for counter-espionage within enemy camps, some taught how to eliminate internal enemies within our party, some imparted skills on gathering intelligence in White areas, and some imparted strategies for reconnaissance work behind enemy lines.

  What amazed everyone was that an expert also taught everyone makeup skills, performing live on how to disguise and dress up, hide their true face, and deceive the enemy by disguising themselves.

  Another cryptographer was even more professional, he had been engaged in wireless radio monitoring and password cracking work in the Eighth Route Army for a long time. He gave a detailed account of the technical principles of telegraph stations and how to quickly crack the enemy's passwords and obtain valuable intelligence in daily work.

  Minister of Social Affairs of the Vertical Queue, the renowned defense expert Duke Ming, gave a lecture from another angle, leaving everyone with a special impression.

  Du Ming said that engaging in revolutionary work, especially intelligence work, has always been the focus of enemy capture. The so-called war between two countries does not kill the envoys, and the two armies clash, first catching spies, which is to say that intelligence work has a great killing effect on the opponent. No matter which side it is, they try their best to dig out spies and keep action secrets, thereby achieving the effect of surprise attack. In the cruel revolutionary struggle, many intelligence workers fell into enemy hands. What should we do if we are captured?

  Duke Ming combined many examples and inducted several methods:

  First, pretend to be stupid. Pretend to be deaf and dumb, confuse the enemy, delay time, look for opportunities to escape or transmit information out, wait for rescue;

  Second, the method of avoiding the heavy and selecting the light. Give the enemy some seemingly true but actually false information, some of which is outdated, some of which has already been transferred by troops, a mix of truth and falsehood, to deceive the enemy's trust, and then look for opportunities.

  Third, the counter-accusation tactic. This is mainly aimed at the betrayal of traitors. In order to gain an opportunity, it's not a bad idea to take the initiative and launch a preemptive attack. By coordinating with some worthless intelligence, one can accuse accomplices as traitors, confusing the enemy's vision and waiting for an opportunity to eliminate the traitor.

  Du Ke Ming's lectures are vivid and colorful, highly infectious, and the content is very much to the students' taste, making everyone admire him endlessly.

  What these battle heroes did not expect was that, in order to coordinate with the anti-Japanese situation, the training class also specially trained them in simple Japanese conversations. This provided many people with a lot of convenience for their future work.

  The theoretical course is over, and now it's time for practice.

  That afternoon, the teacher led the students into a dilapidated classroom with anti-war slogans plastered on the walls, each desk was empty and dusty, and spider webs hung from the rafters.

  Just when everyone was confused, the teacher asked:

  Find the cryptic message set by the traitor in the classroom within 20 minutes!

  The students immediately exploded.

  Everyone immediately got to work, some searched on the ground, some listened against the wall, some climbed onto chairs to search on top of the beams, and some rummaged through every drawer. One student even brought an iron shovel, ready to dig into the floor in an attempt to find it underground.

  Just when everyone was busy beyond recognition, Qiao Wen stood quietly in a corner of the classroom, observing with her eyes scanning every corner of the room.

  Twenty minutes later, all the classmates were busy and sweating profusely, but got nothing.

  Just as the teacher was about to announce the answer, Qiao Wen raised his hand.

  The teacher and classmates all looked at him together.

  Just now, in the process of observation, he noticed such a detail, that is, although several anti-Japanese slogans are neat in content, but when placed together, they still seem a bit stiff. Combining his own knowledge of literary rhetoric and looking at it repeatedly, the answer suddenly became clear.

  These four slogans are:

  Today we don't resist the enemy, tomorrow our country will perish; day and night we work together to produce weapons to fight against the Japanese bandits; eight thousand miles of road with clouds and moon, good sons protect their homes and defend their country; time waits for no man, sign up to join the army.

  "Marching North and South" is a serialized military novel originally published on (Starting Point Website). Search for "Marching North and South" to share, if you have any better suggestions, please let me know in time, I'm grateful; if you think it's readable, don't forget to vote with your precious ticket, because your support and encouragement are my greatest motivation for future creations. QQ: 394915357 or join the QJiao Flow Group: 171584042 for more wonderful stories to share happily together, because of you, my friend.