Chapter 292: Dragon Crag Battle Record (15)

Blue Great Master's real name was Nan Wang.

Nan Wang was originally a failed Xiucai scholar in Hangzhou City. Later, while working as a hanger-on for a salt merchant, he got the boss's concubine Liu Niang pregnant, and then he took Liu Niang and ran.

After running into bandits at sea and nearly being killed, Nan Wang was rescued by the Transmigrators. After this, he began helping the Transmigrators do things in Hangzhou. When the Transmigrators occupied Dayuan, Nan Wang followed them there, and based on his traits, he was developed into a special agent by the newly established Intelligence Bureau.

As the earliest recruited special agent of the Intelligence Bureau, Nan Wang received focused training: old employees in any power base's early days can always enjoy the conveniences of a startup phase.

Regarding his recruitment, Intelligence Bureau Director Dai Yun personally handled it; and for the subsequent training, due to the early-stage scale, Nan Wang was personally tutored by Intelligence Bureau Deputy Director Ma Yue, who came from a state security background.

At first, he actually felt some resistance in his heart toward being a "secret agent." But circumstances were stronger than the man: he was just a Xiucai who had failed the exams for many years, and he had offended the salt merchant back in Hangzhou. Without sheltering under the Crossing Faction, he had nowhere else to go.

Moreover, as his understanding deepened, Nan Wang increasingly felt that this group was mysterious and powerful, and of course, cold and ruthless as well.

One must know, he had participated in the "Li Kui Plan" concerning the Hangzhou imperial examinations, which meant he was "privy to secrets." If at this time he did not follow the path they pointed out—

Nan Wang's profession was a hanger-on; he not only had to produce poetry on the spot but also had to be able to recount marketplace gossip and political commentary at any time. This type of person usually understood the ways of the world and was no bookworm, so Nan Wang had a very clear judgment of his own dangerous situation.

In the end, he could only quietly bury that bit of discontent deep in his heart and become this ambiguous "Intelligence Bureau Trainee."

The trainee's treatment was actually quite good. As soon as Nan Wang arrived in Dayuan, he was assigned a standalone house: the pregnant Liu Niang needed his care.

Unlike the secretive and cruel "skill-learning" he had imagined, on his first day of "work," Nan Wang was actually assigned to the newly built Chikan Academy to serve as a "Teaching Assistant."

The teachers at Chikan Academy were all top students selected earlier from among the refugees. These people had to pursue advanced studies while concurrently serving as academy teachers.

And Nan Wang's first job as a Teaching Assistant was also to study: "Simplified-Traditional Character Comparison Table," "Concise Dictionary," "Interpretation of Old and New Vocabulary," "A Brief History of Social Forms."

Sitting in the sunlit office, Nan Wang's mood gradually settled during his spare time from studying: he was a failed Xiucai whose family fortunes had declined, and he felt no gratitude or devotion toward the Great Ming.

Now learning simplified characters with missing strokes, he felt no resistance either — after all, this group treated him quite well. He received a monthly wage equivalent to three taels of silver, and because Liu Niang was literate, she was also assigned an easy job as a Community clerk, with a wage likewise of three taels.

Originally, Nan Wang was not very willing, but here in Dayuan, all women had to work. Liu Niang, who had always been kept as a hidden beauty, actually loved the feeling of working. Every day, she happily went to her post with her big belly, and even harbored ambitions of becoming a Street Office Director. Nan Wang had no way to stop her, so he just let her be.

Additionally, Liu Niang also obtained the qualification to have her fetus checked at the Hospital. This was very important: Nan Wang now knew that the child in Liu Niang's belly was a daughter.

A Xiucai's literary foundation far exceeded that of a later-generation middle school student, so Nan Wang quickly finished studying the Simplified-Traditional Character Comparison Table.

And his ideological state gradually began to change when he studied the booklet "Interpretation of Old and New Vocabulary."

Some of the vocabulary in the booklet already existed in ancient texts but had been given new meanings, while others were simply coined out of thin air, such as "industrialization" and "battleship." Nan Wang recognized every character but could not understand the definitions — yet he could discern from these words a world completely different from the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Ma Yue, who had always cared about his growth, appeared. Ma Yue not only took time to explain the meanings of these new words to him but also specially brought Nan Wang to the Intelligence Bureau's screening room to watch "educational films," letting him thoroughly witness what were called battleships and industrialization.

Hearing the voiceover in the same tone as the Transmigrators, and seeing those enormous steel warships on the screen belching thick black smoke and firing deafening cannons, Nan Wang was indeed greatly shocked. And when he saw the workers on the assembly lines and the machine production lines running day and night, he instead fell silent.

"Are these shadow images real or fake? And where do you people come from?"

If such city-wall-like iron ships and steel mechanisms that spewed out finished products day and night truly existed, then the Transmigrators would have long since unified all nations — why would they need to come to this sea island to suffer? Therefore, Nan Wang's first thought was that everything on the screen was fake; this was merely some kind of sophisticated shadow play.

Ma Yue said nothing, but instead took him to the Kiln Area Base.

After returning from the base tour, Nan Wang finally gained a preliminary concept of so-called industrialization. Only then did Ma Yue bluntly tell Nan Wang: the Transmigrators all came from the Kunlun Upper Realm, and their goal was to overthrow the Great Ming and establish a New World.

Regarding this whole rebellion business, Nan Wang was not surprised: he had long since deduced it from the clues and the Transmigrators' daily conversations. Otherwise, what was the purpose of training him, this "hidden agent"?

What surprised him was the so-called "Kunlun": now he finally knew the origin of these strange people — so they were Exiled Immortals?

This made everything fit: two kinds of people who appeared the same on the surface but were completely different in essence, all kinds of miraculous technologies and "Dharma Artifacts," and the vast social background represented behind those new words — all now had an explanation.

And what Nan Wang could not understand was, why didn't the Transmigrators directly disclose their origins? One must know, those leaders of secret societies and cults in the underworld could gather large numbers of followers with just a few mediocre tricks. Yet among the things these Transmigrators possessed, far too many could be called true "divine miracles."

Hearing this, Ma Yue let out a hearty laugh, and then told Nan Wang two things: first, a realm must be conquered step by step with one's own two hands; that cult-leader approach is a shortcut, lacking any foundation.

Second, they, these "Exiled Immortals," now had neither magical power nor a way back to Kunlun, and were no different from ordinary people. For now, they could only replicate the world in those "educational films" bit by bit, and thus had to lie low for some years.

Moreover, since they were already "mortals," they did not intend to widely publicize the stories of the immortal realm any longer. All matters concerning the "Kunlun Realm" would only be passed down orally among the first generation of native elites, with no written records formed. In the future, these stories could only become legends.

Nan Wang's worldview thus had a brand-new door pushed open.

As he delved deeper into those foundational teaching materials, Nan Wang became increasingly interested in the legendary Kunlun Divine Realm. Ma Yue told him that the Upper Realm was also incessantly ravaged by war, with nations and regimes rising and falling in an instant, and various systems coexisting — "A Brief History of Social Forms."

This book was the final step in the trainees' ideological training. Nan Wang studied from the slavery system all the way to capitalism. During this period, Ma Yue, in the role of a good teacher and helpful friend, constantly imparted common knowledge, broadened his horizons, and blew his mind for this 17th-century Xiucai.

The final discussion between the two sides regarding social systems occurred after Nan Wang learned that the regime he would serve in the future would be a constitutional monarchy.

"Wouldn't that be the Son of Heaven ruling through non-action?" Nan Wang, whose understanding of social systems was still half-baked, immediately applied the Confucian theories he was most familiar with.

"Hahaha." Ma Yue burst into loud laughter.

"The 'ruling through non-action' spoken of by the Scholar-Officials means sidelining the Emperor so that their own class dominates exclusively — the common people have no part in this, and the Scholar-Officials have no intention of accepting supervision from the mud-legged peasants."

"But a constitutional monarchy is different: although the Emperor is sidelined, the ruling class must be responsible to the voters. If you want to be a governor, you must win over the people of an entire province. Tell me, is it easier to privately win over a few big shots, or to win over the people of an entire province?"

"In that case, won't officials in the future be rather hard to be?" Nan Wang understood.

"Exactly. Pleasing thousands upon thousands of common people is much harder than sidelining an Emperor."

After completing this most difficult step of ideological transformation, Nan Wang finally understood clearly "why he fought" and "for whom he fought." This was already three months after he had arrived in Dayuan.

After this, the Intelligence Bureau conducted several rounds of psychological tests and internal lie-detection on him.

The facts proved that the converted scholar class could indeed "be used by us." At the very least, Nan Wang, this frustrated low-end scholar, was now full of ideas like "follower of the dragon" and "founding meritorious minister" — he could be said to have been thoroughly reborn.

After the tests were completed, Nan Wang was transferred away from Chikan Academy to a village in Xingang Society. This village had already been converted into an Intelligence Bureau training base, and the original inhabitants had all been relocated to the Chikan New District.

And before this, there was an interlude: a certain someone finally welcomed the birth of his own daughter. During this time, because Liu Niang had a difficult labor, Nan Wang also got to witness the divine miracle of Master Miaoshu "cutting open the belly to retrieve the infant."

Holding the wailing infant, Nan Wang knew that he could never turn back now — no doctor in the Ming Dynasty could accomplish this. If he wanted a house full of children and grandchildren in the future, he could only stick with the Transmigrators.

Not long after, Nan Wang, now a new father, began receiving formal spy skill training.

Realizing that his study curriculum had shifted from the theoretical "Dao" to the practice-oriented "techniques," Nan Wang instead felt a bit excited — his ideological level had now greatly improved, and he no longer resisted these "skills" that could help him rise above others.

Compared to later generations, the special agent curriculum was a heavily neutered, stripped-down version: shooting, hand-to-hand combat, assassination, intelligence gathering and analysis, maintenance and use of electronic equipment, chemical agent handling, telegraphy techniques — that was the entirety of it.

The Intelligence Bureau's enemies in the 17th century were of far too low a level; there was no need for 007.