Xuanqing Guard

Chapter 359: Chapter 359: Guidance

Wang Jian scratched his head.

To be honest, he was really starting to feel overwhelmed. If he opened up yet another intelligence post, he wasn’t sure if he’d even have time left to cultivate.

Seeing Wang Jian’s bitter melon face, Shen Hao shook his head and said, "If you have something to say, just say it. Why do you look like you’re constipated?"

"No, it’s nothing, it’s just that I’ve got too much on my plate. I’m worried I might mess something up."

Wang Jian was truly helpless. Every single thing in his hands was secret and crucial. If even one thing slipped, or he missed a single detail, it could cost lives—lots of lives.

These past few months, Wang Jian even felt the back of his head was getting chilly, like he was about to worry himself bald.

Shen Hao was stunned for a moment at his words, then chuckled and said, "Don’t tell me, up till now, you’ve still been handling everything personally?"

"Huh? Sir, are you saying I could actually hand these matters to someone else?" Wang Jian was dumbfounded. From Lord Shen’s tone, it seemed like he’d done something silly.

"Are you stupid? Have you ever seen me do everything myself? If I really did that, even thirty hours in a day wouldn’t be enough!

You’ve got such a big team under you, and you even thoughtfully set up the Four Divisions. You put Zhang Liao in charge of the Impermanence Department, and the remaining ’Little Ghosts,’ ’Ghost Gate,’ and ’Judge’ are originally there for intelligence gathering and analysis—it’s all brain work! If you don’t let them help you polish your plans and handle the actual contacts, that’s just wasting resources—and it’s you making life hard for yourself."

Wang Jian blinked a few times, puzzled, and asked, "But what if the people below leak something when they get too involved in the missions?"

"There’s a strict vetting when they join up, spot checks during the job, and breaking up tasks into blocks so nobody has the whole picture—don’t you know that? Isn’t that exactly how your Four Divisions work?" Shen Hao was speechless. No wonder Wang Jian was walking around like a ghost lately—handling everything personally would work anyone to death.

"...Sir, hearing you say that makes me feel really dumb." Wang Jian slapped his own thigh, his face wincing like he’d swallowed a bitter melon.

But Shen Hao didn’t blame him. Not every official can handle everything perfectly from the start, and even with his two lifetimes, he’d made oversights. Let alone Wang Jian?

He poured Wang Jian a cup of tea himself, realizing he ought to have a proper talk with him.

"Have some tea. No rush to deal with work—let’s chat about your plans for the Four Divisions going forward. I’ll listen first, then add my thoughts."

Wang Jian leaned forward and accepted the cup with both hands, then sat down again and gathered his thoughts before saying, "Sir, to be honest, when I first set up the Four Divisions, I didn’t overthink it. I just really liked that story you once told about the Underworld, and on a whim, I used it as the basis for our intelligence operations..."

This chat lasted for half an hour.

Even Shen Hao had to admit—this kid Wang Jian really had a lively mind. Listening to him, you could hear that he had a long-term plan for the Four Divisions, even dreaming of expanding it to cover the whole Jingjiu Dynasty someday. Plus, his ideas about secret agent recruitment and deployment, as well as how to organize, archive, and analyze black market intelligence, were all rather original.

Some of Wang Jian’s ideas even had Shen Hao silently applauding.

But Wang Jian’s vision was still limited by the conventions of this world; he hadn’t managed to break past "the routine" to find new methods.

"Do you know why I keep emphasizing the Document Library?" Shen Hao decided it was time to give his most capable subordinate some guidance, to keep him from heading down the wrong track.

Wang Jian: "I thought it was because you value information flow, and carefully building the Document Library makes it easy to look things up, as well as find all kinds of breakthroughs from old cases."

Shen Hao shook his head and said, "What you mentioned is only the most superficial use of the Document Library. You’ve treated it like a ’notebook,’ but missed the point that it can actually be a weapon in your hands."

Wang Jian quickly stood up, gave a deep bow with hands clasped: "Please teach me, sir!"

"For example, say you feel like eating braised pork trotters, but you have none of the ingredients or seasonings at home. What do you do?"

"I’d go to the market and buy them."

"Exactly. But from the moment you have the thought ’I want braised pork trotters,’ even if you don’t tell anyone, once you get to the market, it’s easy for people to guess or deduce what you want to do.

For example, you buy braising spices first—they can tell you’re making a braised dish. Then you walk to the pork stall—that means braised pork. And if you ask the vendor about pork trotter prices—it’s obvious you want braised pork trotters, right?"

"Yes, that’s easy to figure out."

Shen Hao: "Exactly. In the same way, when thousands of reports are gathered in the Records Room, you can deduce your subject’s daily habits, thinking patterns, even predict their next moves."

"Predict them?!"

"That’s right, predict. If the Document Library is built up enough, and your analysis and screening systems are smooth, I think you could even deduce someone’s mental state."

"This, this can’t..." Wang Jian wanted to say it was impossible, but then remembered Lord Shen never bragged—so the words got stuck at his lips. He thought: Can it really be that powerful? Even the legendary Mind Reading Skill couldn’t be this exaggerated, could it?

"Hahaha, well, maybe I went a bit far. What I just described isn’t possible yet, but I’m convinced it’s the future. Of course, just relying on manpower for analysis isn’t enough—maybe with the help of magical artifacts, we could pull it off one day.

Anyway, what I really want is for you to get the Document Library set up properly and use it well. Don’t just make decisions off the top of your head, and don’t get yourself all twisted up trying to handle everything alone.

Once you—and your Four Divisions—learn to let intelligence and information drive and support your work, you’ll find that your real job is just handing out missions, and each part of the process will have someone using past info and cases to arrange things in the smartest way possible."

That’s what I expect from your Four Divisions. I hope you’ll include what I’ve said in your future planning."

Wang Jian stood in the Public Office, rubbing his hands together, face flushed with excitement: "Sir, even if I don’t fully get everything you said, I know you can’t be wrong. When I get back, I’ll think hard about how to put your suggestions into action.

By the way, for this task with the Deputy General, I’ll see if I can let the Judges below take the lead on the operation. Do you think that will work?"

Shen Hao picked up his teacup again: "My job is just to give you the mission—how you get it done is up to you. Be prudent, but I trust the people in your Four Divisions can handle this kind of task."