Chapter 12: Zhang Anping’s Strategy (Part One)

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Guanwang Temple.
Zheng Yaoxian hurried in carrying a thick stack of documents. Seeing Zhang Anping, he said, “Brother Shihao, here’s the student information sent by several district stations. We’ll have to work overtime tonight to review them.”
“How many in total?”
“Two hundred forty-two.”
Zhang Anping frowned. “That seems a bit few. Are the district stations slacking off?”
Zheng Yaoxian feigned helplessness. “There’s no choice. Most of the university students basically look down on the Central Police Academy’s reputation. The districts have offered some alternative candidates, but their academic qualifications don’t meet our standards. Brother Shihao, should we consider lowering the requirements a bit?”
“No way. For the first batch, quality over quantity,” Zhang Anping shook his head.
With the full-scale war of resistance erupting, these people are bound to become the backbone of the future military intelligence.
University students tend to be more knowledgeable and progressive; after encountering new ideas, they can think independently—once disillusioned by the increasingly corrupt Nationalist government, they are easier to turn.
Zheng Yaoxian agreed, “Indeed, the first batch must be selective—so what about the remaining vacancies?”
“Let’s recruit from schools in Nanjing. Brother Zheng, you lead the team to the capital’s universities. No matter what, the quota of 260 must be met. It’s fine if we exceed it, but we cannot fall short.”
Seeing no one around, Zheng Yaoxian lowered his voice. “Brother Anping, you always give me the tough tasks!”
“After this is done, I’ll treat you to make up for it.”
“Agreed!”
Zheng Yaoxian was, of course, just saying that. He was actually thrilled to recruit people—his superior Lu Hanqing had given him a list, instructing him to find a way to get everyone on it admitted.
He deliberately sent back dozens of candidate materials from the district stations, waiting for this moment!
As expected, Zhang Anping refused to lower the standards!
After receiving the satisfactory reply, Zheng Yaoxian dawdled a bit more before leaving the review department.
Watching the future Sixth Brother of military intelligence leave as if nothing had happened, Zhang Anping revealed a barely perceptible smile.
Sixth Brother, you’re still too inexperienced.
In this matter, it was still the seasoned Lv Zongfang who, seemingly uninvolved in the students’ affairs, quietly arranged for more than twenty people to be admitted through headquarters personnel.
Of course, not all of them were underground agents; perhaps only two or three truly were.
Zhang Anping shook his head, dismissing these unspeakable thoughts, and began carefully reviewing the students’ materials.
He was shocked upon closer inspection!
Li Ya, Lu Qiaoshan, Qi Siyuan, Chen Peng, Qi Peilin, Li Bohan, Sun Dapu, Xu Zhongyi, Yu Xiuning, Ming Cheng, Gong Shu, Zhao Jianzhi, Song Xiao’an, Yu Zecheng, Gu Yufei, Lin Nansheng...
Seeing one familiar name after another, faces in the photos younger than he remembered, Zhang Anping suddenly smiled silently.
Interesting, truly interesting—countless future protagonists and supporting characters all appearing at once!
This Guanwang Temple training class about to begin is indeed a den of hidden talents!
Thinking of personally training so many future key figures, Zhang Anping felt a surge of fighting spirit.

...
Students began arriving one after another.
Zhang Anping, fulfilling his role as deputy head of the review department, selected 129 student files for further verification within three days, including all the aforementioned main characters—ruthless, not even giving insiders preferential treatment.
After verification by the district stations, most were confirmed legitimate; only seven files were questionable, none belonging to the main characters Zhang Anping knew.

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At the academic affairs meeting, the others, unwilling to take responsibility, planned to reject the seven questionable candidates, but Zhang Anping opposed this.
“Questionable candidates are even better! They won’t cause any trouble under our watch! Whether they are communist spies or Japanese agents, since they are out in the open, we’ll catch them eventually!”
Faced with Zhang Anping’s radical stance, no one continued to argue. The matter was now officially recorded, and any future problems would be Zhang Anping’s responsibility.
However, this earned Zhang Anping a preliminary label among them: anti-communist, anti-Japanese.
It was the persona he consistently maintained; with his influential cousin backing him, and this image, how could he not secure a place in the military intelligence?
Xu Baichuan said, “Moving on, aren’t there too few female students? Only nine in total!”
“The Central Police Academy’s name doesn’t attract female students at all. These nine were barely recruited through desperate efforts by the district stations,” Zheng Yaoxian said with a bitter smile.
“I personally visited several universities in the capital; honestly, female students have no interest in becoming police officers.”
Zhang Anping said, “For the next intake, we can lower the female candidates’ standards to vocational high school level. But for this batch, it will stay as is.”
This was the final meeting of the preparatory office. After it ended, the reserve office would disband, and everyone would begin their new duties according to their roles.
The last topic was the initial training for new students.
According to the agreed regulations upon establishing the class, the first training batch would officially begin in early September and graduate by the end of April the following year; the second batch would begin in March and graduate by the end of September.
But today was only July 26, and most teachers and logistics staff had yet to arrive.
Everyone looked at Zhang Anping, who had originally insisted the students come early.
“One month of military training—it’s necessary. These students have undergone military drills, but drills and formal training are different,” Zhang Anping said. “We are the JSWYH Investigation and Statistics Bureau; all members’ primary identity is soldier. Without some military bearing, it just wouldn’t be right.”
Wang Tianfeng agreed, “Military training is beneficial. During this time, we can understand the students’ basic conditions and facilitate future class assignments.”
No one objected. The last topic was approved, and the preparatory office officially disbanded. Li Weigong and Wu Jingzhong volunteered as chief instructors for the military training, bringing in several experienced non-commissioned officers from the central military to serve as head instructors, with others as assistant instructors to begin pre-training.

...
The 268 students were not yet divided into classes, only grouped into seven training squads for military training.
On the eve of training, Zhang Anping convened all students for an opening meeting.
All students attended, but only four of the original seven office staff showed up—the three senior members skipped this seemingly pointless meeting to hand over duties at the intelligence office, as their focus would shift entirely to the special training class.
As for Xu Baichuan, Wang Tianfeng, and Zheng Yaoxian, being deputies, they had almost no handover duties and naturally remained at Guanwang Temple to accompany “Zhang Shihao.”
Zhang Anping always used the alias Zhang Shihao at the intelligence office. Among those who had met him at the train station, only Xu Baichuan and Zheng Yaoxian knew that “Zhang Shihao” was actually Zhang Anping; others did not recognize him due to his disguise.
Zhang Anping had no intention of revealing his true identity—once the full-scale war began, he might have to undertake various missions, and with many traitors in military intelligence, revealing his real face would only cause trouble later.
The “Zhang Shihao” presented to these students was a mature, disguised version of Zhang Anping, appearing in his early thirties with a hint of world-weariness. Naturally, the students didn’t see him as a greenhorn, which saved a lot of trouble.
Without the senior members present, the meeting was straightforward. Zhang Anping spoke first.
He strode to the front dragging a mobile blackboard and, instead of speaking immediately, wrote four large characters:
The First Sino-Japanese War
After writing, Zhang Anping faced the students. “All of you here are university students—some graduated, some not—but I believe you all know about this event.”
Of course, everyone present knew about the First Sino-Japanese War.
Next, he wrote another four characters:
The Russo-Japanese War
He randomly pointed to a student—Lin Nansheng.
“Do you know about the Russo-Japanese War?”
Lin Nansheng stood and answered, “Yes! It was a war between Japan and Russia that took place on our land!”
“The corrupt and incompetent Qing court shamelessly chose neutrality. This war, lasting over a year and a half, caused severe damage to our country.”
Zhang Anping waved a hand, signaling Lin Nansheng to stop, then said, “Normally, I don’t like recalling such history, but I dare not forget it.”
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Anping wrote seven more characters on the board: Annexation of Korea and Jiaozhou Bay.
“On August 22, 1910, Japan formally annexed Korea.”
“In the third year of the Republic, Japan declared war on Germany during the World War and occupied Qingdao.”
He continued writing:
September 18 Incident, January 28 Incident, Rehe, Great Wall, North China.
“In the twentieth year of the Republic, the September 18 Incident—Japan occupied our Northeast.”
“In the twenty-first year, the January 28 Incident—Japan attempted to seize Shanghai!”
“In the twenty-second year, the Rehe Campaign and the Great Wall resistance—22 counties in eastern Hebei were occupied by the Japanese!”
“In the twenty-fourth year, the North China Incident!”
What Zhang Anping was recounting was actually taboo for civil servants at the time.
After all, the top leader still insisted on stabilizing the interior before resisting foreign aggression.
But Zhang Anping told the story anyway—protected by his cousin, he could bear the consequences; besides, it fit his persona.
His words turned the eyes of all 268 students bloodshot with passion.
Since September 18, how many times had these fiery students shouted in anger?
The Central Police Academy’s recruitment officers secretly told them this was a special training class established to resist the Japanese, which convinced them to give up better offers to come here.
“The Japanese are accelerating their encroachment! The Chinese nation faces an unprecedented crisis!
“As Chinese, no one can remain indifferent once war breaks out!”
“This will be a war where if we do not rise to resist, our country and people will be doomed! If we don’t fight back, we will end up like Korea—swallowed by the tiny island nation of Japan!”
Zhang Anping’s words made the students erupt in shouts.
The surrounding guards were startled by the near loss of control, but Xu Baichuan, Wang Tianfeng, and Zheng Yaoxian remained unmoved. The commanding officer instructed the guards to be ready in case the students’ fervor spiraled out of control.
However, the students eventually calmed down rationally.
No one can remain indifferent!
Zhang Anping carefully wrote these eight characters on the board, then turned to gaze at the now quiet students:
“No one can remain indifferent! Even in war, you may die, he may die, I may die, we may all die—but can we refuse to resist because of death?”
“No!”
“Because the blade pierces to the bone, we must fight!”
(I especially love these two lines by Fenwu Yaohuang: “The blade pierces to the bone, we must fight; with our backs to the river, it’s fight to the death or perish!”)