"You're a planetary leader, you've fought so many wars, you don't need me to teach you about intelligence, do you?" Tian Rao smiled, "I'm just an elementary student in the field of intelligence, I don't want to show off in front of a master."
"True masters have the heart of an apprentice." Jiang Ye urged, "Hurry up and speak, do you want me to kneel and perform a disciple-accepting ceremony for you?"
"If anyone else asked me about this kind of thing, I'd never tell them! But since it's you, Jiang Ye, I don't mind telling you everything." Tian Rao smiled slyly.
"The reason we focus on intelligence work is determined by our development model. We are expanding across planets and industries, just like waging war and invading foreign lands. With sufficient intelligence, we can achieve twice the result with half the effort, so we must keep up in this area." Tian Rao said, "Our intelligence system actually copied the intelligence methods of the military and planets, and then improved them for commercial use."
Jiang Ye remained silent, listening intently.
"Our company has many senior executives in the decision-making layer who have experience in military espionage. Several of them previously held important positions in the Galactic Empire's alien civilization intelligence analysis system. After retiring, we recruited them with a lot of money; it truly felt like picking up a treasure." Tian Rao said, "The entire intelligence network and many work methods were established by these people. The knowledge in their minds is something that is very difficult to find in books or on the internet."
"Are there any from my troops?" Jiang Ye asked.
Tian Rao pursed her lips, her expression showing embarrassment.
"There are, right?" Jiang Ye's expression was slightly annoyed.
"Oh, why are you angry? They're all talented individuals. It's like moving money from one pocket to another. Aren't I yours?" Tian Rao adopted a playful, almost pouting attitude, "Instead of letting those intelligence talents who retired from your troops go to work on other planets, why not have them come to me!"
"I'll let it slide for now. Please continue," Jiang Ye said helplessly.
"Intelligence work includes three aspects: internal, external, and talent training," Tian Rao said, counting on her fingers.
"Talent training?" Jiang Ye's expression was shocked, "Don't tell me you have spy schools too?"
"More than one," Tian Rao stuck out her tongue.
Jiang Ye's expression was utterly shocked, "Your company has its own spy schools, and not just one?!"
"Because I want the company to have a lifespan of over five hundred years, many plans must be long-term. Since we are focusing on intelligence work now, we should avoid future talent gaps. So, aren't spy schools a natural progression?" Tian Rao said, "Jiang Ye Star, Bi Rong Star, and Exile Star all have our spy schools. For now, we are only training our relevant employees, not cultivating reserve talents. However, once the company's monthly profit exceeds two trillion, we will definitely train a batch of child spies."
"Do your schools have dedicated campuses?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Classes are held in the basements of abandoned factories, and also within the company premises. For example, the spy school on Jiang Ye Star is held in the conference room at the end of the executive floor of the company headquarters. Every day, students enter under the guise of attending a meeting, and then the door is locked for class," Tian Rao said, "A typical course lasts about two months, allowing for the rapid training of commercial spies. Spying, in essence, depends on talent; some people are born with it, while others can't learn it even after ten years of classes."
"The military tests IQ when selecting spies," Jiang Ye said.
"We do too, but the requirements aren't very high; an IQ of 120 or above is sufficient. Most of the Yellow race who join the company meet the standard. It's harder to gather enough White and Black spies," Tian Rao said, "Besides IQ, we also assess emotional intelligence and physical fitness. A kilometer run in three minutes and fifty seconds is considered passing. We have five tiers of spies, each with different standards for IQ, EQ, and physical fitness. Some special types also have requirements for appearance and background."
"You don't have background checks too, do you?" Jiang Ye exclaimed.
"Of course, we do," Tian Rao smiled, "We investigate up to three generations back, and also personal relationships with friends and family. Some investigations are public, while others are secret. It's quite funny, but background checks are very useful. We've already uncovered over a hundred corporate spies from alien companies who tried to infiltrate our spy system, but they were screened out by background checks. We also found hundreds of employees who had concealed their education and work experience."
"You mentioned three aspects earlier, besides spy schools, there are internal and external," Jiang Ye said.
"Let me tell you about the internal aspects first."
"Okay."
"Internal aspects mainly cover three areas: employee screening, financial auditing, and spy detection," Tian Rao said, "Employee screening is divided into random checks and focused observation."
"Focused observation is usually for two types of people: employees who are about to be entrusted with important responsibilities, or employees who have been reported. We will embed spy employees in various departments, with positions ranging from low to high, from cleaning staff to leadership. Colleagues have no idea that the familiar faces they see every day are actually spies sent by headquarters. The methods of work are diverse, including eavesdropping, questioning, bribery, stealing evidence, and so on."
"How detailed can this focused observation be?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Extremely detailed," Tian Rao said, "We observe whether the target has an extramarital affair, whether they are bossy towards subordinates, whether they have contacted secret personnel from other companies, what their hobbies and troubles are, and even their eating and fitness habits. Everything can be found out in the end. The focused employee observation reports I have are far more detailed than police files and dating site resumes. Especially for some branch leaders, there can be observation reports of three to four hundred pages."
Jiang Ye was dumbfounded.
"What about random checks?" Jiang Ye asked.