Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 674 Spy Network Gathers from All Directions

As May arrived and the weather gradually warmed up, Liu Huai's spies planted on both the Song and Jin sides sent their first intelligence reports.

As it turns out, much of the intelligence was missing not because the enemy had a strong sense of secrecy, but because of untimely transmission.

Take, for example, Wanyan Liang's campaign against the Song Dynasty.

This was a war of immense scale. Wanyan Liang mobilized the entire nation, mobilized troops, collected taxes and provisions, and built warships—all of which could not be concealed.

Simply summarizing the information is enough to reveal this terrible fact.

But what was the reaction of the State of Song?

They didn't realize what was happening until Wanyan Liang moved the capital to Bianliang, but they were still skeptical. They only became aware of the situation when the axe was about to strike them on the head.

Therefore, Liu Huai had long wanted to establish a spy network between the Song and Jin dynasties.

However, the spies of this era were different from those in later spy films.

On the one hand, the speed of message transmission is too slow. Spies not only find it difficult to transmit time-sensitive intelligence, but also find it difficult to receive orders from the rear headquarters in real time.

This requires spies to have higher abilities, loyalty, and initiative.

On the other hand, spies are also human beings and need to eat, but Liu Huai cannot indefinitely advance funds. It would be ridiculous if he ended up supporting a group of corrupt spies.

This necessitates readily available economic channels to serve as a backup for espionage.

To put it simply, it's a smuggling network along trade routes.

In fact, even in later generations, espionage and commerce were inseparable. This is even more true today, as exemplified by Liu Yung-gu, who has already traveled to Youyan. His previous identity in the Song state was that of a merchant, which aroused suspicion from Yang Kang, the Song state's transport commissioner of Huaixi.

After Liu Huai had roughly opened up the smuggling trade routes, he immediately began to send spies to both the Song and Jin dynasties.

While Youzhou was still in its early stages, gradually expanding its operations, the Song Kingdom had placed a heavy bet on it, with the first batch of over fifty spies arriving in Lin'an, personally led by Luo Huaiyan, to begin their infiltration.

"Now it's time to test the results." Liu Huai first opened the intelligence sent by Liu Yunggu, and his brows furrowed instantly when he saw the first sentence.

This is an intelligence report concerning the various tribes of the steppes.
The Mongol Qiyan tribe attacked Linhuang Prefecture while the northern border of the Eastern Jin Kingdom was still unrecovered and the main force was fighting a civil war in the south.

The main force of the Jin army quickly returned to reinforce, and caught the tail of the Qiyan tribe on the banks of the Huang River, beheading hundreds, capturing two thousand people, and seizing more than 20,000 cattle, sheep and horses. It can be considered a great victory.

After this battle, Yesugei, the Khan of the Qiyan tribe, seemed to realize that there was still a power gap between the Mongols and the Jin Dynasty. He directly submitted to the Jin Dynasty and quickly replaced the Tatar tribe's ecological niche. He began to rely on the Jin Dynasty to bully the other Mongols.

Liu Huai clicked his tongue in disbelief.

Could this be the telepathic connection between father and son?

Does this mean that starting with Yesugei, we should follow the successful path of the Mongols in history?

In actual history, the Qiyan tribe first served under the Jin dynasty, gradually annexing surrounding tribes with the help of the Jin's power, and eventually grew stronger.

But if this temporarily quells the chaos in the north of the Jin dynasty, will they immediately move south to attack Shandong?

After careful consideration, Liu Huai felt that this possibility was relatively small.

The Jin Dynasty had been engaged in wars for years and was already severely weakened. Wanyan Yong did not seem to be a war-crazed maniac who had lost his mind. He should have taken some time to recuperate.

Thinking of this, Liu Huai couldn't help but think of his old friend Wanyan Liang.

This guy is a madman who acts without considering the consequences. Compared to Wanyan Yong, this kind of person is more worthy of vigilance.

However, the spy network is still in its infancy and relies on the maritime transport system, which makes it even more difficult to build up the spy network in Bianliang. So far, no intelligence has been sent back.

After quickly reviewing the information about prices in Youyan, Liu Huai handed the document to Shen Longzi: "File it."

"Here!"

Once the spy network was established, a dedicated agency would naturally be set up to manage it. Liu Huai didn't innovate any new system; instead, he simply copied the name of the Ming Dynasty's Embroidered Uniform Guard for this agency.

Shen Longzi was the first commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Of course, at this time the Embroidered Uniform Guard was also in its initial stage, without even a proper government office. It was just squeezed together with the Jiedushi's office, and at the same time, it did the work of Liu Huai's personal secretary.

However, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has already begun recruiting men from good families from the military to serve as captains and clerks, and this department will inevitably wield great power in the future.

"Luo Erlang, I hope you can give me some surprises." Liu Huai opened the second package, tore open the last envelope, and began to read carefully.

After a moment, Liu Huai put down the document in his hand, and his expression became complicated.

The State of Song is really a headache.

Moreover, the power struggles in the Song court could not be kept secret. This was not because anyone specifically inquired about it, but because neither the emperor nor the officials in the Song court had any sense of secrecy regarding this matter.

Moreover, the people of Song had a high level of political participation, especially the scholar-official class or the aspiring scholar-official class. There were numerous instances of people submitting petitions to the emperor, and it was not uncommon for them to use public opinion to force political decisions.

This was during the Southern Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty, palace affairs could not be kept secret. From the top floor of Fanlou, one could see the splendor of the imperial palace, which was extremely absurd.

Therefore, Luo Huaiyan learned a lot of important news in less than a month after arriving in Lin'an.

There was no need to investigate; the news had already spread throughout Lin'an.

First, Yu Yunwen's report of victory had a very good effect. The Song court regarded this great victory as a good start after Zhao Shen's accession to the throne. The pro-war faction gained momentum, and the calls for a northern expedition became even louder.

Yu Yunwen was also promoted and is now the Vice Privy Councilor and Vice Chancellor, still serving as the Deputy Pacification Commissioner of Jianghuai. He is now in charge of the military and political affairs of the two Huai regions as a proper prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

Ye Yiwen wasn't just incompetent; his health had also deteriorated significantly after catching a cold last winter. He had completely abandoned his ambitions to seize power and had become a mere human seal. The situation wasn't just slightly favorable, it was overwhelmingly favorable!

Under these circumstances, another trend of thought slowly emerged.

The Jin dynasty is already vulnerable. Now we should seize the opportunity to launch a northern expedition to conquer the Central Plains. We will surely be able to conquer it in one fell swoop. When we recover the Central Plains and return to the old capital, wouldn't that be wonderful?
Zhao Shen seemed somewhat interested in this, and repeatedly summoned Zhang Jun, Chen Kangbo, Zhang Tao, Xin Ciying, and others to inquire about the Northern Expedition plan.

The others were still somewhat cautious, but Zhang Jun simply volunteered on the spot to be the Grand Commander of the Army and urged Zhao Shen to launch the Northern Expedition immediately.

Liu Huai's assessment of this was that the surrender faction and the quick-victory faction were two sides of the same coin, and this statement was indeed true.

Of course, unlike those useless officials whose minds are filled with nothing but official positions, Yu Yunwen was able to remain calm and composed.

On one hand, he submitted memorials advising against a rash advance, arguing that neither the Huai River region nor the Song army was ready, and that this campaign would likely result in more defeats than victories. On the other hand, he mobilized officials from his own faction to find ways to obstruct the campaign in the imperial court.

Yu Yunwen didn't dare to go too far, lest he crush Zhao Shen's ambitions, which would be disastrous.

His main tactic was to plead poverty to Zhao Shen, not only by pleading poverty himself, but also by dragging Shandong into it.

The area between Huaihe and Shandong has been devastated by several major battles and will need two years to recover.

Yu Yunwen still held some place in Zhao Shen's heart, and he managed to get away with it after much effort.

But Liu Huai also knew that Yu Yunwen couldn't hold out for long, because the pro-peace faction had already rallied around Zhao Gou. This retired emperor was old in years but not in spirit, and who knew what trouble he might cause in the future.

Putting aside everything else, Yang Yizhong was still in command of the Palace Guard, controlling the largest military force in Lin'an. Any intelligent person could see the implications of this.

If Zhao Shen cannot seize power further through a successful northern expedition and gather his own faction, it would not be surprising if a coup occurred in the Song Dynasty.

The intelligence gathering doesn't end here.

A wave of unrest, a wave of up again.

Having just suppressed the faction advocating for a swift victory, Zhao Shen, the current emperor of Song, has started causing trouble again.

As the saying goes, "When one attains enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven," and now that Zhao Shen has ascended the throne, it's time for his cronies to benefit as well.

Zhao Shen had quite a few close advisors. Besides Shi Hao, the Vice Chancellor who was closely watched by the pro-war faction, there were Zeng Di, Long Dayuan, Zhang Yue, Wang Bian, Gan Bian, and others.

Zeng Di and Long Dayuan were considered to have entered officialdom through the proper imperial examinations, while the rest were minor officials, relatives of the emperor, or eunuchs, who were truly not worthy of respect.

Zhao Shen understood this principle, so he didn't initially intend to promote others, but only wanted to promote Long Dayuan and Zeng Di.

Their official positions were not high; they were simply appointed as the Director of the Imperial City Guard and the Deputy Chief of the Privy Council, which gave them a slight foothold in intelligence and military affairs.

This appointment was immediately met with unanimous opposition from the court officials. Memorials poured in like snowflakes, directly labeling Zeng and Long as treacherous officials, and some even wanted to execute them.

This immediately aroused Zhao Shen's vigilance and anger.

The courtiers may have been jealous of the two men's meteoric rise, but for Zhao Shen, this was a dangerous sign.

At this time, the Palace Guard was still in charge of Yang Yizhong. This was partly because Yang Yizhong was indeed respectful and not only loyal to Zhao Gou, but also very respectful to Zhao Shen. Even under the pressure of Qin Hui, Yang Yizhong never laid a hand on Zhao Shen.

On the other hand, it was a tacit understanding between Zhao Gou and Zhao Shen.

Zhao Shen was not Zhao Gou's biological son after all, so Zhao Gou had to leave some room for maneuver. Ordinary people could be supervised by public opinion and the government, but for the emperor, these two things were completely useless.

Zhao Gou had a deep understanding of this, as his own father's remains were still buried in Wuguo City!
For Zhao Gou's sake, Zhao Shen could relinquish the Palace Guard.

But the fact that the two crucial departments, the Imperial City Guard and the Privy Council, do not allow the current emperor to place his confidants in either of them is tantamount to depriving Zhao Shen of any sense of security. Isn't that going too far?

In his rage, Zhao Shen even shouted, "When I was the retired emperor, these were all minor matters. How dare you force me now?!"

Therefore, Zhao Shen displayed an unusual stubbornness and dismissed all those who offered advice, whether they were ministers or censors, from the court.

Didn't you all not want to serve in the same court as treacherous officials?

Get out of here now!

Not only that, Zhao Shen originally planned to slowly promote his confidants, but now he doesn't need to wait any longer. He directly used last year's great victory in Shandong as an excuse to bring them into the court as officials.

I don't know how these people managed to earn merit.

Nowadays, court officials dare not offer advice, but infighting behind the scenes is inevitable.

This marked the beginning of the seventeen-year-long power struggle within the palace during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong.

If history had unfolded as it should, Zhao Shen's close advisors and high-ranking officials would have used local financial power as a tool to wage round after round of struggle.

However, the dispute between the two sides went astray from the very beginning. Instead of immediately vying for power, they both turned their attention to the most important military and national affairs, where it was easiest to gain merit and promotion.

That is, the Northern Expedition.

Looking at the intelligence summarized by Luo Huaiyan, Liu Huai once again showed a complicated expression.

With so many speculators involved, is the Song Dynasty's Northern Expedition still a reliable plan?
Liu Huai quickly shook his head.

One wrong move and you could make a big mistake.

How could we possibly have the illusion that the Song Dynasty's military operations were reliable?

(End of this chapter)