Although they had only been away from the Nine Heavens, so many things had happened during those nine days. These things were far-reaching, and it took Sima Junru a full half hour to report to the emperor and give a general account of them.

There is still some way out of this, just as Zhang Que said. It's likely that Zhang Que also received news from the south, but news is easily misrepresented when it's relayed multiple times.

Simply put, the Ministry of Revenue gave the money, but by the time it reached the laborers, it was all gone. The officials below arrogantly told the laborers, "Do you think that just because the Emperor said he would exempt us from corvée labor, we really are exempt? Those who are supposed to work must still work!"

This completely enraged the laborers. They were doing well in Zhejiang and the two lakes region, even if they were poor, they didn't face war. But now they were being forced to do hard labor for free, and not only that, they were being sent to war zones.

Just think of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and you can imagine how the laborers felt at that time—it was like they were about to be freed from their shackles!

Sima Junru went directly to Jiangling Prefecture in Jinghu North Road, found Tang Weilin, the prefect of Jiangling, and threatened him with a knife to his neck, forcing him to forcibly extract the required salary from the upper households.

Jinghu North Road was wealthy. After collecting enough funds for the military pay, he swiftly executed the supply officer. He had already transferred He Liming to Jiangling Prefecture and ordered He Liming to lead a hundred brothers from the Imperial City Guard to organize laborers to go north.

The emperor ordered him to carry out the imperial edict to execute people. Who should be executed? Of course, the people in the Ministry of Revenue. But he found that this matter was far too complicated. As soon as the money from the Ministry of Revenue was distributed to the local areas, not a single penny was left. What good would it do to just execute the people in the Ministry of Revenue?

Therefore, Zhao Huan thought Sima Junru was right to get the grain supplies first, and then deal with the rest after the emperor returned from the war!

According to Sima Junru, the grain supplies for the Lianghu Road can arrive in a month, and if things go smoothly, it can be shortened by another five days!

In addition, Li Gang already knew about this matter. At this moment, Li Gang was in Bianjing scrambling to prepare provisions. The method of raising provisions was very simple: he found the wealthy households in Bianjing. As the prime minister, he personally met with several wealthy households in the capital city and raised a sum of money and provisions. He then organized the army and civilians to travel north, which would take about five days to reach the destination.

Zhao Huan was extremely frustrated. He never expected that his first battle after traveling north would be like this. Embezzling the national treasury's funds during wartime was beyond shameless; it was an attempt to kill the entire nation!

What's even more absurd is that the emperor's reputation as a wise ruler, which he gained by exempting him from corvée labor, was thus ruined.

You promised to exempt everyone from corvée labor forever, but now you're forcing everyone to go north to the war zone without giving them a single penny!

Zhao Huan's face was burning with embarrassment. He even wanted to rush back right now, arrest all the officials involved, and have each of them sliced ​​into two thousand pieces outside the Five Dynasties Gate, and then exile their families to Lingnan!

Fortunately, Sima Junru and Li Gang are quite reliable, and the problem of supplies has now been solved, which at least provides some guarantee for the war effort.

As for the emperor's reputation among the people, we'll have to wait until after the war is over and then settle things with some of his ministers!

Damn it! I was always getting ripped off in my past life, and now that I'm emperor, I still get ripped off! Looks like even after killing people on the battlefield, I can't stop wielding my sword back home!

After the issue of food supplies was gradually resolved, Zhao Huan received another message: the Jin army planned to send reinforcements south!

How did they obtain this information? It all started with the Song Dynasty's utterly worthless intelligence system.

When the Song Dynasty was founded, it made an extremely powerful entrance. Zhao Kuangyin was not only highly skilled in martial arts, but also extremely talented in leading troops in battle, on par with his former leader Guo Rong. Moreover, he was also a master of political maneuvering, able to defeat his enemies on the battlefield and also to relieve his military power with a cup of wine.

Even more impressive was the presence of a powerful spy force that was constantly active in the Northern Han, keeping a thorough understanding of the affairs between the Northern Han and the Khitan.

But fate played a cruel joke on the Song Dynasty. The brilliant and ambitious Emperor Taizu drank some wine with his brother one night and died the next day! He just died!

This might be the most bewildered and confused death of a powerful ruler in history!

After his death, the ambitious but incompetent Emperor Taizong of Song ascended the throne. As a result, the powerful spy force in the north was completely ignored by him, who was so proud of conquering the universe. He probably thought that since the Song Dynasty was already so powerful, why would it need to do such petty things?

Thus came the "Yongxi Northern Expedition," a historically infuriating war in which the commanders made reckless decisions without even understanding the enemy's situation. The powerful Song Dynasty mobilized all its elite forces to fight in the north, only to be defeated and reduced to the status of a "weak Song"!

From then on, the intelligence system of the weak Song Dynasty in the north remained at the level of Emperor Taizong's era. This is why the Jin army was already preparing for war, and Wanyan Sheng and Wanyan Zonghan were determined to directly destroy the Song Dynasty. Meanwhile, Emperor Huizong and Cai Jing and their bunch of brain-dead ministers were still lying in the lap of luxury, thinking that they could get rid of the Jin people with a little money.

They were still dreaming these dreams until Tokyo was captured.

Do you think intelligence systems are important? Let's put it this way, do you think eyes and ears are important?

Therefore, since Zhao Huan returned from his time travel and began to develop the Imperial City Guard, it was as if he had started to manage his own eyes and ears.

If Xie Dahai was helping him monitor his ministers, then Sima Junru was helping him monitor the enemy state to the north.

Two months ago, he gave Sima Jun a firm order: when I launch the Northern Expedition, the Imperial City Guard must infiltrate the Yan-Yun area from the north!

Sima Junru did not disappoint him; this guy actually bribed the Han family, the wealthiest merchant family in Yanjing, Jin Kingdom, half a month ago.

The Han family has quite a background. His ancestor, Han Derang, was sexually assaulted by Empress Xiao Yanyan of the Liao Dynasty time and time again. Later, he even became the regent of the Liao Dynasty!

Over several generations, the Han family transformed from a court family into a business family. When the Jin army captured Yanjing, the Han family was able to survive by being pragmatic.

However, while the Jurchens were good at fighting, they were incapable of governing the country, causing widespread resentment in Yanjing. The most unfortunate were, of course, wealthy families like the Han family.

Therefore, the Han family had long harbored resentment towards the Jurchens, but unfortunately, the Jurchens' knives were too damn sharp, and they couldn't defeat them, so they had no choice but to admit defeat.

This gave Sima Junru an opportunity. In Sima Junru's words, once the imperial army drove out the Jin invaders and Yanjing returned to the embrace of the Song Dynasty, the court would surely reward them handsomely and greatly support the Han family's business.

The Han family primarily engages in commerce, and in today's world, only the Song Dynasty has the most lenient commercial policies. The Han family has long wanted to embrace the Song Dynasty and the future.

Therefore, the Han family used their network of connections in Yanjing to obtain a piece of information: the Jin army had secretly begun to transport a large amount of grain and fodder southward, and there were secret messages that Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang would soon be reinforced!