At the beginning of his reign, Zhao began to establish his own independent intelligence agency, which has grown from scratch and from weak to strong in the past ten years. Internally, it has basically covered the key states and counties in the Jiangnan region, and monitored key departments and key figures; From the battlefield where the two armies confronted each other to the two capitals in the territory of the Mengyuan and Yuan dynasties, a perfect intelligence network has been established and has begun to infiltrate into the military areas, and the political trends and troop movements and political and economic conditions of the Mengyuan and Yuan dynasties have basically been monitored in a timely manner.

In the same way, Meng Yuan's intelligence collection work on his own side did not stop, not only using the remaining subordinates and old officials in Jiangnan to obtain information, but also using the demoted officials who had escaped crackdown and censorship to infiltrate his own government agencies, and constantly bribing people from all walks of life who were dissatisfied with him to carry out sabotage activities, and at the same time sending spies to Jiangnan to directly participate in the operation.

As far as Zhao Yu knew, Boyan, who was in charge of the military administration of the two Huai, had an espionage agency in Jiangbei that was specifically aimed at the Song Dynasty, responsible for espionage and counter-espionage affairs. This body has great power, even wielding power over life and death, and can arrest, interrogate, and execute middle- and low-level officials without asking for instructions, comparable to the combined power of the CIA and FBI in the United States during the Cold War.

The spies sent by Meng Yuan to Jiangnan were mainly recruited from the Han people along the military demarcation line along the river, and the exiles who were taken captive to Jiangbei were also one of the important sources, these people were originally Song people, and they were no different from the locals in terms of accent, behavior and living habits, and in this chaotic period of slow transmission of information and the end of the war, it was really difficult to screen them one by one, and it was easy to regain household registration as a displaced person, and even get a share of the land to lurk. Thus infiltrating the army and government through conscription and imperial examinations.

In addition, in order to facilitate their activities, the spies sent by Meng Yuan naturally had to use various identities as cover, among which the more commonly used identities were businessmen and monks. At present, although the two countries did not set up a field on the border to trade, they did not prohibit Tibetan merchants from entering the country by sea to participate in cross-border trade. This made it possible for the Mongols to send spies, especially since they could use the Goryeo maritime merchants attached to them as spies, and they could gather intelligence in Jiangnan in a grand manner.

Meng Yuan spies disguised as monks often operated in the Song Dynasty under the guise of "monks traveling all over the world", or went to Jiangnan monasteries or Taoist temples to hide and collect information. Zhao Hao had no choice but to ask the monasteries and Taoist temples to register the newly accepted religious figures in detail, report them to the authorities, and inform the local authorities.

These Mengyuan intelligence officers would not only pass on the collected military information back to China, but also buy the poetry and political theories of their own bureaucrats and literati with a lot of money, and obtain information through interpretation to understand the political trends of the Song Dynasty. The various tabloids in the capital were also the focus of their collection, which included not only trivial matters of the people, but also government decrees issued by the imperial court and opinions expressed by officials, from which they were naturally able to gather the necessary information. Even in modern times, high-ranking spies in many countries do not steal information by fighting and killing, but simply flip through the newspapers and read the news to find what they are looking for.

In addition to these methods, restaurants, teahouses, green buildings, and post houses and wharves are often places where people come and go frequently, and as long as you pay attention, you can get useful information from a few words, and naturally it is also a place where spies often come and go. As in modern times, those who enter the country under the guise of diplomatic missions are often tasked with gathering intelligence, which is also one of the guises for their intelligence activities.

Although the Song Dynasty strictly guarded against counter-espionage and restricted the activities of outsiders through various means, it could not completely cut off the activities of enemy spies. Even if there is a danger of the Yangtze River, it cannot completely block their exchanges, after all, it is impossible to be monitored all the time on the bank of the river for thousands of miles, and this task is difficult to do in modern times. Although the merchants were restricted to trading in certain cities, local merchants from all over the world could also bring them the news they wanted.

Therefore, Zhao Hao can only educate the army at the same time, but also restrain it with strict discipline, and establish a special agency in the army to carry out countermeasures. Government departments use a strict access system to carefully review personnel entering the core departments, and personnel with unknown backgrounds are not allowed to enter, and key personnel will also be monitored by the secretariat.

The most difficult thing to ensure that secrets will not be leaked are the two institutions that control the production and research and development of firearms, the Ordnance Supervisor and the General Supervisor, and out of humane considerations, Zhao Yu did not imprison the craftsmen as in the past. And the craftsmen of the two institutions have been expanding with the expansion of the army, and the number of people who work in them to hold certain secrets is close to 20,000, and there are even more peripheral collaborators.

How to prevent enemy intelligence personnel from infiltrating and stealing intelligence is a big problem, and Zhao Yu adopts a detailed division of labor, dividing the production of a weapon into many processes to ensure that even if a few people leak secrets, they will not be able to obtain all the technology and technology. Judging from the local firearms seized in this naval battle, he found that there was not much progress compared with the copper firearms seized in Quanzhou 10 years ago, and the power of gunpowder was also unattainable, indicating that the secrecy work was still very successful.

And as the most important gunpowder formula has been in the hands of three people as a top secret, including Zhou Xiang, no wonder Zheng Huchen was very nervous after finding out that he was suspected of leaking secrets, if he was a traitor, it could be said to be a devastating blow to the Great Song Dynasty, and of course the advantage in weapons would be gone, so he hurriedly entered the palace to report......

"Your Majesty used Zhou Xiang as bait this time to deliberately leak the news, I'm afraid it's not just about the construction of cities along the Mengyuan coast, right? Do you need the help of your subordinates? Zheng Huchen was of course relieved to hear the little emperor's explanation, and Shi Li asked.

After all, he and Zhou Xiang are also friends of life and death, and it is not a very fulfilling thing to arrest his former brothers with his own hands. At the same time, he was also secretly glad that he reported to the emperor in time after discovering it, and if such a major 'leak' incident was not discovered in time, it would be a dereliction of duty, and it would be a greater sin to deliberately conceal it. Who knows if there is a little emperor to test him, at that time not only lost the sacred heart, but also if he didn't get it right, he would be dealt with strictly, after all, his position was very sensitive, and he could tolerate the slightest betrayal, and once the emperor was suspicious, it was equivalent to being sentenced to death.

"Of course, how can this matter be separated from the participation of your bureau, if you don't come, I will also look for you. Such a big game of chess is beyond Zhou Xiang's control! Zhao Yu said with a smile.

"My subordinates will definitely do their best to cooperate with Your Majesty to complete it!" Zheng Huchen said.

"Well, Meng Yuan lost in the spring battle, but it also exposed the strength of our army, which made Boyan vigilant, changed the strategy of southern invasion, and turned to the defensive, which will have a huge resistance to our recovery of Jiangbei, so we must find a way to crack it." Zhao Yu wiped his hands and said his intentions.

"Your Majesty asked Zhou Xiang to deliberately reveal the meaning that our dynasty has a weapon to break the city, that is, to let Meng Yuan know that no matter how strong the city is, it will be difficult to resist, and it is intended to make him give up the plan to repair the city." Zheng Huchen thought about it and asked carefully.

"No, I'm asking them to make the city stronger!" Zhao Yu shook his head and smiled.

"This ...... The subordinates are stupid, please make it clear to Your Majesty! Zheng Huchen was stunned. My heart was full of doubts, didn't the little emperor mean that he wanted to deceive Meng Yuan into holding a big killing weapon in his hand, even if you built a city, it would be difficult to resist. And Meng Yuan knew that it was difficult to resist, why did he have to waste his efforts!

"The reason is very simple, Boyan is not stupid." Zhao Yu picked up another grape and threw it in his mouth and chewed.

"It's as simple as that?" Zheng Huchen's brain couldn't keep up with the little emperor, and he couldn't believe it.

"Although the scale of the war was not large, our army used a lot of firearms, and its power must have already reached Boyan's ears. Therefore, he knew very well that in a head-to-head confrontation, he would not be able to resist the might of firearms. And in the Lianghuai area with dense water network, our naval army has the advantage, and the mobility is not inferior to the cavalry, so he came up with the idea of building a fortress and rebuilding the city defense, so as to offset the power of firearms, and at the same time after being attacked, he can enter the city to wait for reinforcements, so as to buy time for the cavalry to arrive. Zhao Yu said.

"In the past, we were tight-lipped about the manufacture of firearms, and it was not until the battle to recover Jiangnan that we engaged in large-scale actual combat, which I believe Boyan also knows. And this time they have just started to build the fortress, we have released a weapon to break the city, and we are not afraid at all, what should you think if you are Boyan? Zhao Hao asked rhetorically.

"If your subordinates know about it at this joint, they will definitely have doubts, wondering if they are blackmailing us and deceiving us into giving up the city." Zheng Huchen thought for a moment.

"yes, so what are you going to do next?" Zhao Hao then asked.

"I have seen the power of firearms before, and they can break mountains and rocks, so I will be suspicious, that is, I do not fully believe that the other party has this sharp weapon, and I am worried that it is true, after all, this news came from the mouth of the chief officer in charge of the ordnance superintendent, so I will raise the standard of building the city with an attitude of preferring to believe it or not, just in case." Zheng Huchen said.

"I thought that Boyan had led the army to fight for many years, but he had been frustrated again and again in our hands, and he would definitely not dare to be as calm and calm as before. Zhao Yu chuckled.

"Your Majesty is really clever, I can't think that Boyan won't be able to enter the pit." Zheng Huchen said with a wry smile, the little emperor's true and false makes people dizzy, and it is difficult for people not to be hit, but suddenly he feels that something is wrong, "If Boyan is really as His Majesty said, strengthen the city defense and build a strong city, if our army attacks in the future, won't it cause us great suffering?" ”

"Hehe, this city is not paper-paste, muddy, you can repair it if you want to, that's what you need to ......" Zhao Hao smiled and twisted his fingers.

"Oh, Your Majesty's intention is to build fortresses along the river, and it takes great financial resources and manpower to build a city in Lianghuai, and after Meng Yuan lost Jiangnan, the finances are drying up day by day, and building city defenses will only accelerate the consumption of its money, and it will be difficult to support future wars." Zheng Huchen understood it at one point, and secretly said in his heart that the little emperor had made a big detour, and he clearly wanted to reduce his national strength by consuming money, which would lead to a decline in his war potential and create conditions for his own counterattack on the Central Plains.

"Yes, that's just one of the purposes!" Zhao Yu nodded.

"What are your Majesty's intentions?" Zheng Huchen said in surprise, the words of the heart are enough for Meng Yuan to drink a pot if this one goal is achieved, I didn't expect His Majesty to have a trick!

"Boyan is my fierce rival, he presided over the invasion of Jiangnan back then, and has been in business for many years, he is familiar with the human geography of Jiangnan, and if he is not removed, it will always be a trouble for us." Zhao Yu hated and said.

"What Your Majesty said is good, Boyan is indeed talented, he can fight on the horse, and he can assist the country when he gets off the horse, and he has won the trust of Zhenjin. But it's not easy to get rid of it! Although Zheng Huchen greatly admired the little emperor's astuteness and strategic ability, it was still difficult to say that he would get rid of Boyan with just one fake news.

"It costs a lot of money to build a city, and if you want to improve the defense system of the two Huai, you must exhaust the human and financial resources of the two Huai. At present, after Mengyuan lost the wealth of Jiangnan, it has led to financial difficulties, and the two Huai have become an important source of taxes. But if Boyan embezzles the taxes that should be paid for this reason, it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the DPRK and China, and it will be difficult for real money to protect it at that time, of course, there are still some means to do it. Zhao Yu explained.

"Meng Yuan's party struggle is becoming more and more serious, there are both the Sinicization faction who support Zhenjin, and the orthodox faction who want to maintain the tradition, but as long as Zhenjin supports Boyan, it is not easy to bring him down." Zheng Huchen frowned and said.

"Now Boyan can suppress the old people, because it has the favor of real gold, and its prestige among the orthodox, and this is not just a red mouth and white teeth, but it can bring them enough benefits, but the Sinicization faction has always regarded it as a barbarian, and did not include it in the same stream, but it is just a good look" Zhao Yu said, "Next, we only need to provoke the contradictions between the two sides, and provide some more truth to Boyan's opponents. Besides, its support for the southern invasion failed, and Zhenjin was afraid that he was already suspicious of it. ”

"Then how does Your Majesty plan to provoke, it won't be to kill people with a knife, right?" Zheng Huchen listened to the little emperor's plan, and was even more surprised in his heart, where is this just to get rid of Boyan, but to mess up the political situation of Meng Yuan and let them have civil strife.

"It's not a knife to kill, it's just fishing in troubled waters!" Zhao Yu thought for a moment and waved his hand.

"Then how does Your Majesty plan to muddy this pool?" Zheng Huchen asked.

"Xiulinancheng!" Zhao Hao said with a wicked smile.

"Xiulinanseong?!" Zheng Huchen's jaw didn't fall off in shock when he heard this, where is this......