The video takes us to ancient times; Li Er transforms into the Tongtian Emperor of Shu Han.

"Your Majesty, do you see this? Based on my salary, it would take me about five years of not eating or drinking to afford just one of these glass cups!"

"I found dozens of such glass cups in the homes of these officials, not to mention countless other treasures."

"Your Majesty, we've struck it rich!"

After a round of house raids, the Minister of Revenue felt that he had finally been liberated from his serfdom and could sing songs of liberation.

However, before he could be happy for long, Zhao Shen poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"I discussed it with the Grand Commandant, and we found that 80,000 troops were far from enough. Now that the national treasury is full, he is prepared to conscript another 100,000 soldiers."

"There will be many more places where money is needed, my dear minister, you must work harder."

Upon hearing this, the poor Minister of Revenue felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

The once overflowing national treasury quickly emptied again.

However, six months later, 180,000 elite troops of various kinds set out from Lin'an and headed straight north.

After a whole year, the handsome young man who was once a candidate official became a balding Minister of Revenue.

"You've suffered, my dear minister."

He became the official who received the most encouragement from Zhao Shen, and was also the most favored in the eyes of others.

But this favor meant that, let alone any benefits for him, he calculated that, out of the twelve months of the year, the number of months he actually received his salary was very limited.

For Zhao Shen's grand plan of the Northern Expedition, he really used every method he could think of.

So now that Yue Fei no longer asks him for military funds and the provisions are all prepared, it's the other officials' turn to urge him for their salaries.

"Your Majesty, may I retire and return to my hometown?"

Despite his young age, he had already experienced the treacherous nature of officialdom.

Zhao Shen patted his shoulder heavily.

“My dear minister, you are my right-hand man and a pillar of the court. You are so young, it is the perfect time for you to serve the country and its people. How can you back down?”

"When the national treasury is full, I will surely reward you handsomely. For now, I need you to help me out."

"With the Grand Commandant leading an army of 180,000, we will surely teach the Jurchens a lesson. Once we return to the old capital, the situation will improve!"

No one doubted this statement.

Yue Fei did not conceal anything when he was training his troops.

The newly reorganized Yue Family Army was even more formidable than before.

Without any worries, whether one achieves military merit on the battlefield or dies in battle, one's affairs after death are guaranteed.

With this premise, this army is unstoppable no matter where it is deployed or what kind of enemy it faces!

Beyond the canopy, countless people had watched the entire journey.

It can be said that Yue Fei almost referenced the military merit system of previous dynasties, and then made some changes in a more extreme direction.

Regardless of the potential drawbacks of this approach, at least on the front lines, any commander who isn't an idiot would be capable of anything but failure.

The name Yue Fei is by no means associated with mediocrity.

Everyone knows one thing: the era when the Jurchens ruled the battlefield has ended from this moment on!

"However, why have the Jurchens remained silent for so long?"

"Logically speaking, the Jurchens must have had quite a few spies planted in Lin'an, so why did they just stand by and watch Yue Fei train elite troops?"

"If the Jurchens were truly intelligent, shouldn't they have taken advantage of the fact that Yue Fei's army was not yet fully capable of fighting and launched a southward invasion?"

No one doubted Yue Fei's ability to lead troops, but they couldn't understand the Jin people's response.

"Does everyone think Yu Yunwen is just a useless person?"

"In the great victory at Caishi, Yu Yunwen faced a Jin army of 600,000 men, and his opponent was Wanyan Liang."

"Two hundred thousand men held off six hundred thousand, and he even won a great victory. Lianghuai was thus recovered. If Zhao Gou had not been thinking about peace negotiations from beginning to end, he would have had the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and move north."

Old Zhu said irritably.

Throughout, he praised Yu Yunwen as a man of both literary and martial talents.

However, the others didn't seem to care.

what's going on?

Does being a scholar necessarily mean you can't fight?

As the scene shifted, the change in setting startled everyone present.

Both sides of the river were stained with blood, and countless corpses of soldiers were being piled up and burned.

Because he didn't know how long the battle would last, Yu Yunwen didn't dare to spare any manpower to deal with the soldiers' remains, and he was also afraid that a plague would break out in the army. So he could only do this: after cremation, the ashes were distributed to the families.

The original defensive lines set up on both sides of the strait, along with the remnants of the defeated army, should have numbered nearly 100,000.

However, judging from the images displayed on the sky, the Song army should have fewer than 40,000 soldiers left.

More than half of the troops have been lost!

The defense line remained as solid as a mountain, and it was even clear from the footage that the fighting occasionally spread to the Huai River region.

In other words, Yu Yunwen occasionally found opportunities to counterattack while resisting the Jin army's southward advance.

"This……"

Facing a Jurchen force several times larger than his own, Yu Yunwen actually managed to hold them off.

In particular, when the Jin Dynasty learned that the entire Song Dynasty was putting all its efforts into training its troops, it repeatedly increased its forces to march south, showing an attitude of wanting to completely destroy the Song Dynasty.

Although these fierce battles were not shown on screen, the bloodstains along the banks of the Huai River and the near-total destruction of the defensive structures clearly demonstrate just how intense the fighting was.

It can be said that Yue Fei's defenses, which he had set up a year earlier, were almost completely destroyed by the Jurchens in the fierce battles of the previous few months.

Later on, the only way to stop the Jurchen invasion was to fight a real battle on the battlefield.

That's exactly what Yu Yunwen did.

Even though he was a scholar, he always took the lead in every battle and almost died at the hands of the Jurchens several times.

So much so that when Yue Fei saw him again, it was on his bed.

He had more than ten arrow wounds on his body, plus countless knife wounds of varying sizes.

Despite his injuries, Yu Yunwen inspected the military camp the day before Yue Fei arrived.

It wasn't until Yue Fei led his army to Lianghuai that he finally felt relieved.

"Pengju, the time I promised you hasn't been less than a day late."

"If you still can't recover the lost territory and restore His Majesty to the old capital under these circumstances, then you'll have wasted the opportunity that I risked my life for at such an old age."

Even while lying in bed, he was still more concerned about whether Yue Fei was confident of defeating the Jin army.

"Rest assured, from today onwards, I will make the Jurchens tremble with fear."

"I have issued an order that the families of all fallen soldiers should be properly taken care of, and the children of those who have made meritorious contributions should be able to inherit their titles."

"This deployment of troops is not for resisting the Jin army, nor for recovering both sides of the strait."

"We will not return until we have recaptured Youzhou!"

What he wants is more than just Bianjing!

The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, which His Majesty the Great Ancestor once longed to recover, should now return to the Song Dynasty!