If Liu Renyuan hadn’t reminded him, Yun Ye would have almost forgotten he was in a foreign land far from home.

The fleet could no longer proceed because the remaining food and supplies were insufficient to sustain them to the distant Fulin Kingdom. Moreover, during this time, pirates had been surprisingly quiet. Whether Japanese, Goryeo, or Arab pirates—all seemed to have vanished without a trace. Even the always arrogant South Seas pirates had gone into hiding.

If they were avoiding him out of fear of Yun Ye, this reason was truly too laughable. The word “fear” didn’t exist in pirates’ vocabulary, regardless of which group.

“My lord, they must be waiting on our return route, planning to slaughter us like a fat sheep. The other merchants have gradually gathered at Java, just waiting for us to escort them home. It’s agreed that from this trip’s profits, we get twenty percent.”

“Staying here, there’s almost no distinction between spring and summer—I’ve nearly forgotten the passage of time. Since old friends are all waiting for me, how can we disappoint them? When will the trade winds blow?”

“At most another half month. We’ve stayed too long on these islands.” Liu Renyuan had been conducting surveys around these islands these past days and had already recorded these places into sea charts. The charts were coated with wax for waterproofing and finally placed in a sealed copper tube that Yun Ye kept on his person.

Li Tai split open an enormous lobster, dipped it in vinegar sauce, and ate the snow-white lobster meat in one bite—a bite of flatbread, a bite of lobster. He felt this was the most delicious way to eat.

“Have some refinement! Lobster should be savored slowly. Paired with yellow wine, it’s the most wonderful flavor in the world. What’s the logic in pairing it with flatbread?”

“Who told you it must be eaten with yellow wine? What’s wrong with me pairing it with flatbread? I used to eat noodles without garlic cloves—now isn’t it different? Can’t live without them? From now on, in the Great Tang, eating lobster will be paired with flatbread. This is Prince Wei Li Tai’s innovation. I’m telling you, eating lobster and flatbread together produces an extremely comfortable feeling—soft within hard, hard within soft, one bite hard, one bite soft, endlessly interesting. Wheat fragrance mixed with lobster’s freshness—I’ll never forget it in this lifetime.”

Yun Ye broke off a lobster claw, cracked it open, extracted the white meat inside, and following Li Tai’s example, dipped it in the vinegar sauce and sandwiched it in flatbread. He took a big bite and after chewing twice, discovered what Li Tai said was indeed true—the flavor was exquisite. He couldn’t help but give Li Tai a thumbs up.

Under the stimulation of money, everyone worked tirelessly on the tedious work. This labor wasn’t shameful—actually, the working process was a money-picking process. No matter how much spice you had, it would ultimately be completely devoured by the Great Tang’s vast market. No one had ever heard of anyone whose spices couldn’t be sold.

These mountain-covering spice trees were all treasures. Tang people never had the habit of draining the pond to catch fish. They cherished every spice tree. Xi Tong, upon seeing fallen spice trees, would even kick some black soil to cover them.

Three months of busyness filled five merchant ships with harvested spices. This amount didn’t even reach twenty percent of the entire island’s production. No matter how precious the spices, Liu Renyuan wouldn’t allow any spices exceeding the crew’s personal luggage weight. According to Lingnan Fleet convention, individuals could carry no more than twenty jin of goods. This was the rule—from captain to sailor, none could violate it.

Warships were originally for combat, not cargo ships. If not for Yun Ye’s easygoing personality, he absolutely wouldn’t have agreed to one jin of cargo boarding. Liu Renyuan was no longer that young man who’d fallen in love with the sea over a mermaid. The current Liu Renyuan was already a qualified maritime commander.

The merchant ships’ loading capacity had reached its limit. Seeing the deeply laden waterline, Yun Ye worriedly asked Liu Renyuan whether this would cause problems—if the ships sank, it would be pointless.

Liu Renyuan didn’t want to answer. The person who’d initially loaded all these spices was Yun Ye, yet now he was worrying and asking if too much had been loaded. They didn’t dare hoist the main sails, only daring to use auxiliary sails to slowly make their way to Java. The Great Tang merchants who’d finished their business were all waiting there for the fleet’s arrival. When the trade winds arose, everyone would return home. Having drifted abroad for half a year, it was time to go home.

Disturbing news kept arriving. Some merchant ships that had narrowly escaped death recounted with lingering fear the ferocity of pirates on the outer seas. Arab pirates had already pursued them. The King of Java was utterly useless. Only the Great Tang’s own warships could protect everyone, but the warships had yet to arrive. Many merchants had already begun preparing to weigh anchor and set sail now—having earned their money, they didn’t want to wait in Java for death. Arab pirate scout ships had already appeared for two days.

Just when the trade winds had arisen and everyone had completely despaired of the warships, Yun Ye returned to Java with three warships and five merchant ships as slow as ox carts.

The merchant ships entered the bay while the massive warships arrogantly pursued Arab pirates. The three warships hardly lifted a finger—relying on the powerful propulsion of three sails, they brutally ran over the Arab pirates’ high-sterned ships. After the massive ships passed, only some broken planks and debris remained on the sea surface. Pirates struggling to swim in the seawater were also picked off one by one by powerful crossbows.

“My lord, what are your merchant ships loaded with? Why does this old fellow smell something like spices?” Manager Feng, taking advantage of his familiarity with Yun Ye, went to hover around the merchant ships as soon as they docked, wanting to see whether the prince and marquis who’d never gone to sea for business had been swindled by foreigners. Five ships loaded to the brim—if they’d been cheated, the loss would be enormous. The Lion Kingdom produced abundant tin ore. If they’d transported that stuff back, it would be disastrous. It couldn’t be made into swords or household items, only things like wine pots. Only those counterfeiting silver wares used tin. At first it was still bright and shiny, no different from silver, but over time it turned black. Dropped on the ground, it would shatter into several pieces—extremely brittle and useless.

Before even reaching the ship’s side, a distinctive spice aroma drifted over. An old sea hand, he identified them one by one. Good heavens—this was cloves, this was cinnamon, there was even nutmeg? My God, could the ships be full of nothing but spices? How much capital would that require? When the prince and the others departed, he hadn’t noticed them bringing cargo!

“Ha, Old Feng, you’re right—it is spices, and there are many more. The warships don’t allow cargo loading, so we threw it all away and only brought these back.” Yun Ye flicked his ear. The dying screams of those Arab people just now seemed to still echo in his ears, making him very uncomfortable.

“Threw, threw it away?” Old Feng’s eyes reddened—he almost rushed forward to fight desperately. Having gone to sea countless times himself, only on a rare one or two occasions had he encountered Arab merchants transporting spices. Whenever encountered, he’d spare no cost to get those spices. No matter how great the cost, there would be substantial profit upon return. How could such precious cargo just be thrown away?

Feng Zhiyong came down from the ship and quickly dragged Manager Feng away, saying in a low voice, “Ninth Uncle, the marquis wasn’t wrong—it was thrown away. We picked too much. That dog-damned Liu Renyuan won’t allow warships to carry cargo—all three warships forbidden. Otherwise there’d be more.”

“You picked it yourselves?” Manager Feng’s voice already carried a breaking tone. “You attacked and captured the Arab people’s spice plantations?”

“No. Marquis Yun just randomly found some sea islands. The islands were covered with spices. Bay leaf and other cheap spices—Marquis Yun didn’t let us pick them, only selecting the most expensive varieties. Besides this nephew’s share on the merchant ship, here’s another twenty jin. Other brothers are the same. I’ll have them gather shortly and hand it over to you. If Marquis Yun wants to go to the Spice Islands again, we can pick more. Not hiding it from you, Ninth Uncle—when boarding, seeing the thrown-away spices, I had thoughts of killing Liu Renyuan.”

Old Feng said nothing more. Opening the sack Feng Zhiyong handed him, he discovered it was full of nutmeg. Grabbing a handful, he picked one and threw it in his mouth to test its authenticity. Within moments, tears came down. In a trembling voice he said, “Zhiyong, are there really islands covered with spices? Don’t deceive your Ninth Uncle. Do you know what location? If our Feng Family knows the place, within two years we’ll be the Great Tang’s wealthiest family.”

Feng Zhiyong sighed and said, “I saw the islands and saw the mountain-covering spices. Though the island was full of venomous snakes, that was truly a treasure mountain! Ninth Uncle, I was also pampered and raised. Can you imagine me carrying a sack and picking spices nonstop for three months? My hands completely peeled. Cinnamon tree bark cut my palms to pieces—I had no sensation, single-mindedly thinking about picking more, picking even more.”

“That area’s geography is complex. Finding it requires Marquis Yun’s ability. He seems to know where such islands exist. Leading us to circle the sea for seven or eight days, he found that island precisely. Besides him, perhaps only Liu Renyuan knows, because he still had to make sea charts.”

Old Feng swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva, striving to calm himself. Patting Feng Zhiyong’s shoulder and back, he said, “See—this is the benefit of going to sea early. Our family going to sea now isn’t late. You’ve also seen it, right? For the Yun Family to truly dominate the seas, that’s the business of his son who doesn’t bear his surname. He seems to treat going to sea as recreation, so our family still has at least ten years. Zhiyong, never mind treasures, forget spices—single-mindedly learn your skills well. Once you’ve learned skills well, you’ll have everything you want in the future.”

Feng Zhiyong nodded, turned, and boarded the spice-laden merchant ship. These five ships were loaded with far too much—it needed transferring to other cargo ships. The trade winds had arisen. Time was more precious than gold—they needed to hurry.

Liu Renyuan compiled the intelligence the merchants had obtained and handed it to Liu Fang. After Liu Fang studied it all night, he held the sea chart and said to Yun Ye, “You’re a fat pig now—everyone’s got their eyes on you. Look—between this peninsula and sea island, there’s a narrow waterway, precisely the place you plan to station troops in the future. They’ve also taken a fancy to it, preparing to ambush you here. Enemies front, back, left, and right—how will you respond?”

Yun Ye wrinkled his nose and said, “This is your job—why ask me? However, I think entering the waterway is a good idea. Here the merchant ships won’t be easily attacked. Our three large ships can control the entire waterway. Here we’ll exhaust their forces, then pursue them to suppress the bandits. Master Liu, I can very responsibly say our three ships’ combat power won’t be much less than the Lingnan Fleet. Perhaps you should go aboard the ships to see what they’re equipped with before saying inauspicious words.”