Chapter 01: Spices, Spices!

On the day of Xu Yin in the month of Xin Hai in the year of Ren Chen, the celestial calendar deemed it greatly auspicious—favorable for travel, opening markets, and accumulating wealth, with great fortune in the western direction.

Yun Ye and Li Tai departed from Guangzhou with forty-five merchant vessels of various sizes, plunging headlong into the vast South China Sea. Their purpose was to seek profit through trade and to completely establish the maritime trade route. The overland Silk Road had already been opened, with Western Region merchants, Persians, and foreign traders gathering in Chang’an. From that time forward, the jingling bells of camel caravans would resound along that ancient road for a full five hundred years.

The Maritime Silk Road was equally long-standing, yet regrettably it had never fully exploited its inherent advantages, much less compared favorably with the overland trade route. A single ship’s cargo capacity far exceeded that of a camel caravan, required fewer personnel, and took less time—so why would shrewd merchants turn a blind eye to this?

Foreign merchants who traveled ten thousand li to trade with the Great Tang required provisions weighing ten times the weight of their actual goods. Sea travel didn’t demand such troublesome arrangements. Yun Ye’s current expedition aimed to expand maritime trade’s advantages to their fullest extent.

Having a formidable fleet as escort was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for those merchants, especially since the one leading this voyage was the renowned Marquis Yun, whose Lingnan Fleet was itself an invincible force.

When the three massive warships sailed into Guangzhou Bay, the entire harbor fell instantly silent. Those familiar with vessels weren’t strangers to large ships—mulan boats even bigger than these three were common sights—but no one had ever seen colossal warships built purely for warfare. The entire vessel presented graceful, streamlined contours, with gleaming rams at the prow capable of easily tearing apart any ship blocking its path. The giant ship’s sides bore no oar poles, only densely packed eight-ox crossbows. On both the fore and aft decks stood a catapult each, while fierce sailors climbed continuously along the masts like monkeys—their skill alone revealing them all to be warriors of bear-like strength.

The merchant ships in the harbor filed out in orderly succession. All forty-five merchant vessels would follow closely behind the massive warships, conducting business all the way to the Srivijaya Kingdom. Everyone knew this expedition was actually path-finding, but business still had to be conducted.

The seas held not only wind and waves but also extremely vicious pirates—Goryeo pirates, Japanese pirates, Arab pirates, and most terrifying of all, the pirates of the Srivijaya Kingdom. They not only plundered cargo but also killed countless people. Numerous merchants had overcome sea waves and hurricanes only to be devoured completely by these pirates in an instant.

Now it didn’t matter. Looking left and right at the massive warships following behind filled them with confidence for this long voyage. The Great Tang should be like this—it was time for the Great Tang’s mighty warriors to avenge those merchants who had perished at sea.

Yun Ye sat in a chair, raising his telescope to gaze into the distance. Before him lay Hainan Island, inhabited only by natives and some banished officials. The golden dragon banner on the massive warship fluttered loudly. Yun Ye saw quite a few people on the beach waving and jumping, struggling to make themselves visible to those on the warship, clinging to the most desperate fantasy that the warship might take them away from this earthly hell.

Yun Ye lowered his telescope and returned it to Liu Renyuan before saying, “Proceed at full speed. We don’t have much time, yet there are many tasks to accomplish. Should we encounter obstacles, annihilate them. Opening the route is the primary objective.”

Liu Renyuan acknowledged with a sound. Before long, horn blasts rang out, and sailors on the ship continuously waved various flags. The wind currently blowing across the sea surface was ideal—neither too strong nor too weak, and most importantly, there were no swells.

The Princess had only half its sails unfurled, while the merchant ships behind had their sails fully filled. The entire fleet’s speed immediately increased considerably. The warship’s bow plunged into the sea then lifted its head sharply, with crushed waves surging onto the deck before flowing back into the ocean through the drainage ports.

The sun gradually rose, and the deck also became scorching hot. Yun Ye returned to his cabin to find Wu She and Liu Fang each clutching a teapot, playing chess on a secured board. This was a chessboard specially made with magnets—once pieces were placed, the iron chess pieces would stick firmly to it. Wu She regarded this chess set as a treasure and wouldn’t ordinarily let others touch it.

Dan Ying stood to the side observing the game. Having grown up with Ding Yanping in Zhoushan since childhood, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the sea, so these months of training were almost nothing to him. The ones who had it hard were Han Zhe and Xi Tong—even Xiao Tie was stronger than them. After several months of training, he had already developed excellent swimming skills.

Han Zhe appeared well-proportioned all over with exceptional martial skills, yet this fellow was like a weight when thrown into water—he showed no intention of floating whatsoever and simply sank to the bottom. After being rescued, he even injured two people who were teaching him to swim. Eventually, the only one who could teach him swimming was Dan Ying. Han Zhe had sparred with Dan Ying before, only to be soundly beaten again. Dan Ying threw him into the sea over and over, pulling him up only after he’d drunk his fill of seawater. Over time, Han Zhe discovered he had learned to swim.

After being kicked into the water by Master Wu She for the first time, Xi Tong had fallen in love with swimming. Moreover, being a martial arts practitioner with long-sustained breath, he most enjoyed diving. Now he even dared to go down where there were sharks. He’d exchanged his broadsword for two iron spikes, claiming that when it came to aquatic skills, this old fellow was second to none.

Yun Ye had assigned Dongyu and Ren Xiong to Li Tai’s Qingque. Old Tie personally piloted his beloved ship Chengqian as the rear guard. The three ships formed a triangular formation surrounding the large cluster of merchant vessels. Across the pale yellow coastal waters, the entire fleet sailed at high speed.

Past Hainan Island, a long string of small islands appeared before them. Yun Ye deliberately steered the fleet in a circle around Crab Island. Very good—the corpses mounted on wooden stakes had long since turned to bleached bones. The entire island looked sinister and gloomy; even in broad daylight, it made one’s hair stand on end.

“Commander, since you established authority through those corpses, no foreign ships have dared enter these waters, not even pirates. When I commanded the naval forces here, every pirate we caught each year would be mounted on this island.”

“You’re saying these corpses are no longer the ones I erected back then?”

“Commander, the sea winds are fierce. Once corpses are hung up, within days they’ll be pecked clean by seabirds. Come another storm, and nothing remains. New corpses must be hung up each year to maintain the effect.”

Yun Ye nodded. These were all waters belonging to the Great Tang. Lingnan Fleet warships frequently appeared here, so presumably no dim-witted pirates dared come. Establishing authority was sometimes a highly effective method.

“Past Homesick Terrace, we’ll be out of the Great Tang’s controlled waters. My lord, the local natives will swarm in droves. I don’t know where this Spice Islands you mentioned will be? Only our three ships carry no cargo at all—we can’t let the brothers make this trip for nothing.” Liu Renyuan worried greatly that the commander was deceiving people. If there was no cargo, relying solely on deception would deal a fatal blow to morale.

“Don’t worry. This time I specifically prepared five empty ships just to load spices. It’s not one island but a chain of islands. I’m only concerned about not finding enough people to harvest the spices, not about there being no spices.”

So-called spices referred to seasonings like nutmeg, pepper, and cloves. Spices were among the most important commodities in international trade. Spice trading had already appeared during the Qin Dynasty. By the end of the Han Dynasty, this scale had expanded, but unfortunately the Five Barbarians’ chaos followed. Those horseback nations didn’t understand maritime trade, so for a long period, this trade experienced a gap in the Central Plains.

Not until Persian merchants appeared did spice trading begin to recover. Persians obtained spices from India and transported them ten thousand li to Chang’an—their prices were predictable. If not for coastal merchants continuously traveling between Southeast Asia and Guangzhou these past two years, spice prices would still rival gold. Yun Ye’s current expedition aimed to first locate the Spice Islands.

Yun Ye only knew the Spice Islands were on the equator, not far from Indonesia—he knew nothing else. But in the Great Tang, knowing this much was sufficient.

Long-distance voyaging was an extremely tedious affair. Li Tai had long since boarded Yun Ye’s ship—staying alone on the Qingque was utterly boring. The Great Tang’s fleet forbade women from boarding ships, as this was highly inauspicious. Even in the most open-minded Lingnan Fleet, women wouldn’t be allowed on their ships. Last time, because they’d encountered a ship of Silla slave girls, everyone had experienced a waterspout. No matter how Yun Ye explained there was no connection between the two, even the most obedient sailors disagreed. Women were disasters on ships—this remained a prohibition all sailors observed.

Unable to bring beauties aboard to relieve his boredom, Li Tai could only watch Yun Ye sprout bean sprouts on the ship. Not eating vegetables for extended periods meant no vitamin supplementation, and getting scurvy was inevitable. Though oranges were quite good, they didn’t keep well. Fortunately, the Yun household had simple canned fruit, especially canned oranges in syrup, which everyone welcomed most.

Having even a little bit of oranges to eat daily was a supreme luxury at sea. Li Tai cradled a jar and scooped them out with a spoon to eat. He also loved this stuff, especially after hearing Yun Ye say that not eating this at sea would spoil one’s blood—he became even more inseparable from it. Fortunately, they’d brought enough; Li Tai alone couldn’t finish it all.

Yun Ye found a very large sieve and carefully selected soybeans, throwing away flattened or damaged ones. On shore, rinsing them twice with water would suffice, but at sea, no one was willing to waste water, so Yun Ye picked through them one by one.

“Ye Zi, the battles you mentioned have never occurred. There isn’t a single foreign ship on the sea surface—even if we wanted to rob someone, there’s no way. Oh right, you said people who don’t eat bean sprouts and oranges will really get bad blood?”

“Naturally. Don’t complain—being able to sail peacefully at sea is something many people can’t even hope for. I didn’t expect such smooth sailing either. But look at these three large ships—even if someone planned to rob us, they’d flee without a trace. Are Lai Chuanfeng and Yang Yueli behaving themselves on your ship these days?”

“Not bad. Your people are very useful. Gou Zi is also good. Tell you what, just let Gou Zi follow me from now on. My captain of guards is loyal, and his martial skills are decent, but his brain doesn’t work well.”

Yun Ye wrapped the beans in gauze, bundled them up, and placed them in water to soak until completely submerged before saying, “Gou Zi wasn’t mine to begin with. He has his own family, his own background. If you want to use him, go talk to him, then inform Master Wu She. There probably won’t be a problem. His father-in-law Hong Cheng has long been pressuring him to obtain an official position. Going to your household as a guard wouldn’t be bad—at least he’d have an official status.”