Wang Yan had plenty of leisure in Yang Province, with nothing much to do.
The main reason was that after the southern rebellion, the great southern clans had come to understand that the Sui Dynasty was now flourishing. Power was centralized, its soldiers elite and its generals numerous. They could not stir up any real trouble, much less overthrow a dynasty, and naturally could not stand against the great northern clans.
Yang Guang's arrival gave them an opportunity. If they could not change the dynasty, then they could influence the next generation. Thus, without Yang Guang needing to confront them or Wang Yan needing to draw his blade and kill anyone, they offered no resistance whatsoever. They immediately dropped to their knees and pledged to support Yang Guang's rise.
Yang Guang found it rather dull, and Wang Yan found it even duller.
Thus, Wang Yan gained a shipyard and shipbuilding craftsmen. When spring truly arrived in all its glory, Yang Guang "happened" to hear that Wang Yan spent every day roasting tea at the marquis's residence. So Wang Yan acquired a vast Biluochun Tea plantation by Dongting Lake...
Compared with Yang Guang, who spent every day handling administrative matters, studying Yang Province's planning and development with the advisers at the prince's residence, and feasting and negotiating with Jiangnan's aristocratic clans, Wang Yan—the highest military authority in Yang Province—was truly far too bored.
Yang Guang had adopted a conciliatory approach, and since he was not taking a hard line against the southern great clans, there was no place for Wang Yan to show his skills. Yang Province's militia troops had all been recruited locally and followed Yang Su in hacking their way after the rebels all the way to Quanzhou. Only a little over a thousand militia troops remained in Yang