In the winter of the twelfth year of Kaihuang (592), Yang Guang returned to Daxing City to pay his respects and present gifts. He brought back a great deal of spices and seafood.
His purpose, naturally, was to show Yang Jian how profitable maritime trade was, and how foreign lands could be seized.
Just as Yang Guang had expected, after he told Yang Jian about it, Yang Jian did not inform anyone else. Instead, he tacitly approved of Yang Guang forming an ocean-going navy and plundering wealth beyond the borders.
After returning to River Capital, Yang Guang told Wang Yan that Yang Jian's first thought had been exactly as Wang Yan had said: seize control of maritime trade. The aristocratic families involved would have to obediently bow their heads, or the navy would smash their fleets and leave them with nothing. If anyone asked, the answer would be that dangers and opportunities coexisted overseas, and the will of Heaven was unpredictable.
It was all rather disgusting.
In truth, after the profits from the first maritime venture came in, Yang Guang stopped demanding a share from Wang Yan. Wang Yan then truly invested all the money into maritime trade. He built larger, fiercer seagoing ships, recruited more naval troops, and, bold as he was, directly transferred some of Yang Province's garrison soldiers into the operation so that all his brothers could get rich.
With immense financial and manpower support, the fleet expanded rapidly, and the training of naval troops kept pace. The requirements for sailors were not actually high: they had to know how to swim and not drown, not get seasick, know how to leap aboard, and not turn into weak-kneed wrecks once they reached land. As long as they retained considerable combat strength, that was enough.
With the Sui