Chapter 310 The Fleet Returns

With Chencang in hand, Gao Yuan held the initiative to strike the Guanzhong at any time. Given his personality of never passing up an advantage, he naturally seized every opportunity to gain ground.

This was why he chose not to transfer Huo Jun to garrison Chencang, opting instead for the more versatile Wu Ban.

However, Gao Wu was clearly not going to give him that chance; he quickly ordered a unit of Cavalry to be stationed near Chencang, evidently prepared to counter Wu Ban’s potential sorties at any moment.

After reading the intelligence sent by Wu Ban, Gao Yuan couldn't help but sneer.

“That old fogey certainly thinks highly of me, deploying five thousand Cavalry back all at once. It's just a pity my Flying Thunder Cannons are all scrapped; otherwise, I'd definitely wipe out this wave of Cavalry.”

Speaking of the Flying Thunder Cannons, inside Linde Hall of Luoyang Palace, Gao Wu and his two sons sat together, looking troubled.

“Regarding the divine weapon Gao Yuan used that can summon thunder, the spies have sent back word.”

“What did they say?”

Gao Long shook his head and sighed.

“No information could be gathered. It seems that no one outside his inner circle can even get close to it.”

Gao Wu frowned.

“What about the soldiers under him? With so many soldiers, is it impossible to bribe even one?”

Gao Long shook his head again.

“The ones who went on campaign with Gao Yuan this time were his Imperial Guard Division. From the soldiers to the generals, they are all part of the very first group Gao Yuan trained; they simply cannot be bribed.”

Hearing that Gao Long was practically clueless, Gao Hu couldn't help but mock him.

“I say, Big Brother, we spend so much money and grain every year to maintain the secret agents, yet they can't find out anything?”

Gao Long hadn't expected Gao Hu to undermine him so directly. He turned his head to glare fiercely at his younger brother, his eyes full of warning. However, Gao Hu didn't back down at all, glaring right back.

Seeing this scene, Gao Wu felt a hint of pleasant surprise. He didn't want his two sons to be harmonious; what he wanted most was for Gao Hu to be the whetstone for Gao Long.

In his view, titles like 'Dragon Soaring' were nonsense. Gao Long was destined to be the Emperor, and the hardships he was currently experiencing were far from enough.

However, he still harshly rebuked Gao Hu verbally.

“What kind of tone is that to use with your elder brother? Your elder brother is the Heir Apparent. You must distinguish between superior and inferior, do you understand?”

“This son knows his mistake. Please quell your anger, Father King!”

Although Gao Hu admitted fault, he was inwardly jubilant. While his father was scolding him, he only criticized his tone and attitude, not his act of attacking the Heir Apparent.

Furthermore, his father specifically mentioned 'superior and inferior' rather than 'elder and younger.' Didn't that mean if he could displace Gao Long, he would be the one on top?

At this thought, Gao Hu remembered the idea that occasionally surfaced in his mind:

We are both legitimate sons of the Gao Family. Gao Long was just born two years earlier. I wouldn't necessarily be worse in that position, so why not fight for it?

Gao Long was in a very foul mood. How could he not understand the implication in his father's words today? After returning to the Eastern Palace, he flew into a rage and smashed many things.

In the end, it took two Side Consorts working together to comfort him all night before his anger finally subsided a little.

When he woke up in the morning and looked at the two fair bodies, for some reason, the fire of anger rose within him again.

For so many years, the position of his primary consort had remained vacant, all because of the psychological shadow cast by that unchaste Zheng Wan.

“Zheng Wan, Zheng Wan, you bitch. If you didn't want to remain a widow, fine, but to actually submit to that bastard Gao Yuan... You deserve to die, you really deserve to die!”

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Gao Long actually fetched a whip and beat the two women who served him half to death.

Somehow, news of this event quickly spread throughout Luoyang until everyone knew. People were saying that the Heir Apparent Gao Long was not only mediocre in ability but also incredibly cruel. For a time, Gao Hu's reputation was severely damaged.

On the other side, in Panyu, during the last few days before the New Year, another piece of good news arrived: the fleet had returned.

Out of seventy heavy Treasure Ships, sixty-eight returned; out of thirty fast Treasure Ships, twenty-seven returned. A total of five warships were lost, and casualties among the naval officers and soldiers were fewer than ten—it could be called nearly perfect.

And the items they brought back could be said to make everyone's mouth water:

Massive quantities of spices went without saying, along with entire ships full of gold, golden pearls specialized to the Luzon region, and even quite a few local women.

Seeing such a rich harvest, Gao Yuan was also in high spirits. After discussing with Zhao Xiyao and the others, he made the decision on rewards with a wave of his hand.

Each naval soldier would receive a reward of two hundred guan, and those women were also distributed among them. Each general would receive five hundred guan and a manor.

Cao Xing, as the commander-in-chief, received a reward of five thousand guan and was simultaneously titled General Who Pacifies the Seas, with the rank of County Earl.

Because the spices brought back amounted to hundreds of thousands of shi, the price of spices in Daqian plummeted from the previous five guan per jin to just one hundred wen per jin.

However, this was only the price at Panyu Port. Once transported inland, they could easily be sold for several guan per jin. Some even shipped them by sea to places like Shandong and Liaodong, where they could be sold for twenty to thirty guan per jin.

Stimulated by such massive profits, merchants crowded into the Maritime Trade Office office that very day, clutching Bank vouchers or carrying crates of gold coins, all eager to purchase spices.

Seeing this scene, Chu Weiguo was grinning from ear to ear. After consulting with Gao Yuan, he opened the spice trade.

In just half a day, over a hundred thousand shi of spices were sold. The Bank staff stationed at the Maritime Trade Office were so exhausted they could barely lift their hands.

Although it was exhausting, the returns were immense. The tax collected by the Maritime Trade Office alone reached over ten million guan, directly exceeding thirty percent of the imperial court's annual tax revenue.

Looking at the skyrocketing numbers in the Bank account, Gao Yuan couldn't help but be tongue-tied. He suddenly felt an urge to spend the money quickly; he absolutely couldn't let it sit idle on the books.

Before transmigrating, he once attended a financial knowledge training session where he heard a professor say that if a physical enterprise has a large amount of idle funds on its books, it indicates a major problem with the company.

Chu Weiguo, the entrepreneur, also agreed with this view. Therefore, Gao Yuan immediately set to work with a stroke of his pen, initiating the repair of the Chencang Road and the expansion project of Chencang City.

Over the years, government projects could be said to have never ceased. In the last two years, construction was happening everywhere, which allowed many to see the business opportunities within.

Nowadays, construction was no longer limited to official engineering teams. Many private engineering teams had sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, and there were even construction teams formed by entire villages.

Gao Yuan expressed his support for this situation. These construction teams working on projects during the agricultural off-season not only sped up the progress of the works but also increased the income of a large number of farmers.

When the common people have money, they are naturally more willing to have children and spend money, which in turn rapidly increases the national strength of the State of Yue.

And with money in the national treasury, investment in infrastructure would naturally increase, giving the people more opportunities to earn money and lead better lives, thus entering a virtuous cycle.

This could be seen from the number of newborns Zhao Xiyao compiled this year. In the fourth year of Jian'an alone, the State of Yue's population increased by over one million.

It was also in this year that the total population of the State of Yue exceeded thirty-five million, and the population of Panyu City and its surrounding areas officially broke one million.