Chapter 1651: Overseas Expansion

In the high autumn of the eighth month, what was gratifying was that the Great Han once again welcomed a bountiful harvest. The people of every prefecture rejoiced and celebrated the abundant harvest. Even in the current era of Kaibao prosperity, for the common folk, there was nothing more worthy of joy than a bountiful harvest in the fields. Even within the Eastern Capital, one could almost smell the fragrance of rice wafting through the air—it represented a full stomach, represented hope.

At the Qionglin Garden, on the shore of Jinming Pool, Emperor Liu leaned on a bamboo staff and strolled leisurely across the sparse, yellowing lawn. The fragrance of osmanthus flowers permeating the air was intoxicatingly sweet. With the clear autumn air and the lakeside scenery, it truly lifted one's spirits.

Within Jinming Pool, more than a dozen warships remained moored. This was the standing navy of the Eastern Capital. Naturally, it could not compare to the great vessels and large ships of the Great Han's navy, but its rank was not low. After all, in the Great Han's naval forces, all officers above the rank of Commander were required to come to the capital for training, and the training location was this Jinming Pool naval force. Although somewhat unreasonable, from a political standpoint, such a regulation had come into being.

The court needed to ensure control and influence over the navy. On Jinming Pool, little actual training could be accomplished, for the Great Han's navy had already completed its transformation from a riverine force to a true ocean-going navy. Therefore, it served more as a place for "political review" and education in loyalty to the sovereign and love for the state.

The Great Han's naval forces had now essentially formed their own system. The main warships were basically stationed at the major military ports of Henan, Jiangnan, Fujian, and Guangdong, and together with Goryeo, Liuqiu, and Annam, they were organized into seven fleets of varying sizes.

Among these, there was also great autonomy in the recruitment, selection, training, and cultivation of officers and men. In recent years, the development of the naval forces—or rather, the navy—had consistently shown an upward and vigorous trend, and even during the military system reforms, it had not been greatly affected.

The navy was an offensive branch of the military. For the court to maintain such a large-scale professional navy was naturally not merely for the defense of the territory. Although the Great Han possessed ten thousand li of coastline, there was almost no threat coming from the sea.

Therefore, the Great Han's navy was in reality prepared for expansion. Since the empire's land strategy had shifted to contraction and defense, the pioneering spirit that Emperor Liu had encouraged and cultivated for many years had been entrusted to the navy.

Looking at the development of the Great Han's navy over the past twenty or thirty years, it had indeed not disappointed his expectations. Not to mention the important roles it had played in past domestic wars involving river and sea battles, but looking at the past decade alone—the rapid rise of overseas trade and the vigorous development of the Maritime Silk Road—behind all this prosperity, the Great Han's navy was the most fundamental support, escorting and safeguarding it all.

Now, those spreading the Great Han's civilization and glory to the South Seas, besides the maritime merchants, had as their main force the Great Han's navy. Three years ago, Guo Liangping, the Chief Commander of the Annam Navy, submitted a memorial proposing the organization of a fleet for a long-distance ocean voyage—on the one hand for long-range training, and on the other to display the Great Han's national might to the various barbarian peoples overseas.

The Great Han's navy had developed for so many years and had been continuously renewed and replaced. The older generation of meritorious officials and nobles, such as Guo Tingwei and Zhang Yanwei, had long since retired to a life of leisure.

Now, those responsible for naval affairs were the Marquis of Haining, Liu Guangyi, and Lin Renzhao. The Marquis of Haining, Liu Guangyi, even held the additional title of Deputy Commissioner of Military Affairs, which was seen as a symbol of the navy's elevated status.

However, the sons, disciples, and protégés of the older generation of naval commanders still filled the vast system of the navy. The Guo family alone, for instance, had several dozen members serving in various command and administrative positions.

As the eldest son of the Marquis of Hai'an, Guo Tingwei, Guo Liangping's future was naturally assured. Regarding the ocean voyage plan he proposed, there was some opposition in the court, especially from the "continental army faction," which was wary of the navy's rise and directly opposed it on the grounds of wasting resources and exhausting the people for futile efforts.

However, Emperor Liu held a highly approving attitude toward Guo Liangping's proposal and greatly praised it. Once Emperor Liu approved, the resistance from below ceased to be much of a problem.

After three full months of preparation, with the support of the central government, the ocean-going fleet was assembled. Departing from Jinlan Port in the Annam region, it was personally named by Emperor Liu: the Heng Hai Fleet.

The original intention in forming this Heng Hai Fleet was not to make a great show of force, but during the process of assembly, a little was added here and a little there, and the scale suddenly grew.

According to Guo Liangping's original plan, he had only intended to dispatch a portion of the Annam navy—a dozen or so ships and two to three thousand men would have sufficed. But after deliberation by the central government, it was felt that this was too modest. Therefore, the Bureau of Military Affairs ordered warships and officers and men to be drawn from the various military ports. Fifty-two warships alone were mobilized, and auxiliary vessels exceeded one hundred, with officers, men, and support personnel numbering over twenty thousand.

In addition, the various coastal Maritime Trade Supervisorates each organized their own merchant convoys, loaded with the Great Han's porcelain, silk, tea, and other goods to sail along. Upon learning of this news, some powerful nobles with maritime trade interests also joined in. As for private maritime merchants, they were equally enthusiastic—the returns from going to sea had never been low, but they often faced all sorts of risks.

However, if one sailed on long-distance trade alongside the Great Han's navy, the risks beyond the natural ones were reduced to nearly the minimum. With such a mighty and majestic navy protecting merchants and escorting convoys, how could business not be good?

Therefore, by the time Guo Liangping led the "Heng Hai Fleet" out, it had become a massive fleet of over four hundred military, official, merchant, and civilian vessels. Calling it an expedition would not be an exaggeration at all.

That ocean voyage was a success. The Great Han Empire's infantry and cavalry were invincible, sweeping across East Asia with no rival, but the navy's sortie, galloping across the great ocean, was equally unmatched.

Leading the fleet was an active expansionist like Guo Liangping. The fleet's round trip took a year and a half in total, "visiting" more than twenty countries and regions, reaching as far as the Persian Gulf, and establishing direct dialogue between the imperial court and the Central Asian region.

This was extremely difficult to achieve by land. For example, the Ghaznavid dynasty, which ruled most of Persia at the time—to establish contact by land, one would first have to destroy the Kara-Khanids, or even the still-powerful Samanid dynasty.

By the time they returned to Annam, the Great Han had gained more than a dozen new vassal states. All the large ships were almost completely full—besides commodities, gold, silver, jewels, and pearls, they also carried some captives and beauties, as well as envoys from the newly subjugated barbarian states.

The process and content of the ocean voyage were clearly rich and full of twists and turns, but compared to the results, they truly amounted to nothing. And the court's earlier investment, in the face of such abundant returns, was even less worth mentioning. There was no need for careful calculation—merely by the experience of the accounting clerks, one could conclude that the returns from this voyage were several times the investment.

Not to mention anything else, those several hundred beauties—this exotic charm, full of novel temptation—were highly sought after among the Great Han's noble class.

And after the Heng Hai Fleet returned fully laden, the court gained a newer and deeper understanding of the overseas world. Even those stubborn elements who opposed commerce and maritime trade had to acknowledge the benefits therein.

From the government to the common people, another wave of enthusiasm for going to sea erupted. The past "small-scale dabbling" could not compare to the shocking and stirring returns brought by such large-scale operations.

As the initiator and executor, Guo Liangping received rewards that could be called generous. Emperor Liu conferred upon him the title of First-Class Earl of Zhiyuan. This was not inherited through family privilege but earned through his own efforts. While this aroused envy, jealousy, and resentment, it also attracted more sons of nobles to throw themselves into such endeavors. When honor and profit beckoned to them simultaneously, truly few could resist the temptation.

At the same time, the navy's value was once again demonstrated, and its status was further consolidated. Moreover, the strategic transformation of "marching south" was officially inaugurated.

In the past, whether it was maritime trade or naval development, the focus had been placed on the north. First, in the north there were the two relatively mature countries of Goryeo and Japan; second, the Great Han's navy had originated and developed from the north.

But times had changed. Goryeo and Japan alone could no longer satisfy the Great Han's ever-growing maritime trade demands. Moreover, the internal developmental needs of the Great Han's navy also compelled a shift southward.

Remaining in the north was merely standing still. Looking at all of the Great Han's neighbors, only the South Seas offered vast horizons and great potential. Through years of development, many had come to realize that those barbarian regions of the South Seas, though uncivilized, were truly fine places with genuinely enticing products. The gold, silver, spices, pearls, agate, and coral—including grain and fruits—were all of great value. As long as one could successfully bring them back, one would never lose money, and most of the time there was profit to be made.

Moreover, when citizens of the empire did business, privileges were natural. In the Great Han, one might be just a common nobody, but abroad, one was a lord, a person above others.

By the twentieth year of Kaibao, the Great Han had established settlements throughout the South Seas, of which thirty-seven were marked and named on maps, and the unnamed ones were even more numerous.

After the ocean voyage ended, Guo Liangping returned to court to report on his duties and again proposed a suggestion: to establish a naval base on Pulau Jong Island in the Srivijaya kingdom, as a fulcrum for the Great Han in the South Seas region, thereby controlling the South Seas trade routes, maintaining the Maritime Silk Road trade, protecting the Great Han's merchants and people, and exerting influence on the region at any time.

Emperor Liu had not originally known what Pulau Jong Island was, but after comparing it on the map and hearing Guo Liangping's explanation, he discovered that it was at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca. Once he realized where it was, he decisively agreed.

Emperor Liu was very satisfied. Compared to plans that required him to personally issue orders and forcefully push them through, he was even more delighted by proposals proactively raised by his subordinates below based on the needs of the developing situation.

Whether it was the ocean voyage or the establishment of a naval base in the South Seas, Guo Liangping had deeply won the imperial favor. This was probably the reason Emperor Liu had so generously bestowed the earldom upon him.

Pulau Jong Island was territory of the Srivijaya kingdom, which was now a "major power" among the native states of the South Seas. Many smaller states and forces around it were its vassals, and it profited greatly from relying on that golden waterway of East-West trade.

The Great Han's demand was clearly difficult for the Srivijaya kingdom to accept. What was somewhat excessive was that after the Han envoy made the demand, the compensation offered was merely a one-year reduction in tribute to the Great Han.

This matter was dragged out until the twentieth year of Kaibao without any resolution. The Srivijaya side persistently refused to agree, and relations between the two countries inevitably deteriorated, even affecting the normal business operations of Han merchants and people who had gone south to the South Seas.

The court, however, was losing patience. The task Emperor Liu had assigned had been delayed for so long, and they were under pressure. Within the naval group, dissatisfaction was even greater. Seeing that diplomatic channels could not resolve the issue, their first reaction was naturally to resort to force. The Naval Department of the Bureau of Military Affairs was already drafting plans to campaign against the Srivijaya kingdom, and the one actively promoting it was still Guo Liangping.