Hyper-Dimensional Player

Chapter 801 68: Opening Maritime Trade and Seizing Yizhou

The South Han dynasty has three major legacies.

The first is the Elephant Army. South Han is located in Lingnan, rich in Asian elephants. During Liu Yan's reign, elephants were first used for military purposes, forming the initial elephant army troops.

According to the "New History of the Five Dynasties," the South Han elephant army consisted of approximately several thousand war elephants, each equipped with more than a dozen soldiers, making it the largest elephant army in the South at that time.

However, after Duncan overthrew South Han, he did not find several thousand war elephants; the truly tamed and battle-ready war elephants were less than a hundred. Nonetheless, in the current era, wild Asian elephants are indeed quite abundant. If there were enough animal trainers or unique secret techniques to control them, it might be possible to expand the elephant army to several hundred.

But raising elephants is really costly in terms of food and money, and the maintenance cost of the army is too high.

Duncan's consideration is to focus on nurturing a small portion, to see if it's possible to develop a mythical-level elephant army. Large-scale implementation is impossible, as war elephants are quite afraid of fire attacks. To truly unleash their power, they need to be fully armored.

The Central Plains has a "Fire Ox Formation," in cases of desperation, they might drive the war elephants into a rampage, which would be even more terrifying.

The second legacy of South Han is the tower ships.

The naval force here is a dominant power in the South Sea, with tens of thousands of sailors, primarily consisting of boat people (water-dwelling fishermen) and recruited Southeast Asian sailors, familiar with naval warfare.

If not for the lack of ambition from Liu Chang and his son, it could be considered one of the top naval forces in Southeast Asia.

As for the third legacy, it's the over ten thousand eunuchs left by Liu Chang.

Guangzhou Port.

Duncan changed into ordinary clothes for his trip, accompanied by Lu Qiongxi and others in male disguises. Surrounding him were some pale-faced, beardless figures, all of them skilled experts from the palace. Actually, Duncan didn't really need their protection, but it was beneficial to find something for them to do occasionally. Overall, he still needs to give his subordinates a sense of presence, to prevent them from feeling completely useless.

This is the way of leadership.

Behind Lu Qiongxi, several women were curiously observing their surroundings. Strictly speaking, these women were considered Liu Chang's aunts and cousins. After Duncan ascended to power, he lifted their prohibitions, allowing them access beyond the palace walls. These women had been secretly trained by Lu Qiongxi, learning some peculiar methods. One beautiful woman even had a four-star silver-gray mark, she was an aunt of Liu Chang and survived during Liu Sheng's rule by relying on Lu Qiongxi.

Although Liu Sheng brought in the wives and daughters of his eight brothers into his harem, few truly survived to the present. Over the years, about half have died, and those who survived are rather resourceful and shrewd.

Do not waste human capital, utilize everything, regardless of gender.

Duncan is not afraid of the cunning among those around him.

He boarded one of the Sea Hawk ships, an iron-armored warship, considered advanced in the current era, and had defeated the Southern Tang's invading navy.

"With such a foundation, you don't think about expanding at sea?"

Duncan's gaze was delighted, thinking that it was perfect for his use. With South Han's hundreds of warships, opening up Southeast Asia shouldn't be a problem. By further developing his naval power, climbing some technology trees, he might even consider maritime colonization.

Guangzhou's maritime trade is still fine. During Liu Chang's reign, foreign merchants even offered treasures and female slaves to him.

"Your Majesty."

"Arab merchants seek an audience." Lu Qiongxi stepped forward respectfully.

Arab merchants have been active in Guangzhou and other ports since the late Tang period. In 741 AD, the Tang dynasty established the Maritime Trade Office to manage foreign trade affairs.

Following South Han's downfall, these Arab merchants frequently requested an audience, bringing generous gifts. However, Duncan hasn't had time to attend to them.

Today, he happened to have free time, so Arab merchants eagerly requested to see him.

Duncan pondered for a moment before saying, "Bring them up."

Before long.

Several bearded Arab merchants were brought over. They were fluent in Chinese and quite familiar with Central Plains customs. Upon meeting, they immediately knelt and sent forward boxes of exotic treasures, seemingly having heard of the new emperor's penchant for beauty. The leading Arab merchant even presented several beautiful Western Region female slaves.

Furthermore, a tan-skinned man curated gifts to Duncan's liking, offering some stimulating drugs.

In earlier years, Liu Chang had collected quite a few.

Duncan received the gifts expressionlessly, casually exchanging a few words, and allowed them to conduct their trade normally before casually sending them away.

"Your Majesty."

"They should have come for the matter of 'opening the sea.'" Lu Qiongxi whispered.

Duncan slowly nodded.

He had just initiated the idea of opening up sea trade, and these people reacted quickly, indicating that their information channels were quite prompt.

"Just let them wait."

Duncan wasn't in a hurry to develop naval power. Although he needed sea trade to fill the treasury, there were many ways to make money. Currently, South Han's resources couldn't handle everything.

If they were to conquer Wuyue in the future, uniting the naval forces from both places would allow them to completely dominate Southeast Asia.

Maintaining a regular navy is expensive, especially the initial investment.

Near the port, Duncan observed some boat people's fishing vessels. The boat people generally revered dragons and snakes, believing them to be embodiments of their ancestors and protectors of their clans.

After Duncan ascended to power, he began promoting the belief in the Sea Goddess.

It's actually the Goddess Mazu, locally referred to as the Wisdom and Spiritful Lady, the Divine Dragon, Dragon Maiden, and so on.

In this world, Mazu's belief is essentially a fusion. It's a by-product of witchcraft subtly blending; Lin Mo can only be regarded as the human form of Mazu's belief. Behind it lies the boat people's dragon and snake belief, among others. As of now, it's not fully formed, so it differs significantly from the future belief in Mazu.