Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

"Mr. Ban, Mr. Pei, we meet again."

"Lord He, it has been more than a month since we last met in Haizhou. Today, we meet again and you are even more radiant than before."

"Not at all, Mr. Ban, you're too kind, please..."

Ban Dingyuan never expected that he would be greeted by Emperor Yongzheng when he entered the palace.

Ban Dingyuan was deeply impressed by this person. Unlike the greedy officials in Haizhou who would pave the way with silver even for a single meeting, he was quite casual.

Moreover, Yong's interest in new things was far greater than that of any other official Wu Zhao had ever met.

Whether this interest is professional or heartfelt, it at least gives Ban Dingyuan a sense of being able to have in-depth conversations.

The two followed He Yong, bypassing the main Qianqing Hall and heading towards the side Xuanyi Hall.

"Gentlemen, His Majesty has ordered me to be in charge of receiving you both. I hope we can finalize the etiquette for our friendship as soon as possible, so that we can put this matter to rest soon."

"That's wonderful. When will we be able to see His Majesty?"

"Please don't worry, sir. His Majesty is very busy with state affairs. He will naturally receive you after he finishes his work."

He Yong skillfully smoothed things over, leading Ban Dingyuan and Pei Ju into the Xuanyi Hall.

Upon entering the Xuanyi Hall, after everyone was seated according to their status, He Yong asked directly, "Gentlemen, I was somewhat aware of your requests when you were in Haizhou. I wonder what the specifics are? Please tell me."

Ban Dingyuan and Pei Ju exchanged a glance. Then Ban Dingyuan took out a trade agreement and said to He Yong, "Since Lord He can act on behalf of the Emperor, then we will not stand on ceremony any longer."

This is the content of the trade agreement between our Chu state and your esteemed state. Please review it, Your Excellency. If everything is satisfactory, then we can continue to discuss any necessary changes.

He Yong took the agreement and read it carefully.

Pei Ju secretly observed He Yong's expression, but could not detect any change.

After a long silence, He Yong frowned and said, "Gentlemen, please forgive my bluntness, but if this agreement is submitted to the Emperor, I'm afraid it will not yield any results."

Ban Dingyuan asked, puzzled, "May I ask, Lord He, is there something wrong with this?"

He Yong smiled slightly: "You two may not know, but in the state of Wu Zhao, there is only one port open to foreign trade: Haizhou. Trade is strictly prohibited in all other places."

"Your country's request to open five more trading ports in one go is completely incompatible with the current situation of our Wu Zhao Kingdom, and His Majesty will certainly not agree to it."

Ban Dingyuan replied, "The establishment of new treaty ports is to facilitate the docking and transportation of cargo ships. I have also learned about the various ports in your country over the past two years."

In fact, there are many ports more suitable for trade than Haizhou. Furthermore, considering the cost, transporting goods from other ports to the interior is much cheaper than through Haizhou.

Merchants are profit-driven; even saving just 1% on taxes will attract them eagerly, thus boosting trade in surrounding areas, and your country will also benefit considerably.

He Yong smiled upon hearing this: "It seems that the national conditions of our dynasty and your country are different. Of course, what you say makes a lot of sense, sir. I'll leave that aside for now."

But your demand for a fixed percentage increase in tariffs on our dynasty's overseas trade is a direct challenge to our bottom line.

Pei Juqiang replied first: "Lord He, it is not that we intend to interfere in your internal affairs."

However, during our two years in Haizhou, we discovered that your country lacks a suitable benchmark for the proportion of tariffs paid.

At the same port, customs duties could double simply because of a change in officials.

Even worse, in addition to tariffs, there are various overlapping taxes, such as warehouse storage tax, which involves numerous additional fees depending on the type of goods.

Furthermore, there was no fixed figure for ship berthing fees. I once personally witnessed a merchant ship charging a staggering four thousand taels of silver for berthing.

This price is almost a third of the total cost of his ship, which is extremely unreasonable.

In addition, there are various local fees, which, when added up, far exceed the value of the goods themselves.

"To put it bluntly, your country's tariff system is far too chaotic. Without a unified standard as a reference, it certainly won't last long."

He Yong knew perfectly well that what Pei Ju said was an objective fact; not only were customs duties in disarray, but all local taxes were also in a complete mess.

It is worth mentioning that Wu Zhao implemented the silver standard earlier than the State of Chu, and all the taxes collected were converted into silver.

However, there has never been a fixed standard for the exchange rate between silver and copper coins.

The official price was one tael of silver for one thousand copper coins, but local officials exchanged two thousand copper coins for one tael of silver, thus reaping huge profits by doubling the amount.

That's considered good; in remote areas, local governments were even more outrageous, exchanging five thousand copper coins for one tael of silver.

As a result, local officials and certain powerful figures in the capital made huge profits from this, while the hardworking common people suffered the most, being exploited and oppressed to the point of being unrecognizable, and ultimately forced to sell their children.

The chaotic monetary system has always been a problem faced by the rulers of Wuzhao Kingdom.

Even Li Hong could only barely suppress the local areas, but in the end he still adjusted the silver ratio to 1500:1, while turning a blind eye to the conversion of overseas trade.

He genuinely couldn't muster enough energy to perfect such an "unremarkable" policy.

Therefore, He Yong replied gently, "The imperial court is already making reforms regarding tariffs, so you need not worry about it further, sir."

I believe everything will get better soon, but if the Emperor saw this written directly into the agreement, he would surely be displeased.

"I request that you two gentlemen cross this out. I will then truthfully report your requests to His Majesty. Please do not put me and His Majesty in a difficult position."

Ban Dingyuan: "This is a reasonable demand of our Chu Kingdom. Sir, just present it to us. We, the Chu Kingdom, will bear all the consequences."

He Yong smiled and said, "Since you two gentlemen are so persistent, then I have nothing more to say, except for this last point..."

"You want to rent a corner of southeastern Wuzhao as a transit point for stockpiling goods? I can tell you all with absolute certainty that Wuzhao will absolutely not agree to this."

Ban Dingyuan said, "Lord He, please don't be so quick to refuse. Please listen to my opinion."

The State of Chu is in the east, and your State is in the west. The two countries are separated by a vast sea, and a one-way voyage would take a full two months to reach the destination, demonstrating the long distance involved.

If my Chu state didn't have its own warehouses and rest stops, it would be extremely disadvantageous for exchanges, since a round trip would take a whole season.

It's not like we'd only prepare one cargo hold's worth of goods at a time and then sail back and forth on this turbulent sea, right?

Moreover, since it is a lease, we will naturally pay the lease fees. Please convey this message to your Emperor.

To avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings.

Upon hearing this, He Yong smiled and stood up: "Very well, after the court session, I will personally go to see the Emperor and tell him your requests. Please wait here for good news."