Three Kingdoms: Jiangdong is no longer a rat

Chapter 185 Nanyang Merchants
Yang Xun bowed and accepted the order, walked up to the people from Nanyang, and talked a lot.

Yan Yi didn't understand what they were saying, he just felt that they were speaking very fast, like rain hitting banana leaves.

Soon, a middle-aged man in his thirties, with a brocade wrapped around his head and a jade on his forehead, stepped out from the crowd. He lowered his head and walked up to Yan Yi, presented a pair of rhino horns with both hands, and expressed his request in a humbly tone.

"Your Excellency, I, Tongpa, have come from Linyi, having traveled a thousand miles across mighty waves, to pay you a visit. I have heard that your majesty has overwhelmed Wu and Yue, and that the seas have been cleared. Seeing you today is truly like the blazing sun in the sky, making me afraid to look up."

"This is a special product of our country, a pair of rhino horns from the Tongtian Rhino. I offer it to you, Your Excellency. Please accept it."

"I have the audacity to come here today to report a matter concerning the lives of my entire family. Two months ago, I stored a batch of goods in the Zhao family's granary, entrusting them to sell. However, for unknown reasons, these goods were confiscated by the Qiantang government. I have been trading in your country for three years and have always been law-abiding, never violating your laws. I implore you to help me and have the government return the goods. I will give you 30% of the goods as a gift."

After hearing what he said, the other twelve Nanyang merchants knelt on the ground, tearfully told his story, and couldn't wait to present the gifts they brought with them, which were all valuable and rare items.

These people came from various backgrounds, coming from eight different countries, most of which were small countries.

Yang Xun's face turned green. The languages ​​of the Southeast Asian countries were chaotic. The Austronesian language family alone included Cham, Malay, Javanese and many other languages. He tried his best but could only translate part of them. He was very nervous, fearing that Yan Yi would be dissatisfied.

Yan Yi listened calmly. Although Yang Xun's translation was halting, he understood the general meaning and couldn't help feeling a little amused.

He originally thought that these people were here to discuss business, but they turned out to be asking him for money.

"Are these people telling the truth?" He glanced at Yang Xun.

Yang Xun wiped the sweat from his forehead and said respectfully, "Young Master, this is all true. These people doing business in Qiantang cannot do without Zhao Rui's protection, so they are accustomed to storing their goods in the Zhao family's treasury. Zhao Rui usually takes a 30% profit from the transaction, which is called tribute money."

"How much are these goods worth?" Yan Yi signaled Tongpa and others to stand up.

Yang Xun made a quick mental estimate and replied, "According to the current market price, the total value is approximately eight million coins."

Yan Yi's tone was filled with surprise: "Is it worth just this little?"

Yang Xun nodded and said, "Nanyang merchant ships are smaller, carrying less than 20% of the cargo capacity of Pinghai ships. They also lack fleet escorts, making the risks very high. Therefore, the amount of cargo they can transport at any one time is limited. Furthermore, these people often sell most of their goods in Jiaozhou, and only a small portion ends up in Qiantang."

Yan Yi was secretly delighted. This was good news. The weaker these Nanyang merchants were, the more advantageous it would be for him to conduct monopoly in the Nanyang trade in the future.

"Go to the official temple and have the warehouse officer return the seized goods to these people. If there is any shortfall, compensate them according to the market price."

It was just eight million yuan, and he was not willing to ruin his reputation for such a small amount of money. He immediately called a manager and gave him instructions.

Then he instructed Yang Xun, "Tell them to keep the 30% profit for themselves, and they don't need to pay any tribute in the future. Just pay the sea, port and city taxes." Yang Xun opened his eyes wide and was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses and began to translate.

Tongpa and the others showed expressions of disbelief on their faces, and talked to each other with gestures of the hands and feet. Then they knelt on the ground excitedly, kowtowed to Yan Yi repeatedly, and talked a lot.

Yang Xun had just begun to speak when Yan Yi waved him off, "There's no need to translate your flattery. Tell them I'm about to send a fleet to the Southeast Asian nations and have them accompany us as guides. For every new route we open, I'll reward them accordingly, based on the value of the route. If they recognize any pirates along the way, please compile a list and report it to me. Also, if they know any dignitaries from other nations, please report them as well."

Yang Xun's heart began to beat violently. He had been traveling in Southeast Asia for many years, so how could he not see the huge ambition hidden behind Yan Yi's move? This was to open up all the trade routes to the countries in Southeast Asia.

The amount of human, material and financial resources required is absolutely a staggering and terrifying figure. Once this unprecedented feat is completed, the gains will not only be unimaginable huge profits, but some of them will be recorded in history and be remembered forever.

Compared with Yan Yi, the Zhao family, who only made small profits in a few seaports in Linyi and Funan, was nothing.

Yang Xun took a deep breath, suppressed his surging emotions, and relayed Yan Yi's words to Tongpa verbatim.

Tongpa agreed without hesitation. He had spent a month begging and pleading for the confiscated goods, but nothing came of them. But this young man, with a simple word, solved all his problems, even exempting him from paying tribute. The power this man wielded was beyond his wildest dreams.

He would not even have the time to curry favor with or cling to such a person, so how could he dare to refuse the other party's request?

He patted his chest and said, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will do my best to handle this matter. I have many friends in Southeast Asia who are willing to serve you."

Yan Yi nodded slightly and praised him casually.

After a while, Tongpa and the others said goodbye and left. Before leaving, his merchant nature came out and he boldly asked, "Sir, what is that thing you are sitting on? Can you sell some to me?"

Yan Yi was slightly startled. This was the first time anyone had shown interest in the chairs he had made. He couldn't help but smile and said, "This is called a high-legged chair. If you like it, I'll give you a few."

After Tongpa and the others happily left, he looked at Yin Li and said lightly: "Go and tell Quanrou to add 70% of the tribute money to the port tax and city tax, and only collect it from Nanyang merchants."

Of course, he couldn't really waive such a considerable tribute, but if he demanded it by force like Zhao did, it would damage his reputation, so he needed to put on a nice cover.

They only charged 70% of the original fee, hoping to grab business from various seaports in Jiaozhou and see if they could attract more Southeast Asian merchants to Qiantang.

However, he needed to maintain a good relationship with Jiaozhou Governor Zhu Fu at the moment, but he couldn't go too far, so as to avoid being harassed by Zhu Fu when the fleet passed through Jiaozhou waters.

(A word of caution about currency. In the early Eastern Han Dynasty, a pound of gold was exchanged for about 10,000 to 20,000 coins. However, as the Eastern Han Dynasty entered its final years, frequent wars, economic collapse, the private minting of coins by various factions, and currency devaluation led to an increasingly high exchange rate for gold to copper coins. For example, Dong Zhuo destroyed the Wuzhu and replaced it with smaller coins, Liu Bei minted the "Zhi Bai Wu Zhu" (a hundred-coin banknote), and Sun Quan minted the "Da Quan Dang Qian" (a thousand-coin banknote). These all led to a rapid devaluation of currency. The exchange rate for a pound of gold gradually increased from 10,000 to 20,000 coins to tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of coins. Therefore, as Yan Yi's power continues to expand and the plot progresses, the amount of money in the book also increases, with figures in the hundreds of millions appearing. Although this is the reality, it may affect the immersion of some brothers to a certain extent. In the following, I will try to use gold or Guan to describe the amount of money.)
(End of this chapter)