The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Feng Zhidai noticed that Chen Huai'an's expression was off and was somewhat puzzled.

Did I say something wrong?

Wasn't the purpose of our initial agreement to work together to open up Lingnan precisely for this?

"It's nothing," Chen Huai'an said, carefully choosing his words. "I was just thinking about some things."

"By the way, speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've seen Qiao'er. How has she been lately? My sister said she hasn't come over in a while. Why don't we invite Qiao'er over and have lunch together?"

Feng Zhidai was even more puzzled: "You're engaged to Qiao'er, so it's not really appropriate for you to meet now, is it?"

"Once or twice is fine, but if it happens too often, people will start gossip."

"What gossip?" Chen Huai'an said firmly, "Anyone who dares to speak ill of me, I'll curse them to death!"

"Besides, so what if we're engaged? Qiao'er is just here to see my sister and Xiao He, not me. It's fine."

"I'll send someone to invite Qiao'er over right now."

Without giving Feng Zhidai a chance to speak, Chen Huai'an immediately ordered Yunyan to call Feng Qiao'er.

Feng Zhidai opened his mouth; he didn't know much about this, but that didn't mean he was stupid.

From Chen Huai'an's insistence on having Feng Qiao'er come over, he could roughly guess that Chen Huai'an probably felt that he couldn't talk to him.

Perhaps we should replace her with Feng Qiao'er.

Feng Zhidai was immediately annoyed.

I'm at least thirty years old. Back in those chaotic times, I was already riding alongside my father to fight the enemy when I was just a teenager. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I was young and promising, would it?

Why do I feel like everyone looks down on me after I came to Chang'an?

Chen Sujin soon learned that Chen Huai'an had sent someone to invite Feng Qiao'er, and she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling and had no mind to pay attention to Xiuya anymore.

He immediately instructed the kitchen to prepare food and even washed Xiaohe's face.

Before long, Feng Qiao'er arrived with a puzzled look on her face.

To be honest, this was the first time Chen Huai'an had ever sent someone to invite her.

The two were already engaged, so she could use the excuse of keeping Chen Sujin company to chat and relieve her boredom, but it was still somewhat against the rules for Chen Huai'an to personally send someone to invite her.

Therefore, Feng Qiao'er immediately realized that something was wrong. Recalling the news she received this morning and the fact that her brother was coming to the Chen residence, she already had some guesses in her mind.

"Sister Sujin, Mr. Chen."

Feng Qiao'er performed a curtsy, and Chen Sujin stood up and warmly pulled her to sit down, chatting incessantly.

Chen Huai'an coughed lightly: "I have already learned of your plan: to continue the canal construction while simultaneously engaging in trade."

"The idea is good, but the method of trade... perhaps we need to discuss it."

Feng Qiao'er nodded gently: "Of course."

After saying that, she turned to Feng Zhidai and asked, "Brother, how did you talk to Young Master Chen?"

Feng Zhidai's lips twitched, and he recounted his entire conversation with Chen Huai'an.

After hearing this, Feng Qiao'er couldn't even maintain her basic composure and helplessly rubbed her forehead.

Sell ​​the goods to the Feng family, and then the Feng family will buy them with money, or barter with them?

How could you say that?

Chen Huai'an doesn't represent an individual; he now represents the imperial court. Regardless of how trade is conducted, the profits belong to the imperial court.

And what about the Feng family?

The Feng family represents personal power, or rather, family power.

What enormous benefits would come from trading between the Central Plains and Lingnan regions?

Isn't Feng Zhidai's idea to allow the Feng family to completely monopolize the profits from the Central Plains?

Your family already controls the military, yet you still want to be a money-devouring behemoth and monopolize finances.

What's wrong?

Are you planning a rebellion?

You want Chen Huai'an to help you rebel?

"I'm sorry, my brother said something inappropriate." Feng Qiao'er showed a hint of apology on her face. "I hope you don't mind. He... well, he's a bit slow-witted."

Feng Zhidai: "..."

Chen Huai'an looked puzzled. Why did those words sound so familiar?

It seems like someone said that.

Forget it, it doesn't matter.

He became serious: "Can you represent the Feng family?"

Feng Qiao'er glanced at Feng Zhidai, straightened her back, sat upright, and slightly adjusted her sleeves before replying, "Of course, now I represent the Feng family."

"Alright." Seeing that Feng Zhidai had no objections, Chen Huai'an said frankly, "Regardless of how trade is conducted, each canal checkpoint will collect commercial taxes according to the proportion of goods transported by merchant ships. We will formulate how much and how to collect these commercial taxes in the future."

"Of course, no matter the amount, commercial taxes belong to the imperial court!"

"That's only right," Feng Qiao'er readily agreed.

Taxation was the most basic bottom line for the imperial court, something they had never even considered, nor dared to consider.

"Then let's talk about the second point." Chen Huai'an held up two fingers. "With the canal transport between the Central Plains and Lingnan opened up, the most crucial materials must be firmly controlled by the imperial court. These include silk, brocade, iron, paper, porcelain, and pottery from the Central Plains, and pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoiseshell, jade, agarwood, and frankincense from Lingnan."

Feng Qiao'er frowned slightly: "Does the imperial court intend to monopolize all these supplies?"

"What I mean by control, not monopoly," Chen Huai'an said calmly. "I will increase the commercial tax on these goods, making it completely different from the tax levied on other goods."

"Of course, the court will also send special personnel to sell some of the supplies that are only available to the imperial court."

Feng Qiao'er carefully recalled Chen Huai'an's words and noticed something amiss: "You mentioned a lot of supplies, but you didn't mention salt at all."

"That's right." Chen Huai'an smiled. It's always much easier to talk to smart people. "I know that your Feng family controls a large number of salt fields, so the imperial court will prefer a cooperative approach to the development of the Lingnan salt fields."

"We provide the technology, you manage the operations, and then we sell the products through Haikou to other countries, distributing the profits."

"However... I must remind you, the imperial court will definitely take the lion's share."

"I understand." Feng Qiao'er didn't say much, but Feng Zhidai couldn't help but frown.

With this kind of cooperation, wouldn't the imperial court take all the lion's share, leaving the Feng family without even a drop of soup?

You should know that even without Chen Huai'an's technology, Lingnan produces a lot of salt and can make it on its own. Why must it cooperate with the imperial court?

But seeing that his younger sister didn't object, he held back and didn't say anything.

"Third..." Chen Huai'an spoke eloquently, outlining all the conditions for trade.

From a normal person's perspective, Chen Huai'an's demands were almost excessive, and Feng Zhidai almost couldn't help but interrupt him several times.

It was only suppressed by Feng Qiao'er.

Finally, Chen Huai'an said, "In short, the conditions for trade are that the imperial court must control taxation, as well as the trade revenue from the ports."

Feng Qiao'er didn't say much, only asking, "Then... what will our Feng family get?"

"..."