Chapter 1150: Filling the Pit

“You’re talking about partial tax exemption?” Mu Yangling looked at the two children in surprise, amazed that these two children could come up with this by themselves.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought of suggesting this in the past, but firstly, she wasn’t good at economics, and secondly, Qi Haoran and the others didn’t take this seriously, so she hadn’t thought of how to propose it.

Unexpectedly, it was brought up by the two children.

Overjoyed, she held Little Treasure and Little Bear’s hands and said, “You’re really amazing. How did your little heads turn out to be so clever?”

Little Treasure and Little Bear lowered their heads in embarrassment. “But Fourth Aunt, this was decided at the last minute. We haven’t chosen which categories to exempt taxes on, so…”

Little Treasure and Little Bear only suggested such a thing to mess with the other party. They didn’t know much about foreign trade, but the two of them had basic common sense. “Foreigners’ spices, gems, ivory, and so on can’t be tax-exempt, but the rest…”

Qi Haoran immediately became serious and said solemnly, “Cannons can be exempted from taxes, but all weapon deals can only be done with our Imperial Court, including cannons, firearms, swords, and so on. Wenchen, don’t confirm this matter yet. Just give them a rough range. After this, let the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Revenue, and Ministry of War negotiate with them.”

Little Treasure nodded and asked, “What about our tax-exempt proposal to them?”

“It’s best if it’s handicrafts.” Mu Yangling said, “As for imported goods, it should be stuff like raw materials such as grains, wood, minerals, and so on.”

Mu Yangling only briefly mentioned it, and Little Treasure and Little Bear immediately understood. “This is to use their resources to support the people of Great Qi!”

Mu Yangling nodded, not at all feeling guilty for suggesting so.

The remaining few little ones were confused. Tiger Head habitually looked at Little Lion whenever he was baffled, while Little Lion turned to look at Little An. Little An recovered from the surprise at realizing how smart everyone was and explained in a low voice, “Great Qi has a huge trade surplus now, with our exports exceeding our imports. Most of the things our people transport back are gold and silver. While money is great and all, this money would just be used to buy things from the people of Great Qi. In the long run, other than having a lot of money, Great Qi wouldn’t gain much. Instead, we’d lose a lot of satin, porcelain, and tea leaves…”

The complexity of the import-export ratio was something that even a modern economics doctorate couldn’t handle, let alone a brat like Little An.

However, he was able to see the problem in a fundamental way. Fourth Aunt had said that apart from their own functions, the most important thing about gold and silver was the fact that they could be used to trade for items with equivalent value.

If Great Qi could only transport back a large amount of gold and silver from other countries, it meant they had only obtained something that potentially could be used to trade for items with equivalent value. If these gold and silver weren’t used to purchase things, they were just a pile of numbers.

If the trade surplus was too big, not only would the Western countries be displeased, but it wouldn’t be in Great Qi’s interest either.

Western countries used a large amount of gold and silver to import all kinds of high-level consumables like satin, porcelain, and tea leaves from Great Qi. However, should they not be able to sell their own products, it would also be detrimental to their interests.

However, the initiative was in Great Qi’s hands now, so Great Qi had a lot of say in which items to exempt taxes on.

When Little Treasure and Little Bear heard Little An’s explanation to their younger brothers, they immediately pulled him into the discussion group and the three of them discussed together.

Not wanting to be left out, Tiger Head and the others stood at the side and helped them come up with various ideas, such as the items to exempt taxes on. These items ranged from rice, wheat, flour, soybeans, and all kinds of meat to cannons, firearms, and other things.

Little An took notes and planned to refine the list later.

The children were enthusiastically discussing it, and Mu Yangling was also watching with relish. Qi Haoran suddenly asked, “Is it really fine for you guys to leave the guests in the reception pavilion like this?”

The room fell silent. Little Treasure and Little Bear jumped up. “We forgot!”

The two of them ran to the door and ran back to pull Mu Yangling. “We promised to let them meet you.”

Qi Haoran rolled his eyes and stood up. “Alright, I’ll go with you. Just say that I tried to stop you, but I didn’t manage to do so in the end…”

Little Treasure admired his Fourth Uncle for daring to sacrifice his image. Qi Haoran met his gaze and patted his head. “Don’t let your imagination run wild. Hurry up and lead the way.”

In any case, the entire world already knew that he was afraid of his wife. It was fine even if this matter was revealed in front of the Westerners.

Mu Yangling followed behind them with a grin and tugged at Qi Haoran’s hand.

Qi Haoran’s expression improved instantly. He lowered his wide sleeves to cover their hands and grabbed her hand. Then, he followed the two children to the reception pavilion while looking straight ahead.

Andre and Antonio were waiting impatiently. When they saw Little Treasure and Little Bear enter, their ugly expressions eased slightly. When they saw Qi Haoran and his wife following behind, they were shocked and then delighted.

Although Qi Haoran’s arrival was surprising, it also showed how much he valued his wife. If they could convince Mu Yangling, the success of the negotiation would be very high.

The two of them exchanged a glance and looked at Mu Yangling with the greatest sincerity.

Antonio might not have realized it, but in just a few days, the pride he had always been proud of had almost been worn away.

Before they came, the four of them had already decided on the division of labor. Mu Yangling was to act as a domineering mother but who doted on her children, Little Treasure and Little Bear were to act like they were eager to make a contribution. Meanwhile, Qi Haoran was King Rong, the loving husband who had no choice but to take a step back and start negotiating tax exemption with Andre and Antonio despite not liking them very much.

While Qi Haoran’s acting was unsurprisingly good, Little Treasure and Little Bear’s acting skills were not bad either. These two brats had often tricked people in the past, so they had long learned how to lie through their teeth. Even Mu Yangling could not compare to them. However, Andre and Antonio did not take it to heart because Qi Haoran kept glaring at her and loudly indicating that this was a serious matter of the Imperial Court that a woman shouldn’t be interfering in.

However, Mu Yangling glared back fearlessly under the two children’s eager gazes, thus Qi Haoran could only give in.

Andre and Antonio were stunned by the way Qi Haoran and his wife interacted with each other, so they didn’t notice Mu Yangling’s slightly unnatural expression.

It was said that King Rong was afraid of his wife, but Antonio didn’t know that henpecked Han men behaved like this.

“Oh, Envoy Louis of France is also afraid of his wife. As long as his wife interferes, he won’t even dare to speak.” On the way back, Antonio said in confusion, “But this King Rong clearly dared to roar at his wife and slam the table. Why did he still agree to her unreasonable request?”

The image of Mu Yangling carrying a cannon up the mountain flashed through Andre’s mind. His face turned red as he said, “Perhaps it’s because his wife is very strong. He only dares to slam the table like this, but he actually doesn’t dare to really attack?”

Antonio shook his head slowly and said, “No, because he loves her!”

The way Qi Haoran looked at his wife was very gentle. Even if he slammed the table and glared at her, the love in his eyes did not decrease. If he compromised because of love, such a deal would be more stable.

“Although it’s only a partial tax-exemption, it’s a start. As long as we take this first step, we can go further in the future. We have to quickly make a list of the tax-exempt goods so that we can deal with the officials of Great Qi.”

In the end, Qi Haoran only agreed to a partial tax exemption, but the request was for both parties. However, in order to show the emperor’s favor, Qi Haoran said that Great Qi’s best-selling items would not enter the tax-exempt list. Moreover, Great Qi’s tax-exempt list would be shorter than Spain’s in order to benefit them more.

Andre and Antonio were satisfied with such an answer.

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