Chapter 1149: Plan

When Andre and Antonio heard the servant’s message, they knew that Qi Haoran didn’t value them. Although they were a little depressed, they couldn’t do anything about it because the Han people indeed didn’t value Westerners like them.

This made the two of them pay more attention to the two children in front of them.

Left with no other choice, Andre started the discussion with the two of them. In fact, their goal was very simple. Like before, they hoped that Great Qi could exempt taxes on goods imported from their country and provide a place for their ships’ crew to resupply and rest.

Qi Wenmi had come to observe the Westerners up close out of curiosity. When he saw his big brother and cousin talking about serious matters, he could only sit on the chair and look back and forth at them with widened eyes.

Little Treasure and Little Bear exchanged a glance before telling Andre, with a troubled expression, that the ministers in the imperial court looked down on merchants. They didn’t approve of open sea trading to begin with, so it was impossible for them to propose tax exemptions now.

Their second condition involved territorial integrity. Now, a large portion of Great Qi was still occupied by West Xia, so the ministers were very sensitive to this and could not possibly agree.

Unless the other party could offer the same conditions in exchange.

This was obviously impossible. Ever since Great Qi lifted the maritime ban, a large number of Great Qi fleets had surged into the west, bringing precious silk, porcelain, and tea leaves. If they exempted taxes on the Great Qi fleets, their country wouldn’t be able to collect any tariffs.

In the end, it was still because of the trade imbalance. For every ten ships of goods sent from Great Qi, Great Qi would only return to their country with two ships of Western goods, while filling the other ships with massive amounts of gold and silver.

Andre was highly eager to change the situation.

Antonio had been constantly dealt a blow during this period of time. Being unable to swallow the enticing and gigantic piece of cake that was Great Qi, he was visibly anxious.

Andre had already made this request three times and was rejected every time. This time, he didn’t have much hope. He couldn’t help but sigh and turn around to take out a box from the attendant. He said regretfully, “I originally wanted to offer this to your Empress after this matter is achieved. But since your country doesn’t have any intention of implementing this, forget it.”

Little Treasure showed interest at the right time. “Oh? I wonder if I have the honor to take a look at the contents of the box.”

Andre slowly opened the box with a smile, before looking at Little Treasure and Little Bear confidently.

Both of them looked at the contents in the box in astonishment. Little Treasure was surprised. “It’s a gem?”

Little Bear took a look. After he finished appreciating it, he nodded and said, “It’s a sapphire. It’s quite lovely.”

Andre: “…”

Andre felt that they definitely didn’t have a discerning eye. This was a very rare gem. Not only was its color pure, but it was also as blue as the sky. Furthermore, it was huge and perfectly cut. He had fought with the ministers in his country for a long time to obtain it.

Little Treasure and Little Bear indeed didn’t have a discerning eye when it concerned gems, which typically only women wore. At their age, they didn’t know much about gems. Not only them, but even Mu Yangling lacked understanding in this area and didn’t know just how big a gem had to be to be considered rare. She only knew how to judge if she liked them or not.

However, it would be different if the other party gave them jade.

The Chinese loved jade, and it was suitable for both men and women.

Little Treasure and Little Bear were quite familiar with jade, so they could still comment on the quality of jade. As for gems…

Little Treasure thought hard. There seemed to be many such gems in the coffers, but he didn’t know if they were this big. Could it be that this gem was very precious?

Little Bear thought to himself, ‘Gems are expensive. It’s said that a fine gem can be sold for dozens or even hundreds of taels of silver. I wonder what the quality of this one is. But do we look like we lack money?’

Unless this thing couldn’t be bought with money, there was really no need to give it to his royal aunt.

Seeing their reactions, Andre and Antonio knew that they weren’t connoisseurs. Their expressions darkened, and they couldn’t help but explain, “This sapphire is the rarest one in Spain. It’s called the Eye of the Sea. Only the most beautiful woman in the world deserve to wear it.”

Little Treasure and Little Bear suddenly realized that it was just an accessory for beauties.

Fortunately, Andre didn’t know how to read minds. Otherwise, he would definitely vomit blood from his heart.

Seeing that the two of them were still unmoved, Andre and Antonio looked at each other helplessly. They were afraid that they were speaking to the wrong people. Since the other party didn’t know how to appreciate gems at all and didn’t know the value of this gem, how could they continue?

They ought to speak to Queen Consort Rong instead. As a woman, she would definitely be enticed by this gem.

However, the two children quickly gave them another ray of hope. Little Treasure said, “My Fourth Uncle likes your cannons very much. Mr. An, we tried the cannons you bought for my Fourth Uncle last time and plan to equip a few more. If it’s cannons instead, I think my Fourth Uncle will definitely persuade my Royal Father regarding the tax-exemption matter.”

At this point, Little Treasure smiled in embarrassment. “My Royal Father dotes on Fourth Uncle very much. He agrees to everything Fourth Uncle says, and the ministers are often helpless about this. So if you can satisfy Fourth Uncle, he will definitely be happy to help you.”

Andre said helplessly, “I mentioned this to King Rong when we did the cannon trade last time, but King Rong didn’t agree.”

Qi Haoran refuted with a single sentence and only asked them to treat Great Qi’s merchant ships equally.

Little Bear said hesitantly, “Perhaps I can beg my Mother Consort?”

Andre’s eyes lit up. Legend had it that King Rong loved his queen consort the most and never turned down her requests. And he had seen how powerful Queen Consort Rong was. When he heard this, he immediately looked at Little Bear gratefully. “Your Highness, if you can help bring this matter to fruition, Spain will be eternally grateful.”

Little Bear said, “Mr. An, don’t hold too much hope. My Mother Consort has never bothered about external affairs.”

Andre immediately took another box from his attendant and said with a smile, “This is a gift for Her Highness. Although this ruby isn’t as big as that blue one, it’s still very rare. I wonder if Your Highness is willing to arrange for us a meeting with Her Highness?”

Little Bear and Little Treasure looked at each other and nodded. “Please take a seat. Have some tea first. We’ll be back soon.”

Little Treasure also dragged his stunned Fourth Brother out.

Qi Wenmi only came back to his senses when he was about to reach the side room. He cried out, “Big Brother, are we really going to promise the Westerners to exempt taxes on their goods? However, this is not fair to the Great Qi fleet.”

Little Bear tapped his forehead with a smile. “That depends on what product it is.”

“That’s right.” Little Treasure and Little Bear looked at each other and smiled. “If they hadn’t bullied Fourth Brother, I wouldn’t have thought of messing with them.”

A blanket tax exemption was certainly impossible. But what if only some goods were exempted from taxes?

The two of them went to discuss it with Mu Yangling.

Qi Haoran was also at Mu Yangling’s place and was curiously asking Little An why he wasn’t playing with Tiger Head and the others.

Little An smiled shyly and stole a glance at Fourth Aunt. Qi Haoran was even more curious and was about to interrogate him when Little Treasure came over with a group of children.

Qi Haoran instantly had a headache. This was the bad thing about having a lot of children. Just one sentence from each kid and it would be incredibly noisy.

Qi Haoran braced himself and asked, “Why are you kids here? Aren’t you discussing something with Andre and the rest?”

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