I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 924 - Chapter 924 Tariff

Chapter 924: Tariff Chapter 924: Tariff Editor: Atlas Studios “Your Highness, Andre from the Foreigners’ Clubhouse sent this.” Zhu Liang handed over a box.

Mu Yangling opened it and saw that there were two gems inside; one was blue and the other was red, both the size of pigeon eggs.

Judging by their bright colors, it was obvious that they were top-grade.

Closing the box, she asked, “What does he want?

Including this time, he’s given me three gifts, right?” And each gift was more expensive than the last.

Zhu Liang lowered his head and said, “I heard that Andre’s ship has been floating outside for four to five days and hasn’t been able to enter the harbor.” Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows.

“Why is that?” “Andre feels that the Imperial Court’s tariffs are too heavy.

He wants to meet Your Highness and discuss the tariffs again.” Mu Yangling sneered and closed the box.

“Go tell him that I can arrange for him to meet His Highness.” Zhu Liang was shocked as the Princess Consort never interfered in Prince Rong’s business.

No matter how many people begged her, she would first ask Prince Rong for his permission.

Only if she could help would she accept the gifts.

If she couldn’t, she would either return the things or return gifts of the same value.

This was the first time she had decided to arrange a meeting for a Westerner without first asking Prince Rong for his opinion.

Zhu Liang hesitated for a moment and asked, “Your Highness, should we check with His Highness first?” Mu Yangling shook her head.

“Since Andre can find me, he can naturally find someone else.

It’s better to let him talk to His Highness than to let him talk to the people from the Maritime Trade Bureau and government office.

I don’t think our tariffs are high.” Zhu Liang understood that the Princess Consort was afraid that the people from the Maritime Trade Bureau and government office wouldn’t be able to withstand Andre’s temptations and would give him to his requests or write a memorial to reduce taxes on their behalf.

She was trying to make Andre retreat on his own accord.

Zhu Liang quickly agreed and turned around to reply to Andre’s men.

As Mu Yangling looked at the gems on the table, she fell into deep thought.

It had been nearly a year since the maritime ban was lifted.

Qi Xiuyuan had divided the regions into 13 provinces and established second-level regional governments in prefectures and counties.

He had also opened ports in the coastal areas to facilitate sea trade transactions and set up a Maritime Trade Bureau for them to manage.

After much debate in court, the Imperial Court finally introduced import tariffs and export tariffs at the beginning of spring.

On this point, the Imperial Court adopted Mu Yangling’s opinionaEUR”there were different types of tariffs levied on luxury goods, necessities, and so on.

Also, the tariffs on imports differed from that on exports.

Among them, the tariffs on luxury goods imports were especially heavy, but no matter how heavy the tariffs were, the Great Qi merchants did not think that it was a problem.

Compared to the tariffs that Great Zhou imposed on all sea merchants in the past, this was considered low.

The tariffs on luxury goods were only 30%, and the import tariffs on other goods were even lower.

Most importantly, the tariffs on their exports were even lower.

In fact, some things were even completely free of tariffs.

This was great news for the merchants of Great Qi.

It was said that the merchants who were interested in the sea trade had gathered together and donated a lot of money to the Imperial Court to build a port and support the poor fishermen along the coast.

As for how much they had taken in, only Fan Zijin and Qi Xiuyuan knew; Qi Haoran had never been concerned about this.

This was a blessing for the merchants of Great Qi, but it was a mixed blessing for the foreigners.

The good news for them was that Great Qi, which used to close their ports at the drop of a hat, had now opened so many ports to them.

The bad news, however, was that they had to pay taxes too.

One had to know that in the past, Great Qi only collected tariffs from their own country’s merchants.

Although they looked down on the vassal merchants, they did not tax them as a show of kindness.

Now, not only did they have to pay taxes, but they also had to pay especially heavy taxes.

What was going on?

The first batch of goods that Andre paid taxes on was the batch that he had previously been unwilling to sell to Fan Zijin last year.

At that time, the tariffs had not been fixed, and the amount was solely determined by Fan Zijin.

He was also scared out of his wits by Qi Haoran.

Although his heart ached, he still paid the taxes.

This time, he was here with the ships.

Because he knew that Great Qi had lifted the maritime ban, overseas items would definitely be very popular, he brought three ships with him this time, all of which carried extraordinary goods.

When he heard that he had to pay such a high tariff, he was extremely unwilling.

In addition, after half a year, he had forgotten just how terrifying Prince Rong was.

He kept coming to ask for favors, either requesting tax exemption or reduction.

Don’t blame Andre for thinking this way.

He had done business with this country for more than ten years.

Although the ruler had changed, he didn’t think that there was any difference since the culture and thinking of this country hadn’t changed.

When the previous Emperor was in power, he was easily permitted to enter the port with a single request.

Sometimes, he would be rewarded more than ten times what he gave just by offering some not-so-precious gemstones and glass to the higher-ups.

To him, the rulers of the country were all stupid.

Qi Xiuyuan, who was thought to be stupid by Andre, had already decided to tax vassal merchants under the bombardment of letters from his brother and sister-in-law.

His brother was right.

Why did businessmen in Great Qi have to pay taxes while outsiders could come to Great Qi’s territory to do business without any obstruction?

As for the prestige of China, if they didn’t even collect taxes, how could they have any prestige?

Mu Yangling knew that some scholars liked to nag, so she specially wrote a letter to Qi Xiuyuan and told him that Great Qi was a fool in the hearts of foreigners.

Not only that, to them, the Emperor, the ministers, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue were all stupid because they actually didn’t collect taxes from them and only collected taxes from their own people.

After this letter had been processed and polished by Qi Haoran, it was not that rough, but the words were even sharper.

If anyone in the court objected to levying taxes upon the vassal merchants, Qi Xiuyuan would directly throw the letter at them.

The courtiers exploded, especially the officials of the Ministry of Revenue who were called out.

They stomped their feet on the spot and volunteered.

“Your Majesty, we’ll definitely be able to formulate the import and export tariffs of the vassal merchants very quickly.

Please rest assured.” As a result, the foreigners suffered.

Mu Yangling was originally afraid that if the difference between the two sides was too great, it would cause the local businessmen to collude with foreign businessmen to avoid the tariffs.

However, when she saw the tax schedule drawn up by the Ministry of Revenue, Mu Yangling was relieved.

The officials of the Ministry of Revenue obviously knew this too.

Although the tax rate for foreign businessmen had increased, it was not too heavy such that it would not be worth it for them to entrust the businessmen of Great Qi to have their goods be registered under their name.

Reason being, the savings from the slightly lower tariffs might only be enough for them to pay the convenience fee to the local businessmen.

On the other hand, strict rules had also been set for the merchants of Great Qi.

Anyone who was found to collude with foreign merchants to harm the interests of Great Qi would be charged with treason and it was a crime that would implicate three generations of the culprit.

Although businessmen loved money, it wasn’t worth it to endanger their and their families’ lives for a pittance.

Hence, Andre could only seek help from Mu Yangling.

In his heart, Qi Haoran was the Emperor’s biological younger brother and could give them preferential treatment.

Mu Yangling was Qi Haoran’s wife and could convince Qi Haoran.

Moreover, Mu Yangling’s heroic image back then was deeply ingrained in his heart.

This was a woman who was not inferior to men.

Mu Yangling accepted the gifts.

When Qi Haoran returned with the four children covered in mud at night, Mu Yangling mentioned this matter and said, “Find a time to meet him.” The four little ones immediately shouted, “We want to go too.” Mu Yangling glared at them.

“Your father is going to discuss serious matters.

Why are you guys tagging along?” Qi Haoran defended the children.

“What’s so serious about talking to a Westerner?

I’m reluctant to interfere in business matters anyway.

Alright, I’ll meet that Andre when I bring them to the beach later.”