Chapter 583 Facilitating the Assab Trade
After the emperor arrived, the banquet officially began.
Cheng Wanwan sat in the corner, where no one was watching her, so she began to eat heartily.
The dishes at this state banquet are all delicacies from land and sea, such as abalone, shark fin, and fish maw. After being cooked by the imperial chefs, the high-quality ingredients retain their original freshness. With the addition of some very simple seasonings, the deliciousness blooms on the taste buds time and time again.
After everyone had eaten about five or six tenths of their fullness, people at the table began to speak.
Assab's envoy was the honored guest of the day, so the conversation naturally revolved around Assab. Cheng Wanwan, as the translator, was summoned to the front by the Emperor.
She stood behind the Emperor and Empress, responsible for translating between the two languages.
First, Asab showered the Great Yu Kingdom with praise, pleasing even the emperor who never showed his emotions. Then, Asab presented their sincerity with chests upon chests of jewels and gold. These items were common in their own country but very precious in the Great Yu Kingdom. They wanted to use these to exchange for the Great Yu Kingdom's grain.
Cheng Wanwan maintained a smile throughout: "Your Majesty, the envoy Asab is asking how much these dozens of boxes of jewels and gold can be exchanged for in the Great Yu Kingdom."
The emperor couldn't answer this question, so he handed it over to the Minister of Revenue to calculate.
While the value of gold can be calculated, it's difficult to give an accurate valuation for jewelry and jade.
"There are a total of 2,300 taels of gold, which is equivalent to 23,000 taels of silver. The current market price of rice is 8 to 12 wen per jin, so let's calculate it at 10 wen." The Minister of Revenue clicked away on his abacus. "In other words, the gold brought by the envoy Asab can buy about 2.3 million jin of grain."
"hiss!"
"so much!"
The officials present all gasped.
Many families had enough silver to buy grain, but they generally didn't use it all.
As far as they knew, the combined grain reserves of the four largest granaries in the capital city (east, west, south, and north) amounted to no more than five million catties.
“These jewels and jade artifacts are difficult to convert into silver.” The Minister of Revenue said solemnly, “but according to the market price in the capital, these chests of treasures are worth at least 30,000 taels of silver.”
The Queen felt that this valuation was accurate.
She was the mother of the nation, and the finest jade and jewelry in the entire Great Yu Dynasty were kept in her Kunning Palace. However, when she saw the jade artifacts sent by the envoy Asab, she realized that good things were not only found in the Great Yu Kingdom... The jade was crystal clear, and if it were made into earrings and placed on the market, it would probably cost at least a thousand taels of silver. And the pink crystal was something she, as the empress, had never seen before.
All of this added up to a conservative estimate of 30,000 taels of silver.
The Minister of Revenue looked at Cheng Wanwan: "Lord Sibin, may I ask if Envoy Asab only wants grain?"
If all that is needed is grain, all the grain in the capital will be sold out, which is not a good thing for the Great Yu Kingdom.
However, if they refuse to sell grain, then trade between the Great Yu Kingdom and Asab may come to an end...
But once they saw those exquisite jade artifacts and sparkling gemstones, no one was willing to let go...
Cheng Wanwan had just talked with the people from Assab about food. Assab is located in the north, where it is cold for eight or nine months of the year. The land is barren, and the yield of anything grown is low. Food is the most precious thing in their country. They came from afar to bring food back with them; it is their mission.
However, the Great Yu Kingdom could not simply sell off five million catties of grain, as this would inevitably cause grain prices to soar and lead to social unrest.
Cheng Wanwan pondered for a moment, then cupped her hands and said, "They do indeed only want food. However, I will try my best to persuade the Asab envoy to give away jewelry and jade. At the same time, the Great Yu Kingdom will also reciprocate with gifts. What do you think?"
If the trade route is taken, Asab will definitely only want food, and that's non-negotiable.
However, if it's about giving gifts, then the Great Yu Dynasty can give whatever it wants. Once they've seen the Great Yu Dynasty's porcelain, silk, rouge, delicacies, and other fine things, they'll definitely not just ask for grain in the next trade.
Hearing this, the queen couldn't help but click her tongue.
These things look very valuable. Would Asab really be willing to give them away so easily?
The Empress believed that Cheng Wanwan was exaggerating in order to secure her position as Minister of Personnel.
She pondered how to give the Sui'an people a way out if they didn't succeed in the negotiations later...
Cheng Wanwan curtsied and walked toward the envoy from Asab.
"You brought a total of 2,300 taels of gold. After deducting trade taxes, this amount of gold can purchase approximately two million kilograms of grain in Dayu. You'll need to arrange at least several thousand carriages to transport it," she said with a smile. "As for the gemstones and jade artifacts, the wealthy in Dayu have no shortage of them, but ordinary people don't have much use for them. So, I ask that you take them back the same way you came."
The Assab envoy was stunned. This gold could be exchanged for nearly two million catties of grain. Good heavens, so much food could save so many people from starving to death in their country...
They thought that this year they would return empty-handed like every year before, but they didn't expect to bring back so much food. They were going to be promoted!
The breathing of the seven or eight messengers became rapid.
"Bringing these jewels and jades back to your country would be troublesome on the way, and they would take up several carriages for nothing." Cheng Wanwan took in their expressions. "Let me tell you something in private. Our Queen seems to like that pink crystal. If you are willing to present it to her, she might be so pleased that she would grant Asab permission to trade with the Dayu Dynasty twice a year."
The envoy from Asab was immediately tempted. Two million catties of grain in one trip, wouldn't two trips mean taking away four or five million catties of grain? Who would refuse such a good deal?
Without hesitation, he said, "Give them to the Empress, and give the rest to the Empress as well."
These gems and other things are very common in their country, so they don't feel bad about sending a few large boxes of them.
Cheng Wanwan immediately bowed in the emperor's direction and said, "The Assab envoy said that all these jewels and jades are given to the honorable Empress of the Dayu Dynasty."
The Empress was stunned. They had actually reached an agreement?
This Assab messenger is too easily fooled.
Cheng Wanwan continued, "The Assab envoy is interested in establishing friendly relations with the Dayu Dynasty. In my humble opinion, he could reward us with exquisite items from the Dayu Kingdom to demonstrate our national prestige."
"Good, very good!" The emperor was very satisfied with Cheng Wanwan's performance. He waved his hand and said, "Award a thousand pieces of Assab silk, a thousand pieces of satin, a thousand pieces of brocade... a thousand pieces of official kiln celadon, a thousand pieces of white porcelain, a thousand pieces of opalescent porcelain... a hundred kilograms of Maojian tea and a hundred kilograms of Gushan black tea..."
The emperor of the Dayu Dynasty believed that Dayu was a country with vast territory and abundant resources, and would never take advantage of Assab. All these things added up to a value of at least 40,000 taels of silver, fully demonstrating the national strength of the Dayu Dynasty.
These things were all products of the abundant harvest of the Great Yu Dynasty, so it didn't hurt to send them away.
The envoy from Asab was overjoyed and quickly stepped forward to pay his respects, shouting "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!" in broken Uyghur language...
Next, Lord Zhang proposed that Assab could send some other items in the future, such as spices, animal skins, nuts, cattle, sheep, and horses... Of course, the specific contract would not be signed today, but would be negotiated for three to five days before being signed and confirmed.
The Assab nation achieved its wish, and the envoys of the Laki nation could no longer sit still. They kept praising the delicious food of the Dayu nation and proposed to increase maritime trade. They wanted to buy more grain, silk and tea from the Dayu nation, and at the same time, they would bring more fish and seafood to the Dayu nation.
The two countries are separated by the sea and have been trading for over a century, so these agreements were easily reached.
"We've been in the Yuezhi tribe recently to search for their rare species," the Laji leader said. "Since this spring, we've been traveling around the country, finding many precious plants and animals. We'll bring some back to Laji and offer a portion as tribute to Dayu."
The emperor nodded: "Bring him up so we can see him."
The people of Laki were prepared and immediately went down to bring up many boxes.
The first box was opened, revealing a small pile of seeds.
The people of Lakki introduced it to us: "This is an ornamental flower from the overseas country of Malang. The yellow flowers are called yellow flowers by the locals. Because of its strong vitality, we bought seeds and hope to plant a sea of flowers in Lakki."
Cheng Wanwan looked up and saw that the seeds were so small that she couldn't tell what they were at all.
She didn't care about this matter at first, but for some reason, perhaps due to her ethnic sentiments from her past life, she felt no liking for the people of Laki Kingdom.
So she opened the system mall.
[Ding! Seeds of the Northern Goldenrod have been found. Worthless.]
Cheng Wanwan raised her eyebrows. If it was just the goldenrod, it would be a medicinal herb. But if it was the northern goldenrod, it would be a completely different story. It was an invasive species. No crops could grow in places where this flower grew. It could destroy an entire village!
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