Chapter 1144: 2 Sets of Systems

"Since that is the case, there are no longer any obstacles to the exchanges between us and the nation of Persia."

Newman tentatively agreed to use Song Yuan for transactions, and Guan Tong revealed a smile.

Following this, Guan Tong had the Tianzhu attendants prepare two cups of coffee for the two of them, as well as cigars produced in Luzon.

As the Southeast Five Nations and the countries of the Southern Region recovered order from the chaos of war, the production of each country was also gradually recovering.

In trade with Great Song, they could only use large quantities of raw materials and local specialty products to exchange for Great Song's industrial goods.

Now, in addition to Great Song's official cigarette workshops, Luzon had also seen the emergence of many private cigarette workshops, and Great Song was even importing tobacco leaves directly from Luzon to set up cigarette factories.

Meanwhile, Yajia had coffee trees brought from the Black Continent by Westerners, and they provided coffee beans to Great Song.

At present, these items were slowly entering the daily lives of the people of Great Song.

Therefore, it was no surprise that he used these to entertain Newman.

As the two chatted while admiring the nearby seascape, Guan Tong asked, "It is said that a type of black Fire Oil emerges from your land?"

"Yes, I did not expect the General to be so knowledgeable about our nation of Persia," Newman laughed. "This stuff catches fire the moment it is lit; when we fight wars, we use it to make fire pots."

Pausing for a moment, he continued, "However, this has also brought trouble to our nation of Persia, as it makes our land unsuitable for farming."

"Hahaha... you are mistaken. We call this black stuff Petroleum. Not only is it not a burden, but it is actually a form of wealth. At present, our Great Song is in great need of Petroleum. If you collect this Petroleum and sell it to us, you can exchange it for Song Yuan just like gold."

Newman also laughed, shaking his head. "General Guan Tong, this must be a joke. Aside from burning, what use could that stuff have? And even if used for burning, the smoke is particularly heavy; it is not as good as firewood."

"This is no joke; I am serious. This matter was specifically instructed by our Emperor. If you are willing to sell, our Merchant Ships will arrive in your Persia immediately, and we can then discuss a reasonable price," Guan Tong said.

Seeing that Guan Tong's expression was serious, Newman finally believed him.

However, regarding this Petroleum trade,

he was not very interested, because even the Westerners, who would dig through a mouse hole to find something, had never taken an interest in this black oil.

Therefore, he did not think this thing had much value.

Since Great Song needed it, they could just treat it as a minor, dispensable trade.

So he said, "Very well, I will arrange this matter once I return to the nation of Persia."

"That is excellent," Guan Tong breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding the price of Petroleum, he was not worried in the least, because Great Song was currently the only buyer.

In this kind of exclusive business, the buyer had the final say, and they would keep the price of Petroleum at a very low level.

Of course, they were also not worried that the nation of Persia would take the opportunity to hold them to ransom.

Because Persia was not the only country near the Zhongtu gulf that possessed Petroleum.

After lingering in Calcutta for another three days, Newman returned to Persia.

Guan Tong also ordered a Steamship to send the preliminary agreement to Yancheng.

After eight days of sailing, this agreement arrived on Zhao Xu's desk.

Zhao Xu read the agreement, but did not sign off on it immediately; instead, he summoned all nine ministers of the Cabinet to the Imperial Study to deliberate on the agreement together.

"Overall, there are no problems, with only one point: will the future trade standards between the nation of Persia and Great Song follow the standards used with the countries of Dongtu? Or will a separate set of standards be created?" Ma Yuan put on the reading glasses on his chest and read the contract carefully.

A few years ago, he had felt that he could no longer see things close up.

For this reason, he had once wanted to resign from his post and return home to retire.

But he had not expected that Yancheng would establish an eyeglass factory, and that this thing called reading glasses would exist.

After that, his vision problem was solved.

"What Minister Ma says is correct. The relationship between us and the countries of Dongtu is special; it belongs to the Tribute System, and there is also a foundation for this in history. The countries of Dongtu are not very resistant; on the contrary, they are willing to receive the protection of Great Song."

"However, the countries of Zhongtu are different. If we let the countries of Zhongtu follow the same rules as the countries of Dongtu, I fear they will think they are also about to become vassal states of Great Song," Liu Fu said slowly.

Zhao Xu nodded upon hearing this.

After the Battle of Tianzhu, he had been considering this matter.

Just as Liu Fu said, the reason he successfully restored the Tribute System of Great Song in Dongtu was because there was a historical foundation for it.

Great Song had always been the Celestial Empire to the countries of Dongtu.

Moreover, for a thousand years, the people of Great Song had continuously emigrated outwards, and currently, many countries in the Southern Region had descendants of Great Song.

After Great Song drove away the Westerners, these descendants of Great Song became even more active, and some even rose directly to the noble class because of Great Song.

They in turn influenced the politics of the countries in the Southeast and the Southern Region, favoring Great Song.

Coupled with Great Song's cultural transformation of these countries, it could be said that although these countries were not Great Song territory, they were better than Great Song territory.

But Zhongtu was clearly different; the estrangement was relatively deeper.

He believed that they absolutely must not intervene in this region with the profiteering methods of the Westerners, otherwise, all they would get in return would be long-term security wars.

As for trade, just as Ma Yuan and Liu Fu said, they could not apply the trade rules of Dongtu.

The countries of Dongtu made many concessions to Great Song in trade, and Great Song naturally favored the countries of Dongtu in the transfer of Steam Technology.

Even if Great Song exported Steam Technology to Persia, there would be restrictions; it would not be on par with the countries of Dongtu.

Otherwise, the other countries of Dongtu would certainly feel dissatisfied.

Therefore, he prepared to establish a global system outside of the Dongtu trade system.

This trade system would not only target the nation of Persia in the future, but also any country that established trade relations with Great Song.

As long as they joined this trade system, they could enjoy the conveniences of the trade system.

In terms of relationships, each country would also be more equal with Great Song.

Of course, if the nation of Persia were willing to give up some key interests like the countries of Dongtu, he would not mind letting the nation of Persia integrate into the Dongtu trade system.

Thinking of this, he said, "Since that is the case, let us start anew and begin building another trade system from now on. Countries that join the trade system can enjoy preferential treatment that is higher than the countries of Dongtu but lower than normal tariffs. As for what tariffs to charge for which commodities, you in the Cabinet should have the Commerce Department formulate them."

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