Apart from a group of vassal states, there were also merchants from Europe's Genoa and France at the moment in the capital of Daqin.
They had come to the Ministry of Finance to obtain a commercial permit to do business within the borders of Daqin, as well as to register to pay taxes.
Xiao Ruxun had very detailed arrangements and regulations for Daqin merchants to do business outside of Daqin and foreign merchants to do business in Daqin. The rules and regulations were all laid out, including the amount of taxes that Daqin merchants had to pay when doing business outside of Daqin, as well as the amount of taxes that foreign merchants had to pay when doing business in Daqin.
Among them, there were very detailed and detailed regulations for foreign merchants to do business in Daqin. It was stipulated that before they could do business in five countries, they had to first arrive in Beijing to report to the Ministry of Finance.
They had to leave their nationality, name, drawing of their appearance, and the content of their business in the Ministry of Finance. The officials of the Ministry of Finance would tell them the rules of doing business in Daqin and the tax ratio, how to pay taxes, and the punishment for not paying taxes in time, and so on.
Because Daqin currently only allowed merchants from Genoa and France to do business in Daqin, the European merchants who came to Beijing to report were only merchants from Genoa and France.
However, these people all looked the same, and Great Qin's officials privately said that they all looked the same. It was really difficult to tell who was the French, who was the Genoese, or any other European.
They also couldn't distinguish the nationality, so it was difficult to say whether there were people from other countries who falsely used the nationality of these two countries.
This matter was not concluded until a long time later when the Daqin officials and Europe had closer contact. They themselves proved that a considerable number of merchants from England, the Netherlands, and Spain had bought the merchants from France and Genoa to help them fake their nationality and do business in Daqin.
It couldn't be helped. For a long time after Chen Longzheng arrived in Europe, the Daqin officials only recognized merchants from Genoa and France, and only allowed them to do business in Daqin.
Daqin merchants were only stationed in Genoa and France to invest and do business. Only the officials and citizens of these two countries could have normal dealings with Daqin.
As for the Spanish, because Xiao Ruxun had fought a war with the Spanish, and there were a lot of Portuguese in Xiao Ruxun's cannon factory making cannons for Daqin, their country was annexed by Spain, so they didn't have a good impression of Spain, and they kept saying bad things about Spain.
Due to all these factors, the Daqin officials were very averse to Spain. They told France and Genoa many times that the Daqin refused to have any dealings with the Spanish, and they didn't want to encounter anything related to Spain.
This was a big blow to Spain. The merchants and nobles in Spain had great resentment towards the Spanish royal family because of this matter.
They wanted to do business with Daqin, but Daqin didn't recognize them, and they especially rejected them. At that time, it was popular for merchants throughout Europe to bribe the French and Genoa to help them fake their nationality and enter Daqin to do business. If people from other countries needed one tael of silver, Spaniards needed three taels of silver.
The price difference of three times made the Spaniards very resentful, but the huge profits from doing business with Daqin made them very jealous. They had no choice but to swallow their resentment and bribe the Genoa and France.
The Genoa were fine, but the French would sometimes even offer five or seven times the price if there was a conflict of faith between the two sides. After all, France and Spain had been enemies for many years.
These things weren't within the scope of the Daqin's consideration. In essence, the more European merchants came, the more money Daqin earned. Not only did Daqin have a large number of official factories specializing in this business, but there were also many workshops among the people to handle the surplus orders that the official factories couldn't handle. They also made a lot of money.
The people from the Ministry of Finance of Daqin knew how profitable Daqin's goods were in Europe through many caravans visiting Europe. So they not only made money through European merchants, but also through their own caravans, and it wasn't just a little bit.
Less than two years after the establishment of the Daqin, Xiao's Royal Plantation's caravan fleet set off to Europe five times. The fleet that left in March of the first year of Longwu returned three months, and the fleet that left in April returned only a month.
This fleet, loaded with porcelain, silk, tea, iron pots, and other items in high demand, spent more than a year in Europe to earn five times the profit. That was Xiao Ruxun's Royal Merchant fleet. They were all related goods produced by the Royal Plantation, and then the Royal Plantation funded the fleet. They were responsible for their own profits and losses, and they made a lot of money.
Where did Xiao Ruxun get the confidence to be responsible for the royal family's expenses? It was these merchant fleets that were making money like crazy. They could earn half a year's worth of expenses for the entire palace with just one round trip.
Xiao Ruxun wasn't stingy with his officials. He often treated them to meals, gave them benefits, and so on. This was all because of the merchant fleets that were making money like crazy, which gave Xiao Ruxun the confidence.
Moreover, the merchant fleets brought some mechanical gadgets from Europe, such as handmade clocks and exquisitely made small hand guns. These gadgets were also given by Xiao Ruxun as gifts to the officials, generals, and the royal family.
Now, all the officials in Daqin had a mechanical clock that was used to tell the time, and almost all the generals had a small hand gun. It wasn't for killing, but to look good and look impressive.
These skilled craftsmen were poached to Daqin by Xiao Ruxun's merchant fleets with money to work for Daqin. Then, he sent people to learn the relevant mechanical knowledge from them. After improvement, they incorporated the local characteristics of Daqin, and handmade products that were suitable for Daqin were created. These products were very popular in Daqin.
Such a large amount of income basically satisfied Xiao Ruxun's daily expenses. Because of this, the state's taxes could basically be used for national construction. Such construction gave Daqin abundant funds and vitality in basic construction. Therefore, the construction of Daqin was very gratifying.
The Great Chi Road, education, and major repairs were all things that cost a lot of money, but Great Qin was able to mobilize a reliable force to complete some of the important local facilities. This was inseparable from the central government's funding and the local governments' support.
The European merchants who provided funds for such repairs were also highly valued by Xiao Ruxun.
Originally, Xiao Ruxun wanted to take this opportunity to invite the higher-ups of Genoa and France to Daqin for a meeting and exchange. However, he later realized that time was too tight. Three months was not enough for them to rush over, so he had no choice but to give up on this idea.
But nowadays, which merchant who could go overseas to do business did not have some status in their own country?
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