The World Online

Chapter 1008 – In the Name of Free Trade

Starting from the Red River, from Yunnan Dali’s Longhu Mountain, due to many red sand shale on the surface, the water had a fresh red color and was really special, having a similar beauty to that of the famous Jinsha River.

It was like a twisting and turning red dragon flowing through the 17 counties in Yunnan Province before ending in Annan, going past the famous Red River Delta and finally entering the gulf of Tonkin and the South Ocean.

Annan Region imperial city Hanoi was located on the northwest portion of the Red River Delta, sitting on the right of the Red River. The red colored river water slowly flowed across, bathing the entire city in red.

The name of Hanoi, which means within a river, came from that.

This was an ancient city with thousands of years of history. In the 11th century, it was the political, economic, and cultural center of Annan. It was rich with historical elements, and many ancient ruins were scattered around it.

One had to say that this city had a close relationship with China, and it was once a part of China.

111 BC, Hanwu Emperor established the Jiaozhi Prefecture, and Hanoi was within the region. Song during the Northern and Southern Dynasties also set up a prefecture in Hanoi region.

Hanoi was built in 621 AD and was a place under the Annan Provincial Governor of the Tang Dynasty. It was the political, cultural, and economic center of the north of Annan, being called Purple City, which changed to Luo City, and then Daluo City.

At the later stages of Tang Dynasty, Hanoi became where the Jinghai army Jiedushi stayed.

Why was Hanoi’s position so important in Annan?

Annan had a long and narrow geography like a really big S. Its borders had many mountains, forests, and long mountain ridges, with Haiyun Mountain as the intersection to split the north and the south. The difference in climates between the two was really huge.

Be it north to south or south to north, Hanoi was a place they had to go past. Hence, it held a really important strategic position and had the biggest port in the north.

As a result, Hanoi became the center of Annan.

In the game, Hanoi was a mega city. As it was influenced by Chinese culture, it also had an inner and outer city. The inner city was also split into the forbidden city, the emperor city, and the Capital City.

The place where the king, concubines, and the king’s children stayed was the forbidden city. Around it was the emperor city where the dynasty offices were, while the streets, markets and residences were in the Capital City.

The emperor city had flowers and trees all around, creating a really beautiful sight. The towers and halls inside the forbidden city shone with a bright golden luster. In the Capital City, towers stood tall, temples were erected, and their building style was influenced by the Tang culture, possessing an ancient beauty.

Furthermore, since Hanoi was in a subtropical climate and was close to the northern bay, its four seasons were like spring with a lot of rain. Trees and flowers were plentiful, and flowers bloomed.

The city had many wide streets that stretched out in four directions with Hoan Kiem Lake as the center. At both sides of the streets, tall green trees grew.

The streets of the city were very interesting, each one named based on an industry like leather industry, copper industry, sugar industry, peach industry, and the like. Each street focused on one those products.

Each one was basically run by a big chamber of commerce.

Leather industry Street, Tongchun Shop.

The entire leather street was run by the Tongchun Chamber of Commerce and the Tongchun shop was its headquarters. The boss was surnamed Chen, and he came from a famous Hanoi aristocratic family. Not only did he run a leather business, but he also had businesses in copper, cloth, sugar, and more.

Two months ago, the Tongchun Chamber of Commerce welcomed a mysterious guest. He said that he had a way to ship the Tongchun Chamber of Commerce goods to Great Xia to sell and earn large profits.

This person delivered on his words.

The day before the Chinese New Year, the first batch of goods smoothly arrived in Beihai Bay and did not cost Boss Chen a huge amount.

Merchants lived to earn profits.

It was once said that, “If there are profits of 50%, one would dare to risk their capital; for 100% profits, one would dare to break laws; for 300% profits, one would do anything.”

Due to the relationship between Annan and Great Xia, Haiphong City Lord Ruan Tianque had said that all trade with Great Xia was prohibited.

This prohibition was not only limited to chambers of commerce in his territory but also the imperial city.

As the only Lord left in the Annan wilderness, his words carried a lot of weight. More recently, Annan and Great Xia did not have any trading between them.

As a result, the moment the underground trading started, the profits were enormous. It was the same as smuggling.

It was not that the Hanoi chambers of commerce did not think about trading with Great Xia in the dark. However, the entire north bay was monitored by the Great Xia navy. Without someone helping them, their ships would not be able to come close.

Tasting the sweet returns, Old Chen did not care about the methods this mysterious person employed in Great Xia. He directly called him his brother. After the Lantern Festival, he was ready to prepare for the second deal.

The goods for this trip filled up five merchant ships and went down south of the Red River.

Looking at the merchants go down the river, Old Chen could not hide the greed in his eyes. If this carried on, the Tongchun Chamber of Commerce would rise quickly.

Jumping to become the largest chamber of commerce in Hanoi was not a farfetched dream.

However, just as Boss Chen was thinking about earning big profits, an unexpected change occurred. Who knows how and who leaked the news, but the highly secretive merchant ship was stopped when it passed Haiphong.

When the Haiphong City legal department investigated the matter, the Tongchun Chamber of commerce was implicated for disobeying the prohibition and trading with Great Xia.

When Ruan Tianque received the news, he was furious. Not only did he take down the five ships, but he also captured the group of men, putting them on trial based on Haiphong City laws.

If nothing went wrong, they would probably be given the death penalty.

The one leading the merchant group was Boss Chen’s second son. This son of his was really smart and capable. When Boss Chen received the news, he was terrified to the point that his face turned ashen white. He begged for Ruan Tianque to give him a chance.

However, Ruan Tianque was determined to use this as a warning, so he did not bother about giving anyone face. Great Xia was the biggest problem to Ruan Tianque, and they could give him nightmares at any moment.

Ruan Tianque would want anyone who touched this worry to die.

Even the Annan royal family condemned him. Not only did he not bother listening, but he even listed the Chen family as traitors to the nation and wanted to investigate the Tongchun chamber of commerce.

This time, Boss Chen was in truly dire straits.

At this very moment, that mysterious guest appeared once more to find Boss Chen.

“You still have the face to come! Speak, did you leak the news?” When Boss Chen saw the person, he was furious.

He had long forgotten about how they had addressed one another as brothers before the whole issue.

The mysterious guest was really calm, “Why would I reveal it? What good will it bring to me? Furthermore, if I revealed it, why would I be so foolish to see you?”

“This….”

Boss Chen’s expression froze, “This matter was highly secretive, if it were not you, who could it be?”

“I think there’s a mole.”

“Mole?” A cold light flashed through Boss Chen’s eyes.

The mysterious guest explained, “Only members of your chamber of commerce knew about it. There might be spies from other chambers of commerce. When your rivals see that you’re about to get rich, they’ll obviously find problems with you.”

“I was too careless!”

Boss Chen closed his eyes in pain. She was ready to admit defeat. Since ancient times, merchants could not fight with officials, so he had no way to fight back.

The mysterious guest smiled, “All hope is not lost.”

“Brother, what plan do you have?” When Boss Chen heard that, he was instantly energized, “As long as you can help me get past this, I’ll thank you heavily.”

Not only thanks, but if he could get out of this, he was even willing to call this person father.

The mysterious guest asked, “Who are you working with?”

“Great Xia,” Boss Chen replied.

After gawking for a while, he finally regained his composure, and his expression became really depressed, “Are you asking me to ask for help from Great Xia? Why would they bother about me?”

In his eyes, Great Xia was a mammoth that dealt with tens of thousands of chambers of commerce. Why would they be diplomatic with Annan just because of one smuggling chamber of commerce?

“How would you know if you do not try?” He smiled, “I know an official in their business department. As long as you write a distress letter asking for help, I can pass it to him. Great Xia focuses on free trade and protecting chambers of commerce is a priority to them. They would not leave you to die.”

Boss Chen was in dire straits and would do anything to get out of this situation. He gritted his teeth and wrote a sincere letter.

Passing it to him, Boss Chen said emotionally, “Please, as long as you resolve this for me you are my father, the savior of Tongchun Chamber of Commerce.”

The mysterious guest smiled. During such a short conversation, this person changed the way he addressed him several times. As expected from a merchant.

On the surface, he was unmoved. He put away the letter and smiled, “Do not worry, I’ll go to Shanhai City now. Wait for my good news.”

“Thank you!”

…

The following week was like an eternity for Boss Chen.

3rd month, 15th day, the matter finally welcomed a turning point. Great Xia’ Honglu Temple used Boss Chen’s letter as evidence, using official diplomatic channels to send a letter to Haiphong City and the Annan royal family in hopes that Annan would respect the rights of chambers of commerce to do free trade and follow international trading regulations.

If they followed Honglu Temple’s words, it would just be some fines.

When the Annan royal family received the letter, they were really hesitant. They left the envoy that Great Xia had sent, saying that they needed to discuss the matter before they could give a reply.

As for Ruan Tianque, he was so furious that he tore the letter into pieces.

“Humiliation! This is outright humiliation!” Ruan Tianque hollered.

If he agreed to Great Xia’s request, Ruan Tianque would cause the reputation of Annan to crash to the ground; if he did not, Great Xia would retaliate. He was now in a lose-lose situation.