In the study of Prince Huan Ji Ao's estate, First Prince Ji Ao was discussing matters with his strategist, Tu Song.
Not only had their plan to take over the two cash cows—the Ancient Teleportation Array and Haiyuan Port in the Marquisate of Haiyuan—fallen apart because of Ye Zhen, but Ye Zhen had also uprooted his forces in the Marquisate of Haiyuan, turning them completely upside down.
This had a considerable impact on Prince Huan Ji Ao, who had already entered the Succession Struggle.
Previously, even without fully taking over Haiyuan Port, the First Prince's trading firms had still earned immense profits there.
Most merchants had to attach themselves to nobles when conducting trade. Otherwise, they were simply fat pigs waiting for the slaughter.
The main reason was that merchants encountered all manner of extortion and ostensibly legitimate taxes during their travels.
Yet Great Zhou's tax officials at every level possessed a certain degree of discretionary power over these taxes.
For a single shipment of goods, depending on various factors, the tax rate could be as low as one in thirty, but as high as one in ten or even one in eight—a difference of threefold or more.
The merchant caravans attached to nobles did so, first, to avoid being squeezed dry by tax officials charging the highest rates, and second, to avoid all sorts of extortion.
Even then, it depended on how influential the noble behind them was.
If a merchant caravan had a Duke standing behind it, then based on that Duke's power and influence, the tax rate might be one in fifteen, or it might be one in thirty.
But with Prince Huan Ji Ao's gilded name as their backing, no matter where they went, they would receive the lowest rate of one in thirty.
Haiyuan Port,