Arrangements Before the Return

"That's more or less the idea. But having these ships really is convenient. The value they bring us goes far beyond their construction costs—they can also generate plenty of profits. But that may not be true for you, since your current output consists only of basic crops. You have virtually nothing else to trade, so even if you build ships, you won't have any income apart from fishing." Luo Chong explained.

Tang Ji once again began whispering with the chieftains.

They had no tax revenue. To establish one, they would need to survey the land, register households, establish uniform weights and measures to calculate grain yields, and maintain systematic written records. They couldn't do any of that yet, so they couldn't copy the Han Tribe's method of using tax revenue to build and maintain ships.

However, the Tang Tribe did have a sizable source of income: rubber. Whether they sold rubber latex or saplings and seeds, the Han Tribe would pay them. They could use that money to invest in building a shipyard and in future ship construction, keeping ownership of the ships in their own hands while training a large number of shipbuilding craftsmen. Why wouldn't they?

Tang Ji immediately made up her mind.

"Chieftain Han, we'd like to own these ships ourselves. We'll use the money from selling rubber and saplings to cover the Han Tribe's craftsmen and materials."

Luo Chong spread his hands indifferently. Even if ownership of the ships went to the Han Tribe, they would still need to buy large quantities of ironware from the Han Tribe, along with "high-end" materials such as asphalt. In any case, the Han Tribe wouldn't lose out, so he was fine with either arrangement.

After the two sides settled the ownership of the ships, Luo Chong turned his attention