Fuyu Kingdom.
This island nation lay within the East Sea. In the past, it had once been part of the tributary system maintained by successive dynasties over the land where Great You stood. Yet in truth, it was simply too far away. The dynasties that had centered themselves on the Nine Provinces of Central Huan and conquered the Five Paths and Eight Wastes from within outward could only adopt a laissez-faire attitude toward it.
At its height, Fuyu Kingdom was likely the most powerful island nation overseas. The island on which it stood was immense, with dozens of cities and towns, and a population approaching one million.
Fuyu Kingdom's Yingtai Chamber of Commerce had been founded far earlier than the Zhendan Chamber of Commerce and the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce. The people of Fuyu had long conducted trade with Great You, the Great Xiye Kingdom, the Niduso Kingdom, the Tanguts, the Rouran, and even the Tiele.
They sent the silks, porcelain, tea, coarse cloth, gold and silver vessels, metal goods, and coinage of the Nine Provinces of Central Huan beyond the passes, while importing treasures, spices, medicinal herbs, woolen goods, cotton textiles, raw cotton, and all manner of sundries into Great You.
With its advantageous status as a loosely governed territory and tributary state, Fuyu Kingdom's "tribute trade," which had initially taken the form of gifts exchanged between courts, and the accompanying "trade with tribute," gradually developed into commerce conducted by coastal merchants and commoners in the nearshore regions. It flourished tremendously.
Later on, those in Dongli Circuit who engaged in private overseas trade—including powerful nobles and officials, major merchants, small and mid-sized traders, and drifters—were known as sea merchants, and were registered in the household rolls as sea households.
Sea trade brought quick profits, but spending year after