"However, if we use the prices of goods smuggled across the northern border, then these goods would be enough to earn the Ding Clan over two hundred thousand taels of silver a year," Chu Qiguang declared.0

Hao Wen's heart immediately skipped a beat at this insinuation. "You're saying the Ding Clan is smuggling goods to the north?"0

"If that's the case, then all the money they send to the capital each year is essentially their protection fee," Chu Qiguang said. "The money is being used to pay off whoever's backing and protecting them in the imperial court. Also, think about this. Right now, an iron pot could easily be sold to the fiends in the northwestern grasslands for over ten times the market price here. However, if trade relations were established with the wolf fiends, would the Ding...0