Jiao Huangzhong didn't expect Selim to talk about money so directly, you must know that the other party is the king of an empire, and his status is the same as that of the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

"Well, if the Sultan is not satisfied with the conditions I put forward before, then our Ming is willing to bear part of the construction cost of the Suez Canal, but this cost cannot exceed 20% of the total cost, and in the future, when our merchant ships pass through the Suez Canal, we only need to pay 20% of the tax!" Jiao Huangzhong spoke again, but the last condition he put forward was a bit of a lion's mouth, after all, in the future, the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty must be the main ships passing through the Suez Canal, and if they only pay 20% of the tax, it will be a big loss for the Ottoman Empire.

"No, the conditions given by Daming are too harsh, if Daming is willing to bear half of the construction cost of the canal, then the Ming merchant ships that pass through the canal in the future need to pay eighty percent of the tax, this is already the biggest concession I can make, absolutely no less!" Selim also knew that the Ming merchant ships would be one of the main targets of the canal's tax collection in the future, and every step of the concession would be a huge amount of wealth, so he was also very cautious about this.

"Honorable Sultan, you asked us to pay half of the fee, but in the future you are only willing to exempt our merchant ships from 20% of the tax, don't you think our Ming has paid too much? If I agree to this condition, I am afraid that I will not be able to explain to our Emperor at all, and with my authority, I can only agree to us to pay half of the fee at most. But in the future, half of the taxes of our Ming merchant ships must be exempted. That's my bottom line! "Jiao Huangzhong has been an official overseas for many years. I also know that we must not retreat at this time, otherwise we will suffer huge losses in the future.

"It's too much to exempt half of the tax, I'll take a step back now, and in the future, you Ming merchant ships need to pay seventy percent of the tax, how about it?" In fact, Selim was also asking for a sky-high price just now, and now he sees that Jiao Huangzhong has taken a step back, so he has also taken a step back, after all, this is an equal negotiation between the two big countries. It is impossible to bring the other party to its knees with a commanding tone.

"Sixty percent, our Ming merchant ships only need to pay sixty percent of the tax in the future, if the Sultan agrees, then we are willing to bear half of the cost of the canal, but at the same time, we must also use our technical officials to supervise the use of money!" Jiao Huang saw that the other party backed down, and he also took a step back again.

"Da Ming can send officials to supervise the use of money, but sixty percent is too low, I will never agree, at least seventy percent, if Da Ming is unwilling. Then there is no need to talk about it! Selim said with a resolute face, he is essentially a soldier. He didn't like this kind of bargaining conversation very much, and it was only for the good of the empire that he had to argue with Jiao Huangzhong about it personally.

"Sultan, the Ming Dynasty is now also at war with the Tatars in the north, the treasury is also not very sufficient, we have to bear half of the construction cost of the canal, for the Ming treasury, it is also a very difficult thing, if you pay so much money but can only exempt thirty percent of the tax, the Ming will definitely not agree!" Jiao Huangzhong emphasized again that in fact, according to Zhou Zhong's explanation before he came, the conditions agreed to by Selim had passed the bottom line of Daming, and his current insistence was just to strive for greater benefits for Daming.

Just when Selim and Jiao Huangzhong each insisted on their own demands and no one refused to back down, suddenly Suleiman next to him spoke: "Father, Ambassador Jiao, I think everyone has some problems with the distribution of benefits in the canal, you think this is good, the Ming Dynasty will pay part of the construction costs, but we don't have to exempt the taxes of the Ming merchant ships, after all, these exempted taxes will only cheapen those merchants and cannot fall into the hands of the Ming Emperor." ”

When Suleiman said this, he paused for a moment and then said: "In this case, then it is better to wait until the canal is completed, we can let the Ming Dynasty have a certain share in the canal, for example, the Ming Dynasty will pay half of the construction cost, and we will also pay half, but we have to organize manpower and material resources, and the Suez Canal is originally on our land, so we want to account for seventy percent of the shares, and in the future, thirty percent of the total annual tax revenue will be given to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, what do you think?" ”

As soon as Suleiman's words came out, he immediately attracted Selim's somewhat displeased eyes, and Jiao Huangzhong also looked at him with a smile, because they all knew that Suleiman's proposal seemed to be good, but it was actually a trick, because now although he promised to give 30% of the canal's revenue to Daming, but the Suez Canal is in the territory of the Ottomans, and the officials who collect taxes are also their officials, and Daming can't supervise it at all, plus Daming is too far away from here, Therefore, in the end, the Ottoman Empire may have the final say on the tax of thirty percent, which is not any guarantee for the Ming Dynasty at all, but it is better to let the Ottomans exempt part of the taxes of past merchant ships, which is also more practical.

When Suleiman saw his father and Jiao Huang's eyes, he immediately understood that his intentions must have been seen through by them, and even in their eyes, it might be a little trick that did not enter the stream, which made him a little embarrassed, and he lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything more.

"Dear Sultan, since we have some disagreements on the proportion of taxes exempted in the end, I don't think it is better to do this, let's stop our conversation for today, let's all go back and think about it, maybe there will be a better way to solve it." Jiao Huangzhong finally proposed again, he didn't expect the negotiations with Selim to go so smoothly today, which made him unprepared for the next thing, so he proposed to suspend the negotiations.

"It's okay, as long as Daming puts forward conditions that satisfy me, I can agree to build the Suez Canal, and now we both need to think carefully about our respective conditions!" Selim also knows that such a major matter cannot be decided in a day or two, especially when Daming needs to hand over the money to himself first, and the other party must consider more things.

After discussing the business, Selim asked people to set up a banquet to entertain Jiao Huang and others, but unfortunately Selim's religious beliefs did not allow him to drink, so although the banquet was sumptuous, but there was no wine, but at the banquet, Selim and Jiao Huang Zhong had a good conversation, and the two sides exchanged some information about their respective countries, which also increased the understanding between the two countries.

In the next few days, Jiao Huangzhong and Selim would negotiate for the canal almost every day, so they waited until ten days later, they finally negotiated a definite result, in fact, this result is similar to the first day, the Ming can bear half of the cost of building the canal, but in the future, when the Ming merchant ships pass through the canal, the Ottoman Empire can only collect seventy percent of the tax, which Jiao Huangzhong took a step back, but Jiao Huangzhong won the right to garrison troops in Adan, that is, the Gulf of Aden region in the future, The Gulf of Aden is the border between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, and the Ming Dynasty controlled it, which is equivalent to controlling part of the navigation rights of the Suez Canal.

However, in exchange, although the Ming Dynasty controlled the Gulf of Aden, it had to promise the Ottoman Empire that it would never send its navy into the Red Sea without the consent of the Ottoman Empire, speaking of which, the Ottoman Empire also maintained a strong navy, but their navy was mainly active in the Mediterranean, and its strength was worse than that of the Portuguese, so they were naturally not the opponent of the Ming Navy, so they had to fight for a buffer zone at sea for themselves, and now the Red Sea has become a buffer zone between the two countries.

After reaching an overall agreement, Selim sent some officials to discuss the specific details with the Ming mission, and finally after a month of discussion, finally drew up a specific plan for the construction of the canal, which stipulated the respective rights and obligations of both parties, written in both Chinese and Arabic, and finally signed by Suleiman and Jiao Huangzhong respectively on behalf of the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty, which is also one of the most influential covenants in the world.

This agreement was known as the Suez Canal Treaty, and was written in two copies, one for the Ming and other for the Ottoman Empire. After the treaty was signed, Jiao Huangzhong immediately set off to prepare to return to the Ming Dynasty, after all, the treaty stipulated that the Ming Dynasty not only had to support some technical officials, but also had to pay half of the cost of the canal construction, but now the total cost of the canal construction can not be determined, and the Ming and Ottoman technical officials need to be jointly sent by the Ming Dynasty to measure and estimate, and finally there will be an approximate figure.

However, there is a necessary premise for the Suez Canal Treaty, that is, the Ottoman Empire must remember this war against the Mamluk Dynasty, otherwise everything is empty talk, but with the current comparison of the strength of the two sides, even Jiao Huangzhong, a person who does not know much about military affairs, can see that the Ottoman Empire has a great advantage, and when they negotiated, Selim had already begun to prepare for an attack on Egypt.

In addition, there is another thing, that is, before they left in the scorched yellow, they were summoned separately by Selim, and this time the other party was very excited to tell him that in the past two days, when the Ottoman army was just preparing to march into Maradia, the officers from all over the Mamluk dynasty actually wrote to him one after another, secretly expressing their allegiance to him, because these officers were also very dissatisfied with the upper nobles of the Mamluks, and now seeing that the Ottoman Empire was powerful and the Mamluk dynasty was in danger, they naturally chose to betray without hesitation.

Jiao Huang heard the news, and was overjoyed at the moment, although the Ottoman Empire occupied an absolute advantage before the war, but the outcome of the war would be affected by some accidental factors, so before the end of the war, no one dared to say that they had the certainty of victory, and now the officers of the Mamluk Dynasty actually surrendered to Selim secretly, which also gave the Ottoman Empire more certainty of victory. (To be continued......)