I feel as though the Bai have quite a few ports. My belief is based off of the conversation Meizhen had with LanLan when Ling went shopping with them. Meizhen talked about expanding the Pearl industry on some of their islands. This tells me that they have more than 1 island and therefore more than 1 port. Now I don't know the size of these ports. They could be really small. However with access to the best wood in the empire those ports could explode in size. Something to keep in mind as more of the political side is revealed and begins to move.
I'm going to expand more on this a bit, as I believe that it is actually important for the political landscape in the relatively near future.
We know the Jin don't like the Bai because the Jin's monopoly of Imperial Ports is interrupted by the Bai.
"But I have not answered your question, have I?" Cai Shenhua mused. "It is true that the Sun are dangerous and powerful. Sun Shao retains many friends in Celestial Peaks, and the Jin stand firmly on his side, forever jealous as they are of their absolute control of the empires harbors being interrupted by the Bai.
This makes the Jin natural allies of the Sun because they both hate the Bai, as Cai Shenhua points out.
However, the Jin have enough control over the Imperial Ports that regular trade which doesn't move through the Bai can be heavily regulated by them, allowing them to make immense profits at the expense of those who need the materials, whatever those materials may cost.
"Enough words have I spoken of the avaricious Jin already," the man replied, briefly glancing at Ling Qi. "Mine brother and I trust that the withered channels tying the great wood seas to the harbors of the north shall see their blockages crumble."
This means that Xuan... really don't like the Jin as they see the Jin profiting off of the Xuan's need and suffering. With the Cai/Bai alliance, the next reasonable entity to join would be the Xuan because they can make the most out any trade route moving the wood from the Emerald Seas to the Savage Seas. By circumventing the trade routes that the Jin control, a Cai/Bai/Xuan alliance can make profits and strengthen their respective provinces while demonstrably hurting a province that will most likely ally against them.
If the Bai open up those supposed ports they have to more trade and traffic, and move away from stifling isolationism, then more wealth can flow through the Thousand Lakes Province meaning that the Bai have more wealth to throw around for political maneuvering and recovering from the devastation they suffered as a result of the Sun Shao Crusade.
Additionally, the Xuan will have more wealth to throw around as well, because they won't be spending it all on buying wood from Jin controlled ports, and that wealth can be used for political maneuverings or even taking even more control of the Savage Seas and reducing piracy ensuring more trade and more wealth.
The Cai will gain strong allies in the Bai and the Xuan, both ancient clans with a lot of history and power, to help stabilize and legitimize the Cai more recent ascension. Furthermore, a Cai/Bai/Xuan trade route will give a huge market for goods produced in the Emerald Sea, from wood to gems to be shipped from the south all the way to the North without the heavy control and taxation that the Jin seem to place on prized goods.
Ideally, this carves a new channel for goods to flow diverting wealth away from presumed enemies of the new alliance while strengthening the members of the said alliance.
