I wield power with my innate talents, and forge the Heavenly Court.

Chapter 146 A Flourishing Business and the Rise of the Ji Family

As the dynasty began to focus on its official duties, strange and supernatural phenomena began to occur in many parts of the People's Salvation Army's territory.

As mentioned before, the territory of the Salvation Army has a much greater energy than other places due to the influence of spiritual power and national fortune.

Even before, it was twice as much as other places.

This results in the spiritual power of those deceased lives being able to persist for a longer period of time.

In fact, if their bodies are not destroyed, these spiritual forces can remain within them for one or two months.

Furthermore, the dynasty was unable to collect souls from a distance, and the spiritual power generated by all living beings was already sufficient for its needs.

Therefore, the dynasty had not paid much attention to the souls of the dead in the past.

After all, he couldn't possibly run all over the territory collecting souls.

Therefore, he really didn't know that these corpses possessed spiritual power.

After all, spiritual power at present cannot spread to the interior of life and matter unless the dynasty does it on its own, such as by bestowing upon celestial beings a status or supernatural powers.

And those who die that he encounters, he immediately collects their souls.

Naturally, they didn't know that these souls wouldn't completely perish for a very long time afterward.

Of course, his consciousness before his death had already dissipated.

All that remains is a mass of spiritual energy containing some memories of its previous life.

If things continue as they are, these remaining spiritual forces will dissipate into the world after a month or two.

Or it may escape from the body and be eroded and assimilated by spiritual energy.

However, at this very moment, heaven and earth were elevated, not only did the energy instantly become ten times more concentrated, but even spiritual power could exist for a long time.

Even if directly exposed to the world, they can still exist for four or five days. And these aggregates of spiritual power could probably exist for one or two months if exposed to the world.

Moreover, because the energy within the territory of the People's Salvation Army is three times more concentrated than in other places, even if this time cannot be extended three times, it can still sustain them for two or three months, or even three or four months.

In fact, under special circumstances, they might even exist for a very long time.
Ten miles outside Yumen Pass lies an extremely large burial pit.

That was the place where Wang Dahu and his men had buried the tens of thousands of enemy soldiers they had killed.

More than twenty days have passed since then, and it has been completely buried underground, but if you get close, you can still smell a faint stench of blood.

About a mile or two from this burial site, there is a main road that leads directly to Yumen Pass.

A convoy of more than thirty people slowly approached from the west.

They were a caravan that came from the Western Regions.

The People's Salvation Army had a falling out with Turpan, but it did not prohibit merchants from there from entering the country; they were only required to pay import taxes on their goods.

Furthermore, the sale of salt, iron, grain, and other supplies to outsiders is prohibited.

Thanks to the fact that the People's Salvation Army did not prohibit internal and external exchanges and trade between the two sides, the trade between the East and the West, which had been gradually cut off after the closure of Jiayuguan, began to flourish again.

After the militia occupied Jiayuguan and reopened it, many merchants were already eager to make a move.

After Wang Dahu captured Yumen Pass and Chijin Mongol Guard, merchants began to try to contact the People's Salvation Army and trade with the people of Yumen Pass.

As long as they pay the corresponding import duties, the People's Salvation Army will no longer interfere with them.

Although commercial taxes were somewhat high, many goods from the Central Plains could be sold for high prices in Turpan, as well as further west in Yarkand, Kazakhstan, and even the Western Regions.

If the goods from the Western Regions are scarce in the Central Plains, they can also be sold at high prices by the people who migrated from Yumen Pass, and even in the Central Plains.

Therefore, although the customs duties collected by the People's Salvation Army were a bit high, they were not unacceptable.

Moreover, the commercial taxes levied by the People's Salvation Army are not like those of other national powers, which may require re-payment in each new location.

Within the territory of the People's Salvation Army, as long as commercial taxes are paid legally and legitimately and the corresponding receipts are issued, one can move freely throughout the entire territory without being charged any other fees.

If it's just border trade, their profits will naturally be less.

However, if they are willing to travel further and enter the area inside Jiayuguan, their gains will increase dramatically.

Therefore, in the beginning, those merchants from the west only tried to trade at Yumen Pass.

However, as time went on, and because the National Salvation Army only collected customs duties once, some merchants, with the consent of the National Salvation Army, began to attempt to cross the Jade Gate Pass and enter Jiayuguan Pass.

Novel goods from the Western Regions and other countries were quickly sold out at high prices.

In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the National Salvation Army's territory had certain price limits on goods and that tariffs were related to the profit of goods, they could even sell some items for exorbitant prices.

Price controls on goods and high tariffs were naturally proposed and implemented by the dynasty.

Firstly, this would ensure that most of the people could make purchases, and secondly, he did not want outside merchants to earn large sums of money in the territory of the People's Salvation Army.

As for areas outside the territory, the dynasty doesn't care. If you can sell an ordinary porcelain bowl for several hundred taels of silver, that's your own ability.

However, even with price controls on goods, they could still earn far more money than those at the border.

Goods that might only sell for a few hundred coins at the border could fetch double or even several taels of silver once they reached places like Jiayuguan, Gongchang, or Lintao Prefecture.

Moreover, they can also buy porcelain, silk, and other items from the Central Plains at cheaper prices in the mainland.

Once these goods are transported to the Western Regions, the profit will be at least ten times the original amount. Furthermore, since the Western Regions have gradually severed ties with the Ming Dynasty, the price of these goods will inevitably be even higher.

After the first merchant to try something new made a huge profit.

More and more merchants began to cross the Yumen Pass and Jiayu Pass into the inland areas.
In particular, Gongchang and Lintaofu, the places first occupied by the militia, have undergone tremendous changes after more than a year of development.

Not only did every household have surplus grain, but they also had a lot of spare money from selling grain.

As a result, their desire to consume naturally increases significantly, and they are willing to buy slightly more expensive items after some hesitation.

Therefore, commerce here began to develop rapidly, even after a large number of wealthy and powerful families were purged.

However, as people become wealthier and have no worries about food and drink, more and more people are starting to do small businesses in their spare time.

Over time, commerce in both places flourished rapidly, and many who seized the opportunity gradually developed into new major merchants.

Of course, because of the deterrent effect of the People's Salvation Army, these merchants were quite well-behaved in the territory of the People's Salvation Army.

They dared not evade any of the commercial taxes due, and they dared not do anything illegal.

For at least three to five years, without the lure of enormous profits, and under the deterrent effect of the People's Salvation Army's purge of countless wealthy and powerful families, they would not dare to break the law.

Especially with the arrival of merchants from the Western Regions, trade between the two places has become increasingly prosperous.

Many people have made a lot of money.

If the land within the territory of the People's Salvation Army were not state-owned and prohibited from private sale, there would probably be many more large landowners in the territory of the People's Salvation Army by now.

However, the most outstanding among these merchants was the Ji family of Lintao Prefecture.

Because the Ji family was a wealthy merchant family that had been passed down for generations, and because they had never committed any major evils, although they were not considered a particularly virtuous family.

Therefore, when the previous purge of high-ranking officials, wealthy families, and merchants took place, their properties were not confiscated and liquidated. Instead, a large amount of their land was forcibly acquired at market price, leaving only their ancestral homes and properties in Lintao Prefecture.

Therefore, once they were certain that the People's Salvation Army would not attack them again, and after recognizing the commercial potential of the People's Salvation Army's territory, they immediately seized the opportunity during the commercial vacuum in the People's Salvation Army's territory to aggressively seize the market.

It became a vast commercial empire spanning the entire territory of the Salvation Army, extending even to the Ming Dynasty and the Western Regions.

In just last year, they contributed nearly five million taels of tax silver to the People's Salvation Army.

This is simply incredible.

Nowadays, apart from the militia and government officials, who wouldn't treat the head of the Ji family, the old head of the Ji family, with utmost respect and courtesy?

However, Ji Mingyuan, the head of the Ji family, was in a state of unease at this moment.

Simply put, I have too much money.

Sometimes, having too much money can be a burden.

If the militia takes a liking to their wealth, their fate will likely be grim.

As for the claim that the People's Salvation Army is very law-abiding...
He chuckled, saying that was because the benefits weren't enough. If there were truly irresistible benefits, he believed that the Ji family would be wiped out in a single day.

As for leaving the territory of the People's Salvation Army...
The reason their family was able to develop so rapidly was due to the strength of the People's Salvation Army and the favorable business environment.

Here, as long as they pay taxes, they can move freely within the territory.

Even outside their territory, they were still considered civilians of the Salvation Army. While it was impossible to guarantee their status in very distant areas, Yang He and the other rebels in Shaanxi still had to give them some face.

In Turpan, located in the western part of China, while they wouldn't be considered honored guests, they were certainly treated with great hospitality.

In their minds, such a business tycoon in the territory of the People's Salvation Army must have some connection with the high command of the People's Salvation Army.

If they were offended, wouldn't the Ji family incite the militia to attack them? Naturally, they would have to be careful and treat them with hospitality.

In fact, the Ji family really didn't have much of a connection with the People's Salvation Army.

Nowadays, the officials and generals at all levels who save the common people are still very honest and incorruptible.

In particular, there is an instinctive aversion and alienation towards these wealthy and powerful families who were previously purged, for fear of displeasing the dynasty.

Although the dynasty acknowledged the significance of merchants, many officials and generals remained reluctant to engage in too deep a relationship with them.

The bigger the business, the more distant they become.

The only entity with deep ties to these wealthy businessmen is probably the newly established Inland Revenue Commissioner.

In fact, the reason why the Ji family's business has been able to grow so large is not only because of Ji Mingyuan's outstanding business acumen, but also because they seized the opportunity of the commercial void in the territory of the Salvation Army, which allowed them to develop at an extraordinary speed.

But people outside don't know any of this, do they?

In their view, the Ji family's ability to become the wealthiest merchant family in the Salvation Army's territory must be due to their connection with the Salvation Army's high command.

Therefore, when facing the Ji family, they would usually treat them with courtesy.

Once the Ji family leaves the territory of the People's Salvation Army, the protection provided by this misunderstanding will vanish instantly.

Furthermore, trade between the East and the West would be cut in half.

Moreover, look at the situation outside now. In eastern Shaanxi, there are uprisings everywhere. In the west and north, needless to say, various khanates and tribes are constantly fighting and conquering each other.

The Northeast was further hampered by the rise of the Later Jin dynasty, which constantly attacked and plundered the border regions, while the eastern coast was also harassed by Japanese pirates.

(End of this chapter)