Chapter 874: Commerce |
In the blink of an eye, the Jiuqu League has transformed into the Jiuqu Province, and ten years have passed.
While other areas within the Dali Dynasty may still be experiencing many disputes, the Jiuqu Province has enjoyed a stable development for the past decade.
With the official integration of the Jiuqu League into the Dali Dynasty's territory and its inclusion into the Dali Dynasty's commercial system, Meng Zhang couldn't help but fantasize about whether Taiyi Sect could seize this opportunity to make a name for itself in commerce and trade.
Taiyi Sect, after all, possesses vast territories like the Endless Sea of Sand and Demon Wind Gobi. Although these regions might be slightly barren, their vast size and abundant resources make them valuable assets.
Furthermore, after years of meticulous cultivation by Meng Zhang, the sect has developed substantial production capabilities. The Symbol Hall, Tool Hall, Pill Hall, Beast Controlling Hall, and others have rich products not only to meet the demands of Taiyi Sect and the Hanhai Alliance but also for external sales.
With a large number of disciples in Taiyi Sect, there are also talented individuals skilled in commerce. Through targeted training within the sect, they are fully capable of taking on important roles.
Even when the Jiuqu League still existed, Taiyi Sect vigorously developed its own commercial activities within the league. Aside from establishing businesses in various locations, they organized multiple commercial caravans for trading.
Unfortunately, when Taiyi Sect initially joined the Jiuqu League, it was only a Gold Core sect. Despite having the protection of Jin Li True Monarch, they could not compare with the genuine Primordial Spirit sects.
In the Cultivation World, success in commerce is not solely determined by business acumen but also by the background and heritage of each sect. When necessary, having sufficient strength is essential.
However, they encountered changes in the Jiuqu League's situation, and the Azure Origin Sect and Jade Sword Sect were on the verge of breaking away.
Taiyi Sect had no choice but to retract all its forces from the southern part of the Jiuqu League to the north, where the commercial environment and prosperity were not as favorable.
Now that the Jiuqu League has become the Jiuqu Province, Meng Zhang believes that the stable environment will undoubtedly benefit their trading endeavors.
Meng Zhang's goals are not excessively ambitious. Firstly, they hope to restore their previous layout in the south and then gradually extend their commercial influence to the Crossing Severing Mountain Range.
Both the Jiuqu Province and Crossing Severing Mountain Range are currently territories of the Dali Dynasty, allowing free movement of people and resumed trade activities.
Of course, if one day Taiyi Sect's caravans can engage in domestic trade within the Dali Dynasty, that would be the perfect scenario.Meng Zhang was scheming in his heart. The domestic commercial power from the Dali Dynasty had already launched a fierce attack, completely defeating the original commercial strength of the Jiuqu League, leaving it in ruins.
The variety of products became more abundant, and their prices became much cheaper. Items that were previously scarce and highly sought after in the Jiuqu League, such as high-grade pills and magic tools, seemed to be everywhere now.
The Shang Families of the Jiuqu League had nothing to compete with this new force.
Even the alchemy sect known for its expertise in pill refinement within the Jiuqu League, the Changchun Outlook, whose various pills were popular in both the north and south of the league, found itself facing formidable alchemists in the Dali Dynasty.
The alchemy secrets that were considered fundamental in the Changchun Outlook were no longer considered exceptional knowledge in the Dali Dynasty. The pills they could refine were also produced by others, and at lower costs with better quality.
A flood of high-quality and low-priced pills suddenly swept in, shattering the original pill market.
Changchun Outlook quickly fell into a situation where it was more cost-effective to buy pills than to produce them. The cost of refining pills in-house was high, and the quality couldn't match the ones available from other sources.
Each batch of pills they refined resulted in losses.
If it weren't for Changchun Outlook having several spiritual medicine gardens that could supply many of the ingredients, they would likely have already gone bankrupt.
Despite this, Changchun Outlook's glory faded, and its days became much harder.
The original alchemists had no work to do, and the cost of training new alchemists became even more prohibitive.
Many within the sect proposed that Changchun Outlook should give up alchemy altogether and stop training alchemists. Instead, they should focus all their efforts on cultivating and growing spiritual medicines, becoming an honest material supplier.
After all, the various Shang Families in the Dali Dynasty were quite generous when purchasing spiritual medicines and other materials.
However, Changchun Outlook's Daoist Master, Mu Ri, was far-sighted. He not only rejected these suggestions but also staunchly advocated that Changchun Outlook must never abandon its alchemy traditions.
Since the pills produced by Changchun Outlook had no market outside, they should all be consumed internally within the sect.
In summary, Changchun Outlook must maintain its ability to refine pills.
Similar situations to Changchun Outlook were happening all over the Jiuqu Province.However, not all leaders of cultivation forces have the foresight and determination of Changchun Outlook's Daoist Master Mu Ri.
Many cultivation forces with insufficient heritage and financial resources voluntarily gave up their production capabilities and focused on managing their spirit fields and spiritual medicine gardens, willingly becoming material suppliers.
The result of this was a significant increase in the number of spiritual farmers in the Jiuqu Province.
At this time, the Shang Families from the Dali Dynasty offered high prices to recruit outstanding Alchemists and tool refiners from the Jiuqu Province.
Faced with such temptations, not only loose cultivators but also many talents from cultivation families and sects chose to join the embrace of the Dali Dynasty's Shang Families.
In fact, due to the obstruction of their families and sects, many internal conflicts and defections occurred.
These Shang Families from the Dali Dynasty had powerful backers behind them.
These backers were deeply rooted and formidable in the Dali Dynasty. They were not newcomers to be easily offended.
In reality, facing the aggressively incoming foreign commercial forces, some local powers in the Jiuqu Province had no chance in normal commercial competition and resorted to underhanded tactics.
However, whether they were black or white, righteous or unscrupulous, the powerful foreign dragons could easily suppress these local snakes.
Facing the overwhelming commercial power of the outsiders, Meng Zhang's plan was stillborn before it even began to be implemented.
In direct competition on the market, Taiyi Sect was not a match.
Meng Zhang was not the kind of person who would stick to a failing path.
Since they couldn't compete with them, it was better to keep a safe distance.
After all, Taiyi Sect had many disciples, and the Hanhai Alliance under their control had numerous cultivators.
The pills, talismans, and other products produced by Taiyi Sect could be mostly consumed internally.
Any excess could be stored temporarily.
Now that the Jiuqu Province had regained peace, who knew how long that peace would last.
Once conflicts erupted, the consumption of pills, talismans, and the like would be massive.
Taiyi Sect might not even have enough for its own use, let alone selling them externally.
Moreover, Taiyi Sect's territory also had abundant resources to produce. They could sell some of these resources to the Shang Families, as long as it guaranteed their own usage. There was no need to stubbornly confront others.1
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