Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 947 - 782

Chapter 947: 782

Originally, Li Xuan was busily planning to formally open the sea for trade, leveraging the inexpensive industrial goods produced in Nanjing and Tianjin to further tap into new financial sources for the Jin Dynasty.

The maritime prohibition strategies of the Great Ancestor and Emperor Taizong must be maintained, and piracy must be cracked down upon harshly, smuggling forbidden.

However, considering that a system known as ’Mining Permit Trade’ had already existed during the Great Ancestor’s and Taizong’s times, Li Xuan decided to further expand the scope of the ’Mining Permit Trade’.

The Court issued ’Mining Permits’ to trustworthy private maritime merchants, setting the price at thirty thousand silver yuan per ten-thousand-tonne ship and fifteen thousand silver yuan for a five-thousand-tonne ship, valid for three years. After three years, qualifications would be verified to see if there was any tax evasion before reissuing the permits.

This move not only adhered to the ’maritime prohibition’ strategy of the Great Ancestor and Emperor Taizong but could also secure up to fifty million silver yuan for the Court each year.

Therefore, even the most conservative among the regent ministers were persuaded by the ’prospect of wealth’ Li Xuan presented.

The County Prince Fenyang still upheld the ancestral laws of the Jin Dynasty, albeit with slight modifications.

And once this news spread, the southeastern regions were boiling with excitement.

Mainly because their smuggling business had been struggling of late. At the beginning of the year, not only did Li Xuan reshuffle personnel in the naval forces of Tianjin, Fujian, Chongming Island, and both Guangdongs, but he also issued strict orders for the four major naval forces to inspect smuggling.

Given the deep roots of the Li family in the naval forces, they grated the four major naval forces a split of sixty percent of the captured loot when arresting smuggling ships.

This was essentially legalized piracy, and while it posed some risks, it was an effective blow to the smuggling merchants.

The civilian population was already bubbling with eagerness, with many maritime merchants carrying large sums of money to the capital.

However, the changing situation in the East Sea indefinitely postponed his plan.

Luckily, the domestic market of the Jin Dynasty was so vast that even temporary closure of maritime trade would not cause significant issues.

Luo Yan didn’t suspect anything; she knew Li Xuan was indeed quite busy.

If it were anyone else, they surely couldn’t have deceived her.

Luo Yan possessed the era’s most top-notch ’Telepathy’, and if she so wished, she could know every thought of others.

But Li Xuan’s mind was like Haoqi Liuli, his seven openings perfectly clear, and his thoughts pure. Luo Yan couldn’t sense his thoughts.

At that moment, Luo Yan’s face was flushed with shyness as she glanced slightly embarrassingly towards the inside of the bed, "That, the child has a small appetite, can’t eat anymore, and I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable."

Li Xuan was instantly invigorated. Rolling up his sleeves, he thought, isn’t this just milk engorgement?

He was the best at resolving this problem—

A short while later, a sudden cry of anguish from Li Xuan erupted inside ’Yunyan House’, followed by an angry rebuke from Luo Yan: "You lecherous man! I meant for you to step out so I could express the milk. Umm~ Hmm—"

※※※※

In the emptiness of the sky, Meng Qingfan, transformed into the shape of a Kylin, ran with all her might until all the irritation and frustration in her heart were completely vented out, then she stopped on the western gate tower of Heaven Palace.

Then she lay down on the city gate tower, listlessly observing what lay in front of her.

Inside the Heavenly Court, things were actually quite boring, the same scenes day after day.

In front of her was the ’Lingxiao Treasure Hall’, to the left were four increasingly perfected ’giant eggs’, also known as the ’Solar Furnace’ dubbed by Li Xuan, and to the right was the continuous workshops of Spellcasters and craftsmen, where the Spellcasters and artisans Li Xuan had recently recruited lived.

——Those were mostly individuals advanced in years and declining in vigor, but correspondingly, their skills were extremely exquisite.

Li Xuan had promised them eternal souls and the opportunity to live in the Heavenly Court, so these people willingly entered Tianxingtai, accepting modest wages, toiling day after day for Li Xuan.

Hence even in death, they would still have to labor for Li Xuan.

Meng Qingfan couldn’t understand how people’s yearning for life could be so strong—so strong that they were willing to toil thanklessly under someone else’s command, as another’s laborer?

Li Xuan did pay these people wages, but those wages were less than one-third of what the Shenqi Union’s artisans of the same level earned.

And within Tianxingtai, what use was their salary if they had nowhere to spend it?

No, there were still things to spend it on.

Recently, Li Xuan introduced something called the ’Guyuan Elixir’ in the Heavenly Court. When living beings consume it, it can cultivate Yuan Qi, improve physical constitution, and enhance the soul, extending lifespan. Ghost Gods can refine it to further strengthen Shenpo and increase soul power.

A single elixir could cost several thousand silver yuan, or be exchanged for military achievements.

Li Xuan also provided a myriad of Spell practices, along with corresponding herbs for exchange.

But Meng Qingfan thought, what’s the use of enhanced cultivation, improved physical constitution, and stronger soul energy? Would it not just mean working longer for Li Xuan later?

The silver yuan and military achievements quickly changed hands, only to return to Li Xuan’s possession.

Meng Qingfan had heard Li Xuan complain about Xinyuelian, saying it deceived believers into laboring happily as if in a trance, no different from an Evil Spirit.

Yet Meng Qingfan felt that Li Xuan’s tactics were even more devilish than an Evil Spirit.

He made these Spellcasters and Ghost Gods willingly work for him, and they were even grateful to him for it.

In front of the Lingxiao Treasure Hall was the drill ground centered around Tianxingtai.

The numbers had swelled to thirty-five thousand heavenly soldiers, all clad in dark golden armor, were practicing archery and training in arrays on the open ground.

When Meng Qingfan was first captured here, the ’heavenly soldiers’ wearing Black Gold Divine Armor only numbered just over twenty thousand, but as the Shenqi Union gradually delivered.

The count of ’heavenly soldiers’ had inflated to thirty-five thousand.

Beyond that, within the Heavenly Court, there were thirty thousand Ghost Gods of the Yin spirit, awaiting equipment.

Just recently, Li Xuan had made a trip to Poyang Lake, enlisting the most malevolent and bravely combative Ghost Gods, all to be appointed as heavenly soldiers. There were over forty thousand heavenly soldiers from the fifth house level and above—