Chapter 162: Jianghe Group

The Liu Clan’s primary enterprises were two-fold: a small Yuan Crystal Mine worth hundreds of millions of Credit Points, and a real estate business. Together, these two pillars accounted for eighty to ninety percent of the Liu Clan’s wealth, around one billion Credit Points.

The Liu Clan also had ventures in supermarkets, agricultural products, tobacco, alcohol, and other industries, but these were far smaller in scale compared to the Yuan Crystal Mine and real estate, worth only one to two hundred million Credit Points. Jiang Xincheng’s goal was to acquire these two core pillars of the Liu Clan’s wealth: the small Yuan Crystal Mine and the real estate business.

To achieve this, Jiang Xincheng invested all his Flourishing Tang Points. Originally, he had twelve thousand points. After completing the mission to eliminate the Liu Clan, he received an additional three thousand points, totaling fifteen thousand Flourishing Tang Points, nearly equivalent to three hundred million Credit Points.

To compensate the people harmed by the Liu Clan, Jiang Xincheng invested all these Flourishing Tang Points, plus all the Liu Clan’s other companies and assets except for the Yuan Crystal Mine and the real estate business. This barely managed to compensate the victims, quelled the unrest in Hetang County, and allowed him to smoothly take over the small Yuan Crystal Mine and the real estate company left behind by the Liu Clan.

The Flourishing Tang Empire tacitly permitted Jiang Xincheng’s actions and did not pursue him. Normally, part of the Liu Clan’s assets would have been seized by the Empire’s treasury, while most would have been used to compensate their victims.

However, Jiang Xincheng compensated the victims with his own Flourishing Tang Points, earning the Empire’s approval. Moreover, because Jiang Xincheng handled it well and didn’t stir up public resentment in Hetang County, the Empire did not demand its share of the resources and assets. Instead, it treated those resources and assets as Jiang Xincheng’s reward for calming the people.

Of course, this didn’t mean Jiang Xincheng used around two hundred million in value worth of Flourishing Tang Points to seize Liu Clan assets worth approximately eight hundred million Credit Points without consequence. Though the Empire didn’t pursue him now or force him to hand over the gains, it would inevitably reclaim its due from him in other ways later.

In fact, some deductions had already been made. Jiang Xincheng inadvertently checked his Centurion silver medal and was startled to find that only around half of the engraved silver spear figures still shimmered with a faint white light—unchanged from before this mission.

Clearly, because he had seized the Liu Clan’s two pillar industries, the Empire had deducted the merits he rightfully earned. A smile brushed across his face. He hoped the Empire’s punishment ended there; if it demanded more, he’d have had to reconsider taking the Liu Clan’s assets in the first place.

From this incident, one could see the Flourishing Tang Empire operated with considerable flexibility. It truly lived up to its reputation as a super-intelligent system millennia ahead of the globe, making its own judgments on all matters.

Regarding punishments and rewards, it had its own precise regulations.

The Flourishing Tang Empire tacitly allowed its members to gain some extra benefits while completing missions. As long as they covered their tracks thoroughly enough that the system found no evidence of wrongdoing, they could keep everything they gained – provided they stayed within certain limits.

The Empire primarily targeted particularly severe criminal acts. General corruption and bribery, unless on a massive scale, were left to the security departments; the Empire itself wouldn’t bother with minor affairs.

But could the security or military departments in Hetang County dare interfere in the affairs of Centurion Jiang Xincheng? Hadn’t they seen that the county’s super-rich clan, the Liu Clan, was utterly destroyed by him? Departments weaker than the Liu Clan certainly wouldn’t challenge Jiang Xincheng, the man who had crushed the Liu Clan.

So, after paying a price he could bear, Jiang Xincheng gained the small Yuan Crystal Mine and the Liu Clan’s real estate assets, worth approximately eight hundred million Credit Points, essentially doubling his personal wealth.

In truth, upon closer thought, Jiang Xincheng’s gains roughly balanced his expenditures. The Flourishing Tang Empire wasn’t shortchanged, and the Shenxia Alliance the Empire served certainly didn’t lose out.

Fifteen thousand Flourishing Tang Points could be exchanged within the Empire for rare resources worth nearly three hundred million Credit Points. Combined with the reward merit for eliminating the Liu Clan, this totaled at least over four hundred million in value.

Afterward, Jiang Xincheng sold off all the Liu Clan’s non-core assets (excluding the Yuan Crystal Mine and real estate). This, combined with the wealth obtained by exchanging his points, was fully used to compensate the victims. This successfully calmed the disturbances in Hetang County, preventing significant losses that would have resulted from prolonged chaos.

This act alone prevented losses worth several hundred million Credit Points and saved many lives. Consequently, Jiang Xincheng’s takeover of the Liu Clan’s two core businesses didn’t face backlash. He smoothly achieved a major leap in personal wealth and laid a solid foundation for his future forces’ rise.

Jiang Xincheng reorganized the Liu Clan’s Yuan Crystal Mine company and the real estate company. Using them as the base, he established the Jianghe Group. The Yuan Crystal company was renamed the Galaxy Yuan Crystal Company, and the real estate company became the Milky Way Real Estate Company.

In his past life, a gentle woman who had sacrificed everything for him had named her company the ‘Jianghe Company’. ‘Jiang’ came from Jiang Xincheng, ‘He’ meant rivers. Like him, she was Hua Clan, loving the rivers of the ancient Hua Nation since childhood—both real ones and those from legends.

As gentle as water, as resilient as water, as soft as water… Her eyes shimmered like autumn lake water, bright and clear; their opening made you feel like you were glimpsing beautiful seasonal landscapes.

She had named her company’s departments after rivers from the ancient Hua Nation: Galaxy, Yangtze River, Yellow River, Milky Way, Miluo River, Huai River… Sadly, most of these rivers were destroyed in the Fourth World War. As for the legendary ones, following the formation of the Shenxia Alliance, the uniquely Hua thoughts and legends faded, replaced by the grand narratives of the new Shenxia civilization.

People stopped telling the story of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd across the Galaxy River (Yinhe). They no longer imagined the glories of the Heavenly River’s Commander, Zhu Bajie. Few reminisced about the vastness of the Yellow River (Huanghe) or the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). But she remembered. So, she recorded these rivers belonging to the bygone Hua Nation in her own way.

Jiang Xincheng had once promised to create a large group with her. Within it, they would establish smaller companies named after these rivers: Galaxy, Huai River, Milky Way River, Yangtze River… Alas, he never fulfilled that promise. That woman, who loved him deeply and knew him completely, sacrificed herself to save him. She married the old man, grey-haired and aged. Tragically, even this desperate act failed to ensure Jiang Xincheng’s safety. She died despairing, humiliated, and in pain. He was hunted again, and his band of brothers perished alongside him.

Recalling the past, the memories of his previous life overwhelmed him. Unconsciously, he named the new group the Jianghe Group. Its two main companies were called Galaxy Yuan Crystal Company and Milky Way Real Estate Company. In the future, there would be a Yellow River Company, a Yangtze River Company, a Huai River Company, a Miluo River Company… He owed the girl everything, including the promises he’d made. In this life, Jiang Xincheng would repay her, piece by piece.