Those three were true second-rate villains, that's for sure. No backbone whatsoever.
I guess we can assume the Jia Ma empire is an empire in name only at this point. In reality the empire's just a Yun Lan sect underling. Otherwise the empire surely wouldn't tolerate a mere sect shutting down a prosperous business like the Miteer tradehouse, which ought to be generating tax revenue generously, support smaller businesses, plus employing a lot of people. The ironic thing is, of course, that the Yun Lan sect itself is just the Soul Hall's subordinate.