As dawn broke, Luo, the centurion, escorted a large group of bandits into Qili County, which sparked much discussion.

In everyone's mind, the formidable strength of the Shattered Gold Guards has reached a new level, bringing a lot of popularity and goodwill to Shattered Gold Town.

These are, of course, things to come later.

Furthermore, as soon as Song Liyun woke up in the morning, she went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone.

While cooking porridge, kneading dough, and steaming buns, Song Liyun muttered to herself: Kneading dough takes too long. It would be better if everyone had a loaf of bread and a glass of milk in the morning.

She had just finished breakfast when someone from the garrison came and summoned her.

"Uncle Wang, are you saying that Hong Jingtian escaped this time?"

When Song Liyun heard that only a group of bandits from the "Shattered Gold Tragedy" who were hiding in the village had been captured, and that Hong Jingtian and Huo Biao from Tianxiang Tower, along with one of their henchmen, had gone missing, her expression turned grim.

This is going to be difficult.

It is said that one should not pursue a defeated enemy.

When these ruthless thugs are cornered, it's hard to say what they won't do.

Wang Zhong's expression was also not good.

When Luo Lun returned with the message, he said that the three people had abandoned the others and run away. Qili County had already posted notices outside the city gates to arrest them, and he told Song Liyun to be careful.

Song Liyun was about to start cursing.

But no one wants to see this happen. If the Song family is in danger, then everyone else in Broken Gold Town is in danger too.

Hong Jingtian could easily take revenge again.

For example, burning down the entire town of Shattered Gold, or poisoning everyone's water supply—just thinking about it is thrilling.

Song Liyun hadn't expected an old man to be so difficult to deal with.

She felt she had to get the cardboard box factory up and running quickly, instead of just relying on smuggling goods to make money.

In addition, after several town meetings, land in Suijin Town has now begun to be fenced off and sold for money, and Luo Baihu was also present.

Because this is Broken Gold Town, it has both military and civilian households.

Luo Baihu kept saying that this was a military town, but there were only two military households; the vast majority of households were civilians.

Wei has the right to speak on matters of public security management, but he cannot interfere when money is involved.

Sitting in the seat of honor is merely a formality, a subtle reminder that everyone should not forget the interests of the military households in the town and the garrison.

Old Master Zhang and the several village elders who were chosen to be in charge repeatedly agreed, promising to treat all military households equally.

The existing houses of the residents will remain unchanged, and all vacant houses will be given to the garrison.

In addition, the tax revenue from the area outside the town where villagers could set up stalls was also allocated to the garrison.

Although the market is nowhere to be seen yet, according to the plan, if Broken Gold Town can restore its former prosperity, it will be a considerable source of income.

At this moment, Song Liyun realized the benefits of being a native.

In her previous life, she was a pitiful woman who never owned a house until her death. Now, she's caught up with the good times of demolition compensation and buying shares in the market.

Because the town has a population of only over three hundred people.

There were only two military households, and they were very important people, so they were naturally grouped together, and each of them was eligible to buy land.

In the past, Suijin Town was mostly inhabited by gold miners, and the whole layout consisted of a village plus a large, haphazardly built shed.

Now, if we demolish and rebuild, we will follow the custom of city building during the Wu Dynasty.

The separation of residential and commercial areas in the market also aligns with Song Liyun's suggestion of a town within and outside the town.

The residential area is where everyone lives in the town, and shops are built on both sides of the street.

Agricultural products sold by villagers will not need to enter the town; instead, some sheds will be set up outside the town.

These original soil blocks were incredibly cheap; a shop in town cost only five taels of silver, and a courtyard house also cost five taels.

Of course, this five taels is just a blank piece of land; you still have to pay for the construction yourself.

Song Liyun realized that she had two hundred taels of silver on her, which was the perfect time to invest. She first made a bold move to claim the locations of ten shops, then reserved five courtyards, leaving only fifty taels for pocket money.

The shrewd and daring people in the town started raising money to buy houses and land.

People from the surrounding villages also came after hearing the news, asking their acquaintances in Suijin Town for a spot, hoping to buy a shop or courtyard in Suijin Town as well.

When the news reached Qili County, some daring money lenders began lending money from the Suijin Guild Hall.

For a time, the townspeople did nothing but work and talk about buying land.

Even Song Zhenping brought up this matter.

That day, Song Liyun was looking at the account book under the lamp, while Song Zhenping was flipping through an illustrated "agricultural technology book." He suddenly looked up and said, "Yun'er, Xiaodouzi's family wants to buy another courtyard. Our house is big enough. Should we also buy a shop so we can display and sell the cardboard boxes we make at home?"

Song Liyun put down her pen and smiled, "I've used all the money in the house to buy a house. From now on, you and Xiao An will each have a big courtyard."

Upon hearing that they wanted to buy land, Song Zhenping immediately smiled and shook his head: "Yun'er can just buy herself a courtyard house, and Xiao An and I will live together!"

Xiao An, who had been busy with her head down, said, "Second Sister needs money to buy a courtyard, so I'll make more paper boxes."

Song Liyun's cardboard boxes were delivered to the acorn food factory, and the cost was calculated separately.

People in the town can get paper from Manager Mu.

It costs two cents to make one paper box, two coins for ten, and twenty coins for one hundred.

Although this is troublesome to do, a quick person can make a hundred, which is an income of twenty coins.

The townspeople had nothing to do at night, so they would sit together and chat while making paper boxes. This gradually became a habit in Broken Gold Town.

Seeing that Xiao An was thinking about making money, Song Zhenping silently put down the "heavenly book" and also started making paper boxes.

Song Liyun buys old clothes and tattered hemp from the countryside, along with some old cotton wadding, and mixes it with tree bark and wood pulp to make paper.

There are no synthetic fabrics here; all the clothes are made of natural cotton and linen, which are also good materials for papermaking.

With ample raw materials, you can buy old clothes for a few cents, cut them into pieces with a knife, pound and rinse them clean, and finally boil them into a paste at high temperature in a pot to make snow-white cotton paper.

After trying it, Song Liyun found that it was simply top-quality paper, soft, strong, and smooth.

Previously, acorn noodles were sold in bundles tied with straw ropes; now they are wrapped in snow-white paper.

Then they packed it in cardboard boxes, making the acorn starch noodles, which cost six coins per pound, look beautiful and elegant, and the price became fifteen coins per box.

As a result, sales surged, and demand exceeded supply for a time.

The people making acorn noodles work day and night; even in the middle of the night, there are people soaking and harvesting acorns by the river.

Hu Qing and his family never complained about being tired. Every family wanted to buy a house and land, and they just wanted to work hard to make money.

After receiving the money to buy the land, the town did not rush to build houses, but instead focused on public works such as leveling ditches and repairing roads.

At the first opportunity, the Cloth Bag Monk Temple, located five miles outside Suijin Town, was rebuilt.

Grandpa Zhang said that the small temple outside the town is the God of Wealth of Suijin Town, and if Suijin Town is to become prosperous again, the temple of the God of Wealth needs to be rebuilt.

So, the dilapidated little temple had its roof replaced, new mud walls built, and the wooden pillars, doors, and windows repainted, giving everything a fresh new look.

Only the clay model inside requires a skilled sculptor, and it takes time to find one.

However, the remaining half of the clay sculpture did not prevent people from receiving incense offerings, and people brought offerings to burn incense every day.