As soon as I stepped into the town, I felt the pride of Guru...

Of course he still remembered what the town looked like when he and Wu Lai first entered it. At that time, the town was filled with a bleak, ancient atmosphere and was lifeless. Even the sky was extremely dark due to the gray saline-alkali land. The roads were winding and narrow, and the houses were low and dilapidated. Apart from the children chasing and playing, it seemed that there was no smile anywhere else. No, there were also those prostitutes who hid in the door panels and peeked in. They would also smile, and wave at you quietly while smiling, but their smiles always made Guru see a hint of sadness.

But now all this has changed - although many low and dilapidated houses are still there, it won't be long before they all withdraw from the historical stage of Salt Marsh Town. They will be replaced by rows of new houses. Look, the town has cleared large tracts of vacant land, and on some of the vacant land, the outlines of new houses have already taken shape.

The roads have changed the most. The main road when Guru left is no longer visible. Instead, there are two straight roads running vertically and horizontally. The road surface is wide and neat. Not only can it accommodate four large carts running in parallel, but it also allows you to see the west gate from the east gate at a glance.

Guru guessed that the future north gate should be able to be seen from the south gate at a glance - although it is still empty now, Wu Lai said that Salt Marsh Town will have four city gates.

Guru feels proud to have witnessed this earth-shaking change and to have contributed to it...

Although he wanted to see Wu Lai right away, Guru had a lot of things to do, including the inventory and handover of 120 carts of supplies, the accommodation and food arrangements for nearly a thousand people, and of course, the settlement of 540 young slaves. Wu Lai was not in the town at the moment, so when Guru and Wu Lai finally met, it was dark.

"You have to reward me well. I'm exhausted these days." Guru said with a smile to Wu Lai who had just returned to the town.

"As for the reward, ask El. The singers and dancers she trained are all pretty good." Wu Lai put his arm around Gulu's shoulders with a sly smile on his face. "But as your best friend, I have to remind you to take care of yourself."

"Go to hell." Guru smiled and pushed Wu Lai's hand away. "What about singing girls? Don't think I don't know where they come from. Besides, I have never been interested in singing girls. You should know that."

"You've grown a beard, but you're still not interested?" Wu Lai laughed and pinched Guru's cheek. "Little boy, to be honest with you, I miss you a lot."

"Me too." Guru chuckled, "But you must take me to see your salt factory tomorrow."

"Of course. How could I miss this opportunity to show off to you? Let's go and take a look at those slaves."

Five hundred and forty slaves were currently lining up to eat in the training grounds. They were supervised by the guards who had accompanied Guru back. However, most of them were a little drunk, and were either talking or debating. Some were even swaying from side to side and could barely stand, so they didn't look like supervisors at all.

In fact, these guards were just making a gesture. Although these 540 slaves were all young and strong, they were not only wearing shackles, but the shackles were tied in groups of five, and they were tied to a copper chain that was fifteen cubits long. Not to mention running away, even walking required the cooperation of five people.

The guards acted like this because they were actually waiting for Wu Lai's arrival - a small number of them had been to Salt Marsh Town with grain merchants and builders before, and knew that Wu Lai was a very generous person. As long as they had the opportunity to show their cleverness and diligence to Wu Lai, they would receive rewards from Wu Lai.

Originally, this should have been a secret known only to a small number of guards who had been here, but after being on the road for several days, it was inevitable that some would show off or "teach it privately". Word spread from one person to another, and now, all the guards came here after having eaten and drunk their fill.

In stark contrast to the noisy guards, the slaves who were concentrating on eating were very quiet, and even the sound of their chewing was barely audible. However, this seemed to indicate their nervousness, because until now, they didn't know what they were doing here. Some people speculated that they were here to do hard labor and everyone agreed with this, but at the same time, everyone also became more worried, because doing hard labor in a place like Saltmarsh Town where there was a shortage of water and food was much worse than doing it in the city of Lovington.

At least in Lovington, coolies could have enough food to eat and there was no shortage of water to drink. The water here had to be transported back and forth by ox carts. When the slaves were driven off the carts, they happened to meet a water-carrying convoy passing through the east gate.

Not long after the slaves finished their meal, Wu Lai and Guru walked into the training ground surrounded by two rows of torches. Seeing this, the guards who had been waiting for a long time rushed over and said some flattering words. Wu Lai accepted them one by one with a smile, which made Guru beside him laugh uncontrollably.

Ma Long and several of Wu Lai's personal guards quickly stopped the crowd to prevent them from getting too close.

"Thank you all for your hard work for Salt Marsh Town." When Wu Lai realized that the guards would continue to chatter if he didn't say anything, he quickly raised his voice, "Salt Marsh Town is still in the early stages of construction and needs a large number of craftsmen to participate. We also welcome construction teams of all sizes to come here. Of course, talents from all walks of life are most urgently needed. So, I would like to ask everyone for a favor. When you return to Lunvington, you might as well ask your relatives and friends to see if there are any who meet our needs and are willing to come here. All of them will be treated well."

"good!"

"No problem! Master Wu Lai!"

"Great! I have a bunch of poor relatives with nothing to do!"

"Thank you, everyone. I'll leave it to you then." Wu Lai nodded with a smile and said, "Please stay in Salt Marsh Town for two more days so that I can prepare some small gifts for everyone, okay?"

"Okay! Thank you, Master Wu Lai!"

"Master Wu Lai, you are too polite! How dare we accept your honor!"

The foreign guards immediately smiled and praised Wu Lai again...

After a short while of excitement, Wu Lai had to ask Malone and others to "coax away" these foreign guards, because he didn't want these people to know what was going to happen next.

When Ma Long and others were trying to "expel" the foreign guards, Guru came to Wu Lai and said, "Wu Lai, you are too polite to them. You are a citizen and an archon. You don't have to..."

"It's not necessary, is it?" Wu Lai smiled and lowered his voice, "Gulu, my kindness will make them more willing to promote the good of Salt Marsh Town instead of saying bad things about us. Moreover, the boundary between citizens and civilians will be broken one day. When that time comes, please believe that the world will become a better place."

"Break the border?" Gulu was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Wulai, you don't want to do that, do you?"

"Let's wait and see, who can say for sure?" Wu Lai laughed and walked towards the direction of the slave group...

The next morning, on a saline-alkali beach two miles south of Salt Marsh Town, Malone selected 500 of the 540 slaves to form five teams of centuries, and the remaining 40 were divided into five cooking teams of eight, one for each team of centuries.

Ma Long was naturally the instructor of these five hundred-man teams, but it was not until last night when Wu Lai told him about this appointment that he finally understood why Wu Lai had asked him to study with Vulture more than a year ago.

"Master Wu Lai has already told you the requirements last night. Master Wu Lai has also told you what you can get and how to get the honors!" Ma Long raised his brows and began to lecture like a vulture, and he looked pretty good doing it.

"I hope that you can all become Master Wu Lai's pride, but I can tell you responsibly that it is impossible for every one of you 540 people to bring glory to Master Wu Lai. Some may even embarrass him and bring shame to his dignity, because there are always some cowards, lazy people, and incompetent people who hide deep inside. My training is to find these hateful cowards, lazy people, and incompetent people first!"

"For a long time to come, my assistant brothers and I will be your instructors! Our responsibility is to train you guys who are fat but good for nothing to become soldiers! You can complain about being tired and miserable! You can also cry like a woman! But I have to say this first. If anyone does this, I will kick him out and send him to the quarry to quarry stones. There are many guys with special preferences there. I think they must like new recruits like you. Don't blame me for not reminding you that you don't have to wear pants when you go there!"

"The content and degree of your daily training will be strictly carried out in accordance with Master Wu Lai's requirements! If anyone complains, the whip in my hand is not vegetarian! But if anyone performs well, they will get a reward from Master Wu Lai every day! Believe me, you will know by the evening!"

"Now! The kitchen team, go set up the tents! The Centuriae team! The training begins!"

…

When the carriage drove out of the west gate, Guru couldn't help stretching. The fatigue from sitting in the carriage for several days was not only physical, but also psychological. In any case, he felt a little tired as soon as he saw the carriage.

"You didn't do anything last night, did you?" Wu Lai, who was riding with Guru, joked with a smirk on his face.

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"Is the salt factory far away?" Guru ignored Wu Lai's question. He knew that this was the most accurate response, because among all the people he knew, no one was as good at talking as Wu Lai. If he was entangled by this guy, it would be easy to fall into a trap.

"More than thirty miles, almost forty miles. There is no road after the salt field. Fortunately, there is no need for roads in this area." Wu Lai replied with a smile, feeling a little sorry that Guru did not respond just now.

“Why so far?” Guru frowned, thinking it would be better to open a salt factory near the salt field.

"You'll know when you get there."

The carriage finally arrived after jolting for half a day. The salt marsh in this area looked flat, but in fact it was full of potholes. It was just that it was all gray and white at a glance and the slope was very small, so it didn't feel bumpy. Guru felt a little dizzy when he got off the car. After taking several deep breaths, he felt a lot better.

Wu Lai saw him looking up, and with a smile, he pointed to a row of wooden fences that were two people high and about a hundred steps long. "Look, this is my salt shop."

…

As Gulu was looking at the fence, Connor and a group of his trusted members were sitting around a large round table in a small hall where the Supreme Council of Assyria was held.

"Just received good news, the progress of Woolleglindo is very smooth." Connor said with a smile.

"Chief, can you be more specific? Let us be happy with you." A member said with a smile.

"Of course. First of all, Woolleglindo has established himself in Lovington. According to him, no one is openly targeting him now. Secondly, he has solved the funding problem. The construction of Salt Marsh Town has already begun. Also, he said that he has found a way to crack down on private salt." Although Chief Connor said of course, he was actually unwilling to go into details. It was enough for everyone to know what was going on.

"This is really good news, especially the crackdown on illegal salt sales. Now civilians are complaining about the price of salt, and salt shops don't have sufficient supply, forcing them to buy expensive salt. In the long run, people's hearts will be shaken. But now we can rest assured that illegal salt sales are no longer rampant, and people's hearts will naturally be at peace." said a member.

"Chief Connor, I heard that Salt Marsh Town is under construction," another member asked, "But I also heard that Woleglindo actually wants to dig a canal to divert river water more than 70 miles away to Salt Marsh Town. Is this true?"

Connor nodded: "It is true."

"That's a really big deal. How long will it take to accomplish? Three, five, or seven or eight years? Isn't it a bit of a waste of time and money for Wulaglin to do this?" a member questioned.

"Don't worry about that. He raised the construction fee for Wuleglindo himself. He knows how to spend it. Besides, this guy's ability is far beyond that of ordinary people. He can do things that ordinary people can't do. For example, he has used the simple defense of Salt Marsh Town to resist bandits several times. Not only did he resist, he also mobilized the people to organize a counterattack. Just a few days ago, he wiped out all the members of the Fox Wolf Bandit Group, which had been entrenched for a long time and even the First Legion couldn't do anything about it. That was a fierce bandit group with more than 800 people."

"Wuliglindo is really capable!" A member nodded and sighed, "Luckily he is your man, Chief, otherwise..."

He didn't finish his words, but everyone understood what he meant.

"Okay, let's talk business. Wulagrindo has worked hard in Salt Marsh Town, and we can't just stand by and watch. All of your families have some business outside. My meaning is very simple. Each of you should take out one or two things and go to Salt Marsh Town to join in. First, it will help Wulagrindo gain momentum, and secondly..." Chief Connor couldn't help laughing, "This kid's ability to make money is unmatched among the younger generation. You can also increase the profits for your family."

"But Salt Marsh Town has been in decline for so long. How can it make a profit in such a short period of time? It's just a small place with a few thousand people. Business there may not be very good." Another member raised his own question.

Connor frowned slightly and said, "I hope you can have a broader vision like Woolleglindo, and a bigger heart like him. Then I can worry less. Woolleglindo wrote to me that the bigger the noise, the more lively and more profitable Salt Marsh Town will be. So, you should also make some noise and cooperate with him."

"Okay, we'll do as you say, Chief..." Seeing Connor's unhappy expression, everyone quickly expressed their opinions.

"Yeah." Connor nodded in satisfaction. After taking a deep breath, he turned his gaze to the window.