For a full week, Jiang Ye was unable to go out to sea to earn money.
In the mornings, he had to drive the road printing vehicle to pave roads for the newly built town.
Around ten o'clock, after paving roads, Isabel's courier spaceship would descend from the clouds with three to four town residents, landing with a roar outside the courier center, kicking up dust.
Jiang Ye would then rush over to shake hands with the new residents and verify their identities.
Shao Wan would also bring two police officers to the scene to arrange for the new residents to settle down and apply for ID cards at the police station.
Of course, they also had to hand over their weapons.
Every evening, Shao Wan would lead his officers with metal detectors to search house by house.
Most people were honest, handing over their weapons as soon as they arrived or selling them in the trading pods.
Occasionally, one or two would hide weapons, and they were all quite cunning.
A middle-aged man of East Asian descent had buried two hunting rifles and sixty rounds of ammunition in his yard.
Shao Wan asked, "So many bullets, are you planning a rebellion?"
The middle-aged man replied, "I really don't feel safe without a gun. I'm a good person!"
Shao Wan pointed at his nose and gave him two choices: "First, sell these guns now, and I'll watch you sell them. Second, I'll report you to Mayor Jiang, and I don't know if the mayor will send you back or execute you. There are no laws in this town; Mayor Jiang is the law."
The middle-aged man dejectedly carried the firearms to the base vehicle and put them into the trading pod to sell.
A young white girl had actually hidden gun parts in her private area. The metal detector beeped when it scanned her waist and hips.
Shao Wan said, "What is that? Take it out."
The girl replied, "My belt buckle."
Shao Wan said, "If you don't take it out, I'll search you."
The girl exclaimed, "Pervert! You're a man! If you dare to search me, I'll scream! Police brutality!"
Shao Wan took out his walkie-talkie: "Zhizi! Yulan! Second Street, Sixth House, come over immediately!"
Shi Zhizi and Ju Yulan arrived within three minutes. Without a word, they escorted the girl into the house. The girl struggled but couldn't break free. As soon as she opened her mouth to scream, her mouth was covered, and she was completely subdued by the two female officers.
A minute later, Ju Yulan emerged holding a handful of wet gun parts that had been retrieved from her lower body.
Shao Wan walked in, his face ashen.
The girl was sitting in the corner, crying into her hands.
"My gun, my good friend died to get it for me," she sobbed uncontrollably.
"You can keep the gun, but I have to report this to Mayor Jiang. I don't know if he'll send you back or execute you," Shao Wan said. "If you can't bear to part with it, you can leave it at the police station, and we'll keep it safe for you."
The girl chose to leave it at the police station.
A young black man had placed a blood grenade under his pillow.
Shao Wan found it, grabbed his ear, and stared at him as if he were an idiot. "You put a grenade under your pillow, aren't you afraid it'll blow your head off while you sleep?"
The young man begged for mercy, "I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll sell it now!"
All those found with weapons either sold them or left them with the police for safekeeping.
The names of all individuals were also registered in the police records, and they would be closely monitored subsequently.
These were all within Jiang Ye's expectations. Disarming the town was not an easy task. He had already held meetings with the police officers. Newcomers would be searched, and subsequently, the entire town would be searched again every twenty to thirty days. After several searches, anyone found to be harboring weapons would face the death penalty and public execution.
Jiang Ye estimated that one or two people would have to be executed to eradicate the problem completely. However, that was a matter for the future.
At ten o'clock, Isabel would bring a group of people and then return home for lunch. After lunch, she would pilot the spaceship out to pick up more people.
She would pick up two more batches of residents at three in the afternoon and six in the evening, bringing the total number of new residents to over ten per day.
Jiang Ye was busy receiving new residents, not only to solve their living difficulties but also to assign them jobs and discuss income distribution.
The town residents had only interacted online; this was their first time meeting in person.
With a hundred people, there were all sorts of individuals, of every race, age, gender, height, and build, extroverted and introverted, some as beautiful as supermodels and others quite plain.
Jiang Ye felt like he was meeting ten online friends every day. Some were pleasant surprises, and some were shocking, making it quite exciting.
The most pleasing thing for him was that despite their different accents, everyone spoke Mandarin.
This phenomenon gave him some vague guesses about past events, such as the three world wars and the ultimate development of Earth. These guesses brought him great comfort.
The new residents were more well-behaved than expected. They were all very respectful of Jiang Ye and the police officers, bowing and greeting them constantly upon meeting.
After all, they were new arrivals, and most people wouldn't be too arrogant. Those who were consistently arrogant rarely survived this long.
A few shrewd individuals even tried to give gifts to Jiang Ye and the police officers.
However, they were too poor, and their gifts were not impressive, at most being canned meat or something similar, which they didn't care for at all.
After settling down, the residents' reaction to the entire town was not one of disappointment but of surprise!
They were delighted by the size of the houses, which, including the yards, were several hundred square meters, quite spacious.
The cameras at the intersections and the patrolling police officers provided everyone with a sense of security.
The courier center in the distance and the giant courier spaceship they had never seen before gave everyone the impression that this place was very advanced and that they had come to the right place.
Many residents lingered near the courier center, looking around with their mouths agape, like indigenous people from an African tribe seeing a glass skyscraper for the first time, deeply awestruck.
No one dared to enter the area within the warning posts. When someone bravely walked towards them, the warning posts emitted a blue light, scaring them into turning back and running away.
Eight days later, all residents had arrived, and the town was full.
The streets became lively, with pedestrians coming and going, and people standing around chatting.
With everyone present, it was time for them to work for Jiang Ye!
After all, Jiang Ye had spent money and effort to recruit these people not to serve them but for them to work!
The soda factory was at full capacity on the fifth day and started production immediately.
The factory operated on a three-shift system, with each shift lasting 8 hours and requiring 10 workers per shift, totaling 30 workers for all three shifts.
This staffing level allowed the production line to operate continuously, with bottles of soda passing through the machines like a revolving lantern, the glass bottles clinking.
The soda produced was not cola or Sprite but an orange soda similar to Bingfeng.
The soda concentrate and glass bottles were purchased directly from the main factory through the factory's trading pod, costing 2 yuan per bottle at cost price. After processing, they were sold for 3 yuan per bottle.
The production speed was 3,000 bottles per hour, with a profit of 1 yuan per bottle.
Over 24 hours, this amounted to a profit of 72,000 yuan, all of which went into Jiang Ye's account.
Jiang Ye paid the workers 500 yuan per day.
For 30 workers, the daily wages amounted to 15,000 yuan.
This meant that the soda factory generated a profit of 57,000 yuan for Jiang Ye each day.
For the factory workers, a daily wage of 500 yuan was enough to buy canned meat and grain from Ju Lanlan for three meals, with over a hundred yuan left over, making their lives quite comfortable. After watching the production line for eight hours, they could go home to grow vegetables and raise chickens, earning additional income.
Of course, the seeds for growing vegetables and the chickens for raising were also sourced from Ju Lanlan. A significant portion of this money also flowed into Jiang Ye's pocket.
Residents who did not get jobs in the factory had to do other things.
The most common occupation was farming, as grains and vegetables were still hard currency.
The open land around the town was quickly cultivated, becoming lush and green every day.
Jiang Ye provided them with seeds for free.
However, he took a 50% share of the profits from the farmers' sales.
While it seemed Jiang Ye was being greedy, most farmers were actually happy. The price of seeds was not cheap, and they had to calculate carefully if they had to purchase them. But with free seeds, they could plant freely, and the more they planted, the more they earned.
There were a total of 40 farmers, and on average, each paid Jiang Ye 700 yuan per day, totaling 28,000 yuan.
The remaining 22 town residents were engaged in animal husbandry.
Jiang Ye also provided the chickens and ducks for breeding.
Initially, they raised them in their own yards, but with too many chickens and ducks, the smell of their droppings disturbed the neighbors. The police station received too many complaints, which alerted Jiang Ye.
With a single order from Jiang Ye, the farms were relocated outside the town.
The animal husbandry households paid Jiang Ye the most daily, averaging 2,000 yuan per person.
Through these animal husbandry households, Jiang Ye earned an additional 44,000 yuan per day.
Although animal husbandry was profitable, it was smelly, dirty, and tiring, and not everyone was willing to do it. Most town residents preferred working in the factory, watching the production line, out of the wind and sun, earning money while standing idly, and receiving a steady income.
The lives of the town residents quickly settled into a routine. They went to work to earn money, part of which went to Jiang Ye. After work, they bought things, and part of that money also flowed into Jiang Ye's pockets. At the end of the month, they also had to pay a large amount of rent.
Jiang Ye roughly calculated that the entire town currently provided him with an income of about 150,000 yuan per day.
With this town, he could earn at least 55 million yuan annually.
But honestly, he didn't care about such small amounts of money.
He needed to upgrade the town's industries.
Therefore, Jiang Ye checked the "Build Factory" function on the base panel several times a day.
Finally, news of a new factory appeared, and it was a game-changer from the start!