Chapter 236 Welcome to Jinxia City!

Seeing the bright long sword, the person walking at the front showed timidity.

Opposite is an official of the imperial court, a prefect of a city. If he were not a desperado, no one would want the officials to conflict.

After a commotion, the crowd slowed down.

Hong Siqi knew that this pause was only temporary and that he could not intimidate everyone with a sword, so he shouted loudly, "Listen up to me. Your Highness the Princess is very merciful and will not drive you away like rabbits." Come on, I’ve prepared food and drinks for you, but you must obey my command!”

This is not what a fourth-grade civil servant should say, but it is more like the style of a martial artist. If it were on the streets of Gyeonggi Province, someone would definitely interfere with him the next day, which was inappropriate. But Hong Siqi no longer cared about that at the moment - elegant shouting was obviously not as easy to understand as yelling.

"Listen to me, from now on, whoever is obedient will have something to eat. Whoever dares to make trouble will have nothing to eat for the people around him!"

As soon as these words came out, the restlessness suddenly subsided a bit. Everyone looked at each other, and the atmosphere seemed to be on guard against who was causing trouble.

"S-Sir," a woman asked tremblingly, "Are you telling the truth? Princess...won't you drive us away?"

"And there's food?" another person asked.

This is also an issue that concerns the vast majority of refugees.

"This matter involves the honor of the royal family, do you think I will tell you to tease you?" Hong Si drew his sword and pointed at the west city gate, "The resettlement tent has been set up, and the hot porridge is being cooked, but you must obey my arrangement. Only then can we stay in the camp! Ding Pan!”

"Sir, please speak."

"Read the rules!"

"Yes!" Ding Pan quickly unfolded the long scroll in his hand - this is also the charter set by the master last night. "No one is allowed to push or seize. They must follow the guidance of the Secretariat personnel and move into the camp in batches."

"First of all, men and women are separated on the left and right, and each forms six teams! Children under six years old can follow their mother regardless of gender, and those over six years old line up according to gender!"

This step obviously cannot be accomplished by the refugees themselves. Hong Siqi nodded towards the manpower provided by the Secretariat, who immediately took action.

The prefect unexpectedly discovered that these people were young but very agile in their work. It seemed that Xia Fan was not being perfunctory when he said that they were all masters trained by the instructors. At least they understood the meaning of the order immediately.

This process took nearly half an hour.

Some people in the queue were already complaining that the queue was too slow.

What a bunch of unscrupulous people!

Hong Siqi waved his hands towards Ding Pan, signaling him to quickly proceed with the next step of arrangements.

The latter cleared his throat and said, "Now, start counting in groups of ten, and the people who are called will follow the leader to the camp! The counting method is point by jump, whether in vertical or horizontal columns!"

"Sir, that's my brother!"

"We are a family! Sir, please let us be together!"

At this point, differences finally arose. Some refugees who were lined up were forced to separate due to skipping orders. This unexpected decision caused a commotion among the crowd.

Hong Siqi will definitely not let the beggar get his wish.

In other words, disrupting small groups among refugees was his goal. When these people gather together, it is easy to cause trouble. If there are many small groups gathered together, then as long as there is a little internal conflict, it will lead to fights. On the other hand, if the Secretariat's supervision is strict, it will also make them temporarily hug each other and act in unison to the outside world, which can be said to please neither left nor right.

Therefore, the most reasonable solution is to isolate them when assigning camps.

"Want to be together? Okay." Hong Siqi said coldly, "How about we get out of Jinxia City together? I don't want to repeat what I just said - only those who obey orders will have food to eat!"

"Don't worry, everyone, this arrangement is only temporary. After you register your identity and become a resident of Jinxia City, it doesn't matter how you gather!" Ding Pan, who acted as the red face, added, "Besides, there are dedicated personnel to guard the camp, so there is no need to worry. The issue of safety is just a matter of patience for a few days. I advise everyone to do as the prefect wants."

Probably because it had been bumpy for too long, everyone was eager to find a place to settle down, and not many people followed the request. In addition to the prefect's previous warning, even if some refugees did not want to be separated from their families, they could not help but restrain themselves a bit when they saw the watching looks of everyone around them.

This step was finally passed smoothly.

Hong Siqi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Once the refugees were broken up and reorganized, their potential deterrence would be much smaller.

After that, things fell into place.

Distributing porridge, registering, asking questions...these matters are all handled by dedicated personnel from the Secretariat, and they don't require any special attention from him. After a busy day, most of the tents outside the west city gate were occupied.

"As expected of the master." Ding Pan said sincerely, "Things that I had no experience in before were actually able to be done in one go, and it was done so smoothly! Doesn't your Highness the Princess think highly of the master?"

"This is just the beginning." Hong Siqi said indifferently, "Leizhou is in ruins, how can there be only seven or eight hundred people fleeing. It is a flood, and the peak has not yet reached Jinxia City. Wait until the next time. When thousands of people came swarming in, the fifty or so people from the Secretariat alone were not enough.”

"Then would you like to ask Mr. Xia for some more?"

"Oh, that only requires them to have enough manpower." Hong Siqi stroked his beard and chuckled, "But don't worry, I have already thought of a countermeasure, and maybe I can still make a fortune."

The next day, the governor came to the camp and announced a message to the refugees - Jinxia City needed a large number of porters, who could be paid daily. He planned to pick out 100 young and strong men from the crowd to complete the work.

This news immediately caused a stir. Everyone left their homes and was driven all the way here. They finally filled their hungry stomachs yesterday. The next thing to think about was what to do in the future. Everyone understood that the free rice porridge would stop supplying one day. If you can save some money here, it may save your life at a critical moment.

The 100 places were quickly filled, and no one objected even when the governor proposed that 10% of the remuneration be the introduction fee.

After all, drifting and arranging money are commonplace, especially when the government takes the lead. The other party only collected 10%, which was already a good official who cared about the people.

On the third day, Hong Siqi brought more daily work opportunities, and the number of people increased to more than 200 this time.

That night, everyone in the refugee camp knew one thing - Jinxia City was full of opportunities, and as long as you were willing to work, it was not difficult to make money; at the same time, the governor was serious and responsible, and unlike those high-ranking officials, the jobs he contacted were very reliable, and he would pay as much as he should on a day, and would never delay it until the next day.

This was the case on the fourth and fifth days.

On the sixth day, Hong Siqi offered a job himself: recruit 400 people to help him receive newly arrived refugees. Although the remuneration was not high, everyone knew that this was helping the governor, and the response was quite enthusiastic, and many women tried to get this job opportunity.

When Hong Siqi arrived at the old place in the western suburbs, the refugee tide gradually came into view - the scale of this surging tide was obviously larger than the previous wave, and it was conservatively estimated that there were more than 2,000 people.

However, now there are no longer only 50 guides from the Affairs Bureau behind him, but a new team formed by refugees stood in several rows, supporting him. These people held long sticks and had red silk tied around their shoulders, looking like a city wall.

He didn't even need to shout. Facing this eye-catching "defense line", the refugees slowed down their pace and slowly stopped in front of the governor.

Hong Siqi stroked his beard and nodded to Ding Pan.

The latter took a deep breath and shouted, "Everyone must have had a hard time traveling all the way. This is the end of the refuge. Welcome to Jinxia City!"

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