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 burst of excitement, the crowd's forward momentum slowed down.
Hong Siqi knew that this pause was only temporary. 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." Go, on the contrary, I have prepared food and drink 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 those things 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 cause trouble will have nothing to eat 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 was also the rule 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 point and jump by one, regardless of whether it is a column or a row!"
"Sir, that's my brother!"
"We are a family! Sir, please let us be together!"
At this point, differences finally occurred. Because they were skipping orders, some refugees who were lined up were forced to separate. This unexpected decision caused a burst of excitement in the crowd.
Hong Siqi will definitely not let the beggar get his wish.
In other words, disrupting small groups among refugees is exactly 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 identities and become residents of Jinxia City, it doesn't matter how you gather!" Ding Pan, who acted as a red face, added, "Besides, there are dedicated personnel to guard the camp, so there is no need to worry. It’s a matter of safety. It’s just a matter of being patient for a few days. I advise everyone to do as the prefect wants.”
Probably because it has been bumpy for too long, everyone is eager to find a place to settle down, and not many people follow 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 do not require him to worry about anything. 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 swarm in, the fifty or so people from the Secretariat alone are simply not enough to see."
"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 prefect came to the camp and announced a message to the refugees—Jinxia City needed a large number of porters, and they could be paid daily. He planned to select a hundred young and strong men from the crowd to complete the work.
This news immediately caused a wave of waves. Everyone left their homes and was driven all the way here. After finally filling their hungry stomachs yesterday, the next thing they naturally thought about was what to do in the future. Everyone knows that the supply of free rice porridge will eventually stop. If you can save some money here, it might be able to save your life at a critical moment.
The one hundred places were quickly filled, and even if the prefect proposed that 10% of the remuneration be for referral time, no one raised any objection.
After all, it is common to float and collect money, especially when the government takes the lead. The other party only received 10%, and he was already considered a good official who cared about the people.
On the third day, Hong Siqi brought more daily job opportunities, and this time the number increased to more than 200 people.
That night, everyone in the refugee camp knew one thing - Jinxia City is full of opportunities, and as long as you are willing to work, it is not difficult to make money; at the same time, the prefect is serious and responsible, and he is not like those high-ranking officials. It's the same, the jobs associated with it are all very reliable, you can get as much as you need in one day, and you will never be late until the next day.
This was the case on the fourth and fifth days.
On the sixth day, Hong Siqi offered himself a job: recruiting 400 people to help him welcome newly arrived refugees. Although the remuneration offered is not high, everyone knows that it is helping the prefect. Respondents are quite enthusiastic, and many women are trying to get this job opportunity.
When Hong Siqi arrived at his old place in the western suburbs, the refugee wave gradually came into view—the scale of this wave of people was significantly larger than the previous wave, with a conservative estimate of more than 2,000 people.
But now there are no longer only fifty guides from the Secretariat behind him. A new team formed by refugees stands in several rows and is holding the battle for him. These people are holding long sticks and have red satin tied on their shoulders. They look like a city wall.
He didn't even need to shout. Facing this eye-catching "defense line", the migrating refugees consciously slowed down and slowly stopped in front of the prefect.
Hong Siqi touched his beard and nodded towards Ding Pan.
The latter took a deep breath and shouted loudly, "Everyone must have had a hard time wandering all the way. This is the end of the evacuation, welcome to Jinxia City!"
…