Outside Shiquan City, there was a bustling scene of activity.
If you look down from above, you can see a group of people like little black ants moving back and forth in the snow. These people are building igloos.
Several igloos have been built in the flat open areas.
Some of these people were transferred from the city's guards, and most of the rest were hired from the city. They were paid 20 cents a day, three meals a day, and they would be given priority to live in the ice houses once they were built.
Because the hiring notice was posted by the government office and was stamped with the government seal, although the people were surprised and skeptical about such generous conditions, they still rushed to come.
As the chief engineer of the ice house project, Xue Huan was also responsible for hiring people. At this time, her conditions for hiring people were very relaxed. As long as there were no major problems, she would hire them, even half-grown children.
There was no such thing as child labor in this era. Many children started working as apprentices at the age of seven or eight, and would follow their masters to work everywhere when they were in their teens. Moreover, at this time, having a job was not exploitation for children, but a lifesaver.
Those who got the jobs were overjoyed and began to work efficiently under the instructions of several managers.
Before recruiting people, Xue Huan first led the city defenders to build an ice house to dispel the suspicion of the governor and others.
Pei Ji was naturally very supportive of the idea of building an ice house, but the governor and others expressed their doubts. Could a house be built in snow? Could it be lived in? It was already cold outside, wouldn't it be even colder inside the ice house?
Xue Huan did not argue with them, as it would be troublesome to explain, so she suggested building one first and letting them experience it for themselves.
Facts speak louder than words. After the ice house was built, the governor and others went in and were surprised to find that it was actually much warmer inside than outside!
Compared to the freezing cold outside, it's as warm as spring in here!
After this, the governor and others were convinced, no longer raised any objections, and actively cooperated with her.
The raw materials for building ice bricks were everywhere, so the progress of the project was quite encouraging. Five ice houses were built in just two days.
There are still few ice houses now, and it is difficult to see the pattern, but in fact these five ice houses are arranged in a specific order. At the beginning of construction, Xue Huan laid the formation base in the entire site, and these ice houses are part of the formation and exist as nodes. When all the ice houses are built later, the large formation will naturally be completed.
This formation has two functions. One is to keep the ice house warm, so it won't melt and will always be strong and firm. Even when the sun comes out and the temperature rises, it can still remain the same.
The second is defense. Ordinary demon insects can't attack. If there are demon insects like the giant earth dragon, there's no way they can get in.
It was a small experiment for her.
If the experiment is successful, this place can be used as a small base.
On the construction site, people are shoveling snow, transporting snow, tamping snow bricks, building walls... everyone is doing their job, busy and orderly.
The largest ice house in the center is divided into two rooms, the inner room is the kitchen with a window. When it is time for dinner, the workers will line up here to get their meals.
Several cooks hired to cook for the workers were busy inside, and the room was filled with steam.
The outer room is the finance office + grocery store. Xue Huan pays wages once a day. After all, no one has money now, so it would be more reassuring if the money is paid to them earlier.
Coming here to collect wages after work every day is the happiest moment for everyone.
In addition, Xue Huan also led people to turn this place into a grocery store, selling food, clothing, bedding, etc., which were urgently needed by everyone.
Pei Ji sent his subordinates to fly kites to transport the supplies from outside. The supplies were placed in storage bags. Xue Huan specially refined some more storage bags specifically for storing things, so he could bring back a large amount of supplies in one trip.
The difficulty in refining a storage bag lies in drawing the space runes. In the beginning, she often failed and the success rate was very low. Now she has become quite skilled. As long as the materials are in place, she can make one in minutes.
Not all materials can withstand the imprint of space runes. Some materials will explode into pieces once the runes fall on them. After so many failures, she found that the most suitable material is shark silk, followed by cloth woven from silk spit out by the spiritual silkworms in her space. Some exotic animal furs are also good, such as the spiral turtle she and Pei Ji had hunted before.
However, the space runes she has drawn now can only open up ten cubic meters of space at most. If she wants to open up a larger space, she has to upgrade the runes. However, after the runes are upgraded, the complexity increases greatly, and the requirements for mental strength and spiritual power also increase exponentially. She cannot do it now.
I guess we have to wait until she breaks through to the Foundation Establishment Stage at least.
However, as long as the natural restrictions of this world are not broken, she will never be able to break through.
If there is not enough space, then make up for it with quantity. One storage bag is ten cubic meters, and ten of them are a hundred cubic meters, which can hold a lot of things.
If that’s still not enough, then make a few more trips.
Xue Huan opened a grocery store as a disguised form of disaster relief, so the prices of items in the store were half or even more cheaper than the normal price.
The workers work every day and use the wages they get to buy food from the grocery store, which is definitely enough to ensure they have enough food and clothing. When they have enough food and clothing, they will have more hope.
The reason why we don’t distribute things directly to the victims is——
People are always greedy. Even if you give things away for free, some people may still feel that it is not enough. Or there may be some lazy people who take advantage of the situation and disguise themselves as disaster victims to collect supplies.
But it’s different if you ask them to buy it with money. Since they have earned the money through hard work, they will be more careful with their spending and know how to cherish it more.
A simple transaction relationship is far simpler and more stable than the relationship between a benefactor and a beneficiary.
But soon, the wealthy families in the city got the news. They heard that a shop had opened here. Not only was there a large supply of food and clothing, but the prices were much cheaper than usual!
How could these people not be tempted? They all sent their servants to buy it.
Xue Huan wasn't so polite to these wealthy people who had no shortage of food or clothing. "Want to buy something?" she replied. "Sure, I'll charge you three times the usual price."
Compared to those unscrupulous businessmen who took advantage of the disaster to make a fortune, her price was very fair.
But people are not worried about having too little but about having inequality. The rich families are very dissatisfied. Why are the prices so low for the workers but triple for them?
In response to this, Xue Huan said that if she was not satisfied, she would keep it to herself and buy it if she wanted to.
She's not taking advantage of the opportunity to make money.
What can the wealthy do? They just have to accept it.
Someone wants to play tricks. They buy work badges from workers and pretend to be workers to buy things. Can Xue Huan let them succeed?
Upon discovery, workers who sold their badges were given a warning, and if they did it again, they would be fired. Wealthy workers were put on the grocery store's blacklist.
After this move was made, the workers held on to their work badges tightly, daring not to sell them to others or to make purchases for the wealthy.
But did the rich families behave themselves from then on? No.
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