hope?

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what Yu Jin meant.

Minister Zhao coughed twice and asked, "How can Your Majesty give these people hope?"

"Let me first ask Lord Zhao, how many people are gathered in the West District now?"

Minister Zhao was well aware of this number and immediately said, "As of yesterday, there were approximately 28,000 people."

"What about the East Side?"

Minister Zhao looked embarrassed: "It's difficult to register the number of people in the East District. People die of the epidemic every day..."

Several local officials quietly wiped their eyes.

Qianhe County is considered a large county with a population of over 50,000. However, due to an earthquake and the epidemic, the population has been reduced by more than half.

These are real people.

"I've asked the imperial physician, and he says the incubation period of the disease is about half a month. It's been more than ten days since the first discovery of the disease, and those who first arrived in the East District have only been there for a few days. Why not select a few hundred people from among them to camp outside the city and comfort the people? In this way, after the incubation period has passed, the people in the West District can be released from the city."

The officials also planned to release the victims out of the city after the latent period and without any outbreaks. However, they did not release anyone in advance to be on the safe side, which made the confrontation between the victims and the court even more tense.

Although Minister Zhao felt that it was not easy for a prince to care about the people so much, he thought Yu Jin's proposal was a bit naive. He shook his head and said, "There are nearly 30,000 people in the West District now. Your Highness, have you ever thought about how to select hundreds of people? Who should be selected from a hundred? Who should be selected? What is worrying is not the small number of people, but the uneven distribution of people. When the people who are not selected are resentful, the situation may be even more chaotic than it is now."

"It is true that what is worrying is not the scarcity but the inequality, so all man-made choices will not be convincing." Yu Jin said calmly.

"Then what the prince means is——"

Yu Jin smiled and glanced at everyone, then uttered two words: "Draw lots."

Draw lots?

Everyone looked at each other with strange expressions.

Drawing lots for such a serious matter?

Yu Jin looked at everyone's expressions coldly and sneered in his heart.

What's wrong with drawing lots? He was drawn by lot!

If any of these people dared to talk nonsense, he would just tell them what the emperor had done, and see if they dared to say another word.

Fortunately, although these officials felt that drawing lots was not serious enough, after careful consideration, they found it more feasible than other methods.

Drawing lots determines your fate. Leave it to God. Those who are not chosen cannot complain.

Although I think the method is feasible, there are still too many details that need to be discussed.

A local official could not help but ask, "If we draw lots, how should we draw them? Tens of thousands of people line up to draw lots, and the order of the draws is not the same. Isn't that unfair? Besides, although these tens of thousands of people are gathered in the West District, they are divided into different areas. On weekdays, they are strictly prohibited from moving around to prevent them from coming into contact with potential disease carriers and causing wider infection. If all these people are gathered together, the possibility of infection will be greatly increased..."

Yu Jin nodded, fully agreeing with the official's words.

Of course, he agreed with the second half.

There is a magical thing about drawing lots. The probability of winning is the same regardless of whether you draw first or later, but most people think that the probability of drawing first is higher. He is not going to waste any more time explaining this to these people.

As for officials saying that tens of thousands of people gathering together will increase the possibility of contracting the disease, that is indeed the case.

"It is indeed inappropriate to gather everyone together to draw lots. Lord Zhao, how many areas have the people gathered in the West District been divided into?"

"There are five regions, each with 5,000 to 6,000 people. These 5,000 to 6,000 people are divided into teams, and the teams are further divided into groups, which makes management easier."

“How many people are in a group?”

Minister Zhao looked at the magistrate of Qianhe County.

The Qianhe County Magistrate looked at his subordinates again.

The subordinate said hurriedly: "One district is divided into six teams, each team is divided into ten groups, and each group has about a hundred people."

Yu Jian listened carefully and his opinion of these officials changed.

Officials who really get things done are more experienced than an outsider like him.

There were originally tens of thousands of disaster victims in a mess, but after being divided up like this, they can almost be managed like a health center.

However, emotionally excited civilians are much more difficult to manage than soldiers. Moreover, the officers and soldiers responsible for disaster relief have a lot of tasks to do, and there are not enough people to manage the victims, which is why there are so many riots.

Yu Jin pondered for a moment and said with a smile, "You gentlemen are so thoughtful. I admire you."

Everyone was surprised to receive praise and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

I suddenly developed a fondness for Yu Jin.

It is gratifying that the prince can see their efforts.

"Since we have already divided the groups carefully, it will be easy. We can just draw lots to select one person from each group. It will be fair and impartial, and no one will be able to complain."

Minister Zhao calculated with his fingers: "Each group selects one person, each district has 60 people, and the five districts have exactly 300 people..."

People exchanged glances.

It seems feasible to select 300 people to leave the city.

"After the three hundred people leave the city, they will live together outside the city. It should be okay for the court to temporarily take charge of their food and drink management, right?"

Knowing that these officials were not all good-for-nothings, Yu Jian became more polite in his words.

Putting themselves in his shoes, people noticed his politeness and their favorable impression of him increased a lot.

The Prince of Yan is much better than the Crown Prince...

Minister Zhao groaned and said, "It's no problem to manage 300 people."

Yu Jin smiled and said, "These three hundred people give the people in the city hope. With this hope, they can wait and not stir up conflicts one after another."

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Yu Jin's proposal.

"There is one more thing Xiao Wang wants to remind you all."

"Please speak, Your Majesty." Everyone said in unison.

"A stricter blockade must be implemented between the East and West Districts. The woman and her family must have come from the East District today. They mixed with the people of the West District without being examined by a doctor. If anyone gets sick, the consequences will be disastrous."

Minister Zhao smiled bitterly: "We are short of manpower, there will always be fish that slip through the net..."

Yu Jin was silent.

Some things cannot be taken for granted, and all he can do is to remind people as much as possible.

"Let's follow your suggestion and appease the people in the city first."

At noon, Yu Jin, Minister Zhao and others appeared on the city wall on time.

More people gathered at the city gate, staring at the young man standing on the city wall with eager eyes.

With a wave of Yu Jin's hand, the chaotic scene suddenly fell silent.

After listening to Yu Jin's explanation about the group-by-group drawing of lots to determine who would leave the city, the scene became chaotic again.

Yu Jin raised his hand again, and when the situation calmed down, he said, "Little Wang is stupid, this is the best solution we can think of. If you are not satisfied, please be patient and wait for the adults to come up with a better solution after discussion."

When the people heard this, they couldn't help but get anxious.

Waiting for those officials to come up with a good solution? It’s better to wait for a sow to climb a tree!

"We do!" people shouted.