Since the beginning of the year, the huge square outside Baiyun Temple has become a big porridge factory.

After the initial few days of improvement and adjustment, Zhao Shouzheng and the managers sent by the Princess's Mansion divided the porridge factory into two areas for men and women, and another area for the elderly, the weak and the disabled, and each area was surrounded by wooden fences.

There were thirty-six large pots in the porridge factory, and the porridge was cooked at five o'clock in the morning. When daybreak came, the gate was opened by knocking on a gong, and a group of refugees were allowed to enter and eat porridge.

Although more than 100,000 refugees entered and left the porridge factory every day, the scene was orderly, with almost no scrambling or pushing. This amazed the officials of Wanping County who were worried about riots all day long.

The secret lies in that Zhao Shouzheng had people use bamboo and wood pieces to make more than 100,000 leaf-sized wooden signs, and then used a brush to dot different numbers of dots on them and distributed them to the refugees who came to eat porridge.

The next day, the porridge factory opened every half an hour and let people in according to the points written on the wooden sign.

After the Mao hour, those holding the dot enter to eat porridge; in the middle of the Chen hour, those holding the dot enter to eat porridge; at the beginning of the Wu hour, those holding the dot enter to eat porridge; in the middle of the Wu hour, those holding the dot enter to eat porridge; and so on, until it gets dark and the engines go out.

In this way, no more than 10,000 people enter each time, and they are dispersed among three porridge factories, which makes it naturally much easier to manage.

Moreover, after the first few days of confusion, the refugees knew clearly when to come to eat porridge. So they just needed to arrive before meal time, and didn’t have to wait in line for half a day… It was freezing cold, and the refugees were wearing tattered clothes. If they were asked to stand in the cold wind for half a day like before, I don’t know how many people would freeze to death.

Zhao Shouzheng also had people build a large reed awning inside the porridge factory to protect the refugees from snow and wind, set up toilets for women, and gave medicine to the sick. The refugees were not impatient and were treated as human beings, so they naturally did not cause trouble for the porridge factory. Instead, they would take the initiative to scold those who wanted to make trouble.

~~

Therefore, in the more than 20 days since the porridge factory opened, more than 100,000 people entered and exited the porridge factory every day, but no one died in the factory.

In the eyes of officials from Wanping County and Shuntian Prefecture, this was simply a miracle of disaster relief. They all praised Mr. Zhao for his ability and said that he would be a great and capable official in the future!

Whenever he heard such praise, Zhao Shouzheng would always modestly say that he had done nothing and that the ideas were all thought up by others.

However, the officials respected him more and more, believing that he was humble and upright, and had a humble demeanor.

Little did they know that what Mr. Zhao said was the truth...

The method of using wooden signs to sort the victims was taught by his son; the idea of ​​dividing the victims into three categories: male, female, old and sick, and distributing porridge separately was proposed by Wuyang when he came to help.

As for those who were in charge, cook porridge, distribute porridge, maintain order... they were all slaves in the eldest princess's farm during their spare time. They had depended on the royal family for generations and were naturally worried about ruining the reputation of their master and the two ladies, so they worked hard and did not dare to make any mistakes.

Mr. Zhao, who was originally ignorant of worldly affairs, actually spent a long time in a state of not knowing anything and having to learn everything. It was not until the Chinese New Year that he gradually found the tricks and began to behave properly.

If they had pointed fingers at him from the beginning, the victims would have been in chaos.

But Mr. Zhao is lucky.

Both the Princess and Zhao Hao were happy to see that others attributed the credit for the management of the situation to Zhao Shouzheng.

Moreover, the princess had specifically instructed all the managers that they must show absolute respect to Zhao Shouzheng, and anyone who dared to provoke him would be sent outside the Great Wall to dig ginseng.

The classmates were originally worried about their elder brother, fearing that he could not control this group of rich slaves. But they saw Zhao Shouzheng had them all submissive and obedient, and each one of them was as well-behaved as a kitten...

This made his peers completely convinced of Big Brother, and they believed that he was not only rich but also very capable.

Thanks to the officials of Shuntian Prefecture and Wanping County, as well as the candidates who had passed the imperial examination, Zhao Shouzheng had already gained considerable fame among the literati before he even passed the imperial examination.

Yes, the wealthy and powerful Zhao family can improve their reputation even by using the dumbest methods.

Of course, if the officials knew that Mr. Zhao was the one who left the victims behind, they probably wouldn’t praise him so much…

~~

On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, just after dawn, the first group of refugees came to line up outside Baiyun Temple with their families, waiting for the life-saving porridge.

It was not yet noon and porridge was still being cooked in the porridge factory, so the gate was naturally closed.

While waiting bored, the refugees were attracted by the notices posted everywhere on the fences.

"What does this say?" the blind people asked curiously.

"Recruitment notice - the current Lugouqiao coal yard is looking to recruit 2,000 able-bodied men, with a daily wage of 40 wen, and will provide breakfast and lunch, with both meat and vegetables, and steamed buns to fill you up. Those interested can consult the managers of the porridge factory."

Then someone who could read read out loud this straightforward and easy-to-understand job notice.

"Wow, that sounds good!"

"Forty cents a day, can anyone calculate how much that is a month?"

"Mom, I want to eat meat..."

The refugees began to talk about it.

Refugees are also called unemployed farmers.

Just like the unemployed people in later generations, they certainly longed to earn money through their own labor to support their families.

After all, who would want to wait in line like a beggar for alms all day long unless they have no other choice? And it’s just the kind that won’t starve to death but definitely won’t fill their stomachs…

But there are too few job opportunities outside of Beijing.

Xishan Coal Mine used to be the main employer, but the hiring season has passed and all coal bosses are basically fully staffed and are no longer hiring.

Only a very small number of people were employed by gentry, coal transporters, brick factories, etc., working hard every month and earning less than one or two taels of silver. However, they were still the envy of the refugees.

It is conceivable how excited the refugees are when so many job opportunities appear in front of them.

What’s more, the monthly salary is a full two taels of silver, and two meals are provided!

The migrants who had rich work experience automatically deducted the decimal points from the wages on the notice and ignored the nonsense such as there would be meat for every meal and enough steamed buns.

These days, people’s hearts are corrupt.

When employers are recruiting workers, they all boast about their salaries, but those who can finally give 20% off and give people enough food to eat are considered to be kind-hearted people with great bodhisattva hearts...

So when the porridge factory opened, the refugees lined up to get their porridge, then slurped it from their bowls while asking questions to those in charge.

"Manager Zhang, are you in charge of recruiting workers?"

"Well, this business has something to do with our family. The owner is the adopted son of His Highness. Otherwise, who would be willing to ask us for help?"

When the refugees heard that it was related to the Princess's Mansion, their doubts were immediately gone. In their hearts, Her Royal Highness the Princess was a Bodhisattva who saved people from suffering.

Our lives were given by her, could His Highness really cheat us?

So they all said enthusiastically: "I'll go! Work for His Highness, no money, just food is fine!"

"I'll go, I'll go too!"

"Don't worry, don't worry. After you finish your meal, someone will take you there." The manager couldn't help but laugh and said, "You are lucky. These two thousand places are not a lot. I am afraid that the next wave of people who come to eat porridge will not be able to get one even if they want to go."

ps. Third update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~~