Chapter 476
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Chapter 476: The Method
Despite what he said, this issue couldn’t be ignored.
Grain supplies were, after all, limited.
This growing trend of repeatedly violating rules and receiving extra hot porridge absolutely had to be curbed immediately.
But in these turbulent times, the methods couldn’t be too drastic, or they might backfire.
Back in the Hall of Political Affairs, Luo Ji kept mulling over the matter.
He had considered giving people identification cards and allowing them to collect hot porridge with those.
But then he thought, in this era, there wasn’t any precision equipment, so they’d mostly rely on written records.
They couldn’t expect staff to flip through a huge pile of documents to verify every single bowl of porridge, could they? So, that method wasn’t feasible in the short term.
As his thoughts churned, Luo Ji suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
“I’ve got it!”
Starting from identification was clearly too inefficient.
But he could tackle the issue from the act of ‘receiving porridge’ itself!
As he spoke, Luo Ji picked up a charcoal pen and quickly sketched on the paper before him.
After he finished, He Liang blinked as he looked at the drawing.
“Your Majesty, what is this?”
“Food vouchers!”
“Food vouchers?”
He Liang looked bewildered, clearly unfamiliar with the concept of a food voucher.
“Simply put, starting the day after tomorrow, refugees who wish to receive hot porridge must first go to another department to collect a food voucher. Each person can only collect one food voucher at a time, and one food voucher can be exchanged for one bowl of hot porridge.”
Luo Ji’s explanation made He Liang a little dizzy.
“But Your Majesty, that’s still useless. Those people can still queue up to get two food vouchers and exchange them for two bowls of hot porridge.”
He Liang evidently hadn’t grasped the crucial point.
In contrast, Lu Yang, seated below, had a look of understanding on his face.
“It seems Lu Yang has figured it out.”
Luo Ji said with a smile, seeing Lu Yang’s knowing expression.
To this, Lu Yang respectfully clasped his hands.
“Your Majesty is wise, your humble servant is impressed.”
However, the demeanor of the two men completely baffled He Liang, who stood nearby.
Luo Ji, finding it amusing, shook his head and then motioned for Lu Yang to explain.
“Guard Captain He, His Majesty’s move relies on time.”
“Time?”
“Yes, time.”
Lu Yang said with a smile.
“Queuing takes time. Let’s assume a person has enough time in a day to queue twice and thus get two bowls of porridge.”
“But once they have to queue to get a food voucher before queuing for porridge, that means they’ll effectively have to queue twice just to get one bowl of porridge.”
“Time is limited, and hot porridge is also limited. If someone is greedy and wants to get two food vouchers and then drink two bowls of porridge, the likely result is that by the time she gets two food vouchers, the hot porridge will already have been fully distributed, and she’ll go hungry today.”
“Of course, one could also choose to get a food voucher after finishing one bowl of hot porridge.”
“But doing so would waste effort running back and forth, and it would be even more time-consuming than the first method. In the end, she’d still only manage to get one bowl of hot porridge.”
“I see! Your Majesty is brilliant!” After Lu Yang’s explanation, He Liang, finally clearing his thoughts, slapped his forehead in sudden realization.
Lu Yang, having finished his explanation, also smiled slightly.
Then he clasped his hands towards Luo Ji and said.
“Your Majesty, your humble servant believes that, under this premise, the food vouchers should also be marked with a date. The voucher for the current day can only be used on that day, and it becomes void if expired, to prevent people from exploiting loopholes.”
Luo Ji burst into laughter after Lu Yang’s reminder.
“Lu Yang, you reminded me; I almost forgot that point.”
Luo Ji added the date as he spoke.
He then issued a general announcement across Myriad World Civilization.
At the same time, he instructed the printing factories in each city to regularly print the day’s food vouchers every morning.
To receive hot porridge, one must first collect a food voucher.
One food voucher exchanged for one bowl of hot porridge; no voucher, no hot porridge.
This wasn’t difficult for the refugees to understand.
As for the location for collecting food vouchers, Luo Ji wouldn’t maliciously place it on the other side of the city.
However, he definitely wouldn’t let it be too close to the porridge stall either.
On the 1st day of food voucher issuance, an astonishingly long queue undoubtedly formed outside the collection point in Mirror City.
The disheveled woman, who had just collected one food voucher, her eyes flickering.
This location was quite far from the porridge stall, and running back and forth between the two would be too time-consuming.
With a strange intention in mind, the disheveled woman tucked the food voucher into her inner pocket and pretended to leave.
Then, after walking a short distance, she turned back when no one was looking and nonchalantly rejoined the end of the queue.
To control the queuing time, Luo Ji deliberately didn’t open multiple collection points.
With only one collection point facing so many refugees, even if they didn’t check IDs and just gave out one ticket per person, it would still take a significant amount of time to distribute them all.
By the time the disheveled woman, with a pounding heart, received her second food voucher, the sky was already turning yellow.
But feeling the two food vouchers in her inner pocket, she didn’t feel tired at all.
She hurried to the porridge stall.
She secretly glanced at the staff member distributing porridge.
Upon confirming it wasn’t the previous one, she visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she took out one of the food vouchers, held up her empty bowl, and walked over.
“One bowl of hot porridge.”
The staff member standing by the large pot glanced at the food voucher the disheveled woman handed over.
He didn’t take it but instead tapped the now-empty pot with his large ladle.
“It’s gone. Today’s quota has all been distributed.”
“Huh?”
Facing this situation, the disheveled woman was somewhat dumbfounded.
“How can it be all gone? How could it be all gone?!”
“It’s gone because it’s gone. Hurry up and leave. If you want hot porridge, come early tomorrow. We’re waiting to finish up and go eat.”
The staff member urged her with a hint of impatience, telling the disheveled woman not to hinder them from closing up.
Standing outside for almost an entire day in this bitter cold, their mood wasn’t great either.
However, after queuing for almost an entire day, the now starving disheveled woman wouldn’t let them leave.
She directly slumped onto the table of the porridge stall and began to throw a tantrum.
“No! You can’t leave! I haven’t eaten anything today. If you leave, what will I do?!”
Looking at the disheveled woman throwing a tantrum, this time, the staff members laughed
Then one of them spoke with a cold sneer.
“It’s fine. Didn’t you drink an extra bowl of porridge compared to others a few days ago? Just consider it like you drank today’s portion in advance.”
As he spoke, the staff member, who was about to put away the table, simply let go of it.
“You can hug this table if you want. We’re leaving to eat.”
