The sound of whips cracking .

The officers stood by, cracking their whips and urging the prisoners to get on the road quickly.

"Let's go, I'll push the cart."

Gu Yueyan was tied to the front of the team of ten. The women and children were tied to the front with their hands, and then strung together with a thick rope, like a string of grasshoppers. Women and children were weak and generally would not run away on the road of exile. They were mainly tied into groups of ten to prevent them from falling behind. If one of the ten fell, the remaining nine would be punished.

The men wore shackles and were usually grouped in groups of three or four among the women and children in their families.

Su Chengyi, Su Guanjia, and Su San, three grown men, were wearing heavy wooden shackles, hand and foot chains, and could not push the cart. But in order to prevent the people in front from hurting their own women and children, the three of them walked in front of the team.

But the situations of the three of them were worse than each other.

There was not a single patch of healthy skin on Su Chengyi's body, and his face was so swollen that there was only a slit left for his eyes.

Su San seemed to be the best among the three, but in fact he was the most seriously injured and was almost walking with his breath dragged.

Manager Su's family was old and lame, and with a heavy yoke on, they couldn't walk fast at all. But now, among the three, he was in the best physical condition.

The ten people followed closely behind Madam Su’s donkey cart.

The Su family's formation was designed by Su Zhenbei himself. With a donkey cart at the back, people sitting on the donkey cart can always observe the movements of the team in front. If their family members get tired and fall behind, they can also take turns to get on the donkey cart to rest.

But following closely behind the Su family's donkey cart was Wang Taifu's family. Behind Wang Taifu's family were the remnants of the Eastern Palace.

However, the third branch of the Su family and other exiled prisoners were in front.

Following closely behind the three families were the two hundred prisoners from Zhaoyu.

[Big brother, look at the team formation, it's obviously the work of Gu Tai. That guy is too sinister.]

In the donkey cart, Su Mibao and her elder brother could communicate directly through their minds, which was very convenient.

[Don't worry, they won't touch our Su family until they reach Xiangshan.]

Su Zhenbei had been pretending to be unconscious since he entered the Ten-Li Pavilion. Because he had been protected by the King of Yan, no one had come to the donkey cart to look for his remains or examine his injuries until now.

Beside the Broken Bridge of Xiangshan, there is a scent of medicine in the bamboo hut.

Su Mibao thought again about what her elder brother had told her mother to tell Gu Tai. Gu Tai probably had told the emperor a long time ago.

The emperor wanted the token of the Su family army, and Gu Tai wanted it too. They were afraid of the consequences, so for now, these two people would not kill the Su family. But they would never let them have an easy life.

"I'll push the cart with the young lady."

Gu Yueyan was a smart person. From the very beginning, she planned to take on the job of pushing the cart, so she was the first one to be tied up.

At first, Gu Yueyan thought that she would tie her hands in front of her and place them directly in the middle of the cart, then tie the two handlebars with a rope and put them on her shoulders. In this way, she could push the cart forward by leaning on her body and walk.

There was no other way. Apart from a few men, the Su family members were all injured, sick, weak, and had children. She couldn't let her mother-in-law push the cart.

The painted fan was tied behind her. At this time, if they stood sideways, they could ride side by side, each pushing a handlebar, which would be easier.

"You two push first. When you get tired, I'll take over. Yan'er can go to the side and rest then."

Song Jinhe was tied to the third one. She thought that after a while, she would push forward, and she and Huashan would be able to stand on the car side and walk.

"Madam, you don't have to push. I will get tired of painting the fan soon. Let me push it instead."

Tied behind Song Jinhe was Nanny Song.

Behind her were the four children, and then Du Liniang. Lu Xianglian was tied at the end.

Gu Yueyan and Huashan started the arrangement of the women and children, and Song Jinhe followed suit. They had originally thought that the four adults would take turns pushing the cart, and the four children would follow behind. In the end, Du Liniang would look after the children. She was the weakest and injured, and when she was tired, she would switch to the donkey cart and sit for a while. Unexpectedly, the official brought in another person, Lu Xianglian, which disrupted the plan.

But they were prisoners and had no right to object.

The mountains are the kind of rocky mountains you would find in the north, mostly bare, with only a few sparse forests in between.

When people walked, not only did the dust blown up into their nostrils and eyes, but the protruding stones on the road also hurt their feet.

The road was bumpy and mostly uphill, so the cart was solid and heavy. Gu Yueyan had completely overestimated herself. No matter how strong her character was, she was a rich girl after all and had never done physical work. She pushed the cart with all her strength, and it was shaky and difficult to move forward.

Hua Shan was even weaker than Gu Yueyan, and she tried her best to push her small body onto the car, in an attempt to save the young lady as much energy as possible.

But the more I pushed the cart, the slower it moved.

Song Jinhe saw it and immediately changed it.

The cart was too heavy and Song Jinhe couldn't carry it.

Finally, Song Ma joined in, and the four women took turns pushing the cart. Each woman could only push for a while, and soon, all four of them were too tired to straighten their backs. But they were reluctant to abandon the cart.

Three grown men were walking in front, and they were also anxious when they saw what was happening.

They were all wearing shackles and hand and ankle chains and could not push the cart at all.

"Jinhe, throw away the cart?"

When Song Jinhe changed to push the cart again, Su Chengyi turned around and whispered to her.

"No, these are what our family needs to survive."

Song Jinhe gritted her teeth and thought, "All jobs are done by humans. I'll get used to it after walking for two more days."

There was no rain in March, and it was the heat of autumn. The weather was hot and stuffy. After walking only a dozen miles, the prisoners were covered in dirt and sweat, their feet were worn out, and they were crying for their parents.

"I can't walk any more, sir. Let's take a rest."

People wailed.

"Stop it. We have only walked a dozen miles in over an hour. We can only walk 50 miles a day, no less. If you miss the deadline, you will be sentenced to death."

Zhou Fuan cursed.

He is very angry today.

The people they escorted from the Ministry of Justice were usually officials who had their property confiscated and were exiled, while the people from Zhaoyu were usually criminals with extremely serious crimes, such as flower-stealing thieves, family-annihilation cases, etc. They were all scum.

The two sides had never interfered with each other, but this time, Zhaoyu wanted to join in the fun and insisted on going on the road with them.

Their prisoners were all young and middle-aged men, more than 200 of them, and they insisted on following his exile team.

All the way north, there were all kinds of road conditions. Whoever walked in front had to lead the way. It turned out that their escort rules always had the male prisoners wearing shackles and their twenty escorting officers walking in front to lead the way, followed by women and children, and finally the twenty officers to cover the rear.

The prisoners they escorted were either exiled officials or their wives and children. Facing forty escorting officials, they had no ability to resist on the road, nor would they easily escape. Therefore, they always carried simple weapons when they went on business trips.

They escorted them all the way, and now it was hard for them to walk, so they could earn more money to live a simple life.

The prisoners in Zhaoyu were different. Each of them was skilled and could escape. The guards sent by Zhaoyu were all skilled and well-equipped. They not only had cars, food, and money, but also horses. There were a total of forty Zhaowei and forty horses.

They actually wanted to follow such a weak team and let them lead the way.

I'm so angry! Zhou Fuan was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, but he knew he couldn't win.

He could only vent his anger on his own prisoners. If anyone complained or was tired and refused to walk, his whip would seem to have eyes and swung at them.

The prisoners were beaten so hard that they screamed and howled like ghosts.