Chapter 399: The Demon Concubine Who Brings Trouble to the Nation vs. the Bandit Emperor of the Founding of the Country 10
As soon as the sun rose, the exile team set out again.
The men's anklets were tied together and divided into several teams, each with an official guarding it. Those who were too slow to keep up would inevitably be beaten and scolded by the officials.
Guo Yi was walking in the front and leading the way. When he saw the team was moving slower, he stopped and shouted, "Catch up! Stop dawdling. Do you think we're on a spring outing?"
"Exiles are not allowed to take the official roads, they have to take the small roads. If you don't have an experienced person to lead you, the snakes, insects, rats and ants in the mountains will kill you! If you encounter a wild beast, you won't even find its bones!"
The men's ankles were rubbed to the point of bleeding, and the mountain road was difficult to walk on, which slowed down their pace. Everyone was miserable, and finally someone couldn't help it anymore and boldly suggested:
"There are mountains here, and we can't run away. Why don't you let us go? We still have a long way to go. How can we walk fast if we stay together?"
"Yes, yes, sir, please be kind. Our families are here, and we won't run away."
Guo Yi's face was gloomy. He chopped a bunch of thorns with the knife in his hand and said viciously: "I am in charge of people. I always reward and punish. Someone caused trouble yesterday. You have to suffer a little today, otherwise you will not learn your lesson."
"I reiterate once again, it is strictly forbidden to leave the team without reason, otherwise it will be regarded as running away. Fighting is strictly prohibited. If too many prisoners die for no reason, I will also be responsible. If you make my life difficult, I will not make your life easy either!"
"We must cross this mountain today, otherwise we won't even have a place to stay at night. Let's go!"
Everyone had a lot of complaints, but they didn't dare to disobey Guo Yi, so they could only try their best to follow. Soon, everyone knew that it was Ji Yuncheng who caused trouble last night, causing everyone to suffer together.
Ji Yuncheng was at the end of a team. He was dizzy from the sun and walked unsteadily. Suddenly, he was pulled by the person in front of him and immediately fell flat on his face, even knocking out two of his front teeth.
The officer guarding behind hit Ji Yuncheng with a stick, causing him to scream and barely get up from the ground.
Ji Yuncheng spat out his front teeth, pointed at the man in front of him and complained to the officer, "It was because he pulled the chain on purpose that I fell. He wanted to hurt me. Officer, hit him, hit him hard!"
The man in front looked innocent. "You said I harmed you. Do you have evidence? There are so many people here. Everyone can testify. I didn't do anything."
The prisoners all echoed his words. They all wanted to teach Ji Yuncheng a lesson, so naturally they would not speak for Ji Yuncheng.
The officer sneered and hit Ji Yunhuan with a stick again, "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tear your mouth off!"
With a bang, Ji Yunhuan fell to the ground again, his face buried in the thorn bushes, covered in blood. This time he couldn't get up at all and was dragged forward for a long distance. His screams spread throughout the team.
Unfortunately, instead of standing up for Ji Yuncheng, Ji Yuan was cunning enough not to be in the same team with his son. He hid in the crowd quietly, fearing that people would find out that he was Ji Yuncheng's biological father and be implicated by Ji Yuncheng.
"My son! You bastards, he is just a child, why are you targeting him?"
Liu came running over, carrying a backpack and shouting, and started fighting with the man in front of Ji Yuncheng.
The man took advantage of the chaos to kick Ji Yunhuan a few times, and now his face was scratched by Liu. The group of prisoners stopped and fell to the end.
The officer stepped forward and pulled Liu away, shouting at her: "Since you are a woman, I have spared you the torture instruments and allowed you to walk around. If you dare to cause trouble again, I will lock you up!"
The elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled were not chained, and the women were also able to move freely. Many people carried backpacks or cloth bags. If they had nothing to wrap themselves in, they would put them in their clothes pockets and pick some wild vegetables and fruits on the roadside to fill their stomachs.
The officials did not forbid these people from finding food. Otherwise, with the little food they brought with them, each prisoner had only two steamed buns as a ration, and it would be difficult for these prisoners to survive until Lingnan.
Liu didn't dare to make a fuss anymore. No matter how much she begged, she couldn't get her son's anklet removed. She could only stand by and feed her son and give him water.
"Good boy, bear with it a little longer, it will be fine soon, mother will definitely save you!"
Liu made up her mind, looked at her son reluctantly, and left with the backpack.
Ji Yunhuan was also looking for food everywhere, but she was not short of food, she was just pretending to be doing so.
Ruyi was picking wild vegetables seriously, and Lanhua was also carrying a small backpack and looking for herbs everywhere.
Lan Song also wanted to go over to help with the package in his hand, but Ji Yunhuan quickly stopped him and advised, "Doctor Lan, you are our only precious child. You can't even walk steadily, so don't go and suffer the consequences."
"You and Xiao Lanhua have been locked up in the prison of the Ministry of Justice for several months. Xiao Lanhua has to take care of your food every day. Your body is seriously depleted and it will take a while to recover. Lanhua is very smart and can collect herbs by herself. You should just take a rest."
Ji Yunhuan reached into the backpack and gave Lan Song a bag of water and two hot buns. "Eat it and replenish yourself. Don't worry, I won't give it to you for free. Lan Song will also be rewarded for collecting herbs. When the time comes, all the herbs will belong to me."
Lan Song was persuaded. He was old and didn't eat much at each meal, but he got hungry easily. Miss Ji really took care of him like a relative and was so concerned about his health.
With a clang, the sound of drums came from the front, and Guo Yi's deep voice came over.
"There is a water source here. Let's take a break here at noon. Hurry up, we can't stay too long."
Ji Yunhuan put down her backpack and sat on the ground. Fortunately, she drank a lot of spiritual spring water, otherwise she would have lost half her life if she had been traveling so fast.
Ji Da was strong and carried Ji Liao on his back all the way. Because he had to carry someone, Ji Da walked alone and did not walk with other prisoners.
Ji Da was followed by two guards to guard him, and their stomachs had been rumbling for a long time.
Ji Yun laughed and said, "This place is open, no one dares to run, and they are all wearing anklets, so they can't run fast even if they want to. You just need to watch from a distance, there is no need to guard here."
The two officers thought it made sense and hurried to get their meals.
The rest were all their own people. Ji Yunhuan first took some spiritual spring water to clean his father's wound. Lan Song volunteered to apply medicine to Ji Liao, fearing that he would be eating for free.
Seeing that her husband's old injuries had not healed and that he had new injuries from the handcuffs and shackles, Fang Huijia could not help but complain:
"You're so badly injured that you can't even walk, but they still won't take your shackles off. We have money but nowhere to spend it, and we can only watch you suffer."
Ji Liao was quite open-minded and even laughed. "Who made your master the main criminal? There are hundreds of exiled prisoners. Your master has the highest rank and the most serious crime. Even if I am lame, others dare not look down on me."
"I know a little about Guo Yi. He is brave, upright, and very strict. He won't harm anyone, but he won't be nice to prisoners either. If he knew how to be flexible, he wouldn't be just a minor official in the Ministry of Justice, and he wouldn't be doing the hard job of escorting exiled prisoners."
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