Halfway through the journey.

Everyone vaguely guessed that the place to go was probably not in Beiliang.

"Are you going to exile us to **? When did the Southern Wei court get in touch with Liu Zhang? ”

This speculation is ridiculous.

However, there is no more reasonable guess than this.

The path of exile, which had been slow, suddenly sped up.

Even the big soldiers who escorted them became fierce.

Wielding leather whips and clubs, urging them to quicken their pace.

Even in a hurry, one meal a day turned into two meals a day for the first time. It's just to give them the strength to hurry.

This anxious look made everyone panic.

Two meals a day could not calm everyone's panic, but produced a sad atmosphere of eating severed meals.

Every meal is treated as the last.

Every day is considered to be the last.

Despair is rife......

Until the river is surging......

The sunlight shines on the surface of the river, reflecting the light, as if sprinkled with a layer of gold leaf, so beautiful!

They knew that they had reached the junction of the north and the south.

The north and south divide the river and rule, after the river, the opposite bank is the territory of the Southern Wei Dynasty.

Wait a minute......

"If I'm not mistaken, the place where we are standing should correspond to the territory of Pingyang County on the other side."

"You mean Yan Yunge?"

"Exactly!"

What's going on?

"What are you still doing in a daze, hurry up and get on the boat, hurry up!"

The big-headed soldiers became more and more vicious, and the leather whips twitched and crackled.

Everyone swallowed their anger and boarded the bamboo rafts one after another, one by one worried.

As a northerner, it is rare to know water.

The river is wide, the river is turbulent, and you can't see the bottom at a glance.

If this man had fallen into the waters of the river, he would not have lived.

Everyone held on tightly, and all the objects that could be fixed at hand could not be let go.

The bamboo raft has not moved, and everyone's palms have begun to sweat.

In the face of the boiling river, no one can be calm.

After a full boat, the boatman immediately left the river bank with a bamboo pole and rowed towards the other side of the river.

The bamboo row swirled in the center of the river, and the river gurgled up through the gaps, and a boatload of people, except for the boatman, everyone was terrified.

By the skin of one's teeth......

Smooth landing.

There were already soldiers waiting, waiting for the personnel to arrive, and continued to walk south along the official road.

Separated by a river, the style is very different.

The official road of the North Beam is full of potholes.

If it rains, you will fall into the mud if you are not careful, which is typical of disrepair.

On a sunny day, the road is dusty, as if you have soared into a 'fairyland'.

I can only secretly scold in my heart: the government is incompetent!

The official road in Binh Duong County is smooth, and there are almost no potholes in sight. The road surface is paved with sand and repeatedly rolled steadily.

On both sides of the road, drainage ditches were built. Taking advantage of the sunny weather, some people are cleaning up the dead branches and leaves in the drainage ditch to avoid poor drainage.

Because it is close to the wharf, rows of tea houses and inns have been built on both sides of the official road, and the merchants, mules, horses and vehicles come and go, like a lively market.

And that's not the biggest difference.

The biggest difference between the two sides of the strait lies in the people.

On the official road of Beiliang, there are few pedestrians, but there are many mule carts and carriages, pulling carts of goods and heading to the imperial city.

Or the army is pulling.

In short, it is rare to see ordinary people going out to visit relatives and friends, and it is rare to see rural people setting up stalls on the roadside.

There is always a feeling that the official road is only for family members, and the small people are not qualified to set foot on the official road.

Dilapidated, bleak, desolate......

It makes people's hearts despair, and they don't know where the end of life is.

Pingyang County, which is separated by a river, has cars and people coming and going on the official road.

Tea Liao Inn, there are people at the door to set up stalls.

Nearby villagers carry their own fruits and vegetables out for sale, and the cries of selling come and go.

Even on remote official roads, on both sides of the road, acres of fields are criss-crossed, and villagers are working in the fields, pulling weeds and removing insects, all looking forward to a good harvest this autumn.

If you pass through the township market, it is like entering the city of Chengchifang.

All kinds of goods, dazzling, good quality and low price, make people can't help but take the money out, always want to buy something back.

"Big brother, I'm hungry!"

The younger brother was next to Yang Yanxiu, and they were just passing by the township market.

Seeing the prosperous bazaar is like returning to the world from hell, where there are people and fireworks.

This is the real normal life on earth.

Yang Yanxiu told his younger brother, "Bear with me, you will have something to eat soon." ”

Look at the sun in the sky, according to the rules of the past, there is about an hour left, and you can stop and rest. You will be able to eat a meal at that time.

Of course, there are exceptions to everything.

Today, the eldest soldier who escorted them did not go out of the township market, but went directly to the township office.

Their group of exiles wearing Beiliang prison uniforms have become the most eye-catching 'bright stars' in the market!

Everyone's eyes widened, looking at them curiously, pointing and talking.

There are strange things every year, and this year is especially numerous.

"Where did it come from?"

This is a question that everyone is curious about.

Under the rule of Binh Duong County, there were no exiles. All the offenders were dragged to work as coolies and did the dirtiest, most tiring and hardest work.

There is not enough labor, how can he be willing to exile labor.

So......

It was really strange to see this group of nearly 1,000 exiles.

Months of torture were indeed a nightmare for the ladies of the family, torn apart from their pride and dignity, and discarded everything, as if only an empty shell remained.

However, at this moment, the shame of being a human being suddenly surged up again.

They were ashamed to be seen, ashamed to face the fingers of the small people, and turned around and buried their heads.

Even squatting in the crowd, eager to bury themselves.

At this moment, the truth of being a human being came to my face.

The world is full of flavors, a small and lively market, who would have thought that their group of ghosts would become people again.

People's shame is so strong that there are tears in everyone's eyes.

Even Yang Yanxiu, who had cultivated himself as hard as iron, wanted to find a crack in the ground at this moment.

He is ashamed to be looked at and judged.

Yang's century-old reputation has long been ruined.

The pain of the heart is better than the pain of not being full every day and experiencing hunger in the middle of the night.

The pain in the soul is the real pain.

There is no lunch today!

Disappointing at the same time, but also inexplicably happy.

It doesn't seem bad that you don't have to be humiliated by the big-headed soldiers who are given food to eat.

As for being hungry, it has long been a habit, and it will pass after enduring.

The sun is gradually turning west, and the market is gradually deserted.

Even the people who came to see the excitement have already gone home.

It was already mid-afternoon, the sun was still high in the sky, and they were the only exiles left in the whole market.

Some women carried brooms and began to clean the streets and markets.

This group of people was obviously rejected by the women.

Not to mention the territory, it also delays people's cleaning and delays people's time to get off work.

Finally......

There was movement in the township office.

The leader of the escort procession, smiling flatteringly, accompanied a young man with a small beard out of the township office.

The young man held a booklet in his hand and handed it to the guy next to him, "Count the number of people according to the roster, and if the number of people is fine, sign and sign the pledge and go through the delivery procedures." ”

The man obeyed the order, walked down the steps, and roared angrily, "One family and one surname stand together, and the miscellaneous surname stands on the side." It is better for those who are literate to take the initiative to raise their hands, it is good for you, otherwise they will all be pulled to dig coal. ”

The men were unusually fierce, and there was a brief confusion in the team, but soon it became orderly again.

Ji Xiaosi, as the person in charge this time, stood under the porch with a solemn expression.

The captain of Beiliang laughed in front of him, and he didn't bother to pay attention to it.

He's thinking about his future.

Withdrew from the North-South Chamber of Commerce, and practiced with his brother Ji Ping for a few years, although he couldn't study, but his ability to do things was leveraged.

Moreover, the words he knows are enough for him to cope with the correspondence of official documents on weekdays.

It's just that......

With a large number of talents entering the officialdom, he has no diploma, no fame, no splendid articles, pure relations, and his competitiveness is instantly killed.

Continue to mix in the government, at most be a small official.

However, there is a hard and fast rule above, and if you are the head of any department of the government, you must pass the assessment.

Even if his brother Jiping guarantees him that he can go through the back door, this hard rule can't be crossed.

In the official assessment, he took the exam three times in a row, and he fell into the sand again and returned with hatred.

His brother is different, although he has no fame, but he is excellent in every assessment, and his political achievements have been praised by Mrs. Yan herself.

All the way, he has now served as the county guard of one of the four coastal counties, and has directly raised the door of the Ji family by three or five steps.

For the past two years, he has been thinking about the future.

You can't be a petty official all the time.

But if he continues to work in the yamen, his identity can only be a small official.

His brother Jiping wanted to get him a master, but he wasn't qualified!

He is also not happy that others point fingers at him, saying that he is a related household with no ability.

He asked himself that his knowledge was a little worse, but his ability was not to be said.

The Yamen ushered in the things that were sent, and he did a good job.

However, he was reluctant to let him give up his status as a government official and return to the North and South Commercial Firms.

After all, it is the concept that makes trouble, and being a small civil servant in the yamen is more decent than doing business.

Until the beginning of this year......

The Sitong Association was established to be responsible for external liaison and communication.

It belongs to the Yamen under the Pingyang County Guard.

The establishment of a new organization does not have so many rules and regulations, and it just fits his ability.

So, he decisively jumped out of the official mansion and entered the Sitong Hall.

The first errand he undertook was to contact Beiliang and settle this group of 'exiled prisoners' who had come from afar.

A group of noble ladies from a hairpin family have fallen to the point where they are today, and they have done evil!

It's terrible!

No wonder, everyone in the world scolded Liu Zhang, the emperor of Northern Liang, for being cruel and unkind.

The number of people was counted, and most of them were young and strong from fifteen to forty, and there were few old and young.

Young and old are the most vulnerable group of people to death.

The whole family was imprisoned, and most of the first to die were old people and children.

Those who can survive the torture of half a year of edict and prison and go to Pingyang County alive should be in good health, and most of them have adapted to hardship.