The prisoners ran out of the city gate in two lines, with a yamen officer holding a long whip following them about ten meters to the left and right of the prisoners.
As long as the prisoner walks slower, the whip in the hand of the Yamen keeper will be swiped mercilessly, leaving a trail of blood on the prisoner's body.
Qi Bao'er noticed that the people who were fleeing were all men, and many of them had obviously just been severely tortured. There were staggered whip wounds on the prison clothes, and the blood marks were all bright red.
Not only were these people's waists tied about one meter apart, each of them also had shackles on their feet that seemed to weigh at least ten kilograms.
The two groups of men walked for about twenty minutes before they were all out of the city gate. Behind them were an old man and a woman whose waists were not tied but whose feet were also shackled.
There are also children in the refugee team, and we should be relatively kind to children. Children are not shackled or shackled. They are now free to follow women or old people.
After all the refugees came out, Qi Baoer finally understood why the army was required to escort the refugees this time.
Damn, there are so many people there, I guess there must be at least two thousand.
After receiving this task, Prince Li went to study it carefully and said to Qi Baoer: "Those prisoners are not all prisoners in Yong'an City. The prefect of Youcheng took the lead in embezzling Yimo's earthquake disaster money and the earthquake disaster money."
The grain was investigated, and most of them were from the three tribes who were involved in the officials."
Just when the court was troubled by the disaster and money and food, the magistrate of Youcheng discovered that the earthquake-stricken silver and earthquake-stricken food that the court had shipped to the north since he had been divided layer by layer. How can the emperor not be angry?
The decree was issued to wipe out more than a dozen officials, but instead of exiling one clan after being implicated, one clan was exterminated and three clans were exiled.
Exiling three tribes, namely the father's tribe, the mother's tribe and the son's tribe, is very scary. If you count, there are dozens or hundreds of people.
"This is already the second batch. The first batch had less than half of them before they arrived in Jingcheng. Now there is no news of their return. That's why I was ordered to take them with me when we wait for the food to be transported."
Although they were prisoners, they could make the best use of their resources. The imperial court still hoped that as many people as possible could be safely sent to Lingnan, and then more food could be grown.
Although there were not as many people as this time last time, there were still about a thousand people, and before they had even walked halfway, they all disappeared, and there was no news about even the government officials who escorted the prisoners.
Based on the report sent from the south, everyone guessed that they were in all likelihood more likely to be in trouble than in danger.
So this time during the escort, I don’t know who made a stupid move, so the prisoners and the food transport team were forced to leave together.
When Qi Kang'an saw his daughter, he sped up and ran over. Then he stopped beside her and looked at the city gate together.
After the prisoners came out, the head of the government officials pointed out a place for them to stand, and the other government officials surrounded them in the middle.
Those who had been waiting outside the city gate all rushed over when they saw their relatives and friends, but they were blocked by dozens of government officials and city defenders outside.
They could still hear the cries and shouts even though they were far away.
Qi Kang'an whispered: "Daughter, look at the head of the chariot."
Qi Baoer looked towards Cha Tou, who was standing at the front.
Qilin State's official posts are divided into three levels: upper and lower. For example, Xing Yatou is a regular official post. Those in the main city are called yamen, and those in small places in counties and towns are called police officers, which are higher-level official posts.
The other two types are both lower-level officials, namely jailers and Yamen. Jailers, needless to say, guard prisons. Yamen are the official chariots in front of us who are responsible for escorting exiles.
The latter two types are not regular official jobs. They are similar to hired workers. They do not have any guarantee except monthly money, and they still do the most tiring and dirty work.
Chatou could be recognized by his clothes just like Yatou. He was standing at the front, so Qi Baoer could see him at a glance.
I saw someone already standing in front of Cha Tou. The sharp-eyed Qi Bao'er saw that person stuffing a piece of silver into Cha Tou's hand, which he thought was fifty taels, and Cha Tou smiled and put the person in.
.
Then came the second and third.
Normally, the city gate opens at six o'clock, but when refugees leave the city, it opens at five o'clock. The hour/time in between is a time for the refugees' relatives and friends to say goodbye to the refugees.
However, the time taken to bring the refugees from the prison to the city gate will also be deducted.
As a result, the refugees could not stay at the city gate for long. In less than a quarter of an hour, the Yamen started to set off, waving a whip and shouting at the refugees.
Qi Bao'er, Qi Kang'an and Prince Li also ran to the front of the food transport team and set off.
Fang Qize arranged a squadron of 100 people to follow the refugees.
The Qi Family Army only received the task of escorting the prisoners, and it was still the government officials who were mainly responsible for escorting the prisoners. Therefore, it was enough for the Qi Family Army to send a squadron to follow them. After all, they mainly focused on protecting earthquake disaster food.
.
The refugee team moved slowly, and the earthquake disaster food team didn't move any faster.
The more than 5,000 people escorted by more than 5,000 soldiers did not include the foremen pushing the grain carts. Each grain truck was in charge of six other foremen, two pushing and four assisting.
More than the Qi Family Army.
But even at this speed, the speed is not much faster, because each vehicle is piled high with twenty bags of grain weighing one hundred kilograms each, which means that two thousand kilograms are pushed entirely by human power.
With.
Weight is one thing, but the key is that the roads in this era are not easy to walk on. Pushing the cart on the bumpy land is like walking on top, which seriously affects the speed.
Let’s talk about the Qi Family Army itself. There are not many horses in the Qilin Kingdom, and war horses are even more limited. The newly established Qi Family Army has to go out on missions in such a hurry. Even if the superiors take care of it, it is impossible to equip every soldier with a horse.
, they only have mounts if they are over 100 years old, and all other soldiers have to walk on two legs.
This was something that Prince Li, who had no shame in doing, was forced to come to Taipusi Qing's house. Otherwise, according to the rules, the Qi family army, which only has 5,500 troops and has no merit, can only receive five horses at most.
War horse.
One for the chief general and one for each of the four lieutenants.
Qi Kang'an, his father and his daughter, and the three princes of Li County walked side by side at the front of the team, chatting and passing the time on the long road.
Prince Li said with a sad face, "They are both bandits and the White Ghost Sect. Our ancestors are too stingy to give us just these people."
Qi Kang'an smiled and said, "Prince Li, has he forgotten that there are so many leading soldiers?"
Normally, the people who push the grain carts are not the leading soldiers, but ordinary men recruited from the people.
Prince Li didn't feel comforted at all, "Uncle Qi, I've looked carefully, they are all new recruits."
They were all new recruits who had just been recruited and were only assigned to the group head soldiers and had not yet been sent to the various armies.
No different from ordinary people.
"Huh??"
Prince Li suddenly realized something and blinked at Qi Kang'an.
Qi Kang'an smiled back at him with a very elegant and elegant smile.
Don't say it when you see through it.
Qi Baoer ignored the exchange of eyebrows between the two, and after thinking for a while she said: "The bandits are okay, most of them are a small group of people, we can just crush them all the way.