An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

"Good idea!" Xu Zize's voice was filled with an unconcealed smile. His slender fingers were already raised, and before Jing Chunxi could react, his strong hands were firmly inserted under her armpits.

The muscle lines on his arms were particularly clear in the morning light, and he lifted the person up with just a slight lift.

"Stand up and mount your horse," he whispered, a hint of mischief in his voice. Jing Chunxi felt his head spin, and the next moment, he was firmly planted on the saddle.

Her cheeks were flushed, and even her earlobes had turned a lovely pink. The morning breeze blew the strands of hair around her temples, but it couldn't blow away the heat on her face.

She frantically grabbed the reins, her fingertips trembling slightly. Without waiting for Xu Zize to say anything, she suddenly squeezed the horse's belly and raised the whip, creating a beautiful whip flower in the air.

"drive!"

The shout was almost forced out through teeth. The chestnut horse rushed out like an arrow, raising a trail of dust, without even a goodbye glance to the people behind him.

Xiao Man cried out in surprise and hurriedly spurred his horse after him, his speed so fast that his green turban rustled in the wind. Unexpectedly, behind him, Xu Zize's all-black figure passed by him like a flash of lightning.

The people who explored the way ahead, plus the four guards they sent out to lead the way, did not get lost along the way.

The dust raised by the horses' hooves formed a golden mist in the setting sun. They headed northwest and their journey was very smooth.

The crisp sound of horseshoes hitting the gravel road echoed across the open field.

They traveled for several days in a row, eating and drinking on horseback. They quickly swallowed the dry and hard biscuits with the cold water in the water bag. They only rested for two hours at night, and slept on the ground by the roadside.

The damp white hair frost soaked through everyone's clothes, exhausting them. Everyone's eyes were bloodshot, and their cheeks were chapped by the cold wind.

They were all sleeping on the floor, and it was difficult for them to move their hands. Jing Chunxi felt severe pain in his waist and abdomen, as if he had been beaten hard with an iron rod. Even his hands holding the reins were shaking.

The originally white palms were now rubbed with several purple-red bloodstains, and it felt like the arm was almost unable to be lifted. Every time he raised his arm, it felt like he was lifting a thousand-pound weight.

She didn't say a word, still gritting her teeth, leaving a deep tooth mark on her lower lip. She followed Xu Zize side by side, and the two of them were just behind the fast-footed leader.

Xu Zize could clearly feel her pain. Seeing the corners of her mouth twitching slightly and the cold sweat oozing from her forehead every time she was bumped, he felt extremely distressed.

If this continues, even he felt that he could not bear it any longer. The muscles on his back felt like they were burning, let alone a girl.

But seeing her eyes that were red from the wind and sand but always remained firm as she stared straight ahead, Xu Zize admired her and sighed softly, the white breath he exhaled quickly condensing in the cold air.

Fortunately, there were those two cotton pads, otherwise the girl's inner thighs would probably have been bloody and mangled, just like when he first started practicing martial arts, the rubbed flesh would have stuck to the clothes, and every movement would have been more painful than cutting the flesh.

At noon on the sixth day, we arrived at another fork in the road. The fork was more than half the size of the official road, barely wide enough for a single carriage. But it looked smoother than the official road, with not a single gravel visible on the surface. It was clearly meticulously maintained.

"Wait a minute."

Kuaijiao stopped first in the front, paddling the ground with its horse's hooves restlessly, and then stared at the fork in the road, its gray-brown eyes narrowed into slits.

Seeing that the prince had stopped beside him, Kuaijiao's voice became hoarse due to days of running around, "This road seems to have been specially built by someone. It's not on our map." On the sheepskin map he unfolded, this location was just a blank.

"Then there's something wrong with this road." Xu Zize said, and couldn't help but groaning when he turned over and got off the horse. His stiff legs almost made him kneel to the ground. It was obvious that his condition was not much better than Jing Chunxi's.

He also helped Jing Chunxi down and told her, "Stand up and stretch your legs." He could feel the trembling of her arms with his palms, and whispered, "Rub the hard flesh on your upper arms."

Several people stood there hesitating. Before they could figure out how to proceed, a guard came out on horseback from a small woods not far away. The sound of horse hooves breaking dead branches was particularly clear.

"Master, this way."

Sure enough, the direction he pointed to was the fork in the road. He was also very tired, and in order not to miss them, he probably didn't dare to rest in the woods.

"Where are we going?" Jing Chunxi took a few gulps of the well water in the space. The cool liquid slid across his burning throat, and he finally felt much more comfortable.

After handing the water bag to Xu Zize, she asked softly, her voice much lower than usual, and she was obviously lacking strength.

"Four hundred miles further on the official road is Shangluo, the last city we Daqing has defended. If we take the official road, we will inevitably enter the city."

"The grain transport caravans didn't take the official road, but took this side road."

"I've inquired about this. This path was originally very narrow and difficult to walk on. Last autumn, it was covered in mud. They say a large number of laborers were conscripted to repair it before the New Year."

"Even so, only one carriage can go now, but the road is easy to travel."

There was still dirt stuck to the cracks of the guard's fingernails. He paused for a moment, and seeing no one was talking, his Adam's apple moved nervously up and down. "I've already encountered several groups of border residents fleeing south, all coming out from this fork in the road. They say this road goes a few dozen miles further and will connect to the official road to Xianyang."

"They are so bold as to transport food to the Tartars." Although they knew that the food was being transported north and not to the military camp in Daqing, they were still filled with indignation.

Several people clenched their fists so hard that they made a clattering sound. Xiao Man even jumped up and down, "You bastard official, I'm so pissed off."

The two cities of Qingyang and Xianyang were captured by the Tatars after the New Year. There were still charred marks of fire on the city walls. Transporting them there would be treason.

"How far is the official road to Xianyang?" Xu Zize felt a tightness in his chest, as if a huge rock was pressing down on him. The officials of Qiantang County must have been very brave to do such a thing. He dug his nails deep into his palms but felt no pain.

Or perhaps, even the court officials have given up on their superiors? So they disregard the lives of the people and want to leave themselves a way out?

But how could they not even let go of children of a few years old? His heart bleeds when he thinks that if they had not arrived, thousands of children would have been transported to foreign countries.

"This small branch road is more than thirty miles long. The other official road is farther than this one. It will take about another five hundred miles to reach Xianyang City." The guard seemed to be listening very carefully. Such data made the fast-footed man nod with satisfaction.

"If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked too. The court is rotten from top to bottom. Not only is it rotten to the root, but even the roots are gone." Xu Zize swung his whip hard, and the tip of the whip made a sharp crack in the air.

He felt a kind of indignation that he had no place to vent, and the veins on his temples were clearly visible.