Becoming a stepmother of three children gives me space

The official road leading to the city,

The moment the Tangjia Village convoy was dispersed by the crowd, the secret guards who were walking around the periphery gathered back and surrounded Dabao's carriage with vigilance.

The people on the road were still shouting,

"Get out of the way quickly and don't delay my journey."

"Who are you?"

"The northern barbarians are coming, don't leave and don't block us!"

Clang!

The sword was unsheathed, and the people who were shouting just now scattered instantly. It was obvious that this was not a man-made chaos, but a false alarm. However, this also sounded a wake-up call for Zhou Jin.

More and more people are fleeing, and the official road is crowded, making it easy for people to take advantage of loopholes. We must get to Hutou Cliff as soon as possible.

The convoy accelerated and arrived at the plain in front of Hutou Cliff before dark.

The fleeing people were stuck in place, unable to move. Even if there were more people, Hutou Cliff could not be so blocked. Cries and curses were faintly heard in the wind.

The secret guards who had been scouting the way ahead came back to report that the troops from the city were stationed at Hutou Cliff and refused to let the people pass on the grounds that there might be spies from the northern barbarians mixed in the crowd.

"I'll go over and take a look."

I stayed up all night last night making land mines. I was catching up on my sleep when I was woken up by the noise. I got off the car in a bad mood, squeezed through the crowd, and walked to the front. Zhou Jin asked Zhou San to follow.

The further we go, the clearer the cries and curses become.

"I am Mr. Zhu from Taoshan County, and I am definitely not a spy."

"Why won't we be allowed to pass? We are all ordinary people of Daxia!"

"You're not letting us pass because you want to kill us!"

Xiao Yunxi squeezed to the front, where the common people were confronting the soldiers.

A fence was erected along the Hutou Cliff, a trench was dug in front, and in the distance were densely packed tents. If you wanted to cross the Hutou Cliff, you had to go through the camp. The officers and soldiers in front of the camp gate would not let the people pass.

"Leave this important military location immediately, or you will be treated as a rebel!"

The people wanted to escape and survive, and being blocked meant they were deprived of their right to live. The officers and soldiers also whipped them. The people burst into dissatisfaction, pushed and shoved with the soldiers, and cursed at them.

"You beasts, I'm going to fight you!"

"The common people work hard to farm and pay taxes, but you are the only ones raising a bunch of beasts like you."

"If they don't give us a chance to live, we'll fight them!"

"We are going to the capital to sue you."

The officers and soldiers laughed recklessly:

"Sue? All the high-ranking officials in the capital are running away. Who will care about the lives of you lowly people? Get out of here!"

There were too many people gathered at the camp gate. The people at the back were so angry that they pushed forward. The people at the front faced the whip and pushed their way to the camp gate.

The officers' and soldiers' faces turned cold.

Be as timid as possible when encountering the northern barbarians, and be as ruthless as possible when dealing with your own people. This is what it means to be a bully at home.

Puff. Puff. Puff.

They drew their swords without mercy and chopped the man in front to the ground, blood splattering on his face.

"what!"

"Officers and soldiers killed people!"

The people ran back screaming, their faces full of fear and despair. The scene was in chaos. Xiao Yunxi wanted to go up and kill these beasts, but she was caught in the crowd and couldn't move forward.

"stop!"

A group of people rushed out of the military camp. The leader was very distinctive, with a big round head, thick straight eyebrows, big eyes like copper bells, and a dark face.

He is basically Black Whirlwind's biological brother.

"You sons of bitches, who gave you the guts to kill innocent people?"

He was very irritable and started hammering. The gatekeeper covered his head, huddled on the ground, and shouted:

"Captain Wu! Stop it!"

"These untouchables attacked the camp. If anything goes wrong in the camp, you can't bear the responsibility!"

Troops and soldiers arrived at the military camp one after another, and Wu Xuanfeng was stopped. The two sides had different opinions and confronted each other. Wu Xuanfeng's side was obviously outnumbered.

Xiao Yunxi didn't continue to watch the fun.

The Black Whirlwind brothers who beat people still have a conscience, but unfortunately they are not in high positions and have low status, so they are restricted in what they do. If it were Xiao Yunxi, all the officers and soldiers who killed people would have to report to the King of Hell.

Through this wave of conflict, she also roughly figured out the clues.

The highest commander of the Hutou Cliff military camp prohibited civilians from passing through. There were some people inside who opposed it, but their numbers were small. The bad guys had the upper hand, so it would probably not be easy to cross Hutou Cliff.

The convoy left the official road and stopped at the foot of the mountain. Xiao Yunxi told Zhou Jin what she saw without any embellishment. Zhou Jin's brows were almost twisted into the Mariana Trench!

It is impossible to build the fortifications at Hutou Cliff in a short time. The soldiers in the prefecture city did not go to support Beisheng Pass in this time, but stayed here to stop the people.

If you say there is no problem, even a fool wouldn't believe it.

The highest-ranking military commander in the city is Yan Hao, the deputy commander-in-chief. This guy is the second prince's man. Zhou Jin reasonably suspects that this may be a conspiracy against Dabao.

The Northern Barbarians broke through Beisheng Pass, and the defenders of Hutou Cliff prohibited civilians from passing through on the pretext of war. Although it was cruel, the purpose was to resist the Northern Barbarians, and the person in the capital would definitely not blame them.

The life and death of the people?

What does it have to do with him? His Majesty has never been a benevolent monarch.

Dabao was imprisoned on the north side of Hutou Cliff, which was a borrowed knife to kill someone. Zhou Jin even suspected that the northern barbarians were colluding with the court and might target Xiaobao to kill him.

There are two paths before him.

Show your identity, sneak into the military camp, kill Yan Hao, get the military power, and successfully pass through Hutou Cliff. Although you will be caught by the emperor, you can save Dabao and the people.

"On Wednesday, you brought..."

He was about to arrange the operation when Zhou Er, who was escorting the prisoners, came back with his men:

"grown ups!"

"The northern barbarians are coming. 2000 cavalrymen will be here soon."

Just before I finished my training, I heard a commotion behind me.

"The northern barbarians are coming!"

"The barbarians are coming!"

"Run!"

There was no time to seize military power, so he could only choose the second path. He made a prompt decision.

"Go up the mountain immediately!"

The terrain of Hutou Cliff is extremely special. It is a valley sandwiched between three mountains and is surrounded by peaks with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters. It is the only way from Beishengguan to the provincial capital.

Emperor Gaozu once proposed to build a pass at Hutouya as a second line of defense in the northwest.

The valley bottom of Hutou Cliff spans too far from east to west, and building a pass would require a lot of manpower and material resources. At that time, Daxia was just beginning to be established, and everything was in ruins. The Ministry of Revenue was firmly opposed to it.

The Ministry of War and the Five Military Commandery also had their own considerations.

The dispersion of troops at the two important passes is not necessarily a good thing. Beisheng Pass cannot be defended, and Hutou Cliff is only a delay for the court to mobilize troops.

Instead of spending so much money, it would be better to invest resources in Beisheng Pass to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

After Emperor Gaozu, the court's economic conditions allowed, but no emperor proposed this suggestion again. The Hutou Cliff was only a place where one man could block the way for ten thousand men.

But it could not truly play the role of a single man blocking a thousand men. Even if the soldiers of the prefecture city set up camp and built fortifications at the narrowest point between east and west, they could not stop the northern barbarians.

These are not what Zhou Jin should consider. What he should consider is his own situation.

The slopes around Hutou Cliff are not too steep, so livestock and vehicles can go up. But after reaching the platform halfway up, the mountain becomes suddenly steep, so horse-drawn and donkey-drawn carts must be abandoned.

It is unknown whether the elderly, the weak, women, children, and supplies can cross the mountains without vehicles.