When Mo Jiuye was banished from the capital, he felt a sense of loss.
The Mo Family had been loyal for generations and he had also made some good friends.
But when disaster struck the Mo Family, not one of them came to see him off.
It turned out that all of this was engineered by Emperor Shunwu.
Mo Jiuye now understood clearly that the world was cold and indifferent. He did not want to dwell on those past matters anymore.
What he hoped for most now was to leave this place as soon as possible. After settling down in the northwest, he wanted to find a way to locate his elder and second brothers and help his sisters-in-law find saxifrage stalks to make an antidote.
“General, the city gates and piers have been sealed off completely. We've been stranded here for over half a month. If this drags on, I'm afraid we won't even reach the northwest by New Year,” said Mo Jiuye.
“That is indeed the case. It’s getting colder by the day and it would be very difficult for you all on the road,” replied General Jin.
After pondering for a while, General Jin continued, “My nephew, go make preparations now. Tomorrow morning I will personally arrange for ships to take you away from here.”
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran were overjoyed to hear this.
The two of them saluted General Jin at the same time, “Thank you very much for helping us, General Jin.”
General Jin patted Mo Jiuye on the shoulder, “It’s just a small effort on my part. My nephew and niece need not take it to heart. I'll meet you all at the pier tomorrow morning.”
After thanking him again, Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran hurried back to inform everyone of the good news.
The ones most excited were the deputy officers. If the journey went smoothly, they would be able to return to the capital to reunite with their families before New Year’s.
In order to allow Liang Hao, Tang Mingrui and the others to leave with them, Mo Jiuye could only discuss it with Peng Wang.
In fact, Peng Wang had already noticed the whereabouts of Liang Hao and the others. He just didn’t like getting involved in things and so hadn’t brought it up.
As for Tang Mingrui who often came to the residence to take dolls these days, he had also seen him several times.
Since they were able to leave smoothly because of Mo Jiuye’s efforts, he would naturally not refuse.
However, Peng Wang required that those people split off from the main group immediately after arriving at Dudao City, so as not to cause any trouble.
After Mo Jiuye finished negotiating with Peng Wang, he immediately notified Liang Hao and the others to go to the pier with them early tomorrow morning.
With everything prepared, they set off with their belongings for the pier early next morning.
As promised, General Jin was there early with a team of soldiers.
Although there were still guards at the pier, they did not hinder Mo Jiuye’s group.
What’s more, General Jin had specially arranged a passenger ship for them. The sailors were already ready and waiting for the passengers to board.
Mo Jiuye and Peng Wang walked at the front of the group. General Jin spotted them at a glance.
The General strode over, “My nephew, I've prepared the ship. I’ve paid the silver. You all just need to leave here with peace of mind.”
As he spoke, the General took out several banknotes from his bosom and stuffed them into Mo Jiuye’s hands.
“When you settle down in the northwest, you’ll need silver to buy property and other things for your family.”
Mo Jiuye was already very grateful that General Jin helped arrange for them to leave. How could he possibly accept the man’s money?
Moreover, he and He Zhiran were not lacking silver at all at the moment.
Without any hesitation, Mo Jiuye returned the banknotes.
“General, I understand your kindness. But I cannot accept this money.”
But General Jin insisted.
“I know the circumstances you all faced when you left the capital. Though this isn’t a lot, it’s just a token of my regard. You must take it.”
The pile of banknotes was tugged back and forth at the pier for a good while by the two of them.
In the end, General Jin relented and could only reluctantly take back the banknotes.
Then he signaled to the soldiers behind him.
Two soldiers came over carrying large parcels each.
“My nephew, if you don’t want the silver then forget it. But here are some rations I prepared for you to eat on the road.”
Mo Jiuye did not decline this time. After thanking General Jin again, he boarded the ship with the others.
General Jin remained standing at the pier seeing them off until the ship became a small speck in the distance before leaving with his men.
Today, the lake was calm and the sailing very smooth.
By nightfall, the group successfully arrived at Dudao City.
Without Mo Jiuye’s instructions, Liang Hao and his brothers concealed themselves at the back of the group.
Worried for his family, Tang Mingrui also bid Mo Jiuye farewell before leaving the group.
The exiled group rested overnight in Dudao City.
Before setting off the next day, He Zhiran and Mo Jiuye asked Deputy Magistrate Peng for leave again, intending to go into the city and buy a mule cart.
Of course, what they really wanted was to let the mules out from the space and fit them up with a new carriage.
The group set off toward the northwest again with the mule cart.
They encountered no further trouble along the way and successfully arrived in the northwest after half a month.
The city gates of Yun City looked rather shabby. The two city guards on duty looked lazy and listless without a hint of energy.
As long as there were no special circumstances, people entering and leaving Yun City would not be inspected by the guards.
Especially when they saw deputy officers bringing people over, it was nothing unusual to those guards.
They merely cast a lazy glance before continuing their idle chatter at the side.
There were procedures to follow for bringing exiled prisoners to their designated location.
First, the deputy officers would bring the prisoners to the county government office to register, recording all their names before the local government issued new household registrations.
The household registrations for exiled prisoners were special. The paper bearing their identities would be marked with the words “exiled”, and stamped with the official seal of the local area.
Such a household registration would only allow them to move around within Yun City. If they secretly slipped out of the city and got caught, the two words marked on their registration would lead to their immediate arrest. After 50 heavy strokes of the rod, they would be sent back to Yun City.
This was one of the means by which the court restricted exiled persons.
Additionally, to prevent exiled persons from secretly leaving the city, special personnel would be sent by the government every half month to inspect the households of those people. If anyone was discovered to have secretly absconded, every single member of that family regardless of gender or age would suffer 20 heavy strokes as punishment.
That was still not all. The government would also immediately issue wanted notices to apprehend the escapee.
In short, having arrived here, unless specially permitted by the Emperor’s edict, they would spend the rest of their days here.
Peng Wang entering Yun City was like going down a familiar road. He brought the group straight to the county government office.
But they were informed by the gate guards that the previous county magistrate had just been reassigned. The new magistrate had not arrived yet. Handling the reception of these prisoners would be temporarily overseen by Deputy Magistrate Cui.
Upon hearing this, Peng Wang felt extremely troubled.
He was quite familiar with things here. That Deputy Magistrate Cui had his eyes open for money and was lustful.
Having Cui handle the reception would likely mean considerable trouble for the Mo Family.
