As the road grew increasingly difficult to traverse, coupled with some people at the front dragging their feet, the procession progressed in fits and starts.
Liu Pingkang could no longer tolerate the delays and ordered the guards to drive them forward. "Move faster! If you can't push your carts, abandon them. If you want to keep them, put your backs into it!"
Had it not been for the fact that there were smoother roads ahead where carts would help increase their speed, Liu Pingkang would have gladly used his whip to separate these people from their belongings.
Sure enough, his words had an effect. The people who had been resting immediately scrambled to their feet.
They were now exiled prisoners. Once they reached Lingnan, they would have to rely on whatever savings and belongings they had brought along to survive. Their ox carts were crucial assets; naturally, they could not abandon them.
Otherwise, who knew if goods would be sold at astronomical prices at the next post station?
