War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 204 Preparations Before the Cannon Test
As soon as the phone was connected, before Wei Ran had time to speak, Professor Alexis on the opposite side asked, "Where have you been these few days? You can't get through the phone. There is a man named Ralph in the studio." The Germans have been waiting for you."

"I've already sent him away." Wei Ran sped up his speech a little bit to grab the topic, "Professor, can you help me get some shells."

"Cannonball? Do you want to test fire? What kind of cannonball do you want?" Professor Alexei immediately forgot Wei Ran's disappearance for more than half a month after hearing this.

"30mm Solothurn long ammunition for the flak20 anti-aircraft gun"

Wei Ran took out an excuse he had thought up on the way and said, "A client of mine got a flak30 anti-aircraft gun by accident recently, and wanted to buy some shells for a test shot. I think there may be a chance to cooperate with him in the future, so I want to help him with this. .”

"flak30? This kind of ammunition is easy to find, how much do you want?"

Professor Alexi immediately lost interest when he heard this. He has touched more of these anti-aircraft guns than the women he has touched, and he has long lost any attraction to him.

"20 rounds of armor-piercing rounds, 20 rounds of high-explosive rounds, 20 rounds of tracer rounds and 20 rounds of incendiary rounds are enough."

Wei Ran quickly reported the required quantity. The reason why there are 20 rounds per unit is because the FLAK30 anti-aircraft gun that also uses this kind of ammunition uses a magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds. What is even more outrageous is that this 20 rounds The magazine with the ammunition capacity is completely compatible with his own small cannon.

As for why there are so many, it is naturally to confuse the public.After all, although 80 rounds of shells are a lot, for anti-aircraft anti-aircraft guns, excluding the time to change the magazine, it can be finished in less than 1 minutes, which is a normal amount no matter how you look at it.

Sure enough, Professor Alexey readily agreed without any doubts at all, and promised to deliver it within half an hour at most.

After hanging up the phone, Wei Ran didn't put down his phone at all, and after buying a ticket to Inta, he directly dialed Jima's number.

"Are you still in Inta?" Wei Ran asked after the call was connected.

"Just sent a group of tourists to board the plane"

There was a trace of fatigue and undisguised excitement in Jima's tone, "However, in less than 24 hours, another group of tourists will come, so at least until the next class, I should be in Inta .”

"Let's make a long story short"

Wei Ran put away the prepared greetings, "Help me prepare a set of camping supplies, and ask Alili if he can arrange an An-2 for me the day after tomorrow, and help me find a quiet enough place on the east side of the Ural Mountains by the way. .”

"What happened?" Jima asked nervously, "Are you committing a crime and are about to run away? I'll arrange it now. Where are you now? I'll pick it up"

"Stop!" Wei Ran wished he could slap himself, "I didn't kill someone, and I didn't rob a bank, where did I go?"

"Then you are full and full?" Ji Ma's Russian sentence was also abruptly mixed with an out-of-tune Chinese sentence.There is no need to guess, it must be learned from Wei Ran.

"I'm going to give myself a special training on survival in the wild before the next class." Wei Ran said nonsense, "After all, I'm not a hunter like you, and I have rich experience in outdoor survival."

"Just yourself?"

Ji Ma cautiously reminded, "Why don't I go with you? The wild is not as safe as you think, and it's not like eating everywhere in the online videos."

"No, I'm enough for myself."

Wei Ran hurriedly refused, he wanted to find a secluded place to test the cannon secretly, so what's the matter with Jima?

"When are you coming?" Jima finally asked simply.

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, "My plane tonight will probably arrive at Inta early tomorrow morning."

"I'm running out of time, but there's still time. Aliri and I will be waiting for you at the airport. See you tomorrow, Victor."

"Work hard"

Wei Ran didn't slump himself on the sofa against the wall until this time. He has been flying around for the past few days, and he hasn't had time to take a good rest yet.

Just as he was about to close his eyes and squint for a while, the locked rolling door was smashed with a bang.Wei Ran, who was half asleep and half awake, instantly stood up like a carp, holding a pistol in his hand.

"Who?" Wei Ran put away his pistol and asked while walking towards the rolling door.

The people outside the "Katyusha Shooting Range" responded immediately.

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately opened the shutter door, and then saw a blond haired girl standing at the door of the studio pulling a trolley.

"Mr. Alexei ordered some Solothurn long bombs and asked me to deliver them here." The blond girl shook the POS machine in her hand while speaking, "Swipe card or cash?"

"Cash, how much?" Wei Ran rubbed his face and asked.

"The shells cost 16 rubles, all of which were new products produced in Finland in the 80s. The shipping cost is [-] rubles. If possible, please add a tip of [-] rubles."

The girl kicked the box on the trolley and said in a low voice, "These shells are all smuggled in, but they haven't been registered, so you'd better be careful when using them."

Wei Ran nodded when he heard the words, and waved his hand to the former, signaling her to push the trolley into the studio, while he took out 18 rubles in cash and handed it to the other party.

The blond girl diligently moved the wooden ammunition box on the trolley to the corner. After receiving the money, she took out five thousand rubles from it and stuffed it into her pocket, and then began to count.

"Payment and Payment"

The blonde girl put away the cash in her hand, then took out a small pink card from her wallet and handed it to Wei Ran, "You can call me anytime you need to test shells in the future, mainstream World War II Soviet-German ammunition below [-]mm You can find them all, and you can also handle various procedures for artillery live ammunition shooting, and can provide shooting ranges with various shooting ranges.”

"I will call you when necessary." Wei Ran said as he lifted the glass plate on the workbench, and stuffed the small pink card into it.

"It seems that you are easier to deal with than that old guy Alexei. I hope we will cooperate more often in the future."

This hairy girl gave Wei Ran a wink, and without waiting for the former to say anything, she pulled the tattered cart and hummed "Katyusha" into the doorway. dilapidated van.

With a soft "crash", Wei Ran locked the shutter door again, then cut off the monitoring power supply of the studio, and moved out the Solothurn S18-1000 anti-tank gun again.

Putting on a pair of leather gloves, Wei Ran hummed the song Katyusha he had just heard, patiently took out all the bullets in the seven magazines and put them into the safe, and then put the ammunition he just bought Pressed in.

Looking at the ten tracer bullets left on the long table, Wei Ran shook his sore wrist, summoned the food box, and put all the remaining bullets on the second floor.

Finally, taking back all the anti-tank guns and food boxes, Wei Ran calculated the time, simply packed some things that might be needed into the bag, and drove to the airport again.

After waiting in Kazan, when he landed in Inta, which was still icy and snowy, Jima and Alili had already been waiting for a long time.

"You are really here, I thought you were joking." Ji Ma patted Wei Ran's shoulder vigorously, "Do you really need me to follow you?"

"really not needed"

Wei Ran said with a smile, "I just want to see how long I can last in the wild, without running around on a broken table like last time, what danger will I be in?"

"Since you decide, I won't stop you"

While talking, Jima took out a satellite phone from his satchel and handed it to Wei Ran, "Take this, call at 12 o'clock every day to make sure you are still alive. If you are in danger, call Alili at any time, we will The group of clients arriving tonight will spend a week at the abandoned military base, where Aliri and his plane will be on standby the entire time."

"You are quite thoughtful." Wei Ran happily took the satellite phone.

"I bought it new at a huge price, so don't break it for me." Jima said with a painful face.

"Look at your stingy look"

Wei Ran was too lazy to talk nonsense with Jima, took out a roll of rubles and handed it to Alili who was standing beside him while putting the satellite phone in his pocket, "I'm sorry to trouble you this time."

"Victor, you are much more generous than that bastard Jima."

Alili exaggeratedly sniffed the roll of rubles, put it in his pocket happily without counting it, "I can start here anytime, and the rest is up to you."

"Then let's go!" Wei Ran said impatiently.

"You really don't need me to follow?" Jima asked again, he didn't want Wei Ran to have any accidents in Inta.

"Do not worry"

Wei Ran said hello, followed Alili and got into the plane, and then saw a reindeer with two big tree branches lying obediently in the cabin covered with pine needles, fixed by the surrounding webbing There was no way to stand up.And beside it, there was actually a not-so-big sleigh cart, and that sleigh cart was even more full of supplies.

"Why are there reindeer and sleigh carts?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"It's much more comfortable than if you're on a snowboard"

Ali spread his hands, "And in case you get caught in a snowstorm, at least that reindeer will feed you for a week."

How can't you trust me?Wei Ran slandered, but he didn't say much after all, and sat obediently on the only seat left in the cabin.

During the one-hour flight, Alili took the trouble to explain to Wei Ran the various situations that may be encountered in the polar region and the corresponding handling methods.

After the plane landed smoothly on a frozen lake at the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains, before Wei Ran and the reindeer left the cabin, Alili stuffed him with a backpack and said, "This place is far away from the one you and Jima visited last time." The rectification camp is less than 20 kilometers away in a straight line, and you can find it just by walking south along the river that connects to the lake. There are flare guns and smoke bombs in the bag, and you’d better take these with you.”

"Thank you, Alili. If nothing else happens, I should be active near this lake."

After Wei Ran thanked him again, he yelled at the reindeer and pulled the sleigh, which was only a circle larger than the downed seat, out of the cabin and hid in the coniferous forest on the shore of the lake.

After Alili circled above his head and completely disappeared, Wei Ran also yelled at the reindeer and ran around the lake.

This long frozen lake has a width of 300 meters and a length of at least two to three kilometers. It is an excellent test site.

That being the case, Wei Ran didn't bother to move, tied the reindeer to the trunk of a pine tree, and then set up a tent under another tree not far away.

I have to say that Jima prepared enough things for himself. Although he used the name of survival in the wild, the former was obviously worried that he would starve to death and freeze to death, so he not only prepared a thick canvas tent and a cast iron firewood stove, Matching kitchen utensils, and a bearskin blanket that is tight enough to wrap him, and even a big piece of fresh venison is prepared.

Forget it, after he moved all the things on the overloaded sleigh into the tent that had been set up, he discovered that this guy even prepared a large bag of coffee powder and a large bag of various seasonings And several large pieces of dry and hard big Lieba, a full 20 liters of kerosene and a kerosene gas lamp that can provide both lighting and warmth.

"You didn't come here to survive in the wild, did you come to enjoy life in the wild?" Wei Ran looked at the large bottle of whiskey that he pulled out from the bearskin blanket, and he also had feelings for the artillery testing activities in the next few days. Strong expectations.

(End of this chapter)