War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 560 Fooling Edward

When Wei Ran drove the car back to the tent, Edward had been waiting for a long time.Only this time, Wei Ran didn't get out of the car, but directly greeted the other party and got into the car.

After the other party closed the car door, Wei Ran was silent for a moment, then pointed to the stretching sand beam outside the window and said, "Mr. Edward, I have almost found the answer."

Hearing this, Edward subconsciously looked in the direction of the former's finger. However, wherever he looked, there was nothing special except sand.

"What do you want me to see?" Edward asked without knowing why.

"Sahara Desert"

Wei Ran lowered his arms, "Mr. Edward, this is the Sahara Desert, located between the equatorial low pressure belt and the subtropical high pressure belt at 30 north latitude."

"Is this related to looking for my grandfather's colleagues?"

Edward asked inexplicably, it was the first time he felt that this young Asian man had the aura that a scholar should have.

"Of course, of course it matters"

Wei Ran explained with a smile, "This involves geography or common sense in physics. As we all know, wind flows from high pressure areas to low pressure areas, so the wind in this desert blows from north to south.

It is also common sense of geography that the geostrophic deflection force in the northern hemisphere is to the right, so affected by the geostrophic deflection force, the wind that originally blows from north to south becomes from northeast to southwest.

We can see this through those sand ridges. The perennial northeast trade wind brought about the wind transport effect, and piled up a series of sand ridges perpendicular to the northeast direction on this desert. "

"So you said so much, just to prove that the northeast wind blows here all the year round?" Edward frowned.

Wei Ran didn't seem to see the impatience on the other party's face, but continued to say unhurriedly, "Mr. Edward, the reason why your grandfather failed to find his colleague is not a historical mystery, but a geographical mystery. That's all.

Before breakfast, I talked with our guide. The highest wind force here can reach level 12. When the strong wind blows at level 12, it will take less than half an hour to blow a sand dune tens of meters high. Flat land. "

"You mean, that plane was blown away?" Edward finally came to his senses.

"And could only have been blown to the southeast"

While speaking, Wei Ran unfolded the map he got from the other party not long ago, pointed to the red line on it and said, "Over 70 years, if the plane has not disintegrated or been buried in sand, it must have left In situ. And even if it is blown tens of kilometers by the wind, it is completely normal."

"Where is the end point?" Edward asked, "Could it be that we have been looking southeast along this line."

"Actually, your grandfather has set the boundaries"

Wei Ran smiled and asked, "Mr. Edward, your grandfather must remember what type of plane he was flying at the time, right? Or let me guess, an engineer from Germany, and his colleagues on the plane together The plane, maybe that plane also has all kinds of equipment they use for geological exploration, so it must be a transport plane, not a fighter jet that can only take one person, right?"

"Junker 52 transport aircraft" Edward replied happily.

"I guess it's the same plane"

Wei Ran reached out and clicked the end of the red line on the map, "According to my understanding, the standard range of the Junker 52 transport plane should be around 1500 kilometers. If this is the airport from which the transport plane took off."

Speaking of this, Wei Ran took out his mobile phone under the slightly nervous expression of the other party, and after doing some calculations against the scale marked on the map, he took out a multifunctional pliers with a scale on the handle from the glove box, After measuring along the direction of the red line, he replied, "It seems that your grandfather also thought of this. The length of this red line represented on the map is exactly half of the maximum flight distance of the Junkers 52. so."

"So what?" Edward asked subconsciously.

"So this may imply that the destination of the transport plane that your grandfather was on at that time may not be able to provide the fuel necessary for the plane to return.

In other words, if the transport plane wants to fly back to the airport where it took off, the straight-line distance between where it lands and the airport should be less than 800 kilometers, which is half of the maximum range.

Considering that the plane needs some spare fuel to ensure that nothing happens, we can shorten this distance to 700 kilometers. "

After a short pause, Wei Ran used the scale on the tool pliers to draw a circular arc cutting the red line with the point at the end of the red line representing the airport as the center of the circle.

"Just now you said that the navigator on that plane pointed your grandfather at 29 degrees north by west, which also hides an important message."

"What information?" Edward asked again, as if he had given up thinking.

"Of course it means that the place where the plane crashed or was forced to land is closer to the airport where it took off, and farther away from the destination. Otherwise, he should go in the opposite direction, right?"

Wei Ran pointed to the arc he had just drawn, and answered as a matter of course, "This arc represents the middle point of the original voyage of the transport plane. Since the navigator asked your grandfather to go in the direction of the airport, we can only It proves that the plane made an emergency landing on the left side of this arc, that is, the area closer to the airport where it took off. Simply put, the straight-line distance between the plane’s forced landing position and the airport should be within 350 kilometers. Let me calculate the distance from our current position. a bit."

After a while, Wei Ran pointed to the screen of the mobile phone, "The farthest place where the plane can make an emergency landing is only 200 kilometers away from us."

Deliberately leaving some time for Mr. Edward to think, Wei Ran continued, "So we just need to take this arc as the end point and focus on the area to the left of it, maybe we will find something."

"So we have to rush to the position of this arc next?" Edward finally moved his brain.

"Of course." Wei Ran nodded as a matter of course, "After we get there, we can start looking."

"How sure are you?" Edward asked, frowning.

"There is no way to calculate this probability"

Wei Ran followed the arc on the map and drew a circle, "But at least we have to rush there first, right? Of course, if you want to speed up, maybe you can find more helpers and search directly from the current location, that way Maybe we can find the target we are looking for faster."

"Helper?" Edward gritted his teeth, "I'll arrange for someone to come over to help, Victor, how many people do you think we need?"

"Maybe we have a better option"

Wei Ran raised his hand again and pointed to Saleh and the others outside the window, "Yesterday you also saw that our guide, Mr. Saleh, has a good relationship with the local nomadic tribes. Why don't you pass Mr. Saleh?" What about hiring some Berbers?

The commission they need is definitely lower, and the speed of rushing over is faster, and most importantly, they have a better understanding of the surrounding environment, and maybe they don't even need to provide them with too many extra supplies. "

"Hire them?" Edward frowned subconsciously.

"Of course, this is just my suggestion."

Wei Ran spread his hands, "If you want to hire nomadic Berbers, you have to talk to Saleh in person. I can't help you with this. But I think that if they need help, they should It's the best choice."

"Let me think about it"

Before Edward could finish his sentence, he had already put away the map spread out between the two of them, opened the car door and walked towards his tent.

In the compartment of the armored pickup truck, the corner of Wei Ran's mouth also evoked a casual smile. The reasoning he presented to Mr. Edward just now did not mention the crucial magnetic declination, but exaggerated the role of wind transportation.

But the search range he drew included those two coordinates intentionally or unintentionally.As for how much profit can be made at that time, it can only depend on luck.

While Wei Ran was waiting, Edward got out of the tent half an hour later and walked straight towards Saleh.

Wei Ran was not interested in knowing what the two of them talked about, but after they finished talking, the Berber guide took the satellite phone that Saleh handed over.

Not long after he finished the phone call, Saleh's son Soliman also got into Wei Ran's armored pickup truck.

"Mr. Edward wants to hire Berbers to work for him, Victor, is this your ghost idea?" Soliman asked while closing the car door.

"It's just a suggestion." Wei Ran asked with a smile, "Your father agrees?"

"My father agrees to no use"

Soliman had already opened the shooting hole on the car window while speaking, lit a cigarette on his own, and explained in a puff of smoke, "But our guide has already called to ask their patriarch, now let's look at that Can Edward agree to the conditions offered by the old guy?"

"Their commission will not be more expensive than the people from Cairo, right?" Wei Ran asked casually.

"Not really"

Soliman snapped his fingers and said, "I can almost guess what they want, nothing more than some Egyptian pounds, and then there are wind turbines, batteries, flour, maybe medicine, electronic watches, camels and even condoms. stuff."

Wei Ran was stunned, and asked curiously, "Soliman, how many nomadic tribes are there in this desert?"

"Running out"

Soliman, who obviously didn't get enough sleep, yawned and said vaguely, "There are very few nomadic tribes who are willing to stay in the desert, and many of them have already gone to live in oases, but there are still some who are willing to stay in the desert for various reasons. There is no way to leave this desert."

"If you said that, it means you didn't say it." Wei Ran shook his head dumbfounded.

"Because I don't know the exact amount"

Soliman spread his hands, "It's not just me, I'm afraid even the Egyptian officials don't know. These nomadic tribes are like ghosts in the desert. They sometimes live in Egypt, sometimes in Libya or Sudan, and some even migrate. As far as Chad and Algeria, they will continue to migrate when they get into trouble there.

The furthest-traveled tribe I know once traveled from Egypt to Morocco in one year and back to Egypt the next year. "

"By the way, help you do smuggling business?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

“They have a decent reputation”

Soliman's inconsistent answer confirmed Wei Ran's question, "Of course, it is only when we cooperate. Most of the time, they are no different from those of the same clan who have settled in the oasis.

They don't mind robbing, defrauding, or stealing.But it will also show the unique hospitality of desert nomadic tribes to the tourists from all over the world that I take to their tribes to play. "

"The more painful the stick in your hand, the better their reputation will be, right?"

"Victor, you have grasped the true meaning of cooperating with nomadic tribes in the desert." Soliman affirmed Wei Ran's casual statement in a joking tone.

"If those Berbers are willing to help, how long will it take for them to come?" Wei Ran changed the subject and asked.

"The fastest will take two days." Soliman replied immediately, "Why, are you in a hurry?"

"Just asking casually." Wei Ran waved his hand, "Where are our supplies? How long can they last?"

"No problem for at least two weeks"

After taking his last puff of cigarette, Soliman also pushed open the car door, letting the hot and dry wind take away the smoke and cold air in the car, and said in a low voice, "My father asked me to ask you, if the time comes If you find something valuable, do you want to snatch it through those nomadic tribes?"

"Valuable things?" Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then asked subconsciously, "What valuable things?"

"Who cares about his valuables"

Soliman's young face showed a trace of greed, "Mr. Edward doesn't look like a good person, I'm afraid even those two little foxes who shit everywhere know that a scum like him won't just do it for the sake of his ancestors." Friendship, it takes so much energy to take risks in the desert to waste time."

"I am only responsible for completing Mr. Edward's work"

Wei Ran simply disregarded the relationship, "Whether you will find something valuable has nothing to do with me, and whether you want to take away what you find has nothing to do with me.

However, I think that before you and your son make a decision, it is best to ask Mr. Culp or Ms. Anna, they may give you effective advice. "

"I knew you would say that"

Soliman's face changed into a sunny and honest smile again, and after jumping out of the cab, he helped Wei Ran close the heavy car door.

"This desert is really dirty and greedy."

Wei Ran shook his head secretly, he was not much better anyway, otherwise, he would not have concealed the crucial change brought about by the magnetic declination.

Lowering the back of the seat, Wei Ran began to think about the next thing while blowing on the air-conditioning.

No matter what Edward can find in the end, and no matter what those two coordinate points are, after finishing the work in the desert, the next step is to return to China immediately to prepare the materials in the metal book and then go to the prisoner of war Olympic Games .

In addition to this big event, there are many other trivial things.

First of all, he needs to find a Geiger counter to see how much radiation the watch in the metal book has.This is related to whether he will use that laser watch in the future.

Secondly, after returning to Russia, in addition to going to Inta with Sui Sui, I have to go to Kirov when I have time, to visit the one-armed veteran Leva, and see if I can learn from him. Learn how to use old-fashioned film cameras.

After calculating the next arrangement, Wei Ran opened the car door and strolled towards his tent.

(End of this chapter)