War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 812
After galloping all the way back to the hotel, Sui Sui immediately pulled Wei Ran into the room, and asked with a serious expression, "You won't go to free electricity, will you?"

Wei Ran spread his hands, "No, didn't I promise you?"

"Really not going?" Sui Sui reconfirmed.

"Really not going," Wei Ran patiently reassured.

"That's good"

Sui Sui finally breathed a sigh of relief, wrapped his hands around Wei Ran's neck and kissed, and said happily, "Let's go to the company first, and we will fly to Kazan at the end of the month."

"According to your arrangement" Wei Ran agreed very happily, unless necessary, he also didn't want to go to that ghostly place without electricity.

Even more, he hoped that Xia Shushi, who had already passed away, could find that steel helmet and the self-immolated wounded soldiers mentioned on the phone on the way back, so that even if he owed the Second Emperor a small favor, at least he would not have to. Use the metal book to venture into Savage Mountain, which is more dangerous than today's electricity-free.

"Then it's settled, you don't need to send us off today."

After finishing speaking, Sui Sui let go of her hands in satisfaction, took her tablet computer, left the room with peace of mind, and took her three little followers straight to the company not far away.

Almost before and after, Wei Ran also received a compressed package from Xia Shushi.

Manipulating the laptop that Kajianka gave him at the beginning to unzip the compressed package, Wei Ran found that there were only a dozen or so photos in it.And one of the photos was a screenshot of a satellite map, which not only marked the detailed coordinates, but also marked the entire range of Mandun Village, as well as the location of the little daughter-in-law's family and the location of the abandoned pagoda.

Continue to scroll back, and in some of the photos, the British 77 rifle that was dug out was photographed in detail, full of green and rusty bullets, a cowshed full of sundries, and an abandoned building that was almost completely covered by tropical trees. pagoda.

What's more interesting is that according to the marks on the satellite map, this abandoned pagoda is about 200 meters away from the village, separated by a winding river.In contrast, it was the little daughter-in-law's home, which was only [-] meters away from the abandoned pagoda.

In addition, there is also a document in the compressed package, which is like a confession, recording all kinds of information learned in Mandun Village.

After he carefully browsed through all the contents of the compressed package, and marked it against the satellite map on his laptop, Xia Shushi also sent a new compressed package.

In this compressed package is an aerial video of less than 5 minutes in length, which clearly overlooks the whole Mandun Village from the perspective of God, as well as the distance and orientation relationship between the dilapidated pagoda and the village.

And at the end of the video, at the location where the aerial photography drone landed, Wei Ran also saw Xia Shushi holding the remote control of the drone in his hand, and not far from him, letting a little girl into his mouth The second generation who delivers fruit.

Of course, apart from these two acquaintances, this unedited video also captured excavation sites around the landing site, as well as several off-road vehicles parked next to the excavation sites.

Almost when he finished watching the video, Xia Shushi called again.

"Did you see what you sent?" Xia Shushi asked impatiently the moment the phone was connected.

"saw"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Xia Shushi followed up and asked, "What do you think? Or do you have any questions?"

"Why is that pagoda so far away from the village?"

Wei Ran asked subconsciously, although he had never been to a free electricity station, he also knew how popular Buddhism is in this country.With such a background, it doesn't make sense that the pagoda is far away from the village and across a river.

"Wait a minute, I'll find someone to ask."

After Xia Shushi finished speaking, Wei Ran's incomprehensible communication sound came from beside him, and soon, he explained into the microphone again, "According to the people in this village, decades ago, Man To the southeast of Dun Village, that is, there is actually a village a little further southeast of the pagoda. The abandoned pagoda is basically located in the middle of the two villages.

Later, the village in the southeast was often flooded due to the swell of the river during the rainy season. Most of the villagers also moved to Mandun Village one after another, and their original village gradually turned into rice fields.

And since that village merged with Mandun, they rebuilt the temple in the village, and the pagoda, which was some distance away, gradually fell into disrepair. "

"You just said that there are temples in this village?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

"Almost every village here has temples. If you look at the southernmost part of Mandun Village on the satellite map, the largest building is there." Xia Shushi paused and asked tentatively, "Brother Wei, what do you have?" Any ideas?"

"Can't the temple in the village ask anything?"

"I can't ask, the temple abbot in this village doesn't know as much as that old blind man."

Xia Shushi said with a bit of resentment, "The special old bald donkey, although he doesn't know what to ask, but his business ability is quite good. These days, he asks me and the second generation to sponsor him every day, and wants us to give it to the little one. Donate some money to ruin the temple."

"You donated?" Wei Ran asked happily.

"With that money, I'll buy a big elbow, and then find two girls who are free of electricity to play with me, what if it's not good?"

Xia Shushi spoke the truth without concealing it, "The monks here eat meat more than anyone else. Presumably there is no shortage of our three melons and two dates."

"makes sense"

Wei Ran paused, and continued to speak, "Well, let me clear my mind first. I just finished reading it. If I find anything, I will call you."

"Okay, then it's settled, hang up, this thing costs a few dollars per minute." After finishing speaking, Xia Shushi cut off the call without waiting for Wei Ran's reply.

Looking at the call time on the phone screen, Wei Ran shook his head dumbfounded, no more, no less, exactly 55 seconds, this guy must be on time to make a call.

"Is this favor still not returned?"

Wei Ran murmured to himself thinking about his mobile phone, and finally decided to wait. In case Xia Shushi made any major discoveries before returning to Kazan, he would be spared the pain of Savage Mountain. I can find another chance to return favors with peace of mind.

However, things backfired. Seeing that the day to fly to Kazan was getting closer, Xia Shushi's phone calls became more and more frequent.

However, in these calls, apart from inviting him to visit the scene again and again, there was no mention of any new discoveries at all.

In contrast, Qin Er Shi, except for a quick glimpse in the previous aerial video, never had a single word of communication with Wei Ran on the phone from the beginning to the end.

In the twinkling of an eye, it was February 2th. Less than 26 hours before the flight to Kazan took off, Suisui finally completed all the domestic business arrangements, and at the same time bought all the items to be taken to Kazan. and various gifts for many friends.

After staying in the hotel for more than a week, sisters Sui Sui and Katenka, who were just waiting to leave, got into Lola's room with a pair of mahjong, and made a quiet environment for Wei Ran, who had an excuse to be busy with work.

And in the guest room with the door locked, Wei Ran, who had taken a serious shower, changed into loose pajamas and sat in front of the desk. He picked up the double-ended gun oiler that had been placed on the table in advance, and carefully looked at it under the lamp. After a while.

After a long time, he put down the oil pot, took a deep breath and took out the metal book.And the reason why he did this, besides repaying the favor of the second generation, his own curiosity and some kind of inexplicable impulse also accounted for most of it.

Or to put it more accurately, in the meeting with Mr. Xia Chuan, the trumpeter, the other party said "If I forget them again, no one will remember them." Perhaps it was the main reason for him to take out the metal book. reason.

"It's everyone's responsibility." Wei Ran exhaled the turbid breath in his chest, and his eyes were fixed on the metal quill that had been floating.

Under his gaze, the quill moved rapidly across the pale yellow paper, delicately outlining a black and white picture.

In this picture, a soldier who can only see most of his side face is sitting on the grass, with a British steel helmet with the top down fixed on his feet wearing straw sandals.

He held a writing brush in his right hand, and the tip of the pen had already written most of the orthographic characters on the brim of the hat.And with his left hand, he was holding the double-ended gun oil pot.

Compared with the silhouette of the soldier writing orthographic characters on the helmet, the background in this black and white picture is so blurry that Wei Ran couldn't tell whether it was clouds or gunpowder smoke for a while.

Just at this time, lines of text appeared below the picture:
Role identity: Wei Ran, a soldier in the cooking class
Return conditions: Survive until the burial of the cooking squad leader, and take no less than 10 photos.

Secondary Language Mission: Kill at least one spy and help rescue Luke Campbell and Zhou Guochang.

"Secondary language task? Secondary? Telephone or Japanese?"

Wei Ran raised his eyebrows. It would be fine if it was Japanese, but if it was a phone-free language. The stick words he learned before made him feel useless enough. He didn't think this phone-free language would be very practical.

Regardless of his opinion of the language task, as the white light gradually rose, he also saw something that could be used this time.

To his surprise and worry, there are quite a few things that can be used this time. In addition to the Mauser bayonet and the titanium alloy CZP09 pistol, the things that can be used include the anti-Japanese broadsword, the compass and the flying gun. Back to the table and the latest German paratrooper gravity knife.

But what he didn't expect the most was the platoon boat he got on the Baiyangdian battlefield back then!It's a pity that none of the food boxes, oil barrels and first aid kits he wanted to see the most appeared!
Amidst his muttering and complaining, the intense white light gradually faded, and as his vision recovered, he also saw a chaotic scene.

As far as the eyes can see, there is a Buddhist hall, and in the center of this Buddhist hall, there is a large gold-plated Buddha.But other than that, there are more wooden boxes in this Buddhist hall, which are filled with supplies.

At this time, a dozen or so soldiers were busy in and out, carrying those wooden boxes from the Buddhist hall to the truck at the door.

These soldiers generally wear small German caps, a few of them have one or two, British steel helmets on their heads, and various water bottles hanging around their waists. Without exception, these soldiers all carry an Enfield rifle.

Not only that, but in the corner of the Buddhist hall, in an open wooden box, there were many British army brown ammunition boots wrapped in kraft paper.At this time, there were two soldiers sitting beside the box busy trying on shoes.

"Wei Ran! What are you doing standing there? Come here!"

Among the two shoe testers, a bearded man who looked nearly 40 years old greeted with a loud voice.

Although the other party was obviously trying hard to use Mandarin, which is called "Mandarin" in this era, Wei Ran could easily tell that the other party seemed to be from Guangxi Province due to the strong accent between the words.

"Come here soon!"

Another young soldier who was also trying on shoes greeted him enthusiastically. In comparison, his accent was much stronger, and it also made it easier for Wei Ran to tell that the other party seemed to be from Guangxi Province as well.

Are these two co-authors still fellow villagers?Wei Ran murmured to himself, but stepped forward without slowing down.

"Choose your own!"

The bearded man pointed to the pried open wooden box and said, "Your shoes are open, quickly change to a new pair! Some people are leaving behind!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran sat silently on a wooden box, took off his wet and muddy straw sandals, picked up a piece of kraft paper to wipe his feet, and picked out a pair of ammunition of the right size from the box boots.

I have to admit that this kind of boots equipped with British soldiers is indeed as representative as the shoe-shining skills of British soldiers.

Just a pair of ordinary boots, with two pairs of socks stuffed into the left-hand boot, and a tube of shoe polish, a small brush and a small towel in the right-hand boot, and a metal box filled with beeswax. Small box and two spare laces.

But obviously, Wei Ran didn't have time to roast the beeswax leisurely like the escaped British guy at this time, and then carefully coated the boots with a layer to waterproof them.The most he could do was stuff shoe polish, beeswax brushes and the like into one sock, put another sock on an extra layer, and stuff them into his pocket.

Putting on another pair of socks and the chosen shoes, Wei Ran tried to take two steps, and the iron heels and nails made a loud creaking sound as they struck the ground paved with green bricks.

Finally, he tried to jump, and he took out two pairs of socks from another pair of shoes and stuffed them into his pocket.

"gone"

After the bearded man tied his shoelaces tightly, he left the Buddhist hall with Wei Ran and the young soldier as if no one else was there.

And along the way, all the soldiers passing by would enthusiastically shout "Squad Leader Liang" to the bearded man.

Could it be that he is Liang Yimin?Wei Ran muttered to himself, and obediently followed behind the other party at the same pace.

Under the leadership of the squad leader Liang, a group of three people left the temple where the Buddhist hall is located.However, when he never expected it, at the gate of the temple, the squad leader Liang took out the cigarette pouch on his waist and lighted it slowly, while the young man who was walking with Wei Ran... He brought over a donkey tied to a small tree on the side of the door.

What makes Wei Ran even dumbfounded is that on both sides of the donkey's body, a large black pot with 20 seals is fixed with a wooden frame, and on the back of the donkey in the middle, there is a cloth bag that can only hold a small amount of things at most. .

Squad leader Liang touched the top of the donkey's head, took out a tattered map from his pocket, looked at it, raised his finger and said vigorously, "Follow this road and you will find Mansi. When we reach Mansi Town and go forward for more than ten miles, we will be able to meet up with the brothers in the camp."

"Squad leader, don't we go with the 288th regiment?" The young soldier leading the donkey asked puzzled.

"Don't follow them anymore, their regiment is estimated to be stationed here for a day."

Squad leader Liang has already taken a step, "Let's set off now, I think I will be able to reach Manxi Town in the evening. I still have two silver dollars in my hand, and tomorrow morning, before the humane Manxi of the 288th regiment , maybe we can buy some rice and some chickens."

"It would be great if the people from the 288th regiment would lend us a truck," the young man said regretfully.

"Whatever truck you want, you know the truck!"

Squad leader Liang knocked the cigarette pot on his newly changed boots, and then pointed the cigarette pot at the top of his head, "The little devil's plane is specially designed to blow up cars, don't you think you don't live long enough?"

Hearing this, the young man immediately shrank his neck.

"Stay upright"

Squad leader Liang patted the young man's arm earnestly, "You are the only man in your Tan family, you have to be smart."

"I know." The young man nodded and muttered while leading the donkey, "I don't know when I can go home."

"We can go back when we win the battle!"

Squad leader Liang responded confidently, "Let's go! There are still more than 40 miles of mountain roads. We need to walk more before the sun sets."

　I'm going on a business trip tomorrow, so I'll make an update today, sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)