Tiger Police

Chapter 150 Footprints
This is a small mountain stream.The reason why it can be memorized by the patrol members and form a well-known area name is because this mountain stream is just at the rest point of a quarter of the patrol route.

The height difference of the mountain stream is more than 60 meters, and a water pool is formed at the bottom.The stream is clear, and there are small fish and shrimps at the bottom of the pool.The patrol team will take a short break here every time, mainly to wash their faces and relieve fatigue.

Drinking unboiled water in the wild is absolutely forbidden, but as long as the name "Dongjian" is mentioned, everyone will laugh involuntarily when patrolling.

Especially on the return journey, that means walking a little further to get home.And that place is very cool, and it is very comfortable to wipe it with a wet towel.

Zhang Qingbao squatted by the stream, soaked the towel, twisted it until it was half dry, turned around and threw it to Hu Pingtao who was sitting on the rock.

Although both of them are captains, they often overlap when scheduling patrols, and they don't deliberately arrange chief and deputy positions.

Zhang Qingbao played tricks on purpose and saved some strength when throwing the towel. Hu Pingtao, who was holding the mineral water bottle, had to move his butt away from the stone, and took a few steps forward to catch the towel without falling on the ground.

"You're doing this on purpose!" Hu Pingtao put a wet towel across his neck, covered the cap of the mineral water bottle, and complained unhappily, "I didn't mess with you!"

Zhang Qingbao submerged his towel in the stream, and smiled without turning around: "It's no harm for young people to be active."

Hu Pingtao frowned and said, "Why are you taking advantage of me again?"

Zhang Qingbao laughed and said, "Who told you to drink so well, even my younger brother can't beat you."

Zhang Qing's alcohol consumption ranks first at the border inspection station, but that day when he was eating, Hu Pingtao was forced to drink and fell to the ground.Zhang Qingbao watched the whole process from the side. Hu Pingtao did not drink fake wine, and even made two rounds of toasts at the table in advance, drinking several glasses more than his younger brother.

"Hmph! Such a big man has such a small mind!"

Hu Pingtao gestured at the top of his little finger with his thumb, turned around with contempt on his face, and glanced at a tree not far away, suddenly felt as if he had caught some special substance, turned his head quickly, and fixed his eyes on it in that position.

He stopped arguing with Zhang Qingbao, stood up, walked quickly, and stared at the tree.

This is a tree called "Ji Suzi", whose scientific name is wild litchi.This kind of tree is indeed very common in the southwest. The fruit ripens in September, and the sweet and sour taste is delicious.

The Jisuzi tree in front of me is already bearing fruit, small, green and unripe.

This is not the focus of Hu Pingtao's attention.

This tree grows by the stream, because it is not artificially planted, from the seedling stage, part of the rhizome is exposed and cannot be submerged in the soil.As it grows, the root system exposed to the air gradually expands. In addition, the growth location is close to water, and the surrounding environment is hot and humid, and a layer of moss is also attached to the rhizome.

The moss on the tree roots has obvious scratches, just like a wall that has just been painted green, and has been rubbed heavily with a hard object, leaving an ugly brush mark.

A patrol member came from the side, and Hu Pingtao raised his hand to stop him: "Don't go here, go around from behind."

In front of Hu Pingtao's eyes, the space of more than three meters from the Jisuzi tree to his feet is absolutely forbidden.

There are two footprints on the ground, one in front and one behind.Judging from the sole pattern, it should be left by the same person, belonging to the left and right feet.

Zhang Qingbao came over from the stream and asked suspiciously, "Xiaohu, what's the matter?"

Hu Pingtao didn't know how to say: "We patrol every three days, and the interval between crossing back and forth is exactly one day. Last time, the octopus spirit led the team, but you can see that the traces and footprints are very fresh. If I didn't If you guess wrong, it should have been left this morning."

Zhang Yujin is the captain of the border inspection station. This name has troubled him for a long time, and everyone calls him "octopus spirit".

The nearby patrol members came around one after another.

Zhang Qingbao approached, squatted down, carefully looked at the two footprints, and asked suspiciously, "Could it be the mountain people who got up early to pick mushrooms?"

The wild mushrooms in Yunnan Province are extremely delicious, but they must be picked early, otherwise the temperature will rise sharply when the sun comes out, and the mushroom canopy will open, the quality will be poor, and the price will not be sold.

"Where are the mountain people around here?" Hu Pingtao said seriously: "Our patrol route does not pass through the villages, and they are all deserted mountains and old forests."

This section of the border is more than 100 kilometers long, and there are many port inspection stations scattered.From Xiluo to the border checkpoint in the previous section, there is actually no natural barrier. It is full of mountains, rivers, and dense forests. Many seemingly inconspicuous ridges and small rivers are likely to be the border between the two countries.

The nearby border residents have already moved inland, let alone come to such a remote place to pick wild mushrooms.

Zhang Qingbao looked serious: "Someone crossed the border...smuggling?"

Hu Pingtao nodded, and subconsciously clenched the assault rifle slung across his chest: "They may be fetching water by the stream, but only this side is soil, leaving two footprints. The other side is full of stones. There are traces. Judging from the direction of the footprints, the other party should want to detour out of the country from the northwest."

Zhang Qingbao has been patrolling the border all year round and is very sensitive to direction and location. He thought for a while and asked, "You mean, go out between the No. 11 garrison checkpoint and our border checkpoint?"

Hu Pingtao said "Yes": "Our patrols are very frequent, and this road is often used. Further south, there is a new barbed wire fence and wall over there. Generally speaking, it is difficult to pass, so we can only go this way. "

Beginning this year, barriers have been erected on the southern border.It was a kind of concave wall, supplemented by barbed wire, and it was difficult to climb over.

Zhang Qingbao took off the assault rifle on his back, and said in a deep voice, "Just follow what you said, hurry up and chase!"

……

At noon, the sun was shining brightly.

The temperature in the mountain forest is as high as [-] degrees, and there is plenty of water vapor here, like a huge natural steamer.

Every step forward is sweating, and everyone's clothes are soaked in sweat.

Walking on the road, the patrol members talked a lot.

"Captain Tiger is very powerful. Just by those two footprints, you can tell someone is smuggling."

"I don't think it's possible. I've walked this route back and forth at least twenty times, and I've never encountered anyone crossing the border."

"There is also a patrol team at the No. 11 garrison checkpoint. They are not vegetarians. If someone smuggling was discovered long ago, how could it be possible to wait until now?"

"Don't tell me, Captain Hu is young, but he is really capable. That night, he checked the macadamia nuts. If Captain Hu hadn't seen something wrong with the car at a glance, more than 300 kilograms of drugs would have been released."

"It's different, it's two different things. If you ask me, the two footprints in Dongjian were left by the mountain people. If you don't believe me, let's wait and see."

Zhang Qingbao and Hu Pingtao walked in front side by side.

His expression was tense, and his voice was much lower than usual: "Xiaohu, we didn't find any new footprints along the way!"

Hu Pingtao's expression remained unchanged: "There are still some, but Brother Zhang, you didn't pay attention."

Zhang Qingbao quickly asked: "Where is it, why didn't I see it?"

"It's about a mile from Dongjian. Some grass has been trampled, and the footprints are in this direction." Hu Pingtao paused: "We have to speed up, there are at least three people on the other side."

Zhang Qingbao looked at Hu Pingtao, his eyes changed: "How did your eyes grow? I didn't see anything wrong along the way!"

Hu Pingtao smiled and said nothing.

This kind of thing is really hard to explain.

The plants in the tropical rainforest have strong vitality. Even the broken grass stems can be restored after a few hours.But no matter what, the stampede marks still remain more or less.

Those days in the "Northern Security Force" will never be forgotten.That is a real danger, and you must keep your spirits up if you want to survive.From soldiers to officers, they are especially sensitive to any slight changes in their environment.After all, the Siamese and Burmese government forces are enemies, and any negligence will fall into a death trap.

It took Hu Pingtao a lot of time to learn to recognize the difference between bobcats and human footprints.It is also a one-foot stepping, and it is also a judgment of the damaged position of the broken plant stems and leaves after a few hours of recovery. This requires countless observations and countless personal experiments.

The police academy offers a course of "trace science", but the things in the books are not as clear as the reality after all.Moreover, Zhang Qingbao has worked at the border inspection station all year round, and he has a specialization in art. He has rich experience in drug search and inspection. When it comes to identifying residual traces and tracking footprints, Hu Pingtao is a real expert in front of him.

"They rested here..."

Time was running out, Hu Pingtao didn't explain too much, he said a few words casually, and the speed of his feet didn't slow down.

Zhang Qingbao stuck close to him: "I have asked Xiao Li to send back the news of someone smuggling in. Liu Zhan said that we should deal with it ourselves, and asked if you need support?"

"As far as the current situation is concerned, it is not necessary for the time being." Hu Pingtao began to breathe heavily, but he did not lose his rhythm: "Three...we can deal with five people if we relax."

Looking at his slightly relaxed expression, Zhang Qingbao couldn't help laughing: "So sure? Don't say I didn't warn you, most of the smugglers are desperadoes, and they all carry weapons."

Hu Pingtao said seriously: "They didn't bring much, at most they had a little dry food. If they hadn't run out of water, they wouldn't have gone to Dongjian to get water. It's stuffy and hot in the forest, and there is no water to drink." Really suffer."

Zhang Qingbao was a little surprised, quickly regained his composure, and asked, "Did you see this from the footprints?"

Hu Pingtao nodded: "Their per capita load will not exceed five kilograms."

Zhang Qingbao raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "You are so powerful, can you even see this?"

Hu Pingtao winked and laughed softly, "I'm handsome!"

These are two different things at all.

Not only Zhang Qingbao, but also the patrol team behind them who heard the conversation also laughed.

……

Half an hour later, Hu Pingtao found new footprints.

This is a dirt road coming out of a dense forest.

It is said that when the Xiluo border checkpoint was first established, in order to open up the connection with the No. 11 garrison checkpoint, it specially sent people to walk back and forth in the mountains. This convenient passage was cut out and used to this day.

People often get lost in the forest, but anyone with a little experience in wild life can use various methods to identify the direction and then determine their own location.For example, observe the Big Dipper at night, look at the sun during the day, look at the shade of trees, etc...

There was a light rain last night. Unlike the part exposed to the sun before, this area is covered by dense forests, and the soil on the road is wet. The footprints left behind are also obvious and clearly identifiable.

The footprints are very messy, and it can be determined that there are four people on the other side through the pattern of the soles.Instead of continuing along the dirt road, they deviated from here and turned to the deep forest on the right side of the dirt road.

Hu Pingtao ordered the patrol team to be alert on the spot.

He squatted down, approached those footprints, and looked at them carefully.

Zhang Qingbao pointed the muzzle of his assault rifle at the sky, adjusted his breathing rhythm, and asked, "Little Tiger, did you find anything?"

Hu Pingtao pointed to the remaining traces on the ground, frowning: "Why are they going this way?"

From the Xiluo border checkpoint to the NO.11 garrison checkpoint, it is almost a straight patrol route.If you start from the border checkpoint, turn left, it is the border; turn right, it is domestic.

The footprints left by the pursuit target show that their direction of travel has changed here, to the right.

Zhang Qingbao understood the subtext of Hu Pingtao's words, and he asked suspiciously: "Since it is a smuggling, why do they go in the opposite direction? Don't they know that they are going further and further this way?"

Without waiting for Hu Pingtao to answer, Zhang Qingbao continued to ask: "Did they lose their way?"

Hu Pingtao shook his head: "It's possible, but the probability is not high. Smuggling is no joke, and the stowaways themselves know what it means. They must have a compass on them, and there is no such thing in this area." Moreover, judging from the time, even if it happened to be early morning when they fetched water in Dongjian, and the sky was not very bright, but there was already enough light when they came here, and they would not go wrong in the dark no matter what.”

A patrol member took the initiative to come over and asked: "Tiger team, could they come from abroad? Myanmar has been in chaos these years. People over there say that our life is good here, and there are many people who come here to work."

Hu Pingtao said seriously: "If you came from abroad, you wouldn't go to Dongjian."

As he spoke, he took out the map from his backpack and unfolded it on his lap: "Look, from the border to Dongjian, there is a slanted line going southeast, and the angle between it and the south is no more than [-] degrees. If it is a smuggling It is impossible for anyone to choose this road when entering the country. After all, the border checkpoint is two kilometers ahead, and they cannot take risks."

"Smuggled immigrants can only go east. As long as you cross Anyiqing and walk more than ten kilometers to Menggeng. This is generally recognized as the most convenient route."

Zhang Qingbao was also puzzled: "But why did they make a detour? No matter whether they are leaving the country or entering the country, they just turned a corner here. It is impossible to justify it!"

Hu Pingtao thought for a while and asked, "Brother Zhang, have you notified the No. 11 garrison checkpoint about the footprints found in Dongjian this morning?"

(End of this chapter)