War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1477 Bad weather and successive discoveries

On the morning of September 9, before it was completely bright, Wei Ran drove the Great Wall pickup truck loaded with supplies and left Songpan County behind the off-road vehicle driven by Xia Shushi.

There were no walkie-talkies or car radios in these two cars, so the two people who were busy on the road naturally had no possibility of communicating at any time.

In the cab of the pickup truck, Wei Ran secretly calculated the supplies that filled all the containers in the metal book last night.

He didn't know whether he would find something as Xia Shushi expected this time, let alone whether the metal notebook would be kind.

But at least, he had made all the preparations he could. Even after reading the orthodox historical documents provided by Xia Shushi last night, he deliberately included the things he had learned in textbooks when he was a child about climbing snow-capped mountains and crossing grasslands. I found all the texts and read them twice.

The more experience you have with starvation, the more uncomfortable it becomes.

Wei Ran couldn't help but mutter to himself. He reached out and took out a bag of yak jerky from the box on the passenger seat, tore it open, took out one piece and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it loudly. I also focused on the scenery outside the window.

Objectively speaking, although both the information provided by Xia Shushi and his childhood textbooks described this rolling grassland as particularly dangerous.

But while driving on the spacious and flat provincial highway, the scenery on both sides of the river was truly beautiful.

The endless alpine grassland, the mountain peaks in the distance and the vague outline of the snow-capped mountains in the distance, the free viewing platforms and clean parking spaces that appear on the roadside from time to time, and even the low white clouds that almost cover the eyebrows , which makes people want to howl like wolves and howl unscrupulously.

I just don’t know, behind this beauty, how many people have put in so much effort over nearly 90 years in order to transform the former hell into the attractive scenery it is today?

Maybe that was also a long march.

Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh, and he couldn't help but guess in his heart, if those soldiers who couldn't get out of the grassland could see the grassland today, would they sigh and sigh or laugh with relief.

Probably happy.

In Wei Ran's random thoughts, the bright sunshine just now was blocked by more and more clouds, and he finally pulled off the mask used to resist ultraviolet rays.

Soon after, the large white clouds overhead gradually turned black, and then it began to rain heavily. Even the car window glass was covered with a layer of water vapor due to the temperature difference between inside and outside. At this time, Xia Shushi also called.

"How are your driving skills?"

As soon as the call was connected, Xia Shushi asked, "Also, how is your physical condition? Do you have any high reflexes?"

"My skills are fine and my body is fine. How are you?"

Wei Ran turned on the hands-free phone and asked calmly. There was no need to talk about his physical condition. Although his driving skills might not be as good as that of Jima, they had been corrected step by step by that crazy woman Daria. Naturally, he was confident enough to drive in the current road conditions.

"My temples are a little swollen, but it's not a big problem."

Xia Shushi said, "In this case, let's drive slower and not stop, and try to get there before noon."

"I'll follow your orders." Wei Ran hung up the phone indifferently.

After driving in the wind and rain for more than an hour, the weather showed no sign of improvement, but Xia Shushi, who was walking in front, drove the car onto a country road.

Although the condition of this road is quite good, and the scenery on both sides is not bad if it doesn't rain, but as we drive along the road, apart from being blocked by groups of yaks from time to time at the beginning, it becomes more and more desolate as we drive on.

What's even more outrageous is that after a while, although the rain stopped, it started to snow.

It was only then that Wei Ran in the car more or less intuitively felt the danger of this place hidden under the beautiful scenery.

Almost as soon as the wipers scraped off the first layer of ice and snow accumulated on the windshield, Xia Shushi called again.

"It's estimated that we'll be there in more than half an hour," Xia Shushi said after the call was connected, "Are you high?"

"no"

Wei Ran slowed down slightly and imitated Xia Shushi in front, turning on his double flashes. At the same time, he asked curiously, "Why did you end up here then?"

"Forehead"

Xia Shushi paused and said, "The surrounding scenery looked very good at that time, so we decided to drive a little further and find a deserted place to take some photos. Really, this place is really beautiful on a sunny day."

"You better really do it for the photo"

Wei Ran muttered secretly and didn't bother to continue asking. He followed the other person honestly and continued driving for nearly an hour, and finally parked the car on the side of the country road.

I glanced at the time displayed on the instrument panel and saw that almost half an hour had passed since the last village I passed. According to the navigation page on my phone, it was estimated that the next village was also about half an hour away.

Looking out the window again, there is nothing special on both sides of this country road. There is an endless meadow on the left hand side, with a few water bubbles scattered here and there.

The situation on the right side of the road is similar, except that there is a location three or four hundred meters away where the terrain is slightly higher.

I guess they camped there?

Wei Ran withdrew his gaze, put on a fisherman's hat he bought at a low price of 8 yuan in Songpan, then tightened the jacket he was wearing, opened the door and walked towards the off-road vehicle driven by Xia Shushi.

On this short road of less than 10 meters, Wei Ran felt a real chill, and he was already secretly thinking about whether to wear the military coat he bought yesterday evening.

When he opened the car door and got in, Xia Shushi also handed over a can of Red Bull, then raised his finger and pointed outside and said, "We camped on the hill on the right."

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who had just closed the car door, looked to the right again. It was an exaggeration to say that there was a hill there. At most, it could only be regarded as a slight ups and downs in the terrain.

If we use a more precise description, the altitude there is at most one meter higher than the surrounding area. As for the area, it is estimated to be only about the size of a basketball court and a half.

"Can the car drive through?" Wei Ran said, taking a sip of Red Bull.

"Better not"

Xia Shushi hurriedly said, "Did you see the pit more than ten meters away on the right? At that time, Qin Qi wanted to drive the car over, but it got stuck as soon as she drove there. The altitude here is high, and she would be out of breath even if she tried hard. no.

It took the two of us almost four hours to get the car out. If it hadn't been delayed by the car getting stuck, we wouldn't have decided to camp on that hillock and rest for the night. "

"Then should we wait until the snow stops or should it pass now?" Wei Ran asked a new question.

"Don't worry, it looks like it's noon now, let's eat something first."

Xia Shushi said as he took out two lunch boxes from the passenger compartment and handed one to Wei Ran.

This lunch box contained large steamed buns that they bought on the roadside when they set out from Songpan. They cost two yuan each. Each large bun was probably as big as a drawer of steamed buns.

Thanks to the warm baby stickers in the insulated box, this bun is still extraordinarily warm.

This was not over yet, Xia Shushi also picked up the thermos pot and poured Wei Ran a cup of hot butter tea.

After such a steaming lunch, both of them felt much more energetic. Without taking any rest, they each added some clothes and started working.

Two campers were unloaded from the bed of the pickup truck. The two of them loaded the purchased supplies into them, and one person dragged one to the small highland three to four hundred meters away.

"Your physique is not good enough."

Wei Ran saw that Xia Shushi started to out of breath after walking less than a hundred meters, and couldn't help laughing and joking.

At this time, Xia Shushi just raised his middle finger and had no energy to argue with the former. He just took out a bag of oxygen from his camper and took a few deep breaths.

By the time the guy slowed down, Wei Ran had already dragged the camper to the highest point of this small plateau, and saw some traces of where Xia Shushi and his two men once camped.

There was still snow in the sky, but he did not rush to set up camp. Instead, he took out the metal detector that Xia Shushi had purchased online in advance, assembled it, and started scanning this small highland with great skill.

Along with the beeps that sounded from time to time, he found two old-looking beer bottle caps and three or four rusty tin cans.

Obviously, these were left by other people who passed by here and also felt that it was a suitable place to stop and admire the scenery.

Continuing to wave the metal detector in his hand, Wei Ran swept out a "clean" area large enough for the two of them to camp before Xia Shushi, who was carrying an oxygen bag, pulled his camper up with a loud noise.

“Don’t be in a hurry to set up camp.”

Like an unscrupulous capitalist, Wei Ran didn't give Xia Shushi, who was desperate for oxygen, a chance to rest. "Where did you find that medicine bottle?"

Hearing this, Xia Shushi raised his hand and pointed to the fire pit surrounded by stones not far away, "That there, that one. That one next to it, a small pit."

"this?"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already placed the metal detection coil on the edge of the fire pit with remaining ashes.

"The one next to me," Xia Shushi said, taking a deep breath of oxygen.

Hearing this, Wei Ran moved the metal detector to the small pit next to the fire pit, which was about the size of a volleyball. Xia Shushi, who had been staring at this place, nodded while the metal detector beeped.

"You take a rest first."

As Wei Ran spoke, he put the metal detector aside, took out a small shovel from his camper, and continued digging down and around the pit.

As layers of soil mixed with grass roots were dug up, what was finally picked up by Wei Ran was only a short piece of rusty wire that was only as long as a matchstick.

Not being discouraged, Wei Ran took this small pit as the center of the circle and circled to expand the scope of his exploration.

After a while, Xia Shushi finally recovered. He also took out the metal detector. After some study, he assembled it according to the instructions. He scanned here and there irregularly. Whenever there was any movement, he would be loud. Hu Xiaoxiao picked up the engineering shovel he bought online in advance and started digging.

As for the harvest, in addition to various beer bottle caps and cans, this guy was particularly lucky to find two rusty horseshoe fragments.

The two fragments can fit together perfectly to form a complete horseshoe.

But unfortunately, these two fragments seem to be made of aluminum alloy, so this thing cannot be from that era.

"about there"

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, Wei Ran, who also found nothing, turned off the metal detector, "Get ready to set up a tent, the snow is getting heavier and heavier." "Is it possible that there is nothing else here?"

Xia Shushi turned off the metal detector without hesitation. He stood up and looked at the small highland behind him that looked like it had been pawed by marmots. He was also shaken in his heart as to whether there would be any clues here.

"If it's so easy to find, will it be our turn?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pulled out a pyramid tent purchased by Xia Shushi from the camper and started building it.

"makes sense"

As Xia Shushi said this, he threw the metal detector in his hand into the camper, pulled out a tent of the same style, and started to set it up according to the appearance of Wei Ran.

"Turn your tent 90 degrees," Wei Ran kindly reminded, "Don't let the tent door face the wind."

"Are you familiar with this kind of thing?" Xia Shushi asked curiously while adjusting the tent cloth.

Can I tell you that I once had a habitat that belonged only to me?

Wei Ran muttered secretly, but he just pretended to smile. He quickly propped up the tent and tightened the wind ropes, and even dug a drainage ditch around the tent.

Almost as soon as the two of them set up their tents, the snow that had been falling turned into hailstones the size of peanuts.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Wei Ran held up his clothes and pulled the camper to the entrance of the tent. He took out the camping bed and moon chair also purchased by Xia Shushi and put them together one by one and placed them in the tent.

After everything was done, he looked at the gas tank and stove head that Xia Shushi had helped purchase with great disgust. He decisively took out the pie stove from the metal book, pumped enough gas to light it, and then burned the gas tank and stove that Xia Shushi had bought. A heating radiator was mounted on top.

With the heat released by this amazingly powerful pie oven, the tent was much warmer even though the door was open.

Sitting down on the moon chair at the door, Wei Ran looked at the hailstones crackling down outside and slowly lit a cigarette.

However, although the cigarette was lit, he did not take a puff. Instead, he just held it between his fingertips and looked at the scarlet butt quietly.

After a while, before the cigarette burned out, it went out because there was not enough oxygen.

"This damn place."

Wei Ran flicked the cigarette butt away with his finger, but then he was stunned. The cigarette butt flying into the hail was naturally nothing, but following the direction in which the cigarette butt flew out, he could clearly see the cigarette butts that had been thrown all over the ground. Hail, some of which had been pushed down by the wind along the edge of this highland.

"Xia Shushi! Xia Shushi!" Wei Ran shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What's wrong!" Xia Shushi shouted in response.

"When the hail stops, let's go search below!" Wei Ran shouted and reminded, "The wind has blown the wipers over the years, and even if there is anything, it might have been washed down!"

"Okay!" Xia Shushi responded quickly and then there was no movement.

Without paying attention to the other party, Wei Ran made a pot of hawthorn leaf tea and threw a piece of red flower into it. He lay on the bed with a piece of beef jerky in his mouth and chewed it absently.

From about three o'clock in the afternoon until the sky completely darkened, the hail stopped and strong winds began to blow again, and the temperature outside the tent dropped to below zero.

In such a harsh environment, Wei Ran and Xia Shushi discussed at the top of their lungs and finally closed the tent door and decided to wait until tomorrow.

He was able to keep his composure, but Xia Shushi, who was also hiding in the tent, seemed to have fleas on his body, tossing and turning and scratching his head and head, unable to calm down at all.

What was also unsettling was the weather outside the tent. That night, the wind had not stopped and the rain started to fall again. Not long after the rain stopped, snow particles started to drift again.

Such torturous weather lasted until about four o'clock on the second morning, when the sky turned white, and the wind and rain finally stopped and the sun cleared.

Xia Shushi, who opened the frosty tent door and was wrapped in a green military coat, glanced outside and immediately retracted.

When he came out again, he not only wore a pair of thick boots on his feet, but also had a scarf around his neck, and a thick knitted hat on his head.

After taking a sip of the white water vapor, Xia Shushi put on his gloves, turned on his headlamp, picked up the metal detector, and followed Wei Ran's guess yesterday, circling the slope at the edge of the highland and started exploring.

With buzzing sounds, he dug out various metal products.

Most of these things are various cans, rusty small iron boxes, even a brass ring that I don’t know who left here, and even wire beads full of magical characteristics and a ring that seems to be made of white copper and protected by a leather sheath. Subdue the demon pestle.

He even picked up a small pickaxe with a sharp beak that was accidentally left here by a girl digging for cordyceps or caladiums.

"drop--!"

Amid disappointment again and again, the metal detector in Xia Shushi's hand beeped again.

"Ahei! Ahei! Ahei!"

Xia Shushi, who sneezed three times in a row, pulled off some of his scarf, then took off his gloves, took out a tissue and blew his nose.

"You won't catch a cold again, will you?"

Xia Shushi muttered to himself, sat down, picked up the small iron-handled pickaxe he had picked up not long ago, and dug out the soil covering the turf bit by bit.

This tool he picked up was much easier to use than the small shovel he prepared himself, and the digging efficiency was much faster.

But the more he dug, the weirder his expression became. The depth this time was unprecedented.

Seeing that a small pit more than 20 centimeters deep had been dug out but still no object that made the metal detector scream, Xia Shushi, who had already started to runny nose, got up and returned to the tent, digging out the box he bought online in advance. engineer shovel.

After shoveling the soil several times, he finally found two rusty iron products in the soil.

What is this?

Xia Shushi picked up the two pieces that were twisted together by the wire, and looked at the thing that was somewhat similar to a stirrup to study it.

"Fuck!"

At a certain moment, Xia Shushi suddenly realized what he had found. He quickly got up, ran to the top of the high ground with the bunch of things in his hand, and shouted at the top of his voice, "Wei Ran! Wei Ran! Get up quickly." Look what I found! Wei Ran!"

In fact, when he shouted his second voice, Wei Ran, who was sleeping soundly in the tent, suddenly sat up. In his hand hidden in the sleeping bag, a titanium alloy pistol with a silencer appeared.

After reacting, Wei Ran put away the weapon that must not be seen by anyone, quickly got up and put away the pie stove that had run out of fuel, then opened the tent door and asked, "What's wrong?!"

"Quick, quick, quick! Look what I found!" Xia Shu had already handed over what he was carrying before he finished speaking.

"This is..." Wei Ran frowned and looked at it, "Is this an iron-footed horse?"

"That's right!"

Xia Shushi nodded excitedly and said with great certainty, "An iron-footed horse for climbing snow-capped mountains! You can't go wrong with it!"

"Where did you find it?"

Wei Ran said as he reached out and took the pair of iron-footed horses, but his attention was focused on the wire that fixed the two iron-footed horses together.

This piece of rusty wire is almost the same thickness as the wire twisted around the constriction of the mouth of the medicine bottle in the photo provided by Xia Soseki. It also has an extra cigarette thickness twisted out for tying things or hanging on it. What rings on top.

"Where did you find it?" Wei Ran raised his head and asked.

"Over there! Ah Sneeze!"

When Xia Shushi turned around and pointed to the place of discovery, he couldn't help but sneeze again.

"Are you catching a cold again?"

Wei Ran immediately noticed Xia Shushi's anomaly. This place was at an altitude of about 3400 meters, and a cold was not a minor illness.

“A bit cold”

Xia Shushi blew his nose and said, "It's crazy. Why do I catch a cold every time I come to this place?"

"Let's exercise more when we go back."

Wei Ran said and turned around and got into the tent. While changing his clothes, he said, "You can stay and have some rest. Take some oxygen and make another pot of ginger soup or heat up the butter tea I bought yesterday. I'll go find it myself." ”

"also"

Xia Shushi nodded happily, "My metal detector is just there. If you find something, remember to call me."

"definitely"

Wei Ran, who had already put on his clothes, nodded happily and followed the footprints left by Xia Shushi to find the place where the iron-footed horse was found.

After taking a special look at the dug hole, which was almost half a meter deep, Wei Ran thought about it for a while and picked up the metal detector that was still turned off, and started detecting with this place as the center of the circle.

In less than five minutes, almost a straight line of beeps reached his ears.

He took the engineering shovel that Xia Shushi had left behind, and after careful digging, he dug out a small rusty crescent-shaped object from almost the same depth.

Is it a fire sickle?

Wei Ran looked at the objects he dug out and made his judgment with uncertainty.

Putting this thing aside for the time being, Wei Ran picked up the metal detector again.

About half an hour later, after digging out various man-made garbage that did not match the age, he finally made another discovery.

This time it’s an almost identical medicine bottle again!