The command platoon followed the path explored by Wang Ke and Gu Maolin and quickly arrived at Wang Ke's side.
The tree stick belonging to Gu Maolin is now in the hands of the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun. He took two more soldiers, Wang Ke's military dagger and his own sickle, and ran to the Ailanthus tree forest over there, cutting a stick for each person in the platoon.
"Platoon leader, look at the eagle's beak." Wang Ke pointed to the sudden cliff about fifty or sixty meters high and said to the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun.
"It really looks like a knife, not like an eagle's mouth." Hu Zhijun leaned on the stick and looked at the top of the mountain that stretched like a knife!
"Command the platoon leader, is this the river we just crossed?" The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun still couldn't forget the road he just walked.
"Yes, it can no longer be called a river, it's more like a swamp." Wang Ke responded.
Years of grassland have divided the river into countless fragments, large and small. It’s unknown how deep or how big they are. The grass has become integrated with some bushes, like a vast grassland hiding countless beasts.
No wonder no one comes here, it's so scary.
"Chirp-chirp" Several high-pitched eagle chirps came from the valley. The screams penetrated the forest and sprinkled on the grass, causing several birds to fly up immediately. Several goshawks were hovering in the sky, with white heads and black wings, and a pair of cold eyes staring at the command row and the grassland and trees below.
Suddenly an eagle swooped down, and soon took off again, soaring into the sky. Climbing up the eagle's beak and landing on the knife-like stone, everyone in the command platoon could clearly see that the eagle was holding a snake under its talons.
The snake had obviously suffered a heavy blow. Although it was still twisting, it had no strength to struggle and was dragged by the eagle and flew up to the eagle's mouth.
Wang Ke, veteran platoon leader Hu Zhijun, and Song Ruimin all unanimously took off their eight-fold military binoculars and looked at the eagle.
Wang Ke adjusted the aperture focus, and now he could see clearly that the eagle was lowering its head, pecking at the snake with its sharp beak, tearing the snake meat, and began to swallow it in big mouthfuls.
This may be the first time the command platoon has seen the battle between snakes and eagles in nature. Wang Ke handed the telescope to the old squad leader Huang Zhonghe. Similarly, the telephone squad leader Xiao Gao also held the stick and took Song Ruimin's telescope. The whole platoon took turns standing on the edge of the deserted beach, looking at the biological chain of nature.
"Platoon leader, I understand, why is this place called Eagle Mouth?" Wang Ke bent down and inserted the military dagger Gu Maolin returned into his leggings, stood up and said to the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun.
Hu Zhijun turned back to look at Wang Ke, and the soldiers in the command platoon also turned back to look at him.
"When the eagle catches food, it flies down to this cliff to process it. Over time, people called it the eagle's mouth."
The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun smiled. Although it was a bit far-fetched, this might be the only explanation.
This valley is the only open space, but there are also deep and thick grass growing under the feet. Although it is already autumn, the green and yellow grass and surrounding woods are still like a landscape painting, a paradise, and surprisingly similar to the south.
Wang Ke is very surprised. This place is only a few miles away from Longquanzhuang, but the topography, including vegetation, is so different?
At this time, Gu Maolin was pulling Wang Ke's clothes from behind. Wang Ke looked back and saw Gu Maolin holding his telescope, with a somewhat panicked look in his eyes.
"Platoon commander, you can't stay here for long."
"Why?"
"Look at the eagle." Gu Maolin returned the telescope to Wang Ke. The telescope circulated in the hands of the soldiers and just arrived in Gu Maolin's hands.
Wang Ke took the telescope and looked at the eagle again. The snake had been swallowed by it, and he could see that it kept picking at its beak with its talons, apparently unsteady on its feet.
"Maolin, are you saying the snake was poisoned?" Wang Ke adjusted the aperture of the telescope, trying to see more clearly. But before the adjustment was completed, the eagle staggered, fell down from the stone, and disappeared in a flash on the top of the mountain. It neither fell off the cliff nor saw it stand up again.
What is the secret at the top of the cliff? It’s really worth a visit. But it is not easy to climb to the top of this cliff. You need to go around a very far mountain ridge. Let's put all this aside for now.
The two warriors who were watching also saw all this.
Suddenly, Wang Ke broke into cold sweat. He put down the telescope in his hand, turned to Gu Maolin and said, "Maolin, what do you mean..."
Gu Maolin nodded.
"Gather!" Wang Ke immediately gave the order. The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun, who was looking around, was obviously a little surprised. He also turned around after hearing the sound.
Wang Ke said to the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun: "Platoon leader, as we turn the cliff ahead, I remember there is a gravel beach. Let's go and have a look."
"Okay!" After saying that, he was about to leave.
"Wait a minute, platoon leader, we are at the end. Gu Maolin, you go in front." Wang Ke greeted.
"Yes!" Gu Maolin grabbed the stick and immediately ran to the front of the row.
Gu Maolin walked very slowly and cautiously. He used the tree stick in front of him to pull, making a little movement while walking, which made the grass "squeak".
"Gu Maolin, you are too lazy. The way you are walking, you can't walk even in the dark." Song Ruimin, who was following behind, was a little anxious.
"Song Ruimin." Wang Ke called.
"arrive."
"You come to the back to accompany the old platoon leader, and I'll go to the front." Wang Ke said, there may be very few people walking in this damn place, and it is no longer a safe place.
Wang Ke walked to the front of the team, and together with Gu Maolin, they started playing with two sticks in the grass. The team obviously sped up.
Others could not understand the conversation between Gu Maolin and him just now, but Wang Ke understood that the thing that could make eagles fall must be poisonous snakes. Although they both died together, this valley was still very dangerous.
It scares me to think about it. Why did the entire platoon lie down on the grass when they were just taking a break? Moreover, the landlord, Uncle Geng, had clearly told himself that there were many worms under the eagle's beak. If he was bitten by a poisonous snake, he didn't know what the consequences would be. How could you be worthy of the parents of the commander and the soldiers?
As the platoon leader, you are responsible for the safety of the entire platoon! Thinking of this, he immediately turned around and said, "Comrades, dance with the sticks in your hands and be careful to avoid snakes."
Upon hearing this, the soldiers in the command platoon immediately danced with the tree sticks in their hands, and a "crackling" sound was made from both sides of the team.
Looking for snakes in the grass. Just this movement scared away all the snakes.
After walking another hundred or ten meters, we came to the bottom of the cliff. There were no knee-deep weeds here anymore. It was all gravel. You can imagine that the sea has changed, and maybe a hundred years ago, this was also the bottom of the river. Now it is a different scene.
Some soldiers threw away the sticks as soon as they arrived.
"Comrades, don't throw away this stick. It is both a crutch and a weapon." Wang Ke shouted loudly. Because the gun on his body had no bullets during training, it was worse than this stick at this time.
Everyone raised their heads and looked towards the eagle's mouth. It was almost 90 degrees, straight up and down, like a knife slashing. There are some small bushes and some grass on the waist, but most of them are weathered stones. If a piece of it falls off, it will definitely hit the head and blood.
Looking along the mouth of this cliff, the gravel seems to stretch endlessly around the woods and hills in front.
"Let's go, command the platoon leader, let's keep moving forward." The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun said to Wang Ke. He obviously did not want to stay here for a long time.
"Yes!" Wang Ke replied, and then said to the whole platoon: "Let's go to the front to rest."
Heading towards the woods, the command platoon marched for more than six or seven kilometers, and this place was different again. Suddenly, there are sand dunes and bushes of different heights. The bushes grow in the gravel, and the gravel grows around the bushes. There are ravines everywhere, and there are peaks of different sizes on the left and right.
This is equivalent to a small basin.
"Platoon leader, old squad leader, let's take a break?" Wang Ke asked the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun and the old squad leader Huang Zhonghe.
"Okay, let comrades rest." After the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun answered, he walked to a relatively high hill. Wang Ke quickly followed.
The terrain here is very complex. In just a few kilometers, we have experienced grasslands, swamps, beaches, jungles and hills.
After climbing up the hill and taking a look, the old platoon leader Hu Zhijun nodded and said to Wang Ke: "The mountainous area where the hawk's mouth came just now and this place are suitable for artillery position training."
"Yes."
"Command platoon commander, look at the mountain on the left. Is it suitable for training by our command platoon?"
Wang Ke took out the drawing board and could no longer find the area that he and Song Ruimin had studied. He turned around and shouted loudly: "Reconnaissance squad leader."
"Here!" Song Ruimin ran over.
"Run for a moment and find out the coordinates of the platoon leader's place. You can go over and ask the wireless class and telephone class to position our standing point while taking a rest."
"yes."
Soon the wireless class and the telephone class were divided into two stalls. Niu Suozhu of the reconnaissance class carried a cannon to the mirror, and Liang Xiaolong, a sweet potato carrying a steering wheel, formed a surveying and mapping formation. Zhao Mingming of the hemp stalk held a two-meter pole horizontally to assist in ranging.
"Platoon leader——" Song Ruimin ran over with abacus in hand.
Running up to him, he said: "Platoon commander, I wonder if we have made a mistake."
"What's wrong?" Wang Ke asked.
"Platoon leader, have we traveled six or seven kilometers since we set off in the morning?" Song Ruimin asked.
"Are you tired and confused? It's not just six or seven kilometers, it's two kilometers from the road to Yingzui, and from Yingzui to here, we have been walking for more than three hours. According to the mountain marching speed, we are at least nine kilometers away. More than kilometers." Wang Ke said.
"Platoon leader, that's wrong. How can I derive the coordinates of the standing point? The straight-line distance from Longquanzhuang is only five kilometers?"
"What? Where are we?" Wang Ke couldn't believe it at all. He leaned over and looked at Song Ruimin's standing point.
"Here, right here." Song Ruimin pointed at the location of the 1:50,000 military map in his hand. It was less than three squares away from the Eagle's Mouth, and it was indeed only five squares away from Longquanzhuang.
This kind of 1:50,000 military map, one centimeter on the map, the actual terrain is 500 meters. If you look closely, you'll see that after going around and around, you've come to the back of the eagle's mouth. Isn't this ridiculous?
"Are you sure it's accurate?"
"Platoon leader, don't worry, our reconnaissance squad's surveying and mapping technology is not just a boast. No matter how wrong we are, we won't be wrong by more than a few kilometers!"
"Commander platoon leader, what's going on?" The old platoon leader Hu Zhijun also leaned his head over.
"We walked all morning and only reached this place." Wang Ke pointed at the map, but when he looked up, he saw a tripod on a nearby peak. Then he looked at the map logo and compared it with the nearby terrain. Damn it, It really is!
