After Shao Biao took the people away, Zhang He took several of his Fuzhou Guard soldiers to look for water sources, and soon found enough fresh water to temporarily supply a thousand people: On a low hill on the north side, there was a small stream flowing into the sea, and the water was crystal clear. Delicious; further away, you can still see patches of snow on the distant hillside. If the snow water is divided, it will be enough to teach the army an inexhaustible supply.
The biggest problem at sea: the source of fresh water has been solved at this time.
"We set out from Suzhou, and the weather was getting warmer by then. Unexpectedly, we could actually see snow at this time." Zhu Su said with a smile.
However, in fact, my heart has become quite heavy. When you see the snow on the mountaintop in the distance, you can basically tell that this is in the north.
"I hope this place is still within the territory of my Ming Dynasty." Ru Taisu hugged himself with his hands, his tone was quite trembling. Although these people have cotton robes, the robes they wear in the winter in the south of the Yangtze River still look a little thin here.
Not to mention the women who were rescued earlier who refused to wear cotton robes and only wore a few more layers of coarse cloth.
"We must find a way to return to our Ming Dynasty for resettlement as soon as possible." Zhu Su murmured, looking at the shivering women who were still busy boiling water and cooking for the Ming army. "I hope Commander Shao will be able to determine our location as soon as possible."
Whenever you come to a strange place, having information is a top priority.
If you don't know where you are, if you still move blindly with your head covered, it's easy to go in the wrong direction, or even directly bump into a powerful tribe from the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty.
The feeling of insufficient information... is too passive.
The exhausted Ming army dragged their bodies from the bumps and fatigues of the sea, but still felled trees and boiled water to make food in an orderly manner. Zhu Su climbed up a high hill and took out his telescope to look around, hoping to find some people.
"Your Highness, Your Highness!" Someone called urgently. "Your Highness, please follow me!"
"Cao Yuan? Did you find anything?" Zhu Su perked up and turned to face Cao Yuan, who was trotting all the way. Cao Yuan led Zhu Su to a hill, pointed to the ground in front of him and said, "Your Highness, please look here. Although this place is deserted, there are still traces of the road."
"It can be seen that this place must not be a wild and uncivilized land. If you follow this path, you might be able to find an official road!"
Zhu Su looked carefully and saw that although it was covered with weeds and gravel, it seemed a bit hidden. But there is indeed a winding and bumpy path in front of us. A few steps further, Zhu Su even saw a broken bluestone slab in a ditch. Obviously, this bluestone slab was once used to hold down the ditch ridge here to prevent pedestrians from falling into the ditch.
However, the nomadic fishing and hunting people living in the wilderness would not pave their roads with bluestone slabs so carefully. What's more, there are very obvious traces of manual polishing on this broken bluestone. Those who can do this are undoubtedly the more civilized Ming people or the Korean people. Whether it is in the Ming Dynasty or Goryeo, it can be directly regarded as being out of the most dangerous situation.
"Cao Yuan, good job!" Thinking of this section, Zhu Su was also overjoyed. "Go and call some more people. I will lead people along the road to the front to investigate!"
Cao Yuan happily accepted the order. After a while, dozens of people including Cao Yuan, Chang Mao, and Zhu Di formed an investigation team and followed this deserted path. Sure enough, at the front of the road, they discovered a village hidden behind a mountain col. Seeing a village, several people couldn't help but be overjoyed.
But as a few people got closer and closer, their joy couldn't help but cool down: for no other reason than that, after walking in, they could obviously find that this place turned out to be a deserted village.
"Hey, I thought I could find someone to ask where this place is, but I didn't expect it to be a deserted village with no one. What a bad luck!" After looking around and confirming that no one lived here, Chang Mao was angry. spat.
"Alas, I didn't expect that my trip would be in vain." Cao Yuan also sighed. Most of the houses in this village are in decay and overgrown with weeds. It is obvious that they have been abandoned for a long time. "My two highnesses are so tired that their joy was in vain."
"It's not all in vain." Zhu Su looked around to explore the remaining structure of the house. "At least, we can be sure that we have not been exiled to Jurchen, Nuergan and other places. This place should still be within our territory of China." He pointed at the lintel of a decaying house: "Look, the houses here are very obvious. It is the shape of my China.”
"Those nomads can't build such a complicated craft."
"Could it be that this place is still my Ming Dynasty?" Zhu Di frowned deeply, "But since it is our Ming Dynasty, why is this place so desolate?"
Everyone continued to explore along the deserted road for a while, but ultimately found nothing. Seeing that it was getting late, they retreated to the camp in frustration. When it got completely dark, Zhu Su and the others were eating around the fire when a sergeant reported, "Your Highnesses, Colonel Shaobiao Shao has returned."
"Please!" Zhu Su quickly put down his bowls and chopsticks, and saw Shao Biao, with a dusty face, coming back carrying a Xiuchun knife. "I have met the three His Highnesses. Fortunately, I have lived up to my orders. I have already gained some insights."
"Oh?" Zhu Su couldn't help but feel a little impressed by this capable Jin Yiwei: only a few hours later, he actually found out some clues. Jin Yiwei's intelligence ability is really good.
Shao Biao nodded and took out a roll of maps from his arms. Zhu Di was stunned when he saw it: "Colonel Shao, where did you get this volume of maps?"
"Return to the Fourth Highness." Shaobiao bowed and replied. "After receiving the order from His Highness the Fifth Prince, I led my people to find the highest mountain in the four places, climbed to the top and looked around, and drew this map."
"You can actually draw a map!" Zhu Su was also amazed.
"In his early years, Shao was a detective in the army." Shao Biao said calmly. "Most of us among the Jinyi Guards are from Tanma."
Oh, that’s not surprising, he turned out to be a spy.
Indeed, as a spy, drawing maps is the most basic skill.
"Let's continue, what clues did you discover?" Zhu Xi said.
"Yes." Shaobiao nodded. "Shao climbed up to a high place and looked around for a long time. He only found a few deserted villages around, but there was no trace of human habitation."
"But the terrain here... is somewhat familiar."
"Shao once passed through the land of Liaodong when he followed the Duke of Wei, General Xu, to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty. I still have some impressions of the map that General Xu asked us to look at."
"This place may be located in Liaodong, near Jinzhou!"
Shao Biao said.
(End of chapter)
