"Sir, this should be a map of the mountain road in Dajiang Mountain behind. You see, continue north along the official road, and then turn on the fork in the road to reach the location of the mountain col on the map..."
"And this drawing method is a drawing habit in the military. I have seen similar drawings in the military before."
"But this marked mountain road is a bit strange. The second half is crooked and twisted. Are you sure it's not a detour? And it seems that the scale of the terrain is deliberately enlarged in the second half? What kind of painting method is this?"
A local Xuan Qingwei studied the map for a while and understood it, but there were also some strange places.
Shen Hao took back the map and asked Wang Yiming to contact the Jingxi Army immediately. He wanted to check Xu Tianwu, and then try to see if he could reach the Xiushan Village from the Jingxi Army line.
The news from the Jingxi Army came back very quickly. In the morning, they went to assist in checking the documents. In the afternoon, they sent someone to bring all the documents about Xu Tianwu directly. To put it in the Jingxi Army's reply: When it comes to major events involving the plague, no one in the Jingxi Army dares to be careless at all.
"Xu Tianwu joined the army thirty-one years ago. He served in Zhuohuo Pass and also participated in the cleaning rangers? Did he follow the path of a scout?"
"Chief Scout... This is considered a sharp-edged soldier in the military, right?"
"Fifteen years ago, he was discharged from the army due to injury and then returned to the field. He has a son and a wife at home...oh? They are not natives of Jingxi? Are their ancestral origins unclear? Were they immigrants in the past?"
Searching forward, Shen Hao found Xu Tianwu's name in a discharge list. The reason for discharge written on it was "the leg injury is not suitable for continued service." However, just the page with Xu Tianwu on this roster shows that 17 people have been retired. Eight of them have the same organization: Jingxi Army Left Army, 11th Guards, T-Zig Banner, Group A Scout Team . And they were all injured.
Generally speaking, this kind of collective injury discharge is very common in the frontier army, especially the cleaning rangers, because even if there is no war, it is still necessary to clear out the barbarians on a small scale, and sometimes something will happen if you are not careful.
"Can these people who retired with Xu Tianwu still be found now?"
"Yes. They are all retired elite scouts. They will have records in the army. In special cases, they will be recruited into the recruit training camp to help. But does Mr. Shen need to contact them?"
"Well, I want to meet them."
"Okay, I'll send someone to contact you right away."
Along with these documents came a document treasury officer from the Jingxi Army, who worked neatly and neatly. As soon as Shen Hao said this, he immediately arranged for people to handle it, and said he would see him within three days at the latest.
However, Shen Hao would not be idle for three days. He arranged for a group of people to enter Dajiang Mountain towards the map route found from the Xu family. He wanted to touch the red dot marked on the map first. where.
However, in just two days, the team of spies who entered the mountain had to return to Wanhekou. They told Shen Hao depressingly that there was something wrong with the map. The second half of the route after entering Dajiang Mountain was all wrong. There were all traps and traps along the route. The cliff was completely impassable, and one of the spies almost had his leg broken by a hidden animal trap.
"Trap?" Shen Hao, instead of being discouraged, raised his brows and became interested.
Using fake pictures to hide it from others shows that the Xu family is deliberately hiding something. Shen Hao took the map and looked at it repeatedly. He felt that the answer to the mystery should be on this map.
On the third day, the Baihu officer from the Jingxi Army led three decrepit old men to see Shen Hao as scheduled. Although these three old people are not young, in their sixties or seventies, they still have an aura about them, like old wolves. Even though they are old, people still dare not underestimate them. I guess the young ones Sometimes they are ruthless characters.
"Master Shen, these three people are the former colleagues of Xu Tianwu who are still alive." After that, he introduced Shen Hao and said: "This is Master Shen from the 100 households in the Black Flag Camp of the Xuanqing Guard. I have called you here to ask something. You guys, just say whatever you have and don’t have to hide it.”
The three of them nodded, and Shen Hao asked the guards to sit down.
"Three of you, Xu Tianwu retired with you back then. I looked at the roster and you all retired because you were injured. Can you tell me what happened at that time?"
The three of them were silent for a while, as if they were reminiscing, with some resentment on their faces.
"What else could it be for? When we were cleaning, we saw a small rat village. It was not big, with only a few dozen people. Our scout team was ready to kill them by ourselves. But who knew we encountered a tough enemy, and there were... With the rat head in robe, most of us were killed or injured when a piece of poison was spilled. Xu Shichang led a few of us in a roundabout way before we ran away, and then a large force followed and destroyed the village.
However, the poison cannot be cured. My eyes, Xu Shichang, and legs were injured. One of them injured his lungs and the other injured his hand. Isn't this the only way to retire? "
"Rat head in robe?" Shen Hao has never been in the military, nor has he ever been out to clean up the barbarians, so he doesn't understand anything about the barbarians at all. However, the Jingxi Army Baihu next to him smiled and explained to Shen Hao that the so-called "robed rat head" was actually a barbarian wizard, a kind of monk who was different from ours and was good at all kinds of sinister spells.
Shen Hao understands this.
"Did you still keep in touch after that?"
"We have no contact, we are too far apart, and we have a lot of work at home. If the army hadn't called us this time, we probably wouldn't have been able to see each other until death."
Shen Hao was a little disappointed. He thought that if there was still contact between these people, he might be able to ask about the daily life of the Xu family, but now it seems that there is no hope.
"By the way, you were all in the scout team back then, so you should have learned drawing, right? Can Xu Tianwu do it, too?"
"Yes! They know it all. Those who can't draw pictures can't join the scout team. Xu Shichang is also good at drawing pictures. He also invented a method of folding the pictures in half. Even if the pictures are lost and picked up by the enemy, they won't be able to understand them."
Folding method? Shen Hao's heart moved, and he took out the map he found from Xu's house and handed it to the three of them: "Can you understand this map?"
The three people put their heads together, and after a short time of distinguishing, they looked at each other and smiled tacitly, and said: "You can't understand this. This is the work of the scouts in our army, and isn't it the best of our Xu Shichang?" Hey, there are still people who know how to do this?"
"This may have been drawn by Xu Tianwu. Do you understand? I think there is something wrong with the last half of this picture." Shen Hao followed the lead.
"Haha, sir, I said this map is drawn by folding in half. People who don't understand can't understand it and can easily be misled. You need to fold another piece of paper in half like this and fold this part of the map bit by bit. Cover it, then fold it in half..."
One of the veterans proudly began to explain, and in just a few words, others understood what this folding method was all about. Although it was simple, it was still a fantastic idea.
After the reconstruction, the originally inexplicable part of the route map completely changed its appearance. This is what the map originally looked like.
