For 35 days, eight students in the geology class of Anqing Huangpu Sports School have been carrying out field "practice" under the leadership of a teacher, and there are a total of 38 students in the geology class of Huangpu Sports School, but now they are divided into three places in Anhui Province, with the Huai River and the Yangtze River as the boundary into northern Anhui, central Anhui and southern Anhui.

According to the regulations of the Huangpu Sports School, the students of the "geology" class of the 26 Huangpu Sports Schools in 12 provinces of Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong and Henan must conduct "geological investigation" internships in the field, and take the internship as their graduation homework.

It is precisely because of this requirement that hundreds of students of the "geology" class of the 26th Physical Education School, after completing the six-month basic course, took the "mineral investigation officer's certificate" given by the governors of various provinces to ride horses, drive carriages, and carry "exploration equipment" worth hundreds of thousands of yuan to carry out "geological investigations".

In the two years after Li Hongzhang ordered the first modern military maps of Liaoning, Jilin, Zhili, and Shandong, the maps of most of China's provinces were either surveyed and mapped by foreigners or drawn during the Kangxi period, and the maps were extremely inaccurate.

It is precisely because of this that drawing a detailed military map with a scale of 50,000 is the only operation of the Huangpu School in various places that is separated from the alma mater, and almost every Huangpu School will directly hire foreign mapping and surveying teachers to teach "geological surveying and mapping courses".

A dozen small tents strolled among the campfires on an open slope in the ravine, and a few young men with rifles on their backs unloaded from their mules' saddles to buy food and spare quilts for the market, the snow was already falling, and winter was coming. At this time, the nights are already cold, and when it comes to real winter, the winter in the mountains will only get colder.

In the tents, the tattered cadets drew maps with the faint glow of the coarse fiber wick burning in the kerosene. The work of field surveying and mapping is boring and boring, every day, driving mules to drill around in the ravines of Dabie Mountain, drawing maps, calibrating old maps is very boring, drawing mountain contours, marking routes, drawing valley curves, and standard calibrating landmarks.

It's a long and exhausting task, especially in such daunting and deteriorating conditions. A snowfall in early winter made these students frown, and even became a little resentful. Two days ago, one of the students stumbled and slid down the mountainside, and although he was not injured at all, the precious copper theodolite was shattered.

Another time, while crossing the river, a horse slipped and the camera fell into the biting water, no longer being able to use it. The boring life and the risky work made Li Shaoping feel a little bored, so much so that he thought of leaving. Before he decided to leave, he went to the tent of his friend Sun Zeshi.

"Will you continue to stay here? Namhyun. ”

"Huh? Possibly! ”

After wearing it in the ravine for a month, Sun Zeshi, who was once polite and polite, had already changed his appearance under the wind and sun, and even the clothes on his body were torn and tattered by thorns.

"Is this map really very precious?"

Li Shaoping pointed to the map on the workbench that was recalibrated and enlarged today according to three measurement points, which was enlarged according to a map of 500,000 scales drawn by British surveyors, and their task was to further calibrate these, which was actually the only work they needed to complete.

"That's right, you haven't heard the teacher say it, until now, except for the military maps of 25,000 scale in the northern provinces of China, and the 100,000 scale maps of Huguang, the maps used by other provinces are still the maps drawn by Kangxi."

Sun Zeshi, who had bloodshot eyes in his eyes, nodded.

"We still have to continue to refuel, we have only completed a quarter of the specified operations so far, and at this rate, it will be possible to complete our team's task until the end of March next year!"

As he spoke, Sun Zeshi pointed to a few lines of the map on the table.

"You see that the mountain people who collected medicine today told us that there are still a few trails here, and Mr. Anderson said that tomorrow they will be divided into three teams, and these trails will be found out and added to the map."

"Do you think we need to do this?"

"Huh?"

Looking at his friend in surprise, Sun Zeshi then nodded solemnly.

"You won't forget what we learned in class, will you?"

"Lessons?"

Li Shaoqiu looked at Sun Zeshi, his hand carelessly stroked the ruler on the workbench, this may be a subconscious action, he did not forget the important surname of map drawing that he learned in class.

Traditional artillery is a direct artillery, but with the progress of technology, the mountain artillery has been an indirect aiming artillery, the position construction of the intermittent artillery, the aiming of the dense position must be based on the modern map is a large-scale military map, and the vast majority of China's provinces on the large-scale map, is simply a blank, the surveying and mapping of the national surname is still hundreds of years ago, and even the map of the provinces in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there is no detailed map of the foreigners, those foreigners from the Xianfeng period, they will use the missionaries as a cover to investigate the provinces, Surveying and mapping, maybe they have military-grade maps in their hands, but they are issued separately with 500,000 scale maps.

During the field investigation, when Li Shaoqiu used this map to zoom in and calibrate, they found that these maps were full of errors, perhaps this was their intention, and it was the field investigation that strengthened the determination of many of them to draw the most auspicious topographic map, of course, the most important thing was the 50,000-scale military map.

"I really don't want to crawl around here!"

Li Shaoqiu said suddenly, ignoring Sun Zeshi's surprise, and continued.

"I know, maybe you will say that I am not promising, but if I really have a promising, how can we walk around in this ravine, you see that the students of other classes, almost all of them have been recommended to go to their alma mater, only the worst students are with us, driving mules to and fro in this ravine, dealing with wild beasts and villagers all day long......"

Speaking of this, Li Shaoqiu was suddenly silent for a moment, he glanced outside the tent and lowered his voice.

Five days ago, when we met the patrol battalion, when they checked our equipment, if it weren't for the fact that they didn't know how to use the military map of Pinyin, what was waiting for us would be a prison! We'll ...... then."

A sigh came out of his throat, and Li Shaoqiu's expression looked a little tired.

"With the wild beasts of the mountains and forests as companions, sleeping in the open all day long, and beware of the government and bandits, I have had enough."

"So you want to go?"

Sun Zeshi glanced at his friends, all of them looked incredible, they had vowed to achieve national recovery together, but now it was just a risk-free map calibration, which made him retreat.

"It's completely different from what I imagined!"

"That'...... Qiushi, what kind of day do you want to be in? ”

Sun Zeshi put down the pencil in his hand and asked rhetorically, there was no taste of disdain in his eyes, and he even seemed very calm, he could understand Li Shaoqiu's feelings, not to mention Li Shaoqiu, a young master who had never suffered hardships, even he himself had a sense of retreat, the life here was boring and full of risks, in his eyes, those risks were the adjustment of a boring life.

"I ......"

When he opened his mouth, Li Shaoqiu didn't say anything, what kind of life did he want?

However, Sun Zeshi took a test paper from the side, spread it on the workbench, and fixed it with a thumbtack, and the test paper showed the calibrated map under the workbench.

"We all know why we came here for the sake of the nation's recovery, aren't we?"

He pointed to the map on the table and scratched it with a ruler.

"If we don't have a detailed military map, in the future, when the Liberation Army launches an uprising, our artillery will not be able to shell the Qing army according to the map, and without our work, a battle that decides the surname may even fail because of negligence on the map, we can't afford any defeat, because we have been defeated for more than two hundred years, and any failure may lead to us and our compatriots continuing to be slaves and bannermen, and we will be ridden by aliens like cattle and horses!"

When Sun Zeshi said this, Li Shaoqiu just shook his head.

"I know what you said, the coward who is afraid of death let him go, am I afraid of death?"

Although he was asking someone, he seemed to be asking himself, and raised his head to look at his friend, but Li Shaoqiu nodded again.

"Death is only for a moment, maybe if I am on the battlefield, at that moment, I am really not afraid of death, but ......"

"But you're betraying!"

A sentence silenced the two, neither of them said anything, only the dim light flickered in the tent, and this night may be a decision for both of them.

Baoding City in the snowy night seems to be a little quiet, occasionally on the street in Baoding City, you can hear the sound of the shouting of the husband when knocking on the watch, the snow is floating in the sky, there is almost no trace of pedestrians on the street that is not spacious, occasionally a few drunk, walking are staggering people walking on the street.

When he saw a few shadows flashing in front of him, Li Jiaping gently flashed into the shadows on the side of the road, motionless and waiting for these people to get out of the way, wearing a blue Beiyang military uniform hidden in the shadows on the side of the road, it was difficult to be found if he didn't look carefully, let alone a few drunks, two or three minutes later, after the shadows of those drunks disappeared on the street, he continued to walk forward, and he would always look back once or twice every few steps.

After walking for more than ten minutes, Li Jiaping turned into a deep alley, every porch in the deep alley was hung with red lights, and the quiet alley was faintly filled with the sound of warblers singing and dancing, this was the Ji Lane in Baoding City, and many Beiyang officers and soldiers would come here to relax in their spare time, and Li Jiaping was naturally no exception.

"This master, you're here, little peach has been thinking about you!"

As soon as the front foot entered the door, the mother with heavy makeup in the memory courtyard greeted her.

"You haven't been here for a few days, but the little peach is looking forward to you without thinking about tea!"

After entering the Ji Yuan, Li Jiaping's treatment was no different from other people, as a regular customer, there were naturally a few who thought about it, and turned a corner and was introduced into a wing room in the backyard, the wing room was empty, and after entering the wing room, Li Jiaping walked directly to the bed where the gauze tent was hung on all sides, but there was a small door in the corner next to the bed, and the small door was actually a large makeup mirror, facing the bed, which was obviously due to some of the special hobbies of the master.

"Pingyuan, I'm afraid that your current people are not in vain, and the young master's reputation has spread!"

By the small disguised door, there was a young man with a smile on his face, his voice was not loud, and it could reach Li Jiaping's ears.

Li Jiaping just shook his head helplessly, and then walked into this dark room, this academy is the contact point of the second detective section in Baoding, the academy is the place where those Beiyang officers and soldiers in Baoding often come, and coming and going here will not attract the attention of others at all, but it must come two or three times a week, but Li Jiaping, a young man who has just entered Beiyang, has lost the reputation of "a young man who is not romantic".

"Don't make fun of me, let's get down to business!"

As he spoke, Li Jiaping took out a stack of papers from his arms and put it on the table, and said happily/"Old classmate, look, I brought you something good." ”

With that, he spread out the paper on the table. Fang Wenyue came over to take a look, this was a dozen military maps of Zhili Province.

"Ah, didn't we say yes! Only take no more than three copies at a time, and strive to get the 25,000 proportions of military maps in two months. ”

complained about it, but Fang Wenyue hurriedly put the map into an iron bucket, and when he pressed it against the wall, a round hole appeared in the corner, and the iron bucket was stuffed directly into it, and under this narrow dark room, there was also a basement, in which there were professionals drawing maps.

Obtaining operational maps is the task of Li Jiaping, who has just entered the Beiyang Army, and the Beiyang Army has the most detailed operational map of Northern China, which was only run in one session six years ago, but the students in that period are drawing a large number of military maps, although they are mainly in the northern provinces, but they are urgently needed by the family.

After finishing his business, Li Jiaping, who was sitting down at the small table, mentioned another thing.

"Qi Lin, at the meeting today, I heard a message!"

"Huh?"

"You know, Baoding here only Zhili, Shandong Province military maps, but six years ago the Beiyang Surveying and Mapping School has carried out military map mapping on Liaoning, Jilin, Shanxi, in addition to a large number of 1:25,000 scale military maps, but also compiled or surveyed 1:100,000, 1:200,000 topographic maps, these maps have been stored in the military department in the past."

"I know, didn't the map of the military department burn the guards when the Eight-Nation Alliance broke through the capital?"

Fang Wenyue knew that those maps were actually the military maps and topographic maps of Zhili and Shandong that they had recently drawn, and they were also drawn by the students of the Beiyang Surveying and Mapping School.

"The paper stored in the military headquarters is burned, but the more than 2,000 printing plates that printed the map have not been burned!"

Li Jiaping's words only surprised Fang Wenyue.

"Where's the plate?"

"The plate was buried in the courtyard of one of the officials of the Ministry of War, and later the official committed suicide when the city was broken. Yuan Shikai didn't know where to get this news, so he paid a high price and bought the printing plate from the descendants of the military department official! ”

Hearing him say this, Fang Wenyue's face showed some disappointment, the overdrawn map was not accurate considering the shrinkage and damage of the paper, and in the end, he had to send someone to calibrate the map, which was also time-consuming and laborious. If you can get those plates, it's a pity that those plates have been obtained by Yuan Shikai now.

"That's ......"

Shaking his head helplessly, Fang Wenyue knew that he was afraid that he could only do this now, holding the map and drawing it.

"Don't worry, that batch of printing plates was taken out of the capital by the descendants of that official in batches last year, and now they are all in Shanxi hometown, not yet in the hands of Yuan Shikai, that person sold the printing plates to Yuan Shikai for silver, if we contact that person in advance, spend more silver to buy it."

"But he has already contacted Yuan Shikai, if we venture to contact him, once Yuan Shikai doesn't get those maps, if he continues to pursue them, if it is exposed, it will be worth the loss!"

Fang Wenyue said worriedly, but at the end of the words, a strange look flashed in front of him.

"You go and ask where that man's house is, and I wonder if I can get my hands on those plates in another way!"

"Something else?"

Looking up at Fang Wenyue, Li Jiaping couldn't help but be a little puzzled, he thought all the way on the way here, except for taking the risk of buying it with silver, there seemed to be no other way.

"Pingyuan, after the Gengzi year, the boxers in Shanxi and Hebei were either beheaded by the government or scattered by foreigners, but there are still a large number of boxers who have fallen into the grass, and anything can happen if there are more bandits!"

The tone was faint and there was no wave, but when Fang Wenyue said this, his face showed some coldness.

"Even if spending money to buy it may expose the target, then let's go and grab it directly! A fire burned, and then naturally there was no news of the plate. ”

Although Fang Wenyue didn't say what he was going to do in the process of robbing, Li Jiaping heard what he meant, it was nothing more than killing people in the name of bandits and robbing the printing plates, and the bandits would not ask for the map printing plates, but if the person died, there would naturally be no whereabouts of the printing plate.

"Wouldn't it be ...... to do that?"

"Could it be anything? Those people are nothing more than Han Annihilation! There is no pity, the father can be martyred for the Qing Dynasty, and the son can naturally be martyred for the Manchurians, isn't it? ”

Seeing that Li Jiaping seemed a little unacceptable, Fang Wenyue sighed lightly.

"Isn't that what war is all about? Enemies and friends! These are two insurmountable lines! ”

(To be continued)