Chapter 138 Boundary

For 35 days, eight students of the Geology Class of Huangpu Sports School in Anqing have been conducting field "internships" under the leadership of a teacher. 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, divided into three places in northern Anhui, central Anhui and southern Anhui with the Huai River and the Yangtze River as the boundary.

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

It is also because of this requirement that hundreds of students of the "Geology" class in the 26th Sports School, after finishing six months of basic courses, took the "mineral inspectors" given by the governors of the provinces, rode horses, drove carriages, and carried hundreds of thousands of yuan worth of "exploration equipment" to carry out "geological investigation" Through "field internship", they practice while learning, but what they care about is never underground minerals, but topography and geomorphology to map the most detailed 50,000th military map.

Modern surveying and mapping in China originated from Beiyang, and two years after Li Hongzhang ordered the first modern military map of Liaoning, Jilin, Zhili and Shandong, the maps in most provinces in China were either maps mapped by foreigners or drawn in the Kangxi period, which were extremely inaccurate.

Because of this, drawing a detailed 50,000-scale military map is the only homework in Huangpu schools in various places that are separated from their alma mater. Almost every Huangpu school will directly hire foreign map surveying and mapping teachers to teach "geological mapping courses". Short-term training and long-term field guidance homework are almost I'm pulling out the seedlings to help.

On an open slope in the ravine, there were more than a dozen small tents walking between several bonfires. Several young people with rifles unloaded the food and spare quilts from the saddle of the mule to the market. The snow has fallen and winter is coming. At this time, it is already very cold at night. When it comes to the real winter, the winter in the mountains will only be colder.

In the tent, the students in ragged clothes focused on drawing the map with the faint light emitted by the coarse fiber wick burning in the kerosene. The work of field mapping is boring and boring. Every day, I drive mules to drill around the Dabie mountain ravine. The life of drawing maps and calibrating old maps is very boring. I draw mountains and other heights, mark routes, draw curves of valleys, and standard calibration landmarks.

This is a long and exhausting job, especially under such difficult and worsening conditions. A snow in early winter made these students frown, and even became a little resentful. Two days ago, a student slipped down the mountain. Although he was not injured at all, the precious copper theodolite fell to pieces.

On another occasion, while crossing the river, a horse slipped and fell into the piercing river, which could no longer be used. The boring life and risky work made Li Shaoping feel a little bored, so that he thought of leaving in his heart. Before he decided to leave, he deliberately went to the tent of his good friend Sun Zeshi.

"Will you continue to stay here? Nanxian."

"Huh? Maybe!"

After wearing it in the ravine for a month, Sun Zeshi, who used to be polite, changed his appearance in the sun as early as the wind blew, and even his clothes were scratched by thorns.

"Is this map really very precious?"

Li Shaoping pointed to the workbench. The map of today's recalibration and expansion of scale is based on three measurement points. This map is an enlarged map based on a 500,000 scale map drawn by British surveyors, and their task is to further calibrate these. In fact, this is the only one they The homework to be completed.

"That's right, you haven't heard what the teacher said. Until now, in addition to the military maps with 25,000 scale in the northern provinces and the 100,000-scale maps of Huguang, the maps used by other provinces are still the maps that Kangxi will draw."

Sun Zeshi nodded with blood in his eyes.

"We have to continue to refuel. We have only completed a quarter of the required operations so far. At this speed, it will not be possible to complete the task of our team until the end of March next year!"

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

"Look, the mountain people who collected medicine today told us that there are still a few paths here. Mr. Anderson said that they will be divided into three teams tomorrow to figure out these paths and add them to the map."

"Do you think it's necessary for us to do this?"

"Huh?"

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

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

"Do you go to school?"

Li Shaoqiu looked at Sun Zeshi, and his hand casually stroked the ruler on the workbench. This may be a subconscious action. He did not forget the important surname of the map he learned in class.

Traditional artillery are all direct-drawing artillery, but with the progress of technology, mountain cannons have been indirectly aimed at artillery. The position of the inter-tracing artillery is constructed. There must be a modern map for aiming at the secret position. What is required is a large-scale military map, and the vast majority of provinces in China are simply blank on large-scale maps. The surveying and mapping of the national surnames was carried out hundreds of years ago. Even the maps of the provinces in the hands of the Qing Dynasty did not have detailed maps of foreigners. From the Xianfeng period, those foreigners used missionaries as a cover to inspect and map the provinces. Maybe they had military-level maps in their hands, but they issued them separately at 500,000 scales. Map.

In the field expedition, when Li Shaoqiu and others zoomed in and calibrated with this map, they found that these maps were full of mistakes. Perhaps this is what they did deliberately do. It is also the field investigation that strengthens the determination of many of them to draw the most auspicious terrain map. Of course, the most important thing is 50,000-scale military map.

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

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

"I know, maybe you will say that I'm not promising, but if it's really promising, how can we travel around in this ravine? You see, almost all the students in other classes have been recommended to their alma mater. Only the worst study is with us, driving mulls to travel around in this ravine, and have sex with beasts and villagers all day long. Tao..."

Speaking of this, Li Shaoqiu suddenly fell silent for a moment. He looked out of the tent and lowered his voice.

"We took the mineral inspector's certificate opened by the governor, but carefully drew a military map here. Five days ago, when we touched the patrol camp, when they checked our equipment, if it weren't for the military map they didn't know how to use pinyin symbols, what was waiting for us was the prison! At that time, we..."

There was a sigh in his voice, and Li Shaoqiu's expression looked a little tired.

"With the wild beasts in the mountains and forests, those who eat and sleep all day long, they should also beware of the government and be careful of bandits. I've had enough of this day."

"So do you want to go?"

Sun Zeshi looked at his friends, all of whom were incredible. They vowed to achieve national restoration together, but now it's just a risk-free map calibration, which makes him retreat.

"The day here is completely different from what I thought!"

"So... Qiu Shi, what kind of day do you want to be?"

Sun Zeshi put down the pencil in his hand and asked rhetorically. There was no contempt in his eyes, and he even looked very calm. He could understand Li Shaoqiu's feeling, not to mention Li Shaoqiu, a young master who had never suffered, even he had a retreat. The young life here was boring and full of risks. In his eyes, those risks are the help 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 drawing from the side, laid it flat on the workbench, and fixed it with a thumbtack. The test drawing showed the calibrated map under the workbench.

"We all know why we came here for the restoration of the nation, don't we?"

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

"If there is no detailed military map, when the Guangfu army launches an uprising in the future, our artillery can't shell the Qing army according to the map operation. Without our work, a battle to decide the surname may even fail due to negligence on the map. We can't afford any failure, because we It has been a failure for more than 200 years, and any failure may cause us and our compatriots to continue to be full of slaves, flag men and riders, 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 lets him go. Am I afraid of death?"

Although he was asking people, he seemed to be asking himself. He looked up at his friend, but Li Shaoqiu nodded again.

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

"But you are a betrayal!"

One sentence silenced the two, and no one said anything. There were only dim lights flashing in the tent. This night may be a choice for both of them.

Baoding City in the snowy night looks a little quiet. Occasionally, on the streets of Baoding City, you can hear the sound of the watchman shouting when knocking. There is snow in the sky, and there are few traces of pedestrians on the spacious streets. Occasionally, a few drunken and shaky people are walking on the street.

When he saw a few shadows flashing in front of him, Li Jiaping gently flashed into the shadow of the roadside, waiting for these people to get out of the way, wearing a blue Beiyang military uniform hidden in the shadow of the roadside. If you don't look carefully, it is difficult to be found, not to mention a few drunkards, two or three points. After the shadows of the drunken ghosts disappeared on the street, he continued to walk forward. Every few steps he walked, he always looked back at one or two.

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 there was a faint sound of warblers singing and swallows dancing in the quiet alley. This is the alley in Baoding City. Many Beiyang officers and soldiers will come here to relax in their spare time, and Li Jiaping is no exception.

"Master, you're here. Xiao Taohong has been thinking about you!"

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

"You haven't come these days, and Xiao Taohong is looking forward to you!"

After entering the courtyard, the treatment Li Jiaping encountered was no different from that of other people. As a regular customer, he naturally had a few good ideas. He turned a corner and was introduced into a wing room in the backyard. The wing room was empty. When he entered the wing room, Li Jiaping walked directly to the bedside where the gauze tent was hung on all sides, but the corner of the bed was There is a small door. The small door opened is actually a large makeup mirror facing the bed, which is obviously caused by some special hobbies of the master.

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

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

Li Jiaping just shook his head helplessly, and then walked into the dark room. This academy is the second contact point of the detective class in Baoding. The academy is the place where those Beiyang officers and soldiers often come to Baoding. It will not attract the attention of others at all. It's just that he must come two or three times a week, but Li Jiaping is the first to enter. The young people in Beiyang have lost the reputation of "people are not romantic and in vain".

"Don't make fun of me and get to business!"

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

After saying that, he spread out the paper on the table. Fang Wenyue came over and took a look. This was more than a dozen military maps of Zhili Province.

"Ah, didn't we agree! Take no more than three copies at a time, and strive to get the military map of 25,000 in two months.

He complained, but Fang Wenyue hurriedly put the map into an iron bucket. With a gentle button against the wall, a round hole appeared in the corner. The iron bucket was directly stuffed into it. Under the narrow dark room, there was also a basement where professionals drew maps.

Obtaining combat maps is the task of Li Jiaping, who has just entered the Beiyang Army. The Beiyang Army has the most detailed combat map of North China. Six years ago, the Beiyang Surveying and Mapping School only organized one phase, but the students in that phase are drawing a large number of military maps. Although it is mainly in the northern provinces, it is urgently needed by the family.

After doing business, Li Jiaping, who sat down at the small table, mentioned another thing.

"Kilin, I heard a message at the meeting today!"

"Huh?"

"You know, there are only military maps of Zhili and Shandong provinces in Baoding, but six years ago, Beiyang Surveying and Mapping School conducted military map mapping of Liaoning, Jilin and Shanxi. In addition to a large number of military maps of 1:25,000, it also compiled or surveyed 1:100 and 1:2 million topographic maps. These maps have always been stored in the Ministry of War.

"I know, didn't the map of the Ministry of War let the guards set fire when the Eight-Nation Alliance broke through the capital?"

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

"The paper in the Ministry of War was burned, but more than 2,000 printing plates of the printed map were not burned!"

Li Jiaping's words only shocked Fang Wenyue.

"Where is the printing plate?"

"The printing plate let an official of the Ministry of War be buried in his own yard. Later, the official committed suicide and died when the city was broken. Yuan Shikai didn't know where he got the news from, so he spent a high price and bought the printing plate from the descendants of the military official!"

After listening to what he said, Fang Wenyue's face showed some disappointment. The map was not accurate considering the shrinkage and damage of the paper. In the end, he had to send someone to calibrate the map, which was equally time-consuming and laborious. If you can get those printing plates, it's a pity that those printing plates have been obtained by Yuan Shikai now.

"Well..."

He shook his head helplessly. Fang Wenyue knew that he could only do this now and draw with a map set.

"Don't worry. The printing plates were taken out of the capital in batches by the descendants of the official last year. Now they are all in their hometown in Shanxi. They haven't reached Yuan Shikai's hands yet. The man sold the printing plate to Yuan Shikai for the sake of silver. If we contact that person in advance, we will spend more money to buy it."

"But he has contacted Yuan Shikai. If we take the chance to contact him, but Yuan Shikai doesn't get those maps and pursue them, in case it is exposed, it will not be more than the loss!"

Fang Wenyue said worriedly, but in the end, there was a strange look in front of him.

"Go and find out where the man's house is. I thought that maybe I could get those printing plates in other ways!"

"Other ways?"

Looking up at Fang Wenyue, Li Jiaping couldn't help but be a little puzzled. On the way, he thought about it all the way. There seemed to be no other way but to buy it with silver.

"Pingyuan, after the Gengzi year, the boxers in Shanxi and Hebei were either beheaded by the government or scattered by foreigners, but a large number of boxers were scattered. If there were more bandits, anything could happen!"

There was no wave in the tone, but when Fang Wenyue said this, his face showed some coldness.

"If you buy it with money, it may expose the target, so let's grab it directly! A fire burns, and then the message of the printing plate will naturally be gone.

Although Fang Wenyue did not say what the process of robbery was going to do, Li Jiaping heard what he meant. It was nothing more than killing people and grabbing the printing plate in the name of bandits. Bandits would not ask for the map printing plate, but when people died, there was naturally no whereabouts of the printing plate.

"Will you do this..."

"Will it be something? Those people are just Han annihi! There is no pity. A father can be martyred for the Qing Dynasty, and a son can also be martyred for the Manchus, right?

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

"Isn't war like this? Enemies and friends! These are two insurmountable lines!"

(to be continued)