Chapter 1364: Is There Someone on the Ridge?

Time waits for no one, so everyone moved at a relatively fast pace; according to the scheduled time, they were about to reach the high slope they had conquered last year.

However, what Xuanyuan had not expected was that before even reaching the place, he saw smoke in the distance. The smoke was rising from behind the high slope, so it was impossible to tell exactly how far away it was, nor was it possible to determine if that high slope had already been occupied by the enemy this year.

The vanguard at the very front had already stopped; they were a bit uncertain about the situation ahead, so they decided to wait for their Tribal Chief's orders first.

Huaxia did not arrange vanguard scouts this year; after all, the number of Huaxia Soldiers was no longer high, and they were basically all wearing armor. They were currently wearing Leather Armor, as the Iron Armor was too heavy, so they let the Logistics Team carry it, and the quantity was not large either.

This year, Huaxia's entire strategy was to be a bit more steady; if they could avoid taking risks, they would, and if they could use firepower coverage, why use infantry line penetration? It was not worth it; every single Huaxia Soldier was precious.

Xuanyuan raised his hand, also signaling the troop to stop. He said to Lu, "Doesn't your Huaxia have a Telescope? Why not arrange for someone to go and observe where that smoke is coming from. If that high slope has already been occupied, it will be a bit troublesome for us to attack it now."

"I also don't know which tribe it is that actually arrived so early and so quickly."

Lu did not refuse either, as they were in a cooperative relationship now; furthermore, the Xuanyuan Tribe had already served as the vanguard for so long, and if he did not send someone to do something, this cooperation would likely run into problems.

Thus, Lu gestured with his hand: "Platoon Leader Four, take two people, find a tall tree, bring the Telescope, and observe the distance of that smoke, and whether there are enemies on that high slope."

"If you can't see from the tree, find a way to scout it out. Do you understand?"

Platoon Leader Four stood at attention, said "Yes," and immediately returned, picked a Soldier, took the Telescope, and set off personally.

If this were a war involving only the Huaxia tribe, then it would not need to be this complicated at all, because Huaxia had trained so many falcons and hawks, feeding them meat, specifically for scouting situations and for short-distance intelligence transmission. If they could not serve this purpose, they would eventually just be reduced to playthings for the Huaxia Nobles.

But now, because Xuanyuan was here, such secret things naturally could not be brought out for use; in fact, they had not been of much use in Huaxia. Using pigeons was a last resort, but things like falcons and hawks, which were their trump cards, had to be kept hidden.

The Xuanyuan Tribe also chose to purchase pigeons from Huaxia. This time, Xuanyuan brought many pigeons out; they were raised from small pigeons sent from Huaxia and had already recognized their nest, so they should be able to go to the Xuanyuan Tribe, but there was no guarantee they would return to the nest in their current troop, as they were still relatively young.

Huaxia also brought some pigeons out themselves; this was necessary for transmitting information. Baifeng only regretted that his own level was not good enough and his abilities in all aspects were too poor. If he were a science student or a physics expert, perhaps he could have hand-crafted a telegraph machine or something. When he was studying back then, he heard his physics teacher say that their practical training courses used to involve hand-crafting radios, though he did not know if that was true or false.

Platoon Leader Four took the Telescope—which was not considered too precious in Huaxia but was incredibly precious in this era—along with the Soldier he had picked, and with extreme speed, moved forward while hunched over, heading toward the tallest tree within their field of vision.

Although it looked close, it was still very, very far when running, which made both Lu and Xuanyuan feel tired just watching.

Fortunately, they reached the place smoothly. The two did not need help; they kicked against the tree and climbed up with extreme speed. Platoon Leader Four was a man with the nickname "Monkey King," precisely because he was fast at climbing trees and was first in all kinds of obstacle races, so he had earned merit several times during peacetime. It was just that his seniority was not quite enough; he was young, and having ability alone was not enough—it had to be put to use.

Therefore, he had already surpassed his peers to become a Platoon Leader and was now on the front lines, which was basically the treatment of a Deputy Company Commander. Even if he did not earn merit, just by going back after this trip, a Deputy Company Commander position was secure. If he did earn merit, a small merit could lead to a Company Commander position, and a great merit could even lead to a Deputy Battalion Commander position. As long as you were a capable person, once you had the seniority, you could be promoted immediately.

Platoon Leader Four also knew his own situation. There were quite a few Soldiers like him in Huaxia; young Soldiers were all eager to establish merit, but this current war was random, and he was very lucky this year to have been selected.

He knew he had to work hard, work doubly hard, and also be doubly careful. Falling off the Dugout Canoe Bridge on the training ground or competition field would at most result in a fall, and there would be comrades to help, but on a battlefield like this, even being tripped by a piece of Grass could potentially cost him his life.

At the retirement ceremony for disabled Soldiers last year, he had seen several acquaintances. It was fine for those who were only slightly injured, but for those missing arms or legs, although Huaxia would support them for the rest of their lives, they would psychologically consider themselves useless people. What would they do in the days to come?

Either live and establish merit to raise one's position and treatment, or die on the battlefield; letting his young son inherit his glory and giving his descendants a good life was also an option.

He climbed quickly to the tree, looking for any branch he could step on, while also ensuring he would not fall because he was too high and the branches were too thin. At the height of this tree, being crippled from a fall was the best-case scenario.

He also had to try his best to conceal his body; if the enemy happened to be on the high slope, his actions might be exposed. However, if the enemy were truly all on the high slope, their main force would have been exposed long ago and might already be lying in ambush behind them.

Platoon Leader Four saw that his Soldier had also come up, though not as nimbly as himself, so he reached out to pull him, helping him stand more steadily. His strength was his good eyesight; good eyesight paired with a Telescope allowed him to see more clearly.

Platoon Leader Four looked through the Telescope, but could not see any signs of human activity on the high slope. It might be because the distance was too far, and the imaging quality of the current Telescope did not allow for a clear view.

The Soldier below used one eye and his thumb to calculate the distance. Based on his estimation, combined with the current wind direction and wind speed, he roughly inferred that the place where the smoke was rising was at least one kilometer behind the high slope.

And that place no longer belonged to the high slope; it belonged to an area with lower terrain. They were currently on the sunny side of the high slope, so as long as the smoke was not rising from the highest point of the high slope, the danger to them was not particularly great.