Li An wholeheartedly wanted to find Duan Jianhan and his companions who had run away. He felt that only by catching them could he resolve the road safety threat in the Western Detention Area. If he ignored them, he might have nowhere to go when he returned. This huge threat had to be dealt with as soon as possible. There was no time to waste.
However, the environment in the Western Detention Area was too bad. There were too many mountains and too many forests. There were many wild animals living here. If a person with strong vitality was placed in this area, he would not starve to death for his whole life. He could feed himself just by picking wild fruits and hunting game.
Where there were mountains, there would be bandits. The forest here was rich in resources. Even if the bandits couldn't rob outside, they could still barely survive. In addition, some bandits were not pure bandits. They didn't rob for a living, but would only rob once in a while. In fact, they were the villagers in the mountains. They usually mainly hunted and collected, but the most basic resources like salt were not available in the mountains. They couldn't get it by hunting. Under the situation where the prey was not much, it was not realistic to exchange the prey for salt, so they could only rob. This way, they could better improve their lives and let themselves live a better life.
In short, the situation in the nearby mountains was very complicated. There were all kinds of situations. Perhaps no one knew how many mountain people lived in seclusion and how many bandits there were. Similarly, no one knew where Duan Jianhan and his companions were hiding.
Li An only had about three hundred men and horses under his command. If he were to search the mountain with such a small number of men and horses, it would be a little hard to make ends meet. The number of men and horses was really too small. If he were to search the mountain with such a small number of men and horses, he would not be able to achieve much unless he was extremely lucky.
The surrounding Jiang tribe, Ge tribe, and Lu tribe all had a lot of manpower. If he mobilized them to search the mountains together, he could get up to ten thousand men. However, it was impossible to mobilize all of them. He could not mobilize the elderly and children to search for bandits in the mountains. That was too dangerous.
If a tribe could mobilize a thousand people, it would already be considered a large number. Three tribes mobilizing three thousand people was already very stressful. For the surrounding mountains, these three thousand people would be immediately diluted once they entered. It looked like a black mass, but for the mountains, such a small number of people was still too little.
Ang Lee did not want to use too many resources of the three tribes to encircle Duan Jianhan. The people of these tribes also had their own things to do. He could not waste too much of their time, or it would seriously affect their lives.
Ang Lee decided to mobilize his men and horses. They scattered into the depths of the mountains and searched for Duan Jianhan and his companions through various clues. A large number of people might not succeed, but a small number might not fail.
In addition, the tribes only needed a small number of guides. The locals must be more familiar with the surrounding forests. They were the most suitable guides.
Considering the strength of Duan Jianhan and his companions, Ang Lee divided the team into many groups. There were only five people in each group. Although there were only five people, their fighting power was not weak. Moreover, there were not five people alone, but three to five groups not far from each other. The distance between two groups was not more than a hundred steps. They could support each other at any time. As long as one group found something, the nearby groups could immediately come to support.
Although the manpower was very limited, as long as they searched the area, they would eventually find traces of Duan Jianhan and his companions. Ang Lee was very confident.
In order to boost the morale, Ang Lee personally led a group of people into the mountains to search for Duan Jianhan and his companions. Because of Ang Lee's importance, Ang Lee certainly did not only have five people around him, but more than ten people, and they were all guards with the best martial arts.
The mountain road was not easy to walk on. Most of the time, there was no way to walk on the mountain. They had to pass through the gaps in the trees, which made it even more difficult to walk. In this way, it was a great test of people's physical strength. Basically, they had to stop and rest for a while before continuing. In order to find the enemy with high efficiency, they certainly could not waste time eating. Therefore, when they set out, all the soldiers brought enough dry food and water. So, when it was time to eat, they could make do with the dry food and water.
As for the search of the mountain, the soldiers were naturally somewhat reluctant. Just for a few enemies, they actually had to go back and forth in the mountains to search. This was too torturous, and it was normal for them to feel unhappy. In order to make the soldiers happy, Ang Lee promised that after finding the enemy, everyone would receive a handsome reward. Those who performed meritorious deeds could even be promoted. As a result, the morale of these soldiers suddenly rose, and their bodies became more energetic.
After searching for an entire morning, there was no harvest, not even the slightest clue. Ang Lee first began to search the mountain at the place where the soldiers were ambushed, because this was the most likely place where they were hiding. However, they did not find anything here, which showed how cunning these guys were.
At noon, Ang Lee was already very tired. Naturally, the people accompanying him were also very tired. Unlike the soldiers who ate dry food and water, Ang Lee's lunch could not be so simple. Even if it was just a meal, it could not be so simple. They had to eat better.
The accompanying soldiers brought cooking utensils and ingredients. Several soldiers went to find some firewood nearby and prepared to start cooking.
"Dig a smokeless stove."
Ang Lee requested.
In order to prevent being discovered by Duan Jianhan, Ang Lee asked the soldiers to dig a smokeless stove. This way, when cooking, it would not be easy to be discovered.
For the Dragon Martial Army of the Tang dynasty, everyone knew how to dig a smokeless stove. This technique was not difficult, and one could learn it after practicing once.
The so-called smokeless stove didn't mean that there was no smoke. It was just that the smoke was dispersed. Originally, the smoke should float up like a pillar. After the smokeless stove was dug, the smoke would float up to the sky very evenly. This way, it wouldn't be easy to be discovered. After all, the human eye's vision was limited. They couldn't see very fine smoke.
Digging a smokeless stove mainly consisted of several parts. One was to add firewood, one was to put the pot, and the other was to have a very long flue. In addition, some fluffy leaves must be prepared. In this way, a qualified smokeless stove could be assembled.
Among them, the hole for adding firewood had to be dug bigger so that it was convenient to add firewood. The hole for putting the pot could not be dug too big. It had to be just right for the pot. It did not matter if it was small, but it definitely could not be big. If it was big, it would not be able to put the pot. The two holes had to be dug through, and the firewood had to be added through the connecting hole.
In addition, the excavated soil had to be piled up as much as possible around the firewood hole to increase the light and prevent the surrounding people from discovering the strong light. Of course, this was mainly effective when the light was not good. In broad daylight, this concern was almost negligible. In broad daylight, only smoke was the most conspicuous, and fire was not easy to be discovered.
The round hole for putting the pot had to be dug more small trenches radiating forward. These long trenches were the flue. The longer the trenches were dug, the better the effect of dispersing smoke. It could ensure that the smoke could not be seen by the naked eye.
Of course, it was not enough to just dig the flue. Many branches had to be laid on top of the flue, so that the smoke could rise through the small gaps in the trees and slowly float forward. Finally, the smoke was evenly distributed from all the positions of the three long flue. In this way, it would not form a very obvious smoke column, and it would not be easy to be discovered by people in a distance.
The amount of smoke was fixed. Therefore, the more and longer the flue, the better the effect. However, the longer the flue, the longer the preparation time. As long as you were willing, it was not a problem to dig a flue that was dozens of meters long. In the later generations, when marching and fighting, there were soldiers who dug a flue that was dozens of meters long and sprinkled branches on it. When burning a fire, there was not a trace of smoke that could be seen from dozens of meters away. The concealment was very good.
However, the smokeless stove was not omnipotent. The effect was best in a short time. If the fire was lit for a long time, then even the smokeless stove would be discovered because the smoke itself did not reduce. It was just evenly distributed in a certain range. A short time of distribution naturally would not leave any trace. But after a long time, the entire area would be shrouded in a thin layer of fog, and there was no fog in other places around. As a result, it was naturally easier to be discovered. Therefore, the smokeless stove could not be maintained for too long. After maintaining it for a period of time, it had to be extinguished to reduce the probability of being discovered as much as possible.
Under normal circumstances, the cooking time could not be maintained for a long time. After cooking for a short time, the smoke produced would soon disappear without a trace after it was evenly distributed. It would not leave any trace, so there was no need to worry too much.
In order to increase the concealment, the guard dug a total of three flue pipes. They were dug in a divergent manner. Each flue was more than twenty meters long and covered with fluffy leaves. The firewood was quickly ignited. The fire was below, and it could not be seen clearly from more than a dozen steps away. As for the smoke, it began to spread evenly along the flue pipes. It could not be seen clearly if one did not look carefully. The existence of the smoke could almost be ignored.
Although the threat of Duan Jianhan and his party was insignificant, in order to prevent them from escaping after discovering the smoke, it was better to be careful. The more careful they were, the more likely they were to be discovered.
The conditions in the wild were relatively difficult, so cooking was very simple. It was to boil a pot of water, put the box lunch prepared in the morning on it, and heat up the cold dishes and rice. In addition, it was necessary to boil some water. Eating cold dishes and rice and drinking cold water was easy to get sick. Ang Lee was not used to eating cold food, and his stomach certainly could not accept it.
However, despite Ang Lee's careful search, he still could not find the trace of Duan Jianhan and his party. No matter how carefully Ang Lee searched, he could not find them. In this regard, Ang Lee was also very helpless. After all, the mountain here was too big, and Ang Lee's subordinates were too few. It was really difficult to find a small group of less than ten people in the mountain.
But Ang Lee felt that it was indeed easy to hide people in the mountain, but the hidden people had to eat and drink! They had to move around in the mountain! Whether it was eating, drinking, or moving, there had to be some traces. It was impossible to not have any traces. For example, when eating and drinking, it was indispensable to cook with a fire, and cooking with a fire would definitely have smoke. Ang Lee mastered the smokeless stove technology, but Duan Jianhan and his party certainly did not master this technology. Therefore, if Duan Jianhan and his party wanted to cook, there would definitely be smoke. In the daytime, the smoke could be seen from a distance. As long as the smoke was found, the position of Duan Jianhan could be locked. It was precisely because of this that Ang Lee became confident. He felt that he could find Duan Jianhan and his party and solve this disaster.
But the actual situation was not as smooth as Ang Lee expected. After searching in the mountain for a day, no smoke was found. Even the most basic traces could not be found. It was as if this group of people had never been to the mountain. This made Ang Lee feel very surprised.
"How is this possible? Since Duan Jianhan and his party fled into the barren mountain, they should leave some clues. At least they should cook! How can there be no trace left? This is too strange. "
Ang Lee took a sip of hot water and said.
Chen Long said, "Could it be that Duan Jianhan and his party have already left the mountain and ran back to Nanzhao?"
"Impossible. The road has been blocked by us. Did they fly back to Nanzhao? They must still be nearby. Could it be that they were taken in by someone? "
Ang Lee said.
Chen Long said, "Taken in by someone? That can't be! The nearby Jiang, Ge, and Lu tribes have already made it clear that once they find Duan Jianhan, they will immediately catch him and hand him over to us. How could they secretly take in Duan Jianhan? "
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. They really don't have the guts. However, could there be other small tribes in the mountains? Could there be other forces that took them in?"
No one knew what was in such a large mountain range. Even the local people's knowledge of the mountain stopped at the surface. There were still many places they didn't know about. There were also some places that they thought were forbidden areas. Usually, they would never enter the forbidden areas without special reasons, because few people who entered could come out alive.
"Could there be other tribes in the mountains? I think they probably fell off the cliff and their bodies were taken away by the wild wolves. That's why we can't find anything."
Chen Long said.
What he said was also very reasonable. In this mountain, there were indeed many cliffs and fissures. Many of the cliffs were bottomless. If a person fell down, there wouldn't even be a wave. It was like an ant falling into a bonfire. It wouldn't attract anyone's attention. Many of the fissures were also quite dangerous. These fissures were also bottomless. If one fell down carelessly, one's life would really be gone.
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