Under the surging aurora, while Wei Ran was setting up the animal trap, Mesut also set up a tent around a calf-thick pine tree, and then lit a bonfire in a tin bucket as quickly as possible.
Pushed the two sleds together with Ihor into the tent.
Slowly, he tied all the seven exhausted reindeer to the sleigh that was left outside. Wei Ran checked their wounds again, fed them fodder, and then got into the tent.
After such a delay, Mesut had already cleared the snow from the tent and was using chopped wood sticks to dry Ihor's clothes that had been frozen into armor by the campfire.
Glancing at the red-faced and unconscious Ihor lying on the sleigh, Wei Ran silently lit the firewood poured with kerosene in the second iron bucket, and waited patiently for the fire to stabilize before setting it on the rack.
Kettle filled with snow.
Before the pot of water could boil, Mesut winked at Wei Ran and then got out of the tent.
After a while, Wei Ran also followed him out, took the cigarette from the other party, put on the filter and lit it. He followed the other party, stepping on the snow that was almost knee-deep, and walked about ten meters downwind.
.
"Ihor can't leave with us"
Mesut said straight to the point, "Not only will it be a drag on us, but with his current physical condition, he probably won't be able to last long."
"So what are you going to do?" Wei Ran spat out the question while nonchalantly kicking it back.
After hearing this, Mesut hesitated for a moment and then said, "If I remember correctly, there is an east-west river not too far directly in front of us. If you follow this river to the west, you can reach Su."
There is a north-south tributary in the upper reaches of the Hayatunguska River. Follow this tributary to the north and you can return to the camp."
"You are really familiar with the rivers nearby," Wei Ran praised noncommittally.
"There is a map in Sergei's room"
Mesut blew out a cloud of smoke that drifted away in the wind, tapped his temple and said, "It took me four months to memorize almost the entire map in my head."
"So you plan to send it back to the camp?" Wei Ran brought the topic back.
Mesut sighed, "That's the only way it can survive."
"Actually, your plan is not to go south along the Yenisei River at all, right?" Weiran said abruptly.
Hearing this, Mesut glanced at Wei Ran, then at the tent in the distance. After hesitating for a long time, until the cigarette almost burned the filter tip made of antlers, he bit the filter tip and blew hard, and waited.
The cigarette butt, which was no longer than a fingernail, smashed into the thick snow in a parabola, and then he nodded, "Of course not, I never planned to go too far south."
"Can you tell me your detailed plan?" Wei Ran asked calmly.
"I plan to go to the west bank of the Yenisey River when the time comes, and go as far west as the polar night can cover."
Mesut explained calmly, "No matter how good we speak Russian, without the cover of the cold, wilderness and polar night, we will soon be exposed. The only way to leave the Soviet Union alive and escape to Finland alive is
, heading all the way west in the wilderness, spanning a straight-line distance of more than 2,600 kilometers, and entering Finland in the Arctic Circle."
"Do you know what you're talking about?"
Wei Ran frowned and looked at the other person. He had already heard that this crazy escape plan was indeed Mesut's true idea, and with Ihor's physical condition, it was indeed impossible to complete the journey alive.
“The biggest difficulty is simply crossing the Ural Mountains.”
Mesut, whose tone was extremely calm, seemed to be well prepared and said, "It is indeed difficult to cross the Ural Mountains, but it is easier than serving the remaining 20 years of the sentence alive.
Victor, I want to go home to see if my factory is bankrupt and if my wife and my children are still alive."
"Mesut, you will die on the road."
Wei Ran looked into the other person's eyes and reminded him very seriously, "Maybe he can go back as long as he serves a few more years in prison?"
"I'm not sure if I'll die on the road, but I'll definitely die in the mines."
Mesut paused, "Besides, we have already run so far, isn't it too late to talk about this now?"
"So how should you persuade Ihor?" Wei Ran asked, changing the subject.
"After his fever subsides, let him make his own choice."
Mesut spread his hands, turned around and walked towards the tent while switching into German and finally said, "Even if we go south along the Yenisei River, he will not survive."
The two of them got into the tent one after another. The clothes placed on wooden sticks next to the campfire bucket were already steaming with steam. In the kettle placed on another iron bucket with charcoal fire, the clothes were covered with water.
The compacted snow has also melted, but Ihor is still in a state of high fever and semi-coma.
Seeing this, Mesut opened his wooden box. After some hesitation, he took out a bottle of veterinary medicine without being too confident, poured out a white pill from it, broke it open, and stuffed half of it into Ihor's chest.
Then he took out the enamel jar, poured some water into it, and helped it feed the pills.
Obviously, they have to wait for Ihor to wake up and fully regain consciousness before they can move forward. Fortunately, what they lack most now is time and food.
Waiting patiently for the melted snow water in the kettle to boil completely, Wei Ran slowly put on the iron pot, dug a piece of animal fat into it, stir-fried the fresh venison shanks cut into pieces, and then fried the old venison.
The three kinds of potatoes, onions, and carrots were chopped randomly and thrown in together.
Wei Ran cooked and served the food as if he were doing nothing, lying on his back on his sleigh, secretly thinking about the route he had just asked from Mesut.
He could vaguely see that Mesut must be telling the truth this time.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! It can even be said that this German prisoner of war may have planned from the beginning to let Ihor escape south to attract attention, and he took the opportunity to go west and follow his true plan
Escape plan to get out of here.
If you look at it this way, Mesut deliberately left his notebook behind in the abandoned mine, perhaps to interfere with the direction of the search?
So this rigorous German guy had already anticipated what would happen after Ihor, who was acting as a bait, was caught? So did Ihor know? Wei Ran couldn't help but glance at the Japanese prisoners of war on the other sled on the opposite side.
I'm afraid Ihor is also aware of Mesut's plan, or rather, it must have expected that Mesut would use it as bait, and it probably has its own preparations and plans.
Unfortunately, the unplanned encounter with the wolves not long ago and Ihor's unexpected injury completely overturned most of the plans of these two people.
So what is Ihor's back-up plan? Could it be those mine explosives? I'm afraid not, those things also appeared unplanned.
After some thought to no avail, while the stew in the pot was cooking, Ihor also opened his eyes.
"Thank you for not abandoning me," Ihor said hoarsely after getting up.
"It's our turn to thank you for saving us with mine explosives."
Seeing that Wei Ran didn't speak, Mesut responded proactively. At the same time, he unscrewed a bottle of canned fruit found in the hunter's cabin. After unscrewing it, he poured out half a cup of sugar water and a few pieces of apples, and then added some heat to it.
The water was handed to Ihor.
"Thanks"
Ihor took the enamel cup and drank a few sips before saying, "Tell me what happened next."
“The situation is very bad”
Mesut shook his head, "First of all, we don't know whether the explosion will attract attention. Secondly, we are not sure whether the wolf pack is still following us. Thirdly, your leg is broken, and we still have
Lack of reindeer to pull the cart."
"Isn't there any good news?" Ihor asked with a pale face.
"Of course there is good news"
Mesut spread his hands and pointed at the meat that Wei Ran cut from the reindeer killed by wolves and said, "At least we have enough food to last for half a month."
"Can we still escape?" Ihor asked almost desperately.
"It's hard to say." Mesut shook his head. "Given the current situation, it's probably only a matter of time before we are caught."
After he finished speaking, the tent became quiet. For a while, the only sounds the three of them could hear were the slight sound of burning firewood in the tin barrel and the occasional braying of the reindeer outside the tent.
“Anyway, let’s eat first.”
As Mesut spoke, he had already opened the lid of the pot, filled a large pot of stew, and took a few slices of bread that he had baked himself in the mine before and handed them to Ihor.
After finishing the meal in silence, Ihor drank the glass of sugar water he poured before the meal, and finally said, "Mesut, why don't you tell me directly, what are you going to do next?"
"In order to let you survive, I hope you can go back to the labor camp." Mesut seemed to have been waiting for the other party to say this, and gave an especially straightforward answer.
"What did you say?" Ihor obviously didn't expect Mesut to be so straightforward.
"Keep following us and you will die."
Mesut patted his leg and said very sincerely, "Ihor, this is the only way you can survive. And you are injured. As long as you insist on chasing the reindeer, you will definitely survive. Maybe you can
Taking advantage of this fracture, I don’t have to go to work in the mines.”
"So I have no choice, right?" Ihor said.
"You can put all the blame on me"
Mesut pointed to the box used as a seat in the tent, and even the Winchester lever-action rifle, "You can take these things with you if you need them. Of course, you can also shoot me."
After a long silence, Ihor took a deep breath and said, "I understand."
Hearing this, Mesut also breathed a sigh of relief, signaled Wei Ran to take out the map, briefly explained the route to send Ihor back, and then added, "I will send you to that river, and then you only need to
If you control the sleigh and run north for a day, you can return to the mouth of the river near the hunter's cabin."
Ihor nodded silently, lying on the sleigh as if he had resigned himself to his fate, staring blankly at the roof of the tent.
On this night, the three of them rarely had any communication, and Mesut also took the initiative to take up the vigil.
After only five or six hours of resting in this tent, Mesut, who was keeping watch, woke up Wei Ran and Ihor who were lying on the tent. During this night, the German guy actually made something for Ihor.
A walking stick.
Perhaps the veterinary medicine is indeed more powerful. It has only been a few hours, but Ihor's fever has subsided. Although his broken leg is not completely aligned, unfortunately there is no sign of redness or swelling.
.
Helping the little Japanese prisoner of war put on the dried clothes, Wei Ran and Mesut silently packed up the tent and re-harnessed the reindeer to the three sleighs. Mesut even gave Ihor an extra
The sledge had an extra reindeer yoked to it.
After everything was ready, the three sleigh trucks and other guards collected the animal traps around them, then left the camp and ran straight south.
Sure enough, the three sleighs lined up and walked forward for less than half an hour before they discovered a river.
Mesut, who was at the head of the queue, did not slow down at all, so he ordered the reindeer to go west along the river, and hurried to the river leading to the labor camp.
After two hours of extreme silence, a wider frozen river appeared directly ahead, and Mesut at the front also shouted to the reindeer to stop.
Mesut raised his hand and pointed to the river, "Follow this river to the north and you can return to the labor camp."
"I need some supplies that belong to you," said Ihor, who was driving a sleigh himself.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "What do you need?" Mesut asked immediately.
"I don't need a shotgun and bullets, but I need the canned meat and dried venison on your sleigh."
Ihor paused and said, "There is also the map in Victor's arms, a piece of canvas for the tent, and the concentrated feed. I may not be able to rush back to the labor camp tonight. I don't want to freeze to death or starve to death on the way.
Or encounter a pack of wolves again.”
Hearing this, Mesut and Wei Ran looked at each other and happily placed the supplies needed by the other party on Ihor's sleigh.
After accepting these supplies, Ihor asked, "Which direction are you going to run next?"
"Go west, to the Yenisei River, and then south along the Yenisei River." Mesut replied.
"I'd say we got separated while chasing the reindeer"
Ihor said, "I would say that you followed the other branch of the river near the mine to find the reindeer."
"If I can escape back to Germany alive, I will go to recruit nuclear weapons and visit your home." Mesut promised, "Before you go back, I will take good care of your family. If they still have
If you are alive."
"Let's go." After Ihor said this, he shook the reins very happily and ran along the river to the north.
Until the opponent's back and the kerosene lamp used for lighting were completely blocked by the winding river, Mesut signaled Wei Ran to wait where he was, and immediately rushed into the forest on the west bank of the river, shaking the reins.
However, he only ran less than a few hundred meters into the forest, and then he shouted at the reindeer and ran back. He called Wei Ran and ran along the river where they came from, and then ran in the direction of the previous camp.
!
This German guy is really dirty.
Wei Ran, who was walking behind, muttered to himself with special satisfaction, and at the same time did not forget to blow out the kerosene lamp hanging at the rear of the sled.
However, he didn't know that at almost the same time, Ihor, who was shouting his sled to go north alone along the river, clutched a mine explosive equipped with a detonator and fuse, with a cruel look on his face.
He steered the sleigh, circled the river in a circle, turned on the spot and ran due south!
When passing by the intersection of rivers, Ihor glanced at the ruts left by Mesut, but just gritted his teeth and shouted the reins to continue moving along the flat river.
If he returned to the labor camp like this, he was almost certain that he would never survive. At the same time, he also knew that if he continued to follow Mesut and Wei Ran, he would definitely not survive either.
In this case, escaping alone has become its only option at the moment.
such a pity
Ihor touched his splinted calf and sighed regretfully. It and Mesut had a relationship of cooperation and mutual utilization.
It originally planned to use the opponent as bait at a critical moment, but all its plans were ruined by that damn wolf pack!
At the moment, his only idea is to go south alone while Mesut and Wei Ran are running west, and then find an opportunity to go west to the Yenisei River, and then follow the plan as discussed and planned countless times before.
Find the Siberian Railway on the Yenisey River.
He is confident that as long as he rushes to the Far East along this railway, he can return to the recruitment that he has dreamed of!
However, just as Ihor, who was feeling homesick, steered the sleigh across the river intersection and ran no more than five or six kilometers south, he completely failed to notice that in the dense forest on the west side of the river, there was a star.
There is a small tent under the tall pine trees, and there are more than a dozen sled dogs lying around the tent!
"Woo——"
Just as Ihor's sled was speeding past, a sled dog that was lying at the door of the tent immediately let out a threatening whimper. Following that, the other dozen or so sled dogs also stood up and moved toward
The direction of the river arched its back.
A moment later, Panin, the warehouse guard with a large frostbite on his face, also emerged from the tent vigilantly holding a semi-automatic rifle wrapped in a white cloth strip.
After listening attentively, Panin decisively folded up the tent, hurriedly put out the bonfire and jumped on the sleigh, yelled at the dogs to stand up, and let them run towards the target!
In less than two minutes, the sleigh, which was about the size of a deck chair, rushed out of the dense forest. Immediately afterwards, he saw a river and fresh sled marks on the river!
Without any hesitation, Panin, who had already lost sight of his target in the past few days, immediately shouted to the dogs to speed up, while loading the rifle in his hand and turning on the safety.
As for who runs faster, the reindeer or the sled dog, it mainly depends on how deep the snow is and how high the load is. At least for now, these dozen dogs who have rested for several hours are full of energy, and along the way
Running on the sled tracks is much easier than running in the forest. What's more, the sleigh they pull together doesn't really have much load.
So it didn't take much time for Panin to see a sleigh pulled by three reindeer appearing directly in front of him.
When he discovered Ihor, Ihor also heard the faint barking of a dog behind him.
After a quick look back, Ihor didn't hesitate at all. He lifted the glass shade of the kerosene lamp, blocked the wind with a blanket, and successfully lit the fuse of the explosive before the kerosene lamp was blown out.
After stuffing the explosives and the explosives into his gloves, Ihor reached out to the outside of the sleigh and stuffed the explosives and the outer gloves into the snow.
Immediately afterwards, he shook the reins vigorously and shouted at the three reindeer to speed up.
After all, there was a distance between the two sides and it was dark. Naturally, Panin did not notice the small movements of the sleigh in front. He just shouted to the dogs to speed up, thinking about overtaking the other party and confirming whether he wanted to.
Looking for someone.
"boom!"
Just at this moment, a dull explosion sounded less than five meters in front of his sleigh, and the snow, ice and even the gushing lake water all hit him head and face.
He only had time to block it with the rifle in his hand and his thick deerskin sleeves. Then, amidst the howls of the dogs, he felt the biting chill pouring down his boots!
Almost subconsciously, he took a deep breath, tried to grab something with his hands, and at the same time pushed the sleigh hard with both hands.
With this little strength, he finally managed to catch the edge of the broken ice without falling completely. However, his sled and the dogs on the sled were also seriously injured. Even those who were still alive were about to be killed.
The sleigh that fell into the water was dragged to the bottom of the river!
Gritting his teeth, Panin ignored the ringing in his ears and pulled out the hunting knife on his waist. At the same time, he released the rifle placed on the ice, fluttered to the dogs, and helped them cut the leather reins.
.
While he was busy rescuing the sled dogs, Ihor also struggled to stop the reindeer who were frightened by the explosion, controlled them to slow down, and then had time to look behind him.
Seeing that no one was chasing him, he immediately turned the sleigh around and cautiously approached again.
However, before he could see clearly what the man who had just struggled to climb ashore looked like, two sled dogs that were soaked all over rushed over. One of them bit a reindeer's neck fiercely, and
The other one jumped on the sleigh! It opened its mouth towards Ihor's neck!
