After a busy morning, three areas with dry soil were explored and discovered. This was the achievement of the survey team in the morning.
Measured with tools, the area that can be cultivated is at least four square kilometers!
The team members hammered a wooden stick into these three areas and tied a piece of red cloth to determine the direction.
On the other hand, the team has set up a camp in the wilderness, and all team members are mentally prepared to spend the night in the wild. Sickles and shovels have cleared away the weeds in the camp, because the camp site itself is a camp, and it will become a camp in the future.
farmland.
Including the camp area, the survey team achieved a lot in the morning.
The female platoon in charge of the escort skillfully dug a pit and set up the iron pot they carried. They used the readily available mugwort stalks as fuel to make lunch for the hard-working survey team members.
There is no sulfur smell in the air at all, only the aroma of vegetable soup and the smoky smell of burning vegetation.
Just eat the prepared bread cubes, sip vegetable soup, and rest for a while on the blanket. Wouldn't it be a pleasant picnic?
Because it is already August, the drop in temperature has caused a large-scale decrease in grasshoppers, and the most annoying mosquitoes have almost disappeared. There are signs of the annual climate change, and nature has begun to welcome the arrival of cold winter in advance.
The temperature at noon rose to 20 degrees. The team members who were sweating due to work took off their coats. Suddenly a gust of wind blew, and they couldn't help but feel chilled.
"Idiot, put on all your clothes! If you get sick, the hospital will force you to drink weed soup in order to save medicine!"
Under Antonov's instructions, the undressed people reluctantly put on their coats. After they sat down, they dropped some topics during the meal, such as "drinking wild grass soup".
"Hey, you all know where the hospital is! Dr. Berekova believes that dandelions are medicine. For ordinary cold patients, the hospital lets us drink this soup."
"As far as I know, the Chinese consider dandelions to be medicinal. Since they thought so a long time ago, obviously it does have healing properties."
"Forget it, I think one dose of sulfonamide will solve all the problems."
"Xie Miao, your idea is correct. It's just that we now rely on airdrops from our superiors for medicines. If there are herbal medicines that can treat some diseases, we must collect herbal medicines on a large scale."
"So dandelions are considered medicine?"
"Who knows? It is said that the commander also regards this thing as a vegetable. Some of the dandelions collected in the hospital are always sent to the headquarters and end up in the commander's stomach. I really don't know why the commander likes this kind of bitter grass."
…
Chatting made the boring field survey a little more interesting. Bielski hurriedly finished his lunch and quickly took out his notebook and started writing some manuscripts. In the morning, he discovered a large area of land that could be cultivated, and there must be more discoveries in the afternoon. While the team members were chatting,
It also mentioned the commander and his wife's obsession with beautiful dandelions, and interpreted that "the commander took the initiative to eat wild vegetables during difficult times", which can also be publicized to improve morale.
Belski deliberately asked something about whether dandelions were delicious, but in the end he said, "Ask the commander if they are delicious," and the topic ended unhappily.
Work remains the same in the afternoon.
In order to achieve better survey results, the team leader divided the team into three groups. One group went to the forest to survey, one group continued to search for farmland suitable for reclamation, and one group set up a camp for overnight accommodation.
There are a large number of female soldiers in the team. They are qualified soldiers but not exploration experts. Some female soldiers are temporarily included in the inspection team, and the remaining twenty people stay to build the night camp.
"Okay, the comrades who are going to the forest will follow me, and the others will go south to continue looking for apprentices. Girls, you must build the camp!"
After giving instructions, Antonov, carrying a gun on his back, took the lead towards the forest.
"If you can hunt a deer in the forest, you can eat meat tonight. If you kill a bear, the bear meat can also be eaten, but the taste is worse." Antonov didn't know what he would encounter in the forest. Since
The commander once encountered a group of ferocious wild boars. If he encountered a similar situation, the rifle in his hand would be a life-saving means.
The men each had their own work, and only Bielski stayed in the camp, sitting cross-legged on the blanket and continuing to write documents.
"Hey! Young man, aren't you going to help us set up the tent?" The female platoon leader deliberately used a sweet voice to greet Bielski who was immersed in his work.
"Sorry ladies, I need to finish writing this first!"
"Okay! You must write down the hard work of our female soldiers."
"That's natural."
It really makes them unhappy that a strong man doesn't do physical work. If they can give them a nice word in the newspaper, this matter will be over.
They are all veterans in Joshua's infantry regiment, and two weeks ago they participated in the battle to block the 71st Division of the German 100th Army.
Joshua and Sashanova's troops are the benchmark for all female soldiers and have the nature of teaching troops. The two troops have indeed made great achievements in the war.
They all received regular infantry training. They studied the "Infantry Drill Code" intensively, and based on the particularity of guerrilla warfare, they learned some brand-new tactics. But in daily life, especially in terms of setting up field camps, the "Infantry Drill Code" provided
It's a very good standard, and they implemented it according to the script.
According to the regulations, if the field infantry is capable, they should dig a foxhole in the camp and set up a tent on the foxhole.
The advantage of this is obvious, that is, when the camp encounters unexpected events, such as sneak attacks and shelling, soldiers can quickly huddle in foxholes to avoid attacks, and it also provides fortification cover for counterattacks.
The female soldiers had to dig a large number of soil pits, and their actions confused Bielski, who had just finished writing.
"Hey, what are you doing? Are you digging a grave?!"
"Bah! Don't say bad words!" The angry female platoon leader wiped her sweat and criticized, "I'll dig a hole for you, and you can sleep here at night."
"I...I don't want to sleep in a tomb."
"Idiot! This is a rest pit. You are really a lucky young man. If you were a front-line soldier, I'm afraid the sergeant major would have trained you, and in the end your digging skills would be even better than ours."
Realizing the misunderstanding, Bielski stuck out his tongue. In order to get rid of the embarrassment, he simply found a long-handled shovel: "I'd better dig my hole! This way I can sleep more securely at night."
The camp was filled with joyful laughter.
Bielski is not an industrious person. He has never been on the battlefield and has limited knowledge of how to dig foxholes. With a shovel in hand, looking at the movements of the female soldiers, it seems that all he needs to do is dig downwards.
.
The soil here is relatively soft, especially after digging out the rhizomes of the surface layer of mugwort stalks, it is quite easy to continue digging downwards.
It’s just that Bielski is also worried. If we continue to dig deeper, won’t we dig out underground water? In the hinterland of the swamp here, we have to dig holes when we spend the night. Isn’t it also good to sleep on the flat ground?
In order to show his strength as a man, he rolled up his sleeves and worked hard to dig in the soil. After a while, he dug a large hole nearly a foot deep. He knew that this alone was not enough. If this was on the front line, foxholes would have to be dug no matter what.
To one meter, if you plan to station it for a long time, the tunnel must be dug to two meters!
Groundwater seepage is what everyone is most concerned about, but this disgusting situation has not happened.
Everyone in the camp was digging downwards. The female platoon leader gave the order to her men to dig down to half a meter. The next work was to search for some branches to set up tent supports, and finally spread the tarpaulin and it was done.
Suddenly, a female soldier put down her shovel and crawled out of the pit with a look of surprise on her face, shouting.
"Sisters! I have something going on here, you all should come and take a look!"
As expected, her shout attracted everyone in the camp. Driven by curiosity, Bielski also dropped his shovel and walked over, thinking to himself: "Didn't that woman dig a prairie dog's nest?"
More than 20 people gathered in front of the pit where the accident occurred. A female soldier pulled her platoon leader, pointed at the pit, and said nervously: "I... I think I dug some salt."
"What? Salt?" The platoon leader was in a daze for a while and patted his subordinate's face. "Are you very clear-headed? What did you say you dug up? Salt?"
"Yes! It must be salt! My tongue cannot deceive my brain."
Bielski folded his arms and watched the female soldier jump down into the pit, then squatted down, grabbed a handful of dirt, and climbed back up excitedly.
What’s so good about soil? As a result, the female soldier claimed that there were some white particles in the soil.
"White particles?" Bielski, who was curious, simply jumped into the small pit, grabbed a handful of black soil, squeezed his eyes hard, and really saw the so-called white crystals.
He put his nose over and took a sniff. The rotten smell seemed to be mixed with a special smell, which was familiar yet unfamiliar.
He carefully peeled off some crystals, stretched out his tongue and licked them tentatively, and instantly a salty and bitter feeling penetrated his whole body.
"Ah! This thing is salt, how incredible is it?!"
Compared with the female soldier, Bielski was even more excited. After scurrying out of the pit like a monkey, he just held the hand of the female platoon leader without any scruples: "Comrade! Hurry! Send someone to inform the captain.
, tell him we found salt! I suspect that we are standing on a huge salt mine!"
Which female soldier would be calm when a man suddenly grabbed her hand? Compared to the important matter of discovering salt, grabbing her hand was insignificant.
Two female soldiers took over the urgent task of delivering the message, and they ran lightly towards the forest area where captain Antonov was surveying.
For Antonov, the expedition team has found some reclaimable land, and half of his task is completed. Next, he will inspect a forest and determine the site for the construction area, and the task is completely completed.
In order to make greater contributions, the investigation work must continue. Building a large number of houses in the forest is purely to get vegetation cover, but the forest can also give many gifts!
There are mainly pine and beech trees in the woods in the swamp, and some areas are covered with white birch forests. The readily available rosin is favored by arsenals, and in autumn, it is the annual season for collecting pine nuts. Among various large trees
Various types of mushrooms often sprout under the soil. When food varieties are scarce, collecting mushrooms is also very necessary.
"Very good, there is no problem in building a house in this forest. Clerk, just mark this place on the map!"
"Okay, Comrade Captain..."
Antonov nodded, casually took out a cigarette he had rolled, and puffed away comfortably. The others continued to work on the big tree, such as measuring the trunk circumference with a tape measure, and thinking about the prospects of wood processing.
.
Suddenly, a soft cry from a woman reached everyone's ears.
Antonov looked sideways and saw some female soldiers running towards him. Their expressions were eager and smiling. Could it be that something happened in the camp?
The female soldier arrived in a hurry and said straight to the point: "Comrade Captain! We found salt in the camp... we found salt in the camp."
"What? Salt?" When Antonov heard this, his expression was exactly the same as that of the female platoon leader. "Did I hear that right? What did you say you found? Salt?"
"Yes! We are all guessing whether there will be a salt mine below our overnight camp? Our platoon leader hopes you can go and see for yourself!"
"Okay, we'll go back right now."
Antonov made some arrangements and hurried towards the camp with a team member seconded from the chemical laboratory.
The two returned to the camp with suspicion and curiosity. After they returned, they were surprised to see that all the people who stayed behind were digging holes, just like a large group of marmots. The soil dug out of each hole was piled up.
Up the hill.
While the female soldier went to the captain to report the discovery of salt, Bielski and others were not idle. Who knows what is under the soil?
Taking advantage of his strength as a man, Belsky put aside the task of writing documents and used the shovel as if he were digging a well. He dug two meters down!
As we dig deeper, the proportion of crystals in the black soil increases, and the soil becomes drier, as if it has been salted.
With the return of Antonov, after identifying the crystals in the soil, he concluded that it is indeed salt. However, this salt is by no means edible salt in the traditional sense. It must also be mixed with substances such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
and other substances. Its composition is very similar to that of seawater salt!
Antonov could no longer contain his excitement. He didn’t know what else he would find if he continued digging. There were a large number of rock salt crystals in the soil. Extracting the salt from this area could solve the problem of the guerrilla republic to a large extent.
Salt problem.
You can eat less food, but you must eat salt, and the channels for obtaining salt have been extremely limited for a long time.
Currently, the German army has occupied all the salt mines in Belarus. While they are frantically plundering, the amount of salt they can give to the people in the occupied areas is very limited.
Even so, civilians who sympathized with the guerrillas and hated the invaders also tried every means to deliver limited salt to the guerrillas. This behavior was very dangerous and would be killed by the occupying forces if discovered. Even so, the practice of smuggling salt has always existed.
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In this regard, because the Guerrilla Republic was the largest and most powerful anti-German force in the occupied areas, it naturally received priority treatment from its superiors. In all airdrop operations, more than five tons of salt alone were dropped. This salt objectively ensured the safety of the soldiers.
combat effectiveness.
Even if five tons of salt are used carefully, it is difficult to supply the consumption of 100,000 people. It will eventually be used up. After that, the most terrifying problem is not hunger, but because soldiers begin to suffer from hyponatremia. Such patients become more and more serious.
The more tired you become during training, the more your combat effectiveness will plummet.
The soldiers and civilians here have long been honed by the arduous life in the swamps and have developed a strong sense of urgency. When it comes to daily material consumption, they should try to save as much as possible. Many people regard the commander eating dandelions as a model of thrift.
Antonov really knew the importance of salt to the people. Just the discovery of salt crystals mixed with various miscellaneous things made him tremble with excitement.
He suppressed his inner excitement, glanced at the clean iron pot in the camp, and suddenly had an idea... (To be continued)