History Park: Starting with the Imjin War

Chapter 29 Snow Tracks

At this moment, Liu Gao was hugging the door panel, his shoulders hunched, and his smile was more like a grimace.

Zhou Hu, mounted on his horse, glanced down at him twice.

"How did you get here?"

"I came on horseback."

"nonsense."

"Then I'll say something else."

Liu Gao quickly hugged the door panel tightly, saying, "I'm here to help."

Zhou Hu remained silent, first looking at the door panel, then slowly looking back at his face.

"What can you do to help?"

Liu Gao really did speak eloquently this time; it seems he did his homework.

"Carry people, shield from arrows, block roads."

Zhou Hu stared at him for a couple of breaths. His gaze wasn't fierce, but it made the man hesitant to move.

Liu Gao swallowed hard, but he didn't back down. He stood firm and accepted the scrutiny.

"Keep up."

Zhou Hu finally spoke, "Keep your mouth shut on the way, or I'll kick you back."

Liu Gao was immediately delighted and quickly spurred his horse to catch up.

"Alright!"

Mo Qin glanced back at him and couldn't help but curse:

"You really know how to make things worse."

Liu Gao grinned.

"Wrong."

"I can fix the leaks."

Yan Qi, riding beside him, casually remarked:

"Your leak is a bit loud."

The wind whipped across her face, chilling her to the bone, but Lin Jun still smiled.

Zhou Hu ignored them and waited for them to take their places before speaking in a deep voice from the front.

"Listen carefully, everyone."

"From now on, stop talking nonsense. Once we're in the mountains, it's not about who's bravest, it's about who makes the fewest mistakes."

"Yan Qi, watch the road."

"Analysis by Lin Jun."

"Mo Qin, Liu Gao, if anything really happens, hold on."

"Old Ding..."

Old Ding trailed off at the very end, as if he were about to fall asleep.

"I'm listening."

Zhou Hu didn't even turn his head.

"Whoever causes chaos first will die first."

Liu Gao subconsciously shrank his neck and whispered, "Then I promise I won't make a scene."

Lin Jun glanced at him.

"Hard to say."

Liu Gao opened his mouth, but in the end, he chose to remain silent, only holding the door panel even tighter.

As you go further, the road becomes increasingly difficult to travel.

The snow wasn't dry snow; it was the kind that was half-melted, with frozen mud underneath.

Both sides were lined with dark, dense trees.

When the wind blows, the snowflakes on the branches fall down in a flurry, landing on the cotton armor, leaving only a touch of coldness.

Upon reaching the first fork in the road, Yan Qi dismounted first.

He didn't rush forward, but squatted down, touching the snow with his fingers first, then the mud, and finally looked up at the few clumps of low shrubs by the roadside.

Liu Gao peeked out.

"What did you see?"

Three groups of people walked by here.

Yan Qi's eyes were still fixed on the ground as he spoke.

"The first group was a caravan, which took half a day or more to get up. The ruts were wide and deep, the edges had collapsed, and fresh snow had fallen inside."

He raised his hand and pointed to the two shallow grooves in the middle of the road.

"The second group, four riders, moved quickly."

"You could tell that?" Liu Gao was taken aback.

"able."

Yan Qi pointed to several blackened hoof prints, "The front ones are deeper than the back ones. When the horse is urged on, its front hooves put the most weight on them, making the prints deeper. If it walks slowly, the weight is distributed more evenly among all four hooves."

Mo Qin stood to the side, glanced at it twice, and secretly admired it.

No wonder they're professionals!

When a person is running, their center of gravity will shift forward first.

The same principle applies to horses.

Especially when snow and mud are mixed together, the difference in pressure applied to the forefoot and heel results in two different imprints.

A moment later, Yan Qi had already stood up.

"The third group didn't take the main road."

Yan Qi continued, "It cut diagonally from this side."

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

At first glance, there was nothing in the few clumps of low shrubs at the edge of the woods.

If you look a few more times, you'll notice that some branches have had half of their snow rubbed off, revealing thin black streaks.

Lin Jun's eyes lit up.

"Walk close to the edge, deliberately avoiding stepping on the ground."

"Um."

Yan Qi nodded. "I wanted to hide my footprints. But the snow is wet, and even if my trouser legs and boot tops rub against it, the snow on the branches will still fall off."

"Which group should we chase?" Liu Gao asked.

"We won't chase them."

Yan Qi pointed a finger, "Let's find the place where the roads diverge first."

What does "branching out" mean?

"Where do the pursuers and the fleeing separate?"

Liu Gao only half understood what he was hearing, and scratched his head.

"Your mouth now sounds like a fortune teller's."

"Say less."

Mochin dismounted, saying, "That's called professionalism."

Liu Gao immediately objected.

"I'm a professional too."

What's your major?

"Professional porter."

Lin Jun casually added:

"Or maybe he's a professional punching bag."

Old Ding scoffed from behind.

"If this dark-skinned kid really falls into the ditch, the door panel might still come in handy."

"How do I use it?" Liu Gao turned around.

"Cover it up."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jun laughed first, and Yan Qi's lips twitched slightly.

Liu Gao looked at this and that, and finally laughed at himself.

After laughing, he muttered to himself:

"Just cover it up, I can handle it anyway."

As Yan Qi continued walking, she stopped several more times.

Sometimes I look at the depth of the footprints, sometimes at the broken branches, and sometimes I simply squat down.

They would also take a pinch of snow, rub it on their fingertips, and then smell the frozen mud.

At first, Liu Gao would ask a couple of questions, but he stopped after a while because he realized that even if he listened to everything, he still didn't quite understand.

Mochin, however, was different.

He originally thought Yan Qi was just an archer and a hunter.

I only realized now that this person changed completely once he entered the mountains.

Back in the camp, Yan Qi was quiet and even a bit aloof.

Now I understand, it wasn't that he was being antisocial, he was waiting!

Give yourself room to shine!

Once he entered the mountains, he felt like he had returned to his own territory.

Next, Yan Qi continued to examine and analyze.

The depth of a footprint indicates the force applied.

The length of a stride depends on physical strength and speed.

Snow hangs on the branches; observe the disturbance and its direction.

The way blood falls on snow, observe the time difference and the traces of its presence.

Finally, at that fork in the road, Yan Qi stopped.

Yan Qi squatted down again at the edge of a shallow ditch sheltered from the wind.

"Blood."

Everyone gathered around.

A small patch of snow on the edge of the ditch had been turned over, revealing two or three drops of dark red, the edges of which had already turned black.

There were two broken blades of grass nearby, with light brown mud clinging to their tips.

Is it new or not?

Liu Gao blurted it out.

"Not new."

Yan Qi said, "Within two days."

Lin Jun also squatted down and looked down for a moment.

"Only three drops of blood fell, that's too little."

"What do you mean?"

"If it drips along the way, it won't just be in this small area."

Lin Jun pointed around and said, "People have stopped or squatted here."

Mo Qin looked at the three drops of blood and nodded in agreement.

The quantity is too small, and the distribution is too concentrated.

It's more like a person stops and a few drops of blood drip from a wound at a certain angle, rather than bleeding all the way down the road.

Yan Qi didn't reply, but continued walking forward.

After a dozen or so steps, he suddenly raised his hand and took a piece of grayish-blue material from a thorny twig.

The piece wasn't very big, about the length of a thumb, and the edges were quite rough.

Lin Jun only glanced at it.

"It's ramie silk, the fabric used for civil officials' clothing."

Mo Qin's heart sank.

Shen Weijing!

Are we too late?