Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven: Tomb of the Heroic Soul

As soon as I expressed my thoughts, Han Xiaoqiang questioned that Mount Everest is not the Himalayas, but Mount Everest.Mount Everest is a Tibetan transliteration of the name of a goddess in Buddhist scriptures. Now Taiwan and some Chinese areas also refer to Mount Everest as "Holy Mother Mountain", while Himalayas means "Snow Mountain" in Tibetan.Others also thought the same as Han Xiaoqiang, thinking that I was mistaken, and the Notre Dame Mountain should be Mount Everest.But they didn't know that during the Qing Dynasty, a group of people did call the entire Himalayas "Holy Mother Mountain".

As early as the Yuan Dynasty, there were detailed descriptions of Mount Everest in historical documents, and it was called "Tsering Ma" at that time.In the fifty-sixth year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty sent people to measure the height of Mount Everest and confirmed its status as the highest peak in the world. Inner Palace Atlas". In 1771, Zhumulangma Alin changed its name to Mount Everest. At that time, there were 108 people who went to measure Mount Everest together, but only 53 people came back alive, and 55 people disappeared.It is said that the 55 people who got lost were originally prisoners held by the Qing Dynasty. They originally lived in the Lingnan area. For some reason, they were released and went to the Himalayas to measure the height of Mount Everest.One night, the 55 prisoners escaped and were never seen again.And those 55 prisoners kept calling the Himalayas "Holy Mother Mountain." Others didn't think much about it. The same thing has many names.

In 1841, under the auspices of the British George Everest (also translated as Everest), illegal survey activities were carried out on Mount Everest without the permission of the Qing government.At that time, Effiers didn't know the name of Mount Everest at all, but only listed it as the 15th mountain in sequence. In the map measured by the British without authorization, there are two versions, one is marked in English and the other is marked in Chinese.Those two markings are now preserved in the British Museum. They are the few old maps that are known to mark snow peaks with numbers. On that Chinese copy map, the Himalayas are also marked as "Holy Mother Mountain".Regarding this naming, the academic circle has always believed that the title is wrong. Maybe the original author confused Mount Everest with the Himalayas.

Of course, the two maps of the British were just legends in 1943, and none of us knew that they would be placed in the British Museum in the future.But I have heard this rumor before. When I saw the snow mountain map that Yang Ning took out, my first thought was the two survey events between the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom.It's a pity that I don't know much about the British survey. I don't know who is their guide. Without a guide, it is easy to get lost in the snow-capped mountains. Zhang Yicheng put on a skeptical expression: "You mean, the 55 people left by the Qing Dynasty have been in the snow-capped mountains?"

"Then besides them, who else calls the Himalayas the Notre Dame Mountain, and who else uses numbers to replace the names of each snow peak?" I asked rhetorically. "No wonder they are so familiar with the snow mountain environment!" As soon as Yang Ning said this, I knew she believed me. In fact, our relationship is a little closer than other people. Han Xiaoqiang was also a little shaken: "What are those 55 people doing in the mountains? Since they escaped, they must have a lot of time to leave the snow-capped mountains." Hu Liang interrupted: "Don't discuss it for now. If you continue to talk, you won't find an answer. Why don't we go ahead before it's dark. After the camp is pitched and the fire is lit, you can discuss it for days and nights." It's all right."

The last thing I want to think about is to start a fire. Although I have a few bottles of fuel, but without fuel, I can't burn my clothes to keep warm.It was getting dark quickly on the snow mountain, we didn't dare to delay any longer, we packed up for a while and moved on.But I couldn't bear to have my comrades-in-arms rest here forever, without even a tombstone, so I took out a piece of aluminum from the wreckage of C-53 and inserted it in front of their graves.But no one knew their names, and we didn't know them. After thinking about it, everyone unanimously wrote the words "Tomb of Heroic Souls".

Yang Ning couldn't walk anymore, so Zhang Yicheng carried it on his back, and the other three of us carried a little more stuff.Originally, I wanted to recite Yang Ning, but I was afraid that other people would misunderstand it, so I let the strong Zhang Yicheng do it for me.We step on the loose snow, the cold temperature seeps into the soles of our feet, and the first thing to do is to start a fire.I was looking at the gray stone walls of the snow-capped mountains along the way, trying to find a few strong trees, but I couldn't even see grass, let alone trees.I was so cold that I thought I should fight it out and burn my clothes.

At this time, Hu Liang, who was walking in front, made a stop gesture, and I couldn't help frowning. Could there be another situation ahead? The silver snow valley in front has become vast, and there are many black boulders in the middle, at least two or three stories high, like a snow mountain version of a stone forest.Not long after the air mass passed through, the cold wind blew, and the snow was paved evenly.But there are several strings of footprints on the snow in front, and each footprint is oval in shape, which doesn't seem to be left by humans. When we looked around, we couldn't find any living things, except stones or stones.However, the stone forest is distributed in the snow valley, so it is easy to hide.Hu Liang told us not to go there first, because the footprints disappeared when they extended more than ten meters away, and there were no living things climbing on the rocks.I have a sense of fear of this kind of sudden disappearance, and because I can't see the danger, it's easy to think wildly.There are strange and weird creatures in the snow mountain. We have heard about them for a long time, but we have never seen them with our own eyes.Looking at the series of oval-shaped footprints, we all felt that the only answer that could be reasonably explained was that this thing could fly.

Han Xiaoqiang was still worried, and said suspiciously: "These footprints are as big as two palms, if they fly, we won't fail to notice them?" "What are you afraid of? We have guns! If it comes, we will kill it and have a good meal!" Zhang Yicheng laughed. Hu Liang looked around: "What shot, do you want us all to be buried alive?" I nodded and said, "Hu Liang is right, no matter what, you must never shoot in Snow Valley!" Zhang Yicheng snorted: "Don't panic, didn't you hear it too, how many shots did that Shaanxi woman fire, did the avalanche fall?"

"There seems to be a hole over there." Yang Ning was on Zhang Yicheng's back, looking farther than us. We looked ahead, and there was a crack under the rock 100 meters away, which looked like a cave from a distance.I think it's getting late, and no one is sure if there is any shelter from the wind and snow in front of this mountain gap.Hu Liang also thought the same as me, so everyone decided to spend the night in the crack, and by the way, study the anomalies in the snow-capped mountains and the route to take tomorrow.After all, we are going to cross the snow valley to get to the No. 1 peak to grab the plane, so we can't do it without a good plan.

Dragging our numb bodies, we headed against the cold wind, and when we were about to walk outside the crevice, we smelled a strong stench.Like me, Han Xiaoqiang thinks of dead bodies first. Since falling on the snow mountain, we have seen more than one dead body; Hu Liang is sure that there is no dead body in the crevice of the mountain. It is so cold on the snow mountain, the body will definitely not stink, at least not It stinks so badly; Zhang Yicheng carried Yang Ning on his back, supported him with both hands, unable to cover his nose, the smell made him want to vomit. "Damn it, did someone shit in it? It stinks!" Zhang Yicheng poohed several times. I walked over nervously, stood outside the mountain crevice, turned on the flashlight and looked inside, and was suddenly surprised. This crevice is very shallow, extending five or six meters at most, narrower than the cabin.In the crevices, there were really piles of black feces, some were dry, some were still wet, and even steaming.Seeing that he was able to speak well, Zhang Yicheng smiled happily, and was finally fooled by him.But I was very flustered, so much feces were in the crevasses, and some of them were still fresh, there must be wild animals in the snow valley.Will our reckless battle against the beast's lair lead to death? Han Xiaoqiang glanced back at the snow behind him, and said, "Those footprints just now must have been left by the beasts living in the cave, right?" The temperature is getting colder and colder, I shivered: "I can't see them now, I guess I'm going out to find something to eat, let's stay overnight." Zhang Yicheng quit and said in distaste, "Liu Anjing, the place smells so bad, it's dirtier than the toilet, you have to live here by yourself!" Hu Liang was very happy, and asked us to empty a backpack and put the excrement into the bag.As soon as Zhang Yicheng heard that he was going to pretend to be shit, he immediately scolded Hu Liang for being crazy. If you don't pick up food, you fucking pick up shit.It quickly became clear to me that most of the poop was dry enough to be used as fuel.In Tibet, many people use yak dung to light fires, which is flammable and convenient.The excrement in the crevasses is definitely not yak's. Although I can't figure it out, they have dried up and are very suitable for fuel. After Zhang Yicheng understood the purpose of picking up feces, he reluctantly put Yang Ning down and went in with us to clean up the narrow cave.Han Xiaoqiang stood guard outside with a box cannon, and would notify us if any wild animals appeared, while Yang Ning leaned beside him without saying a word.Regardless of the stench, I pushed the wet excrement out of the snow, then took out the fuel and ignited a pile of excrement, and the cave was lit up in an instant. Because there was an unpleasant smell in the cave, we let the fire burn for more than ten minutes to burn off the wet smell before we dared to go in again.We have been cold for a long time, and now there is a fire, and everyone is eager to jump into the fire and burn themselves.I took off my black leather gloves, put my hands on the fire, and roasted for a minute before I felt a little warm.At the same time, Hu Liang found another cup and boiled some hot water for each of us to drink.This glass of water is better than anything else. We were not afraid of burning our tongues, so we poured it down our throats and drank it several times before giving up. After warming up, Hu Liang kept looking outside, and moved a few stones to block the entrance of the cave to prevent the wind and snow from pouring in.Han Xiaoqiang stood guard there, fearing that the beast would come back, holding the box cannon tightly in his hand.I took care of Yang Ning in the cave, fed her some food, and rubbed some medicine.Yang Ning hadn't recovered her color yet, so I was a little impatient, but she kept telling me to look at the map again, and tonight I had to study the route back to grab the plane. Zhang Yicheng leaned against the fire and said, "It's the devil's job to rob things! It's too warm here, why don't we leave, just stay here." "So what are we going to eat?" I asked. "There's not enough food in the bag for a few days." After Hu Liang piled up the stones, he went back to the cave and cleaned up the shriveled excrement. He said, "The plane must be robbed, otherwise we will fight with those masked men, but it is easier to rob the plane." "Who knows if the plane is still there? What is that C-54 used for? Are they going to fly to the North Pole?" Zhang Yicheng guessed wildly. I also don't know what C-54 is going to do. The masked man worked hard to repair the wreckage, and he must have gone to a far away place.We have to be ahead of the curve, and what we can do now is to hope that God will open his eyes, and it is best to let the masked man crash on the way back, and all of them are dead.While talking, Hu Liang was still sorting out the feces, and was going to pack a few bags to take away, so he emptied several bags.Hu Liang opened the bag and asked me to help stuff the excrement into it. Don't wait until tomorrow to pack it. Who knows if the beast will come back in the next moment. Han Xiaoqiang guarded behind the entrance of the cave with a box cannon, and there was no movement outside. Maybe the beast really disappeared out of thin air on the snow.I shook my head and smiled bitterly, grabbed the black feces on the ground, and stuffed them into my bag.As I was having a good time, I suddenly saw something strange in the pile of feces in my hand. I took a closer look and identified an unusual mark in it.