After hearing the report from the sentry tower, Wu General thought that land was just ahead.
But after continuing to sail eastward for more than an hour, he realized that this was not the case at all.
Although the position of the sentry tower was high, it was not the observation of land, but something else.
In the far east, a huge black and red smoke column was seen rising into the sky, eventually forming a thick layer of haze clouds high in the sky.
"Is this a volcano erupting?"
Although volcanic eruptions are a disaster, for people like them who sail on the sea, since they see volcanic eruptions, it means that there must be land.
The fleet continued to move forward, and after more than an hour, they finally saw the situation ahead.
At the junction of water and sky, a large piece of land appeared.
There is a large conical mountain on the top of the land. The lower part is lush and green, but the upper part is covered with snow.
At the top of the mountain, thick smoke was erupting upwards.
I carefully observed the land at the foot of the mountain, but it was not greatly affected.
This shows that the harm caused by volcanic eruptions is not severe.
"Director, this island seems to be quite big. There should be water and food."
In a short period of time, the surveying and mapping staff has already given gratifying data.
This is a long and narrow island running from northeast to southwest, with a length of more than a hundred miles.
The volcano they saw was located at the southernmost tip of the island, but the rest of the island was peaceful.
General Wu observed with a telescope and then issued the order.
"Tell the fleet to land in the middle of the island."
After sailing on the sea for nearly a month, everyone finally stepped on land. Everyone was very happy.
As a commander, General Wu did not dare to relax.
"Send out two teams and explore north and south respectively. No matter what the situation is, we must come back before dark."
Immediately, two squad leaders each led 30 people and left the camp carrying muskets and wilderness survival equipment.
Others camped on the shore and patrolled the vicinity of the camp to avoid any potential dangers.
However, this island has obviously not been visited by humans and looks very peaceful.
The animals on the grass and in the woods were not afraid at all when they saw people. Some elk even came up to them, wanting to see what these outsiders were doing.
There is no doubt that these animals have become the expedition's food reserves.
In the afternoon, the team that swept nearby areas passed through the entire island and reached the east coast.
I didn't encounter any danger along the way.
The expedition team relaxed and began to repair slowly, eliminating the fatigue of the long voyage.
Botanists were sent out to explore the biological conditions on the island and collect edible wild vegetables.
In the evening, both the southern and northern expedition teams came back in high spirits.
They were also unscathed and brought back a lot of prey.
"Director, look, we hunted this on the northern coast. This thing is fat and fat, but it has a mouse head and no legs. It just lay on the ground stupidly and didn't run away when it saw us coming.
.But the fur is good, and it will definitely fetch a good price."
Looking at the prey dragged back by the team from the north, General Wu was amazed.
"The world is so big, there is really everything. I wonder if the meat of this thing is edible?"
No one knows that this prey is actually a seal.
There are many cold places in the region, but this is the first time these people from the south have seen it.
The team going north also introduced the situation in the north of the island.
"There are also two volcanoes over there, but there is no movement, but it is much colder than here. There is snow at the foot of the mountain."
They have all learned relevant weather knowledge.
Naturally, we know that the closer the snow line is to the foot of the mountain, the lower the temperature will be.
I just didn’t expect that for a small island that is just a hundred miles long, the temperature difference between the north and the south would be so obvious.
The team heading south brought even more good news.
"There is a lake in the mountain pass not far away. We have observed it. The animals here will run to drink water, which means they can drink it."
Everyone was very happy when they heard there was water.
When sailing across the ocean, clear water is more important than anything else.
At that moment, General Wu sent more than fifty people with tools to the lake in the south and brought back water.
Even though it was verified that the water here was edible, the expedition team still boiled the water to feel reassured.
After everyone had a hearty meal, they spent a peaceful night in the tent on the beach.
Starting from the next day, the expedition team officially inspected the entire island.
Each group consists of forty people, with a total of ten teams heading in different directions.
Although the island is huge, with the joint efforts of so many people, it only took one day to explore it.
This island is deserted and there are no threatening animals. All that can be seen are elk, foxes, sea otters, seals and other small animals.
There are four volcanoes distributed from south to north on the island, which also divides the entire island into four areas.
Except for the southernmost volcano, which is still active, the other three are silent.
You can replenish food and water here, which can be regarded as a very good relay station on the way out of the east side of Sakhalin Island.
On the third day, the team's exploration was no longer limited to the islands at their feet, but took boats to explore in three directions: north, south, and east.
And the news they sent back was even more gratifying.
The small team heading to the east walked for a day and a night, but saw nothing but the vast sea.
Not only that, they also encountered rough waves and almost capsized the boat.
The future was uncertain, so we had no choice but to return home.
But the teams that went to the south and the north made discoveries respectively.
"There is a small island forty miles to the north. There is only one volcano on the island. We have detected that the water nearby is very shallow, which means there will be land nearby."
"There are two adjacent small islands a hundred miles to the southwest. There are also volcanoes on the islands, but there is no water source."
The situation has been reported to General Wu, and it is up to him to make the decision.
Wu Jiang closed his eyes and meditated, and the image of the world map kept flashing in his mind.
After a while, he made a decision.
"Tell everyone to stock up on food and water immediately. We will set off tomorrow to explore north."
The people below don't quite understand.
"Director, we have been out for a long time, should we return?"
Wu Jiang shook his head.
"We finally came out once again and explored a new area. There is no shortage of food and drinking water anyway, so why bother to go back?"
Seeing his arrogance, everyone was also infected. They put aside their objections and went to prepare themselves.
Only when no one is around will Wu General show a sigh.
This time he came out, it was called exploration, but it was actually to give way to Wei Yuanfeng.
When Wei Yuanfeng came to preside over the affairs of Sakhalin Island, it was inevitable that he would have conflicts with the old people here.
These all take time to adjust to.
If he were here, those old people would definitely look for him.
If you take care of it, you will have a quarrel with Wei Yuanfeng;
No matter what, those old people will be alienated again.
So the best way is for him to wander outside for a while.
When the old people got used to Wei Yuanfeng's style of doing things, the contradictions were eliminated.
This is the wisdom of power transfer.
He understands, and so does Wei Yuanfeng.
The tacit understanding between two people is not enough to be appreciated by outsiders.