While flying forward, he used the walkie-talkie to call for Wang Xuance and the others.
The only response was a lot of static, making it impossible to hear anything clearly.
After flying for about five to six minutes, the walkie-talkie finally transmitted a clear message.
"Calling Gongye, we've found the Sun-Moon Five-Star Flag! Do you copy!"
Inside the cabin, Li Shimin and Fang Er exchanged glances, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.
How could the Sun-Moon Five-Star Flag appear here?
Fang Er instinctively increased the flight speed to maximum, and Li Xiaogong asked Wang Xuance via walkie-talkie.
"Report your location!"
"Based on the fleet's landing point, it's due west-south!"
"Received, fire a flare, hold your position!"
"Yes!"
The communication ended, and the next moment, a bright red light rose in the distance, a flare fired by Wang Xuance and his team.
With accurate directional guidance, the helicopter landed in a mountain valley less than five minutes later.
There were no villages in the valley, but there were many traces left by humans.
Horse dung, ashes from extinguished fires, gnawed bones, and discarded clothing.
After the group disembarked from the helicopter and scanned the valley, Li Shimin asked Wang Xuance, "Where's the flag?"
Wang Xuance pulled a cloth bundle from his pocket and unfolded it. It was indeed a Sun-Moon Five-Star Flag!
However, the flag was somewhat tattered, with scorch marks on its edges.
Upon seeing the flag, Li Shimin became furious and growled in a low voice.
"Presumptuous! This is trampling on the dignity of Great Tang!"
Fang Er: "???"
Shouldn't the first priority be to figure out how this flag got here?
After all, this place was tens of thousands of miles away from Great Tang!
He lit a cigar and offered it, "Dad, calm down, let's see if there are any other discoveries first~"
After speaking, he looked at Wang Xuance.
"Have you searched this area? Where was the flag found?"
Wang Xuance pointed to the foot of the distant mountain. "Reporting to Gongye, it was right there."
Fang Er walked in the direction he pointed. As he got closer, he felt that the stones on the surface of the mountain were somehow not right!
These stones had no sharp edges, instead resembling dried mud that had been piled up?
Wait a minute~
Lava!
This is what lava looks like after it solidifies!
He looked up. The slope of the mountain was gentle, bare of trees and vegetation, covered entirely in dark gray volcanic rock!
Looking in other directions, although there were trees, those coniferous trees were clearly covered with a lot of gray, flocculent matter – volcanic ash!
This mountain was likely an active volcano!
He waved to call Wang Xuance over, asking him to point out the exact location where the flag was found. It was at the edge of the uppermost layer of volcanic rock, with a charred flagpole still stuck there.
Seeing this, he had a guess and turned to walk towards Li Shimin.
"Dad, your humble servant knows how this flag got burned like this!"
Li Shimin was furious. "Speak! If I find out who dares to provoke Great Tang like this, I will exterminate their entire clan!"
Li Xiaogong patted his chest from the side. "Your Majesty, there's no need for you to get angry. Heh heh heh, your old Ninth hasn't had a good fight in a long time. If we find out who it is, I'll beat them to death!"
Fang Er stared blankly at him. "Ninth Uncle, are you sure you want to beat him?"
Li Xiaogong raised his eyebrows. "What, you think Ninth Uncle can't do it, kid?"
Fang Er smiled and pointed at the active volcano. "Go ahead, Ninth Uncle, beat it!"
Li Xiaogong: "???"
He was stunned for a while, not understanding who "it" Fang Er was referring to. There was clearly nothing on the mountain. He pressed further. "Beat who?"
"The mountain! This mountain is a volcano, there's a crater at the summit, Ninth Uncle can go and beat it~" Fang Er said with a sly smile.
Volcanoes also existed in China, but they rarely erupted.
Therefore, everyone was quite unfamiliar with the word. Seeing their confusion, Fang Er explained what a volcano was and the difference between active and dormant volcanoes.
After hearing his explanation, Li Shimin's anger disappeared. He smiled and patted Li Xiaogong on the shoulder.
"Go, old Ninth, beat it for me!"
Li Xiaogong turned and walked towards the soldiers beside him. "Ahem, ahem, ahem~ The weather is so nice today. Let's go, you few, follow me and see if we can find any gems spewed out by the volcano!"
Joking aside, fight a volcano?
Let alone whether his "size" was enough to plug the crater, but that molten iron and gold high temperature, could a human withstand it?
Watching his awkward retreating back, everyone couldn't help but laugh heartily.
A while later, Fang Er voiced his guess. "Dad, this flag was likely planted here by someone, and then the flagpole was burned by the lava, causing it to fall to the ground. The edges of the flag were burned off by the high temperature."
"As for why it didn't turn to ash, it was probably due to rain, or perhaps there was a puddle where the flag fell."
"Then who planted this flag here?" Li Shimin finally returned to the point that needed to be addressed.
Li Ji stroked his beard, pondered for a moment, and then suggested, "Your Majesty, if someone planted a flag, there should normally be an inscribed stone tablet. Why don't we search over there?"
Thus, the special forces team that had accompanied Wang Xuance was assigned a new task: smashing stones.
They were to smash the solidified lava where the flagpole had been planted to see if there was a stone tablet underneath.
This erupted lava, after cooling, would create a distinct boundary between it and the original surface rocks.
Furthermore, rocks that had just solidified, not having undergone long-term compression, were relatively brittle. Because they were formed from lava erupted by the volcano after solidification, they were also called extrusive rocks.
After a series of crashing sounds, the extrusive rock in that area was smashed, and the debris was cleared away.
"Your Majesty! Gongye! There's writing underneath!"
A soldier, wearing sheepskin gloves, wiped away the stone chips and debris and shouted excitedly to everyone.
Li Shimin, Fang Er, and the others hurried over. After the area was cleaned, a stone tablet was indeed revealed.
On the stone tablet, square characters appeared before everyone.
"Where the heavenly might extends, all is Great Tang territory."
"Beneath the sun and moon, all are citizens of Huaxia."
"From the Great Tang Heavenly Might Department!"
"Hahahaha~~ Well said, Heavenly Might Department! Anzhi, whose subordinate is this!"
After reading the inscription, Li Shimin laughed heartily and asked Fang Er.
Fang Er was stunned. Heavenly Might Department?
That was under Ge Zhiwoyang. This fellow had been abandoned at home by his son and generals because he had fallen in love with canned herring.
Unexpectedly, his son was also a capable person, having led his troops to this place in just over a year!
If that was the case, this volcano had also erupted not long ago. It was just unknown where he had taken the soldiers of the Heavenly Might Department.
From here, further north was Arnold, and further north was the Arctic Circle.
Across the Bering Strait was Alaska.
Had these guys gone to the American continent first?