My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 108 It turns out to be him
The next morning, Peng Yuanchao led a group of people out of the valley to Tiemaike to buy diesel fuel.

Since there wasn't much to do at the mine anyway, the group wanted to take the opportunity to go out and have some fun, so they all rushed off.

In the end, only four people remained in the camp: Zhou Jingming, Wu Yang, Bai Zhishun, and the disliked Old Wang.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang were there to guard the mine, while Bai Zhishun was there because he had been heartbroken by a woman the last time he went there. As for Lao Wang, he was there purely to save money.

With nothing to do at the camp, Zhou Jingming asked the two of them to take some time to prepare firewood and cook.

Nothing happened at the mine over the next few days.

The water level in the river has dropped considerably in the past few days, revealing most of the small peninsula.

The sand pit that had been dug out earlier has been filled with silt again, and the underground drainage channel used for drainage has naturally been destroyed.

If you want to continue searching here, you have to dig again.

During these few days, Zhou Jingming was not idle. Besides sparring with Wu Yang, his favorite thing to do was to carry his Eagle Rabbit brand double-barreled shotgun and lead Jin Wang to wander along the riverbank.

He wasn't just wandering around aimlessly; he was seeing if he had any luck and could find some gold.

After several days of flooding, the riverbanks carved out by the river are more than one meter deep in some places and more than two meters deep in others.

This has brought to light things that were hidden deep in the riverbed.

Sure enough, after wandering around for a few days, he actually made some gains. He picked up six gold nuggets, weighing about ten grams, but his biggest find was another oddly shaped piece of gold. It contained a lot of impurities, but after purification, it was estimated to weigh about thirty grams.

It must have been brought in by a flood from the source of the gold mine; it was a thick piece of quartz, about the size of a palm.

When he first saw the quartz stone, he only saw a small patch of golden gold about half the size of a fingernail sticking out. But when he tapped and chipped it with river stones to extract the gold, it turned out to be much larger than he had expected.

But the gold prospectors on the riverbank weren't fools. Many of them were experienced and wandered around the riverbank, looking here and there, all hoping to find something ready-made.

The mine site couldn't be left unattended, and Bai Zhishun and Lao Wang were obviously unreliable, so Zhou Jingming left Wu Yang at the camp to keep an eye on him.

With nothing to do, he took out the comic book that Peng Yuanchao often read and became engrossed in reading about Jinlian, completely oblivious to everything else around him.

In fact, Zhou Jingming only found some things in the first two days, and then he found nothing in the next two days.

On the evening of the fourth day, Peng Yuanchao led a group of people back to the camp carrying supplies. After putting down what they had brought, he immediately went up to the small peninsula.

Seeing that, just as Zhou Jingming had said, more than a meter of the surface of the small peninsula had been eroded away by the flowing water, I was also delighted.

This means that they only need to dig down about one meter of gravel and mud to reach the gold-bearing layer, which can indeed save a lot of time.

Zhou Jingming was still wandering on the riverbank when he saw Peng Yuanchao go ashore, so he quickly turned back and asked, "Brother Peng, how was the trip?"

Peng Yuanchao nodded: "It went smoothly! I went to find Wang Youping again. This time he led me to another person who resells diesel tickets. Of course, there was a kickback. We also asked him to take us into the mountains."

"As long as it goes well!"

Zhou Jingming looked at the small peninsula now: "Take a rest tomorrow, and we can get back to work the day after tomorrow."

"What's the next step?"

"Given the current situation, we can set up the diesel engine the day after tomorrow, have someone remove the surface gravel, and then we can dig and transport the material directly. This way, we'll find gold much faster."

We could also consider digging drainage ditches first, because if we dig them deep, drainage will eventually become a problem. Fortunately, the water flow is currently high, which can help transport silt and sand.

The problem is that we can't be sure if it will rain heavily again. If we just finished making it and then another heavy rain comes and it gets flooded, then all our work will have been for nothing. It's the rainy season in the mountains now.

So, after much thought, we decided to peel back the surface layer of silt and sand, shoveling deeper as we go, and only consider drainage when we encounter a need for it.

Because this method starts from the surface of the gold-bearing layer, the amount of gold extracted may be significantly less in the initial period.

But then again, people feel more secure with gold. There are pros and cons to both.

Zhou Jingming briefly analyzed the situation for him.

"Then let's start mining from the surface and work our way down!"

Peng Yuanchao understood Zhou Jingming's meaning and also realized that he preferred to take the material from the surface.

He slipped Zhou Jingming a pack of Red Lotus cigarettes he had brought back from Tiemaike and gave him another one.

After lighting a cigarette, Zhou Jingming sat on the pebbles on the small peninsula and listened to Peng Yuanchao recount his experiences on this trip.

This time, they went out from the tributary and all the way to the main river channel, where many mining sites were destroyed along the way.

Many teams are searching for new mining sites.

People even witnessed three fierce battles, all fought over mining sites.

Along the way up the river, they also saw three bodies floating in the river.

Meanwhile, upon entering Chagou, we also saw groups of two or three people inspecting sand along the river, searching for new mining sites.

It is estimated that some gold mining teams will enter the ravine where the small peninsula is located later.

Zhou Jingming wasn't surprised by this. He knew that Peng Yuanchao was worried about the small peninsula falling into other people's hands again. "Brother Peng, don't worry. We have ten men with guns right now. If anyone dares to make a move against us, they'll have to think twice about the consequences... By the way, we need to ask around when we get back which ones know how to use guns. That way, if something happens, it'll be easier to distribute the guns."

If you don't know how to use it, it's just a fire poker in your hands; it's not even as good as a pickaxe or shovel for hitting people.

"I asked during dinner tonight."

The two chatted briefly about other things, and only went back together when Bai Zhishun came to call them for dinner.

Peng Yuanchao brought back some cabbage and potatoes on this trip. Cabbage should be eaten while it's fresh, otherwise it will wilt and rot easily after a few days.

So, naturally, we had a big pot of boiled cabbage for dinner, with some smoked horse sausage added as well.

In northern Xinjiang, smoked horse sausage is considered a top-grade smoked meat. Because it is easy to preserve, when gold-digging teams go out to buy supplies, they like to bring some back when they have money in hand.

In winter, Kazakh families slaughter livestock to prepare meat for the winter, and smoking meat is the most convenient way to preserve meat locally.

Smoked horse sausage is a specialty of Kazakh herders.

They select the fattest and strongest horses, slaughter them, take the horse intestines, clean them, cut the meat into strips according to the length of the horse's ribs, sprinkle them with salt, cumin and other seasonings, stuff the ribs into the more than three-foot-long horse intestines, and then smoke them.

Buying smoked horse sausage is actually the same as buying smoked horse ribs. This stuff is rich in oil, but it's not greasy at all. The fat and lean meat are clearly separated. Cut it into small pieces and cook it with cabbage. It has a unique flavor.

A simple stew makes for a very good dish.

During the meal, Peng Yuanchao casually asked, "Who among you knows how to use a hunting rifle?"

Three experienced gold prospectors immediately said they had touched it before but were not proficient, while two gold prospecting novices said they had played with gunpowder guns at home.

Four others claimed to have participated in militia training and even practiced target shooting with a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, but they weren't very accurate.

In any case, there are enough people in the camp who can fire a gun, and that's enough.

Of the ten hunting rifles, Zhou Jingming, Wu Yang, Peng Yuanchao, Xu Youliang, and Sun Chenggui took five. The remaining five were given by Peng Yuanchao to the four gold prospectors who claimed to have participated in militia training. The last rifle was given to one of the older customers.

It's clear that he trusts the few people who have received militia training more, feeling they are more reliable.

Of course, after the meal, he also had them compare the measurements one by one to see if they really knew how to use it.

After Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang reviewed the weapons and found them acceptable, Peng Yuanchao finalized the allocation of the firearms.

Peng Yuanchao and the others returned. The camp was guarded. The next morning, while everyone was resting, Zhou Jingming gave Peng Yuanchao a few brief instructions. He then called Wu Yang, picked up his hunting rifle, and led Jin Wang upstream along the riverbank.

That night, five robbers went to the valley and robbed various mines one after another. He was very curious about the group that first resisted and successfully scared away the robbers and saved their gold. He wondered who they were.

In Zhou Jingming's opinion, the person who came up with such an idea was definitely a talent. He wanted to get to know him and see if he could win him over and use him for his own purposes.

That night was dark. They walked upstream along the valley for quite a while, but they couldn't see the mining sites below clearly. They were confused about which mining site it was... whether it was the eighth or the ninth. Wu Yang couldn't quite remember either.

But if you ask upstream, you should be able to find out.

Instead of heading into the woods, the two walked up the riverbank, hoping to find something on the riverbank where the water level had dropped a bit.

They didn't leave in a hurry, searching around as they went, and giving advance notice when passing other mining sites.

But in reality, only those gold prospectors who had never met the gold miners before were still wary of the mines that were still in operation. Those whose mines had been completely destroyed didn't care anymore; some were already packing their tools and belongings, seemingly preparing to leave.

Along the way, when they heard that Zhou Jingming was from the mining site on the small peninsula downstream, most people knew about them, and they were much more casual in their interactions.

The conversation revolved around the five robbers and the impact of the flood.

They quickly discovered that the mine that had scared the robbers away that night belonged to the gold-mining team led by Li Guozhu.

"It turns out it was him..."

Zhou Jingming wasn't particularly surprised, because in their two meetings, Li Guozhu gave him a different feeling than others.

Now that he knew who it was, and since there wasn't much to find on the riverbank, Zhou Jingming didn't linger any longer. He entered the woods by the river and quickened his pace to walk upstream.

Ten minutes later, he saw the mining site where Li Guozhu was located.

He must be a fairly experienced gold prospector. The location he chose for his dugout was some distance from the riverbank, and the mining site was similar to the small peninsula that Zhou Jingming and his group had, only much smaller.

At this time, Li Guozhu had already led a group of people to start digging sand and transporting materials.

It's estimated that they haven't been idle in the days following the heavy rain.

"Brother Li, can I get down?"

As Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang walked out of the woods and approached Li Guozhu's mining site, they first asked a question loudly.

Li Guozhu, who was shaking his golden bucket by the riverbank, got up and looked in the direction of the voice. When he saw that it was Zhou Jingming, he immediately came up to him: "It's Brother Zhou... What a rare guest! What brings you here?"

Zhou Jingming pressed his advantage: "That night, we encountered robbers, right? I later heard that someone successfully scared them away. I was wondering who had such a skill, and I wanted to find out. But after asking around, I found out it was you. Impressive!"

(End of this chapter)