My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 116 Paving the Way with Money

The reason Zhou Jingming was certain he could use gold to win over Liang Tongshu was because, in his previous life, he had almost always used gold to communicate with Liang.

This person outwardly appears righteous and awe-inspiring, but deep down he is ruthless, greedy, and always looking for more.

He actually preferred "obedient people," those who would voluntarily hand over gold in private, rather than those who were chased from the east side of the valley to the west and then from the west to the east, yet refused to give up their gold.

As long as there's gold, they'll be very easy to talk to.

In his eyes, the gold prospectors in the valley were like fish he was raising in a pond; he understood the principle of draining the pond to catch all the fish.

Once, when Zhou Jingming treated him to drinks at a hotel, the drunk Liang Tongshu was still muttering, "These gold prospectors don't understand me at all, they don't listen to me at all. If they were all like you, it wouldn't be so troublesome. They can't even pretend to listen. They deserve to be chased around and never have a moment's peace..."

Back when Zhou Jingming was working in the Gold Rush Valley in his previous life, even the Kazakh herders said that during the years Liang Tongshu was the captain of the Ganqing Mountain team, he had collected enough gold to fill three sacks.

Of course, this is a somewhat exaggerated statement.

In addition, he had pockmarks on his face and was the third child in his family, so gold prospectors secretly called him "Three Sacks".

Greed will inevitably lead to bad results.

In the end, he died at the hands of a gold prospector he had driven too far. The man was a murderer, and the gold he had hidden was forced out of him.

However, the gold prospector was caught when he tried to flee with the gold, and the incident caused quite a stir.

That's why Zhou Jingming knew the location of the hidden gold.

There is indeed a lot of gold there.

How could Zhou Jingming not be thinking about it?
Therefore, he is now willing to give him gold.

Because he believed that the gold he sent out would definitely come back in time.

Moreover, Liang Tongshu is still very useful to Zhou Jingming. By establishing this relationship, even if he loses some gold, many things will become much easier to handle.

Putting aside other things, there will be far less fighting and killing over mining sites and gold.

Seeing the Qingshan team riding their horses up the riverbank at high speed, with the next mining site on the small peninsula, Zhou Jingming stopped hiding. He and Wu Yang emerged from the woods and jogged to meet them: "Brother Liang, Brother Liang..."

Upon hearing these two shouts, the Qingshan team members all reined in their horses, stopped them, and looked at Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang who had run down.

In their view, the two should know Liang Tongshu, so they did not make any extra moves.

On the contrary, Liang Tongshu was somewhat puzzled when he saw the two people, and asked himself: Do I know these two people?
He thought about it carefully, but couldn't recall it at all.

While they were still in a daze, Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang had already reached Liang Tongshu's side. He took out a pack of Red Lotus cigarettes that Peng Yuanchao had brought back from buying supplies in Tiemaike and handed one to Liang Tongshu, who was riding on horseback.

Liang Tongshu hesitated for a moment before taking the cigarette.

Zhou Jingming hurriedly took out three matches, lit them with a bang, and went to light his cigarette for him.

Liang Tutong frowned slightly, but still bent down and lit a cigarette.

Zhou Jingming then handed the cigarettes to Wu Yang: "Brother, the comrades of the Qingshan team have worked hard, running around everywhere for these trivial matters in the Gold Rush Valley. Hurry up and give everyone a cigarette."

Wu Yang wasn't a rigid person. After taking the cigarette, he went to distribute cigarettes and light them for the other members of the Qingshan team.

While everyone's attention was diverted, Zhou Jingming quickly pulled out an oil paper bag containing bran gold from his pocket, stuffed it into Liang Tongshu's pocket, and lowered his voice: "Brother Liang, please come to the side to talk!"

Liang Tongshu reached into his pocket, squeezed the small lump of gold, frowned slightly, but still dismounted and followed Zhou Jingming to the side.

Zhou Jingming walked seven or eight meters away, then stopped. He waited until Liang Tongshu was beside him before smiling and saying, "Brother Liang, that mine up there belongs to us. Everyone there has already gone out to buy things. We hope you'll be lenient..."

I didn't know you would come, so I didn't prepare much. This is all I have for now. Next time, when you come again, I will definitely prepare a generous gift for you.

Liang Tongshu sized up Zhou Jingming: "I've never seen anyone like you before in the valley. You don't have an ID, do you? Show me your identification..."

“Brother Liang…you know, how many people panning for gold in the valley have a certificate? I certainly can’t produce one.”

Zhou Jingming looked at Liang Tongshu with hopeful eyes: "Please let us go?"

Liang Tongshu hesitated for a moment, then reached into his pocket again to feel the small wad of gold: "You're a good guy, you know how to handle things. Next time I come..."

Zhou Jingming quickly interrupted, "At least two... no, three!"

Hearing this, Liang Tongshu laughed: "Don't overthink it. As you can see, I don't have enough brothers under me. I can't explain it to them, can I?"

Zhou Jingming nodded repeatedly: "I understand... This is really all we have this time. If everyone were here, I would definitely ask them to contribute more!"

"Alright, I like people who know how to handle things; it makes things easier for everyone!"

After Liang Tongshu finished speaking, he walked towards his horse, mounted it, and shouted to the group, "There's nothing wrong with the mine up there, no need to check anymore, let's continue upwards... Hurry, hurry, some people are already running!"

He took the lead and rode his horse upstream. Sure enough, when he arrived at Zhou Jingming's mine, he did not stop but went straight to Zhang Batou's mine.

Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang met up and looked at Zhang Batou's mining site from afar. The group of people fled into the woods in a panic.

Watching the Qingshan team ride their horses into the woods, and then quickly chase the two men out of the woods, the two men, driven to desperation, chose to jump into the river and swim to the other side. Wu Yang clicked his tongue and said, "Damn it, they're even more of a bandit than bandits!"

Liang Tongshu and his gang failed to catch anyone at Zhang Batou's mine. They eventually gathered around the dugout, and some of them went inside and searched for a while. They gathered up the tools, set them on fire, and burned the dugout itself before riding away on horseback.

Zhou Jingming sighed: "You have to use the right methods for the right people. It's not a good idea to keep hiding and hoping for luck. The tools were destroyed and the dugout was burned down. We've escaped now, but it will take a lot of time to rebuild."

"That's normal, though. Without a license, and mostly vagrants, their first reaction is fear." Wu Yang asked in a low voice, "Brother Zhou, how much did you stuff in just now?"

"About fifty grams!"

"so many?"

"I also promised him that I would give him three times the amount next time he came!"

"what……"

“What’s so hard to understand? Fifty grams of gold, according to the market price, is about 1,500 yuan, which is not a small amount of money. In our camp, not to mention other things, just that diesel engine produced by Jincheng Diesel Engine Factory is worth 2,600 yuan.”

If they destroy the supplies, burning down the tents, dugouts, and all the provisions, the losses will only be greater.

Moreover, once we've dealt with them, we can deal with them again. We lost some gold, but it wasn't entirely without benefit. At least we won't have to hide from them when they come back in the future.

If we give them too much, we can't handle it; but if we give them too little, we won't satisfy their appetite.

Even if he only gives us 150 grams each time, given the current gold production on the small peninsula, we can pan for that gold in two or three days. Spending three days is worth it to allow us to pan for gold peacefully for a considerable amount of time.

It's like paying protection money... What do you think people will think if they see us associating with Liang Mazi? Won't they have to think twice before making any moves against us?
Look at the forests surrounding this valley; countless eyes are watching.

Moreover, the benefits don't stop there.

As Zhou Jingming spoke, he couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, that's my gold. When Peng Yuanchao and the others come back, they'll have to make it up to me."

In any case, the Qingshan team has been dealt with.

Zhou Jingming handed Wu Yang a cigarette, lit one for himself, and they returned to the camp together.

The two sat back down by the fire, added some firewood, and once some charcoal had burned, they put the half-cooked fish back on the fire and started grilling them again.

"Brother Zhou, will the Qingshan team come out again later?"

"It shouldn't happen today. If they were to come out again, they wouldn't chase after us and set fires along the way. If they start a fire, it would be an obvious message to the people upstream that the mountain clearing team is here."

Their usual practice is to chase after the enemy first, and only set fire to them when they need to retreat.

It's still early; they're burning everything in their path—they have no intention of returning!

"This is what you call using a big name as a shield!"

"There's no way around it. That's how many people are these days. We have to bow our heads when we need to, otherwise, we won't be able to move an inch!"

As Zhou Jingming said this, he was secretly laughing to himself: Liang Mazi, hurry up and make more money so you can give back more later.

As Zhou Jingming said, after the Qingshan team went into the upper reaches of the valley, they never came out again, and must have gone to another gold mine.

It wasn't until evening that the gold prospectors, who had been chased away in a chaotic frenzy, gradually returned to their respective mining sites.

Those who were secretly relieved that their dugouts hadn't been burned down and their supplies hadn't been destroyed.

Those whose dugouts were burned down had to sleep in the open at night, and those whose supplies were burned had to find a way to buy more quickly, otherwise they would go hungry.

The entire valley, devoid of its former liveliness, has become lifeless.

The next morning, Peng Yuanchao arrived at the valley on Wang Youping's tractor. As he carried supplies into the mountains, he saw the destroyed camps along the riverbank. After asking around, he learned that the clearing team had entered the mountains, and his heart sank.

Only Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang were guarding the camp. The Qingshan team had entered the valley and was probably destroyed.

He urged Xu Youliang and the others on and off the way.

The group hurriedly made their way into the valley.

The journey, which was originally scheduled to be completed by evening, was completed at least two hours ahead of schedule.

When they arrived at the campsite, they found that the three tents were intact, and the water pump and chute on the small peninsula were also in good condition. Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang were soaking in the shallow water by the river as if nothing had happened.

He could hardly believe it and began to wonder if the Qingshan team had turned back before even reaching the small peninsula. But when he looked upstream, he saw signs of destruction everywhere.

At those mining sites, almost no one was panning for gold; everyone was busy cutting timber, mowing grass, and repairing their dugouts... All of this indicated that the Qingshan team had been there.

He was actually a little confused.

Peng Yuanchao put down the things he was carrying and immediately ran towards the river: "Brother, how did you do that?"

Zhou Jingming glanced at him sideways: "What else can we do but pay to pave the way?"

Wu Yang added, "Brother Zhou slipped fifty grams of gold to the captain of the Qingshan team."

Peng Yuanchao understood: "So that's how it is!"

Zhou Jingming looked at him seriously: "That gold is my personal property, everyone has to return it to me!"

Peng Yuanchao nodded repeatedly: "Of course... any gold found the day after tomorrow is all yours!"

"So generous? In a day, that's at least seventy grams of gold."

"Can't the extra amount be considered a reward?"

(End of this chapter)