My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 132 The Destination Has Been Arrived

Zhou Jingming also longed to mine gold veins.

He knew that the gold yield in the lode gold veins was large, but he also knew that it was a high-cost, high-investment endeavor.

Boss Jin, you can forget about it if you don't have the ability.

Of course, Zhou Jingming believed that he would become a powerful and wealthy boss.

The prerequisite is that you must accumulate enough funds.

If it were an ordinary person, and they could take out the nearly eight pounds of gold that Zhou Jingming currently possessed, they would definitely think it was a fortune they never dared to dream of, enough to ensure they would never have to worry about food or drink for the rest of their lives.

In the gold rush business, that little bit of money isn't even enough to cover the expenses of a small gold mine owner.

Not to mention the need to make numerous connections and cultivate relationships.

Those who need to be bribed, any one of them who stands out, is a glutton who can never get enough to eat.

To become a big gold mine owner, you need the resources and ability to mine gold. Putting aside everything else, a simple car costs fifty or sixty thousand, and loaders, excavators, ore washing equipment... without upfront investment of several million, don't even think about it.

For Zhou Jingming, his gold rush career had only just begun.

Right now, the most important thing is to save money. Only by saving enough money can we really take the first step.

Therefore, Zhou Jingming even kept the fine sand left over after Peng Yuanchao selected the gold during the gold panning process, all for the sake of accumulating wealth.

It has to be said that what Zhou Jingming said to Sun Chenggui just now successfully excited a group of people. You could tell from the light shining in their eyes that some of them had already started to have such a dream.

Having dreams is a good thing; it makes people more willing to work hard to earn money and find more opportunities.

"Alright, we've rested enough. Let's get back on the road and get the supplies to the mine in one go, then get some more rest... Tonight, let's treat ourselves to a good meal."

As Zhou Jingming said this, he looked at Wang Dong and said, "Brother, you'll have to work hard today."

Wang Dong didn't say much, he just nodded slightly.

Everyone grinned.

Zhou Jingming glanced at them: "Don't laugh. When we get there, you can't just sit around doing nothing. You have to help out. Do you really want Wang Dong to do all the work by himself?"

Everyone laughed even harder.

Zhou Jingming said nothing more, carrying the bag of flour on his back, and led Jin Wang forward to guide the way.

Looking straight ahead, it's only a few hundred meters, but in reality, it's several times longer.

The group slowly descended the hillside into the valley, then laboriously pushed the cart upstream across the gravel and pebbles-strewn riverbed.

After a long and winding journey, with steep and shallow paths, it took more than half an hour to finally reach the location of Guanmenshan that Zhou Jingming had mentioned.

However, the most difficult step is crossing the river.

In this remote place nestled among towering mountains, few gold prospectors come, and naturally, no one sets up rafts or erects steel cables to collect tolls.

But when Zhou Jingming thought about all this, his first thought was that this was a good place to make money, and he might as well follow the locals' practices.

"How can we get through this?"

Peng Yuanchao looked at the river in front of him, picked up a stone and threw it into the water. With a "plop", water sprayed high into the air. "The water is quite deep. Everything else is easy to handle, but this diesel engine is a problem. Just lifting it would take four people. It will be difficult to transport it across."

Li Guozhu looked around: "There are quite a few tall poplar trees here. Since we'll be walking this route often, let's cut down a few and build a bridge while we're at it... What do you think, Brother Zhou?"

"I think so too!"

Zhou Jingming nodded: "This place is a bit narrower, the water flow is quite rapid, and it's about six or seven meters wide. These fourteen or fifteen-meter-long poplar trees are enough to build it."

He pointed to a poplar tree on the riverbank: "Let's cut that one first. Make sure you get the right spot, cut it at the right angle, and then you can fall down and reach the other side. Once people can get across, things will be much easier. There are also poplar trees on the other side."

"That's it!"

Li Guozhu and Peng Yuanchao both nodded in agreement.

The group put the cart down on the riverbank and covered the wheels with stones.

Zhou Jingming also put down the bag of flour he was carrying.

Wu Yang quickly rummaged through the cart and found the axe, saw, and other logging tools.

Peng Yuanchao took it, went to the tree to take a look, called Xu Youliang over, and they started sawing.

Everyone gathered around the big poplar tree to watch.

Zhou Jingming compared the angles and found that Peng Yuanchao and Xu Youliang were sawing at the wrong angle. If they sawed at that angle, the tree would likely fall into the river at the foot of the slope when it fell.

Zhou Jingming is quite experienced in logging and felling trees.

During the two years I spent in the Great Northern Wilderness, every year before winter arrived, we had to cut down a large amount of firewood to build fires and get through the cold winter that lasted for several months.

Northern Xinjiang and Northeast China are located at opposite ends of the country, one at the tail of the rooster's tail and the other at the head. They are not too different in terms of latitude, and their winter conditions are actually quite similar. In October, they both start to experience frequent snowfall and rivers freeze over.

In addition, winter is the logging season, and as long as the weather permits, people will not stay indoors by the fire all the time while staying on the farm. There will always be some logging work arranged, unless the weather does not permit.

It was around that time that Zhou Jingming accumulated a lot of logging experience. At that time, he especially wanted to be a chainsaw operator who could carry a chainsaw and put the marked trees down one by one. He felt it was quite impressive.

Unfortunately, chainsaws are expensive, and many are imported from Russia. There are only a few in a company, so such useful tools would naturally not fall into the hands of a newcomer like Zhou Jingming.

So most of the time, he works with others to pull the big-bellied saw, which is what people in Northeast China call a fast saw, used to saw large trees with thick trunks.

When I think of these things, it's as if I can still hear the rough and long logging chants echoing in my ears:
"Down the mountain..."

"Hengshan fell..."

"The mountain is collapsing..." Many of the towering trees growing in the mountains of Northeast China have a diameter of more than half a meter, a trunk diameter of 30 to 40 meters, and a trunk coverage diameter of 50 to 80 meters.

For safety reasons, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the direction in which the trees are falling.

The more you cut, the more experience you gain.

However, although Peng Yuanchao and Xu Youliang were sawing at the wrong angle, it was still the part that needed to be sawed, and Zhou Jingming didn't say anything.

He only called Wu Yang to replace the two when they were almost finished sawing.

Soon, the toothed opening facing the opposite riverbank was sawed out. They then went around to the back of the trunk and pulled the saw. As the area where the trunk was stuck together became smaller and smaller, Zhou Jingming shouted to the crowd gathered around: "Everyone move aside. If the tree falls down and bounces back up, it could easily hurt people. Everyone, stay back."

After everyone stepped back, the two continued to pull the saw. Soon, a cracking sound came from the tree trunk, and the sound became louder and sharper. Zhou Jingming quickly called Wu Yang, pulled out the large saw, and ran far away.

The group watched as the large tree slowly tilted towards the opposite riverbank.

As the tree canopy tilts towards the ground at an increasingly greater angle, the acceleration due to gravity becomes overwhelming.

The enormous tree canopy, like a thick, dark cloud in the sky, howled menacingly as it crashed down on the opposite side.

The small trees and shrubs below, no bigger than a bowl, were smashed to dust in that instant.

With loud cracking sounds, many trees were broken, and many dry branches flew everywhere like exploding shell casings.

This is very dangerous; being hit or pierced by a flying branch can have serious consequences.

If you are hit or struck by a tree trunk that bounces up, unless you are extremely lucky, the only consequences will be serious injury or death.

Thud... Crash...

Just as Zhou Jingming had predicted, the large poplar tree successfully fell within the designated area on the opposite bank.

He walked first along the tree trunk to the other side, then walked back, nodding in satisfaction: "Pretty good!"

The rest was simple: some people were assigned to prune the branches of the big tree, while Zhou Jingming and the others continued to cut down the tree.

Then the second and third trees fell to the opposite bank, and two more were felled from the opposite bank and turned over.

If the location was not right, everyone worked together to use steel chisels and picks to pry the pruned tree trunks together. Where the gaps were large, they cut some wooden poles to fill them, thus building a wooden bridge about 1.5 meters wide. In the future, it will only require simple repairs to make it easy to pass through.

The group didn't touch it for the time being, busy moving the supplies to the other side. They also had four people carefully lift the diesel engine across the river, using ropes and wooden poles, stepping on the tree trunks.

It sounds simple, but it's quite difficult to do and has taken up a lot of time.

It was only because there were many people and they all followed instructions that it was possible. Otherwise, even just moving the trunks of those few big trees would have been difficult, requiring several trips back and forth between the two banks before it was finally completed.

But things always work out in one way; if you put in the effort now, things will be much easier for a long time to come.

As they approached their destination, the group didn't delay. They reloaded their belongings onto the cart and continued pulling it forward.

Jin Wang suddenly let out a fierce howl towards the opposite mountain forest.

The group turned around and looked at the forest opposite. They saw a Kazakh herdsman in his thirties riding out of the forest on horseback. He first looked at the poplar trees spanning the river, and then looked at Zhou Jingming and his group.

Xu Youliang asked in a low voice, "What does he want to do?"

Zhou Jingming shook his head: "I don't know either. I guess they just came over because they heard the noise here."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the herdsman asked in broken, awkward Mandarin, "Are you here to pan for gold?"

Zhou Jingming replied loudly, "It comes from the mouth."

People don't come to the deep mountains to cut down trees for no reason. Almost everyone who comes to these mountain passes is after gold.

“Tomorrow… I’ll bring you a sheep tomorrow. Where are you going? How can I find you?” the Kazakh youth said again.

These words left Zhou Jingming somewhat bewildered, unsure of the Kazakh herdsman's intentions, but he still said, "We're in the valley ahead."

But then he continued, “With this wooden bridge, my cattle and sheep can cross the river without having to jump into the water to swim across. It will also make it much easier for me to get to the autumn pasture without having to take a long detour.”

"Oh... I see!"

Zhou Jingming laughed. No wonder people always say that building bridges and paving roads is a good deed; the benefits came so quickly. He took the opportunity to ask, "Adasi, do you have any fat sheep? I'd like to buy a few more!"

"Yes, we have plenty of fat sheep. It's the time of year when the sheep are at their fattest and strongest, so we can sell them to you at a lower price."

The Kazakh youth were very enthusiastic.

"Thanks in advance!"

"I have to go back and take care of the sheep, I have to go now, see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow!"

The Kazakh herdsman turned his horse around and disappeared back into the forest, quickly leaving.

Peng Yuanchao looked in the direction he left and said, "Don't people say that herdsmen hate gold prospectors? How come this one is so generous?"

"Just wait and see if they'll still think that way once the valley is crowded and chaotic!"

Zhou Jingming smiled and said, "Not all herdsmen are so difficult to talk to."

One person asked curiously, "You say these herders know there's gold in these mountains, why don't they pan for it? It's more profitable than raising sheep, isn't it?"

“Every ethnic group has its own customs, beliefs, and way of life... They do not make a living from these. Of course, I have seen Kazakh herders panning for gold, but most of them still stick to their herding life.”

Zhou Jingming continued walking forward: "Everyone has their own way of living!"

The group walked another hundred meters or so, and they arrived at their destination.

(End of this chapter)