My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 196 Be Prepared
Xu Youliang had been in Tiemaike for four days. During those four days, he had seen Peng Yuanchao and Li Guozhu leading people into the mountains on tractors, and he had also seen Zhou Jingming and Wu Yang in a restaurant in Tiemaike at night.

However, he didn't greet them at all, and instead deliberately avoided them.

During those four days, he was busy recruiting people, gathering more than twenty people, and also busy buying supplies such as rice, flour, tea bricks, and salt. He even found a second-hand water pump in the town.

As for guns, he had already bought six at once when he was in Altan.

This investment can be considered a significant undertaking.

The only thing that gave him a headache was that among his group, he was the only one who was considered an experienced person; the rest were all newcomers. He guessed that the only ones who were somewhat reliable were the few he had brought from his own village, since he knew them well.

But since it was his first time being the leader, he still felt a little uncertain.

He almost copied the distribution method that Peng Yuanchao used when he was panning for gold on the small peninsula last year. However, he was the only one who received three grams, while everyone else only received one gram.

Regardless, things have come to this point, and Peng Yuanchao already knows his plans. He feels it would be a loss of face not to bite the bullet and do it.

After everything was prepared, he started looking for a tractor, and his first choice was naturally Wang Youping, with whom he had dealt several times last year.

He wasn't very lucky; he didn't run into Wang Youping when he went to the door. Wang Youping had already helped someone transport supplies into the mountains. He didn't trust anyone else, so he had to wait another day before finally meeting the person. They agreed on the transportation fee and waited to load the supplies onto the truck the next morning before heading into the mountains.

That evening, he led his men into a restaurant, ready to have a good meal. This was something almost every gold-mining team would do before heading into the mountains, because everyone knew that it wouldn't be easy to find good food once they were in the mountains.

They had barely sat down when, before the food was even served, more than ten people squeezed in.

Upon recognizing the leader, Xu Youliang's eyes lit up, and he stood up to greet him: "Sun Chenggui..."

Sun Chenggui was taken aback at first, but then looked in the direction of the voice and was pleasantly surprised: "Xu Youliang... what are you doing here?"

Xu Youliang grinned and said, "What kind of question is that? You can come but I can't? Come, come... sit down!"

They had worked together for several months last year and were already acquaintances. Sun Chenggui didn't stand on ceremony and went straight to sit down next to Xu Youliang.

Seeing that the people at the two surrounding tables were chatting and laughing with Xu Youliang's table, he knew that these people were with Xu Youliang. Xu Youliang and Peng Yuanchao had always been in cahoots, so he asked directly, "Where is Brother Peng?"

"Brother Peng has already gone into the mountains."

"You weren't with him?"

“He wants to continue working with Zhou Jingming and the others, but I… I want to go solo.”

"Going solo..."

Hearing Xu Youliang's hesitant words, Sun Chenggui frowned slightly: "Why did you decide to go solo?"

"At the end of last year, didn't that guy surnamed Zhou say that he would only pay wages and not distribute the gold? I think he's too greedy. After working hard with him for a whole gold rush season, I didn't get much benefit, so I wanted to start my own team."

"The one surnamed Zhou?"

Sun Chenggui chuckled: "I remember you calling me 'Brother Zhou' so enthusiastically last year, but now you're really not holding back."

Xu Youliang sensed the sarcasm in Sun Chenggui's words, but he didn't take it to heart: "Why should I be polite to him? He looks down on people like me. I don't know how much he's bewitched Brother Peng. I just can't understand why Brother Peng is still so devoted to him."

"magic potion?"

Sun Chenggui shook his head slightly: "What are you thinking? Although Brother Peng is loud and boisterous, he's not stupid."

Xu Youliang glanced at Sun Chenggui, then at the dozen or so people who had come in with him: "You brought people with you too. Don't you plan to go it alone?"

Sun Chenggui let out a long sigh and stood up: "This is only my second year panning for gold, I don't have that skill... I'm not going to talk to you anymore, I need to take the people who brought me here to dinner."

"Brother Sun..."

Xu Youliang quickly grabbed Sun Chenggui: "Don't go! It's just a meal, it's on me!"

"forget it!"

Sun Chenggui shook his head: "I know what you want to say... Let me be frank, I'm also going into the mountains to find Brother Zhou and the others, it's impossible for me to partner with you."

"why?"

"You ask me why? No, think about it yourself. Last year at the small peninsula mine, if it weren't for Brother Zhou and Wu Yang, and only Brother Peng leading us, we probably wouldn't even be able to stand firm, let alone make money."

Now that you have money, you can build your own team, but don't you think about where this money came from? If it weren't for Brother Zhou, you wouldn't have the money to build your team. Brother Zhou has never treated us unfairly.

This year, we won't be getting gold as part of our salaries, so the payout might be a little less. But I think Brother Zhou has been good to us; he's always the one who takes the lead in everything. It's a stable place where I can earn money and stay safe, so why wouldn't I go?

At this point, Sun Chenggui turned to the dozen or so people he had led and said, "Let's go, let's go to another restaurant."

A group of people followed Sun Chenggui out of the restaurant and headed to the left side of the street.

Xu Youliang stared blankly at the group of people, his expression suddenly turning annoyed.

When he first saw Sun Chenggui, he was initially excited, thinking that he could get Sun Chenggui to work with him, which would give him more manpower and more confidence. However, before he could even exchange a few words, he was lectured instead.

He asked himself: Was I really wrong?
But after thinking it over, he still felt there was no problem. It is said that people die for money and birds die for food. He could have earned more money, but he insisted on taking less.

He couldn't help but curse, "He's fucking insane!"

It's not just Sun Chenggui; Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, Wang Dong, and others are all mentally ill.

Early the next morning, Sun Chenggui found a tractor and drove the people towards Haxionggou.

Xu Youliang also found two tractors, and with his men and supplies, headed to Haxionggou.

The two groups of people walked one after the other, not far apart. Along the way, they saw groups of gold prospectors heading into the mountains, and there were several groups of people, who were probably all going into the mountains to scout out the gold deposits.

At the fork in the road at the Fourth Mine Bridge, two groups of people saw that the tractor did not go towards the Haiertes River, but instead took another fork. They immediately realized that there was gold in the direction Sun Chenggui and his group were going. After discussing for a while, two of the groups turned towards the Haxionggou direction.

In fact, the news that there was gold in Haxionggou had already spread. Not to mention anything else, tractor drivers like Wang Youping who had transported supplies to Haxionggou would always mention the gold there, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Many of those who scouted out Haxionggou last year are on their way or have already arrived in Altan.

There are several gold mines around Altan, which is why it has become a gathering place for gold prospectors. Most of the gold prospectors come to Altan to recruit people, as it is the place with the best information.

Once this news spread, everyone knew that Haxionggou was a pristine, untouched land, and everyone wanted to come to this valley where no one had ever panned for gold to make a fortune.

There were groups of five or six people, more than ten people, and even twenty or thirty people.

These small teams already knew, so how could those with better connections and information, like the foreman or boss Jin, not know? They all sent out men to find out the location of Haxionggou, plotting how to make a big splash.

Before long, the Haxionggou Gold Rush Valley will become very lively.

Meanwhile, mining operations were in full swing in the pincer-shaped ravine.

When Peng Yuanchao and his group arrived, there weren't enough dugouts to house them, so the next day, Zhou Jingming had over a hundred people work together.

With many hands making light work, the carts sped across the mine site, and in just one day, the dugouts were dug out and roofs were erected. Everyone moved inside, no longer having to endure the cold in the tents.

That evening, Li Guozhu, who had led the people Zhang Debao had brought to dig dugouts at the upstream mining site, returned and made a point of going to check on those dugouts.

After finishing his meal, he knocked on the door of Zhou Jingming's dugout.

At that time, Zhou Jingming was in his dugout, setting up a small balance scale to weigh the small gold nuggets and three small gold dog heads he had picked up from the ore while digging the dugout that day.

These are some delightful finds, mostly discovered on the floorboards of dug-out pits; we manage to collect some every day.

Based on this, he has every reason to believe that this year will bring a very bountiful harvest.

Hearing the knock on the door, Zhou Jingming quickly put his things away and asked, "Who is it?"

Li Guozhu's voice was the most composed among them: "It's me!"

Zhou Jingming opened the door and welcomed him in, dragging a wooden stool over to invite him to sit down at the table. He then offered him a cigarette: "Brother Li, why aren't you resting yet? Is something the matter?"

“I looked around the dugouts and suddenly had an idea that I wanted to tell you!”

"you say!"

"Do you think it's necessary to break through these dugouts and connect them together?"

"Connect them?"

"Just like in the movie 'Tunnel Warfare'."

How did you come up with this idea?

"I've learned my lesson. Remember last year? My team got robbed and trapped inside. We couldn't get out or run away... If it weren't for the fact that there were fewer people and we had offended so many people, and the surrounding people were alerted and dared not stay long, we would have been in big trouble that night."

"Things are getting bigger and bigger. We don't need to worry about the smaller teams. But if we run into a big boss or tycoon who's got their eye on our mine and wants to sabotage us, I'm saying if, if we encounter someone really ruthless, throw explosives inside..."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming immediately understood his intention.

Earthen houses are nice, but if this situation really occurs, we cannot rule out this possibility.

Just at the end of last year's gold rush season, Zhou Jingming, Wu Yang, and Bai Zhishun went to clean a cave and were almost blown up by explosives.

Furthermore, I had heard several stories in my past life about using explosives to blow up people's dugouts.

They bombed one after another, and there was nowhere to hide in the dugout.

The thought of this sent a chill down Zhou Jingming's spine: "Brother Li, this is a great suggestion. I'll have someone connect all the dugouts tomorrow. It's better to be prepared than not."

Li Guozhu continued, "Also, make two hidden exits so that we can evacuate in an emergency if we are surrounded, and maybe even turn around and catch the enemy off guard."

Zhou Jingming nodded: "Okay!"

The two then discussed some details, such as which dugouts would be connected by earthen walls and where the hidden exits would be located.

After reaching an agreement, Zhou Jingming immediately set about getting the matter done the next day.

Connecting the exits is easy; it's just for living in anyway, so we can just dig a hole and install a wooden door. The troublesome part is the two hidden exits.

If we're really surrounded, there are probably a lot of people standing on the hillside behind us, so the most likely places to escape are the riverbank and the poplar grove.

So they dug a trench in this place and connected it to the dugout, laid wooden poles on top, covered it with soil, and built a secret passage.

One of these two secret passages leads directly down to the river, while the other leads directly into the poplar grove.

This took another day.

The weather has been fine, the snow in the mountains has melted almost completely, and the water temperature in the river has risen slightly.

On April 4th, Zhou Jingming called for manpower to set up water pumps and chutes on the riverbank. The water pumps, which had been sitting in the dugout for several months, started chugging again and began to wash the ore.

(End of this chapter)