My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 201 Death Valley

Damn it, I've been sold again.

"Brother Liang, who told you that?"

Zhou Jingming asked tentatively, hoping that Liang Mazi wouldn't be on guard and would accidentally let something slip.

But Liang Mazi was a seasoned veteran in the Qingshan team, so how could he easily reveal such a thing? He just smiled and said, "Don't worry about who told me, just tell me if this is true or not."

Zhou Jingming could only laugh awkwardly: "Brother Liang, you know this valley is newly discovered, and not many people have panned for gold in it. When gold panners enter the mountains, whoever occupies the mining site first owns it. I think if it were any other gold panning team, they would probably also want to occupy more mining sites when they get into the mountains."

I personally surveyed each of those mining sites, investing a lot of effort in the process. My original plan was to organize a team to mine them later. However, when other gold-digging teams came in and wanted the sites, I knew I couldn't completely hold onto them, so I transferred them to them, taking a small commission – that's not unreasonable, is it?

Liang Tongshu just looked at him with a smile: "I don't care how you fight and struggle in the Gold Rush Valley. I only know that you have made a lot of money... You kept telling me that you were poor before, which is a bit unreasonable."

Well, they're after the gold again.

Zhou Jingming didn't want to argue with him any further, so he decisively said, "How about I give you another kilogram of gold?"

Liang Tongshu laughed: "And next time?"

Zhou Jingming suppressed his anger: "Three kilograms next time too!"

Liang Tongshu patted Zhou Jingming on the shoulder: "That was great!"

That felt so good!
Zhou Jingming cursed inwardly, then went back to the dugout and retrieved one kilogram of gold for Liang Tongshu.

Liang Tongshu stuffed the gold into the leather bag tied to the saddle, mounted his horse, and led his group downstream along the valley.

As the Qingshan team walked away, Peng Yuanchao and the others gathered around.

This time, even Bai Zhishun, who was the most reliable, couldn't help but curse: "Damn it, a bunch of bloodsuckers. I've never seen anyone so blatantly greedy. Didn't the people above notice anything?"

"These benefits can be shared among a group of people. Since everyone has benefited, who would report it to their superiors? Besides, even if the higher-ups knew, they could use the confiscated gold to shut their bosses up."

Often, it's because those above them are protecting them that they can be so arrogant.

Zhou Jingming's words were true. In his previous life, he had heard that after the establishment of the Gold Administration Bureau, it began to crack down on gold smuggling. The first was to crack down on unlicensed gold mining, and the second was to crack down on smuggling networks. After encountering many obstacles, some people in charge realized that there were problems inside, so they quietly launched an investigation.

During the investigation, Liang Tongshu's superior discovered that in addition to keeping several mistresses, more than thirty gold bars and stacks of money worth tens of millions of yuan were found in the mezzanine of one of his new apartments in the city.

Zhou Jingming grew increasingly annoyed: "If this continues, all the effort I've put into setting this up will be wasted. Forget about making a profit, I'll be lucky if I don't lose money."

“When he passed by here, he didn’t mention the transfer of the mining site. He went upstream and brought it up on his way back. It’s very likely that the team upstream betrayed us.”

As Wu Yang spoke, he looked up at the upper reaches of the valley: "Brother Zhou, I'm going to go upstream and see how many mining sites' dugouts haven't been burned."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jingming felt much clearer-headed.

He guessed what Wu Yang meant.

Those teams that were chased by the Qingshan team and had their dugouts and supplies burned were only busy running away. They told Liang Tongshu that the possibility of Zhou Jingming making money by transferring the mining site was unlikely.

If Zhou Jingming can use gold to grease palms, others certainly can too.

The gold-mining teams whose dugouts were not destroyed and who were able to work normally were those who had connected with Liang Tongwen.

They are most likely to have told Liang Tongshu about this.

Zhou Jingming nodded slightly: "Go!"

Wu Yang immediately slung the Wu Liu Ban over his shoulder and headed upstream along the riverbank.

Zhou Jingming didn't dwell too much on what happened today, but urged Bai Zhishun and the others to continue working.

Wu Yang was gone for more than an hour. When he came back, he told Zhou Jingming that there were three mining sites upstream where the dugouts had not been destroyed and normal work had resumed immediately after Liang Tongshu left.

One is Chen Qinglin's group.

The other two were people who transferred their mining sites from Zhou Jingming. One of them was one of the people who first came to Zhou Jingming to discuss the transfer of the mining sites.

The other group was led by Xu Youliang.

Zhou Jingming wasn't surprised at all that Chen Qinglin and his gang had gotten involved with Liang Tongshu, because Chen Qinglin had always done the same thing in his previous life. Without that kind of shrewdness, how could he have become a wealthy and influential businessman?

As for Xu Youliang, Zhou Jingming thought it was normal for him to spend money to get in touch with Liang Tongshu.

Last year, when they were panning for gold on a small peninsula in the Haiertes River tributary, Zhou Jingming told them about bribing Liang Tongshu with gold. Now, he's doing the same thing, which is perfectly reasonable.

But considering Xu Youliang's performance this year, Zhou Jingming felt that there was a good chance he would betray him.

To Zhou Jingming's surprise, the team that first came to him to discuss the transfer of the mining site was also connected with Liang Tongshu, so he had to be wary.

But after thinking it over, all three teams are likely to be involved, so it's still impossible to determine who leaked the information.

Of course, the possibility that others may have leaked the information cannot be ruled out. Unable to get the desired result immediately, Zhou Jingming had no choice but to put the matter aside.

In the days that followed, he also made two trips upstream, using the excuse of collecting transfer fees for mining sites, to visit all the transferred sites and inquire about them, but he still couldn't find out anything.

By mid-May, the transfer fees for all seventeen mining sites had been collected, totaling thirty-two kilograms of gold.

In April, after the gold panning, 13 kilograms and 4 ounces of gold were distributed to everyone. Two kilograms were sold to Sun Huai'an, three kilograms were pocketed by Liang Tongshu, leaving eight kilograms and 4 ounces of gold.

Since May, I have gained more than nine kilograms.

The gold in Zhou Jingming's hands totaled about fifty kilograms, which was already a considerable sum.

This is the income I've earned in about two months, from when I first entered the mountains in early March until now.

That sounds like a very impressive amount of gold.

But the main profit comes from transferring those mining sites; it will be less in the future.

On the day the mine was closed, before dawn, he packed all the gold into a large oil paper bag, filled his motorcycle with gas, slung a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder, and rode off on the motorcycle.

This gold can no longer be kept in the dugout; it must be hidden immediately.

With his motorcycle headlights on and the still-chilly mountain winds blowing, Zhou Jingming hurried along and arrived in Tiemaike at dawn.

There, he filled up his car with more gasoline at the gas station, took some with him, and turned west toward Kurt Township.

He spent almost the entire morning traveling by motorcycle.

Along the way, apart from encountering two flocks of sheep that had already begun migrating to spring pastures, we didn't encounter anything else.

After passing Kuerte Township, the further west you go, the more desolate those mountains become.

By noon, he had reached a large mountain range.

This place is barren, with patches of Gobi desert interspersed throughout. There are exposed rocks and dry sand everywhere. Not to mention trees, even weeds can only be seen sporadically in small patches.

This is a no-man's-land.

Local herders prefer to call this place Death Valley, a place even the most experienced herders are unwilling to enter.

There are two reasons. First, the terrain inside is complex, and once inside, the surrounding terrain all looks similar, making it easy to get lost. Second, there are some places inside that are always filled with a smell that can easily cause poisoning, especially when it's hot.

In his previous life, Zhou Jingming was in an exploration team. He once tried to cross this area and got lost. Some members of the team were also poisoned.

If they hadn't found a river inside and eventually made it out, the whole group probably would have perished inside.

This is a dangerous place, but for Zhou Jingming, it is an exceptionally safe place to hide gold.

He even planned to hide any gold he found here in the future.

As for those so-called poisonous gases, Zhou Jingming had actually read some investigation materials in his previous life and figured out that they were actually the sulfurous smell emitted by sulfides from the fault zone.

Sulfur can cause poisoning through inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption.

The symptoms of poisoning mainly affect the central nervous system, manifesting as headache, dizziness, fatigue, vomiting, and even coma.

Other possible complications include conjunctivitis and eczema.

People who inhale it often feel as if there is a thin film on their throat, and they often feel an itchy throat.

Of course, even now, Zhou Jingming wouldn't dare to barge in so rashly.

He found the river immediately and ventured deeper into it.

After driving for about 20 kilometers, he stopped his car at the foot of a mountain with large areas of yellow rust-colored rocks and started climbing up the mountainside.

This mountain has a very obvious feature: a rocky cliff halfway up its slope.

He moved the gold to the bottom of the cliff, lifted up the pile of rubble, buried the gold inside, and covered it again with pieces of rubble.

After confirming that everything was correct, he quickly went down the mountain, got on his motorcycle, and left.

There's a sulfurous smell here.

Of course, inhaling a small amount won't have much of an effect on him.

He didn't return to Timak until it was almost dark that night.

They spent the night there and returned to the mine the next morning.

(End of this chapter)