My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 249 A sneak attack!
Zhou Jingming carefully recalled the situation just now. He remembered the "five-six-and-a-half" mentioned by the Qingshan team member, and his heart skipped a beat.

He suspected that Liang Mazi might be after the firearms.

Judging from Liang Mazi's ruthless manner just now, he ordered a forced search as soon as they arrived at Haxionggou.

If all those Type 56 rifles and shotguns were found, such a large quantity would be far more than just one or two. They could be used to frame people for any crime, or even be seized as bandits.

You should know that these days, if any department's security office loses a Type 55 or Type 65 firearm, it will be thoroughly investigated.

This is considered a major weapon, and its impact on the general public was considerable.

Zhou Jingming knew of several cases where someone stole five or six pieces of metal from the guard post of a certain mining area, leading to arrests by hundreds of armed police and civilian police.

He vaguely felt that this was likely another scheme by Liang Mazi against him.

The original plan was to go to Altan to deal with Liang Mazi, but now that Liang Mazi has already headed to Tiemaike, there is naturally no need to go to Altan anymore.

The most important thing to do right now is to get back to the mining site and take cover.

We can no longer harbor any illusions about Liang Mazi.

Even when the mountain clearing team enters the mountains, everyone has to quickly avoid them.

As Zhou Jingming watched the group walk away, he quickly got on his motorcycle, turned around, and sped off into the wilderness.

We must get back before Liang Mazi arrives at Haxionggou.

The motorcycle's rear wheel scraped through the Gobi Desert, sending pebbles flying and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Zhou Jingming has never ridden this motorcycle that fast since he bought it.

Fortunately, when he detoured from the wilderness to Tiemaike, he saw that Qingshan's team had already fallen behind him.

Without delay, Zhou Jingming hurried along the pastoral road toward the Fourth Mine Bridge.

When he arrived at the bridge, he saw that the two cars had already stopped at the temporary checkpoint, and a group of people were carrying supplies into the checkpoint.

Before any preparations could be made at the bridgehead, Zhou Jingming naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to slow down and have them check his identity. He sped past and then turned towards Haxionggou.

It was already past four o'clock in the afternoon when we returned to the Haxionggou mining site.

As soon as the motorcycle stopped, he got off and walked towards the dugout, calling out as he went, "Wu Yang, Brother Peng, Shunzai... come here for a second."

Seeing Zhou Jingming's anxious and flustered appearance, the group gathered from the mine site.

Wu Yang was the first to speak, asking, "Brother Zhou, what's wrong with you?"

"The checkpoint at the Fourth Mine Bridge has been put into use today. Also, I ran into the Qingshan team and they searched me. Liang Mazi didn't give me any face at all. Not only did they embezzle the money I was carrying, but they also took my pistol."

I suspect that bastard Liang Mazi is also after us this time. During the search, I heard them mention the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle... Brother, you know that the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle is not allowed to be circulated among civilians.

If they try to make a fuss about this, the charges could be serious or minor. You all know that Liang Mazi has already instructed people to sabotage me.”

Zhou Jingming briefly recounted what had happened.

Upon hearing this, Wu Yang and the others also became serious.

Peng Yuanchao then asked, "Have someone hide all the guns."

“If simply hiding the gun could solve the problem, that would be easy. The problem is, judging from his attitude towards me today, it won’t be that simple… Give the order that no work today, everyone pack their bags and prepare to hide. Since he’s here, and it’s possible he’s targeting me, he’ll definitely head towards Haxionggou as soon as possible.”

After Zhou Jingming finished speaking, he told Wu Yang to put away all the firearms and asked Peng Yuanchao to go to the upstream mine to inform Li Guozhu and the others.

He called Su Xiulan, and they crawled into the dugout, stuffing all the money left over after paying their wages and mine expenses for the past few months into a sack. Bai Zhishun, on the other hand, gathered everyone at the mine, briefly explained what had happened, and told them that the Qingshan team was coming to clear the mountains, that Liang Mazi had become ruthless, and that everyone should pack their belongings and be ready to hide at any time.

In no time, everyone returned to their dugouts to pack their belongings and various supplies from the mine. No one wanted their hard-earned possessions to fall into the hands of the Qingshan team.

Aside from the Type 56 rifles and shotguns, the most valuable and most difficult-to-move items at the mine site were the water pumps powered by diesel engines.

However, these items are heavy, making it difficult to carry them into the mountains for refuge, and loading them onto a tractor for transport is obviously not suitable in this situation.

The key point is that the gold-producing areas in the pincer-shaped ravines are at their peak during this time, so they cannot be easily abandoned.

These things can only be left at the mining site for the time being.

He also wanted to see just how far Liang Mazi would go with things.

Zhou Jingming couldn't worry about anything else right now. His first priority was to ensure the safety of the people and prevent them from being caught. Otherwise, if some of them were interrogated and revealed his activities in Haxionggou, he would be in more trouble.

Thinking about all this, Zhou Jingming felt annoyed and wished he could deal with Liang Mazi right away.

But unfortunately, this bastard is now leading twenty or thirty men, making it difficult to find an opportunity to strike.

Now, the only option is to avoid it.

When Zhou Jingming finished collecting his money and carrying it out of the dugout, Wu Yang had already gathered up the guns and put them in sacks.

After waiting for a while, Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, Sun Chenggui and their group also arrived at the mine and handed over the guns that had been distributed to them to Wu Yang.

After Zhou Jingming briefly explained the situation, he instructed everyone to take the supplies and necessary tools and, led by Old Liu, quietly carry them into the woods opposite.

They worked until dark before finally hiding the items in the old forest, leaving a group of people to guard it.

He then called Wu Yang and Zhao Li to lead Jin Wang back to the mine.

Old Liu, Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, Bai Zhishun and others were in charge of leading the group.

There was no sound at all during the first half of the night.

When Zhou Jingming woke Zhao Li up to take over the night watch, she asked, "Wasn't this an overreaction? Perhaps the Qingshan team didn't come this way first, but went to another gold mining valley instead?"

"Don't be afraid of 10,000, just be afraid of what happens."

Zhou Jingming sighed slightly; he dared not gamble on Liang Mazi's character.

“We don’t know when they’ll come. We can’t just keep waiting like this, can we? Actually, if we just send someone to keep watch on the opposite hilltop, and they see them coming, we can give them a shout. Then we can hide.”

"That's true, but at that point, it won't be easy to escape. Don't forget, they're on horseback; if they really wanted to catch someone, it would be very easy. Let's wait until dawn. If they still haven't come, we'll go out and check again..."

However, Zhou Jingming guessed correctly.

He felt like he had just lain down when Zhao Li, who had crawled into the dugout, shook him awake.

Zhou Jingming heard Jin Wang barking loudly outside.

He and Wu Yang immediately got up and followed Zhao Li out of the dugout. They saw that it was already dawn, and on the hillside diagonally opposite, several flashlight beams were flashing among the trees, and people were coming down quickly.

"Damn it, choosing a time like this to launch a sneak attack! If I hadn't prepared, we would have been in big trouble today!"

Zhou Jingming quickly stopped Jin Wang, and called Wu Yang and Zhao Li to climb up the grassy slope behind them.

(End of this chapter)