My Gold Rush Career Begins in 1984

Chapter 250 No way to survive
More than thirty members of the Qingshan team rode their horses to the pincer-shaped ravine, rushed straight to the dugout, and shouted that they were inspecting it and that the people inside should come out.

However, they soon discovered that the mining site was quiet and there was no movement at all.

Someone took a closer look with a flashlight and saw that some of the dugout doors were ajar. He quietly crept down, then suddenly pushed the door open and swept the flashlight inside, only to find that there was no one there.

The others followed and searched all the dugouts. Not only were there no people inside, but even the bedding and luggage had been cleared away.

"How come there's no one?"

Liang Mazi looked at the empty dugout with a face full of annoyance.

He looked around and saw nothing but water pumps set up along the riverbank and tractors parked by the poplar grove.

Some people speculated: "Is it because there's no gold here anymore, and they've already moved away? Didn't we run into someone surnamed Zhou going to Altan yesterday? If there were still gold here, why would he be out and about instead of staying at the mine?"

Liang Mazi was also puzzled. He shook his head: "The tractor and water pump are still there. These are valuable items. They wouldn't just throw them away so easily. They must have taken them with them... They also have a mine upstream. Could they be up there?"

"Captain Liang, why don't we move these things and resell them for ten or twenty thousand yuan?" someone suggested, their eyes shining.

Liang Mazi rolled his eyes at him: "We're here to clear the mountains, do you even know what clearing the mountains means? Moving these things out is a lot of work and a lot of noise. We can't stop moving things here, otherwise, once word gets out, all the gold prospectors will run away at the first sign of trouble."

All the gold prospectors have fled, so how are we supposed to live a life of luxury?
Besides, how much money are these things worth if we sell them?

"Gold, do you even know what gold is?"

He lowered his voice, and even his tone became gloomy.

Although it wasn't a roar, it was even more intimidating than an angry shout.

The man could only rub his slightly numb forehead and say, with a hint of defense, "Captain Liang, we came here so early precisely to deal with that Zhou guy, didn't we?"

"To deal with the Zhous, we need to know where they are... Never mind that for now, let's blast them through Haxionggou and find out where they are. After we've chased them over the Haiertes River, if they're just hiding, they'll definitely come back here. Then we'll find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack."

Liang Mazi gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, don't let me catch you, I'll kill you this time... Let's go! After this mountain clearing is over, go back and keep a close eye on things. I'm starting to suspect that someone in our mountain clearing team has been bribed and become an inside agent, otherwise how would they know we were coming? They're all hiding, and I just missed them."

With a wave of his hand, everyone mounted their horses and quickly headed towards the upstream mining site.

At this moment, Zhou Jingming was in the grassy mountain pass behind the mine, holding Jinwang close to his side, pinching its mouth to prevent it from moving around.

Wu Yang and Zhao Li hadn't actually gone far; they were hiding behind rocks on two grassy areas at the top of the mountain, watching the mining site below.

They were quite far away and couldn't hear what Liang Mazi and the others were saying. Seeing that they had left without burning down the dugout or using the water pump and tractor, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, those machines are worthless once they're destroyed.

Seeing that Liang Mazi and the others were going upstream, the two immediately met up with Zhou Jingming and briefly explained the situation.

Zhou Jingming thought for a moment and said, "You guys go and check it out again. Those bastards came straight to our mine as soon as they arrived. They're obviously after us. We can't rest easy until we figure things out. I'm going to find Brother Li and the others. They've been in the mountains all night, and there are so many of them. I'm afraid they won't be able to stay there!"

Wu Yang and Zhao Li nodded, got up, and followed the mountaintop upstream.

Zhou Jingming led Jin Wang quickly down the grassy slope, across the stream, and into the woods.

When you come to Qingshan at this time, at most of the mining sites, only the people responsible for cooking get up to start a fire and boil water, while most of the others are still sleeping in their dugouts.

The arrival of the Qingshan team caught everyone off guard, and the first few mining sites were completely blocked.

There was no way to escape. The sensible gold prospectors honestly handed over their gold and money to settle the matter, while the ungrateful ones were directly searched and their dugouts were searched. If they didn't get the gold they wanted, they would be taken away under various pretexts, but the Qingshan team was powerless to stop them.

But since so many people were involved, and some of the mining sites were quite close together, once they noticed the arrival of the Qingshan team, they all began to scatter and flee into the mountains.

The Qingshan team chased after them all the way up, and after more than two hours of hard work, they reached the deepest part of the river. Then they burned the dugouts and supplies all the way out. On their way back, the dugouts at Zhou Jingming's two mining sites were also burned down, but the machines were not touched.

On the contrary, the mining sites downstream of the pincer-shaped ravine were the last to learn of Qingshan's arrival in Haxionggou. The gold prospectors were working enthusiastically at their sites when they were chased away by Qingshan's team, resulting in considerable losses. It wasn't until noon that Qingshan's team finally left on horseback.

Watching the group leave in a grand procession, the gold prospectors from the Hidden Gold Mountain Forest returned to the valley. Looking at their destroyed dugouts and supplies, they couldn't help but curse, saying that the Qingshan team were beasts and not human.

Wu Yang and Zhao Li also returned to the mining site and headed towards the upstream mining site.

The two watched as the Qingshan team chased after the people, and noticed that they only stayed a little longer at the mine site right upstream. It seemed that they had talked a lot with the captured foreman, and they wanted to ask him what Liang Mazi had said to them.

The foreman at this mine was surnamed Qi, and he was from a group of people from Yuzhou.

The Qingshan team cornered the miners in their dugouts, and none of them escaped. All of their gold was confiscated. Not only that, the Qingshan team's most fundamental task was to drive away the gold prospectors and prevent them from mining. They were not allowed to stay at the mining site, and their dugouts and supplies were also destroyed.

When Wu Yang and Zhao Li arrived, the group was also furious. Chief Qi was discussing sending people into the mountains to buy some supplies from the locals. They still had more than a month to pan for gold, and they didn't want to give up easily.

Seeing Wu Yang and Zhao Li approach, Qi stopped making arrangements and came closer. His first words were, "I was wondering why you two from the mine suddenly packed your bags and left last night, even though the gold at the mine hadn't been panned yet..."

I had a feeling something was going to happen, so last night I had everyone pack their bags and get ready to run at any moment. But after waiting for ages, there was no sign of anything. I figured it was the middle of the night, so nothing was going to happen and I told everyone to go to sleep.

Who knew those damn Qingshan team would come at this hour in the morning? What kind of mess have I made? More than twenty of us were forced to give away at least two kilograms of gold, and they even burned down my dugout and food supplies.

"Your leader had such a good relationship with the Qingshan team, how come even you guys ran away?"

"Chief Qi, don't talk nonsense. When did we become friends with the Qingshan team? If we were really friends, would they have caused us so much trouble and taken away so much gold?"

Those bastards are like jackals, they can't be tamed. Our Brother Zhou came back from Tiemaike yesterday and saw that the checkpoint at the bridgehead was being set up again. Thinking that the Qingshan team might come, he hid in advance.

If they keep causing trouble, all of this work for the past six months will have been for nothing. We can't just give them whatever they want, can we? We don't even know when they're coming. Otherwise, with a dugout like ours, who would want to come all the way to the old forest?

Wu Yang handed Qi, the foreman, a cigarette and asked the question he was most concerned about: "Foreman Qi, I saw Liang Mazi talk to you quite a bit. What did he say? Was it related to our mine?"

Qi lit a cigarette and smoked: "Yes, they asked me where your people went. Our two mines are quite close to each other, so it's easy to see any movement. I can't say I don't know anything. I just said that yesterday afternoon, everyone packed their bags and left. I said they went along the way and disappeared after entering the woods. I don't know where they went... Don't blame me, I was forced into it."

"It's okay!"

Wu Yang waved his hand, then asked, "What else did Liang Mazi ask?"

"He also asked if I knew how many guns we had, and how many Type 56 rifles and semi-automatic pistols. Of course, I said I didn't know. But then he said, 'Didn't more than two hundred people surround your mine before? They were all armed. How could you not know...'"

I don't know how they found out about this. Maybe someone in the valley was secretly in contact with Liang Mazi.

I was forced into a corner and said I didn't know what a "five-six half" was. He took it off his back and showed it to me. I could only say that you have three "five-six half" poles, and I didn't dare to say anything more.

"Brother, I really didn't mean it. Could you please tell Chief Zhou not to blame me?"

As Qi Batou spoke, he himself felt a chill run down his spine. Zhou Jingming's reputation in Haxionggou had already spread far and wide. No gold prospector in the valley dared to provoke him, for fear of angering Zhou Jingming and causing more trouble.

He suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "Oh right, I heard from the Qingshan team member who's with Liang Mazi that as long as you have five or six half-shots, it'll be easy. No matter how many there are, even just one, it'll be enough to get you into trouble... They also asked if I knew how many people you killed in the valley, and I insisted I didn't know..."

Wu Yang patted Qi Batou on the shoulder: "It's okay, Brother Zhou isn't unreasonable, he won't blame you. Alright, the Qingshan team has already left, I need to go and tell them to come back, gold panning is the important thing."

After Wu Yang finished speaking, he called Zhao Li and left together.

The two hurried along and found the group of people at the mine site on the grassland where Batu's yurt was located.

Upon seeing the two return, Zhou Jingming, Peng Yuanchao, Li Guozhu, and others came to greet them.

Wu Yang and Zhao Li briefly explained the situation in Haxionggou, and also mentioned the information they had obtained from Chief Qi.

Zhou Jingming frowned immediately: "Liang Mazi is really targeting me. He failed to use someone else to kill me, so he's going to fight me head-on and leave me no way out."

(End of this chapter)