First pot of gold

  Among all the people, only Luo Yi didn't feel surprised, but his heart was also racing like everyone else's. The memories of his past life had not deceived him, and he had already opened the door to success.

  Luo Yi had only been to this place once in his previous life, when he hitched a ride with Skinny Monkey's father. Skinny Monkey's father came here to inspect the gold mining operation of the armed police force. At that time, Skinny Monkey's father pointed to this rocky cliff and told Luo Yi that they had discovered an exposed mineral vein inside, with a considerable reserve. Northwest Jiangxi is an important gold-producing area in our country, but many mineral veins were only found after the 1970s, and in the 1930s, people did not know that there were rich gold resources hidden here.

  Luo Yi proposed to Tang Yuanpu to contract the Ma Tieling mountain area in Tongzhou, with the purpose of occupying this vein. Mining is a big project, and it is impossible for a bandit gang like them to guard this mine, so he must have a formal name. Luo Yi was unclear about the gold mining technology and the current gold price, but he knew that as long as he found gold, everything would no longer be a problem. Armies are made with money, and special forces even more so. And here will provide him with a real "first bucket of gold".

  "We've found gold!" The camp was in an uproar, especially the soldiers of the assault battalion, who were waving their guns and rushing to spread the news. If they hadn't been limited by the amount of ammunition, they probably would have fired into the air to celebrate like in some movies. They all remembered Luo Yi's words, knowing that the gold mined from here would be the foundation for the future development and growth of the assault battalion, and that the assault battalion would soon be upgrading their equipment.

  "How about it, Xiaofeng? Were these few hand grenades worth throwing?" Luo Yi asked with a teasing tone, looking at Su Xiaofeng who was laughing so hard his mouth couldn't close.

  "It's really worth it, it's really worth it. Luo Zi, you're amazing." Su Xiao Feng said repeatedly, and then added another sentence, "Luo Zi, you have to keep your promises."

  "What's the point of this?"

  "Didn't you say you'd buy me a mortar with the money you earned?"

  "Now is not the time to be happy, immediately gather the team and thoroughly seal off the scene, don't let a single word leak out. We must guard against someone stealing the ore, every piece of ore is extremely valuable. If the news gets out, we'll be in big trouble."

  Su Xiaofeng reacted and let out a loud shout, quieting everyone down. Afterwards, he and Wang Dacheng led the soldiers of the shock troops to quickly take control of all the key points in the surrounding area, preventing the miners from getting excited by the money and running off with the gold ore they had dug up. Losing a few pieces of ore was no big deal, but if word got out, it would be disastrous.

  "Now, fellow villagers, I can tell you the truth. We came here to dig for gold. As you've seen, there's a gold mine in front of us. If we dig out the gold and sell it to merchants in town, we'll make tens of thousands of dollars. But this mine was discovered by our raiding camp, and we won't let anyone else get involved. I've said before that if you all work hard here, I can give each of you 10 dollars a month. But if someone leaks the secret of the gold mine or secretly takes out mined rocks from the mining area, don't blame me for being ruthless. As I've said before, we're just a group of bandits who won't talk about any king's law. For those who offend us, we'll kill them without mercy."

  The miners' emotions were complex, the joy from earlier had dissipated, they deeply knew that facing such huge profits, anyone would go crazy. To block the news, killing a group of miners like them wouldn't be unexpected. If everyone wants to stay alive, it's better to behave. Luo Yi promised each miner 10 taels of silver per month, which was also very attractive to them, this money could let a family live a relatively comfortable life.

  The ore vein has been found, and the rest is easy. Luo Yi didn't have modern excavation equipment, so he could only rely on miners using iron picks to dig out the gold ore. A special grass house was set up in the camp to store the excavated ore, and Jiu Nine brought a guard squad to keep watch 24 hours a day without interruption.

  Luo Yi sent a soldier down the mountain to report to Lu Shuangyong and Le Jialin about the gold mining situation. Le Jialin was overjoyed and led several soldiers up the mountain that night to receive the first batch of ore. Luo Yi ordered Su Xiaofeng and Wang Dacheng to guard the mine area, while he accompanied Le Jialin in escorting hundreds of kilograms of ore containing gold grains back to town.

  After leaving the town for over a decade, Zhushan Town has undergone significant changes. Lao Jialin and others have not been idle during this time, working together with the townspeople to carry out street renovation projects. The originally cluttered streets now look much neater, with trash in front of every household cleared away, making the streets appear more spacious. Soldiers from the shock troops are on duty on the streets, maintaining order. Of course, this is just a formality, as Zhushan Town never had many people to begin with. All of this was entrusted by Luo Yi before he went up the mountain, and it seems that Lao Jialin has carried out his tasks quite well.

  Luo Yi returned home, changed his clothes. Zeng Shan was not at home, listening to the soldiers say that in recent days, she and the town's girls had become a piece of cake, and this evening did not know where they went crazy. After all, it was just a 15-year-old girl, who had been staying on the mountain for some time, and had become too precocious. When she arrived at the town, she recovered her nature.

  Luo Yi arrived at the battalion headquarters of the assault regiment, where Lu Shuangyong and Le Jialin were weighing the ore that had just been transported down. Both men were so delighted that their eyebrows and beards were indistinguishable.

  "We've really struck it rich." Lu Shuangyong held a piece of ore, looking at it again and again, with a greedy expression on his face, almost like Lai Jialin.

  "Luózi, I've been in Jiǔ Lǐng Mountain for so many years, how come I never knew there was a gold mine here?" Lè Jiā asked in surprise. "How did you know there was a gold mine here and found it so accurately?"

  Luo Yi said seriously: "This matter cannot be spoken of casually, heavenly secrets must not be revealed."

  "Oh, you've met a fairy who's spreading the Tao?" Lu Shuangyong and Le Jialin both looked enlightened.

  "Now is not the time to discuss this issue. We must quickly sell off this batch of ore and exchange it for silver dollars, so that we can rapidly expand the Shock Troop's forces and increase production scale at the same time. The news from the mining area cannot be blocked for long, with our current strength, if other bandits or Nationalist Army come to compete with us for this mining area, we will not be able to resist."

  Lè jiā lín said: "Alright, I'll contact the buyer right away."

  "Be careful, never reveal that the ore came from us, otherwise the county government will definitely make a small calculation."

  "I understand."

  Le Jialin had a talent for doing business, so he brought several soldiers and changed into peasant clothes. They packed the gold ore in burlap sacks and let the soldiers carry them to the county town to take a bus to Nanchang. Tongzhou was a small county, and there were no merchants in the city who could buy gold ore. Moreover, selling minerals in Tongzhou would inevitably attract official attention. After arriving in Nanchang, Le Jialin went through several layers of relationships and found an experienced and powerful buyer, whom everyone called Zhu Wuya.

  "Where did these ores come from?" Zhu Wuya held a magnifying glass and carefully examined the ore samples brought by Le Jialin, unable to conceal his astonished expression. The grade of these ores was very high, if there were really several hundred kilograms of ore, it was estimated that more than 2 kilograms of pure gold could be extracted.

  Lao Lin said: "Old Wu, this is something we can't reveal. If you want it, name a price. If everyone cooperates well, in the future we can still supply goods to you."

  "These are all ores, and I'm not sure how much gold can be extracted from them. Generally, people don't sell ores directly like this; they use machines to crush the ores and extract pure gold for trading. That way, the price is clear, and transportation is also convenient."

  Lai Jia Lin suddenly enlightened, said: "Wu Ye, thank you for your guidance. Now this batch of goods is also too late, to say something that doesn't make you laugh, my miner brothers are still relying on taking this money back home to buy rice and cook it. You just give me a real price, I'll sell them all to you."

  Zhu Wu Ye looked at it seriously for half a day, and finally said: "These stones, one price, 1500 yuan. I won't dare to give more even if you ask for more. If I find someone to break the stone, I'll have to spend money too." The price he quoted was actually quite fair, as in those days, 2 kilograms of gold were worth about 2000 yuan, and he gave Le Jia Lin 1500 yuan, which wasn't too black-hearted after all.

  Lè Jiā Lín hesitated for a moment, but seeing Zhū Wǔ Yé's resolute appearance, he also gave up the idea of haggling over the price. After all, this was his first time doing such business, and he didn't know anything about market conditions. It was rare to meet a buyer who was still somewhat fair-minded; if he didn't take advantage of the opportunity, he might offend Zhū Wǔ Yé, and these minerals might remain unsold for who knows how long? Anyway, Luó Zǐ had said that there were plenty of minerals on the mountain, and these few hundred kilograms were just a beginning. Even if they took a loss this time, it would only be a one-time loss. 1,500 silver dollars was an enormous sum for the assault team; with this money, they would have the capital to continue developing, and in the future, they wouldn't worry about not making more money.

  "Deal, these minerals are yours." Le Jialin replied quickly.

  "Brother, I'll take these ores back and process them. If the gold extracted is more than expected, I'll increase the price for you next time. I can also see that you've definitely found a new ore vein, the nitric taste of the medicine on this ore hasn't dissipated yet. You must have more ores to sell in the future, we can negotiate the price again at that time."

  "Thank you, Uncle Wu."

  Le Jialin received the silver and handed over the ore to Zhu Wuyeye, then led the soldiers back to Tongzhou. When passing through the county town, he took out money and purchased a batch of grain and other goods. He was originally in charge of logistics and knew what the troops lacked. Of course, he didn't dare spend large sums of money, which had to be decided by Luo Yi.