Chapter 260 — Entering the Treasure Mountain
To save time, the exploration team split into two groups at Yulin. One, led personally by Wang Luobin, would push inland to inspect Tiandu Mine. The other, under Chen Haiyang, would remain behind to construct Yulin Fort.
Finding Tiandu proved far simpler than finding Shilu. One need only follow the Tiandu River upstream until Huangni Ridge appeared; the famous Tiandu Iron Mine lay on its slopes.
The exploration party transferred to a rowboat and continued up the narrow inlet. Continuous mountain ranges flanked both banks, draped in dense vegetation. Some team members had visited this place in another timeline and strained to recognize any familiar landmark.
"We should be roughly following what will become the G224 route." Wang Luobin consulted the map. "Another two kilometers, perhaps."
At noon on April 20th, the Tiandu Exploration Team located the mouth of the Tiandu River. According to map estimates, they were not far from what would become Da'an. In that future, a few more kilometers would bring them to Tiandu Town itself—though whether the town's location corresponded to the iron mine was another question; the ore fields lay two to three kilometers further still.
The team abandoned the boat and proceeded upriver on foot. The valley was hemmed in by primordial tropical rainforest so thick that the distant terrain remained invisible. After less than two kilometers, a river valley opened before them, dotted with several villages. Wang Luobin halted, spent a long while cross-referencing map and compass, and then announced: this was Tiandu Town.
"Tiandu Iron Mine is still a few kilometers ahead. Keep at it, everyone."
Bolstered by his encouragement, the group pressed on along the riverbank. The path was treacherous. The region teemed with snakes, insects, and leeches. Clouds of biting flies wove through the humid air. Fortunately, each member had been issued a full set of tropical gear: mosquito-net hats and full-coverage fatigues. Trouser cuffs and sleeves were reinforced with anti-leech gaiters. Yet as they passed certain wetlands, the sight of land leeches lining tree branches—bodies rising in unison as they sensed approaching prey—sent shivers down every spine.
"Check your cuffs and pant legs!" Liu Zheng barked.
Once past the worst stretch, Wang Luobin called a rest to shake leeches from clothing and inspect for bites. Thanks to rigorous protective measures, the creatures' best efforts had availed them only drilling their heads into the outer layer of canvas. Still, the carpet of leech carcasses on the ground gave Wang Luobin pause. Developing Tiandu might prove more difficult than anticipated.
"I wonder if large-scale insecticide spraying would work."
"No need for insecticide." Liu Zheng studied the worms twitching in death. "Change the ecological environment and they'll vanish. It's too moist here. Drain the swamps and they'll disappear on their own."
Less than a kilometer farther, a broad river valley appeared, ringed by hills. This should be Tiandu Village. The celebrated Tiandu Iron Mine was said to lie on Huangni Ridge to the southeast.
The problem was density of growth. No matter how Wang Luobin squinted, he could not tell which slope concealed yellow soil. Though the mining zone spanned five or six square kilometers, the pit eventually developed there would measure only three hundred meters in diameter. Pinpointing the exact spot would require some effort.
"Aside from proximity to the port, the development difficulty here is no less than Shilu." Wang Luobin shook his head. "Massive amounts of vegetation must be cleared. The engineering scope is enormous."
"If only we could build a railway—machinery and labor could be transported directly."
"The bottleneck is manpower." Wang Luobin settled onto a large rock. "When the Japanese mined Tiandu, they fueled operations with human lives—bodies in exchange for ore. What we lack most right now is precisely that raw headcount—"
"Easy solution." Liu Zheng's nationalist sentiments surged to the surface. "Any Manchurian captives we take in the future, send them all here to dig. And those Southeast Asian Malays? Slave trade! Use them as consumables!"
"That's down the road. Who fills the pit now? It's a puzzle." Wang Luobin gazed across the virgin landscape. Team members had fanned out, using instruments to survey the deposit and chipping rock samples. Others sketched topographical maps.
By afternoon, cross-referencing data from the future, the team had roughly triangulated the Tiandu ore body and begun digging exploratory trenches. Per Wang Luobin's instructions, they were to extract one metric ton of sample ore.
"A whole ton? Are we carrying it out on our backs? You think we can smelt steel from one measly ton?"
"We need to send it back for trial smelting. The steel plant doesn't have furnaces small enough for less." Wang Luobin actually wished they could take more—ore with over sixty percent iron content could go directly into an open-hearth furnace, and that process demanded at least two experimental runs.
"Fine—but I'm saying this upfront: everyone pitches in carrying. Otherwise, this handful of us will be worked to death."
The entire team set to digging, sweat streaming. A ton was not so much; with more than a dozen hands, it took barely an hour.
After sampling, they refilled and camouflaged the exploratory trenches—this resource must not become known to locals prematurely.
Tiandu ore was extraordinarily rich. During the Guangxu reign, a local gentleman had employed only small box furnaces and a dozen workers to mass-produce pig iron bricks, turning a handsome profit. Wang Luobin had no intention of allowing such a scenario to play out ahead of schedule.
"Everyone rest well tonight. Tomorrow we head for Damao."
"Where the hell is Damao?" Liu Zheng was filthy and drenched, desperate to bathe in the river yet terrified of leeches. The prospect of returning to the coast and a proper soak had sustained him—now suddenly this "Damao" materialized out of nowhere.
"A manganese deposit with reserves of roughly one million tons." Wang Luobin stretched. "Critical feedstock for manufacturing specialty steel."
"Boss... you're not going to ask for another ton of sample ore, are you?"
"Not a ton, no." Collective sighs of relief. "Five hundred kilograms should do." Collective glares.
The next day, the team pushed further inland. Before departing, Wang Luobin raised the fleet by radio, instructing Chen Haiyang to dispatch men for the ore transport and warning: "Ensure absolute secrecy—especially from locals."
At the purported site of the Damao Manganese Mine, the team began laying out survey points and digging trenches across the entire zone. This deposit proved far harder to locate than the iron mine. After five or six days of fruitless excavation, the exploration party resembled nothing so much as a colony of marmots, churning the surrounding soil layer inside out. Chen Haiyang finished ferrying the iron ore yet still saw no sign of the team's return; he hurriedly dispatched reinforcements to assist.
At last they discovered a small manganese outcrop—but the true vein descended ten meters below ground. Mining difficulty was substantial.
"Engineer Wang, I think we should shelve this manganese project for now." Liu Zheng's appearance would not have been out of place in a coal mine. "The shallowest point is ten meters down, and water seeps up from below. Without proper tunneling, there's no hope."
Wang Luobin stared into the dark trench. Open-pit extraction was clearly off the table. But tunnel mining entailed a cascade of supporting infrastructure: drainage, ventilation, hoisting systems, shoring... Even using entirely indigenous methods, the project would be colossal.
"Extract a few dozen kilograms of sample ore and withdraw." Resignation colored his voice.
"Look at this—what is it? Copper ore?" Someone thrust a chunk into his hands.
Wang Luobin examined it closely. Gray stone, yet shot through with a pale green, glassy luster. He hefted it, testing weight, then scratched it with his Swiss Army knife to gauge hardness.
His expression shifted. "I didn't expect to find something worthwhile here after all."
"What is it?" Several team members crowded around.
"Phosphate rock!" Wang Luobin's eyes shone. One of the transmigrators' most coveted tools—matches—depended entirely on this mineral. In that sense, phosphate rock was worth far more than manganese. He flicked his lighter and held the flame to a corner of the ore. The fire glowed green.
"No question—phosphate rock."
Everyone grasped its significance. Even those unfamiliar with match manufacturing knew phosphorus was a vital fertilizer. Discovering phosphate rock alongside the manganese transformed a disappointing find into something of genuine value.
"Where was this found?"
"That small hill right there." The discoverer pointed. Wang Luobin, more animated than at any point during the manganese survey, rushed to the exploratory trench.
The trench had been driven into the hillside at roughly thirty degrees, penetrating four or five meters. Wang Luobin was no geologist, but he could make a rough judgment: the hill's core was largely composed of phosphate rock—and like the manganese, it too lacked conditions for open-pit mining. Disappointing.
"At least one base can support two mining operations." He consoled himself thus. Yet in the near term, voyaging to Dongsha or Xisha to mine guano remained more practical.
Most team members did not think so far ahead. With renewed enthusiasm, they dug out another five hundred kilograms of sample ore to ship back to Lingao's chemical and metallurgical departments.
By the time the exploration team returned to Yulin Harbor, the infrastructure project was roughly one-third complete. Yulin had mountains, water, timber, and stone—it lacked almost nothing. Truly an ideal base site. Unlike Changhua Fort, whose purpose was merely to secure a trade foothold and lay groundwork for future Shilu mining, this location would serve as a major distribution hub for resources gathered by the Transmigration Group. Its scale would far exceed Changhua.
Zhang Xingpei, dispatched from the Lingao Construction Company to accompany the fleet, was an expert in timber-frame buildings and one of the many "returnees" among the transmigrators—possessed of end-to-end experience in house construction.
Serving as consultant was Yu Eshui, who had joined this circumnavigation purely for the pleasure of travel. After suffering brutal seasickness during the first few days, he had since recovered his vigor and now volunteered as architectural consultant for Yulin Fort. He was obsessed with survivalist strongholds and harbored a particular fascination with logistics and siege defense case studies.
"It needn't withstand a full siege," he explained, "but it must allow a small garrison to defend a large stockpile of goods."
This was the key requirement he distilled after listening to Wang Luobin's exhaustive list of specifications.
Zhang Xingpei had once been stout. Months of physical labor had slimmed him considerably, yet he retained the unhurried manner of a heavy man. He cleared his throat before speaking:
"How large must the freight yard be? What goods, roughly? Is weather protection required?"
"Ore, timber, coconuts—primarily."
"Then we need a sizable storage yard." Zhang Xingpei studied the terrain a moment, then sketched a simple floor plan on his notepad.
The design was a straightforward large courtyard, square in layout. A bastion occupied each corner. One corner bastion—larger in area—would serve as the living quarters: capacity for approximately twenty personnel on long-term station, plus an attached warehouse. The remaining three bastions also featured complete living facilities, accommodating up to a squad each. The main gate stood adjacent to the living-quarter bastion for ease of defense. The courtyard wall was a palisade of timber posts set side by side, with earth banked at the base. Six meters high, sharpened at the top, and lacking a parapet walk—scaling it without ladders would be virtually impossible.
All four bastions, including the gate structure, were to be built of brick and stone with tiled roofs. A moat would be dug around the perimeter, fed by a nearby stream. Summer and autumn brought heavy rains; water supply posed no concern.
To facilitate loading and unloading, a pier of over ten meters would be constructed in the bay fronting the fort.
"Isn't this a bit flimsy?" Chen Haiyang studied the diagram—a design reminiscent of a medieval fortress—and frowned.
"Defensive strength is somewhat lower, true, but adequate for the threat environment." Yu Eshui shrugged. "The defenses at Anyoule Market amount to nothing more than a wooden palisade and a few watchtowers. That tells you the worst threat hereabouts is a few dozen pirate sailors wandering ashore to snatch a few unlucky souls who failed to flee in time."
Even if an enemy did breach the courtyard, the spoils would amount to ore and timber—neither particularly enticing. Anyone determined to attack in force would find Anyoule Market a far more rewarding target than Yulin Fort.
While the group debated details, the expedition's team doctor, Jiang Qiuyan, suddenly asked: "Who do you intend to leave behind at this fort?"
"For now, eleven or twelve should suffice. Two or three transmigrators plus a marine squad. We'll expand as conditions warrant."
Jiang Qiuyan shook his head. "Engineer Wang, I don't think this approach is viable. How many people does the Transmigration Group have in total? Scattering them like pepper grains everywhere—too few and the outpost is useless, too many and you waste talent. Never mind our own people; the Marine Corps alone would be short three squads this way."
"True enough." Chen Haiyang sighed. "Garrisoning here, garrisoning there—we never have enough troops." The chronic shortage of sailors and marines was a constant headache for the Maritime Affairs Ministry.
"And have you considered the psychological dimension?" Jiang Qiuyan's voice rose with urgency. "Strand a handful of transmigrators in this godforsaken wilderness, surrounded by nothing but themselves—never mind locals, they'll barely see another living soul. Given our constraints, the Executive Committee can't possibly equip every outpost with comfortable amenities. Over time, these people are going to crack!" He gesticulated with mounting fervor, as though he himself were on the verge of a breakdown.
(End of Chapter)