Chapter 55: Eight Treasure Cave
After driving south and then west for a day, we finally arrived at the destination.
During the Ming Dynasty, there was a copper mine to the west of Taiyuan. It was a rich mine that could be mined for hundreds of years. It was not until the early Qing Dynasty that it was fully mined.
Then the mine was abandoned, leaving only a few mine holes inside the mountain, which were intricately connected to each other or disappeared deep into the mountain.
For a period of time, it was the lair of a group of bandits who had been entrenched there for decades, and the local government had launched an attack on them countless times.
But once they get in, they generally can't get out. Even if the thieves inside don't take advantage of the terrain to kill them, most of them will get lost in the mine, and no one will ever see them alive or dead.
Finally, the officers and soldiers built a stockade nearby and besieged the cave for more than two years. The people in the cave ran out of food and finally ran out to surrender. In the end, their heads were chopped off.
But it is said that!
This group of bandits collected a lot of gold, silver and jewelry in the cave, which were all stolen. These things are money in normal times, but they can't fill their stomachs when they are trapped!
So, after the food stored in the cave was eaten up, the bandits killed each other, and only the last ones left came out to surrender.
After interrogation, we found out that there was an underground river inside, with water in it all year round, never rising or falling.
There are fish in the river, but not many. When the food runs out, there is only enough to fill the stomach of a small number of people.
The people inside were killing each other just to grab this part of the fish.
When the killing started, some people died on the spot, while others hid and waited for opportunities to attack others.
So the people in the cave were in panic, and most of them couldn't bear it anymore and came out to surrender to the officers and soldiers.
However, a small number of people still hid in the mines and would not come out even if they were beaten to death.
After the officers and soldiers withdrew, the common people heard that there were a lot of gold, silver and jewelry in the cave, so many of them took swords and guns and went in to look for treasure, but they never came out again.
Some people say that the most difficult part of digging a tunnel is how to connect the tunnels dug by two parties at the same time.
The saying "not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth" refers to this situation.
When you go underground to dig a hole, you don't know how high the top is or how thick the bottom is, so you go crooked while digging.
It's like this when digging a hole, and it's also like this when walking in a hole. As long as there are enough forked roads and you are not familiar with the environment, and the person leading the way has any bad intentions, you may never see the sun again.
Now,
This is what Zhang Da, the translator who was leading the way, thought. He never thought that he could escape alive from the hands of the two men.
If God doesn't save us, we have to save ourselves.
So he decided to kill these two people.
That's why he was so cooperative.
He knew about the legend from hundreds of years ago. His classmates had told him about it and had also taken him to understand the ins and outs of the cave. Although he didn't know much, it was enough.
How did his classmates know?
Who knows?
but,
Translator Zhang thought he was very smart, but in fact, what he thought about was also what others thought about.
So his hands were tied together and the other end of the rope was held in the monk's hand.
"Monk, you have to keep a close eye on him. If he runs away, we won't be able to get out!" Chen Xiao said with a smile.
The monk tightened the thumb-thick hemp rope in his hand, confidently saying, "Don't worry! It's a dead knot, there's no way to get it loose. If he dares to do anything naughty, I'll beat the shit out of him!"
In fact, Chen Xiao was not worried at all. When the translator Zhang brought them here, the map in his mind had already been completed.
By the way, he also added all the branches of the mine to the map. Looking at the map in his mind, he sincerely admired the miners who had dug out this intricate mine in front of him.
There are endless and intricate mining tunnels in the mountains, and if all were connected, they would be dozens of kilometers long.
After hundreds of years of mining, dozens of kilometers of tunnels are all piled up in a mountain range, up and down, front and back, left and right. And because this mine used to be copper ore, the mine is still solid, which is scary to think about.
Moreover, this mountain is a bit strange. As a mine, it is a bit too steep . One side is actually a deep cliff with countless holes on it. I think they were dug through by the miners.
Translator Zhang led the two men into the tunnel. The tunnel was not very big, but it was still wide enough to carry machine parts weighing 120 kilograms.
"Monk, beat him!"
Suddenly Chen Xiao stopped and said something to the monk.
The monk understood immediately and glared at him: "Damn it, you dare to lead us astray!"
Then they dragged the man over and punched him with their fists as big as clay pots. The screams could be heard from far away in the cave: "I won't dare to do it again, I won't dare to do it again. Just hit me this time!"
As for whether what Chen Xiao said was right, the monk never doubted it. As for how Chen Xiao knew it, the monk couldn't care less.
After getting beaten up, Zhang the translator didn't dare to act like a troublemaker anymore. With a bruised face and nose, he walked obediently in the front and soon found a spacious space.
There must have been a large mineral vein here, so the miners dug it very large, like a large conference hall. Several stone pillars support the dome, which has prevented it from collapsing for hundreds of years.
There were a lot of boxes piled here. Chen Xiao went over to take a look. Some were steel, and some were gun accessories. There were many accessories for the Czech light machine gun, but the barrel was missing.
He estimated that if there were gun barrels, these accessories could be assembled into more than fifty machine guns. Unfortunately, the gun barrel was one of the most difficult accessories to make on a gun.
But it has to be said that for ordinary people, this is considered a windfall.
But for Chen Xiao, this is just a small fortune; what he cares about is the machine.
"Only accessories? Where's the machine?"
Translator Zhang quickly explained: "This is dry, so the finished product is placed here, the machine is by the river, by the dark river!"
After saying that, he quickly led the way. After passing through many forked roads, they finally arrived at their destination, the bank of the underground river.
The top of the underground river is quite high, probably about ten meters!
Anyway, the light from the dead wind lamp in the monk's hand was quite blurry . He reached out to brighten the light and finally saw the underground river. It was not big, but not small either. He could not see where it came from or where it went. It was just a dark patch with gurgling water but no sound.
"The water is not too deep, not even up to chest height, and there are fish." Interpreter Zhang said, "There are pine torches next to the waterwheel, which are brighter than lanterns."
Chen Xiao asked the monk to let him go, and he went to light a pine torch happily. A pine torch is a piece of wood with pine oil in the nodes of pine trees. It can burn for a long time and is very bright, but it produces too much smoke.
There are a bunch of these torches prepared nearby.
There is a waterwheel by the river. It is not big, but not small either. However, it has now been put up and away from the river.
Looking at the layout, the waterwheel drives a roller, on which there is a large wheel, and on the large wheel there is a belt that connects it to a hole in the mountain wall by the river.
“This is used to drive those machines, and I don’t understand how it works.
There is a particularly large space in the cave on the mountain wall. On the other side of the cave is the cliff on the mountainside. It is penetrated and there is light. They process it over there. "
Chen Xiao hurried over to take a look. Under the light, the machine tools in the cave made him jealous.
He has lathes, milling machines, drilling machines, planers, and slotting machines. He can make more than just guns. If he can also get a hydraulic press, a steam hammer, and a large iron smelting furnace, he can make not only guns, but also can make cannons, tanks, and even airplanes.
On the other side of the hole were some small manual machines, and the bullets were taken out from there.
After reading everything, Chen Xiao grabbed Zhang the translator and said, "How about I give you a chance to live?"
Zhang Da, the translator, who had been feeling anxious, nodded quickly, "Master Ba, if you can save my life, please speak!"
Chen Xiao finally let him go with satisfaction and asked, "Where did you or your classmates go to find those people who knew how to make guns?"
