Lu Ming

Chapter 216 Treasure
On the same day that Zheng Zhilong entered Fuzhou City, the Yuandou, which departed from Dayuan Port again, also sailed out of the waterway, went north along the coastline, and headed straight for Miaosu.

The location of Miao Su is one-third of Taiwan, not far from Taipei.

Miaosu in the 17th century was a truly wild land: on this land between the mountains, except for the virgin forest, there are primitive savages without any trace of civilization.

The savages here are more "pure" than their distant relatives in Taipei and Tainan, because they have no contact with outsiders.Fujian merchants would not come here. The terrain here is steep, with high mountains and dense forests. There is no sulfur, and there are no half-civilized natives to open the village gate to welcome them.

For tens of thousands of years, the Miaosu area surrounded by mountains, like the several coastal deltas in Taitung, belonged to forgotten corners.

In history, even after the Spaniards were driven out, the Dutch red hairs of the whole island still ignored this wild mountain; it was not until the middle of the Qing Dynasty that a small number of Han people in Miaosu entered here one after another.

Of course, the Dutch didn't know that there were treasures in the land of Miaosu.And it is precisely because of the existence of this dark and sticky treasure that the terrible traversers and their RPGs were attracted, and the Dutchmen who were guarding the trading house were blown up into the sky.

Now, Yuandou is finally going to enter Miaosu to find the origin of everything, and the fundamental driving force that makes the traveler to start Taiwan at all costs: oil.

The geographical location of Miaosu is very remote.

Starting from Tainan, along the coast of the inner island all the way to the north, between Taichung and Hsinchu, there is a big river: Houlongxi.

After entering Houlongxi, the direction of the boat sailed south instead.In other words, the sailing route of the Yuandou is in the shape of a "bu".The dot of divination is the twists and turns of Houlongxi, Pan Mingzhong's destination, Miaosu, is at the end of the road.

The volume of rivers in the 17th century far exceeded that of later generations.You know, due to the industrialization of the cities along the way, even the Yellow River will stop flowing from time to time. The Yellow Dragon, which has ravaged the land of China for thousands of years, has been governed in this ridiculous way.

The water volume of Houlongxi is very abundant, and the average width is more than [-] meters.So when Pan Mingzhong and the others entered the estuary and turned on the gas engine, with the assistance of low-speed propellers, they easily started their exploration journey on the river.

Like all rivers in the 17th century, there are also many sandbars and rocks in the channel of Houlongxi.These positions will be recorded by the instruments on the Yuandou today, so that they can be cleaned up in the future.

Yuandou entered Houlongxi from west to east at the beginning, and passed some hills and small plains on both sides of the river along the way.These places were not pioneered by Hakkas until the Qing Dynasty. The main residents of the four coastal towns of Zhunan, Houlong, Tongxiao and Yuanli are ethnic groups who speak Taiwanese Hokkien.

After driving about 10 kilometers on the river, the Yuandou came to the first big bend of the river.The alluvial plain here is the location of Miaosu City in later generations, and it is also the largest plain along the Houlong River, although the area of ​​this land is actually very small, with a total area of ​​only 37 square kilometers.

The old name of Miaoli is Maoli, but it was not renamed until the Qing Dynasty.

Today, there is no sign of the Hakka people on both sides of the river, and dense camphor forests occupy every inch of land on the plains and hills.The Yuandou is slowly going up in the deep dark green mountains, with high mountains and dense forests on both sides, apes singing and deer singing, and it feels like entering the Little Three Gorges—this is where Miaosu is not welcomed by Fujian businessmen: even a little seaside beach, thatched grass There is no land but trees and trees.

After turning around the big bend in the river in Miaosu City, the course of the Yuandou became due south. It was equivalent to turning back, and beyond a mountain was the sea.

This distance is still 10 kilometers.

At this time, some people on the ship began to get excited: after turning another big bend ahead, when the ship resumed sailing from west to east, it was less than six kilometers forward, which was the first time in Chinese history. The original site where the oil field was discovered: Chusulphon Keng.

In the last year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1861), Qiu Gou, a resident of Chusulkeng in Miaoli County, first discovered an oil outcrop there. He dug a well with a depth of more than 3 meters by hand, with a daily oil output of 40kg, which was used to light lamps.

During the Japanese occupation period, the oil exploration team came to this place for actual investigation, and drilling began in Chusulkeng the next year.Two years later, Well No. 1876 was successfully drilled. From 1946 to 17, a total of 5500 tons of oil and [-] million cubic meters of natural gas were produced.

In real history, even in the 21st century, oil and natural gas are still being produced here, and it is the oldest existing oil and gas field in the world.

It is also the most suitable for traveling through many oil and gas fields.

The Chusulkeng area belongs to the anticline structure geologically, the central part is the highest, and the two wings are inclined outwards, so the oil and gas are enclosed in the anticline structure.

The two wings of the anticline structure are composed of interbedded sandstone and shale of different hardness and softness. In addition, the terrain is relatively high, so the oil fields here at the beginning were dug with shovels by the natives, or wells drilled by the government officials of the Qing Dynasty. , the depth is about 100 meters.

Like a baby, it doesn't need to munch on meat at first: it has neither stomach nor teeth.With the current industrial capabilities, it is impossible to handle those high-yield oil wells with a depth of 2000 meters and violent eruptions of oil-such as the oil fields in the Gulf.

On the contrary, the oil field here in Miaosu is the most suitable: American technicians came here to drill wells in the third year of Guangxu. The shallow wells are only 120 meters deep and produce 950 liters of oil per day.This kind of shallow well, which does not require large-scale oil extraction machinery and has no eruption pressure, is the most needed oil well model at the kiln base at this stage.

After turning around the second bend in the river, the Yuandou moved forward for about 6 kilometers. According to the plan, the Yuandou found a small river bend near the place named Chusulkeng in later generations, and lowered the anchor chain.

Seeing the lush vegetation in front of the stream, and the densely packed forest in the distance, where the terrain cannot be seen at all, the three time travelers standing at the bow of the boat couldn't help but gasp.

You know, in the photos of Pan Mingzhong and the others, there is a special "oil town" on this river bank in later generations.

The facilities of CNPC (here CNPC is not CNPC) are quite complete: oil storage tanks, office buildings, homes, oil production facilities, oil well derricks, wires, poles, and the most important mountain road.

A tall, thin, middle-aged man with a trowel face, who looked a lot like Hei Boss, faced the primeval forest in front of him, and said dejectedly: "The terrain has completely changed, who knows where the oil pit is? "

Ning Wei, a former Yumen oilfield maintenance worker, is the only oilfield professional in the cross-country.

After hearing Ning Wei's complaints, Lei Jian, the deputy captain of the exploration team, asked back: "Don't you have the coordinates?"

"What we are looking for is an ancient pit where oil seedlings emerged during the Qing Dynasty. This thing has long since disappeared in history." Ning Wei shook his head when he said this: "The existing coordinates in my hand are all The thousand-meter wells drilled by CNPC in later generations will be useless in the short term.”

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up, and talk about the whole settlement first." Pan Mingzhong, the exploration leader, has no time to think about where the oil pit is. His current responsibility is to arrange people to go ashore and build the camp first.

Soon, more than 20 workers with picks and shovels disembarked.These people are all drawn from the team that specializes in dredging the river in Chikan, and they are highly skilled and experienced.

Since it has entered the wet season, the river level has risen, so the river bend where the Yuandou is stationed at the moment is not far from the embankment.After the workers disembarked, some of them began to shovel stones on the narrow river beach to build the road, while others went directly to the embankment and began to dig a step road with picks.

After an hour, at 1 pm, the simple passage was repaired.Then came the moment of bravery and diligence: a large number of workers went up to the embankment with tools, and there were three main workers with chainsaws, and the piercing sound of sawing wood was soon heard on the embankment.

Whether it is shrubs, weeds or thick trees, all are quickly brought down in front of the chainsaw.At this time, Pan Mingzhong and Lei Jian were already fully armed, and they brought a few formal exploration team members who also carried AKs, and stood behind the workers.

At the same time, some logs of suitable size were also thrown over the embankment.The fresh water-containing wood will be stuffed into the gas stove to provide electricity to the shore, so as to save the high-quality retort wood stored in the hold.

Yuandou's engine room has been remodeled.While the chainsaw on the shore was working, the gas furnace system and a small generator started up simultaneously, and a bundle of wires was thrown ashore: away from the wires, cordless chainsaws quickly run out of power, especially In an environment full of giant trees in the 17th century.

At 6:[-] p.m., Pan Mingzhong promptly ordered the work to end.

More than 2 hours of non-stop frenzied labor have exhausted the physical strength of all workers, and if they continue to work, it will affect tomorrow's work.So after a password, the brigade withdrew to the Yuandou, leaving only two sentries stationed on the embankment.

The results of these two hours are still remarkable: a half-acre open space has been cleared on the embankment, and some dense vegetation further away has also been brought down.As long as the exploration team is given one day tomorrow, a small wooden village will rise from the ground.

Of course, before the stockade is erected, it is better for everyone to go back to the boat and spend the night honestly, so as not to be captured by wild men for barbecue.According to the records of the Qing Dynasty, Miaosu is the territory of the Pingpu Daokas people.However, no one can guarantee that there are no alpine cannibals nearby—Miao Su in the early 17th century has no records about the mountain aborigines.

That evening, several iron pots were set up by the river beach.The members of the exploration team took a break early after eating some dried venison soaked in rice.The three leaders of the exploration team climbed up to the machine gun nest after dark, put on night vision goggles, and began to take turns on duty.

(End of this chapter)