Chapter 216: Treasure

Just as Zheng Zhilong was entering Fuzhou City, the Yuan Dou, setting out once more from Dayuan Port, also sailed out of the channel and headed north along the coastline, straight for Miaoli.

Miaoli lies at roughly the one-third mark of Taiwan, not far from Taipei.

In the 17th century, Miaoli was a true wilderness: this land, set among the mountains, held nothing but primeval forest and primitive savages, without a trace of civilization.

The savages here were even more "pure" than their distant cousins in Taipei and Tainan, because they had no contact with outsiders. Fujian merchants never came here; the terrain was treacherous, the mountains high and forests dense, with no sulfur, and no semi-enlightened natives to open their village gates and welcome their arrival.

For millions of years, the Miaoli region, wrapped in its mountain folds, had been a forgotten corner, just like those coastal deltas of Taidong.

Historically, even the Dutch Red Hairs, who spread their arms across the whole island after driving out the Spanish, still ignored this wild mountain land; it was not until the mid-Qing period that Han people would gradually trickle into Miaoli.

Of course, the Dutch had no idea that a treasure lay in this land of Miaoli. And it was precisely the existence of this black, sticky treasure that would draw the fearsome Transmigrators and their RPGs, blasting the Dutch who once held the Shang Hall into the sky.

Now, the Yuan Dou was finally entering Miaoli, to seek the origin of everything, the fundamental driving force that made the Transmigrators spare no cost to begin their endeavor in Taiwan: petroleum.

Miaoli's geographical position is very remote.

Setting out from Tainan and following the inner island coast all the way north, between Taichung and Hsinchu, there is a great river: the Houlong River.

After entering the Houlong River, the ship's course actually turns south again. In other words, the route the Yuan Dou sailed was shaped like the Chinese character bu — a long vertical stroke with a short tick branching off it. That tick is the winding Houlong River, and Pan Mingzhong's destination, Miaoli, lies at the road's end.

In the 17th century, the water volume of rivers far exceeded that of later generations. One must know, in later times, due to the industrialization of cities along its course, even the Yellow River began to run dry from time to time... The Huang Long that had ravaged the land of Cathay for thousands of years was tamed in this absurd fashion.

The Houlong River's water volume was very abundant, its average width over a hundred meters. So when Pan Mingzhong and his men entered the river mouth and started the coal-gas engine, with the aid of a low-speed propeller, they easily began their exploration journey on the river's surface.

Like all 17th-century rivers, the Houlong River's channel also held many sandbars and rocks. These locations would all be recorded by the instruments on the Yuan Dou today, to facilitate future clearing.

The Yuan Dou initially entered the Houlong River from west to east, passing some hills and plains along both banks. These lands would not be pioneered and cultivated by the Hakka people until the Qing dynasty period; the main inhabitants of the four coastal towns—Zhu'nan, Houlong, Tongxiao, and Yuanli—are all groups that use the Taiwanese Southern Fujian dialect.

After traveling about 10 kilometers on the river, the Yuan Dou reached the first great bend in the channel. The alluvial plain here is the location of the later Miaoli City, and also the largest plain along the Houlong River, though in reality this area is very small, with a total area of only 37 square kilometers.

Miaoli's old name was Maoli, and it was not renamed until the Qing dynasty.

At present, there was not a shadow of Hakka people on either riverbank; dense camphor forests occupied every inch of the plains and hills. The Yuan Dou slowly made its way upstream through the dark green mountains, with high peaks and dense forests on both banks, apes crying and deer calling, giving a distinct feeling of entering the Three Gorges—this was why Miaoli was unpopular with Fujian merchants: there was not even a patch of seaside sand or thatched grassland, nothing but trees and more trees.

After rounding the great river bend at Miaoli City, the Yuan Dou's heading turned due south... which meant it was effectively heading back; beyond a single mountain lay the sea.

This stretch of the journey was another 10 kilometers.

By this time, certain people on the ship began to grow excited: after rounding another great bend ahead, once the ship resumed its west-to-east course, less than six kilometers further lay the original site of the first oil field ever discovered in Chinese history: Chu Huang Keng.

In the final year of the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty (1861), a resident named Qiu Gou in the Chu Huang Keng area of Miaoli County first discovered an outcrop of petroleum there. He used manual labor to dig a well over 3 meters deep, producing 40 kg of oil per day, which he used for lighting lamps.

During the Japanese occupation period, a petroleum exploration team came here for field investigation and began drilling at Chu Huang Keng the following year. Two years later, Well Number One was successfully drilled. From 1876 to 1946, the cumulative oil production was 170,000 tons, with 55 million cubic meters of natural gas.

In actual history, even into the 21st century, this place was still producing oil and natural gas, making it the oldest existing oil and gas field in the world.

It was also the most suitable oil and gas field for the Transmigrators.

Geologically, the Chu Huang Keng area belongs to an anticline structure, with the highest point in the center and the two limbs tilting outward; the oil and gas are sealed within this anticline structure.

The two limbs of the anticline structure are composed of alternating layers of sandstone and shale of differing hardness, and with the terrain being relatively high, the initial oil wells here—whether dug by natives with shovels or later drilled by men hired by the Qing government office—were all around 100 meters deep.

Just like an infant, it does not need to eat large chunks of meat at first: it has neither a stomach nor teeth. With the Transmigrators' current industrial capability, they cannot handle those high-yield wells one or two thousand meters deep where petroleum erupts violently—such as the oil fields in the Gulf region.

On the contrary, the oil field here in Miaoli is the most suitable: in the third year of the Guangxu reign, an American technician came here to drill a well, a shallow well only 120 meters deep, producing 950 liters of oil per day. This kind of shallow well, requiring no large-scale oil extraction machinery and having no eruption pressure, is the oil well model the Kiln Area Base most urgently needs at this stage.

After rounding the second river bend, they proceeded for about another 6 kilometers, and then the Yuan Dou, according to plan, found a river bend near the place later known as Chu Huang Keng and dropped anchor.

Looking at the overgrown creek bank before them, and the dense forest in the distance that completely obscured the terrain, the three Transmigrators standing at the bow could not help but suck in a breath of cold air.

One must know, in the photos Pan Mingzhong and the others had on hand, this riverbank in later times actually had a dedicated "Oil Town" in existence.

The facilities of the CPC Corporation here were quite complete: oil storage tanks, office buildings, residences, oil production facilities, oil well derricks, electric wires and poles everywhere, and most importantly, the access road into the mountains.

A tall, thin, middle-aged man with a hatchet face, who looked very much like a mafia boss, faced the primeval forest before him and said dejectedly, "The terrain has completely changed. Who the hell knows where the oil pit is?"

Ning Wei, a former maintenance worker at the Yumen Oil Field, was the only oil field professional among the Transmigrators.

Hearing Ning Wei's grumbling, Lei Jian, the Exploration Team Vice Captain standing nearby, retorted, "Don't you have the coordinates?"

"What we're looking for is the ancient pit where oil seeped out during the Qing dynasty. That thing was lost to history long ago." Ning Wei shook his head as he said this. "The coordinates I have now are all for the kilometer-deep wells drilled by the CPC Corporation in later times. Those are useless in the short term."

"Cut the chatter, get a move on, and secure a foothold first," said Pan Mingzhong. The Exploration Team Captain had no time to worry about where the oil pit was; his current responsibility was to get people ashore and build a camp first.

Soon, over twenty workers carrying pickaxes and shovels disembarked. These men were all drawn from the teams that specialized in dredging river channels at Chikan; their skills were superb and their experience seasoned.

Since the high-water season had already begun and the river had risen, the river bend where the Yuan Dou was currently moored was not far from the embankment. After the workers disembarked, some of them immediately began shoveling stones to build a path on the narrow river beach, while several others went directly to the embankment and started using their pickaxes to chisel out a stairway.

After one hour, by 4 PM, the simple access path was finished. Next came the moment of bold and determined progress: a large group of workers, carrying tools, ascended the embankment. Among them were three main workers wielding electric saws, and soon the piercing sound of sawing wood rang out from the embankment.

Whether shrubs, wild grass, or thick trees, everything was swiftly felled before the electric saws. Meanwhile, Pan Mingzhong and Lei Jian, both already fully armed and accompanied by several official exploration team members also carrying AKs, stood behind the workers as a rearguard.

At the same time, some suitably sized timber was also tossed down the embankment. This fresh, water-laden wood would be stuffed into the coal-gas furnace to provide electricity for the shore, thereby saving the high-quality dry-distilled wood stored in the ship's hold.

The Yuan Dou's engine room had been modified. While the electric saws on shore were working, the coal-gas furnace system and a generator also started up simultaneously, and then a bundle of electrical cables was flung ashore: without the cables, the rechargeable electric saws would quickly drain their batteries, especially in an environment like the 17th century, full of giant trees everywhere.

At 6 PM, Pan Mingzhong promptly gave the order to stop work.

Over two hours of relentless, frantic labor had completely drained the physical strength of all the workers; pushing further would only hinder the next day's work. So, at a single command, the main group withdrew back to the Yuan Dou, leaving only two sentries stationed on the embankment.

The results of these two hours were still significant: a clearing half an acre in size had been cleared on the embankment, and some of the dense vegetation further out had also been felled. Given the Exploration Team just one more day, and a small wooden stockade would rise from the ground.

Of course, before the stockade was erected, it was better for everyone to honestly return to the ship for the night, lest they be captured and barbecued by savages. According to Qing dynasty records, the Miaoli area was the territory of the Taokas people of the Pingpu tribes. However, no one could guarantee that there were no mountain cannibals roaming nearby—in early 17th-century Miaoli, there were no records whatsoever about the mountain natives.

That evening, several iron pots were set up by the river beach. The Exploration Team members hastily ate some dried venison soaked in rice, then turned in early to rest. As for the three Transmigrator leaders of the Exploration Team, after dark, they climbed up to the machine gun nest, put on their night vision devices, and began taking turns on watch.