Chapter 175: 174, Golden Small Mountain And Bronze Ware, Las Vegas Oil Tycoon
Boss Zhao and the Mexicans led the way ahead, with Fang Wen and Lin Shuiwang following.
To be safe, Indiana stayed outside; if something happened, he could better find people for rescue and support.
The already ventilated underground space still had a fishy stench.
That was left by rats and snakes.
To avoid this foul smell, everyone took out handkerchiefs to cover their mouth and nose as masks.
Through the handkerchiefs, the smell was no longer so unbearable.
The group continued forward.
A staircase appeared ahead.
“As expected, the top and bottom are connected. I suspect they sealed the upper entrance to protect the secret here,” Boss Zhao analyzed.
So what secret was here? Fang Wen was very curious about this.
The group continued forward and reached a fork in the road.
In his perception, the passage on the right was closer to the target.
But Fang Wen didn’t say it out loud.
He watched what Boss Zhao would do.
Boss Zhao took out a rope with a bell on it and handed it to one of the Mexican subordinates, telling him to go left first.
After the man set off, he said in a low voice: “This is a pathfinding bell. Pull it once and it rings. Pull three times if there’s trouble, four times if everything’s fine.”
Lin Shuiwang curiously asked: “What does pulling it one or two times mean?”
Boss Zhao replied: “When walking, it’s inevitable to bump into things and make the bell ring occasionally; one or two rings are unavoidable.”
In the midst of the conversation, the old Mexican had already walked more than thirty meters away and turned into an alleyway out of sight.
The bell rang continuously—four times.
Boss Zhao, thinking it was safe, led the team over, but they saw a scene.
Several statues stood upright at the end of the passage.
In front of the stone statues was a burial pit.
The pit contained many animal bones, and even two human skeletons could be seen.
Seeing this, Boss Zhao’s expression changed instantly, and he took out some industry-specific props.
Black donkey hooves, one for each person.
Black dog blood in a large jar, which he held himself.
He warned aloud: “This might be Native Americans’ coffins; they bury upright. Be careful of zongzi. I don’t know if these things can deal with the zongzi here?”
Zongzi are zombies, a legend among tomb raiders and the thing they fear most.
It’s said that corpses in coffins have a chance of turning into such things.
Fang Wen also took out his pistol to stay alert.
Who knows if one of those things might really jump out from the tomb chamber.
Under Boss Zhao’s urging, two old Mexicans mustered their courage and went over, using shovels to pry into the gaps and open one statue.
Amid a teeth-grinding creak, the statue opened.
Revealing the corpse inside.
Perhaps due to the dampness here, the corpse had long turned into bones.
This made Zhao Jiu and Fang Wen and the others breathe a sigh of relief—skeletons were better than zongzi.
One coffin after another was opened, revealing a large number of grave goods.
They had no ironware, but a large number of bronze weapons.
There were also faded and decayed feather and fur garments.
The most precious were the various beautiful blue gemstones.
Boss Zhao was very knowledgeable about this: “This is turquoise. Native Americans believed turquoise was the spirit of the sea and sky, bringing good luck and fortune to those on expeditions. It’s called the stone of success and luck, a symbol of divine power. They wore turquoise ornaments to ward off evil and gain the protection of the gods, and used them as grave goods after death.”
Lin Shuiwang asked: “Is it valuable?”
“So-so, not as valuable as gold, but to ancient Native Americans, turquoise was more noble,” Boss Zhao explained.
This made Lin Shuiwang a bit disappointed; after more than ten days of hard work, this was all they got.
Fang Wen comforted him: “There’s still another path untaken; maybe the harvest there is bigger.”
Yes, everyone rallied, had the old Mexican take the turquoise, and headed to the other passage.
The same method again: one old Mexican took the pathfinding bell to scout ahead.
After a while, the pathfinding bell was pulled four times.
Everyone cautiously went over to check.
They found the old Mexican gesturing excitedly in description.
Gold!
Lots of gold.
Everyone followed him into the last stone chamber of the underground space.
There, under the light, a golden glow reflected.
Various gold ornaments piled up like a small mountain.
Above the small gold mountain was a hole.
Fang Wen speculated that perhaps during each sacrifice to the gods, the offered gold fell from the altar into here.
Over time, the gold ornaments accumulated into a small mountain.
Boss Zhao and the five old Mexicans breathed heavily.
The atmosphere suddenly became delicate.
Under the temptation of this gold, they inevitably gave in to greed.
In this situation, Lin Shuiwang raised his pistol, aiming at Boss Zhao.
But Fang Wen wasn’t too concerned about this gold.
He spoke: “Old Zhao, is this all you’ve got? This batch of gold looks like a lot, but it’s all ornaments, so the weight isn’t that high. Moreover, the gold from that era isn’t very pure. It has more cultural value. But there aren’t many Native Americans left, and not many people are interested in Native American culture. Selling this batch of Native American gold ornaments at a high price won’t be easy.”
Under the gun muzzle’s aim, sweat beads slid down Boss Zhao’s forehead.
The five Mexicans didn’t act despite the camaraderie built over more than a month with him.
Guns were the way.
Boss Zhao said tremulously: “You want to silence us?”
Fang Wen burst out laughing: “Silence you for what? I mean, you’re too slow handling this gold. I want to sell it at a slightly lower price; after it’s done, I’ll give you and the Mexicans twenty percent. Lin Shuiwang, put the gun down; don’t scare him.”
“Whew, you scared me to death. We’ll handle the gold as you say,” Boss Zhao immediately agreed.
“Good then. Lin Shuiwang, take them outside to wait; I’ll appreciate this gold.”
Under Fang Wen’s order, Lin Shuiwang and Boss Zhao and the Mexicans went out.
After everyone left, Fang Wen examined this gold secret room.
What he wanted wasn’t in here.
According to that mysterious energy perception, the item was actually behind the wall on the left.
How to enter the space behind the wall?
Fang Wen searched for a switch.
He examined it carefully.
The right side of the gold secret room was the gold mountain; the left was a stone platform.
The stone platform probably wasn’t a mechanism; Fang Wen even thought it impossible for mechanisms to exist here.
After all, the craftsmanship of the grave goods seen from the left passage showed this civilization’s technology was very backward.
So how did they enter the space behind the stone wall?
Fang Wen went over and pushed the wall hard; it moved slightly.
Could it be a pushable stone door?
He thought of it and acted, pushing forward.
It really opened.
He looked at the true secret of this civilization hidden behind the stone door.
He saw an ancient altar.
Right in the center of the altar was an object.
Was that a ding?
Fang Wen was extremely surprised.
In his previous life, he had visited the bronze ware museum.
He also knew what a ding looked like.
The small cauldron on the altar triggered his memory.
Long ago in ancient China, only people of prominent status used such vessels as dings.
Large dings were used for cooking food.
A small ding like this one served as a bowl for holding food to eat.
Later, dings evolved into more uses, like ritual vessels and musical instruments.
Regardless, in ancient China, the ding had special significance; not just anyone had one.
But why was there an ancient Chinese ding here?
Fang Wen remembered that the era when dings were used in China was the Shang Dynasty over 3,000 years ago.
This civilization only had about 1,000 years of history.
The two were far apart, hard to connect.
Or perhaps one could speculate like this.
3,000 years ago, a group of people set out from the Shang Dynasty; coming to America wasn’t impossible.
Crossing the Bering Strait when it froze in winter.
Among this group, there must have been someone of prominent status, or they wouldn’t have brought a ding.
Perhaps he was the leader of the team.
After arriving in America, they might have mixed with local Native Americans or evolved independently into a Native American tribe.
In this process, the civilization they brought from the Shang Dynasty gradually degenerated and disappeared, leaving only the reverence for the ding.
So they treated this food ding as a holy relic for sacrifices, preserving it.
No wonder they had a city-building approach similar to that in China, constructing the city in a fertile land where two waters converged.
Unfortunately, this tribal civilization ultimately perished, leaving no record of their history.
Thinking of this, Fang Wen carefully took down the food ding, pondering whether to tell others.
Linking Eastern civilization and Native American civilization with this ding was too far-fetched.
He even suspected he’d be seen by the American archaeological community as someone faking history.
Plus, this thing was a secret treasure with mysterious energy, so Fang Wen decided to keep the secret.
He took off his jacket, wrapped the food ding and a few randomly selected gold ornaments, then closed the secret door and walked out.
The most important item was in hand.
Fang Wen wasn’t in a hurry to return to Las Vegas.
He wanted to learn more about this thing.
There was just the right person—Boss Zhao, who was very knowledgeable about Chinese history.
With this in mind, Fang Wen carefully observed it in his tent.
This food ding was 28 cm tall, with a square mouth 20 cm long, weighing 3.8 kg.
Wouldn’t this bowl be too heavy for eating? Fang Wen couldn’t help thinking.
He continued observing.
The body of the ding had strange patterns; he decided to rub off the patterns and ask Boss Zhao.
Looking at the patterns, Boss Zhao had a sense of familiarity: “This is, this is taotie pattern, right? Still beast-face pattern. See, it has horns, a nose, a mouth—doesn’t it look like it?”
Fang Wen nodded: “It does.”
“The ding is a major ritual vessel in our China. General Manager, you’ve found a treasure.”
“I don’t know if it’s a treasure. Things here are almost done; can you take a look for me?”
“No problem.” Boss Zhao rubbed his hands, very excited.
Immediately, Fang Wen took out the ding and handed it to Boss Zhao.
Wearing a monocular magnifying glass, Boss Zhao examined it carefully.
“Beast-face pattern, square-mouthed ding, three legs—this condition is excellent. Let me see if there are inscriptions.”
The most important thing about a ding is the inscriptions; they can reveal a lot.
This food ding actually had inscriptions, though few.
Boss Zhao read with effort: “Hou Xi?”
Boss Zhao ultimately shook his head, saying he didn’t know much about such ancient things.
But Fang Wen noted down those two characters: Hou Xi.
After returning to China, he’d find someone to explore the secrets.
Now, with two treasures in hand that could continuously absorb energy, Fang Wen was full of hope for the future.
The Cahokia Mounds excavation was still ongoing.
But for Fang Wen, it was over.
In the following time, the gold ornaments and turquoise were quietly transported out.
After tallying, the gold ornaments totaled 800 kg, over 1,000 pieces large and small; turquoise over 300 pieces.
Then the hole was backfilled, the stone wall below sealed, everything restored as before, just missing some gold and gemstones.
After this, Fang Wen bid farewell to Yoni Dane and flew back to Las Vegas fully loaded by airplane.
Now it was time to handle these supplies; the turquoise could be entrusted to Boss Zhao to sell, but the gold was trickier—it needed a safe place first.
The U.S. Bank in Las Vegas maintained a good cooperative relationship with Taishan Casino Company; every day, the casino company’s large amounts of cash were transported back to the bank vault by the U.S. Bank’s armored car.
Temporarily storing the gold there seemed a good choice.
Subsequently, a fully armed gold armored car arrived at the airport and transported all 800 kg of gold and 300 turquoise pieces to the bank vault for safekeeping.
Fang Wen rode along in the gold armored car.
The armored car stopped at the bank vault entrance; large boxes were carried out of the carriage and, led by the bank manager, entered the vault.
As the large boxes were placed in the vault, Fang Wen took the bank manager’s receipt, signed it, and then left the bank.
Now it was time to find a buyer for the gold.
Fang Wen wanted to sell the gold quickly and needed a group of very wealthy buyers.
This would have been somewhat troublesome, but Zhao Jiu’s report gave him a pleasant surprise.
Taishan Paradise in Las Vegas, operated for a month, had become the hottest tourist spot in the west due to a series of operational tactics.
People could satisfy all kinds of desires here.
Stimulating gambling and roller coasters.
Commodities from all over gathered in a large marketplace for sale.
Plus New York Broadway musicals and circus big-top shows.
And rich buffet options.
Covering various demand levels, drawing different crowds to spend.
Not just mid- and low-class tourists, but tycoons from various U.S. industries.
Tycoons also needed to spend and relax.
If they could pay, they could get anything they wanted in Las Vegas.
This den of vice was an interesting place for them.
Especially after discovering it was very safe, they contacted Zhao Jiu, requesting organization of higher-end private gambling halls.
The requirements were very high, but the profits were greater.
Zhao Jiu gladly accepted, transforming a standalone building in Taishan Paradise to the tycoons’ specifications.
The best food, the best service staff, the most stimulating private gambling.
And, as long as the tycoons paid, any customized service content.
Special charter airplanes could fetch anything desired from anywhere in the United States.
Zhao Jiu aimed to make money from the rich, fulfilling their every whim, inadvertently building a good reputation.
Now many tycoons came to experience it, giving Fang Wen a good opportunity.
He had Zhao Jiu send a private inquiry to those tycoons: would they be interested in purchasing a batch of ancient Native American gold ornaments.
After Zhao Jiu sent the inquiry, some tycoons were interested and willing to acquire.
Among them was a western oil tycoon, Edwin L. Paul Getty.
This young tycoon was bottom fishing oil company stocks in the stock market and controlled several oil fields in California.
His appearance made Fang Wen drop the idea of negotiating with other tycoons.
The refinery equipment and technicians that had been elusive were the only plan Fang Wen hadn’t achieved on this U.S. trip.
He had given up on independent factory construction, still unsure how to proceed.
Perhaps this was the breakthrough.
