Chapter 174: 173 Thousand-year-old Indian Civilization, Excavating Cahokia Mounds
Las Vegas industry is prosperous, and all other things that should be done are completed.
At this time, there are still 25 days left out of the planned 70 days stay in the United States.
Fang Wen held a small meeting.
Lin Shuiwang, Zhao Jiu, John Harvey, Indiana participated.
During the meeting, Fang Wen explained the situation.
“In the next time, I will go to St. Louis to check out that Strange Mountain. Zhao Jiu, you need to maintain the business, so don’t participate.”
Zhao Jiu said awkwardly: “General Manager, if it’s just the casino, I can handle it, but your ventures are spread too wide. I’m afraid that once you return to China, things here will fluctuate. Officials want shares, gangs directly want money, and other casinos will also be jealous.”
There was also a sentence that Zhao Jiu didn’t say: the status of Chinese people in the United States is not high, and they are easily targeted.
Regarding this, Fang Wen had ideas.
He explained: “The Taishan Company on the United States side will become a publicly listed company. The listing matter will be handled by Graham, Fisher, and John Harvey. You just need to operate your casino well.”
His words were translated into English by Lin Shuiwang, so that Indiana and John Harvey could hear.
John Harvey added: “According to the general manager’s requirements, I am selecting professional managerial personnel. Once the Las Vegas Taishan Company meets the listing requirements, it will list immediately. After listing, the original shares will be significantly diluted, probably to 20%, but management rights will be retained.”
What John Harvey said was Fang Wen’s assurance plan.
In the United States, to operate long-term, becoming a public equity company is the most effective way. All future multinational enterprises are like this without exception.
The current arrangement is:
Zhao Jiu stays in Las Vegas.
Before there is a professional management team, John Harvey is the interim manager of company business. He holds 5% equity in his hands, his interests are already tied to the company, and the earlier the company lists, the earlier he can cash out.
According to Fang Wen’s plan, with the company’s current development momentum, it can list next year and become a public company.
Lin Shuiwang and Indiana will go with him to explore Strange Mountain north of St. Louis.
After the meeting ended, Fang Wen immediately took action.
He first went to find Boss Zhao of the antique shop.
This boss really hired five Mexicans in forty days and seriously taught this group how to become qualified tomb raiders.
Then he went to the USC history department to find Yoni Dayne, who specializes in studying ancient Native American culture.
Then, the group boarded d.332 and flew to St. Louis City.
After a few hours of flight, the airplane arrived in central United States and landed at the heart of the North American Continent: Missouri.
There, Fang Wen did not land immediately, but deliberately circled over Strange Mountain, communicating with Yoni Dayne.
“Look, that’s the mountain.”
“Absolutely not naturally formed, very obvious geometric shape, man-made traces.” Yoni Dayne affirmed.
After carefully observing for a while, he overturned his original judgment.
“It is very ancient, not in the existing Native American history records. The Native American information we currently have was all obtained after Columbus discovered America, which means the history here is before the 15th century, even more ancient.”
Fang Wen nodded: “Land first, purchase supplies and hire manpower in St. Louis. Our time is very precious.”
Immediately, the airplane landed at St. Louis airport, and personnel recruitment activities began right away.
This was an additional condition of cooperation between Fang Wen and Trans World Airlines.
He funded Yoni Dayne’s archaeological activities in the area near St. Louis, and Trans World Airlines helped obtain government approval documents for the related activities.
The approval documents were easy to obtain. In the United States before World War II, there was no interest in Native American culture, and few local governments were willing to protect relics. Private archaeology was welcome.
There was just a small episode.
Trans World Airlines executives were very interested in this archaeology.
They wanted to sponsor the archaeology like Fang Wen and leave their names in the results report.
This was fine, and Fang Wen accepted.
Thus, the preparation of supplies and hiring of personnel sped up a lot with their help.
Once prepared, the archaeological team set off.
More than thirty local workers loaded the supplies onto trucks, then took a boat at St. Louis river port to cross the Mississippi River.
After crossing the river, they went from Missouri to Illinois, and the jurisdiction changed from St. Louis to Collinsville City.
Fang Wen, Lin Shuiwang, Indiana, Yoni Dayne, Boss Zhao, and five Mexican tomb raiders, plus more than thirty local workers.
A total of more than forty people drove cars and trucks northeastward, just a 10-kilometer journey, and they arrived at the Cahokia ruins in the United States.
Here people call it Cahokia Mounds.
Not just one, but also another smaller one.
While the workers unloaded various supplies and set up tents, Fang Wen and the others climbed up that Strange Mountain.
Just as Indiana said, when he was young and camped at the mountain waist with others, there was actually a road up the mountain, and it was built by later generations.
Following the road to the mountain waist position, there was a flat area.
Yoni Dayne looked at the mountain waist cliff, “There are traces of artificial soil sealing here. Inside there should be living space, or sacrificial space.”
“Then starting tomorrow, dig from here.” Fang Wen made the decision, looked upward, and led the team to climb higher.
The mountaintop above was another platform.
From the faint traces remaining on the platform, it could be seen that there used to be various buildings here, but they were destroyed for some unknown reason as time passed.
After viewing Strange Mountain on site, Fang Wen talked with Yoni Dayne.
“In these twenty-plus days, your main mission is to study this earthen mountain. After I leave, if you are interested in other nearby relics, you can study them freely.”
Yoni Dayne nodded: “My preliminary judgment is that this is ancient Native American civilization before the 14th century AD. According to the ancient people’s construction efficiency, such a massive mound building would take many generations to complete. Therefore, this ancient Native American city may have lasted a very long time, even a thousand years of history.”
Fang Wen asked strangely: “An ancient Native American city with a thousand years of history shouldn’t it be famous? Even without written records, it could be passed down orally to the present. Why don’t you have this information?”
Yoni Dayne showed an embarrassed expression: “Because, because”
He knew the reason, but as a historian, he couldn’t say it.
Indiana eased the awkwardness: “Because when colonizing America back then, the indigenous residents here had already been largely exterminated by epidemics and killings.”
He dared to say it; from his name, Indiana might have a bit of Native American blood.
Fang Wen actually knew, but deliberately said it that way, and didn’t continue on this issue, instead communicating with Boss Zhao who was probing with a compass.
“Old Zhao, did you discover anything?”
“This place has no mountains or momentum. West side has a great river, the other three sides are surrounded by marshes, flat terrain, it is a suitable place to live.”
At this point, Boss Zhao paused.
“However, a place without momentum also has no danger to defend and cannot reflect status differences. This is the fundamental meaning of building this mountain.”
Boss Zhao made the judgment from an Eastern perspective.
He believed that the ancient Native American kings needed a towering building to display their authority.
This was a good line of thinking, but not what Fang Wen wanted to hear.
“I am asking you, did you see anything from this mountain?”
Zhao Jiu smiled knowingly and lowered his voice: “I saw it. This mountain was first filled solidly, then later dug into by people following the mountain. There are chambers inside. As for whether there are good things inside, I don’t know.”
“Good, tomorrow let your five apprentices work with that group of workers. Tell me if there is any discovery.”
After instructing, Fang Wen walked around Strange Mountain alone.
Others didn’t know where the treasure was, but he did.
Right directly below Strange Mountain, but very deep.
Moreover, there might be collapses below due to years of disrepair.
So, the exterior of the earthen mountain presents a north-high south-low appearance.
Now, Fang Wen needed the workers to clear a passage to the underground of the earthen mountain.
The excavation and archaeological work of Cahokia Mounds began immediately.
Dozens of workers dug out the soil from the mountain waist stone wall, trying to find the passage into the interior.
But soon, they discovered a problem.
The internal structure of the mound had severely collapsed.
If the filled soil was dug rashly, it would easily cause new collapses due to uneven stress.
This was not what the archaeological work wanted to see.
Yoni Dayne immediately reported this situation to Fang Wen.
After discussion with construction workers, the excavation plan schedule was slowed, changed to digging while reinforcing with cement and steel.
This way, the construction period would be greatly extended, and it would be hard to complete within the specified time.
For this, Fang Wen discussed with Boss Zhao.
“I’ll give you the inside story: the things are not inside the earthen mountain, but below the mountain. Now the construction period is blocked, do you have any way?”
Boss Zhao replied proudly: “This depends on whether the tomb raiders I taught have learned my skills.”
The skill he mentioned was grave robbing tunneling.
According to his plan, they would dig a slant tunnel near the mound, directly penetrating from the stratum below the mound into the possible underground secret room.
This was a good method.
It could also use the construction on the mountain as cover.
Immediately, the two began looking for the tunneling position.
Northwest corner of the mound was a visual blind spot, blocked behind by another small mound, front was the mound, left and right sides were trees.
Once the position was determined, Fang Wen adjusted the construction team’s living tent arrangement, placing the five Mexican workers’ tents there.
On the day the tents were set up there, they began.
Boss Zhao selected the position in the tent and first dug a smaller entrance, specifying the digging direction.
To facilitate later expansion. During the digging process, they would pay special attention to keeping the entrance stealthy to avoid discovery by others.
As the digging deepened, Boss Zhao would adjust the digging force and angle based on the soil’s hardness and humidity. He would use the Luoyang shovel to tunnel and sample the soil, judging by observing the soil’s color, texture, and inclusions（such as gravel, humus, etc.）whether below it had reached man-made structures or tomb rammed earth.
Of course, reinforcement was necessary; every segment dug, the grave robbing tunnel would be stably constructed.
In this way, work started both above and below, and ten days passed.
In ten days, the mountain waist construction workers excavated the first room, where Yoni Dayne found some feathers, animal skin remains, and some stone tools.
He judged that this was a room for preparing sacrifices and was greatly pleased with this result.
Underground, a 30-degree slanted earth tunnel had also been dug below the mound.
When the five Mexican tomb raiders dug to the stacked stone block wall, it meant they were about to enter the true secret area of this thousand-year-old building.
But at this time, they had to be even more careful.
After all, the mound had already collapsed; if not reinforced below, rashly removing those stacked stone block walls could cause even larger collapses.
For this, this segment took three days: using steel bars as top beams for support above, laying wooden boards below, and inserting three thick steel bar pillars on each side as load-bearing.
After this arrangement, they carefully removed the stone blocks in front.
A section of the stone block wall was removed, revealing an underground space.
No one had entered there for many years, and the turbid air might contain toxic substances, so it needed one day of ventilation.
One day later, a Mexican tomb raider lit a candle, carried a birdcage, and went in.
A few minutes later, he reported the situation inside.
“There are many rats below, and snakes.”
The Mississippi River area has abundant water and grass, producing a kind of rat called prairie pocket mouse.
Its body is fat, limbs and tail are relatively short, with cheek pouches.
The cheek pouches can store and transport soil when tunneling, and also serve as organs for carrying and storing food in life.
This prairie pocket mouse has become a plague, everywhere, while their natural enemies, various wild animals, are constantly decreasing.
The only remaining threat to them is the local black rat snake.
Black rat snake, as the name suggests, mainly feeds on rats and actively hunts prairie pocket mice.
The above information was learned by the Mexican workers after catching rats and snakes and bringing them to the surface to ask local workers.
In other words, the secret room below Cahokia Mounds was discovered by prairie pocket mice and became their gathering place.
But later, black rat snakes also followed the mouse holes here, and since then, this place became a battlefield for the two biological groups.
To understand the real situation, Fang Wen also entered the grave robbing tunnel and viewed that scene.
In the first room of the underground space, dense prairie pocket mice and black rat snakes were entangled together.
Black rat snakes were preying, one bite at a time.
Among the prairie pocket mice, some were fleeing, some were counterattacking.
The black rat snakes surrounded by these rats were also miserable.
It seemed that without clearing these two creatures, the underground space could not be entered at all.
For this, Boss Zhao had his unique methods to drive away snakes and rats.
He prepared sulfur powder, crushed garlic, lime.
Sprinkling these three substances on the ground, the black rat snakes retreated one after another.
To deal with rats, use mothballs.
The rats smelled it and fled one after another.
To drive away the large number of snakes and rats in the underground space, large quantities of such substances were purchased and massively deployed in the underground space. This place was no longer heaven for snakes and rats; they fled the underground space and appeared in various surrounding places.
With snakes and rats driven away, Fang Wen then entered the underground space to explore.
