Chapter 2: Chapter 1
"My geological exploration career has continued for twenty years, experiencing hundreds of situations that may endanger my life, but in my early memories, the deadliest thing was not the turbulent mountain streams, but the indescribable boredom. For a long time, seeing the continuous mountains and jungles would make me feel suffocated, thinking that I would have to travel there for more than a decade, and the pain is really hard for people who have not experienced it to understand."
However, this feeling disappeared without a trace after the event in 1962. Because after that incident, I realized that there are many mysterious things hidden in these boring mountains, some of which you cannot understand even if you exhaust your imagination. At the same time, I also understood that the words of awe from the older generation of exploration team members towards the mountains were not unfounded.
The cause of the 1962 Incident is well-known to many veteran comrades who worked in exploration. If young readers have parents who worked in exploration, they can also ask them. At that time, there was a famous geological project called the Inner Mongolia 723 Project, which was the general term for the exploration troops searching for coal in the Inner Mongolian mountainous area. Three exploration teams entered the primitive jungle area of Inner Mongolia for block-by-block exploration. Two months after the exploration work began, the 723 Project suddenly stopped. At the same time, the project's command began to borrow technical personnel from other exploration teams. For a time, basically all the technical backbone personnel of various exploration teams across the country were screened, tables were written, files were searched, but no one knew who finally took those tables and files.
Finally, a group of exploration technicians were selected and loaned to the 723 Geological Engineering Battalion.
At that time, the matter caused a lot of uproar, and many people spread rumors that 723 had discovered something extraordinary in Inner Mongolia. However, there were over a dozen versions of what had been discovered, and no one could clearly state what it was. Those who weren't involved in the 1962 incident often stopped their knowledge at this point, and with the worsening of the Cultural Revolution, no one paid attention to what happened afterward. The group of technical personnel who were sent into the mountains on a truck were quickly forgotten.
"At that time, I was among the forgotten geological engineering technical soldiers. According to my later understanding, a total of twenty-four people were selected by 723, and we all set off from our geological exploration teams according to the military district's call-up order, gathered in Jiamusi by train, and some went directly to Qiqihar. In those two places, we were directly loaded onto military vehicles and traveled from Heilongjiang to Inner Mongolia. At first, the military vehicles were still driving on the road, but later they drove further and further away. In the last few days of the journey, we spent almost all of our time on winding mountain roads. Before going there, I had no idea what had happened there, but after listening to the conversation of the people traveling with me, I also felt that what happened in the mountains might not be normal."
However, at that time our speculation was still at an industry level, and most people believed that it might have been the discovery of a large oil field. Some of the old comrades who participated in the exploration of Daqing Oil Field described it vividly, saying that when Daqing Oil Field was discovered, it was also the same situation. The exploration team discovered the oil and gas field, and the national experts were mobilized. After several months of discussion and verification, the existence of Daqing Oil Field was confirmed.
"This statement leaves us with doubts but also gives us a sense of pride in being chosen."
When the truck transported us to the command headquarters of the 723 Geological Engineering Brigade, we immediately realized that things were not as simple as we had thought. When we got off the truck, the first thing we saw was a continuous line of military tents in the mountain valley. They were of all sizes and looked like countless burial mounds. It didn't look like an engineering brigade at all, but rather like a military base. The camp was very busy, with all the people coming and going being army engineers. We were stunned, thinking that someone higher up had gone crazy and decided to attack the Soviet Union.
Later, it was discovered that not all of those tents were for military use, most of them were actually storage tents. A few experienced individuals secretly lifted the tent flaps and glanced inside, then came back to us and said that they were filled with equipment imported from the Soviet Union, with Russian writing all over which they couldn't understand.
"At that time, our exploration equipment was extremely outdated. The exploration methods we used were not much different from those used just after liberation. The country only had a small number of "modern instruments," most of which were purchased at extremely high prices from the Soviet Union. Our basic technical soldiers never had a chance to see them."
The problem was that at that time, such equipment was mainly used for exploring deep-seated ore deposits at depths of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. However, given the country's limited resources, it was impossible to develop such deep-seated ore deposits. Even if we insisted on doing so, it would take five to seven years to build the necessary infrastructure before production could begin. Therefore, the government's longstanding policy regarding the discovery of such deposits was to keep them confidential and sealed off, without further exploration, for future generations to use. At that time, our maximum exploration depth was only around 500 meters.
"Having such equipment here makes us feel puzzled, with a strange feeling in our hearts,"
That night, there was no explanation given. A few of us who came together were arranged to share several tents, each tent accommodating about three people. It was freezing cold in the mountains at night and even with a stove in the tent, it was impossible to sleep. The duty soldier who added firewood in the middle of the night opened the tent and cold air rushed in. People were soon woken up by the chill and ended up being awake until dawn.
Two people shared a tent with me. One of them was a bit older, born in the late 1920s, from Inner Mongolia. He seemed to be somewhat famous and everyone called him Lao Mao. His real name appeared to be Mao Wuyue. I thought it was a good name since it shared the same surname as Mao Zedong. The other person was about my age, tall and muscular with a body full of bulging muscles. He was a Mongolian named Wang Sichuan and was as black as coal. Everyone called him Xiongzi, and he was from Heilongjiang.
The oldest among us was Lao Mao, who didn't talk much. While Xiong Zidong and I chattered away, he just smoked on the sidelines, laughing at us but not expressing any opinions. I wonder what he was pondering.
Xiongzi is a typical northern Chinese who is warm and friendly. We quickly became close friends. He told me that his grandfather's generation had already intermarried with the Han Chinese. They travelled westward and settled in Guannei as horse traders. His father later joined the logistics unit of the Huabei Field Army during the War of Resistance Against Japan, where he took care of horses for Luo Ruiqing. After the liberation, he returned to his home province of Heilongjiang and became a mine manager in a coal mine.
He joined the exploration team because of this relationship, but the process was not smooth. At that time, the country's basic industrial construction needed energy, and coal mines were of paramount importance. His father spent the latter half of his life rolling in the coal heap. Whenever he came home, he mentioned nothing but the mine, even talking about it in his sleep. His mother often quarreled with his father about this, so he had a strong aversion to coal since childhood. When it came time to allocate jobs, his father wanted him to join the coal system, but he strongly refused. At that time, his dream was to be a soldier driving a car. Later, he discovered that the car soldiers were in another system and he could not enter, so he spent half a year unemployed at home and had to compromise with his father. However, he made a condition at that time, hoping to find a profession in the coal mine that had the least contact with coal. So he joined the exploration team in the mine and did well. Later, he was selected for college because of minority policies, and finally arrived here.
I listened and found it funny. Although we are the source of mining, we indeed have few chances to come into contact with mines. Probability-wise, we do have the lowest chance of encountering coal mines.
"After finishing talking, he immediately asked about my family's situation."
My family background is not very good, which was not considered honorable at that time. I just roughly told him that we were ordinary farmers.
Actually, my grandfather was considered a farmer as well. My ancestors were from Hongdong, Shanxi. My grandfather's ancestors were poor farmers, but my grandfather was said to have been a bandit for a while and had some wealth. During the land reform, he was reported and became a reactionary rich peasant. My grandfather was a stubborn man and ran away with my grandmother, father, and second uncle to the south. After arriving in the south, my father became a nephew of a monk, and followed the monk to have my father and second uncle's status determined as poor farmers. So, in terms of my background, I am a poor farmer, but my grandfather was a reactionary. At that time, this was considered a minor issue.
After discussing our backgrounds, we talked about local customs and culture. As we talked about the events that happened here, being from different regions and ethnicities, there was much we could say. Fortunately, we were both people who had experienced hardship and staying up all night was nothing. The first night quickly passed this way.
The next day, a person from the camp was sent to receive us and take us to understand the situation.
"I don't have a deep impression of that person. They seem to be between 30 and 40 years old, with the name Rong Aiguo. Since they work in exploration and are exposed to wind and rain, they generally appear older, so it's hard to distinguish. This person is a bit mysterious. He showed us around, but only to a certain point. When we asked him questions, he didn't answer and was quite uninteresting."
From his mouth, we only heard some basic situations, such as the fact that project 723 actually started three years ago, but due to personnel adjustment reasons, we did not start until the beginning of this year and so on. Other than that, it's just living issues like where the canteen is located and how to get to the restroom.
In the following month, there was no progress in the matter. We stayed idle at the camp and no one paid attention to us. It was really inexplicable. Finally, some experienced people couldn't take it anymore and, at our urging, went to find Rong Aiguo several times, but were dodged with various excuses.
At this point, we had already seriously sensed the peculiarity of the situation. Everyone was nervous and some even speculated if we had done something wrong and were going to be secretly executed. This kind of plot is common in movies, and hearing these rumors just made us feel uneasy.
Of course, there are also many meaningless guesses. The autumn in Inner Mongolia is already bone-chilling, and people from the south find it difficult to adapt. Many people experience nosebleeds. In my memory, during that month, we sat on the heated brick bed, chatting while eating cornbread, and using old socks to wipe away our nosebleeds.
A month later, things finally changed. On a Wednesday morning, we were groggily shoved back onto the truck with two other engineering soldiers and continued our journey up the mountain.
At this point, my feelings had already shifted from excitement and confusion to anxiety. Through the canvas of the Liberation Army truck, I looked out at the continuous mountain ranges and primitive forests beyond the temporary wooden walkway. Watching the expressionless faces of the soldiers inside the vehicle, the atmosphere became very tense. No one spoke; everyone sat silently in the truck, waiting for the end of this journey as we bounced along the road.
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