A white Prado was speeding past on the highway in the heavy rain, and the surrounding vehicles were trying to avoid it.
The originally expected three-hour drive took just over two hours to reach the destination - Mandalay City.
This was once the seat of the royal capital of Myanmar during the feudal dynasty.
It is also the second largest city after the old capital Yangon. It is almost a microcosm of the entire development history of Myanmar.
However, Lin Yi and the others were not in the mood to appreciate the so-called beautiful scenery now.
Achang arranged for them to rest in a hotel first, have lunch, and then drive to the mining area, but Lin Yi refused.
I asked for the address and drove directly to the mining area.
The terrain here is different from that in Naypyitaw.
Except for Mandalay Mountain, which is more than 200 meters above sea level, most of the area is alluvial plains.
"Mandalay's name in ancient Bali is 'Radhana Bonni Ghat', which means 'City of Many Treasures'. Basically, all the feudal dynasties in Myanmar chose to build their capitals here.
Now it has a population of more than 1.7 million and is the economic, cultural and transportation center of the entire central region of Myanmar. There are royal palaces, temples, monasteries and old government sites left by the British colonists in the city.
The place where the jadeite vein was discovered this time is near Mandalay Mountain and adjacent to the Irrawaddy River. It is an undeveloped area and is at the junction of mountains and rainforests. "
Mintun acted like a tour guide in the car, giving the four of them a general explanation of the situation here.
Since I saw Bai Lu's strength last time.
He is now very careful when giving explanations. After finishing a paragraph, he will look back at the reactions of the people in the back row to see if they have anything to add.
Lin Yi and the others have already mastered these contents, so it doesn't make much sense to discuss these things now.
Arriving at the designated spot at the foot of Mandalay Mountain, a military green off-road vehicle stopped at the sign at the intersection.
This was arranged by Achang before.
The mining area is in a special situation and someone must lead them into it.
Minton got out of the car and communicated with the people in the car for a while, then returned to the car.
"Follow this car and they will take us to the mining area. If anything happens along the way, honk the horn and don't get out of the car easily."
The green off-road vehicle started, and Wang Qiang drove behind him, circling up the mountain road.
Mandalay City is also named after this mountain.
There are many monasteries and temples on the mountain, and white pagodas of various heights can be seen everywhere.
There are also an endless stream of monks and tourists from travel agencies.
All the way to the top of the mountain and over Mandalay Mountain, the road conditions began to become complicated and the paved road came to an end.
There are very few people here anymore, and those tourists will basically not choose to explore further here.
The sidewalks are all built with construction machinery. Once you step down, the yellow mud can be buried up to your ankles.
They were the only two cars on the road driving on the muddy road, and the rest were motorbikes speeding by, passing by their cars.
"What do these people do?"
Lin Yi asked.
Min Tun rolled down the window and had just chatted with the young people riding motorcycles. Someone in the off-road vehicle leading the way immediately leaned out and shouted.
You don't even have to understand what he said, you can tell just from the tone of his voice that this is definitely not a good thing.
The young man riding the motorcycle immediately pulled down his helmet visor, put on his raincoat, turned the accelerator, and left quickly.
The man in camouflage uniform in front looked at their car several times with his triangular eyes, and then shrank back.
"This bitch, how dare he tease me because of his strength? I'll find a chance to stop him later, and don't go to the ravine!"
Wang Qiang yelled angrily.
"Brother Qiang, please don't be impulsive. These people are from the military."
"Myanmar military? Is there anything else they have to do here?"
Wang Qiang asked puzzledly.
"Hey, Brother Qiang, you don't understand. Jade veins were discovered here. People from the military must have come here to collect the dry ones first. Then the local managers came to collect some thicker ones. Then it was the turn of these businessmen to come. Get the thin stuff."
"Who are these motorcycle riders?"
"The local people hired to transport the stones. When the car reaches the big iron gate in front, there is no way to go inside. You have to ride a bicycle or walk."
Min Tun replied.
"They said before that they used an excavator to dig out a 'clean water supply'. Why is it closed to traffic now?"
"There was a subsidence in that area, and a whole landslide rushed into the Irrawaddy River. It has been raining for the past few days, and there is no chance to repair it."
"This is already the case, why do you want these young men to go in and help them transport stones? These bastards really don't regard human beings as human beings! Lao Lin, didn't you tell them before? If we don't get there, this won't happen. start."
Lin Yi sighed.
"Achang and the others can stop working, but they can't be the masters of the military. The situation here is more complicated than we imagined. Let's go and take a look first."
Their car followed the off-road vehicle for about forty minutes and finally reached the foot of the mountain.
It looks like a primitive jungle. Except for a few ruts of different depths on the ground, there is also a whole martial law area in front of it made of barbed wire and traffic spikes.
The two large iron doors were closed tightly, and the people standing guard at the sentries on the left and right of the door were armed with live ammunition.
The man who had just glared at them poked his head out of the passenger seat and said hello to the man on guard.
Two sentries came out, opened the iron gate, and let them in.
After driving in for about five or six minutes, a large area of tents and simple wooden houses appeared in front of us.
"Brothers, why do I think this place looks like a camp?"
Wang Qiang was almost lying on the steering wheel and looking forward through the front windshield.
"It's not like a camp, this is a camp at all. The clothes of this group are no different from the Burmese soldiers seen on TV. Look at the clothes, military boots, and weapons and equipment.
That is, they are not wearing epaulettes and cap badges, and their flags are not flying here. "
The off-road vehicle parked at the parking area of the camp, and the person who got off directed Wang Qiang to park the vehicle as well.
After stopping, a group of people got out of the car. Minton was called to the front by a man in camouflage uniforms and gave a few instructions before running back.
"They asked us to go to the lounge and wait. Their boss will come to meet us in person soon."
"Their leader? Meet with us? Can we talk to them? Lao Lin, we have underestimated a trick. We should have asked them to send us guns when we set off from Naypyitaw. This If we have something to deal with in the future, we won’t be afraid even if we go to see the King of Heaven.”
"Okay, we are here to do business, not to fight with others. Let's go and wait in the lounge first to see what their manager wants to do with us!"
(End of chapter)
