In the next three days, the expedition team traveled upstream along the Lu River, stopping and going.
Every day near noon, Lucci would go ashore, use the electronic sextant he carried to measure the sun's altitude angle, and obtain the local latitude by consulting a book called "Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris" published by the British. As for the longitude, there is no need to calculate it. Just use the longitude of later Sacramento, which is 121 degrees, 29 minutes and 35.99 seconds west longitude.
In addition, at each fork of the river, Rucci also asked people to mark prominent locations on the shore; for example, tying a red cloth strip high on a tree trunk in the correct direction, or using white paint to draw a five-pointed star on a rock. Stars and big arrows.
On the morning of the fourth day, when the fleet passed a large "U"-shaped river bend that opened to the west, and continued to walk more than ten kilometers north, only oak trees and cottonwoods with twisted trunks could be seen everywhere on the river bank. , the huge yellow canopy blocks out the sky and the sun. Wild grape vines hang over the banks of the blue water, birds chirp in the trees, and salmon more than a foot long swim in the clear depths of the river. Such beautiful scenery immersed everyone in the expedition.
For some reason, Rucci felt that this place should be not far from the target, so he decided to go ashore to measure it. Soon, the data was obtained, and when compared with the astronomical calendar, it was found that the north latitude was 38 degrees, 32 minutes and 12.76 seconds. He knew that one minute difference in latitude was 1.849 kilometers, and that later Sacramento was located at 38 degrees, 34 minutes and 53.99 seconds north latitude, so he only had to go four kilometers further north to plant a pole and erect a flag.
When the fleet continued to sail north for more than half an hour, Lucci felt that the distance was almost there, so he ordered each ship to dock on the east coast. However, just as everyone stepped onto the river bank and were preparing to carry tents and other supplies from the boat, the accompanying Indian named Bai Bai suddenly raised his hand to warn; Bai Bai had warned like this when encountering wild animals several times while camping.
"Everyone be on alert!" Following the order from the platoon leader, the members of the expedition team hurriedly put down the things in their hands, lowered themselves, and raised the lever rifles in their hands.
The oak branches rustled in the wind, and the river behind him flowed. Time seemed to pass by extremely long. Lu Qi was squatting in the grass, holding a lever rifle, breathing heavily, his little eyes rolling around.
Just when he was feeling anxious, he saw hundreds of Indians with faces, hands and feet painted like melons popping up from the bushes and trees more than ten meters away. They have yellow and red feathers and a dark complexion. They are holding bows and arrows or wooden spears and bucklers, shouting and looking fierce.
At this moment, he heard someone on the opposite side say something loudly. Lu Qi then turned to look at the Miwok lying next to him. Bai Bai gestured with his mouth open, which means it's your turn.
It was not until more than a year later, when Ruch was finally able to communicate with the Indians in Mandarin, that he realized that the fierce native Indians he encountered were actually Miwok people. It's just that Bai Bai and the others belong to the mountainous Miwok group, while those in Lushui belong to the plains Miwok group.
Of course, Lu Qi was also deeply impressed by the "delicious food" he had as a guest in the aboriginal village that day. The other party not only brought out roasted acorns, but also brought him a bowl of paste-like food with an indescribable weird taste. Lu Qi used a wooden spoon to pull it out and found that there were some bulb-like things, green grass seeds, unknown mushrooms, and even two large grasshoppers.
Lucci had eaten roasted grasshoppers, but boiling them was too difficult. The problem was that he couldn't resist Bai Bai's encouraging words with a smile, and the undeniable look from the other chief. Lucci gritted his teeth and said that he would fight for the gold! Then he raised his neck and drank it. The grasshopper didn't even dare to chew and swallowed it directly. So early the next morning, Lu Qi and a dozen of his men suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. Thanks to the fact that the expedition team brought medicines for treating diarrhea such as norfloxacin and berberine, he and his thirty soldiers managed to escape.
According to Bai Bai later, grasshoppers are a rare delicacy for the Miwok people in the plains.
Lu Qi asked, then why don’t you eat?
Bai Bai smiled and said, we are mountain Miwok and live by the sea, so we like to eat mussels and abalone most, not grasshoppers.
Lu Qi laughed and scolded, Bai Bai, you big liar!
Well, since Lucci and his expedition team came here before the Spaniards in this time and space, he did his part to name the plain where the landing place was "Lushui Plain".
The Lushui Plain is actually an impact plain formed by the intersection of two rivers. The north-south direction is naturally the Lushui River, while the east-west direction is a river called "Kum Mayo"; it took many years for Lu Qi to figure out what that meant. , this is the name of the Nisennan people, meaning "round house river"; it is derived from the residential style of the Nisennan people. In addition to the plain Miwok people, this area is also inhabited by the Nisenan, Maduan and Wintu people, with a population of tens of thousands.
Afterwards, Rucci and the local Miwok chief had a difficult negotiation involving words and gestures. In the end, he used thirty scissors, thirty knives, ten hammers and two golden thermal blankets, plus provided the village with two hundred bags of flour every year, and obtained a piece of land covering an area of 70 square kilometers near the river.
In fact, the chief didn't know what flour was at all. He had never even seen wheat. This condition was proposed by Lu Qi himself, mainly because he felt a little guilty for taking too much advantage. He used the flour he carried on the boat and the river water to make a slate pancake for the chief. The chief and several elders each shared a piece and ate it with relish, and then they were full of yearning for this food called "wheat".
Half a year later, when thousands of Chinese miners arrived, a small town called "Lushui City" also rose from the ground. However, among the miners from Borneo, they call this place simply the "Second Port" and Kinmen is the "Big Port". Since there are very few Chinese women here, many single miners intermarry with local Indian women, giving birth to a large group of mixed-race but not mixed-race offspring.
As for the local Miwok people, they were gradually influenced by Chinese culture, from their language, food, clothing, and living. Finally, like the Chinese, they would burn incense and kowtow to their ancestors’ tablets during festivals. It’s just that in addition to their parents and ancestors, there is also a wolf god and an eagle god in their ancestral tablets.
However, everything must be divided into pros and cons. As more and more Chinese came across the sea, a smallpox epidemic broke out in Indian villages in the Lushui River Basin three years later. Despite the full rescue efforts of medical staff in Beihai Town, the number of Indians on the Kelushui Plain was reduced by more than one-third. Since then, the local Indians have reluctantly accepted cowpox and other vaccines, and the population has slowly increased again.
Luqi and the others stayed in the future Lushui Town for three days. By using drones to repeatedly compare the surrounding terrain, rivers and later data, he finally confirmed that the "Kum Mayo" in the local population was the "American River" in another time and space. ; And the place where gold is produced is somewhere on the south fork of the river.
The expedition set off again, this time with two more plains Miwok people in the team. The local chief did not want to give up such a good business partner so easily, so he asked his son Livanu and another young man named Wuye to be guides; the former's name means "Roaring Bear" and the latter means "Dancing Bear" turkey".
Livanu was the guy who led a group of people to ambush the expedition team a few days ago. When he first saw Lucci, he was very curious about the cowhide belt tied around his waist. After Lu Qi figured it out, he took off his armed belt and gave it to him, including a sharp dagger. The young chieftain was so happy that he gave the other party a large hanging necklace made of shells, glass beads, wood and feathers.
To be honest, the expedition's journey seemed to go smoothly, mainly because Bai Bai and another guy named Su Ke were accompanying them to help explain to the aborigines, otherwise they would definitely be in trouble.
In the traditional impression of later generations, the Indians, as the indigenous people of North America, were powerless to fight back against the European colonists. However, that was all in the industrialization era in the second half of the 19th century. The Indians who now occupy the western part of North America The Spaniards were actually very afraid of these natives; they could only seize land through deception rather than war.
If nothing else, during the Revolutionary War more than a decade ago, the Continental Army was defeated by the Iroquois tribes allied with the British army. In the "Battle of Wyoming", known as the Massacre in later generations, more than 300 white people were scalped, and countless people abandoned their homes and fled for their lives.
When the second Anglo-American War breaks out more than ten years later, the Iroquois League will usher in its highlight moment. They will join hands with the British army to attack Washington and burn the Presidential Palace to the ground. This will also give birth to a landmark - the White House.
Because it is now the dry season, the four assault boats had to move slowly along the long and winding "Round House River". When a group of people entered the mountainous area two days later, the water level in some sections of the river was too shallow, and everyone had to carry the rubber boat with a squeaking sound, stepping on the water that only touched their knees. The hardships along the way were really difficult to describe.
For example, when we were camping in the mountains on the first day, the aroma of cooking food attracted bears, wolves, and wild boars. Although the soldiers on guard shot and scared away the animals, they also frightened the young chief and another companion so much that they almost ran away without a trace.
Later, when they passed by a Nissenan village as a guest, the chief of the other side was quite surprised when he heard Lu Qi always mention "Cullumah", because this name comes from the Nissenan language "Cullumah", which means "beautiful". ". After confirming that the expedition was going to Coloma, the chief, who received the gift, decided to take them there himself.
Since it was already upstream of the South Fork of the Round House River, it was impossible for an assault boat to pass through, so everyone had to leave the boat in the village and then hike forward with backpacks.
After walking for two days, the group came to a deep and undulating valley before the sun set. It was surrounded by dense forests, gurgling streams, and thick redwoods and yellowbark pine trees that required at least four or five people to embrace. After a hasty meal, Lu Qi, who was so tired that his bones were falling apart, got into the tent and fell asleep. He was not awakened by the sound of birds outside until the next morning.
When Lu Qi came out of the tent, except for the sentries on duty, several people in the tents were still sleeping. Under the watchful eye of the sentry, he walked to the stream, scooped up the cold water with his hand, rinsed his mouth, and washed his face. He suddenly felt refreshed. Only then did he start to look at the scenery around the campsite. After looking around for a while, the man strolled along the left bank of the stream with his hands behind his back. After walking more than ten meters, he suddenly saw something sparkling in the stream.
At first he thought it was an opal, which is a black and transparent stone that he often saw since entering the mountain. Lu Qi instinctively decided to ignore the thing and continued walking forward, but after walking a few steps, he unconsciously turned back, squatted down and took a closer look, and found that the thing did not look like an opal, but a few sparkling pieces. pieces, and then leaned over to fish out one of the pieces.
This fragment was about half the size of Lu Qi's palm, and only one corner was glowing. When he wiped away the black mud and algae covering the rest of the fragment with his hand, the golden light of the entire fragment was immediately revealed. Lu Qi's head was buzzing, and his hands were even trembling with excitement.
How the hell is this an opal? It’s clearly a thin gold flake like a scale!
Lu Qi didn't bother to go back and wake up the sleeping expedition team members. He leaned over and fished out a few more fragments from the stream, and found that they were all the same golden scales. The guy suddenly became excited, and then he walked along the stream looking for it, and actually walked more than a mile. When Bai Bai, who looked anxious, and several team members shouted to find him, they already had more than 30 pieces of various sizes in their jacket pockets.
After returning to the campsite, Lu Qi didn't give any explanation. He dove into the tent, opened his backpack, took out the stainless steel cup he used for drinking water, took out a gold sheet from his pocket and put it in; then, he took out a stainless steel cup for drinking water from his pocket; From another bag, I took out a small brown glass bottle that was tightly sealed and a plastic dropper. When the bottle cap was opened, a pungent smell came out.
He held his breath, used a plastic dropper to take a few drops of the colorless solution from the bottle, carefully dropped it on the gold pieces in the cup, then tightened the bottle cap, and then turned his attention to the stainless steel cup.
After a while, there was no reaction at all on the golden flakes where the acid was dripping. Only then did Lu Qi confirm that what he found was gold, and the purity was not low!
God! But I found it!
Lu Qi grinned silently and giggled. What he was thinking about at the moment was that he had spent so much effort to help Zhao Xin find gold. What should he ask for from him?
At this time, everyone in the expedition team was already awake. They gathered together in small groups and whispered, "What's wrong with Mr. Lu?" After a while, Lu Qi finally came out. He waved to the platoon leader who was leading the team, and whispered a few instructions. The more he listened, the brighter his eyes became, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
After everyone had a few mouthfuls of dry food with hot tea, they took out hammers, shovels and other tools from their bags. In groups of five, they started to get busy along the surrounding creek.
A shovel here, two hammers there, all in vain while the Indians were confused. They found Rucci and asked with gestures. Rucci thought for a while and felt that the matter could not be hidden at all, so he took out a gold piece from his pocket and showed it to several Indians.
"Kic'aw!" Chief Nisennan and Livanu both shouted in surprise. Only then did they understand why these outsiders came so far.
After that, everyone in the expedition team was busy for a whole day. They searched every creek and valley within a two-kilometer radius and found many fragments as big as fingernails or gold as big as grains of rice. Especially in a dry canyon in the southern mountain, an expedition team member dug out a solid gold nugget weighing one tael using only the dagger he carried.
(End of chapter)
