Yue Guanchao and the others took out explosives from bamboo tubes, went down to the surface of the excavated rock formations, and began to arrange explosives near a certain crack. ..
After everyone hid far away, they only had to light the primer, and the rock formation exploded with a roar, and countless rubbles exploded. After the gray smoke dissipated, they looked at the surface of the rock formation again, and saw that the narrow gaps had been expanded by explosives, and there were A giant crack that can accommodate people passing through.
"Successful. Although this hole is not big, it can still accommodate two or three people entering the ground at the same time. Let's go down and take a look first. At least we must ensure that the holes are safe. After we come up, we will start driving piles down. Grab the rope."
After Yue Guanchao finished speaking, he, Xu Xiake and the others went down to the hole that had been blown up. The hole was about one meter wide, with edges along the
There were long strips of holes forming eye-shaped holes, and the surface was uneven due to the explosives, and there was a trace of gunpowder smoke.
He picked up the flashlight and shined it near the entrance of the cave. The originally dark underground river space began to be illuminated by the flashlight. Judging from the length of the light beam falling from the flashlight, it was about thirty to fifty meters from the cave entrance to the bottom of the underground river. As for the distance further , then there is no way to predict it.
He could see that the river channel extended forward and backward along the cracks in certain rock formations. The arc of the river channel they saw was probably the outline and direction of these underground rivers.
Finally, he took out a wooden stick, lit it and threw it into the hole. The fire drew an arc and fell directly to the ground. After it burned out, it looked like a star disappearing in the darkness.
Due to the limited vision outside the cave, he was unable to see more detailed situations. When Yue Guanchao came ashore, he could only tell everyone the general situation he saw.
After listening, Song Siyuan nodded to the people on the shore and said, "I thought this was just some shallow underground gaps, but I didn't expect that we directly found an underground river. The space you just explored should be the underground river channel during the drought. It is now approaching July and August, and the flood season has passed. If it is spring and summer, there should be rivers flowing here. Now that the flood season is over, the underground river has probably dried up completely, or only a trickle is left. This situation is just right. It’s good for us to explore downwards.”
Not much to say, according to Song Siyuan's estimation, they would have to go down to the bottom of the river at least to be completely safe, which meant that starting from the space above the wellhead, they would have to prepare at least a fifty-meter-long rope. After preparing things, a triangular wooden stake frame was built around the sand pit. A reel was set up on the top of the frame, and two ropes were all tied to the frame.
When everything was ready, Yue Guanchao and the others each brought their belongings for underground exploration and began to assign future tasks.
First of all, he, Song Siyuan, Xu Xiake, and Yue Erpao must go, and Keli, Nayi, and Wang Yuanlu will also follow. As for the Gu Baiyue brothers and sisters, they themselves are looking for the Shahai King City, so they have to follow them on the adventure. , there is no reason to wait until this step but shrink back, of course we have to enter the underground river.
The one who really didn't need to get involved in danger was probably the old herdsman Queenie. They had no intention of bringing Queenie to the desert at first. They just wanted to rent the old herdsman's camel. They didn't want him to come with them at all. The old herdsman repaid his kindness and insisted on going into the hinterland of the desert with them. Seeing his strong request, they reluctantly took the old uncle with him.
Now, they were about to enter the underground river, and they didn't know what dangers they would encounter. They had no reason to let Queenie take risks anymore, so they simply asked him to follow him. Several of his guys were waiting on the shore. They must be allowed to enter dangerous places again.
Regarding Yue Guanchao's plan, Queenie obviously had his own ideas. He waved his hand and said, "Old man? I'm old and frail and I can't keep up with you, but one thing is that these guys of mine are all very strong. They are strong and skilled, it is of no use if you leave them on the shore, you might as well leave only two of them to me, and you can take the remaining four or five people down, and you can also help you with the hunting, what do you think?"
Yue Guanchao knew that Queenie had good intentions, and they no longer refused. They only selected four or five strong men and planned to take them into the underground river together.
After the distribution was completed, Yue Guanchao led everyone down to the bottom of the sandpit, then tied the rope around his waist and slowly slid downwards. After sliding thirty to fifty meters, he
He could already see the underground river floor at the bottom, and as soon as his footsteps touched the moist lower river, he felt at ease.
He calmed down and used torches to illuminate the surrounding space. In addition to the grottoes, there was also mud and moss in the underground rivers. After making sure that there were no beasts, monsters, or fish lurking around, he flashed his flashlight and signaled. Everyone can come down. With his demonstration in advance, the rest of the people followed the rope into the underground river and stood around Yue Guanchao.
Tick tock, tick tock!
In the underground river where they landed, only a layer of slowly flowing underground water remained on the soles of the shoes. No matter how deep it was, it only reached the feet. There were sphagnum moss and water plants in the underground river everywhere. This kind of thing would hardly appear in the desert. It was expected to be underground. The river is infiltrated by water all year round, which gives the moss a chance to breathe and grow.
Song Siyuan and the others turned on their flashlights and looked up. Their location was probably at the bend of the underground river. Forward and backward, there were constantly curved river stone walls. Looking up, they could see the top of the grotto, which was forty to fifty meters high. The rocks everywhere are rugged and rugged, with traces of streamlines eroded by running water on the surface.
This kind of mottled water marks spread from the soles of the feet to the top of the grotto. The surface of the rock formations is polished very smooth and full of strange lines. From time to time, water droplets fall from the top of the head, probably dripping from the gaps in some rock formations.
Song Siyuan stared at the water patterns and said, "It seems that my guess is right. The flood season is indeed over now. This pattern spreads from the soles of our feet to the top of the grotto. It can be seen that the groundwater level is higher than the current water level when the water rises." High, it has reached the top of the river."
"Where are we going to find the Sand Sea King City? It seems that we can go both ways. If we go to the wrong place, we will go further and further away. Don't forget that there may be some kind of blood-sucking blanket in this underground river. Something." Xu Xiake said while observing his surroundings.
Song Siyuan didn't seem to be very worried about this and explained: "When people go to higher places, water flows to lower places. If my guess is correct, the Shahai King City should be in a cave that collapsed underground. When the water flows to lower places, Under the premise, as long as we find the direction in which the water flows forward, we can probably go to the lowest place, and those places must be sinkholes."
After saying that, Song Siyuan took out the prepared fallen leaves and threw them directly into the water. The dead leaves rippled in the water. After a while, they began to find the direction of the water flow. They were carried by the water flow and flowed downwards. She pursed her lips and said, "Let's follow these fallen leaves. If you flow forward, you can find the lowest point of the water flow. If there is a sinkhole in front, you will definitely be able to find the Sand Sea King City."
Without further ado, everyone turned on their flashlights and started walking along the direction of the fallen leaves. As they walked, their ankles waded into the underground river, causing the sound of rushing water!
About half an hour later, the surrounding river environment had changed. They could also feel that the underground river seemed to be getting wider and wider. The widest part of the place where they fell just now was only more than ten meters. At this moment, the width on both sides had become After walking forty or fifty meters, the stone wall could barely be illuminated by the flashlight. The water depth never reached the feet, reaching the ankles, and even the moisture increased a lot.
"What do you think that is?"
When Yue Guanchao was walking, he inadvertently glanced at the waist of the underground river. What appeared made him open his pupils wide and motioned for everyone to look at the waist of the grotto.
Under the flashlight, they could already see even weirder filamentous lines appearing on the stone wall.
This pattern is completely different from the erosion patterns formed by water flow. It can be seen that it is similar to the growth rings of trees. Most of them are composed of stacked irregular lines that extend in all directions. Some lines are crystal clear and shine with white light, and some lines are crystal clear and glowing with white light. The mottled green color can feel green and crisp like grass and trees, giving it the texture of jade.
There are also some lines that are like agates of different colors. Red, yellow, white, gray, blue, and green lines are distributed along the main lines. They look clear and moist, with a translucent texture, and outline what looks like colorful silk. Ordinary lines, when illuminated by light, reflect the flowing light very strangely.
Song Siyuan was also attracted by the texture of this stone. She approached these veins with a flashlight and penetrated these clear lines with flashlight. She could see the light flowing continuously within the lines, as if magma poured into the cracks of the stone, and bright light continued to burst out in the cracks. , there is a feeling of full flow of light, which illuminates the surroundings, and there is no feeling of darkness anymore.
"I think this should be the jade vein, I
When we discussed the texture of rock formations in Hongbai Mountain, we have already said that the stones in Hongbai Mountain are made of sandstone, sedimentary rock, limestone, sedimentary rock, and dolomite. There are also many agate stones, opals, chicken blood stones, and raw jade in the stones. What we have seen What we arrived should be the veins of Kunlun jade and the veins of agate stone. "
"Aren't jade mines all distributed in blocks? Why are there such thread-like lines?"
Wang Yuanlu also met many jade merchants in Dunhuang. He saw that jade mines were sold in blocks, or they were made into commercial jade pieces. It was rare that they were as tangled as today.
Song Siyuan further observed the lines of some jade veins and explained casually: "What you see are raw jade ores that have become commercial products, or simply exquisitely carved jade components. What we see now are completely missing. A vein of ore was discovered that doesn’t even exist as a commodity.”
The so-called jade veins, just like gold veins and copper veins, are veins where some mineral elements naturally exist in stones. Sometimes they appear in the form of silk hairsprings, sometimes they appear in the form of metal particles, and sometimes they appear in the form of metal particles. And there are both. As long as you can follow these natural veins, you can find large areas of ore.
The ore will eventually be taken out of the mine. Raw ore is cut into various sizes.
"Let's try to keep going forward. Maybe we can see a lot of ore."
They followed the traces of the veins and continued walking in the direction of the flow of fallen leaves. After walking for about half an hour, large areas of ore finally began to appear in the messy veins, and some rock formations mixed with jade and agate began to appear in large areas. The area of jade and agate mixed in it continues to increase, shining with the luster of gemstones in the light of the flashlight.
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