In 1998, Khun Sa's army was finally defeated and surrendered to the Burmese government. Khun Sa then retired to Yangon.
However, the number of drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle did not decrease as a result, and the retirement of the biggest drug lord, Khun Sa, led to fluctuations in the drug market, causing drug prices to soar and attracting even more people to the drug trade.
Almost every few years, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos jointly launch a military operation to strike the Golden Triangle. Zhuang Rui's visit to Myanmar happened to coincide with this period.
"By the way, Peng Fei, how do you know so much about Khun Sa? When you joined the army, Khun Sa had already surrendered, right?"
Zhuang Rui found it strange. Although Peng Fei used to fight drug dealers, Khun Sa had already retired by then. Why did he still know so much about Khun Sa's affairs?
It was all old news, and Peng Fei, seeing that no one else was around, said with a smile, "Brother Zhuang, our country isn't far from the Golden Triangle, and Khun Sa is Chinese. Don't let his retirement fool you; his influence in the Golden Triangle is still considerable..."
Peng Fei's words were somewhat cryptic, but Zhuang Rui understood them. It turned out that Khun Sa continued to influence the situation in the Golden Triangle for a long time after his retirement.
In reality, drug enforcement in various countries is a matter of each country minding its own business and not worrying about others' problems. As long as the drugs don't flow into their own countries, the more they are sold in other countries, the better.
Some countries or regions even support major drug traffickers to dump large quantities of drugs into other countries. Of course, those countries or forces will never admit it. At times, the drug issue has even become a political struggle.
In the Golden Triangle region, Peng Fei and his team needed to rely on Khun Sa's influence to investigate drug lords smuggling drugs into China. Therefore, Peng Fei had personally contacted him at certain special times and naturally knew him very well.
After telling Zhuang Rui about Khun Sa's history, Peng Fei said, "Brother Zhuang, these people are ruthless and have excellent weapons. Let's forget about hunting..."
"Okay, after we see the jade mine tomorrow, we'll head back right away. We've been here for almost a month..."
Zhuang Rui nodded. Although tiger penis was very attractive to men, his life was more important. After experiencing the ordeal at sea in Africa, Zhuang Rui truly understood the principle of "a wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall".
There are also some small animals around the mine, and the barbecue at night is very plentiful. There are not only pheasants and other birds, but also a wild boar. Zhuang Rui ate very happily and drank a lot of locally brewed wine.
However, Peng Fei and Li Zhen, who had a good tolerance for alcohol, did not touch a drop of alcohol after hearing about the drug dealers. Although, in general, these drug lords who roam around would not dare to break ties with local forces in Myanmar, the two of them still dared not let their guard down.
After a good night's sleep, Zhuang Rui stepped out of the bamboo house early the next morning. The temperature in the Hpakant area was a bit cooler than in Yangon. Wisps of white mist drifted through the valley in the early morning, making for a very pleasant scene.
"Brother, let's go. After breakfast, we'll head up the mountain..."
Hu Rong was stretching his body in the open space in front of the bamboo house when he saw Zhuang Rui coming. He quickly went to greet him. The situation in Hpakant has been bad lately, so he rarely stays here. Naturally, he didn't want Zhuang Rui to be in danger.
After a quick breakfast, Zhuang Rui and Hu Rong boarded the railcar and headed towards the mountainside. Thanks to Zhuang Rui's directions, the original mine pit had been moved from the mountaintop to the mountainside, making the entire mountain look as if it had been cleaved in half by an axe, with the rock caved inwards.
"Zhuang Rui, in the past two years, we've mined one main vein, totaling XXXX tons of raw stone. Although there are still veins within, I don't think it's worth the price the British offered..."
Hu Rong was more inclined to sell the jade mine; these days, nothing is safer than putting money in your pocket.
"Um, wait a minute, I need to go in and take a look..."
Zhuang Rui nodded noncommittally. Seeing the railcar arrive at the entrance of a mine, he quickly picked up the walkie-talkie next to Hu Rong and told the people controlling the railcar below to stop.
Hu Rong glanced at the mine and said, "This mine is exhausted. Zhuang Rui, go up there and see, they're still producing jadeite..."
"No need, I'll just take a look. Is there any danger inside?"
Zhuang Rui waved his hand. He just wanted to find a quiet place to properly observe the mountain. It would be better if it were an abandoned mine, as it would save Zhuang Rui a lot of trouble.
Seeing Zhuang Rui's insistence, Hu Rong handed him a miner's lamp, saying, "There's no danger, just take a light..."
Chapter 992 New Discovery
A slightly sloping passage was built between the railcar and the mine. Zhuang Rui took the miner's lamp in his hand and entered the mine from the railcar. Although Zhuang Rui said that no one should follow him, Peng Fei and Li Zhen still followed him off the car.
The mountain breeze in the morning was exceptionally cool, but once inside the mine, the situation changed. The mine, with only a two-meter-high opening, was very stuffy inside.
Zhuang Rui turned around and said, "Peng Fei, you two just wait for me outside. I'll go in and check the traces of mineral veins left on the rock wall and then come out..."
Whether there were lights in the mine or not made no difference to Zhuang Rui. It was dark and stuffy inside, and he didn't want to go in. He only needed to go about ten meters deep.
"Brother Zhuang, it's alright. We've never seen a jade mine before, this is a good opportunity to broaden our horizons..."
Peng Fei shook his head. Ever since he learned yesterday that a group of drug lords had flooded into the area, he immediately raised the level of protection he had for Zhuang Rui, and he was almost always by Zhuang Rui's side except when Zhuang Rui went to the toilet.
"Whatever you two want..."
Zhuang Rui shook his head and turned on his headlamp. Since it was an abandoned mine that had already been mined out, all the lights along the way had been removed, and the light became very dim after going in for about seven or eight meters.
Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy survey only covered a distance of about twenty meters back then. If it weren't for the fact that the ore vein happened to be at that distance, Zhuang Rui probably wouldn't have been able to do anything. However, the depth of this mine pit is far more than twenty meters.
The mine pit was spacious, and there were traces of sliding rails on the ground, which were used to transport the mined raw materials. However, the ventilation equipment had been removed, making the inside feel somewhat stuffy.
After walking about eighteen or nineteen meters deep, Zhuang Rui stopped and used his headlamp to shine on the rock wall to observe it.
The rocks here are slightly different from the rock walls outside. Their structure is more of crystalline limestone, and their colors are not all the same. Under the light, they emit a unique glow.
In addition, there are small holes on the rock wall. Zhuang Rui knows that these are left to explore whether there are still jade veins inside the rock wall.
"Peng Fei, take the lamp and shine it on the rock face for me. I need to observe it..."
Zhuang Rui handed the miner's lamp to Peng Fei, took out a small hammer from the bag behind him, and pretended to chisel at the limestone wall.
As Zhuang Rui moved, loose limestone crystals detached from the rock wall, displaying a colorful and beautiful appearance under the refraction of light at different angles.
There was no danger here. Peng Fei and Li Zhen were both drawn to the scenery under the lights, while Zhuang Rui stopped after hammering a few times and stood in front of a rock wall, observing it carefully, his eyes almost touching it.
Since returning to the city from the deserted island, Zhuang Rui had never had the chance to fully unleash the spiritual energy in his eyes. At this moment, Zhuang Rui completely let go, and the purple-gold spiritual energy in his eyes surged out without reservation, spreading through the thick rock and across the entire mountain.
Ten meters... fifty meters... one hundred meters...
The invisible and colorless spiritual energy penetrated the rock wall and continued to extend upwards. Although it was not as clear as what the eyes could see, Zhuang Rui could not escape the senses of any trace of spiritual energy within the mountain during this process.
In just a few minutes, the spiritual energy in Zhuang Rui's eyes had already enveloped the mountain, which was over 400 meters high and covered an area of several miles. Controlling the spiritual energy in his eyes to stop expanding outward, Zhuang Rui closed his eyes slightly and began to sense it.
"Hmm? There's a fluctuation of spiritual energy eighty meters up there. It must be a mineral vein that's being mined, right?"
Within Zhuang Rui's spiritual energy sensing range, there were three places where the spiritual energy fluctuations were extremely strong. One of them was directly above his head, but the vein was not very long, only about ten meters long.
The other two locations were on the back of the mountain, not far apart, and both were veins over thirty meters long, far shorter than the one he had discovered first. Moreover, based on the purity of the spiritual energy, Zhuang Rui judged that the quality of the raw stones there was not very high.
"These two mines combined are definitely not worth more than £1 billion. We can sell them..."
After carefully examining the mountain, Zhuang Rui breathed a long sigh of relief. The jadeite veins from those two days, plus the one currently being transported, were not worth the price offered by the British. Selling was the most reasonable option.
However, it is quite remarkable that a single mountain can produce three mineral veins. It is certain that the British will lose money after investing in it, but if they can discover two more mineral veins, their losses will be greatly reduced.
"Let's go..."
When Peng Fei and Li Zhen arrived, Zhuang Rui had only stayed by the rock wall for about seven or eight minutes before turning around and leaving. Neither of them knew how to examine jade, nor did they know that Zhuang Rui had discovered anything.
Upon seeing Zhuang Rui emerge, Hu Rong pulled him onto the railcar and eagerly asked, "Brother, how is it? Is there any possibility that this vein could be extended further in?"
The jadeite mines currently being mined were originally discovered by Zhuang Rui. Coupled with his expertise in jadeite identification, Hu Rong considered Zhuang Rui to be far more reliable than those experts and scholars.
Zhuang Rui shook his head and said, "There can't be any more mineral veins inside. The structure of the rock layers has changed. If there were, it would probably be on the other side of the mountain, but that side is all cliffs, making surveying and mining difficult. With your current technical capabilities, it's probably very difficult..."
The mining equipment in Myanmar is still at the level of the late 1980s in China, not to mention compared with developed countries, and even comparable to the old machines in African diamond mines.
"Sigh, I also had people drill holes into the mountain to survey it, and just like you said, there's definitely no indication of a jade vein. Those British people did survey the area behind the mountain before proposing to buy the mine, so there's a real possibility that a vein might be found..."
Hu Rong paused here, looked at Zhuang Rui with hopeful eyes, and said, "But brother, in your opinion, could the remaining jadeite vein be worth more than 1.2 billion pounds?"
Although Hu Rong had long intended to sell the mine, he seemed somewhat reluctant at this moment. After all, this jade mine had helped the Hu family recover from its decline, and it held special significance for Hu Rong.
"Absolutely not worth it. Even if there are mineral veins behind the mountain, they certainly wouldn't meet the standards of this one..."
The British weren't fools. Since they decided to buy the mine, they must have conducted thorough investigations and surveys. Zhuang Rui believed that the other party must have made some discoveries behind the mountain, which was why they offered such a high purchase price.
Zhuang Rui noticed the reluctance on Hu Rong's face and, after thinking for a moment, said, "Brother Hu, what I mean is we can sell it. We've made quite a bit from this mine over the past few years, and with the rough stones you've stockpiled in Chinatown, it should be worth over two billion US dollars. If we sell it for another billion pounds, we'll make a fortune..."
Zhuang Rui didn't actually receive much cash from this mine, only about 200 million US dollars in total. Most of the rest was converted into raw stones and smuggled into China. However, if he were to sell the mine, Zhuang Rui could immediately earn hundreds of millions of pounds.
Hu Rong is undoubtedly the biggest winner here. He only invested a total of over 300 million euros, and in the past two years, he has already earned back his investment from the raw stones he sold at jade auctions alone. The rest can be said to be free.
"Okay, it's settled then. You sign a share transfer entrustment agreement later, and I'll take care of it in the next few days..."
As the head of the family, Hu Rong was very decisive. After weighing the options in his mind, he immediately made a decision: as Zhuang Rui had said, the sooner the mine was sold, the higher his profits would be.
"Alright, Brother Hu, hesitation only leads to trouble. Selling this mine might just open up a whole new world for us..."
Zhuang Rui gave Hu Rong a thumbs up. Without the spiritual energy he possessed, Zhuang Rui certainly wouldn't have had Hu Rong's boldness to sell such a treasure trove of jadeite mine directly.
"It's easier said than done, Brother Zhuang. These miners have been dealing with jade mines for generations. There aren't many mines left that my family can still operate in. Finding a new way out is going to be difficult..."
After hearing Zhuang Rui's words, Hu Rong sighed deeply. You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household. There are tens of thousands of Chinese people in the Chinese town of Hpakant, and the pressure is immense.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Come on, brother, come with me up the mountain. By the time you come back next time, this mine will have changed hands..."
Hu Rong took a deep breath, picked up the walkie-talkie, and instructed the people below to start the railcar and head towards the mountaintop.
This mine is the highest mountain range in the surrounding area, except for the Savage Mountain, which is five or six kilometers away. It faces the Savage Mountain in the distance and has a very wide view.
Standing atop the high mountain, the dense jungle of the Wild Man Mountain in the distance is clearly visible, and the lingering mist, illuminated by the sunlight, appears incredibly mysterious and profound.
"Ah...ah...ah..."
Hu Rong suddenly shouted from the mountaintop, his voice carrying far and echoing through the mountains, startling birds taking flight from the forest.
"By the way, the range of the spiritual energy released just now was still very small. Let's see if there are any treasures inside the Savage Mountain?"
As Zhuang Rui gazed at the mysterious Savage Mountain, a thought suddenly occurred to him. After Peng Fei and Li Zhen's attention was drawn to Hu Rong, the spiritual energy in his eyes swept towards the distant Savage Mountain.
One kilometer... five kilometers... eight kilometers...
As far as Zhuang Rui could see, the spiritual energy reached him in an instant. In a short moment, the spiritual energy covered the distance between the mine and the Savage Mountain Range, and continued to extend into the distance.
"Huh? What's this?"
When the spiritual energy reached its limit of ten kilometers, Zhuang Rui suddenly saw an extremely brilliant color.
Chapter 993 Excuse
In Zhuang Rui's perception, countless points of golden light seemed to appear before his eyes, like stars falling from the sky, as if he had entered a golden kingdom, where everything in front of him was a dazzling golden color.
That not-so-tall hill gathered countless subtle spiritual energies, nourishing Zhuang Rui's eyes and making him almost groan with pleasure.
"Brother Zhuang, what's wrong? You look so blissful, are you missing your wife?"
Just as Zhuang Rui was immersed in the brilliant golden light, Peng Fei beside him interrupted his reverie.
"You brat, you're more likely thinking about your wife. Xiaoqian is about to give birth, so you should stay home a bit longer this time..."
Zhuang Rui withdrew his spiritual energy and glared at Peng Fei with annoyance. In his mind, he was thinking about the "scene" he had just seen. Zhuang Rui was no stranger to that kind of brilliant color. When spiritual energy came into contact with gold, the scene he saw was just like that.
"Could it be a gold mine?"
Zhuang Rui was somewhat surprised and uncertain. His eyes unconsciously looked in that direction again, but without using his spiritual energy, all he could see was a forest and a sea of fog.