Chapter 56: Treasure! Treasure!-Anos Dourados: Criando Filhos e Pescando nas Montanhas Changbai(Chama ardente da cidade das flores)

Planning to check out the Old Chen Family Ancestral Hall that evening, he first took Er Gou and Tie Zhu to set the crab traps.

Setting the crab traps filled Er Gou with novelty. He simply couldn't fathom how such a modest trap could catch fish and crabs, finding the whole process incredible.

"Stop studying it. This won't catch anything big, only small fish and crabs."

Seeing Er Gou examining the trap, Zhang Huacheng smiled, took it back, and tossed it into the sea water.

"If I had known about this earlier, I wouldn't have bothered working for the production team." Looking at the crab trap submerged in the water, Er Gou pondered for a moment before turning to Zhang Huacheng. "Why didn't those people in the production brigade understand this?"

Working themselves to the bone year after year, their production team was lucky not to go into debt, barely managing to avoid starvation. After spending just a few days in the mountains with Zhang Huacheng, he increasingly felt that everyone back in the brigade had something wrong with their heads.

"That's the confinement of ideology."

Zhang Huacheng shook his head.

The two of them went ashore. Tie Zhu hurried over, scratching his head. Because his frame was too massive and he lacked a sense of proportion, Zhang Huacheng wouldn't let him go into the water, whereas Er Gou had a light and nimble build, so there was no need to worry about him falling in.

"Tie Zhu, are fish delicious?"

Er Gou patted Tie Zhu.

"Fish is delicious."

Tie Zhu scratched his head.

"Look, even Tie Zhu knows fish is delicious. What on earth are those people in the brigade good for?" Er Gou vented his grievances, holding a long-standing resentment toward the brigade.

After all, Grandpa Wang, who had taken him in, could essentially be said to have starved to death. Back then, he was too young and clueless, eating whatever was handed to him; by the time he understood the situation, it was already too late.

"You two actually just gave me an idea."

Remembering that wedding banquets in this era—especially those held in the county town—generally required fish and meat, Zhang Huacheng thought he might consider heading to the ice lake deep in the mountains to catch some fish.

However, the current thickness of the ice layer was estimated to exceed one meter, so he would need to make thorough preparations.

Night fell, and wisps of cooking smoke curled into the air.

In the Old Zhang family, every household was eating meat. The Old Wang family was also eating meat, and those who couldn't get any meat weren't just sitting around either, cursing and swearing up a storm. Chen Youde and Chen Biao didn't even dare to step outside their doors now.

The Old Chen Family Ancestral Hall was located inside an old courtyard residence. Leading Er Gou, Zhang Huacheng sneaked over under the cover of swirling heavy snow, which conveniently acted as their camouflage.

The walls were not made of woven twig fences, but rather piled mud bricks. The wind through the three-mile canal of Chentang was fierce, so most families used mud bricks while fenced yards were rare.

The ancestral hall walls were even built extra high, but that posed no difficulty for Zhang Huacheng and Er Gou.

Zhang Huacheng easily vaulted onto the wall, observed the surroundings for a moment, and signaled to Er Gou, who quickly followed over the wall.

The ancestral hall was pitch black, and the door was secured with a lock. Zhang Huacheng produced a black hair clip and popped the lock open in mere seconds, an operation that left Er Gou staring in dumbfounded amazement.

Once inside the ancestral hall, both Zhang Huacheng and Er Gou took out candles and lit them, illuminating the dark interior.

The front of the main hall was lined entirely with ancestral spirit tablets. Zhang Huacheng checked the other two rooms and found no entrance to any tunnels, leading him to suspect it must be hidden beneath the spirit tablets.

Instead, his attention was caught by the names inscribed on the tablets.

Chen Zhenshan, Chen Dabiao, Chen Xiaolin, Chen Xiaodao...

Zhang Huacheng was left speechless. Did they write these just in case the rest of the world didn't know they were bandits?

No wonder they only permitted the elders of the Old Chen family to come and worship.

A thick layer of dust coated the spirit tablets, clearly untouched for a very long time. However, his gaze shifted to a hanging scroll of the Three Star Immortals representing Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity hanging right behind the tablets.

"Did you find it?"

Er Gou asked after searching around without success.

"It should be right here."

Zhang Huacheng stepped forward and removed the hanging scroll of the immortals, revealing an old piece of black cloth covering the wall surface.

Er Gou drew closer. When Zhang Huacheng carefully peeled away the black cloth, Er Gou's eyes lit up—there was actually a wooden door embedded in the wall!

"They hid it all the way out here?" Er Gou was astonished. Usually, secret passages were concealed inside the brick sleeping kangs; who would ever put one in a wall?

"The wall was thickened. Because it's a mud-brick house, I overlooked it at first glance."

Zhang Huacheng pulled open the door. A wave of bone-chilling, musty, earthy stench rushed out, simultaneously exposing a downward-sloping stone staircase leading into a subterranean tunnel.

"I'll go first!"

Er Gou drew his bayonet, preparing to enter.

"Hold on!" Zhang Huacheng stopped him, gently untying a very fine cord.

"A trap?"

Er Gou blinked, startled.

"Not quite. If this cord is disturbed, that iron bell in the room will ring. Old Uncle Chen lives right in the household behind the ancestral hall; he'd likely hear it at the slightest sound."

Zhang Huacheng glanced back at the iron bell hanging from the roof beam, which he had noticed earlier.

"That old timer is cunning indeed."

Er Gou didn't dare rush in anymore.

Although the staircase wasn't particularly narrow, it could only accommodate one person at a time. As the candlelight flickered, Zhang Huacheng's heart leaped into his throat the moment they reached the underground level, and Er Gou's eyes widened in disbelief.

This place was no mere cellar; it was a miniature military warehouse, and the entire vault had been lined with stacked stones, kept neat and orderly.

There were wooden crates of various sizes stacked everywhere, all standard military issue painted in military green with serial numbers printed on them—bearing Japanese markings, no less.

"Hua... Huacheng..."

Er Gou couldn't help swallowing hard.

"Military supply, all military supply, and it belonged to the Japanese army." Zhang Huacheng stepped forward and pried open a crate, only to find rows of pitch-black Type 38 rifles inside.

He opened another crate—it was packed entirely with Springfield rifles!

Good heavens, had the Old Chen family stumbled upon a small Japanese military base and looted it clean, or had they raided a Japanese supply depot? Or perhaps...

"Huacheng, bullets!"

The smaller crates were filled entirely to the brim with ammunition. The glittering rows of golden cartridges dazzled Er Gou's eyes.

He finally understood why the three-mile canal of Chentang never ran short of bullets.

"Pry them all open and see what else is here!" Zhang Huacheng went down the line checking crate by crate. There were dozens of boxes in total, though some spaces stood empty where crates had clearly already been removed.

Bullets!

Type 38 rifles!

Bullets!

"Huacheng, come look at this! Are these pistols?"

Er Gou gasped in a low whisper.

Zhang Huacheng hurried over, took one look, and beamed with joy. "These are Mauser C96 broomhandle pistols, Er Gou! These are fine treasures, worth a fortune. With these, we won't have to fear wolf packs anymore!"

The Mauser C96, also known as the box cannon, had over a dozen pistols left in the crate!

"Find their magazines and ammunition!"

It was evident that this crate had already had the majority of its contents taken away, leaving only a dozen or so. Soon, magazines holding ten rounds each were located, along with two more crates of ammunition.

Zhang Huacheng inspected them; everything was in working order, though they would need to be brought back and given a thorough maintenance check.

"Keep searching!"

"Got it!"

Soon, Zhang Huacheng confirmed the inventory: aside from five crates of Type 38 rifles, two crates of Springfield rifles, and half a crate of Mauser broomhandle pistols, the rest consisted entirely of ammunition and two crates of bayonets. There were no grenades, nor were there any light or heavy machine guns.

Even so, Zhang Huacheng was thoroughly exhilarated.

"Pack them up!"

Zhang Huacheng hoisted the crate of broomhandle pistols, which was packed full of magazines, grabbed an additional crate of ammunition, and slung four brand-new Springfield rifles across his back.

Er Gou also strapped four rifles to his back and hoisted two crates of ammunition.

"Huacheng, if the Old Chen family sold all of these off, wouldn't they make a fortune?"

Once they hauled the supplies out, even Er Gou felt a surge of nervous tension.

"Over the years, they must have been selling them off a little bit at a time. No wonder the Old Chen family has been living so comfortably. Move these outside first, and let's get as much ammunition as we can carry."

Forget about Er Gou; even Zhang Huacheng felt his heart pounding with rising tension.

"Right!"

Er Gou spun around and dashed back down.