On the same day that Zheng Zhilong entered Fuzhou City, the Yuandou, which set off again from Dayuangang, also sailed out of the channel and went north along the coastline all the way, heading straight for Miaosu.

Miao Su is located a third of Taiwan, not far from Taipei.

In the 17th century, Miaosu was a real wild land: this land between the mountains, except for the primeval forest, was the primordial savage, and there was no trace of civilization.

The savages here are more "pure" than their distant relatives in Taipei and Tainan, because they have no contact with outsiders. The Min merchants would not have come here, the terrain was steep, the mountains were high and the forests were dense, there was no sulfur, and there were no half-civilized natives who opened the village gates to welcome them.

For thousands of years, the Miaosu area, surrounded by mountains, has been a forgotten corner, just like the coastal deltas in Taitung.

Historically, even the Dutch Red Hair of Bubu Island after driving out the Spaniards still ignored this wild mountainous land; It was not until the middle of the Qing Dynasty that a small number of Han Chinese entered the Miao Su area one after another.

Of course, the Dutch did not know that there were treasures in the land of Miaosu. And it is precisely because of the existence of this black, sticky treasure that attracts the terrifying time-travelers and their RPGs, and blasts the Dutch who were originally guarding the merchant hall into the sky.

Now, the Yuandou is finally going to enter Miaosu to find the origin of everything, so that the people who cross the country will start Taiwan at all costs: oil.

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The geographical location of Miao Su is very remote.

Starting from Tainan, along the shore of the inner island all the way to the north, between Taichung and Hsinchu, there is a big river: Houlong Creek.

After entering Houlong Creek, the direction of the ship sailed southward instead. In other words, the route of the Yuandou sailing is a "Bu" shape. The point of divination is the zigzag Houlong River, and Pan Mingzhong's destination Miaosu is at the end of the road.

In the 17th century, the rivers were far more watery than later generations. You must know that in later generations, due to the industrialization process of the cities along the way, even the Yellow River began to flow from time to time...... The Yellow Dragon, which has ravaged the land of China for thousands of years, has been governed by this comical way.

The water volume of Houlong Creek is very abundant, and the average width is more than 100 meters. So when Pan Mingzhong and the others entered the estuary and started the gas engine, they easily started their exploration journey on the river with the assistance of low-speed propellers.

Like all rivers in the 17th century, the course of Houlong Creek is full of sandbars and rocks. These positions will be recorded today by the instruments on the Yuandou for future cleanup.

The Yuandou initially entered Houlongxi from west to east, passing through some hills and small plains on both sides of the river. These places were not reclaimed by the Hakka people until the Qing Dynasty, and the four coastal towns of Zhunan, Houlong, Tongxiao and Yuanli were mainly inhabited by ethnic groups who spoke the Hokkien language of Taiwan.

After traveling almost 10 kilometers on the river, the Yuandou came to the first big bend in the river. The alluvial plain here is where the city of Miaosu was located in later generations, and it is also the largest plain along Houlong Creek, although this land is actually very small, with a total area of only 37 square kilometers.

Miaoli's old name was Maoli, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that it was able to change its name.

Nowadays, there is no trace of Hakka people on both sides of the riverbank, and dense camphor forests occupy every inch of land in the plains and hills. The Yuandou slowly went up in the dark green deep mountains, the mountains on both sides of the river were high and dense, the apes were crying and the deer were singing, and it was quite like entering the Little Three Gorges - this is where Miao Su was not popular with Fujian merchants: even a little seaside beach, there was no thatched grass, except for trees or trees.

After turning the big bend in the river of Miaosu City, the course of the Yuandou became due south...... It is equivalent to opening back, and beyond the mountain, there is the sea.

This section is still 10 kilometers.

By this time, some of the people on board were starting to get excited: after turning another big bend ahead, when the ship resumed sailing from west to east, it was less than six kilometers ahead of the original site of the first oil field discovered in Chinese history: the sulfur pit.

In the last year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty (1861), Qiu Gou, a resident of Miaoli County, first found an oil outcrop in the place, and he dug a well with a depth of more than 3 meters with manpower, with a daily output of 40kg of oil, which was used to light lamps.

During the Japanese occupation, the oil exploration team went to the area to conduct actual surveys, and the following year began drilling in the sulfur pit. Two years later, the No. 1 well was successfully drilled, and the cumulative production of oil was 170,000 tons and 55 million cubic meters of natural gas in 1876~1946.

In real history, even into the 21st century, oil and gas are still being produced here, making it the oldest surviving oil and gas field in the world.

It is also the most suitable oil and gas field for traversing.

The area out of the pit is geologically an anticline structure, with the highest central part and the two wings inclined outward, so that oil and gas are enclosed in the anticline structure.

The two wings of the anticline structure are composed of interbedded sandstone and shale with different soft and hard layers, coupled with the high terrain, so the initial oil fields in this area, whether they were dug by the aborigines with shovels or the wells hired by the Qing Dynasty Yamen, were about 100 meters deep.

Just like a baby, it doesn't need to eat meat in large quantities at first: neither stomach nor teeth. With the current industrial capacity of the people, it is impossible to handle the high-production oil wells that erupt violently at a depth of one or two kilometers -- such as the oil fields in the Gulf.

On the contrary, the oil field here in Miaosu is the most suitable: American technicians came here to drill wells in the third year of Guangxu, and the shallow well with a depth of only 120 meters produced 950 liters of oil per day. This shallow well, which does not require large-scale oil production machinery and does not have eruption pressure, is the most needed oil well mode in the kiln area base at this stage.

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After turning the second river bay, it went about 6 kilometers forward, and then the Yuandou found a small river bay near the place name of the sulfur pit in the later generations, and lowered the anchor chain.

Looking at the river bank where the vegetation grows in front of him, and the dense woods in the distance, the terrain is completely invisible, and the three traversers standing at the bow of the boat at this moment can't help but gasp.

You must know that in the photos that Pan Mingzhong and others have in hand, there is a special "oil town" on this riverbank in later generations.

The facilities of the China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) are quite complete here: oil storage tanks, office buildings, homes, oil production facilities, oil well derricks, power lines, electric poles, and the most important road to the mountain.

A middle-aged man who was thin and tall, with a brick knife face, looked like a black boss, and at this time faced the primeval forest in front of him, and said in frustration: "This terrain has completely changed, and the ghost knows where the oil pit is?" ”

Ning Wei, a former Yumen oilfield maintenance worker, is the only oilfield professional in Zhongli.

After hearing Ning Wei's complaints, Lei Jian, the deputy captain of the exploration team on the side, asked rhetorically, "Don't you have the coordinates in your hands?" ”

"What we are looking for is an ancient pit where oil seedlings emerged during the Qing Dynasty, and this thing has long been lost in history." Ning Wei said this and shook his head: "The existing coordinates in my hands are all the kilometer wells drilled by the oil company in the later generations, which is useless in the short term." ”

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up, and let's talk about it all first." Pan Mingzhong, the captain of the exploration team, didn't have time to think about where the oil pit was, and his responsibility now was to arrange for people to go ashore and build a camp first.

Soon, more than two dozen workers with pickaxes and shovels disembarked. These people are all drawn from the team that specializes in dredging rivers on the Chihkan side, and they are highly skilled and experienced.

Since it has entered the wet season and the river level has risen, the river bay where the Yuandou is stationed at the moment is not far from the river embankment. After the workers disembarked, some of them began to shovel stones on the narrow river beach to build a road, while others went directly to the embankment and began to carve out a step road with pickaxes.

After one hour, by 4 p.m., the easy passage was repaired. Then came the moment of courage: a large number of workers carried their tools up the embankment, including three main men with chainsaws, and soon the cacophony of sawing began to sound on the embankment.

Whether it's a shrub, a weed, or a stout tree, it's all quickly brought down in front of the chainsaw. And Pan Mingzhong and Lei Jian were already fully armed at this time, with a few official exploration team members who were also carrying AKs, standing behind the workers to press the formation.

At the same time, some timber of good size was thrown off the embankment. The fresh water-bearing timber will be stuffed into a gas stove to provide electricity to the shore in order to save the high-quality retort wood stored in the holds.

The engine room of the Yuandou was remodeled. While the chainsaw was working on the shore, the gas stove system and a small generator started to work at the same time, and then a bundle of wires was thrown onto the shore: without the wires, the cordless chainsaw quickly ran out of power, especially in the 17th century, when the ground was full of giant trees.

At 6 o'clock in the evening, Pan Mingzhong ordered the work to be called to a halt in time.

More than 2 hours of non-stop crazy labor has drained the physical strength of all workers, and if they continue to work, it will affect tomorrow's work. So after a command, the brigade withdrew to the Yuandou, leaving only two sentries on the embankment to guard there.

The results of the two hours were remarkable: a half-acre of clearing had been cleared from the embankment, and some dense vegetation had been brought down further afield. As long as the exploration team is given a day tomorrow, then a small wooden village will rise from the ground.

Of course, before the stockade was erected, it was better for everyone to go back to the boat for the night, so as not to be captured by the savages and made a barbecue. According to the records of the Qing Dynasty, Miaosu was the territory of the Daokas people of the Pingpu tribe. However, no one can guarantee that there are no alpine cannibals in the vicinity - Miao Su from the early 17th century, and there are no records of mountain natives.

In the evening of the same day, a few iron pots were erected on the riverbank. After the members of the exploration team hurried to eat some venison dried rice, they rested early. The three leaders of the exploration team, after dark, climbed into the machine gun nest, put on night vision devices, and began to take turns on duty.