In June 1982, when Tao Jinlan, a girl from Qinghai Guide, was digging a water pipe on the farm, she found a large number of silver dollars and silver ingots, and she quickly continued to dig down, but she did not expect to let her discover a big secret

In June 1982, when Tao Jinlan, a girl from Qinghai Guide, was digging a water pipe on the farm, she found a large number of silver dollars and silver ingots, and she quickly continued to dig down, not expecting her to discover a big secret.

Tao Jinlan quickly called his brother, who was working on the side, to come and help. Soon, the silver dollars dug out by the two men piled up a hill, and looking at the silver dollars, the brothers and sisters were both excited and nervous. At this time, only the brothers and sisters working on this farm were individuals, and if they took this money for themselves, no one would know. But Tao Jinlan was taught by his parents and teachers from a young age to be a person who collects gold, so Tao Jinlan decided to contact the relevant departments and hand over the money to the state.

The relevant departments attached great importance to this after learning the news, and soon after, they sent professionals to protect the cultural relics here, and after three days of protective excavation, they found that it was a silver vault. After counting, a total of 67981 silver dollars and 1569 silver ingots were excavated, weighing a weight of two tons. At that time, the valuation of these cultural relics according to the market price of silver was as high as nearly 400,000 yuan, which was even more astronomical if calculated according to the standard of cultural relics.

Afterwards, Tao Jinlan's deeds were widely reported by many media, and she and her brother were also rated as advanced individual pacesetters of spiritual civilization in Qinghai Province, and Tao Jinlan recorded a first-class merit. In 1987, Tao Jinlan also attended the Chinese People's Liberation Army Model Labor Conference and was received by state leaders.

In recognition of Tao Jinlan and his brother's act of collecting gold, the county awarded the two people a pennant and gave them a cash reward of 500 yuan, as well as a material reward for a sewing machine and a bicycle.

The discovery of these silver dollars also reveals a little-known history, which turned out to be cultural relics of the Republic of China period, left by Ma Yuanhai in the northwest warlord Ma Jiajun. Ma Yuanhai, the cousin of the northwestern warlord Ma Bufang, served as the commander-in-chief of Xining Town during the Republic of China and was stationed in Guide, during which time he used his power to plunder the people's fat and people's cream.

During the Liberation War, Ma Yuanhai surrendered, but he hid all his money and wealth, thinking that he would have the opportunity to get it again in the future, and it is said that this was only part of the wealth he left behind at that time. But the world is unpredictable, Ma Yuanhai suffered a stroke a year and a half later paralyzed, in January 1951 in Xining died of illness, Ma Yuanhai was very cautious, even his wife and children did not tell the location of the money, after his death this wealth became an eternal secret.