Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1003 The snowplows have arrived, and the roads in the mountains will soon be cleared.

Li Long looked in the direction of the footprints and said:
"It's very likely that they left in the last couple of days, and they went to the place where that quack chicken stayed."

"Should we still go?" Tao Daqiang asked, somewhat disappointed.

"Should we not go?" Jia Weidong wasn't feeling well; he was already out of breath after walking in such thick snow for so long.

“Go, why not go? We’re already here…” Liang Dacheng, who was the first to discover the footprints, felt that they should go.

Xie Yundong asked Li Long:

"Little Dragon, how much further?"

"It's about three or four hundred meters," Li Long said. "We can get there in a short walk."

"Then what do you say?" Xie Yundong didn't express his own opinion, but instead asked Li Long.

“Let’s go, it’s not far. Since we’ve come all this way, it won’t feel right if we don’t go over.” Li Long also felt it was necessary to take a look. “Wei Dong, walk slowly and follow behind us. Just don’t wade through the snow in front of us.”

"Okay." Seeing that everyone else was leaving, Jia Weidong said, "Let's go then."

Four people walked in front, clearing away the snow, making it easier for him to walk behind.

The combined thickness of the three snowfalls exceeded one meter, but in reality, snow could not accumulate to such a depth because snow is fluffy. After it falls, snowflakes gradually turn into snow particles, becoming smaller in volume and heavier in weight.

Therefore, the thickness of this snow layer does not exceed fifty centimeters.

However, because the upper layer melted a little during the day from the sun and then froze again at night, forming a hard snow crust, and the lower layer turned into loose snow particles, it was quite difficult to walk on.

As they approached the area where the quack chickens were located, Li Long, who was in the lead, slowed down and whispered a reminder:

"We're almost there. Whether we have it or not, let's keep a low profile."

Everyone fell silent.

This area is a mix of white thorn, ash grass, red willow, and reed. Because of these shrubs and tall grasses, the snow can't be contained when it falls, and the clumps of grass spread out, providing shelter from the wind and snow.

So not only do quack chickens like to stay here, but rabbits and other small animals also come here.

This area is much larger than the patch of reeds weeds we just saw. Knowing he couldn't surround it, Li Long whispered:
"Once we get there, let's spread out, line up in a row, and slowly move forward. If we can see something, grab it; if we can't, keep going. If we really can't see it, flash a flashlight to check."

He himself has excellent eyesight and doesn't need a flashlight, but others are different.

Although life has improved in the past two years, and the others often eat animal organs, they are not deficient in vitamins and their eyesight is better than before, but they still need to recover slowly.

Upon hearing Li Long's words, the others immediately dispersed, taking positions on either side of Li Long, and then raised their nets, ready to close them at any moment.

Li Long walked slowly forward, his eyes fixed ahead. He entered the bush area, where there was nothing at first.

Even looking into the distance, he couldn't see clearly. No matter how good his eyesight was, he couldn't see more than 30 or 50 meters away in the dead of night.

But I always felt that it should exist.

Sure enough, after walking about seven or eight meters forward, we saw two dark-skinned guys leaning against a clump of gray grass, fast asleep.

The grass that grows is quite similar to tumbleweed. Given enough time, it will naturally grow into a rolling circle and hardly needs any trimming. From a distance, it looks like a clump of greenish-blue grass.

People in the village who burn firewood and make ash love this stuff the most, because all they have to do is cut the roots and they get a big clump of firewood (the raw material for ash grass).

Moreover, this thing burns very easily when it dries. Local people like Yang Laoliu and Ma Jinbao, who herd sheep in the fields during winter, like to trample this thing down to eliminate the gaps, then stuff it with some kindling or paper, and it will light very quickly and produce a very strong fire.

Because this stuff can be burned to produce ash, the local people of northern Xinjiang liked to burn it. In addition, due to land reclamation, it became less and less common year by year. By the 2020s, this plant could no longer be seen around the Fourth Team.

Li Long snapped out of his thoughts and gently lowered the net down.

Just as the two quails woke up and were about to struggle, Li Long had already stepped forward, reached out and held them down, then lowered the net with his other hand, reached under the net and grabbed both quails together, stuffed them into the bag, tied the bag shut, and then looked at the others.

The five people were spaced two or three meters apart. Tao Daqiang and Liang Dacheng on the other two sides had already seen Li Long succeed. They glanced over and then continued walking forward at a fast pace.

They may have found their target.

Li Long picked up the net and continued, but after taking only two steps, he heard a noise nearby. Liang Dacheng had succeeded first.

Then Jia Weidong, who was on the far side, also succeeded. He was carrying one while the other flew away.

The one that flew away was still chirping, which startled several other chickens nearby.

However, this area is quite large, and the quacks are scattered over a wide area. One of the quacks in front of Li Long heard the noise, made a quack, and did not leave its "nest". Then it became Li Long's spoils.

By the time the five people walked out of the area, Li Long already had six quack chickens in his bag.

"How are you all?" Li Long asked with a smile.

“I have four,” Tao Daqiang answered first.

“Five.” Liang Dacheng followed.

“Four.” Xie Yundong’s voice was calm and even.

“Five.” Jia Weidong’s voice was filled with joy; he clearly hadn’t expected to catch so many.

"Let's go back, that's enough." Li Long smiled. "We can at least cook a meal now."

"Brother Long, how much do you want?" Tao Daqiang asked.

"Six," Li Long said. "Three on each side, enough for one plate."

"That must be a huge plate! I noticed that the 'Guagua Chicken' here is much bigger than the ones over there," Xie Yundong said with a smile.

Having made some gains, Jia Weidong didn't seem so tired anymore, and they chatted as they walked back.

By the time I got home, it was already past 1 a.m. and everyone in my family was asleep.

Since the chickens he caught were all alive, Li Long didn't unpack them. He placed them by the fire wall, intending to deal with them the next day.

Before dawn, Li Qiang ran over and knocked on the window to ask Li Long if he was awake.

Li Long was actually awake, but he was too lazy to get up. The days were short and the nights long; it was already almost nine in the morning. Li Juan and Li Qiang had to get up early for breakfast and then go to school.

"You're awake, you're awake. I'll open the door for you in a bit." Li Long responded, casually put on his clothes, and then went to open the door.

After entering the room, Li Qiang asked excitedly:
"Uncle, did you catch the quail?"

“We caught him. See him by the firewall?” Li Long pointed and said, “Take him to the backyard. I’ll go and deal with him later.”

"How many are there? That looks like quite a few."

"Six," Li Long said, then went to the restroom.

When Li Long returned, Li Qiang had already gone to the backyard with a bag. Li Long straightened the quilt, used the stove hook to remove the ashes from the stove, checked that there was still fire in the stove, added some coal, and then covered it with coal dust before washing up. When he finished washing up and went to the backyard, Li Juan and Li Qiang, along with Li Jianguo, had already helped pluck the feathers from the four chickens.

"I'll cook three for lunch, and you can take three back with you," Liang Yuemei said while stir-frying the vegetables. "We had quite a haul tonight. Oh, and your older brother and the others chased some rabbits when it snowed; you should take a few back with you too."

After having breakfast and resting for a while, Li Long drove his jeep back. The jeep now carried a quail and a rabbit, as well as a stack of rabbit skins from his older brother's house.

It's estimated that the people in the fourth squad won't want to eat rabbit meat for a while.

Back in the courtyard, Li Long handed the chicken and rabbit to Sister Yang, while he took Mingming and Haohao to continue working in the greenhouse.

When Li Long is not around, his family will add coal to the greenhouse, but other tasks are usually done when Li Long comes over.

One-third of the bok choy was given to Jia Weidong, and the rest were still growing. Li Long wondered if he should sow some more seeds, but then decided to wait. The other seedlings were growing now, so he should take care of them first.

Chives are the easiest vegetable to care for in the plot. As long as there's sunlight and heat, they grow on their own. They only need fertilizing every three to six months. Li Long thought the chives looked good and wondered whether to have chive and pork dumplings or braised chicken for lunch.

Thinking about it, it's better to eat Guagua Chicken, since it's fresh. It feels different when it's frozen. Besides, the chives are still growing, and I can harvest them in a couple of days.

Mingming and Haohao had already started eating the chive leaves. At this time, they were eating whatever they could find, and they would try anything edible.

Li Long planned to dig a ditch next to the chives and plant some scallions. Actually, at this time, most households would keep a bunch of scallions in their spare rooms, but for making cold dishes, scallions were much more flavorful than scallions.

The quail at noon tasted delicious, and Gu Boyuan kept praising it, saying that he hadn't eaten such delicious wild game in a long time.

These quail were quite plump, and Liang Yuemei picked out the biggest and fattest ones for Li Long to take away. Compared to the dryness of wild pheasants, these quail tasted really good.

After that was the one-month celebration for Sun Jiaqiang's child, Sun Minghui. Li Long's family, including Sister Yang and Han Fang, all went.

Tielanhua's cooking skills were average—mainly because during those years she had to earn money for the family and do housework, so she basically assisted her mother with cooking and didn't learn much, nor did she intend to learn much.

After marrying Sun Jiaqiang, she could cook everyday meals, but her main focus remained on making money, so she didn't practice much.

But it's just home-cooked food, which everyone can eat well. Plus, there are some special Hui dishes, so the meal was quite good.

Sun Minghui was chubby and mostly slept at this time. She would only cry occasionally when she needed to pee or poop. This was the first time Li Long had seen the little girl, and she looked very cute.

No wonder Gu Xiaoxia kept thinking about Mingming and Haohao's marriage after watching it.

Of course, it's too early to say that, and it's unlikely.

Tielanhua was more cheerful than Sun Jiaqiang. After her postpartum period, she looked a bit plumper and had recovered well. The entire full-moon celebration revolved around Tielanhua, with everyone discussing topics of interest and future plans.

"Boss Li, my husband Lao Sun took care of me for a month. Now that I'm out of confinement, I can take care of myself. When do you think he can go back to work?" Tie Lanhua asked in the middle of the conversation.

“You can come tomorrow as long as you feel better. What I mean is, if needed, let Lao Sun take care of you for a few more days. Giving birth is a big deal for a woman, and she's very weak afterward, so it's good for her to rest for a few more days,” Li Long said.

"No need, no need, I'm perfectly healthy. I've been eating and sleeping well for the past month or so, and I've recovered very well." Tie Lan Hua smiled after getting Li Long's approval, looking like she couldn't wait for Sun Jia Qiang to go back to work today.

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything.

If a woman acts tough now, she'll suffer when she gets old.

However, it's their choice, and he can't and doesn't want to interfere.

The matter was settled like that.

On the way back after dinner, Gu Boyuan asked Li Long what arrangements were made for the two of them.

“It’s simple. One person follows you to collect things, and the other handles the leather and other items in the warehouse. The two of you take turns delivering things each day,” Li Long said. “Anyway, you get the same salary, so you can do the same work.”

Sun Jiaqiang is a long-time employee, and Liang Shuangcheng is a villager; both need to be taken care of, so let's do the same thing.

The main reason is that Liang Shuangcheng has demonstrated strong abilities over the past month. He is quick-witted, learns fast, is diligent and down-to-earth, and hasn't become arrogant.

Sun Jiaqiang was very diligent at work, and Li Long gave him sufficient wages and bonuses. Otherwise, Tie Lanhua wouldn't have felt threatened as soon as Liang Shuangcheng arrived and would have made Sun Jiaqiang go back to work as soon as he finished his confinement period.

The main reason is that this job offers such good financial prospects that I can't bear to give it up.

With the job situation settled, Li Long settled down at home.

Of course, I was also anxious, so I would call Director Du from time to time to ask about the production status of the snow removal machine.

Meanwhile, Director Du and Li Long discussed some issues related to design materials over the phone.

During this period, the purchasing station received a large number of hides every day. They could guarantee at least 70 to 80 sheep hides and a dozen or so red deer hides every day. Rabbit hides were harder to count, but they received at least 200 to 300 hides every day.

Therefore, Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng still have a lot of work to do.

In early December, Zhao Hui returned to the purchasing station. This time, he took away more than a thousand pelts of gazelle, red deer, and roe deer from Li Long, as well as more than forty wolf pelts. These pelts alone left Li Long with more than 90,000 yuan.

Li Long also sold a large quantity of rabbit and sheep skins to the county leather factory. The two sales combined brought in more than 100,000 yuan, with a net profit of over 30,000 to nearly 40,000 yuan.

Gu Boyuan received 3,000 yuan, while Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng each received an extra 100 yuan—mainly because Sun Jiaqiang had only worked there for less than half a month, and Liang Shuangcheng had only been there for a short time.

Even so, the two of them were very happy.

On December 6th, Director Du called Li Long to report some good news.

"Both types of snow removal machines have been finalized and production has begun. We tested them a few days ago, and the results were excellent. City leaders also attached great importance to them, organizing visits for various units, and we received an order for 150 units that same day."

"Can you keep up with the production?" Li Long asked with some doubt. More orders are certainly good, but it would be troublesome if you couldn't produce them all.

"We shut down the harvester and tiller workshops and transferred all the skilled workers to produce snowplows." Director Du treated Li Long as one of his own, and these processes didn't need to be kept secret; everyone was in the same boat. "We also recruited fifty temporary workers to organize the assembly."

Our current production capacity is fifty units per day. In the next few days, I plan to visit Shicheng, Wucheng, Beiting, and other places to negotiate and try to secure orders from government agencies in these areas before New Year's Day.

Li Long sensed Director Du's decisiveness and understood his intentions.

Snow removal machines are seasonal products, only usable in winter. Moreover, they are too easy to imitate. To gain a foothold, you have to seize the market before others think of it and expand the product range immediately.

Factory Director Du clearly understood this principle, which is why he shut down the harvester and tiller workshops and focused all his efforts on producing snowplows, obviously intending to capture the market in the nearby cities this winter.

Transportation information systems aren't as developed now. If something like this, which is so popular in the market, were created in China, it would definitely be copied in a very short time.

However, the northern Xinjiang region is sparsely populated, and in the dead of winter, there are even fewer people and less transportation, let alone those separated by a city.

So Director Du's strategy of conquering one city at a time is a rather clumsy method, but it is very effective.

By laying it out point by point, unless someone specifically studies it, the possibility of counterfeiting is very small.

After all, agricultural machinery factories are still mainly state-owned. Even if a state-owned factory wants to imitate or set up a separate production line, it needs to go through layers of approval. This is different from Director Du, who became an important figure in the eyes of city leaders because of harvesters and tillers.

Therefore, Li Long gave Director Du a big thumbs up.

"The push-type snowplow is more expensive because it uses a gasoline engine, costing 300 yuan per unit, with a profit of about 100 yuan. The snowplow mounted on a small four-wheeled tractor is cheaper, costing 200 yuan per unit, with a profit of about 70 or 80 yuan. We set the profit margin relatively high," said Director Du. "This is mainly because we need to pay the wages of a large number of temporary workers."

Li Long was quite satisfied with the price.

"Now that it's in production, I'll go pick up a few units in the next couple of days, is that alright?"

"Sure, how many do you want?"

“Three are hand-pushed, and two are mounted on tractors,” Li Long said. “My own purchasing station will use them, and of course, our supply and marketing cooperative will use them too. At the same time, it’s also a way to advertise for the factory. When others see these, they can buy from you.”

"No problem," Director Du said with a smile. "Then I'll wait for your good news."

Li Long immediately contacted the county transportation company, then took a vehicle to Kuitun and brought back five snowplows.

Of the three hand-push machines, one was for personal use, one was given to the supply and marketing cooperative, and one was given to Gu Xiaoxia to lend to the education bureau.

Of course, we should wait until it snows to use it.

As for himself, after the goods were transported back, he couldn't wait to attach them to his small four-wheeled tractor the next day and drive them into the mountains.

Halim and the others should have returned from their migration. If I want to go into the mountains, it won't be easy for a jeep to get through in such deep snow. I might as well use a tractor to clear a road first.

The road from the county to Qingshuihezi has been cleared, but the road from Qingshuihezi into the mountains only has horse tracks.

The snow was very deep, which explains why Halimu and the others didn't come down the mountain to drive the tractor.

With snow this deep, even driving a tractor is difficult.

Li Long simply called Meng Hai over, and together they drove the Dongfanghong 75 tractor to create a road!
(End of this chapter)