Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1080 Li Long is a man of action

Li Long was a man of action. After confirming that the matter could be done, he sent Mingming and Haohao to the Fourth Team early the next morning, then went to his elder brother's house and called Director Du of the Agricultural Machinery Factory.

"You mean you've designed a farm machine that can spray pesticides, and you plan to produce it and sell it like a snowplow?"

“Yes,” Li Long said seriously. “I’ve been conducting some research in our county these past two days. To put it bluntly, this pesticide spraying machine is mainly for cotton.”

Currently, the main cotton-growing area is in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), where there is relatively little land available. Therefore, the sales of this agricultural machinery will primarily target the XPCC in the short term.

However, I believe that the market for this type of agricultural machinery will be very broad in the next ten or twenty years, because I predict that the planting area of ​​cotton will continue to increase, and it will eventually become a pillar industry of agriculture in northern Xinjiang.

"Now that you mention it, I do recall it. At the city meeting at the beginning of the year, the leaders of the Seventh Division also mentioned that we should vigorously develop the grain and cotton industry. The cotton planting area in our Seventh Division has expanded very rapidly."

Now that you mention it, I think it's feasible.

"There's nothing we can do. Northern Xinjiang is sparsely populated, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has been focusing on large-scale mechanized planting. Other things can be mechanized now, but the mechanization of spraying pesticides on cotton hasn't even started yet."

However, cotton is susceptible to pests and diseases, which are easily transmitted. Given the large planting area in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, manual spraying is too labor-intensive. Therefore, I believe there is great potential in this area.

Director Du immediately understood what Li Long meant, and he said with a smile:

"So you mean planning ahead, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes. After it's produced, I can promote it to my friends in the Production and Construction Corps, and you can give it a try too. Like I said, the market won't be very big at first, but the future prospects are very good."

Factory Director Du agreed with Li Long's words, saying:
"Okay, come over when you have some free time, and we'll discuss this matter properly. With this snowplow as a guarantee, our cooperation will definitely be fine."

After Li Long hung up the phone, the matter was essentially settled.

He didn't plan to go to Kuitun immediately, feeling that the sprayer could be adjusted and tested again.

He mainly copied the type of medicine pot without a cart, but he also drew the type with a cart to see the production situation on Director Du's side.

Li Long's older brother, Li Jianguo, was right next to him when he made the call. After Li Long finished, he asked:

"What, are you setting up a pesticide sprayer?"

"Yeah, I went to Liuhudi a couple of days ago. They grow cotton there. Further north, the company you used to be in also grows cotton, and it covers quite a lot of land. When I went there, I saw people spraying pesticides. It's really troublesome to do it manually."

Yesterday, having nothing to do, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative and saw that the cotton planting area in our county has been expanding continuously. It used to be less than 100 mu, but now it's two or three thousand mu. I think it will definitely grow even more in the future.

“Yeah, I think so too. Everyone needs to wear clothes because of cotton spinning and weaving.” Li Jianguo and Li Long had similar thoughts. “If we didn’t have too many hands in our family, I would have been thinking of planting cotton next year.”

“If Dad brings workers from our hometown, then let’s plant them. One mu (unit of land area) can produce 100 kilograms of cotton, which can be sold for 200 yuan. A farmhand only earns a few hundred yuan a year, and six or seven mu of land will be enough.”

"That's true." Li Jianguo nodded.

"Another advantage of cotton is its resistance to salinity and alkalinity. Cotton can grow in even the largest saline-alkali land. Moreover, our team has a small lake with water. When we irrigate, we flood the area with water, which washes away the salinity and alkalinity."

Li Long's words made Li Jianguo's eyes light up, and he asked, "Can it really resist salinity?"

“Yes, it is. Cotton is more resistant to salinity than any other crop.” Li Long was very confident about this. “I went to Liuhudi to see how they grow cotton, and I also saw the place where Company Commander Wang and his team live in the north. They cleared out saline-alkali land and still managed to grow cotton.”

Li Jianguo has a typical farmer's mindset: if he can cultivate the land, the more land his family owns, the better.

Now, all the slightly better wasteland in the team has been reclaimed, and what's left is saline-alkali land.

Although Li Long consulted Professor Luo for soil testing and fertilization, and based on that improvement method, some saline-alkali plots were fertilized in a targeted manner, which could suppress salinity and alkalinity. After being reclaimed, other crops could be planted and yield good harvests.

However, the investment is still quite large, after all, comprehensive fertilization requires fertilizers, which are not cheap these days.

If cotton can withstand salinity and alkalinity, then large-scale land reclamation and cultivation will truly be possible.

"Let's wait until someone comes to do the work," Li Long said with a smile, immediately understanding what his older brother was thinking. "No rush. Right now, the team has a lot of saline-alkali land, and nobody's even thinking about this. When we finally have the manpower, we can choose whichever plot to cultivate."

That's true. They own tractors, and nobody cares about the saline-alkali land, so they can just pick whichever patch they want to drive on.

Li Qingxia has been busy these past few days, calling her hometown every now and then.

Li Long asked his father where to call, and he said to call the principal of the brigade. Anyway, he was a junior, and they had a good relationship, so it was easy to call and ask about the situation.

It's actually a bit late to start looking for people now. But the Li family is thinking long-term; if they're going to search, they might have to do it for the next few years, so there's no rush, they'll take it slow.

Li Long wasn't in a hurry; he was confident he could find a suitable place. His hometown had little land per capita, and in the past two years, farmers had become more enthusiastic about farming. Thanks to fertilizers, yields per mu had increased, and most families could now feed themselves. However, becoming wealthy and having money to spend was still a challenge.

When people go out to work, they need to find suitable places. Many go south, but many get scammed. If they can go to northern Xinjiang and have acquaintances there, people from their hometowns will naturally be willing.

The next day was Sunday. Li Long didn't go to the fourth team; instead, he was tidying up the things in the side rooms of the county's courtyard. Some of the hides needed to be aired out to prevent insect infestation. He also needed to take out the things from the cellar to check them.

The calligraphy and paintings looked a bit damp from being stored in the cellar, which he knew was not good news. He had to find a way to deal with them, otherwise they wouldn't be preserved until they could be put to good use.

During lunch, Li Long asked Gu Boyuan a question, and Gu Boyuan replied:

“Then frame it. Once the calligraphy and paintings are framed, they will last longer. However, there are no framing services in Ma County, so you’ll probably have to go to Wucheng.”

Li Long considered the value of these calligraphy and paintings, and decided to go to Wucheng.

"Recently, people at my workplace have been saying that the prices of beef and mutton have gone up, and the increase seems a bit abnormal," Gu Xiaoxia said, gossiping at the dinner table.

Sister Yang smiled and said:
"It's probably because we make dried meat, which requires a lot of meat every day, so that's affected it. As Keyum said, we need dozens of cattle and sheep every day. Although it doesn't seem like much, we need them every day, so the price of beef and mutton in the market has gone up a bit."

The sale of a few dozen cattle and sheep would not even cause a ripple in the livestock market of later generations.

After all, in the major beef and mutton markets and livestock bazaars in northern and southern Xinjiang, thousands or even tens of thousands of cattle and sheep are traded year-round.

But things are different now. At this time, the population of Xinjiang is more than ten million, which is one-third less than it will be in twenty or thirty years.

More importantly, the per capita consumption of beef and mutton in the 1980s was far lower than in later years. In 1987, the total output of beef and mutton in Xinjiang was around 100,000 tons, while 30 or 40 years later it was more than 1 million tons, a difference of more than ten times.

Moreover, the efficiency of market circulation at that time was not as fast as it would be in later years. The market at that time was like a thick paste; if you stirred one part, only a small part around it would be affected.

The market in later generations is like a pool of clear water; if you touch any part of it, it may affect most of the surface of the entire pool.

Therefore, in the 1980s, any slight change in the price of beef and mutton could affect the prices in the surrounding areas, but it wouldn't have a far-reaching impact.

The channels through which logistics, transportation, and information are disseminated all have an impact.

Li Long didn't care much; it was only a few cents more, so it wouldn't have much of an impact.

"I heard from those middlemen that someone in Shicheng recently found a jade stone weighing several tons upstream of the Ma River. This time it was discovered by a school teacher who took his students on a spring outing and they were playing in the river."

The teacher didn't say anything at the time, but after returning home, he found someone and a car to dig up the jade and bring it back. Apparently, a jade merchant has already approached him to discuss a price.

Gu Boyuan said this with a hint of envy in his voice.

It weighs several tons, so it must be worth at least tens of thousands, right?
Although I am considered a wealthy person in the county, I am far inferior to those who become rich overnight.

"It seems there are many large jade stones upstream of the Ma River," Sister Yang said with envy. She now runs a dried meat processing workshop and can steadily earn over a thousand yuan a month, which is quite a lot.

But when is the human heart ever truly content?

"These past two days, I've heard that quite a few idle people have started heading upstream along the Ma River and into the southern mountains, hoping to strike it rich by finding a piece of jade. Some people know that our purchasing station used to buy jade, and they've even brought some stones over to ask about them." Gu Boyuan was telling this as gossip:
"When I took a look, hey, most of them weren't jade at all, they were just quartz. I chased them away with my words."

What Li Long cared about was what his father-in-law had mentioned about many people starting to go into the mountains to look for jade.

Road construction is a good thing, but it also has its downsides. The large jade stone I found earlier was right by the roadside. Now that the road has been built deep into the mountains, people looking for jade in the mountains are likely to follow that road into the mountains, since it's easier to travel with a road.

Maybe they'll just look around and dig along the riverbank?

He realized he really couldn't just leave that jade in the mountains. Who knew if it would disappear one day and become gossip? That would be a huge loss.

The next day, everyone went to work. Li Long took Mingming and Haohao to the fourth team, then went to Shicheng to get some miscellaneous food, and then went into the mountains.

Sure enough, along the way, they saw a few people walking or cycling into the mountains. When they reached Qingshuihe Village, they could see tracks from tracked tractors and small four-wheeled tractors, indicating that Meng Hai and his group had already entered the mountains.

Li Long drove into the mountains, and some of the hikers he encountered waved to him, as if they wanted him to give them a ride.

Li Long could tell that the other person was carrying a shovel and an old military water bottle, and was obviously looking for jade in the mountains, so he didn't bother with him and drove straight past.

When they arrived at Meng Hai's place, they found that Meng Hai and his team had built another kilometer or so of road in the past two days.

This section of road is relatively easy to repair because there are few trees, and bulldozers can just go straight up.

Meng Hai and his team didn't lower their standards for road repair. When Li Long's jeep drove over, he found that there were no large rocks on the road, and it was relatively flat, smooth, and compacted. Even if there was heavy rain, it wouldn't wash the road away all at once.

Li Long parked the jeep about 20 or 30 meters away from Meng Hai and the others. After getting out of the car, he saw Meng Hai directing a bulldozer to push the high parts of the roadbed in front of them into the ground.

The bulldozer was being operated by a different person; clearly, Meng Hai had now adapted to the position of organizer and commander and was no longer holding multiple positions.

After giving his instructions, he walked over to Li Long.

"How many more days do you plan to work?" Li Long asked.

"Let's work for another four or five days, and then we'll have to prepare the threshing floor," Meng Hai said. "The wheat still won't be ready for harvesting for a while, but the threshing floor needs to be prepared."

Li Long had a plan in mind. He asked Meng Hai to have two people take away the scraps he had brought to prepare for cooking, and then asked about the recent road repairs.

“In the last couple of days, there have indeed been people loitering around the area. When we went into the mountains, we also encountered people who came in wanting a ride,” Meng Hai said. “I asked them, and they said they were going into the mountains to collect jade. It seems there are quite a few people who want to get rich now, but most of them go into the mountains and follow the path for a while before turning off into other ravines.”

Li Long nodded, confirming that his guess was correct.

"On the last day after the road repairs are finished, leave a few people to help me. I also need to use your tractor," Li Long said. "I need to haul something heavy back from the mountains."

"Heavy stuff?" Meng Hai was taken aback for a moment, then laughed. "Comrade Li Long, did you find a giant jade stone? I've heard that a teacher found a large jade stone upstream of the Ma River, which is worth a lot of money."

"Yes, we found one," Li Long said. "I was originally thinking of leaving it in the mountains and hauling it away when I had time. But now that more people are going into the mountains, let's take it back."

“Okay, if it’s too heavy, the small four-wheeler might not be able to pull it.” Meng Hai thought for a moment and said, “We’ll see how it goes. I’ll have someone put an iron frame in the truck bed of the small four-wheeler in the next couple of days, and then lay wood on top.”

The cargo bed of the small four-wheeled vehicle has a thin iron plate underneath. It is not easy to support the weight of several tons of jade. Something is needed to distribute the weight.

Seeing how thoughtful Meng Hai was, Li Long felt relieved.

"We still need to keep this a secret. Tell these people not to spread it around. Find someone you can trust," Li Long added. "I'm already considered a rather flamboyant person, so it's best not to attract too much attention to this."

“Okay.” Meng Hai naturally understood this principle. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll find people who can keep their mouths shut.”

Having agreed on a time, Li Long picked up his gun and carried his bag into the mountains.

Looking at Li Long's retreating figure, Meng Hai couldn't help but feel envious.

However, he was also well aware that he could never reach Li Long's level, and he was already doing quite well. To give a simple example, if Li Long said he would give him the tractor, then he really would.

The items, worth tens of thousands of yuan, were placed here during road construction, and then left at home when not in use. Li Long didn't care at all how he used them.

Meng Hai was grateful for Li Long's trust, so he did his best to serve Li Long.

As the ancients said, "If someone treats me as a national hero, I will repay them as a national hero."

That makes sense, doesn't it?

Meng Hai continued to organize people to work, while Li Long went straight ahead to check on the condition of the pastoral trail.

The road is now about halfway finished, and we're going deep into the mountains ahead, making the pastoral trails increasingly difficult to navigate. In addition, the altitude is rising, and in the areas where the sun doesn't reach, it can feel quite chilly.

Generally speaking, the pastoral trail mostly follows the water flow, with occasional forks, but not many. Li Long walked along the narrow trail for a while and could still see horned sheep bones left on the riverbank.

I don't know if it was lost by a herdsman or if it was a wild goat itself. The bones have gnaw marks, and some are missing.

Not only were there bones like these in the ravine, but there were also huge horns of Siberian ibex. However, of the two horns, only one remained. Otherwise, Li Long would have been thinking of taking it back.

After walking for about two kilometers, we encountered trouble.

The herdsman crossed the river directly in a relatively flat area.

The river is quite deep right now because the snowmelt floodwaters have come down, and the volume of water is quite large. Li Long used a tree branch to probe the water, and then threw a stone the size of a football into the middle of the river.

It's about ten meters wide here, and nearly a meter deep in the deepest part. Repairing it would be quite a hassle.

Actually, when Halim and his group were moving their farms, the water might not have been this deep. The tractors should have had no problem crossing it back then.

But things are different now. We have to overcome this obstacle, otherwise road construction will have to stop here. Tractors and small four-wheelers can't get through, and the rest of the road can't be repaired by manpower alone.

Li Long didn't have a good solution for the time being. With water this deep, building a road across the water wasn't feasible, so the only option was to build a bridge.

Li Long walked along the riverbank, looking for a shallower and wider spot. If it were wider, he could shovel more stones into the middle to create a path for the water to cross, but that would certainly be temporary.

He thought about it and decided to hand the matter over to Meng Hai when he got back.

The path uphill was becoming difficult, so Li Long turned back. However, he didn't take the old route; instead, he cut across to the right, hoping to encounter some wild animals.

It's been a long time since I've hunted, and my hands are itching. If I could come across one, it would be great to have a go and satisfy my craving.

The forest here is already quite dense. After walking about 500 or 600 meters to the northwest and crossing a gully, you can see a stream over there. The water volume is not large, and the flowers and plants on both sides are quite lush, which is completely different from the pastoral trail.

The slopes here are quite steep, and you can see a few meadows, each a few acres in size, peeking through the gaps in the forest. The grass on these meadows is very lush, but they are too small to be used as grazing grounds.

Looking down at the stream below, where there seemed to be a lot of animal tracks, Li Long went down to investigate. Then he saw a person carrying a shovel coming out of the woods and rummaging through the stones by the stream.

Picking up jade!
(End of this chapter)