Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1100 Liu Shanmin's Thoughts

Liu Shanmin was not surprised when he received the call from his nephew.

Although he had only met Li Long three times, he felt that the young man was very smart and had a good grasp of the key points of things.

My nephew is a very proper person. His advantage is that he is unlikely to get into trouble in the current complex environment (cross-border). However, his disadvantage is also obvious: he is not good at adapting.

There are some channels that require navigating complex relationships, and he can't get to that point.

As for his other, more intelligent nephew, he dared not call him over because that nephew was prone to misbehaving. In such a complex environment, he might not be able to control the situation and could become the target of suppression.

So having Liu Gaolou do this job, although the earnings are limited, is a safe bet.

Liu Shanmin has already established a certain level of influence over there, and is able to continuously transport important parts, equipment, and other items needed in China back to the country through normal channels. However, what he needs over there is not just money.

Although that old empire is still a few years away from collapsing, it is already showing some signs of chaos.

In its European part, food shortages are becoming increasingly common, and while Kazakhstan is an agricultural country, it still lacks light industrial products. Or rather, the light industrial system of this once-great empire is not very well-developed, so from the current perspective, it lacks everything.

Although there is a shortage of US dollars there, they can be obtained from the black market. Daily necessities such as sugar can also be obtained, but the prices are extremely high, and inflation continues.

Therefore, Liu Shanmin needs those three cartloads of sugar as a starting point, and he may need more things later.

But the fact that he was able to get three truckloads of sugar shows that he has connections, which means that he and Li Long have a basis for cooperation, and he hopes to continue to cooperate with Li Long.

This is also a win-win situation.

Expanding from this point, Liu Shanmin began to think about what was lacking here and what was available in China.

After changing his approach, he realized that he had no foundation, so he had been working hard there for several years, using money to buy things.

But if we look at it from the current perspective, we can transport ordinary daily necessities from China to that region and then exchange them for the supplies that China needs—in fact, those things are, at least on the surface, not allowed to be transported to China.

However, at this time, border control and material control were no longer as strict as they appeared on the surface.

The lack of daily necessities led some people to take advantage of loopholes, while those in charge of the control, having received some benefits, turned a blind eye to certain issues.

There's no other way; everyone has to make a living.

Things are still relatively peaceful now; things will get truly chaotic once that great empire collapses.

Liu Shanmin himself did not realize that after the emergence of Li Long as a variable, he was about to embark on a path completely different from the normal historical trajectory.

With the supplies he now has, his life there will become smoother and smoother, and he will be able to access more and more things, even things he never thought much about before.

And it all started with three cartloads of white sugar.

Or rather, it started in a small wooden cabin in the mountains.

Right now, he's just calculating how much he can get in exchange for the three truckloads of sugar after they're delivered to Kazakhstan, and whether he'll make a profit or a loss after converting them into US dollars on the black market.
Because the amount of US dollars to be paid was not much, Liu Shanmin felt that he could afford to lose money even if he did.

But after discussing and negotiating with his partners here, he discovered that the three truckloads of sugar could be exchanged for far more US dollars than he had imagined!
That's it!

He was already looking forward to exchanging more things with Li Long in the future.

Of course, this is all predicated on the safe delivery of the three truckloads of sugar there. He has the means to do so, so there's no need to worry.

Li Long took Liu Gaolou to the sugar factory, loaded three trucks with twelve tons of white sugar, and then watched them leave.

He now hopes for a win-win situation.

The sugar factory needs foreign exchange, Li Long needs antelope horns, and Liu Shanmin needs white sugar.

A win-win situation for all three parties. If this cooperation is successful, there will be more than one in the future. So after Liu Gaolou left, Li Long did not leave, but went to sit with Section Chief Hu for a while.

Section Chief Hu also has high hopes for this cooperation. Now, when he sits down to talk business with Li Long, it's not like before.

Previously, when Section Chief Hu sat next to Li Long, he had a certain sense of superiority. After all, as a section chief of a large factory, his rank and seniority were considerable, and he looked down on Li Long with a rather condescending attitude.

Now, in just a few years, Li Long has started doing international business. Although his first deal may not be successful yet, Li Long has been promoted from a junior to an equal partner in his eyes.

Therefore, the tone and attitude of the conversation naturally changed.

Li Long didn't seem to care; he had risen through the ranks step by step, and this wasn't the first or second time such a thing had happened. Section Chief Hu himself didn't realize it either, but he wasn't so casual when talking to Li Long anymore.

Section Chief Hu mainly wanted to ask about Liu Gaolou and his group's situation over there. Li Long then talked about his previous two collaborations with them and intentionally or unintentionally revealed that when Liu Shanmin came last time, he was accompanied by county leaders for dinner.

Section Chief Hu then made the connection himself.

This kind of thing can't be discussed too openly, and Li Long couldn't bring up what Liu Shanmin said at Wucheng Railway Station. Liu Shanmin said those words to him at the time purely out of a need to vent.

So Li Long had no choice but to keep these words to himself.

Therefore, according to Li Long's description, Section Chief Hu felt that Liu Shanmin was someone who carried out special missions, had an official background, and had great influence in the Kazakh republics.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible for them to send over several truckloads of medicinal herbs so casually.

After talking with Li Long, I went back.

Li Long did not go straight home, but went to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Li Xiangqian has already called him; the task of sweeping the big broom has come up.

"Our county will still produce 40,000 this year," Li Xiangqian told Li Long. "Six yuan per bundle, price unchanged, quality the same. We'll extend the deadline this year; just finish by mid-October."

Li Long said with a smile:

"Should I do all of this?"

"Yes, I said at the meeting that if someone could guarantee better quality than you, I would give some of the work to them. But no one took the job. To be honest, you raised the quality of the county's brooms in the past two years. Thanks to you, our commune is also using the brooms that you raised."

Everyone here is an expert; you can tell from using this big broom that achieving this quality in one or ten brooms is no problem. But to achieve this quality in a thousand or ten thousand brooms is difficult.

Li Xiangqian didn't continue, but Li Long understood his meaning: since the goal of issuing [something] couldn't be achieved, no one would touch this gray area. After all, Li Long had spoiled the higher-ups' expectations over the past two years; if someone did it and the quality dropped, criticism was inevitable.

"Okay, I'll accept it now and go back to assign the task."

Given Li Long's current net worth, he doesn't earn much from sweeping the brooms every year, but it's something he has to do.

Because it affects the quality of life of many people in three villages and two production and construction corps companies, even if Li Xiangqian doesn't give it to Li Long, he will fight for it.

Li Long left Li Xiangqian two packets of dried meat and two pairs of antelope horns, then drove away.

He went back to the courtyard for lunch, and then drove to Qingshuihe Village.

Meng Hai is maintaining the Dongfanghong 75 tractor.

After Li Long drove his jeep into the yard, he smiled and said:
"Comrade Li Long, I thought you should be here soon."

"Are you getting impatient if we don't come soon? Wow, you've prepared quite a lot of poles and reeds?"

"There's nothing we can do. If we don't prepare in advance, we'll be out of supplies by the time we get the notification," Meng Hai said frankly. "Actually, some people started cutting it as early as August. Fortunately, there's a large area of ​​it along the hillside here, with plenty of reed beds. There's some further away too, but there are no roads and it's hard for people to pass through."

“The task this year is similar to last year,” Li Long said. “You will still organize the work, and I will come to your yard to collect the goods. Of course, as I said before, the quality must be high. To be honest, the quality of the two companies in the Corps is really high. I don’t expect you to reach their level, but it should be close.”

“Okay,” Meng Hai said with a smile, “I’ll try my best.”

Meng Hai quite enjoyed doing this job; it was a habit carried over from the commune era, and there were benefits involved. Li Long would give him a management fee, making it a win-win situation. Since he was already familiar with this task, Li Long didn't say much, and after giving Meng Hai the instructions, he left.

Meng Hai went to find He Yuqing and used a loudspeaker to announce the news, which was also to reassure the villagers. In fact, many people had already started making large brooms, but they dared not make too many, for fear of not having any work this year.

Now that we've survived, let's work hard. Of course, Meng Hai also emphasized the quality standards, saying that anything that doesn't meet the standards will not be accepted, putting the unpleasant truths upfront.

Li Long then went to find Liang Wenyu. Although Liang Wenyu didn't make many large brooms each year, every little bit helps. Their village didn't have much land, and there were few ways to make money, so making large brooms was a relatively important one.

Then there's Team Four. Li Long could have called, but Li Qiang was about to go pick cotton, so he simply drove his jeep over to check on things and mentioned the task of making the big brooms.

Li Qiang will go to school after lunch tomorrow. The school will rent buses to take people to the production and construction corps companies, and then the companies will assign them to the homes of the employees to arrange dinner and accommodation.

We'll start picking cotton early the day after tomorrow.

No cotton is currently grown in the entire township, so Li Qiang and his classmates were picking cotton for the first time and had no experience.

When Li Long arrived, Li Qiang was asking Li Jianguo about cotton-picking techniques, since Li Jianguo was the only one in the family who had ever picked cotton.

In fact, Li Long had more experience, but he didn't mention it. This was a rare moment of conversation between Li Jianguo, who usually had a stern face, and his son, and they shouldn't be disturbed.

After Li Qiang finished asking his questions, Li Long went over to Li Jianguo and told him about making the big broom.

"Brother, I'll go to the team leader later and use the megaphone to tell everyone that if you're free here, you can leave the job of collecting the brooms here."

“Okay.” Li Jianguo knew that his younger brother was giving him an opportunity to make money, so he didn’t refuse; it was also a responsibility.

"The price and standards haven't changed, but the quality control needs to be stricter," Li Long added. "Have you called Company Commander Wang Mingjun about Qiangqiang?"

"We haven't played yet. Qiangqiang said he wanted to train hard, so I didn't say anything."

“He should get some exercise, but there’s no need for him to go out and suffer.” Li Long said with a smile, “Tomorrow I’ll go there to talk about making big brooms, and I’ll introduce Qiangqiang to them.”

“Okay.” Li Jianguo wasn’t a rigid person. Since Li Long had taken over the matter, he didn’t bring it up again.

Liang Yuemei had already prepared the bedding and other necessities, and Li Jianguo even slipped Li Qiang five yuan as pocket money. Although he was only going for half a month, there was no guarantee that something might happen when he got there.

Seeing that there was nothing else going on here, Li Long went to Xu Chengjun and told him about the plan to make a large broom.

"Go ahead and inform them. Many people in the team have already cut the reeds. Haijun went into the mountains to cut the reeds a while ago, and he said you'll definitely get this job again this year."

Li Long hadn't expected Xu Haijun to be so perceptive, so he smiled and said:

"He's also good at making money."

"He's just messing around aimlessly, and he won't amount to anything, so he can only rely on your influence." Xu Chengjun saw through him clearly. "And he's so arrogant, he doesn't want to ask you for advice. Actually, wouldn't it be better for him to ask you for help than to just sit there figuring things out on his own?"

That makes sense, but Xu Haijun just couldn't bring himself to say no.

Of course it doesn't matter. In a few years, all four teams will be growing cotton. Any more ideas will just be supplementary.

"Everyone has their own ambitions." Li Long naturally didn't want to embarrass Xu Haijun. "Maybe he'll come up with something good."

"I don't believe it anyway." Xu Chengjun waved his hand. "It's already good enough that our fourth team can produce one capable person like you. It's just that the feng shui of our fourth team is good. It's impossible for us to produce a second one..."

Li Long never expected Xu Chengjun to say such a thing, and he didn't know how to respond.

"Go and notify them quickly, many families are getting impatient." Xu Chengjun turned on the loudspeaker for Li Long and went to sit in the yard.

In fact, he had already started making large brooms. This alone earned him more in a year than some farmers in other places could earn in a year from farming. Although he was the team leader, he was also short of money.

Li Long made the announcement three times, then turned off the microphone and went outside. Xu Chengjun asked him:

"Xiaolong, I heard you're going to plant cotton next year?"

"Yes, cotton planting is the future trend. As you've seen, Qiangqiang and the others who are starting junior high this year are going to pick cotton in the Production and Construction Corps. The price of cotton will keep rising, and unlike things like harvesting melon seeds, it's not subject to market restrictions. As long as you plant it, there will definitely be people who want it."

Xu Chengjun had always wanted to ask Li Long if the rumors circulating in the team about his family planting cotton next year were true. Now that he heard it from him in person, he felt relieved.

Li Long left Xu Chengjun's house and drove his jeep back to the compound.

The next morning, Li Long didn't take Mingming and Haohao to school. September 13th was Sunday, so Mingming and Haohao could sleep in. But the two children got up early, which made it impossible for Gu Xiaoxia, who also wanted to sleep in, to get any rest. She got up angrily and yelled at the two children to go wash their faces.

Li Long was amused. Even the usually gentle Gu Xiaoxia couldn't resist the wrath of the kids and turned into a shrew. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to control the two little ones.

After breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia did the laundry, while Li Long drove the jeep to Wang Mingjun's company.

Originally, he could have called to inform him, but Li Long thought about Li Qiang's matter and decided it would be better to go there in person.

The jeep drove north, and whether it was because the road had actually been repaired or it was just Li Long's imagination, the road seemed easier to drive on than before.

Because some students came to pick cotton today, Wang Mingjun and Zheng Xiangyang were both at the company headquarters. When Li Long's jeep arrived, they thought it was leaders from the regiment or division.

After all, it's a big deal for students to come and pick cotton; their superiors had called them well in advance to make the arrangements.

This isn't the first time. After all, the students are all twelve or thirteen years old, and it's basically the first time they've been away from home for so long. Although they are mostly from rural areas and are relatively resilient, we still need to pay attention to their safety.

Their company needed forty or fifty students, who were assigned to more than ten households of workers who grew a lot of cotton. At that time, there were no cotton harvesters, and the cotton-picking army had not yet been formed.

Therefore, the employees basically have to pick the cotton themselves. If they plant less, it's not so bad, as they can pick it themselves. But if they plant more, they might not be able to finish picking the cotton even by November when it snows, even if they pick it from mid-September.

The main reason is that cotton plants don't open all at once. The first round of picking is done in mid-September, the second round in early October, and some cotton plants with many bolls and good growth may need to be picked a third time by late October. If the picking isn't finished, there will still be bolls that haven't opened yet. In that case, the bolls can only be brought home before the snow and then peeled.

In the two years when cotton prices were good, even dead cotton from the bolls could sell for more than eleven yuan—unfortunately, after decades of cotton farming, there were only one or two years of high-priced cotton that are worth reminiscing about.

Then it came under the control of capital, and any price increase was suppressed by a united front.

So it was around six or seven yuan every year. Team Four was better off because they had more land. Although drip irrigation was expensive, at least they didn't have to pay rent for their own land. Every year, the cooperative only earned the land rent money from growing cotton.

Those who have little land or who contract land from others to farm mostly lose money.

Wang Mingjun was delighted to see that it was Li Long who got off the bus.

Just like Meng Hai said, after shaking hands with Li Long, he smiled and said:

"I figured you should be here by now. Oh, right, you know, some students from your village came here today to pick cotton."

"Of course I know, that's half the reason I came." After shaking hands with him, Li Long shook hands with Zheng Xiangyang and Lao Chen. "My elder brother's son is here too."

"What? Old Li's son is here? What's his name?"

"Li Qiang, you'll be arriving at your company this afternoon," Li Long said with a smile. "I don't need to say anything more, do I?"

"Do you even need to tell me? Li Qiang, right? For him, coming here is like coming home! Most of the workers in our company know his dad, and they've all eaten his dad's cooking back in the day! Tell me, isn't that like coming home?"

Li Long laughed, "That makes sense."

At that time, the Production and Construction Corps had only recently been transferred to local administration and was still under military management. These employees were essentially quasi-soldiers and were all Li Jianguo's comrades-in-arms.

The children of our comrades-in-arms, we were all children together.

(Let me tell you some news I heard. Last year, due to some special reasons, a large quantity of watermelons from northern Xinjiang were shipped to China, causing the price of watermelons to drop first and then rise. As a result, some people saw the potential and came here to grow watermelons this year.)

As a result, too many were planted. Someone from the village contracted 300 mu (approximately 20 hectares) to grow watermelons, but the price was too low; not a single truckload sold. The land was eventually abandoned, and the watermelons were left there for people to pick up...sigh.
(End of this chapter)