Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1176 High-Horsepower Wheeled Tractor: A Rare Sight

Halim and his group have moved to the summer pastures deep in the Tianshan Mountains.

When Li Long went back into the mountains, the winter camp was deserted, with only some leftover hay remaining.

Both doors to the winter shelter were locked and blocked with tree branches, as simple protective measures were taken.

Li Long circled around once, then drove his GAZ truck to his cabin.

As his work focus shifted, Li Long spent less and less time at the wooden house, but his feelings for it remained unchanged.

The path to the cabin was covered in grass, or rather, there was no path at all, just grass everywhere.

When Li Long arrived at the wooden house, he found that the table had been overturned on the ground, and one of the poles used for drying clothes and dried meat had been pulled out and thrown on the ground.

The wire he tied to the two poles was nowhere to be found, and there were some things nearby that looked like human feces.

Both doors of the cabin were pried open and left wide open, and the contents inside were ransacked.

The bedding was gone, as were the iron pot, bowls, and other items. The stove was still there, but it had been moved. The wooden kang (heated brick bed) was still intact.

One shelf in the small room had fallen over, but the other one remained untouched.

The wooden floor was covered in dust, footprints, claw marks, and animal droppings and urine.

This was all within Li Long's expectations.

There's no order in the mountains. Although Bolati and his group patrol the forest from time to time, most of the time it's just to catch people stealing medicinal herbs. This wooden house is near the Ma River, located on the western side of the southern mountain section of Ma County. It's quite remote, and Bolati and his group wouldn't come here often if he wasn't around.

On the contrary, those who know about the wooden house and those who are entering the mountains for the first time tend to visit this place more often.

In the mountains, supplies, materials, and safe houses are scarce. Even an iron pot is precious. So, breaking into houses to search for supplies becomes something many people do. More importantly, for some first-time visitors, a locked wooden house is the best safe house.

Li Long took a large broom from the shed and swept away the dust and leaves in front of the house. He went inside and tidied up a bit, putting the shelves back in place, cleaning off the dust, and throwing away anything that had been contaminated.

After cleaning up all that stuff, Li Long was too lazy to lock the door.

He didn't need the wooden house for the time being, and he was thinking about whether he would continue to exchange for mother-of-pearl here later.

But to be honest, with the forestry team set to withdraw this year, Li Long couldn't guarantee whether Bolati and his team would continue to treat this area as a safe zone, ensuring that herb gatherers who came to exchange supplies could arrive safely and leave with the supplies.

After all, anyone can imagine the madness that followed.

Moreover, who to put here is also a problem. Li Long himself certainly can't come. He has a lot of things to do every now and then, and he can't stay in the mountains. The output from the mountains used to be the majority of his income. Now, although it's not insignificant, it's only a very small part.

He will definitely keep the wooden house, but he will only come over occasionally, and it will serve more as a symbolic place.

When he has more money and the transportation in the mountains is more developed, Li Long would like to build a wooden house by a hot spring, where he can soak in the hot spring and enjoy the scenery of the mountains. How wonderful that would be.

Driving back, Li Long encountered Bolati when they were almost at the mountain pass.

Polati was riding his horse back when he heard the sound of the carriage. He turned around and saw Li Long's carriage, so he immediately turned his horse around and rushed over.

Li Long stopped the car, opened the door and got out. Polati arrived just then, and Li Long saw the two large bags he was carrying on his horse.

Fritillaria?
"Li Long, Axiomses, how's it going?" Polati dismounted and greeted Li Long with a smile. "Are you planning to reopen the place where you exchange things in the cabin?"

"No, no, I just came to check on Halim and the others as they moved to a new location, and to see how the cabin was doing. I found that the cabin was a complete mess."

"So, are you still at the cabin?" Pora asked.

"He might not be here. What's wrong?"

“It’s quite troublesome that you’re not here.” Polati said with some hesitation. “If you were here, like today, I could have exchanged dozens of kilograms of fritillaria for money directly with you. But if you were here, it would be harder for us to catch those people who come to exchange goods.”

Li Long laughed. This guy is pretty greedy; he's a typical "wanting both ways."

"No one is coming from my side right now, so this wooden cabin is temporarily closed for exchanging items. However, I will go into the mountains from time to time. If I happen to run into someone, I will just buy your fritillaria. If I don't run into someone, I will go to the forestry team every now and then."

Of course, if you don't want to hand over the fritillaria bulbs you collect, you can send them to Meng Hai's house in Qingshuihe. I'll collect them from him every now and then, and I'll also put the money with him."

"Okay, okay, shall we go to their house now? I'll write down the address." Polati naturally didn't want to hand over the fritillaria he had collected, because if he did, the money he would receive would be much less than what he would get from selling them himself.

"Let's go then. I'll drive slowly. Are you also carrying fritillaria bulbs on your horse? Just put them in my car, and I'll give you the money."

"Great, great!" Polati beamed. "These fritillaria bulbs were just dug up these past two days, they're very fresh. You should wash and dry them when you get back."

The two bags of fritillaria weighed about 30 kilograms. Because they were so fresh, Li Long paid 10 yuan per kilogram. Polati didn't expect that this would be 300 yuan, and his smile widened. He grinned and counted the money twice before putting it in his pocket.

"Li Long, I'm so lucky to have met you in the mountains," Polati exclaimed. "The forestry team is about to be gone, what will we do then?"

“Forest protection, huh? The forestry team is gone, but there’s still the forest management station,” Li Long said, opening the car door. “There’s always something you can do. But you’d better be careful when you patrol the forest from now on. Those who are concerned about forestry reform might rebel when they encounter you.”

"Who cares? I'll bring my gun. If they dare to make a move, I'll shoot!" Polati didn't care about anything else.

He rode his horse and followed Li Long out of the mountain pass, arrived at Qingshuihe Village, and found Meng Hai's house.

Meng Hai wasn't there; he'd gone to plow and sow with his tractor. Li Long pointed out the location to Bolati and told him to write it down.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it. There are three towering poplars at the entrance, and they have a car, just like yours. They even have a small four-wheeler. They look very wealthy, like a rich man.” Polati indicated that he understood.

After noting down the location, Polati had to go back to the mountains. He was very excited to have obtained three hundred yuan worth of fritillaria this morning and planned to go back again. If he could get more, the days ahead would be much easier.

Since Meng Hai wasn't there, Li Long drove back. There were still many things waiting for him to take care of at home, and now that the fritillaria season had begun, Jia Tianlong might return at any time.

Liu Gaolou and his group have already set off. Although he said that high-horsepower wheeled tractors are slow, that's only relative to tracked tractors.

In fact, even without full power, a high-horsepower wheeled tractor can reach speeds of 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.

Given the current road conditions, it won't be much slower than a sedan.

When Li Long returned to the purchasing station, he found a long queue already formed in the yard.

As usual, the purchasing station provided free tea to these people. After the seller who wanted Li Qingxia to make concessions was scolded away by Li Long last time, some middlemen were still a little apprehensive. However, the purchasing station acted as if nothing had happened, maintaining the same service attitude and not lowering prices, and they gradually returned to normal.

However, this also made some people realize that while the purchasing stations had excellent service, it didn't mean they were without temper. If you want to make money, it's best to be mindful of boundaries when enjoying their services.

When this news spread, it didn't affect the people who came to sell their goods. On the contrary, many people appreciated the purchasing station's attitude, so there were even more people coming here.

Li Qingxia is now adept at managing the pace, and when receiving goods, she can talk about the quality and price as if having a casual chat, making people feel comfortable accepting it.

If Gu Boyuan's outward demeanor is like that of a master connoisseur, whose mere presence can intimidate these dealers, then Li Qingxia is like a familiar old friend, an elder who lets you know the value of your things with a smile, occasionally allowing for some bargaining, and most of the time you can get what you want within reasonable limits.

The two have their own styles, and it doesn't matter who is better or worse; anyway, these dealers seem to like them quite a bit.

Occasionally, while waiting in line, we'll talk about Lao Gu, not out of nostalgia, but just as a topic of conversation.

Li Long's GAZ truck was parked outside when another GAZ truck pulled up and stopped at the intersection. Fan Mingcheng got out of the truck, and together with another young man, they opened the back door and one of them carried a bag of fritillaria bulbs out.

After carrying down two more bags of fritillaria bulbs, Fan Mingcheng asked the young man to line up. He then came over to greet Li Long, who was getting off the bus, offered him a cigarette, and said with a smile:

"Mr. Li, once the fritillaria season arrives, your purchasing station is going to make a fortune."

"You guys are the first to get rich, right? I bet you got at least two hundred kilograms of fritillaria this time. You should make a thousand or two on this trip, right?"

"Hehe, no, no, I bought it at a high price, 182 kilograms. I'll be satisfied if I can make 800 yuan." Fan Mingcheng's words were humble, but his expression was full of pride.

Yes, since he got the GAZ truck, he can go to farther places every day, and even dares to go directly into the mountains to buy freshly dug fritillaria bulbs from herb gatherers.

Knowing the rules of the purchasing station, he hired a temporary worker to help him clean the fritillaria bulbs he had purchased.

"Is that your son in line?" Li Long asked. "How old is he?"

“Twenty-one,” Fan Mingcheng said. “I found him a job, although it’s temporary, but he might become a permanent employee later. He doesn’t plan to do it, so I thought he might as well come and work with me.”

At first, Fan Mingcheng's son looked down on his father's line of work, but after his father bought a GAZ truck, he immediately changed his mind.

This car drove into the mountains to collect fritillaria bulbs, and the forest rangers didn't even dare to stop it!
How impressive!
"Well, it's been ten years since the reform and opening up, so it's normal to get rich early in business," Li Long said with a smile. "I believe it won't be long before your family can buy a second car."

"Hey, Mr. Li, how did you know? My son said he'll work for me for a while and then go out on his own. His goal is to buy a GAZ truck with his own money!" Fan Mingcheng said. "These young men nowadays, they really talk big without any restraint..."

"How can you be talking big? Think about it, with your GAZ truck as your tool now, do you think you can't earn back the cost of a second truck in one fritillary bulb season?"

Fan Mingcheng hadn't thought that far ahead, but after Li Long said that, he was immediately intrigued. It was very possible!
He earned 800 yuan today, which is the profit from two days' worth of fritillaria. At this rate, earning 20,000 yuan in a fritillaria season of 40 to 50 days is indeed possible.

And this is only the initial stage; it will reach its peak soon—

Don't dare to think, don't dare to think!

Seeing that Fan Mingcheng's eyes were red, Li Long smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said:

"Alright, that's enough chatting, I have to get back to work."

There's nothing to worry about for now. He's going to the back to help Liang Shuangcheng and Sun Jiaqiang wash and dry the fritillaria bulbs they've collected.

Liu Gaolou arrived at the purchasing station just before dark the next day.

Although it was almost dark, the sight of two tall, somewhat oddly shaped, high-horsepower tractors with reversible plows behind them, along with other farm implements on trucks and a long convoy, attracted the attention of many people in the county.

Some idlers followed the convoy and even looked inside the recycling station when they arrived.

After all, they had seen cars, jeeps, and trucks, and they could also see Dongfanghong 75 tracked tractors and Dongfanghong 28 iron tractors from time to time in the suburbs.

But they had never seen a high-horsepower tractor with tires nearly as tall as a person before.

Not to mention them, most people in Ma County had never seen it before at that time.

The tractors that Wang Mingjun and his group went to see were brought over from the Shicheng Production and Construction Corps tractor factory to work on state-owned farms, and they only saw a very small number of people.

So the people of Ma County had something new to talk about the next day.

Seeing the high-powered tractor again filled Li Long with emotion.

After his rebirth, he did not plan to settle in the city. Instead, he thought that with his own abilities, he could bring forward some things that should have happened, so that mechanized planting in the fourth team could be popularized as soon as possible.

After more than six years of hard work, we finally brought these two high-horsepower tractors back. How can we not be moved?
For him, the small four-wheel tractor and the Dongfanghong 75 tracked tractor were products of a specific era. Even harvesters, tillers, and sprayers were all transitional products.

Only this high-horsepower wheeled tractor was a true product of the mechanized farming era he had witnessed in his previous life.

Although the United States had already mechanized cotton harvesting by this time, Li Long didn't compare himself to them. After all, having reaped the fruits of victory in World War II, the Americans were truly far ahead at this point.

Li Long acknowledged this, saying it was simply a matter of developing a few decades earlier. Neither of the two wars occurred on their home soil, and their gains far exceeded what most people imagined, which explained their significant progress.

In reality, how long did it take us to go from being poor and backward when we were founded to catching up with the United States?

Of course, we must admit that their current technology is indeed strong. For example, this John Deere high-horsepower wheeled tractor, apart from being a bit expensive, is basically not a disadvantage at present.

It boasts high horsepower, wide wheels, comprehensive features, and a comfortable cockpit. Keep in mind that at that time, most sedans didn't even have air conditioning as good as it!
“These two high-horsepower tractors are easier to drive than I imagined,” Liu Gaolou said while sipping tea in the reception room. “I even drove them for a while. If I weren’t so inexperienced, I would have driven them all the way here—it’s more comfortable than sitting in a car.”

Li Long smiled.

"Really! Both the shock absorption and the air conditioning are excellent." Liu Gaolou thought Li Long didn't believe him, and his voice became much more urgent. "You'll see once you try it."

“Okay, I’ll try it tomorrow. By the way, should I give you the money now, or deposit it into your account?” Li Long asked.

“Give me the money,” Liu Gaolou said. “Although we’ve separated back in our hometown, I’ll still have to give you dividends, though they’ll gradually decrease. I’ll still give you US dollars for the cement. My uncle said you definitely want to hoard some US dollars; the more the better.”

"Yes, let your uncle stock up on more. In the future, when buying things, the US dollar and gold will be hard currencies for at least a considerable period of time."

This time, Liu Gaolou not only brought two high-horsepower wheeled tractors, but also a thousand hides, six hundred kilograms of fritillaria, and more than two hundred kilograms of codonopsis, which were delivered to the truck along the way from Gu Boyuan.

Gu Boyuan didn't load the other loose medicinal herbs onto the truck. He hoped to load them onto the truck after he had accumulated a certain amount of stock.

Because the trucks were carrying more of the high-horsepower tractor's other supporting farm implements, only two vehicles were brought on this trip: an almost brand-new GAZ-69 and a semi-new Lada.

“Things are getting a bit chaotic over there,” Liu Gaolou explained. “In some border defense units, there are more people stealing and selling supplies. My second uncle has already stored some things over there, and because of transporting these high-powered tractors, some trucks couldn’t be brought over this time.”

The good news is that some items have become cheaper when settled in US dollars. For example, this Lada sedan is $500. That almost brand-new GAZ is also $500.

Li Long knew that in the super-large country across the border, the prices of daily necessities were skyrocketing, while the prices of production tools such as cars and tractors were falling.

Gradually, the order of life fell into chaos.

Li Long would sympathize with the people from Harbin he had met, but that wouldn't stop him from continuing his journey.

When a whale falls, countless creatures are born. With the fall of this vast empire, how many people will rush to take a bite? Li Long doesn't mind profiting from it.

After all, it's better to do it ourselves than to let those Western countries take advantage of it.

High-horsepower wheeled tractors are neither the beginning nor the end.

He settled the bill for the tractor with Liu Gaolou and collected the money he had spent on cement (minus the cost of the two trucks). Knowing that Liu Gaolou was going to haul away 100 tons of cement this time, he asked him when he was leaving.

"The day after tomorrow, I'll load the trucks first tomorrow, then I'll go transfer money back home and take a break," Liu Gaolou said. "Actually, I wanted to get more trucks to haul the sugar away too, the price of sugar there has gone up again, but there's nothing I can do, these are the only trucks I can find in Khorgos..."

"Should we get some trucks from here to transport them over there?" Li Long casually mentioned.

"Really? That's great!" Liu Gaolou exclaimed happily.

(End of this chapter)