Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1184 Going Further and Further Down the Road of Mechanization

Huang Lei arranged for a vehicle from the county transportation company to haul away the nearly 800 kilograms of dried mushrooms, leaving Li Long with over 30,000 yuan more in his bag.

Among all the purchasing stations in northern Xinjiang, not many buy dried wild mushrooms, so Li Long and Chen Hongjun's two purchasing stations get more customers.

Unlike fritillaria, this thing doesn't require digging; you just need to find the location.

Both morel mushrooms and black tiger paw mushrooms reproduce by spreading through spores. Generally speaking, where morel mushrooms grow this year, they will grow again next year.

So those who don't really want to dig for fritillaria bulbs, or who know where wild mushrooms are, usually come looking for them.

After all, morel mushrooms are really hard to find. If you know the place well, you can easily pick seven or eight kilograms a day.

Seven or eight kilograms can be dried to make one kilogram of dried goods, which can be sold for twenty or thirty yuan at the purchasing station.

What a wonderful thing!
It's not as strenuous as digging for fritillaria bulbs; it just involves climbing a few more mountains.

More importantly, forest rangers usually don't harvest mushrooms if they see people picking them. After all, picking mushrooms doesn't damage forest resources and isn't illegal.

So in early May, the number of people at the purchasing station increased, and the courtyard was packed. Fortunately, the veteran dealers knew to queue up and would greet the newcomers and strangers with a sense of superiority, telling them to line up and talking about their haul while they waited in line.

Fan Mingcheng was the loudest among them. With his GAZ truck, he could travel a much wider range, so he could collect more goods and earn more money each time he came.

Many people envy him, so some of the people who come here to sell things every day just stand around looking at the car parked in the front yard.

They knew that GAZ trucks were selling well, but they didn't expect them to sell out as soon as they arrived, which was something many people didn't anticipate.

Fan Mingcheng bought a GAZ truck, so naturally he would promote its advantages. Those middlemen who already had considerable wealth were also comparing whether to buy a GAZ truck to expand their purchasing scope or buy an Avtovan to save face.

A sedan, driving one of these makes you look so prestigious!

Li Long wasn't quite sure about these people's psychology. There were too many people, and his father was finding it difficult to manage, so he had to stay at the purchasing station to maintain order and help collect goods.

Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng were also hardworking and conscientious—after selling the wild mushrooms yesterday, Li Long immediately gave each of them a bonus of 100 yuan. Basically, Li Long would give bonuses for any large-scale sale of goods; this had almost become a routine.

However, Li Long wasn't worried about Shengmien's situation; he had made it clear to the two of them. Since it was a contract system, Li Long had the final say on how they were paid, but if the two of them slacked off, he certainly wouldn't hesitate to fire them.

Both Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng understood this.

Fortunately, the two of them have been working hard all this time, taking turns picking mushrooms and cleaning fritillaria bulbs in the backyard.

Those assisting Li Qingxia in the front yard were also busy. Therefore, Li Long felt that their hard work deserved the bonus.

As for his father, after receiving the mushroom money yesterday, Li Long gave him a thousand yuan as a share of the profits. His father didn't stand on ceremony and happily accepted it.

The elderly like money, so of course they won't spend it recklessly. Having money in hand makes them feel at ease.

Ma Xiaoyan and Jiang Zhiyu both came to visit him once, bringing him newspapers—the Farmers' Daily, the Autonomous Region Daily, and the Autonomous Prefecture Daily. The articles were all published, although they were on pages two, three, and four, the content was still quite detailed.

Li Long was quite happy, as he had made an appearance once again.

He didn't cover all the details about agricultural mechanization. Mainly, he didn't intend to be a charlatan; after all, things like drone spraying and driverless tractor sowing sound a bit like science fiction these days, and he figured if he talked about them, some people would really treat him like a charlatan.

However, after the newspaper came out, Li Long thought of something else, so he took some time to call Liu Gaolou and tell him about it.

"You said you want to buy Comcarein?" Liu Gaolou asked. "How many units?"

"One is enough. If I buy two, I reckon some people will criticize me," Li Long said with a smile.

“Okay, I’ll tell my second uncle when he calls.” Liu Gaolou was very straightforward about this.

The price of a combine harvester is not as high as that of a high-horsepower tractor, so Li Long could buy one without any financial burden.

However, he didn't plan to develop that many. The current Commain can only harvest wheat, so its performance is relatively limited. Moreover, this thing is updated very quickly. In a few years, it will be able to harvest wheat and rice together, and in a few more years, it will be able to harvest sunflowers, and later even corn.

Moreover, he didn't intend to completely block other people's livelihoods—if there are too many combine harvesters, then the small four-wheeled tractors carrying those small harvesters won't be very useful.

Although combine harvesters are more expensive for harvesting wheat, they're convenient. They harvest directly without threshing, and the un-compacted wheat stalks are edible for cattle and sheep. Once they're compacted, the cattle will eat them, but the sheep won't.

So what I told Ma Xiaoyan was that wheat harvesting would be divided into three systems: upper, middle and lower. The most convenient method would be using combine harvesters. The wheat wouldn't even need to be brought to the field; it could be harvested directly from the field, loaded onto trucks, bagged, and then sold to the grain bureau.

The medium-sized harvester uses a small four-wheeled harvester to harvest the wheat, bundles it up, and then hauls it to the threshing floor for threshing and harvesting.

The simplest and most primitive method is manual wheat harvesting—don't let the term "primitive" fool you, some people in the fourth team still harvest wheat this way. They don't use other people's combine harvesters; they harvest it manually, then load it onto a donkey cart to take it back for threshing.

It's not that they're short of money; some people just feel that it's better to cut their own throats than let others earn it. Everyone has their own way of living, and there's no way to judge whether this is good or bad.

Of course, the wheat harvested by combine harvesters can't be completely left unharvested; it still needs to be brought to the threshing floor and threshed. Although the harvested wheat doesn't contain stones or anything like that, there are still some wheat scraps. These scraps would be rejected if sent to the grain bureau to pay the grain tax.

But without the step of threshing, it's much simpler.

Li Long was hoping to buy this before the wheat harvest, so that the wheat harvest at home would be easier. Although he had brought so many strong laborers from his hometown, the wheat harvest in July coincided with the topping and spraying of cotton.

Because of the labor conflict, Li Long thought it would be better to buy the combine harvester in advance to save trouble.

In fact, this is how rural threshing floors gradually disappeared. With everyone using combine harvesters in the future, threshing floors will basically serve no purpose. So what's the point of keeping them? They might as well be plowed and used for planting.

Although the plot of land in the fourth team is much larger than that of the other teams, as farmers, who would complain about having too little land?
After finishing his phone call with Liu Gaolou and explaining the situation to Ma Xiaoyan and Jiang Zhiyu, Li Long spent most of his time at the purchasing station, occasionally going to Xiaohaizi to check on the growth of the crabs and shrimp.

To his surprise, every time he came, he could see small shrimp or crabs—they were growing quite fast.

The main reason is that the food in the small lake is relatively abundant, so these guys don't lack food and naturally grow quickly.

"Brother Long, do you think these crabs can really grow in this little lake? Are they tasty?"

Tao Daqiang and his generation are considered second-generation Xinjiang natives, born and raised in northern Xinjiang. Their understanding of shrimp is limited to shrimp shells. They have basically never eaten shrimp—let alone live shrimp, they have almost never even seen frozen shrimp.

At that time, supplies were really scarce. Most of the shrimp that were transported were consumed in the city. It was normal that no one in the countryside had ever seen them.

As for crabs, aside from movies, TV shows, and books, the only crabs you see are the tiny ones the size of a fingernail found in shrimp shells, which are already quite rare.

For kids as young as Li Qiang, there's one activity they really enjoy in winter: looking for things that aren't actually dried shrimp among the dried shrimp they buy at home.

Small fish are the most common, but if you find a small crab, you'll be overjoyed and treasure it, only showing it to a very close friend.

Eating it was absolutely out of the question, and in the end, the crab was ruined.

"Of course it can grow, and it can grow really big," Li Long said, pointing to a small crab underwater on the bank.

"Look, I've had it in there for a week, and it's already half its original size. It was half the size it is now before. It's growing so fast!"

Tao Daqiang was a little skeptical. He had indeed seen the little crab, but he couldn't believe it was that small. However, since Brother Long had said so, he didn't refute it and instead started talking about other things:
"Now everyone in the team knows you're raising crabs in the small lake, and some kids are coming over with nets, hoping to catch some live crabs." "I doubt they'll catch any," Li Long said with a smile and a shake of his head. "Some of the nets in the team have really big mesh, and these crabs are only so big now, they'll all slip through."

"Yeah, but they'll be able to catch them when they're a bit bigger," Tao Daqiang said. "And shrimp, I saw someone catch some."

"It's alright, I release some every now and then anyway, and I only catch a few. By the way, did you know? Some people in the area release crabs into their rice paddies, and they're thriving!"

"Won't they run around randomly? What if they run into someone else's land?" Tao Daqiang couldn't understand.

“We need to fence it off. The plots of land we cultivate aren’t very big. If we fence them off with netting or plastic sheeting, they won’t be able to escape,” Li Long said.

"That would require so much internet..." Tao Daqiang still couldn't understand.

Li Long didn't say anything more.

Fewer and fewer people in the team are growing rice anymore. Tao Daqiang's family mainly grows it for their own consumption. Growing rice is very troublesome and labor-intensive, and in the end, it's not as profitable as other cash crops.

But his family wasn't short of money; they mainly wanted to eat the rice they grew themselves, and of course, they would also send some out. This was a good product comparable to the buckwheat grown by old man Tian Futang.

Li Long receives new rice from Tao Daqiang every year without paying, and Li Long has gotten used to it.

"How's your cotton going?" Li Long asked about the cotton when he had a rare chance to chat with Tao Daqiang.

Most of the cotton farmers in the team would go to Li's house to ask about technical matters. Li Jianguo was usually there and would answer their questions. Li Long wouldn't proactively offer advice; he would enthusiastically explain if someone asked, but he wasn't one to offer knowledge unsolicited.

I'm not a technical extension worker from an agricultural extension school.

"It's alright, it's grown up to knee height now," Tao Daqiang said. "It's growing very vigorously now, and I haven't found any bugs, but there's a lot of weeds. Unlike wheat and corn, this kind of thing doesn't require you to pull weeds all the time."

"Exactly. Current herbicides are not very effective against reeds. Before planting, we have to pick up all the reed roots and such in the field. Otherwise, the cotton will grow and the reeds will grow tall, making it troublesome to pull them up. They might even tear the plastic film and we'll have to bury them again."

Li Long truly understands things, and Tao Daqiang wholeheartedly agrees.

“I’m planning to buy Kangmain. Cotton is harvested in July, which is very labor-intensive. You’ve planted quite a lot of cotton, and it will take several days to harvest. Harvesting wheat at that time will be troublesome, so buying Kangmain will only require hauling the wheat to the threshing floor and threshing it.” Li Long said, “It won’t be a hassle.”

"Sure." Tao Daqiang was naturally willing. With more farm machinery at home, he felt he couldn't keep up with the work. If there was a shortage of people in the cotton fields during the wheat harvest, even if he brought people from his hometown, there would still be a lot of work to do.

After finishing their own work, they have to take turns helping others. This job is a collaborative effort, so it takes a long time.

One of the major impacts of mechanization is that it has disrupted the traditional model of rural cooperation and mutual assistance. Whether this is good or bad is hard to say.

Li Long didn't say much. This was an inevitable trend that couldn't be changed. If farmers wanted to get rich, they had to free up manual labor and develop towards large-scale, mechanized production; otherwise, they would gradually be eliminated.

Tao Daqiang thought, "Brother Long has already gotten a high-horsepower tractor, and if he gets a Kangmain too, there won't be enough room in the yard, right?"
Li Long was also thinking about this issue. He originally planned to tell his family that he would stop growing vegetables in the yard of the team and open a gate in the yard wall for the farm machinery to enter and exit—the farm machinery could be kept in the yard.

As a result, neither his father, Li Qingxia, nor his elder brother, Li Jianguo, agreed.

For the first time, Du Chunfang, the old lady, stood up to oppose Li Long's opinion, saying, "What kind of house is it if it doesn't have a yard?"
As for these farm tools, they can just be left outside. Everyone knows they belong to the Li family, so no one should dare to steal them.

In the evening, the high-horsepower tractor and the small four-wheel tractor can be parked in the yard, while other farm implements can be parked by the roadside. There is also some open space south of Li Long's own yard where he can park.

Anyway, there are only pedestrians there, no roads for vehicles, so it doesn't affect anything.

Li Long listened to them—after all, he spent little time at home and wasn't in charge of making decisions.

He is now calculating the price of a acre of wheat harvested by Comay.

A used Kangmain machine should cost no more than a Dongfanghong 75 in terms of purchase price, and even with import duties, it wouldn't exceed 30,000 yuan.

The main products are second-hand agricultural machinery, including cars, which are much cheaper to import than new ones. So even decades later, some people buy new energy vehicles in China, repackage them as second-hand cars with zero kilometers, and sell them in Khorgos. In Russia, they can then sell them at a higher price as if they were new cars.

The Li Auto sells for 400,000 RMB in China, but can fetch 800,000 RMB or even more in Russia!

If it's ten yuan per mu, it's probably a bit expensive. After all, a small four-wheeled tractor with a harvester only costs two yuan. But if it's five or six yuan, it's cheaper.

Li Long was thinking of pricing it at eight yuan?

The main reason is that wheat prices can't rise. Right now, it's only five or six cents per kilogram, and you can only get seventy or eighty yuan per acre at most. So the harvest price can't be high, otherwise we won't be able to afford it.

As Li Long was thinking about these things, he saw two children walking towards him, one about eleven or twelve years old and the other about seven or eight years old. He didn't know why they weren't in school.

The two children carried a net and whispered to each other as they walked. Li Long, with his good hearing, could hear them clearly; they were talking about how to catch crabs.

"Hey, are you here to catch crabs?" Tao Daqiang shouted, "Why aren't you in school? Are you skipping school? Go home right now, or I'll tell your families and they'll spank you!"

His shout startled two children walking along the canal, nearly causing them to fall in. Before they could even see him clearly, they turned and ran. Halfway there, they dropped their nets. The older one quickly came back to retrieve the nets and only relaxed slightly when he saw that Tao Daqiang wasn't chasing after them. But he didn't dare linger and disappeared in a moment.

Li Long saw a water rat swim over underwater, snatch the crab that was digging a hole underwater near the shore, and swim away.

These crabs have many natural enemies.

"You're really wicked," Li Long said to Tao Daqiang with a smile.

"I'm doing this for their own good. I didn't have the opportunity to go to school back then, and these kids might go astray if they don't get to go to school," Tao Daqiang said with a smile.

Li Long also smiled.

After chatting for a while, he drove to his older brother's place for lunch, and while there, he mentioned the matter of Kangmaiyin and explained the reasons.

“That’s true,” Li Jianguo nodded and said. “Our family has to pay so much grain tax, and we have thirty mu of land planted with wheat. If we really have to harvest it, it will take up a lot of space on the threshing floor and a long time to thresh.”

"It will take at least half a month to finish everything, and it will require three or four people. If we really bring Kangmain back, we can thresh it in two days at most, bag it, and deliver it to the grain tax office. Once the task is completed, we'll have time to manage the cotton."

Now that everyone has enough to eat, they've focused their attention on how to get rich. They've bought two high-horsepower tractors and no longer care about the comparator.

Li Jianguo had become somewhat numb to it, but he was actually quite happy. After all, farming was becoming simpler and less tiring.

Although turning on the machine is tiring, to be honest, it's much better than harvesting wheat or threshing.

“This high-horsepower tractor is really powerful.” Li Jianguo changed the subject. “Old Wang wants to clear a large area of ​​land south of Dahai Lake and asked me to plow it.”

"I plowed for two and a half days yesterday and today, and wow, the speed was astonishing! It plowed so deep! Those old, weathered clumps—if it were a Dongfanghong 75 tractor, they'd have to lift the plowshares, but this high-powered tractor just chugted through them without a sound!"

Having experienced the power of the high-horsepower tractor, Li Jianguo felt quite elated. He could already imagine the scene of the high-horsepower tractor speeding across the fields with its plowshare in the autumn, the soil flying everywhere.

Because the owner doesn't need to plow the field from behind, there will be a lot of people who want to hire a high-horsepower tractor to plow the land!
Plowing is no easy job!

(End of this chapter)