Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1198 Old Gu: I finally understand Li Long's happiness
To the northeast of Team Four, less than a kilometer southwest of Dahai Lake, two combine harvesters were rumbling along.

A truck and two small four-wheeled tractors shuttled back and forth, transporting wheat grains thrown down by the combine harvester.

"Old Li, slow down, there are some flattened trees ahead, pull them up if you can..."

Old Wang was shouting from the side of the car.

Actually, he was quite satisfied.

Old Wang reclaimed 80 mu of wasteland last year and planted wheat on it all. Combined with the land he reclaimed the year before last, he now owns more than 200 mu of land.

This year he plans to reclaim several dozen more acres of land, but there is less land worth reclaiming now, and most of the remaining land is saline-alkali land, which is not very valuable to reclaim.

Last year, he harvested part of his wheat with the Li family's combine harvester, and most of it was harvested with combine harvesters from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Because there was too much wheat, if they were all harvested by combine harvesters and brought to the threshing ground, their small family simply couldn't handle it. Although Old Wang had people in his hometown, he didn't plan to bring them over. He felt he could manage with his three sons and one daughter (and son-in-law).

At the time, I figured I could make money anyway, and since the reclaimed land didn't require paying grain taxes or management fees, I hired a combine harvester.

But the young man who turned on the machine just drove forward recklessly, rushing to harvest, and ended up knocking down some of the fallen and half-fallen crops without being harvested.

They were in a rush during the harvest, and after harvesting, a lot of wheat was scattered on the ground, resulting in significant losses.

So when they contacted Lao Wang this year wanting to continue harvesting his wheat, he refused.

Although the two harvesters owned by the Li family were second-hand and had never been used, Old Wang decisively handed the job over to Li Jianguo. The newly reclaimed 80 mu of wheat, along with the wheat reclaimed the year before last, totaled more than 150 mu, all of which were harvested using Kangmaiyin.

Sure enough, the old buddies were the most reliable. Li Jianguo and Li Junfeng worked slowly and tried their best to shovel up the fallen wheat.

Old Wang followed behind and watched. There weren't many wheat grains in the wheat stalks coming out from behind Kangmaiyin, which was good.

In less than a day, 150 mu of land were harvested, and a high mountain of wheat was piled up on the makeshift threshing ground set up by Old Wang's family.

This wheat still needs to be winnowed properly before it can be used to deliver grain to the state and be ground into flour.

"I'll settle the payment with you after the wheat is sold," Old Wang said to Li Jianguo at the dinner table that evening. "Eight yuan per mu, right? Your machine is really profitable, making over a thousand a day..."

"So you're not counting the cost of gas or the depreciation of the machine, right?" Li Jianguo said bluntly while eating the chicken that Old Wang's wife had cooked. "We're basically working for free, aren't we? Money isn't that easy to earn. Look at us, we're covered in wheat awns. If we don't take a good shower when we get back, we won't be able to sleep well for the next few days."

Wheat awns are the most annoying thing. They have barbs, and if they stick to your skin, a light tug will leave a red mark.

In the sweltering summer, you already sweat a lot, and these red marks on your body sting painfully.

Of course, the hard work was worth it. After deducting the cost of fuel and machine depreciation, at least 800 yuan of that 1,200 yuan was a profit.

The money for working for the team can be settled in the fall. It's all recorded in a notebook, and both parties sign it, so there's no fear of not getting paid later. The families in Team Four are all in pretty good shape, so there's basically no issue of not getting paid.

After all, this kind of thing can't be a one-off deal. You can't just farm this year and not farm next year. If you owe money and don't pay it back, then you can use the land as collateral.

Therefore, whether it's public water fees and management fees, or private machine farming and harvesting fees, they can basically be collected in the fall.

Even if they don't have the goods right away, they'll send them over later.

Old Wang is an old friend, so Li Jianguo is naturally not afraid.

During the meal, Old Wang casually asked:
"Old Li, I think your high-horsepower tractor is pretty good. How much did you buy Xiaolong for?"

"Even though it's secondhand, it still costs close to 200,000 yuan," Li Jianguo said. "The main reason is that our country doesn't produce this; only foreigners have it, so naturally they sell it for a higher price."

"Hey, it's really not cheap! I was thinking of getting one too. With all this land, if I plow and sow in the fall, it'll cost me a lot more." Old Wang has a lot of wasteland to cultivate, which earns him a lot of money, but his expenses are also high.

Although the price of wheat has risen a bit now, to six or seven cents per kilogram, it is still barren land. It's good if you can harvest a little over a hundred kilograms per acre, unlike cultivated land where chemical fertilizers are used and you can harvest two or three hundred kilograms now.

He estimated that his 150 mu of land would yield about 20,000 kilograms of wheat today. After deducting the amount to be paid to the state, the rest could be sold for more than 10,000 yuan.

The whole process of plowing and sowing costs more than 2,000 yuan, plus more than 1,000 yuan for harvesting, plus the cost of seeds, fertilizer, and water. After deducting all these expenses, you can earn about 5,000 to 6,000 yuan.

They've replaced it with a small four-wheeled tractor.

Although it was quite a lot at this point, it was nothing compared to the Li family.

Plowing and sowing were the main tasks, so he thought about getting a tractor to do it himself. He originally wanted to get an Dongfanghong tractor, but now that he saw the Li family's high-horsepower tractor rumbling along, he naturally became envious.

But when I heard the price, I decided against it; I couldn't afford it.

"Please take a good look at my plowing. After you finish harvesting the wheat in a few days, come and plow for me."

"What do we plant after plowing?" Li Jianguo asked, putting down his chopsticks and wiping his mouth after finishing his meal.

"Still planting wheat?" Old Wang said. "Let's plant wheat for at least three years and see. The wheat stubble can be used as fertilizer if plowed into the field early."

“Okay.” Li Jianguo picked up a piece of melon from the table and ate it as he spoke. “If you’re in a hurry, I can have someone come and plow the land tomorrow…”

"Who's plowing?" Old Wang asked.

“Anguo’s brother-in-law,” Li Jianguo said. “He’s quite skilled at driving high-horsepower tractors.”

"You should do it. I don't trust young people to plow the land. If the field leaves a patch of hard soil, that will be troublesome."

“Okay, then wait a while. I’ll come over and plow after the wheat harvest.” Li Jianguo knew that Chen Qianjin was already very skilled at driving high-horsepower tractors and plowing fields.

The technique of plowing is really just a piece of paper; once you break through it, you'll understand. If no one tells you, you can only figure it out on your own and learn from your mistakes.

However, since Lao Wang didn't trust Chen Qianjin, Li Jianguo wouldn't force Chen Qianjin to come and plow the fields. They were harvesting wheat now, and after the harvest, many people would want to plow the fields, so Chen Qianjin would be busy.

Not only was Chen Qianjin busy, but Li Junxian was also busy. He was driving the Li family's small four-wheeled tractor and using a combine harvester to cut wheat, as was Li Junhai.

The remaining people threshed the wheat on the threshing floor, trying to collect the wheat into their pockets as quickly as possible before handing it over to the government.

After the cotton picking was finished, Liang Yuemei would occasionally go to the fields to check if any had been missed. Li Long came home several times and made the matter sound quite serious, so his family took it very seriously. When Liang Yuemei went to the fields, she would take Li Juan and Li Qiang with her, and the two children would also volunteer to help with the work.

In the 1980s and 90s, children in rural areas almost always had to help with chores in the summer. By the time the post-2000 generation came along, fewer children were doing chores.

Li Long would occasionally go to the fields to check on things. The purchasing station wasn't too busy now, and his father, Li Qingxia, could manage everything on his own.

After Li Jianguo and his team finished harvesting in Kangmaiyin, they went out to harvest as well. With Li Jianguo's connections, he could find work in the nearby villages—those who grew cash crops mostly didn't want to spend their time threshing.

Those in the village who used Kangmaiyin to harvest wheat recorded the acreage, both parties signed, and payment was settled after the autumn harvest. Those from other villages settled directly, since the distance was not short. At that time, for the next twenty or thirty years, some people bought Kangmaiyin in the Central Plains and harvested wheat while planting, and could transport wheat from the Central Plains all the way to the north and south of Xinjiang.

After one trip, most of the money from Kangmain was recovered—because wheat ripens in sequence from the Central Plains to the Northwest.

Just like the cotton harvesters in the village later on, they would first harvest the cotton in northern Xinjiang before heading to southern Xinjiang to harvest more. The cotton in southern Xinjiang would live for half a month to a month longer than that in northern Xinjiang, giving it enough time to absorb sunlight.

Gu Xiaoxia would drive Mingming and Haohao to the Fourth Team on weekends, and then go to the gentle slope on the west side of Xiaohaizi to play in the water and see if they could catch crabs.

Mingming Haohao was very upset that he couldn't go crab catching with his dad that night, so he was quite happy to be able to go with his mom.

Meanwhile, Old Gu was sitting in Wang Dawei's GAZ truck, speeding across the grassland.

Sitting in the passenger seat was a Buick Revolution, and in the back seat next to Lao Gu were Buick Revolution's colleagues, along with four semi-automatic rifles.

With less work at the purchasing station in Yili, Gu Boyuan finally had some time to relax.

Revolutionary Buick had invited him out for a hunting trip several times to relax, but he hadn't been available until now, mainly because he needed to stabilize the acquisition station business, since May and June were the crucial period for the acquisition.

The busy season at the purchasing station is now over, and Zhu Wanjiang has been tempered and tested, so Lao Gu can finally come out with peace of mind.

The place Gu Boyuan and his group went to didn't have a main road. The car drove across the grassland, and the grass left behind a strong smell of grass juice as it passed over the grass.

This grassland is very large. As far as the eye can see, apart from the occasional white stones and scattered flocks of sheep in the distance, there is only green grass and red and yellow flowers.

The white clouds in the sky seemed almost within reach. Although it was July, there was still some snow on the distant mountains that hadn't completely melted, so the temperature on the mountaintops must not be high. The sky was high and the land was vast; being there made one feel refreshed and invigorated, as if one's heart and mind were also broadened.

The annoying chores that used to bother the purchasing station are no longer a big deal.

No wonder people on the grasslands are said to live with greater clarity and understanding. And no wonder so many people like to go to open spaces; staying there truly can make one more cheerful.

He didn't know that in another thirty or forty years, in the 2020s, tens of millions of people would come to this grassland every year!
I'm so tired of touching sheep's butts!

"How much further? It feels like we're never going to reach the end," Gu Boyuan asked, looking at the mountains outside. Running across such a vast grassland is certainly comfortable, but you can't keep running forever.

"It'll be soon, Uncle Gu. Look over there, there's a forest in that mountain pass. There's a herdsman's family there, and these past few days, a pack of wolves has been circling their flock of sheep."

"Oh, right, he said there are also ibex on the mountain, and wild boars come and root around in the nearby gullies every morning. We can stay at his place for the night, hunt wolves at night, and wild boars in the morning. If you can climb the mountain in the afternoon, we can go hunt ibex, roe deer, and fawns, what do you say?"

Revolutionary Buick's wife is pregnant. As a comrade whose name contains the word "revolution" and who is also a Party member, he believes the main reason is the prescription given by Li Long and the effect of taking the medicine for so long.

He wanted to thank Li Long, but Li Long couldn't come over for the time being, and he didn't have time to go over either, so he simply asked Old Gu to go hunting as a way of expressing his gratitude.

After all, Lao Gu is Li Long's father-in-law, so this can be considered a way of expressing gratitude.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the car arrived at the herder's yurt. Before it even stopped, Gu Boyuan could smell a rich aroma—the mutton was already cooked in a large pot outside the yurt.

The two children stood at the entrance of the yurt, looking at the strangers with curious expressions.

Gu Boyuan took out a bag of candy, which immediately attracted the two children—Old Gu had casually asked about the children in the yurt when he came, so he brought candy.

He has a grandson, so he knows what children like.

The family immediately smiled – they were naturally happy to welcome guests who cared about their children.

Gu Boyuan naturally wouldn't just bring some candy. He had heard about Li Long's experiences, so this time he brought brick tea, sugar cubes, salt, and other daily necessities.

Li Long only learned after arriving in Yili that the supply of white sugar here was indeed rationed. Even those with commodity grain rations only received a few ounces of sugar per month, rationed with coupons.

Although fruit candies and similar treats are sold in shopping malls, white sugar is still the same.

Gu Boyuan sighed, now he understood why Li Long could get so much in return every time he delivered several cartloads of sugar to Liu Gaolou.

This stuff is plentiful in Ma County and Shicheng, but scarce in other places.

These are truly scarce, strategic materials.

The things Gu Boyuan brought really made the herders very happy, and then they ate—hand-pulled mutton and onions.

Because the sheep was slaughtered in the morning and stewed for a long time, the meat had already fallen off the bone.

Some people like to eat this kind of meat, while others don't.

Old Gu didn't care; he was still able to eat, which meant he didn't have to strain himself anymore. Unlike some people who, despite their age, still made things difficult for themselves, insisting they weren't old and trying to eat things they couldn't handle even when their stomachs were failing.

He knows a lot and understands that at this age, it's even more important to protect one's stomach and intestines. Back when he and Li Jianguo were forming the team, the meals were plentiful, but they were eaten very quickly, which damaged his stomach and intestines. Now he has to take it easy and let it heal.

So while Revolutionary Buick and his colleagues were eating heartily, gnawing on bones, he was taking his time, making a bowl of mutton soup, picking up a rib, tearing off a piece of meat and chewing it slowly.

Mmm, it smells so good.

After lunch, it was past five o'clock. After resting for a while, Revolution Buick asked Gu Boyuan if he wanted to go up the mountain to take a look and take a walk.

“Go ahead.” Gu Boyuan naturally had no objections.

He had come out earlier to collect goods by the mountainside, and he really wanted to climb those mountains, but he didn't have time; he had to hurry and collect the goods.

Now that he has free time, he naturally has no objections.

Wang Dawei went over and got the gun, which was already fully loaded with bullets and the safety was on. He also carried Lao Gu's gun, so that Lao Gu could go up the mountain empty-handed.

The revolutionary Buick also carried a bag containing seven or eight packs of bullets, which was enough for its needs.

The armed forces department may not have much else, but they have plenty of these things.

The yurt was only a hundred meters from the foot of the mountain, and the group quickly made their way up.

Revolutionary Buick had inquired beforehand and climbed only two mountains. Before Old Gu even felt tired, he saw wild goats moving through the bushes in the mountains.

These wild goats are on the opposite mountain, only seventy or eighty meters away as the crow flies. Because there is a ravine between them, the wild goats are not afraid—this steep mountain is their home turf.

Gu Boyuan roughly counted them; there were twenty or thirty wild goats in the group, which was quite a lot.

"Should we just shoot?" Revolution Buick said. "We can't climb over there; if we get hit, we'll fall down."

"Then let's fight." Old Gu became interested. "Although you are armed cadres, my side is not bad either. Xiao Wang came from the main force (at this time, the 7th Infantry Division had not yet been converted into the Armed Police). Shall we have a contest?"

“Sure!” Revolutionary Bek said with a smile. “I used to be in the 6th Infantry Division. I spent three years in southern Xinjiang. Let’s take a look!”

Gunshots soon rang out in the mountains.

The target was large, and the guns were calibrated; the Type 56 semi-automatic rifles were in excellent condition, so this time the score was tied, with each of the four men aiming at one.

Three of them rolled down into the valley, and one got stuck in the bushes halfway up the mountain. Wang Dawei carried his gun and strode down into the ditch, then went back up to the mountainside and got the wild goat down.

Four prey in one go, and before they were satisfied, they had to go back.

Old Gu was still not satisfied.

Fortunately, he could still hunt wolves at night, and he was full of anticipation.

Dinner was a bit light, with naan bread and spicy red peppers. The vegetables were also brought by Gu Boyuan and his group; although not much, it was very good for the herders in the mountains.

They don't eat wild vegetables—or rather, they're not used to eating many of the things that Han Chinese eat, so they mainly rely on brick tea to supplement their vitamin intake.

Having vegetables is certainly a good thing.

The wolves arrived around 1 a.m., usually around 11 p.m. They were late today. Revolutionary Buick told Gu Boyuan that they were probably frightened by the gunfire in the afternoon.

There were seven wolves in the pack, of various sizes. Four of them came to harass the sheepfold, two were patrolling the mountains on either side, and the other was far away on the edge of the woods halfway up the mountain, not coming down.

The group sat and waited at the entrance of the yurt. It was a little chilly at night, but they had eaten meat during the day and were warm, so they didn't mind.

This time, Gu Boyuan truly experienced the same exhilaration that Li Long often felt when hunting in the mountains.

If he knew about such abundant resources, he would also like to come here often.

Four wolves were just enough for one person. Although the wolf smelled human scent, it lingered forty or fifty meters away, hesitant to approach.

But for these few people, with a big moon, they could almost see the wolf's shadow clearly, so they could fight.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"Boom!"

P.S.: I've recently discovered that there are quite a few people illegally copying my novel on Douyin and Tomato. If you encounter any of these, and you see a different title than mine, but the character names have been changed while the plot remains the same, please report it or let me know so I can contact the editor.

So annoying!

(End of this chapter)