Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1305 Everyone has unlimited potential, like Sister Yang.

After tidying up the factory, Li Long hired eight trucks to pick up the goods at Wucheng West Railway Station.

There are people at the train station who are in charge of loading and unloading; all he needs to do is pay them.

After the convoy returned, Liang Shuangcheng, along with the temporary workers he had called, began unloading the equipment piece by piece.

Li Long arranged the equipment separately based on his intuition, and after unloading it, he covered it with a tarpaulin.

Let's wait until Sister Yang returns with the technicians to do the assembly and sorting. It's best for him not to show off at this time.

The factory is located right next to the neighborhood committee office, so there's usually no worry about thieves coming by. Li Long is thinking of getting a dog over today or tomorrow, so that any noise at night can scare it away.

After finishing the equipment setup, Li Long still needs to plan the experimental field for drip irrigation tape.

Principal Yang acted quickly, and soon all the agricultural supplies were purchased. He called Li Long over to hear his advice on sowing.

“There’s no rush,” Li Long said to Principal Yang after arriving at the Agricultural Broadcasting School. “We usually plant cotton around mid-April. We’ll see how the weather goes this year. If there’s a cold snap in spring, we’ll postpone it by two days. If not, we’ll plant as usual.”

Principal Yang is a theorist with little practical experience, and in the past, most of the work was done by teachers, so he was responsible for providing guidance—the kind of guidance that involves standing on the ground and pointing things out.

Now that things are really going on, and it's an experimental field set up by the autonomous region, he really doesn't dare to act recklessly.

To be on the safe side, Principal Yang also called over two teachers. The two teachers were a man and a woman. The man's name was Zhao Chengwu, and the woman's name was Bai Xuelan. Their experiences were similar to Gu Xiaoxia's. They had worked in the countryside after junior and senior high school, and later joined the agricultural extension school when it recruited teachers.

They have some farming experience and have received training in and studied the theoretical knowledge of agricultural planting.

The more you discuss something together, the more you'll learn.

Li Long felt it was unnecessary, but since Principal Yang had made the decision, he had no objections. He simply shared his thoughts and then listened to what others had to say.

The two teachers didn't have any objections to Li Long's suggestion. After all, they relied entirely on experience from farming with their families. They had a lot of theoretical knowledge, but when it came to applying it in practice, they might not be able to do it.

The teaching at agricultural extension schools differed from that at agricultural colleges. Agricultural colleges at that time still had their own experimental fields, and the knowledge they taught was applied in practice. Agricultural extension schools, on the other hand, typically only taught theoretical knowledge from books during their three- or four-month training courses, and they were not clear about how it was applied in practice.

So in the end, we should take what Li Long said as the standard.

There's nothing we can do about it; his reputation precedes him. A cooperative that can improve saline-alkali wasteland and produce the same yield as ordinary cultivated land—who wouldn't be impressed by that?
Seeing this, Principal Yang asked Bai Xuelan to write down what Li Long had said, and Li Long immediately understood.

He was planning to wait for Professor Yang and his group to come and show them; after all, the Agricultural Broadcasting School had taken the money and actually done the work. And "doing the work" wasn't just about buying things and getting things done; it also had to be reflected in written documentation.

No wonder he could become a school principal!
There's still some time before cotton planting. Principal Yang's twenty mu of land contracted from the township is already cultivated and doesn't need any prior modifications, so after explaining these things, Li Long drove to the fourth team.

Principal Yang invited him to stay for dinner, but Li Long declined. After the funding for the experimental fields arrived, Principal Yang's meals improved, but Li Long didn't participate; he was still thinking of going to the team to see how the cooperative was doing with the wasteland.

Actually, there are relatively few people in the fields in the production team now, since the snow has just melted and the fields are not completely dry, making it quite troublesome to get into the fields.

But some diligent people have already brought manure from other places and spread it on their fields.

The manure being spread is fermented, not raw manure dug up this year. If raw manure is to be spread, it has to be done in the early winter of the previous year, so that the manure can be left in the ground all winter and ferment.

After driving to his older brother's house, Li Long got out of the car and saw that there was feces on the ground. He thought to himself, "Did my family also poop?"
In the courtyard, Li Jianguo, Li Andong, Li Junfeng, and others were dumping manure into the vegetable garden from a small four-wheeled tractor—Li Long guessed that the manure must have come from Lao Ma Hao.

"Xiao Long is here?" Li Andong, facing Li Long's direction, was the first to see him and greeted him with a smile, "Are you free now?"

"Yeah, we came from the Agricultural Broadcasting School, just finished some business. Did you bring this manure from Old Ma's place?" Li Long picked up an iron shovel from the wall and joined the manure shoveling team.

A full load of manure takes about a ton, and it's shoveled up quickly. Then it's evenly spread in the vegetable garden. After a while, the manure is turned into the soil to slowly nourish the vegetables.

Li Junfeng found a broken broom head, got on the tractor and swept all the manure residue out of the cargo bed, then got on the tractor engine and drove it to the side.

Li Jianguo then took a large broom and swept up all the manure that had leaked out of the yard.

Li Long looked at the manure pile in the yard; two cartloads must have been hauled away before he arrived.

“We’ll have to do this for the next few days. There’s a lot of manure at Old Ma’s place,” Li Jianguo said. “This year, Lao Luo said that the manure won’t be given to anyone else. After most of the cattle and sheep there are sold, there will be less manure coming out. From now on, it will just be used to feed our vegetable gardens.”

Old Ma's shop also has a vegetable garden, and every year they apply a lot of manure, resulting in very good vegetables.

Crops thrive on manure. This old saying isn't just for show—of course, according to modern science, manure also needs to be mixed with other substances to prevent the soil from becoming compacted.

After finishing shoveling the manure, the group washed their hands and either squatted or stood at the gate of the courtyard, chatting about various things.

"How's the irrigation going for the cooperative's land?" Li Long asked.

“We’ve been watering it every day,” Li Junfeng said. “Old Xie has been keeping an eye on it these past two days. By the way, Xu Haijun is mainly in charge; he’s been very proactive these past few days.”

"That's good." Li Long smiled. If you want to fit in, you should take the initiative to do the work. That's no problem.

"After watering the plants, we can go catch fish again," Li Andong said excitedly. "I see there are quite a few fish in that water."

He only just realized how many fish were in the small lake, and he was in a state of excitement, so he wouldn't be able to get past it anytime soon.

Li Long estimates that this period of excitement will last at least a year.

Li Junfeng's family didn't own much land, so he helped Li Jianguo with farming and incidentally tended to his own. Li Andong had plenty to eat and drink here, which was more comfortable than back home, so he could relax and had a goal, which naturally made him feel different.

"We've caught too many, we can't finish them all." Li Junfeng was already a little helpless. His father was acting like a young boy, getting excited about everything, especially catching fish. His eyes would light up as soon as the topic came up.

Li Long understood his feelings; Li Andong was exactly the same as his father, Li Qingxia, when he first arrived.

According to what was said on TV: Old Li has never fought such a rich battle before!

After sitting at home for a while, Li Long got up; he was going to go check on the cooperative.

He always considered the continued development of the cooperative to be fundamental, and he even planned to retire as a landlord once the purchasing station was nearly completed.

After all, farming in cooperatives is his true strength.

When Li Long said he was going to check on the fields, Li Junfeng and Li Andong wanted to come along, but Li Jianguo waved his hand and said, "You guys go ahead, I'm not going."

Sitting in Li Long's Land Cruiser, Li Andong patted the seat and said with a smile, "Little Long, this car must be expensive, right? Just look at these seats, they're like sofas, much better than that GAZ truck!"

“That’s right, this car is as good as several Nagas,” Li Junfeng interjected before Li Long could speak, “and it’s comfortable to ride in.”

Li Long smiled but didn't say anything. He had been driving the Land Cruiser for more than half a year, and others had also noticed that it was better than the cars they had driven before. Especially in rural areas, it was much better than GAZ trucks and Jeeps 212s.

However, the car was expensive, and once the team members asked about the price, they stopped discussing it altogether.

The cooperative's land wasn't far from the residential area; they arrived in no time. Upon reaching the field, Li Long got out of the car and saw Xie Yundong talking to someone at the edge of the field.

Three or four people surrounded him, as if they were asking him for advice or having a conversation.

“Those are the people from the newly established cooperative,” Li Junfeng whispered to Li Long. “They follow Lao Xie around all the time, asking him all sorts of questions. A few times when Lao Xie went to Uncle Jianguo’s house, they went over too.”

Li Long understood immediately; this was the reason he sought advice on the ins and outs of operating a cooperative.

At the end of the year before last, the cooperative had newly opened irrigation canals in these fields. Water from the small lake flows out of these canals and into the farmland that has not yet become alkaline.

Wearing rubber boots, Xu Haijun walked quickly across the field carrying an iron shovel. He would hurry over to any patch that hadn't been watered and needed pruning.

Several other people were busy in the field. This large area of ​​land depended on these few people for irrigation, so the workload was quite heavy. Fortunately, it was just flushing out the alkali; the water flushed down, submerged the soil, and dissolved and carried away the salt and alkali in the topsoil, providing a simple improvement.

Seeing Li Long approaching, Xie Yundong walked out from the crowd to greet him: "Little Long is here! Uncle An Dong, Junfeng, what brings you here too?"

"Come and take a look," Li Long said. "How many days will it take to finish watering this?"

"It will take another two days. Fortunately, the floodwaters haven't come down yet, so let's drain the water from the small lake. When the flood comes, we can store more water."

When the others saw Li Long coming, they followed him. One of them asked, "Li Long, you've contracted this small lake. We'd like to irrigate our land too. Could you put in a good word for us with the team?"

“It can’t be opened.” Li Long waved his hand. “I only contracted the fish inside. As for the water surface, that’s decided by the team. I can’t make that decision.” He had already expected that someone would bring up this matter again, and he wouldn’t step in.

These people asked him to tell the team about this, simply because they wanted to save on water bills.

Li Long had already rejected others last year, so he felt no guilt about rejecting them again.

"Li Long, you guys irrigate here, wash away the salt and alkali, and the yield goes up. We can't compare to you," someone said sarcastically. "This year, we'll be lucky to harvest a hundred kilograms per mu."

"My Uncle Long paid a contract fee for contracting this small lake, so it's only natural for him to use this water."

To put it bluntly, Uncle Long has never interfered with the fishing practices of the other families in the team; the contract fee they pay is almost the same as their water bill. If you want to flush away the salt and alkali beforehand, just pay the water bill and let the water flow; are you just unwilling to spend that money?

Li Long's silence doesn't mean others won't speak. Li Junfeng had just settled down, and he didn't care who these people were. He wasn't able to stay because he owed anyone a favor; it was because Li Jianguo and Li Long thought he was doing a good job and used their connections.

Li Long even paid for a road to be built so that his family could settle down there; that was no small sum!

So how could Li Junfeng possibly agree to this when he heard someone subtly targeting Li Long?

The others didn't look too happy when Li Junfeng so directly exposed their pride.

But Li Long didn't mention Li Junfeng. They knew that this might be Li Long's intention, and Li Junfeng wasn't wrong. They just wanted to get something for free and water the land without spending any money.

Feeling embarrassed, the group left.

Xie Yundong gave Li Junfeng a thumbs up: "Junfeng, well said! I'm in the team, and some of these people are older than me, so I can't say for sure, but that's the gist of it. They don't want to pay but still want to get a bargain. They really think they're shameless!"

Human nature is complex. When the farmers in the village are kind, they are truly kind. If someone is in trouble, everyone will basically go to help. Even if they can't help, they can at least say a few words of comfort.

But it's true that some people are greedy for small gains and unwilling to suffer losses.

When they're working hard, they really are. Even under the blazing sun and in temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius, they won't complain while working in the fields.

When they're lazy, they can be really lazy. Some people won't even pick up the weeds lying around in their yard, and they might not even bother to pick up an oil bottle that's fallen over. They have no sense of responsibility.

Li Long and Xie Yundong discussed their upcoming plans. Because the cooperative had set aside money for agricultural supplies and some initial investments when distributing profits last year, they could basically proceed step by step. Xie Yundong and Li Long confirmed the planting time and knew what to do next.

"Such a large plot of land! Even the whole village in my hometown doesn't have such a large plot..." Li Andong exclaimed as he looked at the vast expanse of land before him. "Although it's saline-alkali land, it can still yield 300 catties of cotton per mu, which is not bad."

Neither Li Long nor Xie Yundong spoke; they knew perfectly well why the saline-alkali land could yield 150 kilograms of cotton in its first year.

Others only saw how much the cooperative distributed in dividends each year, but they didn't see how much they invested. With two large-scale irrigations a year, as well as cultivation, weeding, and spraying pesticides, Li Long poured all his experience from his previous life into the field management, meticulously timing everything.

Why do other people's cotton yields not as much as theirs, even in cultivated fields?

Pests, bud drop, and other small issues can all lead to reduced yields. These small problems accumulate and eventually reduce cotton production.

Li Long knew the importance of these places, and he would personally go to the fields to provide guidance and lead Xie Yundong and the others in their work at each time of year.

It would be strange if there wasn't a bumper harvest!

Of course, Professor Luo's soil testing and fertilization method was also very useful; otherwise, simply flooding the area with water would not have been enough to completely suppress the salinity.

There's no need to go into details about these matters. Both Xie Yundong and Li Junfeng were well aware of Li Long's contribution.

Needless to say, it would be quite troublesome to explain this to Li Andong.

"Xiao Long is here." Xu Haijun emerged from the water at some point, carrying two fish skewers on reeds. He handed one of the skewers to Li Long: "Here, take it back and eat it. The fish are still alive."

"Hey, there are so many fish in this water!" Li Andong was immediately excited when he saw so many big crucian carp. He wasn't envious at all and hurriedly headed towards the water's edge.

"All you know how to do is flatter Xiaolongma, why don't you know how to give me any?" Xie Yundong joked.

"You haven't eaten enough? I just got you a skewer yesterday," Xu Haijun said. "What, finished it?"

"No, no, I wasn't joking." Xie Yundong laughed. "You're quite something, managing to catch fish and moor the fish pods at the same time."

“The fish are right on the water's edge, just let the water carry them away, it’s very easy to catch them, it’s a piece of cake,” Xu Haijun explained. “The water really makes a difference, some parts of the ground were alkaline, but the water washes away the alkalinity.”

"In another two years, this land will be good land." Li Long squatted down to look at the soil. Although it wasn't as faded as cultivated land, it wasn't as grayish-white as saline-alkali land either; it was much better.

After watching the field for a while, Li Andong returned with a happy expression, carrying two bunches of reeds with more than a dozen crucian carp hanging from them.

"Hey, there are so many fish in this water! Oh, and what about snakes? I almost got bitten by one just now."

"Are you alright?" Li Long asked anxiously. Snakes are frequently encountered on the alkali ridges of the fourth team, including both non-venomous snakes and venomous plateau vipers.

"It's alright, I stepped on it and killed it." Li Andong said with a bit of pride, "It's just a little small, otherwise, if I took it back and peeled it, it would be a good dish."

Okay, we're all foodies.

Xie Yundong and the others still needed to water the fields, so Li Long and the others didn't stay there any longer and drove back—mainly because they still needed to go back and clean up the fish.

Li Long originally intended to leave the fish at his older brother's place to cook and eat, but Liang Yuemei cleaned the fish and asked him to take it back, saying that Han Fang's mother wasn't home, and Li Long's cooking was so-so, so he should take the fish back to help everyone make up for it.

Well, in the sister-in-law's eyes, Li Long's cooking was barely edible.

Preconceived notions can be deadly.

On March 19th, Sister Yang finally returned with the technicians from the cannery equipment factory. After getting off the train in Wucheng, she did not go to Kuishan with Engineer Deng and the others, but instead took a car directly to Ma County.

Li Long also saw the two technicians from the equipment factory, one named Wu Ming and the other Wan Qingshan.

Both of them looked to be in their late twenties or early thirties, and according to Sister Yang, they were key technical personnel in the factory.

They arrived rather late, so Li Long first took his men to Tuanfenglou for a welcome meal, then settled them in the guesthouse, and would provide guidance on the installation the next day.

Sister Yang has traveled a long way and needs to rest.

That evening in the courtyard, Sister Yang told Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia about her wonderful experience on this trip.

"The development in the region is much faster than here," Sister Yang said. "They have all kinds of machinery and equipment. To be honest, you could make a lot of money just by setting up a supply and marketing point in northern Xinjiang—there are just too many tricks to it!"

Indeed, business opportunities need to be explored. Different industries are like different worlds, but if you really put your heart into it, you can still discover many differences.

"So, are you going to do this or not?" Li Long asked Sister Yang.

"We can't do it. This line of work is for men." Sister Yang waved her hand. "You have to drink with the people in those factories, eat and drink with them, and give them gifts. Sigh, we can't do this. I think it's better to just run this processing workshop or cannery peacefully."

Sister Yang knew perfectly well that as the person in charge of the jerky processing workshop, all she needed to do was get the work done. Li Long would handle all the other troubles. She wasn't ungrateful; if she really entered the business world, she'd most likely be taken advantage of.

So just stick to doing what you're capable of doing.

The next day, Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan arrived at the Li family early, and then Li Long led them to the location of the cannery.

Seeing that the equipment was well protected, the two technicians smiled and began to explain to Li Long the function of each piece of equipment, where it should be installed, the required space, and other accessories that Li Long and his team needed to prepare.

Li Long could tell that these two were genuine technical personnel, and they had the straightforwardness typical of technical or engineering men—they came here to work, without any unnecessary scheming.

Well, he does appreciate people like that.

Sister Yang followed along the whole time, taking notes in her notebook. Li Long didn't need to take notes; his mind was perfectly sharp now.

Liang Shuangcheng, along with the odd jobs he had found, carefully moved the equipment and placed it in the locations designated by the technician.

Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan were quite satisfied with the large factory. However, during the guidance process, Wan Qingshan also revealed a hint of concern to Li Long. They had already noticed that northern Xinjiang was sparsely populated, especially Ma County, which had a population that was about the size of a township in the border region.

With such a small space, setting up such a large set of equipment means that if we produce too much, we probably won't be able to sell it, and if we produce too little, the equipment will be idle and inefficient.

Why bother?
Li Long told them that he had overseas channels to sell goods to the Soviet Union, and that they shouldn't worry.

These two technicians were no longer worried and began to explain the performance and operation of the equipment in detail.

Seeing that Li Long didn't remember, Sister Yang thought that Li Long had really put all the burden on her shoulders, so she became even more careful and wrote down the precautions for every step of the operation, for fear of forgetting even a little bit and causing trouble if she couldn't remember it later.

All the equipment was moved into the factory, and the next step was to power it on and test it. Because raw materials were needed, it couldn't be done that day, so Li Long asked Liang Shuangcheng to take two technicians out to eat while he went to contact suppliers.

The raw materials for canneries are not only the meat used to make canned goods, but also the outer shell material for the cans, which is sheet metal, and this also needs to be purchased.

Moreover, the standards are quite strict; you can't just buy whatever you want.

Having obtained the specifications from the technicians, Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative and the hardware and electrical appliance market, and finally went to Shicheng to buy a batch of raw materials.

It's just a trial run now, so we don't need too much yet, but we'll definitely need to order in large quantities later.

According to Li Long's idea, the main ingredients for this dish are braised beef, braised pork, and lamb offal.

Of course, it would be great to make braised lamb chops, but I don't know if I can make them or if they will be accepted. After all, lamb chops will definitely be quite gamey when they are canned.

Although it's not sold domestically, the western republic might accept it due to increasing food shortages, but that's uncertain.

So Li Long decided to make the first three items first.

Yang Dajie cooked dinner in the courtyard, and while eating, she chatted with Li Long about the contents of the canned food.

Li Long shared his idea with Sister Yang, and Sister Yang thought it was a good idea.

“I think we could also try making a batch of canned mutton,” Gu Xiaoxia suggested. “Just like the mutton offal we had a while ago, we could sell it as a side dish, or even give it to others to try, and see how it goes.”

Li Long thought this method was feasible. After all, automated equipment doesn't require many people to supervise it; as long as the raw material ratio is right, it's fine.

Of course, this is also a problem. Now that the equipment is installed, the next step is trial production. Li Long thinks it would be good if the canned products could be produced in May or June after this is done.

After all, if this thing is to be produced on a large scale, the ratio of raw materials cannot be set arbitrarily, and it is quite troublesome to produce it in a large pot.

Li Long didn't think too much about it. He planned to leave it entirely to Sister Yang and try it out slowly. Anyway, beef and mutton were cheap at this time, and with Yushanjiang and Keyum in place, the raw materials wouldn't be a problem.

After putting Mingming and Haohao to sleep that night, Gu Xiaoxia said to Li Long with some concern:

"We spent so much money on this equipment, what if we mess it up..."

"No, don't worry. You're worried, but Sister Yang is even more nervous than you. To be honest, we've made money quite easily these past few years. If we don't spend some of it on real businesses and just keep being middlemen, we won't feel secure."

If one day he can no longer sell cars, and the authorities tighten restrictions on harvesting fritillaria bulbs, his company's business could shrink by 80% or more.

Although Li Long had intended to expand the business and increase the ability to withstand risks, the cooperative was just starting out, and Meng Hai's construction company was still in the initial stage of development, like seedlings that could not support a large enterprise.

That's why he thought of setting up this cannery. At least while he has a good relationship with Liu Shanmin and Liu Shanmin has a wide network of connections there, he wants to get the products out there first.

Li Long would naturally remind Liu Shanmin to be careful over there. If things went well, this business could last for ten years or so. The cannery, if not his pillar industry, could at least share a lot of the risks.

After all, that republic's light industry development was limited for nearly two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, its neighbor, Great Russia, continued to enjoy the popularity of canned goods forty years later.

Moreover, the area experienced food shortages for several years, so people there are really not picky about what they eat.

Li Long believed that as long as the product quality was good, selling it shouldn't be a problem.

Seeing that Li Long was confident and had a plan, Gu Xiaoxia stopped talking and started talking about this year's college entrance exams.

Li Juan wants to take the college entrance exam, while Li Qiang wants to take the high school entrance exam. Li Qiang has already decided to apply to the top high school, and barring any unforeseen circumstances, getting in shouldn't be a problem.

Li Juan is preparing for the college entrance exam, and her senior class at No. 1 High School is already gearing up for the final push. The exam is in July, so there are still a little over three months left, which doesn't seem like much time.

“Juan’s grades are good, but now it’s time to estimate her scores and apply to universities after the exams. Estimating her scores is crucial,” Gu Xiaoxia said. “She definitely wants to apply to schools in Peking University, but we need to be prepared for multiple possibilities.”

Li Long didn't know much about this, so he just told Gu Xiaoxia not to rush and to ask around with Gu Xiaoyu first. They could wait for Li Juan's mock exam results, then see which schools were better based on her score, and then decide on a major.

Yanjing is the best, but it doesn't really matter if you're not there.

Moreover, they need to discuss this matter with their elder brother, since Li Long is only their uncle.

The next day, when Li Long and Sister Yang went to the cannery, Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan were already there. This made Li Long feel a little embarrassed; these two technicians were just too dedicated.

Li Long handed over the raw materials he brought to them, and as they packed the materials, he explained the process to them. Sister Yang still took notes diligently.

Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan not only operated the equipment themselves, but also let Sister Yang operate it for a while, as did Li Long.

Since there are no contents yet, only the can-making equipment is turned on. Everyone finds it amazing to watch the sheet metal go around in the equipment and come out with a new can shell—unsealed.

After trying it a few times, Ms. Yang found that it was actually quite simple.

The two technicians then changed the mold, resulting in a different outer shell for the produced cans. They also explained some precautions to Sister Yang and Li Long.

Li Long was listening attentively. Sister Yang couldn't stay here forever; someone would need to fill in if anything happened. Of course, he planned that after the technician left, Sister Yang would adjust the ingredients while simultaneously training the technicians.

After all, no matter how high the degree of automation, it still needs to be controlled by people.

Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan stayed here for a week, thoroughly training Li Long and the others. They also used the basic ingredients provided by Sister Yang to make a batch of dozens of cans of braised beef.

Then Li Long saw them off as they left—before leaving, Li Long transferred the remaining payment for the equipment to the equipment factory's account through the bank.

Li Long also brought some local specialties for Wu Ming and Wan Qingshan to thank them for their hard work and dedication in helping to debug the equipment and train him and Sister Yang during this period.

Li Long is already proficient in operating the equipment, and Sister Yang has no problem either. But the main issue now is not operation, but rather the personnel and the proportions of the finished product's flavor.

This is where Sister Yang will have to use her brain.

Li Long wasn't idle either. The procedures for reopening a cannery were quite complicated. He needed to apply for food inspection and quarantine permits, health licenses, and so on.

Fortunately, the original meat processing workshop already had a business license; what was needed now were other materials. As a well-known figure in the county, a major taxpayer, and a leader in industry and commerce, Li Long found it quite convenient to handle these procedures—mainly because the procedures were relatively simple at this time.

"Is this the canned food you're going to produce?" At noon, Li Qingxia looked at the tin cans on the table in the courtyard with some surprise.

"Yes, it's braised beef inside. Dad, want to open it and have a taste?"

"I'll have to give it a try." Li Qingxia was intrigued. He picked up a can and examined it, quickly finding the opening mechanism.

Back then, there were tools for opening tin cans, unlike in later times when you could just peel the lid off from the top. You either had to forcefully break the seal on the top of the can, or use a wire tool similar to a key to unscrew the metal seal, and finally remove the lid.

It's rather troublesome and can easily hurt your hands.

Li Qingxia used a tool to remove the top of the can, then took the enamel basin handed to her by Li Long and poured the braised beef inside into it.

A half-kilogram can contains at least 400 grams of solid contents (beef).

That's very honest.

The broth hadn't completely solidified, considering the temperature was already quite high.

Li Qingxia picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of beef cut into the size of a sugar cube, and put it in her mouth to taste.

"Hmm, it's a bit salty, but it tastes good!" Li Qingxia nodded. "A little saltiness is good, it'll keep for a while."

Hearing that he tasted good, both Li Long and Sister Yang laughed.

It seems that, apart from Li Long and Sister Yang, the first person in the family to try it was quite satisfied.

Gu Xiaoxia also tried it and said it was good.

It's true that it tastes better when it's cold than when it's hot, but in terms of taste alone, it's still pretty good.

Li Long then took the canned food to his relatives and friends in the fourth team for them to try, and everyone said it was good.

This is just the initial recipe; it will need to be tested by the relevant food inspection department later. Sister Yang wants to develop several different flavors, while Li Long wants to focus on developing this one.

Anyway, the people selling it to the franchisees next door are so enthusiastic about eating those pickled salted pork slices that they find the braised beef to be very delicious.

That's true at least in this era.

Although Sister Yang was somewhat unwilling, the factory belonged to Li Long, so she had no choice but to agree.

Li Long also agreed that while mass-producing braised beef and pork canned goods, she could intermittently try producing other flavors of canned goods, just as Gu Xiaoxia suggested, and send them out as a pairing to see if it would work.

After all, the livestock markets around Ma County don't have as many cattle as sheep, so when developing beef, you can also develop mutton.

As for pork, there are pig farms and specialized pig farmers of all sizes in the county. Each family has a few pigs, they just need to slaughter them.

At this time, the food factory was still selling meat in small quantities, and Li Long wondered if he should find someone to deliver pork to the cannery.

After all, beef and mutton from Yushanjiang and Keyum are sufficient.

After determining the proportions of the canned beef, Li Long first went to Yu Shanjiang and told him about needing a large quantity of beef.

"Do you need it every day? How much?"

"The more the better." Li Long smiled. "When you run a cannery, the more braised beef you make into canned goods, the better."

Yu Shanjiang was naturally very excited. He had been trading cattle and sheep for more than half a year and had already begun to enter the wholesale industry. It was currently a seller's market; there were plenty of cattle and sheep available to buy, but it was difficult to find sellers who needed large quantities—food factories also had their own channels.

So now he mainly supplies state-owned and private restaurants. Although he has many distribution channels, they are scattered.

It's just very troublesome.

Without a car, he couldn't do this job at all. Even so, settling accounts is quite troublesome. Most restaurants settle accounts monthly, and some even want to settle accounts quarterly.

Li Long said the more beef he needed, the better, as it would at least ensure payment and allow him to expand his cattle-buying range.

“I can provide 500 kilograms of beef every day,” Yu Shanjiang calculated. “I can increase it a bit more in half a month.”

Five hundred kilograms is far from enough. However, the initial processing is acceptable.

"I don't want the beef bones, but please send over the cleaned offal as well," Li Long said after thinking for a moment.

Sister Yang's processing workshop can make lamb offal, so naturally it can also make beef offal. Li Long thought he might as well pack the beef offal into tin cans and distribute some to Liu Gaolou to take over, to see if the member countries need it.

If you can eat lamb offal, you can eat beef offal.

Of course, they didn't eat this in later generations, and there was also smuggling back then, but let's not go into that. At least at this time, on an empty stomach, they probably wouldn't be able to choose anything.

The beef and offal combined don't even amount to a ton, which isn't enough. But Yu Shanjiang's capabilities are limited right now, and he can't just supply meat for himself; he still needs to maintain relationships with his existing business partners.

However, Li Long believed that he would gradually shift his focus towards Li Long's side, since it's better to stick to what you know than what you don't, and besides, Li Long had a 50% stake in the business.

Back in the courtyard, Li Long told Sister Yang about it, and she naturally had no problem with it. She was quite supportive of using beef offal to make canned goods.

Li Long was wondering if he should look for Keyum again, but to his surprise, Keyum came to find him the next day.

"Mr. Li, I know you run a cannery, so I wanted to ask if you need to increase the meat supply?"

“Yes, I need it. Beef, offal, lamb offal, I need them all.” Li Long didn’t waste any words. “I need a lot, your previous prices are no longer suitable, give me the wholesale price.”

He made a good profit selling canned goods to Liu Gaolou. He hadn't paid much attention to that when he was making dried meat before, but now he knew that although the beef and mutton that Keyum provided him was of good quality, the price was indeed high, almost the same as the retail price.

Keyumu blushed and hurriedly said, "As long as you need a large quantity, I'll definitely offer you a cheaper price."

"Wholesale price, otherwise I'll have Yushanjiang provide them all." Li Long didn't waste any more words with him.
"I know wholesale prices are going up, but don't try to fool me. I can find out the prices in Yushanjiang. I buy in bulk, so payment is quick, you know that. If you try to cheat me, then don't do business with me anymore."

"Okay, okay, no problem, wholesale price it is." How could Keyum possibly let go of Li Long, such a big customer? He quickly agreed, "Do you want as many as you want?"

"Yes, but it has to be fresh. The offal must be cleaned thoroughly. Don't make me wash it again; I don't do that. I only accept clean meat. Don't try to fool me with meat that's about to spoil or diseased." Li Long stated his conditions. "Let's do business properly. If I earn more, you'll earn more too."

Yu Sufu's experience made Li Long realize that you have to talk things out with business people beforehand, otherwise you won't be able to be friends with them.

Keyum readily agreed. Now, he and Yushanjiang were the largest cattle and sheep wholesalers in the Shicheng and Maxian area. He knew that with Li Long's backing, he couldn't bring down Yushanjiang, and now he just hoped to make a profit from this big business.

Li Long boasted that he would take as much beef as needed, and Keyum calculated that he could provide several hundred kilograms every day.

Actually, more can be provided, but at this time of year, herders are already preparing to move their livestock to the mountains. The concept of raising and fattening livestock in enclosures at the foot of the mountains has not yet taken hold, and the government's subsidies have not yet started. Therefore, this is actually the off-season for beef and mutton.

That's already quite a lot.

Li Long went to see Sister Yang again and told her how much beef and mutton he had bought, wanting to see if she could handle it.

"No problem! I've already made some of the temporary workers at the jerky processing plant permanent, and I'm sending some others to the cannery for on-the-job training," Sister Yang said confidently. "We can definitely handle it!"

(End of this chapter)