Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

By March 24th, all the snow in the fields had melted, and even at Halimu's winter camp, there was no snow left; only the white caps of snow could be seen on the distant mountains.

Zhao Shijie arrived at Team Four to prepare for the final phase of the project's renovation.

He had already called Li Long before he arrived, so when he got to the fourth team, Li Long had already brought in excavators and bulldozers from Meng Hai.

Zhao Shijie brought his own vehicles this time. He brought two large trucks from Wucheng for the main and branch pipes used for laying drip irrigation tape. Another truck carried water pumps and other supporting equipment.

The water pump equipment and pipelines were unloaded directly in the cooperative's courtyard. Li Long had arranged for people to wait there beforehand. After unloading, they would have lunch, and then the truck driver would drive back. Zhao Shijie planned to stay there for a few days to finish the remaining work.

Li Long originally intended for Zhao Shijie to rest for half a day and continue working the next day. Zhao Shijie disagreed, saying:

"After I finish this project, I need to hurry over to Qitai, where there are other projects that need to be supervised."

Since Zhao Shijie insisted, Li Long stopped trying to persuade him. After having lunch with Lao Ma, he led a group of people in a tractor to transport the main pipeline to the cooperative's field.

Many villagers gathered around to watch. In particular, people from the other two cooperatives, like Huang Xinping and Wang Caimi, followed Zhao Shijie closely, watching how he directed the workers.

The ground temperature hadn't fully risen yet, so when the excavator dug down into the ground, you could feel that some areas beneath the topsoil were still quite frozen.

Of course, it would be difficult to dig manually, but with the help of excavators, deep trenches were quickly dug out.

Zhao Shijie took a ruler to check the standards of these deep trenches. If any part did not meet the standards, he would have an excavator come over to rework it or repair it manually.

There shouldn't be a single large clod of soil in the dug trench; it must be completely cleaned.

After the trench was dug, the pipes were laid. The main pipe was relatively thick, with thick walls, and it was made of hard plastic.

After the pipe was laid, Zhao Shijie had it covered with soil manually. He also instructed the workers not to put large clods of soil directly on the pipe to avoid damaging it.

Li Long felt that Zhao Shijie was being overly cautious, but such high standards and requirements were good for both himself and the cooperative, so he didn't say anything.

When he turned his head, he saw Huang Xinping holding a notebook and writing something down. Li Long went over to take a look and found that it contained the steps for laying the main pipeline.

He wrote down Zhao Shijie's words verbatim.

Are you planning to renovate your system using drip irrigation in the future?

Li Long wanted to laugh after reading it. Considering that each cooperative now has several hundred acres of land, the cost of transforming it themselves would be quite high.

Of course, if someone really wanted to make changes, he wouldn't say anything, but Li Long felt that remembering these things was probably useless.

In a few years, the country will promote large-scale drip irrigation farming, and funds will be allocated for centralized transformation. I am just taking the lead now.

If someone is eager to modify it themselves, the conditions are not yet ripe.

Because Zhao Shijie had high standards, the progress was slow each day. What Li Long had planned to complete in three days took a full five days.

It took four days to lay the pipes and one day to install the water pump.

After the installation was completed, water was released for inspection. The main pipeline is connected to the pump house. Now, all we need to do is release water from the small pond, filter it in the filter tank, and then pump it to the pump house to be pumped through the main pipeline.

When Zhao Shijie said he wanted to test the water, Li Long also planned to have someone patrol the canal and clear away the weeds and debris in the main and branch canals built last year.

After all, a winter has passed, who knows what's been piling up inside?

Zhao Shijie refused, saying it would be a good opportunity to test the performance of the filter bed.

Looking at the fine mesh sieve covering the filter tank opening, Li Long felt that no matter how much stuff came in, it would be blocked.

Since Zhao Shijie suggested trying it this way, Li Long had no objections. He asked Tao Daqiang and Xu Haijun to go to Xiaohaizi and lift the sluice gate.

It's 2 kilometers from the cooperative's land to Xiaohaizi. The two of them can drive there quickly.

The team members gathered at the edge of the field to watch; they actually wanted to see how the water was pumped from the pump house into the field after it arrived.

The other two cooperatives, in particular, are very concerned about this.

The water was coming down rather slowly, so Li Long said to Zhao Shijie, "Should we go up the canal and see how effective it is?"

“Sure.” Zhao Shijie had no objection. The irrigation canal hadn’t been used since it was repaired last year, so now was a good time to complete the acceptance process.

The two walked up the irrigation ditch, and many others followed. As they walked, Zhao Shijie said, "To be honest, after all these years of supervising poverty alleviation projects, the people in your village really make me feel different."

They have a strong thirst for knowledge and are quick to learn new things; they are most like the farmers of the new era.

Li Long laughed and said, "Let me tell you the truth, everyone here is here to make money. Last year, cotton prices were so high, everyone who planted cotton saw the benefits. So this year, the cotton planting area has increased by more than a thousand acres."

Two years ago, the township conducted a drip irrigation experiment, and each mu (unit of land area) yielded one or two hundred kilograms more cotton than usual. This yield became known throughout the township.

Based on last year's prices, one mu (unit of land area) could yield several hundred yuan more. For that alone, who wouldn't want to do it?

Li Long felt he had seen the truth, but Zhao Shijie shook his head and said, "No, that's not how it is."

Over the past few years, I have been overseeing these support projects, especially drip irrigation farming projects, which exist in both northern and southern Xinjiang.

Some people from their villages or production and construction corps units also came to watch the spectacle. But most of them were just there for the fun of it; if you asked them to learn it, they felt that this new technology hadn't been tested or used before, so they didn't dare to use it.

Unlike your village, I can clearly feel that if the autonomous region had projects for these people to renovate, at least half of the people who followed us would be willing to renovate.

That's the difference. People who dare to try new farming techniques, even if they fail the first couple of times, have a different kind of drive. They're likely to try again, and ultimately, they will succeed.

Li Long fell silent.

He remembered the people in his village from his previous life.

At that time, our village was the first in the entire township, and even the entire county, to implement drip irrigation farming on a large scale.

It was also a national project that we secured, with more than 10 million yuan in project funding coming in. The entire village's land was remeasured, divided, consolidated, and leveled, and then pump houses, filter ponds, canals were built, and electricity was connected.

It was all done in one winter and spring.

Then we started planting drip-irrigated cotton.

However, the village did not experience the process of "suffering two losses" that Zhao Shijie mentioned. In the first year of drip irrigation, the yield per mu exceeded 300 kilograms, and in many places it even reached more than 400 kilograms.

It immediately shocked everyone around.

Then, people in other villages learned about the benefits of drip irrigation farming, but it would take several years to implement it throughout the county. So, the young people in the village started. Unable to suppress their ambition, they earned money from high yields and had cash in hand, so they began to contract land in other places, sometimes for five or ten years at a time.

When the country carried out general land reforms later, the young people in the village held hundreds or even thousands of acres of land, with the largest contracted land covering tens of thousands of acres across northern and southern Xinjiang.

Young people made a profit when cotton prices rose in 2016.

Of course, what happens after making money is another matter. Some gamble away their entire fortune, while others make other investments. Although they don't lose everything, they eventually return to where they started.

Those who ventured out to make their way in the world eventually returned to their villages, essentially starting all over again.

Fortunately, they have experience, and after so many years of ups and downs, they know that cotton prices will eventually rise. If they bet right, they can turn their fortunes around in a year. So these people are still working hard in this industry.

Li Long realized he had misjudged the situation, assuming everyone was following the cooperative because they saw the cotton was profitable.

He overlooked a very important point: after the land was redistributed following the reform and opening up, the quota he received from the supply and marketing cooperative was mainly allocated to the young and able-bodied people in his own village.

People made money, and their ambitions soared. Furthermore, they later started growing melon seeds, which strengthened their foundations and gave them the capital to take risks.

Unlike people in many other villages, they have little money and dare not take risks. Even the slightest risk could be devastating, so they can only proceed with extreme caution.

But the people in this village are different. Even if the transformation fails, they can still save their wealth and won't suffer serious damage.

That's why I dared to keep up.

The two talked as they arrived at the sluice gate where the branch canal and the main canal connected.

Seeing that the sluice gate on the main canal had been raised, Li Long quickly lowered it to ensure that the water would turn and flow into the branch canal after it came over.

The two of them didn't go any further and just waited there for the water to come down.

Some of the people who followed, seeing that the water hadn't come, got anxious and headed directly towards Xiaohaizi along the dry canal.

Some people huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

About ten minutes later, I saw the water coming down, and it was quite powerful. It carried a lot of branches and grass along the way, and the water was foamy and very turbid.

Someone whispered, "The water's so dirty, will it be able to pass through the pump? Won't it break the pump?"

Someone scoffed and said, "Are you blind? Didn't you see the iron sieve in the pool in front of the water pump? That's called a filter screen, it's specifically for catching dirt."

"Oh, I see. I really didn't notice." The person being criticized humbly accepted the criticism.

Xie Yundong came over and asked, "Should we clear out those tree branches near the water's edge?"

Before Li Long could speak, Zhao Shijie said, "No need, no need. Let's see if this filter can stop the water after it's flushed down."

If it's not clear, it's not clear. If we don't clean it up now, we'll have to clean it up eventually.

When they arrived, Li Long had already instructed Xie Yundong to prepare a pitchfork. Since Zhao Shijie wouldn't allow the cleaning to be done here, he told Xie Yundong to wait until the water reached the filter tank and Supervisor Zhao couldn't see the effect before cleaning.

The water had already reached the sluice gate of the dry canal. A bunch of tree branches directly impacted the gate and then got stuck in the concrete channel.

The water was blocked by the gate of the main canal, so it could only turn left to find an outlet, and then rushed into the branch canal, pouring down at a very fast speed.

Li Long has sharp eyes and can vaguely see crucian carp swimming in the water. These fish should be near the sluice gate. As soon as the sluice gate is lifted, they are immediately swept down by the water.

Li Long told Jia Weidong to hurry to the Xiaohaizi sluice gate, wait five minutes after arriving, and then close the gate.

Today is just an experimental test of the main pipeline's effectiveness, not actual watering, so there's no need to add too much water.

The small lake is full now. The snowmelt floods from the past two days have completely filled it.

Some water was released through the sluice gate at the bottom, flowing directly down the reed ditch to the large lake.

This year, Li Long plans to irrigate his fields at least twice more than in previous years using drip irrigation, so he must ensure that the water level in the small pond is sufficient.

Here's a common misconception to clarify. Drip irrigation doesn't necessarily mean that it uses less water than flood irrigation. It simply means that the water is used more precisely, ensuring that the dripping water reaches near the roots of the plants, allowing the cotton to fully absorb the moisture.

With flood irrigation, cotton might need to be watered five times per season. With drip irrigation, cotton might need to be watered seven to eight times per season.

Therefore, the water volume and water bill may not be less; in fact, they may be more.

Li Long and his group walked directly downstream with the water. Their speed was obviously not as fast as the water rushing by. When the group reached the filter pool, they found that the water in the filter pool had already accumulated to more than half. At this rate, it would be full in a few minutes.

Li Long decisively ordered the downstream sluice gate to be raised, allowing the water to flow into the two filter pools below.

If there is still water left after all three filter tanks are filled, then release it directly into the ground.

After Li Long finished giving his instructions, he saw Zhao Shijie bending over, checking the effectiveness of the filter screen in the filter bed.

The filter screen had trapped a huge pile of trash. There were branches, urea bags, leaves, pesticide bottles, and so on.

After checking what was blocked in the filter screen, Zhao Shijie went to check the quality of the water in the filter tank.

Although the water in the filter was still a bit murky, there wasn't any large debris visible to the naked eye, so overall it was not bad.

The filter screen of the first filter tank was already clogged with garbage. Seeing that Zhao Shijie was no longer paying attention to the filter screen, Li Long quickly said to Xie Yundong, "Let's clean out this garbage quickly. We can't put too much pressure on the filter screen."

Xie Yundong and Li Junfeng quickly grabbed pitchforks and started clearing the trash away.

"Hey, there are still quite a few fish!" Li Junfeng exclaimed excitedly as he scooped up a large iron fork of trash. "And they're not small either!"

Li Long saw a palm-sized crucian carp mixed in with the debris and said with a smile, "This can be considered as eating fish caught at the beginning of the river season."

Li Junhai and the others who were helping quickly picked up the fish. They had come over right after the New Year, hoping to find out if there was any work available and earn more money.

That's how people are; once they have something to look forward to, it's hard to get them to stay idle. Knowing they can earn money working here, they certainly don't want to stay in their hometowns, tending to that little plot of land.

Of course, some people encouraged them to work on the coast. But having gotten used to the work here, when they went back home for the New Year and compared the wages they earned with others, they immediately lost interest in working.

As for working, they might become city dwellers, something they don't envy.

Having stayed in the fourth team for a long time and been influenced by the Li brothers, they know that it's not difficult to become a city dweller. Li Long even joked with them that in two years, the policy of converting rural residents to urban residents would be opened up, and they could buy it with money.

But what's the use? What benefits are there? In their eyes, that thing isn't even as valuable as a household registration in the fourth team.

Knowing that the filter screen could catch fish, the villagers immediately rushed to the two filter ponds below, helping to clean up the garbage while catching fish.

Once the filter tank was full, Zhao Shijie instructed the water gate to be closed. After a while, the water in the filter tank became clear, and then the power was turned on to start the water pump, pumping water into the main pipeline.

After turning on the machine, he went to the field along the main pipeline.

The main pipeline is connected to a branch pipe at regular intervals, leading to the middle of the ground. The main pipeline can be regarded as the thickest pipe at the end of the ground.

Branch pipes are relatively thick pipes that run horizontally and parallel to the main pipe, spaced several tens of meters apart. The drip irrigation tape is connected to the branch pipes. The reason for having a branch pipe every several tens of meters is that the water pump pressure is insufficient to support water flowing for hundreds of meters.

The branch pipe hasn't been connected yet, so water is flowing out from the point where the main pipe is going down into the ground, where the branch pipe is supposed to be connected.

Zhao Shijie walked down the road until he reached the end. Only when he saw that water was flowing from the main pipe to all the branch pipe connections did he feel relieved.

The Xinhua News Agency's hotline once reported a case of shoddy workmanship in a drip irrigation project.

The installation site was in the three northeastern counties, and it was a model project assigned by the government. However, the main and branch pipes were all old pipes, and the joints were not sealed properly; they were just tied together with plastic bags.

The branch pipe was leaking, so I wrapped it with an old sweater...

It's absolutely outrageous.

Farmers discovered problems with the project at the time and reported them. The construction company and the acceptance company kept passing the buck, and the leaders of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, for some reason, did not take it seriously, dragging it out for a full five years.

Can you imagine how these farmers have been farming for the past five years?
Zhao Shijie is quite capable, upright, and principled.

His standards were even higher than Li Long had imagined, so Li Long was very reassured.

Li Long followed him around for a while, and after seeing the other man's expression, he knew that the project was almost finished.

On the way back, Li Long said with a smile, "Let's not eat lunch at Lao Ma's place, let's eat at my older brother's house instead. The water was released today and we caught some crucian carp, about ten kilograms of all sizes, enough for us."

Zhao Shijie asked doubtfully, "Is this the Sanchun crucian carp? Does it taste bad?" Li Long laughed and said, "If you were to go to the reservoir to catch fish with nets at this time of year, it probably wouldn't taste very good. The fish left over from irrigation water, unless someone catches and eats them, are basically left to dry up and die in the ditch, so there's not much difference."

We need to be mindful of the timing when we talk about being kind; don't feel guilty about eating this.

Zhao Shijie laughed, then shook his head: "I'd better go to Lao Ma's restaurant. Lao Luo said they haven't charged me for the meals these past few times, so I was thinking of buying some meat and wine today and having a farewell meal with them."

Li Long then said, "Alright, then I'll have them send some of the fish to Old Ma's restaurant to add to your meal."

"What do you mean? You're not coming?" Zhao Shijie looked at him and said, "How can you not come? You have a part in this too."

Li Long laughed: "Okay, okay, I'll go. If you want to buy something, I'll drive you around the county first?"

“Okay.” Zhao Shijie readily agreed. “Let’s go. This project is considered completed. Actually, there’s one more step. After you lay the drip irrigation tape and plant the seeds, we’ll see how it goes when you water it.”

I won't be coming over then. I'll call you then, and you can let me know how things are going.

“How could you call me? I should be the one calling you,” Li Long said.

“I should be in the three northeastern counties at that time. I don’t even know where to call. Where are you going to call?” Zhao Shijie said as he climbed into Li Long’s car. “Your first irrigation should be in late April, right? Just wait for my call then.”

As Li Long drove towards the county, Zhao Shijie remarked with emotion, "It's so much more comfortable to have your own car, especially this kind! I wonder when my company will provide me with a car so I don't have to run around all by myself."

Li Long smiled and said, "How about I donate a car to your company, saying it's specifically for your use?"

"Don't do that. If you really do that, people will definitely suspect that I'm up to something." Zhao Shijie hurriedly waved his hand: "I'm a timid person, you'd better not do anything unexpected."

Li Long genuinely had this idea, but since Zhao Shijie refused, he didn't bring it up again.

When they arrived in the county, Zhao Shijie wanted to buy raw meat, so Li Long told him that Old Ma's shop had meat. Zhao Shijie went around and bought some vegetables and braised meat, and then went to the department store to buy a few bottles of wine.

When we got back, Old Ma's family had already started cooking, with both stoves running at the same time, filling the yard with the aroma of food.

Since he had nothing to do in the afternoon, Zhao Shijie had a few drinks with Uncle Luo and the others at noon, and then he lost consciousness.

Li Long also drank several glasses of wine. The main reason was that the project was finally completed, and with Zhao Shijie's rigorous inspection, the quality of the work was guaranteed.

This is a major event that has been completed and is worth celebrating.

The next day, after seeing Zhao Shijie off at the bus station, the next step was to arrange and deploy the farming work.

Because the twenty mu of land in the township was also given to Li Long. Li Long's original intention was to also turn the other ten mu into drip irrigation, but Principal Yang disagreed.

His point was that it would be easier to compare ten acres of land with and without drip irrigation.

Students at agricultural extension schools need to make comparisons to see the yield of drip irrigation farming.

Although it would delay the yield of crops, Principal Yang said that when it was time to harvest cotton, he would take the students to the field to help Li Long harvest the cotton for free, as a form of compensation for Li Long.

Since things had been said to this extent, and Principal Yang had also mentioned that Li Long was a member of the Agricultural Broadcasting School, Li Long agreed.

On March 31st, Li Long received another piece of good news.

His second brother, Li Anguo, called him and said that Ajinbek had visited the refinery again yesterday and criticized Li Anguo's management once more, raising several issues.

Li Anguo said smugly, "You know what, this old man is strict, but he's fair in his rewards and punishments. Although he pointed out a lot of problems, he's quite satisfied with the security system he left behind that I implemented earlier."

In particular, your reminder to bring back the two scalded workers and assign them to less demanding positions in departments surprised Akinbek, who then said that this is what a socialist country should do.

He also told me that because I had implemented the systems he proposed quite well and they had generally been effective, he planned to come and check on me every one or two months.

He also said that he has been assigned to Dushanzi, where a petrochemical plant is under construction and may be put into operation in the next year or the year after.

Li Long was somewhat surprised to hear this news.

In his memory, the petrochemical enterprises in Dushanzi only officially started production and operation in 1995. How come they are starting now?

Li Anguo's oil refinery produces oil and byproducts, which have nothing to do with his current drip irrigation production equipment.

The petrochemical companies in Dushanzi are different; the polyethylene and other products they produce are the raw materials for their drip irrigation tape production.

Once that thing is mass-produced, the cost of his drip irrigation tape will immediately drop.

Just like the Shicheng Sugar Factory next to Ma County, people in the surrounding areas didn't need ration coupons to buy sugar.

Being near the water tower gives you an advantage.

The arrival of Akinbek accelerated the preparation and construction of the petrochemical plant. Could this also be a case of his own existence stirring up a butterfly effect?
Li Anguo had no idea what Li Long was thinking; he was just telling his younger brother the good news.

Actually, there was one more thing he didn't say: he also told Akinbek that he wanted to expand production.

However, he was mocked by Akinbek, who said that with his management skills, the few dozen people in these two oil refinery plants were already his limit.

If he adds another set of equipment and hires more people, he definitely won't be able to manage it.

The chances of problems occurring in the factory will increase exponentially, and he can't afford it.

So Li Anguo obediently listened to Ajinbek and decided to do what he was told.

He brought this up with Akinbek mainly because he felt that Akinbek must have connections there, so getting a set of oil refining equipment shouldn't be a problem.

Actually, he overestimated this expert.

Akinbek is a big name in his field. If he were in Kazakhstan, he might be able to get a set of oil refining equipment through his connections.

But getting it shipped over would be troublesome, and beyond his ability to handle.

After making the phone call to Li Long, Li Anguo went off to manage his factory with great enthusiasm.

Akinbek's words seemed to encourage him, rekindling his enthusiasm. He felt that doing this was much better than working in the construction and installation company, and the future looked much brighter.

He even considered bringing Li Junshan and Yang Yongqiang over to work with him, but he didn't mention this to Li Long, only to his wife Chen Lirong.

Chen Lirong disagreed, saying that his personality was different from Li Long's, and he didn't have the same boldness as his older brother Li Jianguo. She said that if she brought those two people in, they might not be able to control them now. It would be better to do it now and wait until they were completely in control before making any decisions.

Li Anguo listened to his wife and didn't mention it.

He also thought that maybe the other party was interested in the worker's job and didn't want to go into business.

On April 7th, Liu Gaolou arrived with a convoy. This time, in addition to cars, antelope horns, and sheepskins, he also brought two truckloads of copper and aluminum.

As the workers were unloading supplies, Liu Gaolou told Li Long, "The economic situation over there is getting worse and worse, and many people can't afford to eat. More and more factories are going bankrupt and closing down, and with so many disaster-stricken areas, life is getting harder and harder for ordinary people in the city."

Trade at the border crossing is even more booming. I've seen your father-in-law twice; he was driving around the border, doing business with people on the other side, hauling goods that the other side needed, and making a lot of money.”

Li Long laughed and said to him, "Compared to you, his business is just small-scale. You send over a hundred tons of canned goods every month, while he's lucky if he can sell ten tons a month."

Liu Gaolou wasn't saying these things to make a comparison, so he didn't really think much of what Li Long said. He was just saying that he wanted to bring back more sugar and canned goods on this trip.

“Actually, I also wanted to get into some other things, but I don’t think you’re very interested,” Liu Gaolou said. “My second uncle also told me to play it safe. Now we have two lines of business: canned goods and sugar.”

Let others make their fortune from the other supplies. If we were to pocket all the money, some people would probably come after us to our deaths.

Li Long gave a thumbs up: "Your second uncle is still clear-headed. We can't just let ourselves earn this money. If we get too high-profile, we're more likely to stumble."

On April 9th, after Liu Gaolou left with a full load of canned goods and sugar, Li Long began sowing.

In previous years, Li Long didn't really manage the cotton planting for the cooperative, but this year he had to be there in person to provide guidance.

He's the only one in the entire cooperative who's ever done drip irrigation for cotton, and he's planning to continue slacking off next year and beyond, so this year he has to personally teach everyone in the cooperative how to do it.

Knowing that Li Long was going to start drip irrigation for cotton planting today, many members of the team gathered again at the cooperative's field, intending to take a good look around.

After the main pipeline was completed, thousands of acres of land were leveled again.

After the land was plowed and leveled last year, it was flooded with water.

I irrigated it again this spring, and after the soil dried, I cut it again. The leveling rake following behind the tractor leveled the land completely.

Looking out over the land, the cooperative's more than 1,000 mu of land is very flat and looks exceptionally pleasant.

Four modified seeders were already waiting in the field early on.

The tractors brought not only seeds and plastic film from the field, but also rolls of drip irrigation tape.

Li Long was in front of the on-demand machine, explaining the operating details to the people in the cooperative, including Li Junfeng.

The other members of the team, those they felt a good relationship with, all came over to watch, wanting to see the specific process.

Those who were less close to the people just watched the excitement from the sidelines.

It's planting season now, and the soil temperature has reached the required level. Sowing a day earlier will allow the cotton to grow faster and produce more bolls.

But those who planned to grow cotton, especially those from the other two cooperatives, were not in a hurry to sow seeds at this time; they were just watching how things were going here.

Ignoring the stares of others, Li Long explained in detail. After he finished, he had Xie Yundong drive the tractor in front, while he and Tao Daqiang operated it together.

Sowing cotton originally only required one person to accompany the truck, but accompanying the truck is a meticulous job. It requires checking whether the drip irrigation tape's water holes are in the correct position, whether it will flip over when pressed under the film, and whether the seeds are sown properly, etc.

Then, people have to follow up by shoveling soil to press down the plastic film. After experiencing several strong winds, everyone now understands that every two or three meters, two shovelfuls of soil need to be shoveled to press down the middle of the plastic film, and the soil on both sides of the film needs to be checked to ensure it is covered tightly. If the soil covering is too thin, some more needs to be added.

Life is tiring, but we definitely can't let our guard down.

Seeing how easily Li Long operated the equipment, Xu Haijun decided to give it a try.

Li Long stepped aside to let him follow.

In the past two years, Xu Haijun has become more mature after getting married and is less impulsive in his actions. Among these people, Xu Haijun is quite intelligent, and he is very capable as long as he puts his heart into it.

However, he didn't want to embarrass himself at this moment, so as soon as he switched places with Li Long, he immediately became very careful and kept a close eye on the drip irrigation tape under the film, just as Li Long had told him. He only relaxed after walking several dozen meters.

Then, noticing that the drip irrigation belt was tilted, he immediately adjusted it. He then felt sweat seeping out, turned his head to look at Li Long behind him, and saw Li Long smiling and nodding before he relaxed again.

Seeing that the two of them could do it, Li Long and Jia Weidong got the next machine.

There are over a thousand acres of land. If he were to follow along all of them by himself, how long would it take?

The second machine followed for several dozen meters and was handed over to Jia Weidong and Li Junfeng. He then started working on the third machine.

After a while, Xie Yundong and his team drove back empty, picked up the truck, and continued driving. When they ran out of plastic film and drip irrigation tape, they stopped and called Li Long over.

Li Long quickly had the tractor haul the supplies around to replenish them. After replenishing, he told them that once the whole trip was over, if there wasn't much drip tape left, they should come back, unload it, and get a whole roll of tape. This would save them trouble.

Actually, this is something Li Long forgot to remind them of. Many experiences can only be recalled in practice; they cannot be fully comprehensive at the time.

Through constant adjustments and refinements during the sowing process, it took four days to finally complete the sowing of all the land.

Aside from the people who came to watch on the first day, fewer people came on the second day, and by the third day, apart from the cooperative members and the Li family, no one else came.

In their view, drip irrigation farming is just like that.

Xie Yundong and Xu Haijun probably felt the same way.

But Li Long was secretly laughing; the real hardship was yet to come.

The weather has been perfect these past few days, sunny and dry, so the sowing work has been completed smoothly.

After it was finished, Tao Daqiang, who was usually quite honest and simple, asked Li Long:
"How do I connect the water after laying the drip irrigation tape?"

Li Long smiled and said that Daqiang had become smart.

This time, he once again brought a truckload of drip irrigation tape connectors from the cooperative's warehouse, and then took these people to the field to begin demonstrating for everyone.

After the drip irrigation tape is laid out, the branch pipes are connected every few tens of meters. Then, the drip irrigation tape under the branch pipes is taken out from the film, cut, and the connector is inserted into the branch pipe.

This connector is like a T-joint. One end is inserted into the branch pipe to draw water, and the other two ends are connected to the two broken ends of the drip irrigation tape. After connecting them tightly, you just wait for the water to flow.

"It's so simple!" Xu Haijun and the others thought it was very easy.

Li Long laughed and said:
"Since it's simple, let's not hire anyone this year and just take on the business ourselves."

"Isn't that easy? I can finish connecting this branch pipe, which is forty or fifty meters long, in no time."

Xu Haijun said confidently.

Then they started working on it.

Li Long was just waiting to see them make a fool of themselves—the pipe-making job did look simple, but it required squatting or kneeling the whole time.

For adults, it's manageable for a short time, but over a long period, this work is no less tiring than thinning seedlings in the field.

My back can't take it!
Sure enough, after less than half an hour, all of them stood up and started clutching their backs, complaining of discomfort.

Li Long, on the other hand, was more relaxed. Although he was also a novice in this life, he knew how to make himself more comfortable, so he was more efficient.

Xu Haijun and his team had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere—after all, they had already made their promise, and if they were to say they wanted to hire people to do the work now, wouldn't that be a slap in their own face?
So when Liang Yuemei and the others brought lunch over at noon, Xu Haijun and the others felt like they had been liberated from prison. They rushed to the fields and sat in the shade under the trees, not wanting to get up again.

Seeing Li Long laughing there, Liang Yuemei and the others who brought the food asked what was going on. When they learned that this was the kind of work he was doing, the women laughed too.

They actually understood it more deeply—after all, they still remembered the suffering of the Miao people back then.

However, connecting pipes wasn't a huge job, just tedious work. So, three days later, all the pipes were connected, and even the twenty acres of land in the village were sown. Only then did the weather begin to change.

After two days of overcast skies, a spring rain fell quietly at night, instantly cooling the previously hot weather.

The greenery outside is even more lush, while in the ground, the seeds are slowly sprouting, preparing to break through the soil.

Hope followed.

Cotton planting in the current production and construction corps

Connected drip irrigation tape
P.S.: Today is the 118th anniversary of General Wang Zhen's birth! (End of Chapter)