Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The next day after breakfast, Li Long followed people to the brick kiln to pull bricks. The location of the brick kiln is farther than the sand field, and the road conditions are not very good. There are many rickshaws, animal-drawn carts and tractors pulling bricks here. The dirt road is directly crushed and turned into mud. A thick layer of fine soil floats on the road surface. When the tractor passes by, it is like a sandstorm behind. Li Long is better off in the front, but the person sitting in the back of the truck preparing to load bricks is unlucky. His face and head are covered with dust. When he arrives at the brick kiln, he looks like a dirt man who came out of the Terracotta Warriors.

"Puh, puh, puh!" Several workers got off the truck and brushed the dust off their bodies. One of them went to find the person in charge of the brickyard while brushing the dust off. There were many rickshaws and animal-drawn carts waiting to be loaded in front, so coordination was needed. There were also people coming from behind, so queuing was one thing, and seeing if he could cut in line was another.

At this time, the work is no longer a lump sum contract, and there are bonuses for loading more trucks.

Li Long sat on the tractor and looked around. There were two kilns in this brickyard, both of which were long and narrow. It seemed that each kiln could produce a lot of bricks. When I bought bricks to build a house and pave the floor, I heard from my elder brother Li Jianguo that the price of bricks at that time depended on the price of coal. Because the main raw materials for making bricks are coal and soil, and soil is needless to say. After shoveling away the unusable impurities and Gobi rocks on the top, the bottom is all usable soil.

But coal has to be bought. Although the kiln mainly uses foam coal, it still needs to be paid for, right? One ton costs at least ten or dozens of yuan.

Of course, with the large-scale urban construction now underway, it is still very profitable for private individuals to open brick kilns, but I don't know what procedures are required. Of course, you also have to find technical personnel. This brick kiln is state-owned, and most people who can burn bricks now have a regular job. If you want to open a private brick kiln, it is not easy to pass the technical personnel test.

After all, the bricks fired here are made in two different ways from those in "Ordinary World". The kilns there are round, and in people's traditional opinion, the round kilns are like tall bunker buildings.

It's different here. The kilns here are a long row of wide bungalows with several kiln openings, a bit like a long row of dormitories or mobile cabins. Of course, they are still made of bricks and have several air outlets. The bricks that can be put in at one time cost at least tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

Of course, Li Long saw it from the outside. When they came, the kiln was producing bricks. In the kiln, there were not many red bricks, only half a pile, but there were three or four piles of gray bricks made by the brick making machine. Some workers used wheelbarrows to push carts of bricks to another kiln that had not been fired.

"Let's go and load it first." The worker who had negotiated with him came over and called Li Long. His voice was quite loud, but it would not do if it was not loud enough, because there were several brick-making machines, tractors, and workers shouting, making a lot of noise.

Li Long followed the worker to a half-pile of red bricks and parked next to it. Several workers put on torn gloves with their fingers exposed, took brick clamps and went up to the pile to start loading bricks.

The brick clip is two steel bars tied together to form a "凵" shape. People hold the hand at the bottom horizontal line. This frame just holds four bricks. You can lift it and move it away. If you release your hand, it will be ready. Because this clip is not a rigid structure, the place where the two steel bars are connected is tight when you lift it, and it will expand when you release your hand, so that the bricks can be put down loosely.

It is more convenient than holding bricks.

These workers loaded bricks very quickly. A truckload of bricks was soon loaded. Li Long drove back by himself. The workers waited here, and naturally someone at the construction site unloaded the truck.

Unloading bricks is not as easy as unloading sand. People also use brick clips to carry bricks down. After all, every brick is money. If they pour them down, many bricks will break. Although those half bricks can be used to build walls, their integrity will be different.

So Li Long pulled four loads of bricks in the morning. In fact, three and a half loads was about the same, but the workers still hurried to load four loads, saying that they wanted to earn more money from one load.

This half trip almost made Li Long miss his lunch. When he arrived at the canteen of the guesthouse, the meal was already served, and when Li Long got his meal, there were not many dishes left.

We had rice for lunch, but it wasn't pure rice. Some millet was added to the rice when it was steamed. It looked golden and smelled pretty good.

Li Long was hungry, so he ate two large bowls of leftovers and soup. There were also two dishes for lunch today, one was fried eggs with leeks, but there wasn't much left, and only a few egg residues could be seen in the dish; the other was shredded potatoes, which the chef had fried well, and Li Long ate very well.

After finishing his meal and washing the dishes, he went out to the temporary workers' dormitory.

Seeing Li Long, Li Anguo, who was laying the bed, took the initiative to say:
"I went to the factory this morning and tried out the job on the spot. I passed."

Seeing the smile on his second brother's face, Li Long also smiled and said:

"Then today's salary will be three cents more, not bad."

Among the three people, Yang Yongqiang was the only laborer, but he felt that it was nothing and did not need Li Long's comfort. Instead, he said:
"I think this job is not bad. It's better than harvesting wheat in the fields. The food is not as good as my family's, but it's enough to eat. I heard from our captain that at the speed I work, there is a good chance that I can stay."

Okay, Li Long could tell that this was the captain's chicken soup for Yang Yongqiang, but he didn't want to pour cold water on them. After chatting with the three people for a while, Li Long let them rest and turned out.

There was an hour at noon, and Li Long was thinking about whether he could look around to find out the location of the agricultural machinery factory, and then go and take a look after finishing his work.

Actually, it is really good to make money by working here, but firstly, it is too far from home, and secondly, he has a lot of things to do at home, so he really can't stay.

But after I get back and finish my work, I can see if the construction company in Shicheng needs any work. But Shicheng itself has a tractor factory, so I don't think it will be as short of tractors as Kuitun, right?

Then let’s take a look at the ones in the county?
Li Long shook his head, thinking that Ma County was unlikely. After all, the county town was so small, and it was not hundreds of years ago. Hundreds of years ago, even Kuitun was under the jurisdiction of Ma County, and Suilai County was quite famous at that time. But now Ma County has no advantages. It is not yet time to grow cotton. It feels like a transparent county with little attention. The construction industry has no development prospects in the short term.

Of course, it is compared with Shicheng and Kuitun. It is definitely developing, but it is relatively small in size, and it may not be Li Long's turn if there is work.

While thinking, he walked to the door and chatted with the old man for a while. He found out that the agricultural machinery factory was not in this direction. But fortunately, he knew the specific location and the situation in the agricultural machinery factory, so Li Long was still very happy.

Unlike the Shicheng Tractor Factory, the agricultural machinery factory here does not produce tractors, but mainly produces agricultural machinery parts, that is, supporting agricultural machinery. This just meets Li Long's expectations. Maybe the harvester he wanted can really be made here.

Time was short, so Li Long did not go to the farm machinery factory, but returned to the guesthouse, where he ran into the old tractor driver. He was also resting in the dormitory. Li Long was a little surprised that the driver did not go home at noon this time. He saw the man on the bed looked at him and closed his eyes, so he did not say hello and went to lie on the bed to think about things.

In the afternoon, Li Long pulled three more trucks of bricks, and then a truck of cement. Anyway, he went to wherever there was a shortage of materials, and the price did not change. It was just because of the change of location and the coordination of personnel that Li Long got 70 yuan by the end of the afternoon.

It was less than yesterday, but still very high. The temporary workers who were also receiving their wages all looked envious.

But everyone knows that there is no comparison, after all, they have tractors that run on oil.

After working like this for three days, the materials for the project were almost ready, and the rest no longer required a tractor, so Li Long went to say goodbye to Ma Aihong.

Ma Aihong also knew the progress of the project. In fact, he had contacted Li Xiangqian, hoping to keep Li Long, or at least keep him to work for a while. They had taken on a lot of projects, but it was far from meeting the city's development. The city was preparing to prepare for the second construction, and they were the first construction and installation company, and they also had a second one.

But Li Xiangqian couldn't make decisions for Li Long, and he didn't want to leave Li Long here because he had work for Li Long to do over there.

Although anyone can do this job, based on last year's situation, the next task for Li Long is to make him feel at ease.

So Ma Aihong knew that he couldn't keep Li Long, but he kept him as a favor. When Li Long left, he said:

"Don't worry, Xiao Li. I've already asked around. Your relatives and friends are all good. The two skilled workers are great. We are in need of skilled workers like them. The unskilled worker is also very capable. He is willing to endure hardships and learn. I think he will be able to work as a skilled worker soon. We are short of people here, so there is a good chance that they will stay. Come often when you are free!"

He had already asked someone and found out that the wolf thigh stone was real and it was said to have the power to ward off evil spirits, which made him like Li Long even better.

Li Long left the construction and installation company and drove his tractor to the farm machinery factory. The farm machinery factory was very busy, with all kinds of machines in the workshops. Li Long said at the door that he wanted to find a technician in the factory to make a farm tool, and the gatekeeper pointed directly to the operation workshop:
"The most senior technician here is our factory director. He is in the workshop. His last name is Du. Go find him."

Li Long drove a tractor into the factory and arrived at the workshop. He saw agricultural machinery being produced on one side and several technicians or workers looking at a blueprint and discussing something on the other side.

The sound of the tractor attracted the attention of several people. When they saw Li Long, they just glanced at him and then focused their attention on the tractor. What surprised Li Long was that these people did not even discuss the drawings, but came over and surrounded the tractor and began to study the diesel engine.

Li Long got off the tractor, and someone asked:

"Hello, comrade. What are you doing? Buying farm tools?"

"I'm here to talk to Director Du about farm machinery."

"I'm Du Tongzhou," the middle-aged man who took the initiative to speak said with a smile, "Are you also interested in farm machinery?"

"Yes, of course." Li Long stretched out his hand, and Director Du waved it hastily: "Your hands are covered in oil, so I won't shake hands. Shall we talk here or go to the office?"

He turned his head and looked at the tractor again. Several technicians had already opened the cover of the tractor and were looking at what was inside.

He said somewhat embarrassedly:

"Don't blame me, comrade. Most of us are technicians. We can't move when we see this thing. There are many tractors now, but not many that we can study. And this thing is expensive. It's not easy for us to get one and dismantle it for study... But don't worry, they know their limits and won't damage it."

Li Long really didn't worry about damaging this piece of iron. In his previous life, when there was a problem with the tractor, several people in the village who were engaged in agricultural machinery simply removed its diesel engine and reinstalled it later.

So he doesn't care.

The two men entered the office, Li Long introduced himself, and then expressed his ideas.

"You mean the harvester on the tractor, the one that harvests wheat?" Du Tongzhou asked.

"Yes." Li Long nodded. "Nowadays, Kangmaiying is used to harvest wheat on a large scale. Ordinary people can't afford it. I wonder if there is a harvester that can be driven by the diesel engine in front of the tractor. There is no need to directly thresh the wheat grains like Kangmaiying. As long as the wheat can be cut down, the rest can be tied up manually and pulled to the field."

Du Tongzhou was in deep thought.

"Harvesting wheat is the most labor-intensive process in harvesting wheat. As long as this is overcome, the rest will be much simpler. That's what I think," Li Long saw the paper and pen on the table and simply took them to start sketching.

He was not good at drawing and could only draw a rough outline, but he had used this kind of harvester in his previous life and saw someone repair it when it broke down, so he could still explain the mechanical principles clearly.

As he was painting and talking, Du Tongzhou's eyes became brighter and brighter, and later he started discussing the matter directly with Li Long.

"What you said is really feasible." Finally, Du Haizhou said excitedly: "Comrade Xiao Li, it seems that you are also in the same field as me. Where did you graduate from? Did you major in mechanics?"

"No, no, no." Li Long was shocked by the question. He waved his hands hastily. "I didn't even graduate from junior high school. I've always lived in the countryside, so I know what kind of machinery farmers need to work. Plus, I like to think about it..."

I can only make it up like this, otherwise if someone is really interested, they will find out everything about me, and then it will be useless to make up a graduation certificate. It is better to just say that it is my hobby, no one can check it.

"Great, great! To be honest, when you say that, we are all ashamed. A bunch of professionals can't think as thoroughly as an amateur like you."

"No, no, no, I just had a flash of inspiration. Many things actually still need you to research and implement. Then Director Du, can this be made?" Li Long thought that it would be better not to flatter each other, as practical things were the most important.

"It can be made." Director Du gave an affirmative answer, "but it will take time."

"If it can be made, I will order one." Li Long said, "We have implemented the household contract responsibility system since last year. Many people planted wheat this year. It is too hard to harvest it manually. This will be easier and more convenient."

"Okay. There are still more than two months before the wheat harvest, which should be enough time." Du Tongzhou nodded. "Comrade Xiao Li, you come from the countryside. I want to ask you, do you think the market for this harvester is big?"

"Of course it is big." Li Long said with a smile, "Think about it, although Kangmaiying harvests wheat cleanly and easily, the quantity is small and the fee is expensive. Moreover, most of them are used by the Corps. Since last year, the household contract responsibility system has been implemented, and more people have planted wheat, and their enthusiasm has also increased. But it is so tiring to harvest wheat manually in such a hot day... If this harvester can be used, it will be many times more efficient than manual harvesting. A person can harvest a few acres a day, but if the tractor runs all day, it is not a problem to harvest hundreds of acres."

Du Tongzhou nodded.

"But this year the market may be smaller, after all, there are fewer tractors on the market. But next year or the year after, when there are more tractors, this harvester will definitely be very popular."

What Li Long didn't say was that this harvester was only popular for a few years. With the increase in cotton planting in the 1990s, this type of harvester was basically idle and could no longer make money.

But it will be enough for the next few years. If you do well, you can get your investment back and make money in one year, and the rest of the time will be profitable. In seven or eight years, you can earn enough to buy several harvesters. What else can you want?
"Then we will use your harvester idea. If it works, we'll give you the cost price." Du Tongzhou nodded. "Of course, if it works exactly as you said and can be produced with high efficiency, we'll give you the patent fee. Although our country has not made any regulations on this yet, we still have to have ethics as technicians."

Li Long had not expected this. After all, from now until the first decade of the next century, the word "shanzhai" has always been the mainstream. Li Long wanted to receive patent fees before, but now he doesn't dare to think about it. The most he can do is to find a small agricultural machinery repair shop to cooperate with him and take some shares. In this way, he can make some money with the creativity from the previous life.

But now that Director Du Tongzhou had said this, he was in awe. This was indeed a director with integrity!
The two men discussed the details for a while. Li Long left the village's phone number and asked Director Du to call him after the product was made before leaving.

At this time, the technicians were still surrounding the tractor. The belts had been removed. After Du Tongzhou had a good talk, they were finally installed again, allowing Li Long to leave.

But Li Long was still very happy. A worry was finally put to rest. The next step was to go to the Agricultural Science Institute.

Li Long came out of the construction and installation company in the morning and stayed in the agricultural machinery factory for more than an hour. Seeing that it was still early, he drove west to the Agricultural Science Institute.

Li Long didn't know much about the Agricultural Science Institute in Kuitun. The only relatively clear information he knew about this place in his previous life was that one year there was a yard for sale near the Agricultural Science Institute. The 1.5 acres of land and the yard were sold for 200,000 yuan.

Li Long was not sure whether the news he heard was true or not. At that time, he just listened to it as a topic of conversation. Later, he passed it on to a friend who had served in the army in Kuitun. The friend cried out that it was a pity and hurriedly asked Li Long to help contact the dealer to see if it was available. However, it turned out that it was sold out.

The friend said that Li Long lost out by not buying it. (End of this chapter)