Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The pace of the work of collecting reeds was surprisingly fast. When almost everyone in Team 4 was working hard to make more money, Li Jianguo announced that it was over.

Nine days has broken the limit of the reed-tying life in the past two years.

Of course, not all of them were made by Team 4. Some people in Team 4 still have large piles of reeds at home and are planning to make more.

On the eighth day, Han Benzhong and Han Dachun from the Corps Farm came with two horse-drawn carts carrying about four or five hundred reed bundles.

The day after Li Long delivered the first truckload of reed stalks to the supply and marketing cooperative, Han Dachun came to Li Jianguo's home and brought two plastic barrels of wine to the Li family.

Han Benzhong picked up the wine on Huoke Highway.

At that time, a tanker truck carrying wine had an accident and overturned, the tank body broke, and the raw wine leaked. Han Benzhong, who was at the field, rescued the driver. The driver told him to go home quickly to get something to load the wine - anyway, the wine would be wasted if it leaked.

"This wine is the original wine that was brewed in the distillery and taken to the distillery in the north for blending." Han Dachun said, "I have dozens of kilograms of it at home. These are for you, Uncle Li."

In the eyes of ordinary people, freshly brewed raw liquor is naturally better than blended liquor - of course, it tastes particularly spicy, mainly because of its high alcohol content.

This was a very good gift. Li Jianguo was collecting reed stalks. He knew that the Han family was capable of doing this job, so he asked Han Dachun to go back and talk to Han Benzhong. If they could tie them according to the standards, he would accept them as long as they were qualified.

Han Dachun was very happy. He grinned and said "No problem, no problem", then hurried back.

He came here on horseback, walking slowly on the way there, but when he left he almost galloped back.

At that time, although all the agricultural materials for the Corps were issued by the higher authorities and the employees only needed to plant the crops, at the end of the year, except for enough for themselves, the rest had to be handed over. As for how much cash they could get back, it depended on the instructions from the higher authorities, and it was a confusing account.

The local governments have already implemented the contract responsibility system for each household. Each household decides how much to grow and how much to sell after paying the public grain tax. The amount of money they get is also open and transparent, and everyone knows exactly what they are getting.

In the past, the Corps was better off than the local governments. To be honest, the local governments had little motivation to work during the big-pot era, and they were more likely to muddle through. It was normal for them to not get paid at the end of the year and even owe money. At that time, the local governments envied the Corps because at least they could get some cash at the end of the year.

Now the Corps envies the local governments because they can decide what to plant and whatever they grow after paying the public grain is theirs. How much they can keep depends entirely on their own efforts.

It's basically distribution according to work.

The local living standards suddenly surpassed those of the Corps - Han Dachun and his companions were naturally envious.

Although it is not the end of the year yet, based on previous years, their family will at most have a few dozen dollars left by the end of the year.

Now you can make reeds for 35 cents each, so why not get started? If the whole family joins in, it will not be a problem to make hundreds of reeds in three to five days.

The result was that they brought two carts, which immediately reduced the number of reeds in the Li family's yard.

The Han family particularly cherished the opportunity to make reed bundles, so the pass rate of the reed bundles they brought over was particularly high.

When Han Benzhong waited for Li Jianguo to finish the inspection and handed him 167.30 yuan, he counted the money with trembling hands and said excitedly:

"Uncle Li, we can have a good life at the end of this year and buy cloth to make new clothes for the kids, all thanks to you. We'll go back and make some more..."

"No more, that's enough." Although Li Jianguo didn't want to disappoint Han Benzhong, the number was indeed almost enough. The Han family was far away, and it was too late to give them more.

"Is it enough? ... That's fine, that's fine." Han Benzhong's smile froze for a moment, then he smiled again, "It's enough to earn this much money. It's much better than the others in my company. Those people only have a few dozen yuan at home, and it takes a year - ah."

The life of the Corps employees was still very hard at that time. They had no problem getting enough food, but in terms of living a good life, they could not compare with the farmers who were under the household contract responsibility system.

Li Jianguo thought about it and said:
"Next autumn, after the wheat is harvested, Xiaolong will be making brooms. There are quite a lot this year, and there should be quite a few next year as well.

I'll wait until mid-August. Ask Dachun to come over and I'll tell you that you can do it. A big broom costs more than three yuan, and you can make a lot of money in one season."

"Hey, that's no problem. I'll get the stakes planted and stuff done when I get back, and then I'll ask Dachun to come over... This job is easy to do. This big broom is quite expensive, more than three yuan each... It's really not cheap, it's an easy job, an easy job!"

Han Benzhong's tone was full of admiration and envy. The place is close to the city and there are many opportunities. I used to think that the Corps was good, but now it is lagging behind when compared with others.
Han Benzhong hadn't eaten either. He could see that Li Jianguo was busy, so after handing over the reed bundles, he drove the carriage back.

The next evening, after Li Jianguo finished collecting the reeds, he rushed to Xu Chengjun's house and used a loudspeaker to inform the entire team that they had collected enough reeds and would not collect any more tomorrow.

This notice stunned many people. They were just preparing to gather their strength and work hard. After all, there were only ten days left. Normally, making reed bundles was almost the same as making brooms, which would take at least a month.

At this time, some people realized that there was one less reed handle.

After someone got the specific information from Li Jianguo, they became a little panicked.

In the past two years, the people in the fourth team have become accustomed to weaving broom handles starting from the beginning of the year, making big broom handles after autumn, and making reed handles before winter.

At least two of these three sums of money can be earned by everyone in the village.

Some people even arrange at the beginning of the year how to use the money from making reed bundles at the end of the year.

Although Li Long outsourced some of the broom-making work to other villages last year and this year, the total amount of broom-making work is increasing and has not affected the interests of the villagers in making brooms. Moreover, because of the price increase, he earned more money this year.

Now I heard that reeds might not be able to be used for tying after next year, and I started to panic.

If I have less money, will my life become more stressful in the future?

This is not a small amount of money. One or two hundred yuan is equivalent to the total annual income of some other villagers.

This kind of thing made the whole village feel panic; some people heard the news and ran to Li Jianguo to verify it. Li Long was not there, no matter how good his relationship with his eldest brother was, Li Jianguo should know it.

The most panicked person was Zhang Qiang. He just paid 500 yuan to contract the reed ditch, but now the reeds here are not prickly? Isn't this bullying?

Zhang Qiang ran to Li Jianguo in anger to verify - of course, he didn't dare to show any displeasure to Li Jianguo, and he still carried something when he came.

Considering his relationship with his brother Carpenter Zhang, Li Jianguo did not drive him away directly, but he also did not let Zhang Qiang into the house, nor did he take his things. He just told him:

"Xiaolong said that according to the notice from above, we may use prefabricated panels to build houses in the future. They are sturdy, and the reeds we collect will become less and less. But your contract for the reed ditch will not be affected. Reeds are also used to make reed mats, and they can be sent to the paper mill... It won't affect you."

Zhang Qiang returned home with his things feeling a little disappointed.

I have been selling brooms for a year, do I have to sell reed handles for a few more years?

It is true that they make reed mats, but the fourth team not only has reed ditches, but also reed lakes and small lakes with reeds. If others want to make money by making reed mats, they will definitely not buy his reeds. Isn't it better to get free ones?

Then there is only one place left, the paper mill.

Reeds are very high-quality raw materials for papermaking. Paper mills have been collecting them, but the price is not high. After all, the raw materials for papermaking in northern Xinjiang are very abundant. In addition to reeds, there are also wheat straw.

After that, there were no more paper mills.

There seems to be a rather strange phenomenon in Ma County. It has always wanted to develop industry, but it has never developed. Many enterprises have come and gone in the past thirty or forty years, but in the end it is still an agricultural county.

Not bad.

Li Long handed over the reed bundles, divided the money, and paid Song Ming the car fare, which made Song Ming feel a little embarrassed.

"Don't be embarrassed because we still need you to pull sugar residues in winter." Li Long talked to Song Ming and watched him leave. This job was over.

He had a feeling that there might be no work for the reed merchants next year. Even if there was, the quantity would probably be very small. If it was less than 5,000, he would not take it.

After resting for a few days, Li Long went to Wucheng before the first snow fell.

Winter in the 1980s came earlier than thirty or forty years later, and it started snowing in November.

Unlike later times, the snow might not fall until early December.

He wanted to finish the work in Wucheng before the snow fell so that he could take a rest in the winter.

He tried not to run as much as possible. It was very cold in winter, with the temperature dropping to -27 or -8 degrees Celsius during the day and -30 degrees Celsius at night. It was very comfortable to stay in a room with a stove, just like last year and the year before. If he hadn't been forced by life, he wouldn't have gone to break ice holes to catch fish every day.

Who doesn’t want to stay in a warm house during the winter?
After breakfast, Li Long drove his jeep to Wucheng. This time he did not stop in Beiting, because he had nothing to do and he had nothing to give to Director Qian, so he would talk about it later.

He first went to the jade factory and received four pieces of carved jade from Engineer Liu.

Although there are only four pieces, they are all quite large, including a pair of jade bracelets, a fist-sized handle, a peace and safety plaque, and a jade Buddha statue about ten centimeters tall.

The quality of the jade is very good. Now that Mr. Liu is famous, the factory can also send some slightly larger pieces of material.

"I know you like to collect these, so I've kept the good materials for you." Engineer Liu placed the four items on the table for Li Long to see.

There were people outside choosing jade pieces in the window, and Li Long was the only one allowed in.

Li Long was naturally happy and didn't bargain. He spent three hundred yuan to buy these jade carvings.

"The price of jade materials has started to rise," Mr. Liu said a little embarrassedly. It turns out that four pieces of jade carvings like these are not that expensive.

"The price of jade materials will get higher and higher in the future." Li Long didn't care. "Let's stock up as much as we can now."

After chatting with Engineer Liu for a few words, someone from the factory came to look for him, so Li Long came out, found a place to have lunch, and then went to the Agricultural College.

This time when Li Long went to the Agricultural College, he brought three bags of things for Professor Wu. One bag was the squash seeds that his eldest brother had collected, each one was flattened, and another bag was the sunflowers that Sister Yang had helped to stir-fry last night.

The third bag was the rice produced by Team 4. Although the rice from Miquan was the most famous in the area around Wucheng, in fact, the rice from Team 4 was more famous than that from Miquan in a small area.

Some people in later generations even tested that the soil here was rich in selenium. Li Long didn't know whether it was true or not, he just knew that the rice here was delicious.

The guard let Li Long in after he registered and enthusiastically showed him the location of Professor Wu's office.

When Li Long arrived at the office door, Professor Wu was discussing something with her colleagues. After noticing Li Long at the door, she stood up with a smile.

The colleague looked at Li Long curiously, and Professor Wu introduced him:
"This is Li Long from Ma County. When I was working at a seed company, he bought melon seeds from me. He later planted them well. He is quite creative."

Professor Wu invited Li Long in, and her colleague left with a smile.

Li Long put the things down, and Professor Wu looked at them with great interest.

"This is melon seeds. We harvested a good harvest this year, but we won't plant it next year." Li Long said, "This is sunflower. I fried it yesterday. It smells delicious. And this..."

Li Long opened the rice bag, and the aroma of new rice filled his nose: "This is the rice grown by our team. Although it is not well-known, it tastes very good."

"Okay, okay, thank you." Professor Wu accepted it without hesitation. "Why don't you grow melons anymore?"

Li Long then explained the situation.

After listening to this, Professor Wu said with some emotion: "Now farmers don't have good information. They want to grow cash crops to make money, but they don't know which ones are more in line with market needs. This kind of follow-the-trend planting can easily hurt farmers."

Li Long also nodded. This situation continued until the beginning of the 21st century, when the entire village basically planted cotton, and it didn't matter whether to follow the trend or not, because everyone was the same anyway.

"So what are you going to plant next year?" If you don't plant melons, the economic benefits will naturally be gone. Planting grain will not make money unless the area is large enough.

Professor Wu must be clear about this.

"I plan to plant sunflowers." Li Long said, "We have a lot of saline-alkali land over there, which has not yet been developed. Although we have been allocated more land than other villages, it is not possible to plant on a large scale yet."

"There are a lot of saline-alkali lands in both southern and northern Xinjiang," Professor Wu said. "There is no particularly good way to deal with them. Do you know about drainage ditches?"

"I know." Li Long said, "I plan to raise some cattle and sheep. The team gave me a piece of saline-alkali land, and I plan to improve it... Digging drainage ditches is one way. I was thinking whether I could do targeted fertilization, such as measuring the soil substances and then fertilizing in a targeted manner. Is this method feasible?"

The term soil testing and fertilization has not yet been coined, so Li Long couldn't say it directly. After all, he was a layman, so he could only explain it.

Professor Wu's eyes lit up, and then he began to think.

Li Long just mentioned it. This method is twenty years ahead of schedule, and he doesn't know if it will work.

At present, there are chemical companies in northern Xinjiang, and there are no major problems with fertilizers, but it is not easy to carry out fine operations. After all, soil testing and fertilization require research on the soil quality of each piece of land, which is quite labor-intensive and resource-intensive.

However, if this is regarded as a scientific research topic, it is a good project.

This is also one of the reasons why Li Long came to see Professor Wu.

"Xiao Li, your idea is very useful." After a long while, Professor Wu raised his head and said, "I am not specialized in this, but I know a little bit, but I will introduce someone to you. Please sit down for a while."

With that, Professor Wu went out.

She walked in a hurry and didn't close the door. You could hear her footsteps were fast.

Li Long wondered who Professor Wu would invite this time?

Less than twenty minutes later, footsteps were heard. Li Long walked to the door and saw Professor Wu and a man in his fifties walking towards him. The two were talking as they walked.

The man had a little baldness. Li Long had sharp eyes and could see that there was dirt on his hands and mud spots on his clothes. If you didn't know better, you would think he was a farmer from somewhere.

When the two of them walked over here, Professor Wu pointed at Li Long and said:

"This is Li Long, the man who came up with the idea. Although he's young, he's very thoughtful. I think you can talk to him."

Then Professor Wu said to Li Long:

"Xiao Li, this is Professor Luo from our college. He has been engaged in agricultural research for more than 20 years, focusing on soil. You can tell him your ideas."

"Hello young man!" Professor Luo said enthusiastically, "I heard from Old Wu about your idea, it's really good. Let's go to my office and have a good chat!"

Li Long said goodbye to Professor Wu and followed Professor Luo to his office.

It's not far from the next door, but Professor Wu was obviously not in the office just now.

"I have an experimental field in the college, and I was busy working in the field just now." Professor Luo explained to Li Long while opening the door. After entering the room, he pointed to the wooden sofa and said:
"Come, Comrade Xiao Li, sit down."

After pouring water for Li Long, Professor Luo took the initiative to ask.

Li Long then shared what he knew about soil testing and fertilization.

He didn't know a lot. After all, when the cooperative was established, they, the shareholders, were asked to work and earn money. Later, the fertilizers, herbicides and planting methods used became more and more advanced, and cotton no longer required manual weeding. So they no longer cared about how to farm using advanced scientific methods.

Therefore, most of the knowledge we know about soil testing and fertilization is hearsay, and we only know the general idea.

But it was just a rough idea, which made Professor Luo's eyes light up. He took out a pen and paper and started taking notes.

"Xiao Li, I didn't expect that a farmer like you could think so deeply about this. In fact, there has always been research on targeted fertilization in agriculture, but everyone's research is on the general direction. The small details you mentioned are still blank. This is a very good research direction. Targeted fertilization is in line with our party's principle of 'concrete analysis of specific issues' and is a good idea!"

Li Long smiled. The professor was different. He could even relate this to a matter of principle.

But he is an expert, and he must be better than me in this area, so I just listen carefully. He really wants to improve his saline-alkali land, preferably without making too much noise.

Of course, if they can be rehabilitated, the thousands of acres of saline-alkali land next to the fourth team will be of great use.

Use in advance. (End of this chapter)