Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 992 Jiang Zhiyu is cunning: This woman is not simple.

Li Long has his own enamel bowl. When he goes to get soup, the cook fills the bowl with meat. Everyone around him is envious, and no one is dissatisfied.

Li Long hunted these roe deer, so it's only right that he eats more!

Li Long didn't take it to heart. After getting his food, he sat on a piece of wood, put his bowl aside, and started breaking the naan bread.

He didn't bring chopsticks, but that didn't stop these people. They simply took a branch from the felled tree, removed the thorns, broke it to the appropriate length, and that was chopsticks.

Li Long did the same thing, getting a pair of chopsticks. Seeing Meng Hai still maintaining order and waiting to fight last, he shouted:
"Old Meng, don't wait any longer, hurry up and eat. After you finish eating, you still need to coordinate the work below."

At this point, there's no need to worry about the unity between officers and soldiers. This isn't the time for that. Meng Hai needs to demonstrate his authority and prestige, and Li Long genuinely has something to tell him.

Meng Hai smiled after hearing Li Long's words, then went over and got a bowl of meat soup before coming back.

He also brought some dry food. His wife made him some fried dough sticks—although eating them cold might not be good for his stomach, they were oily and filling.

“Here, naan goes better with meat soup.” Li Long broke off half of the naan and gave it to him. “Give me half of your fried dough, I want to try my sister-in-law’s cooking.”

Meng Hai said with a smile, "Alright, alright, come on, half for each of us. If you want some, I have more in my bag."

"No, just try it. If I eat it all, you'll complain about me later." Li Long joked. "By the way, Lao Meng, this afternoon, and for the work afterwards, after you're in your group, you should mainly delegate tasks to the group leader."

With so many people around, watching you run around all by yourself, honestly, you'll only tire yourself out in the end. Listen to your voice, it's hoarse. This kind of thing takes a long time to recover from, so go back and drink plenty of honey water.”

"Actually, I was also divided into groups," Meng Hai explained with a smile, "but they couldn't command them..."

"Can't get any orders?" Li Long laughed. "Looks like you've been restricting your authority too much. I'm giving you that money; you need to learn how to spend it. Are you afraid to spend it because you're worried about overspending?"

With seventy or eighty people, you'd have to divide them into four or five groups. Each group would have a leader whom most people could trust. Tell them the leader would get twelve yuan a day; if they didn't manage the group well, they'd get the same pay as everyone else. If they still couldn't manage it well and something went wrong, or if the work didn't meet standards, they'd get four to two yuan deducted, or you could just replace the leader. See if the new leader can manage it?

Li Long knew that Meng Hai couldn't make decisions on his own because the money belonged to Li Long, so he gave him some advice.

Meng Hai smiled, thinking that this would definitely make the work easier.

"So you just need to keep an eye on those group leaders. Don't talk to the villagers about anything, just call the group leader directly. But make sure to explain the tasks clearly when you assign them, so you don't have to argue later—let's start tomorrow."

Although seventy or eighty people were working at a much faster pace than the original twenty people, the efficiency hadn't improved much. Li Long knew that Meng Hai was capable, but he had too little autonomy, which restricted his own actions and made it difficult for him to work efficiently.

"Old Meng, we'll be working on this for two or three years. You need to be proactive. If I'm around, tell me your ideas directly. If I'm not here, and you think it's feasible, just do it, and then we'll talk when we meet."

You know my temper; I'm not unreasonable, and I can listen to what you say, so don't worry.

After Li Long said that, Meng Hai felt much more at ease. He naturally knew how to do it quickly and with good quality, but when it came to money, he really couldn't make the decision on his own.

Now that Li Long has relinquished power, things are naturally easier for Meng Hai.

After lunch, Meng Hai went to several group leaders and explained the conditions that Li Long had mentioned. The group leaders immediately had different reactions.

Well, some people think they have to work hard this time for a few extra dollars, while others are wondering if it's worth offending people for a few dollars.

Who wouldn't want to earn an extra ten kilograms of flour for every day's work?
Li Long could tell that the work efficiency in the afternoon was significantly higher, and the loudest voices on the scene were no longer from Meng Hai, but from the group leaders.

Although the countdown starts tomorrow, they've already begun to identify themselves as team leaders today.

good thing.

Seeing that the work efficiency had improved and Meng Hai was much more relaxed, Li Long picked up his gun and backpack and continued walking forward.

In one afternoon, Li Long dug up four more large Codonopsis pilosula roots, but he didn't catch any more prey.

Meng Hai was in charge of distributing the money that evening, while Li Long drove the jeep back to the county.

“A cadre surnamed Jiang called you,” Gu Boyuan said. “The propaganda officer from the township said that if you have time, call her back when you go to work tomorrow. She wants to interview you to see if you go there or if she will come to the county.”

Jiang Zhiyu called herself?
Li Long hadn't dealt with Officer Jiang for a long time and had almost forgotten about him.

I suppose the reason she was able to call me is because she probably contacted my older brother's family and got our phone number.

"Your older brother gave me the phone number, and he called here to tell me," Gu Boyuan's subsequent words confirmed Li Long's guess.

"Okay, I'll call them tomorrow morning. I'll go there myself." Li Long's household registration is still in the village, where his parents, older brother, and sister-in-law live. He still has to give face to the township.

Moreover, Jiang Zhiyu's previous reports had been good for him, so Li Long was sure to cooperate this time. In fact, he was also curious about what this Jiang Zhiyu wanted to talk to him about.

The next day, after breakfast, half an hour before work started, Li Long called Jiang Zhiyu. Jiang Zhiyu was in her office and was quite happy to hear that Li Long was coming over.

Li Long asked her what was wrong, and Jiang Zhiyu said:

“I’ve studied some changes in rural areas over the past two years and I think there’s a major trend that I need to discuss with you.”

“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyu was being a bit mysterious, but it was only a ten-minute drive from the county to the township, so Li Long could wait.

When he arrived in the village in his jeep, Jiang Zhiyu was already waiting at the gate.

"It's only because you called in advance that our leader thought a big shot was coming when this jeep arrived," Jiang Zhiyu joked.

After not seeing her for many days, Jiang Zhiyu had become even more capable. Her originally gentle temperament now carried a hint of a strong woman's demeanor, and she spoke and acted much more efficiently.

As the township's propaganda officer, she has a lot of responsibilities and even has her own dedicated office.

Li Long drove the Jeep into the yard and followed Jiang Zhiyu to her office.

Jiang Zhiyu poured water for Li Long, then took out her notebook and asked while preparing:
"Comrade Li Long, what have you been busy with lately?"

“We’re building a road in the mountains,” Li Long said. “I promised my herder friends that I would build a road to their summer pastures. So far, we’ve only completed less than a fifth of it. Now that the busy farming season is over, we’re sending people to speed up the repairs.”

Jiang Zhiyu felt deep regret after Li Long was recognized as an advanced individual nationwide. Knowing full well that Li Long was a goldmine of news stories, she hadn't followed up closely due to work and other reasons, resulting in her missing out on several related news articles.

Even the township leaders, unusually, criticized her for this.

Jiang Zhiyu felt that she had indeed missed an opportunity, so she kept trying to make up for it.

She studied Li Long's development process over the past few years and, considering the current agricultural situation, wanted to start a large-scale project.

This is also why she asked Li Long to come. Actually, she thought Li Long was too busy to come, and she had planned to go to Li Long's purchasing station. Unexpectedly, Li Long called early and came over.

They gave me a lot of face.

"Shall we begin?" Jiang Zhiyu asked, seeing that Li Long didn't seem to have anything to say. "Shall I ask a question?" "Sure," Li Long replied readily.

"You are the first person in our township to buy a small four-wheel tractor, the first to buy a harvester, the first to buy a tiller, and the first to buy a complete set of brand-new Dongfanghong 75 tractors."

Under your leadership and guidance, many families in our township have bought small four-wheeled tractors and harvesters for agricultural production and harvesting. The level of agricultural mechanization in our township is much higher than in other townships.

At this point, Jiang Zhiyu looked up at Li Long and asked:
"Comrade Li Long, judging from the above, can I confirm that you have high expectations for agricultural mechanization in our county, and even have your own ideas? Can you talk about your thoughts and future development direction?"

Hey, that's a really big question.

It has to be said that working in the countryside is more down-to-earth; the people and things you encounter are real, not just empty data.

Therefore, Jiang Zhiyu is better able than Ma Xiaoyan to see the true thoughts behind Li Long's actions, and can even predict some future development trends based on Li Long's success.

“I think that based on the current development trend, agriculture in our northern Xinjiang will definitely be dominated by mechanization in the future,” Li Long said after thinking for a moment. “Our northern Xinjiang is vast and sparsely populated. At present, there is still a lot of wasteland that can be reclaimed, but the population increase is not much. There are many factors for this.”

Although some people from other parts of China, including Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, come here to work and eventually settle down, the actual population growth cannot keep up with the increase in arable land. Therefore, the only way forward for agricultural development is mechanization.

"Yes, this is also mentioned in our official reports. We have the foundation and capability for mechanization in northern Xinjiang." Jiang Zhiyu felt that Li Long's statement was quite comprehensive, but such a broad overview wouldn't be suitable for detailing in her article, so she inquired about the specifics:

"Have you thought about what should be done specifically in our township, or even our village, regarding your land? As far as I know, your household registration is still in the village, and you still have land under your name, right?"

“Yes, so I’ve actually been thinking about this issue for several years now,” Li Long said with a smile. “The harvester itself was my idea, which I then took to other agricultural machinery factories for research, and that’s how the actual product came about. The current tiller is the same thing.”

My family has been farmers for generations. Although I wasn't born in northern Xinjiang, I grew up in a rural area there. I know how hard the farmers in northern Xinjiang work. Of course, many people might wish they had that kind of hardship, but no matter what, there's not enough manpower to cultivate so much land, so the farmers in northern Xinjiang work extremely hard.

I was thinking that the best way to cultivate so much land was to vigorously implement mechanization. The most troublesome thing back then was harvesting wheat. When a family had only a few acres, harvesting wheat was manageable, but if a family had dozens of acres, harvesting wheat was extremely labor-intensive and tiring. The whole family had to work together to seize the farming season—after all, if it wasn't harvested in time, the wheat grains would fall to the ground, birds would come and eat them, and the grain would be lost…”

"So that's why harvesters came about?" Jiang Zhiyu interjected at the opportune moment.

"Yes, it started with harvesters. Actually, I wanted to have more agricultural machinery, but I didn't study enough and didn't learn enough, so there were relatively few things I could research. Harvesters were just one of my research directions. At that time, I worked with the factory director and staff of the agricultural machinery factory to research and improve them. Now, this is the type that is commonly used in the market."

Jiang Zhiyu nodded, deeply agreeing with Li Long's words.

"I have another small question. Why did you choose to cooperate with the agricultural machinery factory in Kuitun, instead of a nearby factory, such as one in our county or Shicheng?"

Li Long hesitated for a moment, and Jiang Zhiyu said with a smile, "Comrade Li Long, don't worry, I won't write this part in. I just want to satisfy my curiosity."

"Of course, it's because the agricultural machinery factories in those two places didn't like my designs," Li Long said with a smile. "I've been to both places. As soon as they heard that I didn't graduate from junior high school, they sent me out."

"Sigh, when will this obsession with academic qualifications ever end?" Jiang Zhiyu had already guessed the answer, so she said with a sigh, and then asked:

"So you've been researching cultivators again?"

"Yes. As more land has been reclaimed in the countryside, the manual weeding and wheat harvesting that used to be done can no longer be done as before. People in the area say that our farming is extensive, while theirs is intensive. We would like to farm intensively, but unfortunately we don't have the conditions."

Nowadays, who doesn't have dozens of acres of land? Take weeding in the summer, for example. It takes a week to ten days to weed once, and then the weeds grow back on the land that was weeded before, creating an endless cycle.

Using a tiller is much more convenient; a small four-wheeled tiller can complete the tilling of dozens of acres in a day. Although it's not as thorough as manual weeding, it's basically effective—even if you do it only once a week, it's not too tiring and saves a lot of labor.

Li Long's ideas were both insightful and based on concrete examples, which Jiang Zhiyu found very helpful, so she took careful notes.

"So what are your plans next?"

"Next, I'm thinking about how to develop a better spraying machine." Li Long didn't hide his thoughts. This kind of thing is all about brainstorming. If someone can research and produce it, Li Long would be happy to see it happen.

After all, although the Patent Law has been enacted, it's better not to discuss the level of patent protection at this point.

Take harvesters and tillers for example, some factories have already started to imitate them. Of course, the earliest production was done in Kuitun, so the brand is strong and many people buy them.

But other factories sell them cheaper, so naturally some people will choose them. If you say it infringes on a patent, then go ahead and sue; this lawsuit could go on for a long time.

Since there isn't much patent protection in this area, we can share the idea. If someone can develop and produce it, Li Long can simply purchase more of it.

If these people can't figure it out, then they can figure it out when cotton is planted on a large scale.

"A spraying machine?" Jiang Zhiyu was puzzled as to why Li Long would suddenly switch to this topic.

“The traditional way of spraying pesticides now is with a sprayer,” Li Long said. “When there are pests on the crops, you carry a sprayer and a can of water to the field and start spraying again and again. It takes most of the day to spray 20 acres of land—and that’s if you’re spraying quickly. The problem is that people have to carry this thing on their backs and spray pesticides in the hot weather. They have to go back and forth dozens or even hundreds of times to spray one field. Their shoulders can’t take it.”

Most importantly, spraying pesticides during the hottest days of summer, especially when there's no wind, makes the pesticide mist permeate the air, greatly increasing the risk of poisoning.

Li Long wasn't just talking nonsense; every year, quite a few farmers get poisoned from spraying pesticides on their crops.

Some people are saved, while others lose their lives as a result.

"So I thought, what if I could design a machine for spraying pesticides that could spray several acres of land at once, driven by a tractor? That would be much more convenient."

Jiang Zhiyu, who works in publicity and reporting, naturally knew about this situation, but she had never connected the two.

After all, at that time, many people died unnatural deaths, medical conditions were not so advanced, living conditions were not so good, and people's common sense was not so rich due to poor information transmission.

So Jiang Zhiyu actually knew some of the data, but she just couldn't connect them together for the time being.

Now, as soon as Li Long speaks, she reacts immediately.

Yes, every year a lot of people die or are hospitalized because of the injections, both men and women.

At that time, the insecticides were still the well-known 3911, which were extremely toxic and had a very high mortality rate. Inhaling the toxic fumes could easily lead to death.

So when Li Long said that, Jiang Zhiyu understood.

Li Long felt that she didn't understand enough, which was normal, since Li Long couldn't possibly tell Jiang Zhiyu that more than 60% of the county's farmland would be planted with cotton in the future, and that spraying pesticides would be a very heavy farm job for cotton farmers for a considerable period of time.

Without the advent of pesticide spraying machines, this single process alone could cause many farmers to suffer from frozen shoulder and lumbar muscle strain, and many more people would end up in the hospital or even die because of pesticide spraying.

Therefore, this thing must be developed.

Jiang Zhiyu then asked Li Long about the prospects of mechanization.

"Some time ago, I went to the Corps and saw the high-horsepower wheeled tractors they had purchased. They can do all the work that the Dongfanghong 75 tractor can do now, and they are very efficient. For example, it may take ten minutes for the Dongfanghong to plow one mu of land, while the wheeled tractor may only take five minutes, or even less."

Therefore, I believe the future trend will be the gradual emergence of more efficient agricultural machines, replacing the current ones.” Li Long envisions, “More high-quality domestically produced machines will be applied to our agricultural production, ensuring farmers increase their income and become wealthy.”

(End of this chapter)