Siheyuan: Starting from 1958

The New Year comes quickly and goes quickly.

The steel mill, which had been quiet for several days, became bustling again.

According to tradition, on the first day of work every year, all the factory leaders of the steel rolling mill will gather together to wish each other a happy new year and hold a group party.

The atmosphere was very lively.

But this year's New Year's party was very unusual.

Halfway through the meeting, the warm atmosphere was replaced by solemnity.

Five minutes ago, Director Yang announced a decision from his superiors: "In order to reduce the food pressure in the city, starting today, the daily food supply of the steel mill will be reduced by 20% compared to last year."

Pork supply has also been reduced from once every ten days last year to once a month.

Even the supply each time has been reduced to half of last year's.

A quick calculation will show that the amount of pork distributed to the steel mills this year has dropped sharply to one-sixth of last year's. It can be seen that pork has become a very scarce commodity in the city.

But this is understandable.

Normally, pigs need to eat grains. It is impossible to feed them grass every day, especially when they are young.

Now even people in the surrounding rural areas have no food to eat, let alone feed the pigs with precious food.

Not surprisingly, 80% of the pork currently circulating in Beijing comes from fattened pigs provided by several state-owned pig farms.

In the surrounding rural communes, it is very likely that you will not find a single pig even if you search two or three villages.

Seeing that the factory leaders were frowning and silent, Director Yang continued, "Except for grain and pork, the supply of other materials is much less than last year, especially rapeseed oil and peanut oil."

"It has dropped to half of last year..."

"But the production tasks assigned to our steel mill by our superiors have not only not decreased, but have increased a lot compared to last year?"

One of the workshop directors under Director Yang had a bad temper and he immediately stood up to refute: "Director..."

"The food standard has been lowered, but the production tasks have been increased. Isn't this pushing the workers to death?"

"Last year, when the steel mill ran out of supplies, many workers fainted at their workstations due to lack of nutrition, lack of fat or water in their stomachs, and low blood sugar. Some almost died."

"The supply of materials to the steel mill will be reduced this year. The workers will definitely not have enough to eat, and they will have no fat in their stomachs. Not to mention increasing the workload, it will be good enough if they can complete last year's production tasks..."

Another workshop director immediately responded: “We can’t even complete last year’s production target.”

"Last year, the workers were hungry and had no energy, and the forging workshop I was in charge of required physical labor."

"In order to prevent production accidents due to lack of physical strength among the workers, I had to divide the forging workers in the workshop into two groups. One group of forgers is responsible for production for one hour, and then rest for one hour..."

"Now the workers' rations have been further reduced. Previously, a worker could work five hours a day at his workstation, but now it's good enough if he can work three hours. How can we complete the production task..."

Director Yang was extremely angry when he saw the conference room was full of his trusted subordinates complaining about not being able to complete production tasks.

They are our own people. Not only do they not help the factory director to find a solution, but they also keep making trouble and adding fuel to the fire. It's really infuriating.

Faced with the increasingly bustling conference room, Director Yang was afraid that something unexpected might happen in the next meeting, so he decisively slammed the table to interrupt.

Then he turned his attention to Deputy Director Li: "Old Li..."

"Now is the most difficult time for the steel mill. I hope we can work together to solve the problem."

"The food and pork provided to us by the Grain Bureau and the Meat Processing Plant have dropped drastically. It's definitely not enough to eat." "You have connections with both the Grain Bureau and the Meat Processing Plant. Can you get back some unplanned supplies..."

“It doesn’t matter if the price is a little bit higher.”

"The top priority now is to ensure that the workers have enough food to eat, avoid safety accidents, and complete the production tasks assigned to us by our superiors..."

"Otherwise, we factory leaders will be punished."

Deputy Director Li felt contemptuous.

If the steel mill fails to complete the production tasks assigned by its superiors, Lao Yang, as the director of the steel mill, will definitely bear the main responsibility, and the deputy director who is in charge of workshop production will bear secondary responsibility. As a deputy director in charge of logistics, I can only bear some joint liability at most, but nothing will happen.

But Deputy Director Li did not intend to stand idly by.

He had long been eyeing the position under Director Yang.

However, if one wants to be promoted from deputy director to director, in addition to having a very high prestige in the steel mill, one also needs the support and trust of his superiors.

This means that he must make sufficient contributions in the steel mill to be recognized by his superiors.

If other surrounding factories suffer production safety accidents due to shortages, they will not be able to complete the production tasks assigned by their superiors.

As the deputy director of the steel mill in charge of logistics, I will try my best to meet the needs of the workers in the steel mill, ensure that they have enough food, avoid safety accidents, and complete the production tasks assigned by their superiors. Then I will stand out from all the deputy directors in charge of logistics in the city and be favored by my superiors.

It would definitely be easy to find a way to take over the position of director of the steel mill and replace Lao Yang.

As he thought about it, Deputy Director Li had already made a decision in his mind.

But he did not respond to Director Yang's words immediately.

He has given me such a difficult problem. I can't just rely on his flattery. I must give myself some benefits. Otherwise, why should I help him?

It was not until everyone in the conference room focused their attention on him that Deputy Director Li spoke: "Director..."

"I do have some connections with the Food Bureau and the Meat Processing Plant..."

"But now there is a shortage of food, pork and cooking oil everywhere in Beijing."

"I heard that the supply of materials from the superior units has also been reduced proportionally. No matter how strong my relationship with them is, it is impossible for me to snatch food and meat from the superior units..."

"Otherwise, I, as the deputy factory director, will be accused of not having a sense of the overall situation, and I can't bear it."

Seeing a look of despair slowly flashing across Director Yang's face, Deputy Director Li changed the subject and continued, "But I can find a way to get the purchasing department to go to the countryside to buy supplies. I will also mobilize the relationship between the meat processing plant and the grain bureau and try every possible way to get grain."

"Since I couldn't take food from the higher-level units, I tried to find some unplanned food and some pig offal."

"Ten catties is not too much, one catty is not too little. A little bit adds up to a lot, and we can definitely get back a lot of food..."

“But the price is definitely very high.”

"As far as I know, after the food supply was drastically reduced again, the price of a pound of white flour in the pigeon market has skyrocketed to 1.5 yuan per pound."

"The price of grain and pork we buy ourselves is definitely higher than that in Pigeon Market, otherwise others would not sell their saved food to us."

Director Yang was also pressed into a corner, and answered cheerfully: "As long as we can buy back the grain, the price is no problem."

Deputy Director Li continued, "In order to motivate the logistics department's buyers and workers to solve the problem of shortages in the steel mill, I would also like to ask Director Yang for a few deputy section positions."

"If someone makes a special contribution, I plan to promote him directly to deputy section-level cadre without any restrictions." (End of this chapter)