Back to 1978

Chapter 146: Ma Laowu seems to be crazy again (11000 plus more)

The land allocated by the brigade to Xie Hushan to build a factory was the vacant land around the former chicken farm of the Zhongping Production Brigade in the early 1970s.

The brigade's chicken farm could not be opened for those two years. The chickens kept dying in batches. Han Laogou and everyone else were heartbroken, so they finally made up their minds to close the chicken farm.

Xie Qimao, director of the veterinary station, confirmed several times that it was fowl plague. The members of Zhongping Brigade could not accept this result. According to everyone's guess, other brigades must have been jealous of their Zhongping Brigade because it was too outstanding, so they secretly poisoned the chickens.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence to support this hypothesis.

"How about we find someone to take a closer look at this blueprint? Can you do it, Commander Xie?" Han Hongbing stood up with his shovel, wiped his sweat, and asked Xie Hushan, who was leveling the ground of the chicken farm next to him:

"Don't let us work hard for several days, and the result is just like the joke, we were asked to build a chimney, but the blueprint was turned upside down, and a group of people dug a well instead."

Xie Hushan used a peach shovel to pry up a stone from the ground and threw it aside, saying to Han Hongbing:
"Of course it will work. The factory drawings are all important information. It was only because Tiesheng and Liu Laobangzi relied on their connections to help copy a copy. Normally, they would never be allowed to see it.

"And let me tell you, from the perspective of the two countries, if the enemy finds out that we have this blueprint, everyone from me to you who has seen it will be shot, including Dahei."

Two days ago, Song Tiesheng had someone deliver a thick stack of drawings, which were all handwritten copies that Liu Changhai and his colleagues had obtained through their connections at major steel rolling companies.

These drawings are worthless to most farmers in Zhongping Production Brigade.

But in the hands of a farmer's sideline group leader like Xie Hushan who wants to open a small steel rolling mill, it is a priceless treasure.

These are all the hard work of the first batch of steel workers after liberation, and the drawings were hand-drawn in pencil.

From building the factory to pickling, cold rolling and other production links, how to operate a rolling mill can be explained with images rather than words.

Because when the country was first founded, many citizens were illiterate, and we were afraid that people would not understand if we used too many words.

How to lift strip steel without a gantry crane? The drawings will teach you how to make a semi-manual pulley tool called a soil crane. If the mechanical force is not enough, use manpower.

If the imported rollers are damaged, causing the cold rolling mill to be unable to produce normally, the drawings can teach you how to process the roller blanks yourself, and then go to a large factory with lathes to ask a master craftsman to rub the rollers by hand. The quality may not be as durable as imported rollers and the service life is long, but they are cheap, and you don't have to worry if ten rollers break in a month.

In short, all the problems you can think of are on the drawings, and even the problems you can't think of are also on the drawings.

On the day they received the blueprints, Xie Hushan led Han Laoer, Chen Daxixi and other soldiers from the third team of militia to level the land of the chicken farm and carry out factory planning according to the requirements of the blueprints.

Normally, after the matter of Mr. Qiu Sanye was resolved, Xie Hushan should have sent these guys back to Yakou to continue making bricks.

But the problem now is that Ma Saner, Wu Shuanzi and Wang Chong, the three people who stayed at the cliff, are doing a good job. Without these people, the brick factory's production has not been delayed at all.

It can be seen that Han Laoer and other good-for-nothings did not play any concrete role in the brick factory.

Moreover, they happened to be short of labor, and Han Laogou would not allow the steel rolling mill to occupy the brigade's labor force to avoid affecting grain production. So Xie Hushan could only use these militiamen who had been bought out by him and Ma Laowu as animals.

"Comrades, put aside your personal affairs for the next few days. Stop dating, blind dates, visiting relatives, and watching outdoor movies. Tie Sheng told me when he sent me the blueprints two days ago that maybe he will catch you one day... No, he will ask the workers from the real steel rolling mill to teach you by example." Xie Hushan wiped the sweat off his face:
"Old Yang should be going to the county to beg for alms soon, so you must help me build the factory as soon as possible, and be ready at all times. Once the master comes, suck him to death like a piglet sucking milk! Suck all his skills away!"

"Commander Xie, you said you were burning bricks before, and now you're making steel. There's not a single light job. The 1.5 cent subsidy has exhausted you. Can you change a group of people to be your brothers and let us go?" Daxi finished his work, came over and scooped a bucket of cold water to quench his thirst, and said:
"How come being your buddy is worse than being a farmhand for a landlord in the old society?"

Xie Hushan pointed discontentedly at the horse that was helping to pull up grass in the distance, and said to Chen Daxi:
"You're done, Daxi. I wanted to promote you to be a cadre in the factory, but now there's no chance at all. Do you know why Cao Ma would rather skip classes to come and work?"

"I don't know. Did you fool the kid by saying that the 1.5 cents subsidy given to his brother was given to him instead?" Chen Daxi looked at Cao Ma who was working seriously and asked Xie Hushan.

Commander Xie shouted at Cao Ma, "Cao Ma! Tell Da Xi why you came to work here?"

Cao Ma was clearing the small stones and weeds on the ground without even looking up, saying:

"I'm not a good student, so I won't go to school when the factory is built. I'll come to work directly. Daxiu told me that when the factory is built, my third brother will ask Aunt Xie to be the manager of the factory cafeteria. Anyone who works in the factory will be provided with meals according to the treatment of the commune glass factory cafeteria. I'm afraid that when the factory is built, my third brother will not be short of people."

Cao Ma’s academic performance is not very good, only slightly better than Daxiu.

But he is not as lucky as Daxiu. He has four brothers and his third brother Ma Saner has difficulty building a house and marrying a wife. As for him, I am afraid it will be even more difficult.

Although this child is one year younger than Daxiu and is just fifteen, to be honest, he is more thoughtful than Daxiu and Han Laosan.

I knew that once my grandparents died, there would be no one at home to support me, and I would have trouble paying for my school fees. Plus, I wasn’t good at studying, so it would be better for me not to go to school to save money.

So on the day Xie Hushan first saw the chicken farm property, he came to Xie Hushan and asked if he could come to work in the factory. He wanted to learn some skills like his brother Ma Saner.

Xie Hushan was never stingy with his ambitious children. He immediately appointed Cao Ma as the fifth employee of Zhongping Steel Rolling Mill, temporarily serving as deputy chief of the Security Department and representative of outstanding workers.

The reason why Cao Ma was considered the fifth employee was because Xie Hushan felt that arrangements had already been made for the first four steel rolling mill employees, and they should be the secretaries of the factory director to whom his grandmother served.

Taozi works as the factory director's secretary assistant.

Auntie is the canteen manager of the steel mill, and Dahei is the head of the security department.

"Fuck, what's the standard of the glass factory cafeteria? One meat and one vegetable for every meal?" After hearing this, Chen Daxi's squinting eyes widened like light bulbs, and he looked nothing like Erxi at all:

"Commander Xie, let me tell you, what I just said was what Ma Saner and Wu Shuanzi said behind your back at the brick factory. I eavesdropped on them and I just wanted to tell you so that you can have some idea and recognize who is the traitor Pu Zhigao and who is the hero Hua Ziliang."

"I won't say anything more, Daxi. How can I not trust you? We have been brothers for many years." Xie Hushan smiled and patted Daxi's chest.

Daxi breathed a sigh of relief: "Commander is wise."

Xie Hushan pointed to the large area of ​​unleveled wasteland and turned his face to Chen Daxi and cursed:

"If you don't level this piece of land for me before tonight, you will never be able to eat meat or vegetables in this life! I'll let you know how Zhou Paopi orders chicken!"

A group of people burst into laughter at once. Just as the silly boys were joking and working, a team of mule carts pulling blue bricks came slowly along the village road in the distance, and the bells hanging on the mules' necks jingled.

Those are the blue bricks sent by the brick factory to build the factory building.

Xie Hushan immediately straightened up and looked towards the mule cart: "Prepare to unload the cart."

In addition to the blue bricks, he also asked the driver to pass on a message, asking Taozi and Jin Mancang to come along with the mule cart.

As a result, Xie Hushan looked at the seven or eight mule carts for a long time, but did not see Taozi and Jin Mancang.

Just when I was wondering if Taozi and her daughter would come next, Daxiu jumped out from behind one of the mule carts like a big monkey and shouted at Xie Hushan from a distance:
"Brother! The foreign goods you sent back have arrived at the supply and marketing cooperative! Hurry up, Ma Laowu seems to have gone crazy again!"

(End of this chapter)