Back to 1978

Chapter 160: Wheat Harvest is Coming

"Don't disbelieve me. What you and your sister-in-law saw just now was the production process of the slab. The large piece of iron plate is called a slab, which is equivalent to the bricks we make. We have just made the bricks." Xie Hushan saw that Yang Limin thought he was joking, so he introduced it truthfully:

"The workers then have to cut it back into the furnace, heat it up and roll it into coils, and then process the hot-rolled steel coils into a bundle of hardened coils through processes such as pickling and cold rolling. This sounds complicated, but it is actually rough steel processing, which is the least technical job and can be done by anyone after a few practices. Why didn't the communes do it? First, there were no machines and equipment, and second, there were no raw materials. As long as these two things were done, the money would not be counted."

"Let me ask you one more question. How much can I earn after processing one ton of scrap steel?"

"According to what you said, you should make at least 300-500 per ton, right? Sell 1,210 tons?"

"This month, the price of a ton of qualified cold-rolled steel coils is 2,400 yuan. This is because the several large state-owned steel mills in Yaoshan have recently shipped a lot. When they controlled production before, the highest price was 2,800 yuan per ton."

Yang Liming was stunned. One thousand and twenty-one tons was the largest number he could think of, and he was only half right.

"I calculated that our factory's technology is not good, and the loss is high. Ten tons of scrap steel can only produce more than eight tons of strip steel. Eight tons multiplied by two thousand and four is 19,200 yuan."

"Scrap steel costs 700 yuan per ton, 7,000 yuan for 10 tons. After deducting the purchase cost of 10 tons of scrap steel, there is still 12,200 yuan left. After deducting the various costs of coal, electricity, workers' wages, benefits and so on for one month, the profit is 8,000 yuan."

"Now you understand why workers have better benefits. It's just this kind of work, just like picking up money. The more scrap steel you have, the more you pick up. What's the technical content?"

"After a few days of training, what's the difference between farmers and workers? I don't even need to provide labor insurance benefits or gifts for farmers in Xishan. I just pay them 16 yuan a month, and they are all so beautiful that you can't find them anywhere else."

"For the same job, if I give it to a county worker and he pays me 16 dollars a month, he will have to fuck my entire family with his mouth."

"You pay the workers 16 yuan a month, and you take 2,400 a month... Comrade Hu San, you are too overbearing. If this happened in our factory, if you offered yourself so much salary, the workers would..." Lu Yuan was eating fish nearby, and when she heard Xie Hushan's words, she spoke in shock.

Yang Limin, who was standing next to him, did not wait for Xie Hushan to speak this time, but took the initiative to speak to his girlfriend:
"You don't understand the situation, so don't say he's being too much. The effort he put in and the risks he took were unimaginable to other workers. Without him finding a way to raise money in Hong Kong Island for the county, the county wouldn't have pieced together the scraps he had to start his business with. He had to get the coal and scrap steel all by himself."

"I didn't say anything else. I just heard him speak so confidently and domineeringly in front of us, so I wanted him to pay attention and not show off. Otherwise, if I heard it, it would be fine, but if outsiders heard it, they would cause trouble for him." Lu Yuan looked at the smiling Xie Hushan, and then looked at Yang Limin who was helping Xie Hushan explain, and said dissatisfiedly:
"Besides, Taozi and Hu San haven't said anything, why are you so anxious to help him explain? Which side are you from?"

"I'm his uncle." Yang Limin said with a smile, "I'm afraid you'll think he's abusing his power for personal gain."

"Actually, sister-in-law is right. I am just overbearing. I have to be overbearing because there are too many things to do. I need to expand and become stronger. The village roads need to be repaired because it is inconvenient to transport my goods. I need money. The factory building needs to be expanded and the equipment needs to be increased. I need money. If I were to be like my sister-in-law and her big state-owned factory, and have a bunch of deputy factory directors, managers, department heads, and section chiefs hold meetings to discuss, how long would it take?" Xie Hushan picked up a piece of braised pork for each of Lv Yuan and Yang Limin, and then placed the remaining small bowl of meat in front of Taozi:
"So why do I prefer the team to contribute nothing and give 20% every year? Because I have the final say in the whole factory. They do whatever I tell them to do, and anyone who doesn't obey will be fired immediately. Not to mention a fake nephew like Lao Yang, I can even ignore my real nephew and take all the money."

Lu Yuan looked at the fish that Lao Yang had helped her put in her bowl, and then looked at the bowl of braised pork in front of Taozi: "Are you so overbearing even when you're trying to coax your partner to eat?"

At this time, Deputy Factory Director Jiang Jingwen came in from outside with sweat on his forehead: "Factory Director, the slabs have been cut and returned to the furnace for heating. However, I think this furnace is not well handled by these newcomers. It is OK for the enamel factory to hang enamel and make wash basins and teacups, but I think it will take some effort to make tin cans in the canning factory."

"Got it. I'll mark it later and supply this batch to the cannery to make cans." Xie Hushan said to Jiang Jingwen with a smile, "Old Jiang, would you like to sit down and eat with us?"

Taozi stood up to help the other party get the bowl and chopsticks, but Jiang Jingwen declined with a smile:

"No, no, I'll go to the cafeteria and eat with everyone. It's only natural for the factory director to have his own special meal, but the deputy factory director should also eat with everyone, right? I'm willing to eat with everyone, so it's convenient to scold them."

After Jiang Jingwen finished speaking, he walked out. Yang Limin looked at his back and said, "Is this the old worker you mentioned earlier who was fired because of his work style?"

"Yeah." Xie Hushan nodded:
"We recruited five skilled workers. The four who made mistakes and were fired were not wronged. He was the only one who was wronged."

Jiang Jingwen is a worker at the old wire rod factory in Bingyang County, which has now been renamed as the wire rod factory. He is nearly fifty years old this year and has never married. The old man is a lovesick man. He had a girlfriend when he was young, but the girl's family thought he was poor and did not marry her to him, but to another young man from the wire rod factory.

As a result, the earthquake three years ago made the woman a widow, but she had always been in love with Lao Jiang. When she was young, she had to obey her parents' orders. Now that her parents were gone, Lao Jiang did not despise her for being a widow. The two thought that they could finally get married.

This was a pretty good love story.

However, Chiang's ex-girlfriend is still quite popular. Xie Hushan has to admit that Chiang's girlfriend is still charming, because she is now working in the canteen of his steel mill.

It’s not that women in their forties are particularly beautiful, but there is a kind of gentle femininity that is quite pleasing to the eye.

After that, this gentle aunt was noticed by a leader in their factory who was also a widower. He wanted to marry her and asked someone to go to her house to act as a matchmaker. However, the girl had already made up her mind to be with Lao Jiang, so she naturally would not agree.

I don’t know what the other party was thinking. The woman’s two children, both in their twenties, work in a factory, but they are determined to match their mother up to marry this leader.

Maybe the leader promised to give them some benefits after he became their stepfather.

It may also be that Chiang Kai-shek had been a front-line worker all his life and had no future, which made his two children feel that their mother would suffer if she married him.

Anyway, whenever Lao Jiang and the woman met, the woman's two children would make a scene, accusing Lao Jiang of molesting their mother and being a hooligan. They would report him to the factory for having problems with his work style, etc., and they ruined the job that Lao Jiang had been doing for most of his life.

Fortunately, the woman understood that she could not be dominated by her parents when she was young and then by her children when she was old. The children could make any noise they wanted and would follow Chiang Kai-shek even if he asked for food.

Just like that, Jiang Jingwen was invited out of Xie Hushan's factory, and now his married wife cooks in the cafeteria with Aunt Chen Chunxiang.

"Her child is really a piece of shit." After hearing the whole story, Lv Yuan said angrily with a look of disgust on her face:

"The woman's life was miserable. She was sold by her parents when she was young, and she was almost sold by her children again when she was old."

Then he kept looking at Yang Limin, and Xie Hushan saw it: "Sister-in-law, why are you always looking at Old Yang?"

"Have you forgotten something? Are we here just to eat?" When Lu Yuan heard Xie Hushan asking her, she couldn't help but said directly to Yang Liming.

Yang Limin hesitated for a moment, with an embarrassed expression on his face:
"It's a bit extravagant to give him things. He doesn't need them. Besides, he has to save money to develop the factory."

Xie Hushan was so angry that he glared: "Give it or not, let me see it first, what's the matter, only cadres can enjoy luxury, I am a peasant and can't enjoy it, factory development and the personal enjoyment of the factory director are two different things, hurry up, what is it?"

"You gave Lv Yuan a bunch of foreign goods and cosmetics, bicycles and other things, and you also bought me a bicycle for hiking. My mother-in-law thought it was inappropriate. The gift was too expensive. You have to give back, not just take advantage of me." Yang Limin said:

"Last time, I just happened to tell Lv Yuan that you gave your bicycle to a friend, and my mother-in-law found out about it. She heard that you were the factory director and you were still riding a bicycle. She works at the Yaoshan District Metallurgical and Mining Administration, and she remembered that their application to purchase a Shanghai-brand sedan as a reception car had been approved, and the original BJ212 had been replaced. What she meant was that if your factory has money and can afford it, you can take the 212 away, so that when you want to buy a car, you don't have to find a way to solve the quota or ask around to find out which factory unit is going to replace the car."

Xie Hushan frowned and looked at Yang Limin very seriously:
"How much? Lao Yang, I advise you to think carefully before you open your mouth. Think about the Remy Martin and the cigars, as well as your wife's cosmetics, bicycles, and even the dishes in front of you. If it's too expensive, our friendship will be over. You two have to pay fifty yuan each for food, and work in the workshop for half a day in the afternoon before leaving."

"My mother-in-law said it would cost about 8,500 yuan because it has always been used as a leader's car and has been well maintained."

Xie Hushan put the fish meat into his mouth and said with almost no hesitation: "I'll buy it."

BJ212, the cheapest new car costs yuan, and it is simply impossible to buy one. Even if you have a quota, you have to queue up.

This car is considered a special vehicle designated for county and regiment-level cadres. The more than 10,000 vehicles produced each year are almost all supplied to the military first, followed by local cadres and large factories and mines.

The mayor of Bingyang County now takes the 212 bus when he goes out. He is not even eligible to ride in a Shanghai-brand car.

Moreover, in those days, Xie Hushan could only buy a second-hand 212 that did not require a quota. As for other cars, his steel rolling mill could not buy them. Outside of Zhongping, no one cared about his team's business.

"Leave it to me. I'll pick up the car with you after the wheat harvest is over." Xie Hushan said, "The factory really needs a car to show off. I'm the factory director after all. I can't always have someone drive a tractor to take me to the county town to eat and drink. Every time I go to the city, the tractor that pulls me emits a puff of black smoke. People think Xie Hushan is here, but if they don't know, they'd think Zhu Bajie has gone to Gao Laozhuang."

"Really?" Yang Limin said to Xie Hushan, "More than 8,000 yuan, won't it hinder your development ideas?"

"Ahem..." Xie Hushan said in a low voice:

"Actually, I just concealed the production volume. What I just said was the factory's daytime production volume. Strictly speaking, the 10% I earned in the past two months is enough to buy the car you mentioned."

……

After dinner, Yang Liming took Xie Hushan with him on his back when he returned to the commune and dropped him off at the entrance of the brigade office. As for Lu Yuan, she stayed at the steel rolling mill with Taozi, and Yang Liming would pick her up when he finished his work.

"Uncle, are you looking for me?" Xie Hushan pushed open the door of the brigade headquarters and asked Han Laogou, who was checking accounts with the brigade accountant Yang Shuangxi.

After Han Laogou and the others had sorted out the numbers, Yang Shuangxi handed Han Laogou some money. After they finished their work, Han Laogou looked up at Xie Hushan and asked, "Are you here?"

"Accountant Yang, go take a look at the teams below. If you find any problems, please urge everyone to clean up the threshing floor for me. Especially the threshing floor of Team Seven. It's not something that can be fixed by just rolling it a few times with a roller. If it was rolled yesterday, there will definitely be cracks tomorrow. Let them prepare the fine soil today and fill the cracks." Han Laogou said to Accountant Yang.

When Accountant Yang agreed to go out, Han Laogou picked up the teacup and wanted to drink water. Perhaps he felt that the hot water was too hot, so he put it down, stood up, went to the corner, picked up the ladle and took two sips. Then he said to Xie Hushan:
"Two things. First, your team leader Ma Laowu said that in the next two days, whether it is the brick factory or the steel mill, as long as you are from Team 3, hurry back to the team and prepare to participate in the wheat harvest."

"I've been notified. The brick factory is closed today. They're busy with the wheat harvest. There are no more brick-pulling carts. I think everyone should be back tomorrow." Xie Hushan took out a pack of Mudan cigarettes and handed them to Han Laogou:

"Anything else?"

Han Laogou took two puffs of his cigarette and said, "The day after tomorrow the brigade will send you to the county to get farm machinery. This year the county will provide us with a combine harvester for three days and two threshers to ensure the wheat harvest."

"Where is the company commander? Hasn't this job always been his?" Xie Hushan was a little confused when he heard Han Laogou asked him to go to the county to get farm machinery.

In previous years, the company commander Ge Baosheng was in charge of the job of leading agricultural machinery. There were two times a year, wheat harvest and autumn planting. Especially for wheat harvest, no matter how difficult it was, the county had to grit its teeth and guarantee at least one combine harvester to support Zhongping and other harvest brigades within a limited time to ensure that there would be no problems with the wheat harvest.

The main reason is that wheat harvest is more tiring and takes longer than autumn harvest. There is a local saying in Bingyang that goes "A good man is afraid of wheat harvest, and a good horse is afraid of autumn."

An adult male laborer would squat on the ground and bend over to cut wheat from three in the morning until six or seven in the evening, swinging the sickle until sparks flew. In a day, he could only cut more than an acre of land.

The Zhongping Production Brigade had a total of 5,000 acres of land, and it took the members more than 20 days just to harvest the wheat with sickles.

The reason why it is so exaggerated is that only strong and healthy laborers can work in the fields. The old, weak, sick and disabled people are simply unable to do this kind of heavy physical work that places extremely high demands on the waist and lower limbs.

We have to force everyone to go to the fields to harvest wheat. If the old, weak, sick and disabled people work for two days, they will fill the clinic with beds. This is not worth it.

This is also the reason why Ma Laowu asked Han Laogou to ask Xie Hushan to call back the people working in the brick factory. With one more laborer, the harvest can be completed faster.

Not only the workers, but also the primary and secondary school students in rural areas had to take the unified autumn wheat harvest holiday and return to the production team to help carry bundles, load trucks and pick up wheat ears.

What is even more cruel than harvesting corn and sweet potatoes in autumn is that when harvesting corn, young people in the commando team like Xie Hushan can take a break after finishing their work, but when harvesting wheat, if anyone dares to bend down and be lazy, the production team leader will be furious.

Once the harvesting starts, you have to keep going for more than 20 days, except for eating and drinking water.

Because harvesting wheat is also called "stealing food from the Dragon King" in Zhongping, and it is the Grain in Ear rainy season, the weather changes suddenly. If you encounter a strong wind and heavy rain halfway through harvesting, followed by two days of cloudy weather, the wheat will not only fall over in the field, but the wheat ears will also sprout.

If something like this really happened, everyone in the team would want to die.

No one can guarantee that it won’t rain for more than twenty days in the summer, so we have to race against time to harvest.

The harvesters supported by the county can speed up the wheat harvest a lot. If the workers can rest but the machines don't stop for 24 hours, a combine harvester can harvest 200 acres, and about 500 to 600 acres can be harvested in three days.

"This morning, the captain of the eighth team, Tian Guozhong, received a letter saying that his father-in-law passed away, and he and his wife had to rush to attend the funeral. The round trip would take at least two or three days. Baosheng took over his shift and led the eighth team to clean up the wheat field, prepare sickles, and arrange for wheat harvesting. Baosheng had been thinking of letting you take over this job after you got married, but now that you've caught up, you'll have to do it this year." Han Laogou talked about the reason why Xie Hushan was asked to lead the machine this year.

Xie Hushan smacked his lips and said, "I heard from the company commander before that even if someone blocked our way and wanted the machine to help their team harvest wheat, they would kick him away and bring the machine back to our team. Anyone who dared to grab the machine or the driver would be beaten to death."

This job is not tiring. It is just a matter of bringing the harvester and the driver all the way from the county town to Zhongping. The difficulty is that there will be other teams along the way who want to stop the harvester and harvest their wheat.

"Don't listen to Baosheng's nonsense, as if Zhongping is a bandit's den." Han Laogou was not satisfied with what Xie Hushan had just said, and corrected him:

"What do you mean by beating someone to death? How can you just go up to someone and beat them? You have to be in the right!"

Xie Hushan immediately nodded in understanding. Nothing wrong with that. He should be right first and then beat the other person.

"It's your first time, and you don't know the faces, so you can bring a few more people with you, and you can lead it for a few more years. Baosheng also had to lead some people in the first two years, but in the past few years, he could lead it all by himself. When they saw him leading the machine, those people didn't dare to make trouble." Han Laogou puffed on his cigarette and spoke slowly about his experience in leading the machine:

"I'm not going to hit anyone who stops me on the road. Do you think the guys who stop you are guys of the same age as you and will give you a chance to fight?"

"They are all carefully selected shrews, bad men, and disabled people. They move a few big rocks to block the road and sit on the rocks. They don't beat you or scold you, but cry and howl to pretend to be pitiful, just to prevent the machine from moving. What can you do?"

"If you go up there and get angry and hurt those old people, the other guys will be waiting nearby. If they get the upper hand, you won't be able to leave."

Xie Hushan thought about the scene and nodded repeatedly: "I understand, I just need to find a way to get those old, weak, sick and disabled people to move aside on their own initiative."

"That's right. Or if they attack you first, then you don't have to be afraid. We are in the right." Han Laogou nodded.
"Don't be soft-hearted. No matter how miserable they are, don't pay attention to them. And don't think that I am cruel, or that the county leaders are cruel."

"Why did they decide on a support plan before the big harvester set out? They supported Zhongping for three days, Xiajiatun for three days, and Shuangqiao for three days. Why did they treat them differently instead of treating them uniformly?"

"Why doesn't the county let each brigade draw lots for the opportunity to provide three days of support?"

"Did you use the back door to get in touch with the county leaders?" Xie Hushan deliberately joked.

Han Laogou shook his head:
"It's because of the terrain. We support these brigades including Zhongping because Zhongping has large flat lands, which are suitable for large harvesters to work continuously without having to waste time constantly moving around."

"Those who block the road to steal the machines, their fields are full of potholes and lodging. After harvesting 20 to 30 mu of land, we can't even harvest the remaining half. We have to ask the harvester to move to another field, wasting oil and machine time on the transfer, which affects efficiency. Take our Zhongping land for example. When the harvester comes, we don't have to move to another field for three days. As long as the machine is not broken, we can keep harvesting in one place for three days."

"But farmers are sometimes unreasonable. Seeing that the wheat in his brigade is about to ripen, he doesn't care about the terrain and just wants to rob it, so..."

Xie Hushan said to Han Laogou:

"I understand. Our Zhongping Brigade has always won people over with virtue, and is especially good at doing ideological work for these unruly people who act arrogantly and mischievously."

"That's what I mean." Han Laogou smiled and nodded to Xie Hushan, then added lightly:
"As long as we are right, the team will be held responsible if anyone dies."

(End of this chapter)