1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 336 This time, your farm represents our country!
After everyone entered the conference room.

A cool breeze carrying the musty smell of wooden furniture wafted towards me.

The walls inside were painted half-light green with wainscoting, and the upper half of the white-gray walls were neatly covered with several framed portraits of leaders and various slogans such as "Dig deep canals, suppress alkali layers, and plant green manure".

The original horizontal wooden tables have been divided into two vertical rows, facing each other.

At this moment, the two leaders who had entered with Su Wenchen earlier were sitting opposite Su Wenchen, in the center of the long table.

The three of them were talking about something, and bursts of laughter occasionally rang out.

After the others came in, Liu Guangde immediately became somewhat displeased.

What's going on with you guys?

"We're already a little late, why are we wasting more time here?"

Upon hearing their superiors speak, the two leaders from Fengxian and Peixian immediately offered explanations.

"Director, we just went to the restroom, that's why we were delayed!"

Seeing this, Su Wenchen smiled and smoothed things over.

"Director Liu, everyone needs to use the restroom sometimes!"

"No one can avoid this kind of thing!"

He stood up and greeted them.

"Quickly, everyone, please take your seats!"

"Old Ren, quickly have someone pour tea for the county leaders as well!"

After tea was poured for everyone, the farm leaders sat down on either side of Su Wenchen.

The entire venue gradually quieted down.

There was only one metal ceiling fan on the ceiling, creaking and turning above the center of the two rows of tables.

Seeing this, Su Wenchen spoke first.

"First of all, on behalf of our farm, I would like to welcome all the leaders who have come from afar!"

"Then I won't waste any more words and will get straight to the point!"

"Regarding the allocation of saline-alkali land in our demonstration zone, I wonder what opinions you four counties have?"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, the two leaders remained silent.

Instead, it was Wang Rongshan from Dangshan County who spoke first.

"Director Su, we four counties have discussed it and agreed that the reclaimed land must be divided 70/30, with our local area receiving 70%."

"These lands are, after all, the land on which our local commune members depend for their livelihood. You can't expect us to cut off our livelihoods!"

After speaking, Wang Rongshan paused, somewhat puzzled as to why no one was supporting him.
It's not like the other three immediately voiced their support after he finished speaking, just to show others their unity first, so that they could talk things out later!
So he looked directly at the other three.

It seemed that she sensed Wang Rongshan's gaze.

Shi Yingduan from Feng County kept his head down, looking at the documents he had opened, without saying a word.

Li Kun from Pei County kept his head down, rubbing his fingers, as if he hadn't heard anything at all.

Even Zhao Guohua from Xiao County, which is also in the Su County region, stared intently at the teacup in front of him, as if trying to see something amazing in it.

Upon seeing this scene, Wang Rongshan's expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.

He knew for certain that their alliance might not be strong, and that if Bluewater Farm were to slightly divide them during negotiations, their alliance could dissolve.

After all, even he himself has his own little schemes!

He figured that once all four of them raised their prices, he could secretly negotiate a private concession with Blue Water Farm, which would make it much easier to reach an agreement.

However, he never expected that the alliance would be so loose that it would disband right at the start!
At that moment, he felt as if he had been betrayed by these three people, with him being the villain while the three others took the blame for the good guy.

Moreover, it's one thing to talk about Fengxian and Peixian, since they belong to different provinces, but Xiaoxian, their brother county, also betrayed them.

They didn't even take him along, which made him feel terrible.

"Old Zhao, what do you guys mean by this?!"

When Wang Rongshan called out his name, Zhao Guohua could no longer pretend to be dead.

I had no choice but to bite the bullet and say it.

"Rongshan, we didn't say that. Your Dangshan doesn't represent our Xiaoxian!"

After saying that, he could only mutter a sentence to himself.

Sorry, my good friend!

Our Xiaoxian County is so poor, please make a small sacrifice! The people of Xiaoxian will definitely remember your kindness!
Seeing that Zhao Guohua had already said so.

In addition, Li Kun from Pei County also spoke directly.

"I think Comrade Guohua is right. You can't just make things up!"

Only Shi Yingduan from Fengxian County had some itchy gums.

He understood that these two people had most likely overheard his conversation with Yang Zhenye.

Or perhaps they had their own intelligence, or maybe Bluewater Farm deliberately leaked it.

But no matter what, this rendered his previous strategies useless at this point.

He originally thought that all three of them would agree with Wang Rongshan, and only their family would disagree, which would show their benevolence and righteousness, and then they could take the opportunity to reach an agreement with Blue Water Farm directly.

Even if they find out later, it won't matter to me.

Anyway, the die is cast.

But things are not so easy now.

Wang Rongshan, though not saying much, could tell from the three people in front of him that they definitely knew something he didn't.

So, having no other option, I could only turn to my boss.

"director!"

Upon seeing this, Liang Huashu immediately picked up his cup, took a sip of cold tea, and said in a muffled voice.

"You two talk it out yourselves, I'm just here to be a witness!"

He had no choice, since Xiao County and Dangshan County were both his own people, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to help them.

Moreover, there were significantly more impoverished communes in Xiao County, so he simply decided not to ask for help.

In the end, he also felt that his words were not very useful.

After all, negotiations are mainly about who has more cards to play, and it's quite clear now that Dangshan County has had all its cards exposed.

Xiao County may have its own plans, and he naturally won't interfere too much.

Su Wenchen was somewhat surprised to see the negotiations stalled from the start.

At first, he thought that the four companies would only part ways when it came to actual interests.

But he really hadn't expected it to fall apart so easily!

In Su Wenchen's view now, he had overestimated the level of trust between these counties.

Seeing the stalemate, he smiled, glanced at his watch, and said...

"It seems that you haven't reached an agreement!"

"Well then, it's getting late."

"Let's go have lunch first. You've all traveled a long way and sat on the bus all morning!"

"Let's rest for an hour or two after lunch, everyone can recharge, and then we can talk again this afternoon, okay?"

"Also, during your lunch break, if you'd like, you can ask one of our staff to take you to see our alkali-fighting rabbit breeding base."

"There are also experimental fields for environmental management, which you can visit!"

"What do you two think, leaders?"

Hearing Su Wenchen say this, the two looked at the few people below who were clearly acting strangely. They could also tell that this matter would most likely end up being discussed privately by each county.

In this way, the individual counties would certainly not benefit as much as if they joined forces and acted together, but there was nothing they could do about it.

After all, no one can truly know another person's heart.

Besides, Blue Water Farm is not a small farm, so they can't exert any other pressure and this is the only way out.

So he directly agreed.

"We'll do as you say, Director Su, but we'll have to trouble your farm to provide lunch for us!"

Su Wenchen smiled and shook his head.

"It's no trouble at all, but our conditions here are limited, so please don't mind!"

"Hey, Director Su, what are you saying? As long as we can eat our fill, what's there to complain about! Do you think the food in our unit's canteen is all that good?"

"Most of the canteens are pretty much the same, mostly serving seasonal vegetables and steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and vegetables. We only get to eat meat occasionally during holidays to treat ourselves!"

After lunch.

After arranging a temporary resting place for everyone, Su Wenchen returned to his office.

A short while later, Guo Xiangyang knocked on the door and came in.

"Director, which of them do you think will come over privately at noon?"

Su Wenchen leaned back in his chair and took a sip of herbal tea.

Who do you think will be the first to lose control?

Guo Xiangyang remained silent for a moment, recalling the specific reactions of the county leaders he had met that morning.

"I think Fengxian County is the one that can't hold back the most!"

“They are in the worst condition, so naturally they are the most eager for change. The other three counties all have some kind of industry of their own!”

"Although they are all small businesses, we are making a decent living overall."

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"Before today, I had the same idea. I was initially focused on Fengxian County!"

"However, it seems we were a bit off!"

"You think Fengxian has the worst conditions? If they really cooperate with us and then suddenly rise to prominence, who will be most affected!"

Guo Xiangyang was somewhat puzzled.

"Who will be most affected? It's definitely Fengxian County itself!"

Su Wenchen, however, didn't pay much attention.

"Do you think that if one of these four counties, which were originally in the same boat, becomes better off, it will only have the biggest impact on you?"

"Especially that county that was originally the worst!"

"So I think there might be some unexpected gains this time. It's not just Fengxian County that can't sit still; it's unlikely that all four counties can sit still."

He remembered a saying that came to mind: "I'm afraid my brother will suffer, but I'm also afraid he'll drive a Land Rover."

Although there were no Land Rovers at that time, the meaning expressed in that sentence still existed at that time.

Especially judging from what happened this morning, they're not even close brothers!

While Guo Xiangyang and Su Wenchen were waiting in the office.

The county leaders exchanged polite greetings on the surface.

Wang Rongshan felt betrayed by the other counties that morning.

However, he had somewhat anticipated this kind of thing, but he just didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

So he didn't say much on the surface.

After exchanging a few polite words, Wang Rongshan asked directly.

"I'm going to check out the experimental fields. Do you want to come?"

After seeing that the others had all shaken their heads in refusal,

He wasn't disappointed and walked directly towards the experimental field outside.

Because the farm headquarters is currently under construction, the original surrounding walls have been demolished.

After walking for a while, Wang Rongshan took a long detour and quietly made his way to Su Wenchen's office at the back.

Seeing that Wang Rongshan had left, Shi Yingduan spoke directly.

"I'm going to chat with some old friends from my former commune, so I won't be able to keep you company."

After saying that, he slowly strolled outside.

Li Kun said.

"I've made an appointment with the person in charge of their farm; I'm going to visit the farm later!"

"Old Zhao, you should go back and rest first!"

Zhao Guohua watched the others' backs and stood there for a moment.

He headed straight into the cafeteria to find out where Su Wenchen was.

that's it.

After Zhao Guohua found out the exact location of Su Wenchen's office.

Just as he reached the door, he saw Shi Yingduan standing there somewhat awkwardly, while Li Kungang emerged from a side path not far away.

Before the three could even greet each other, they saw Wang Rongshan cautiously appear from around the corner behind the venue.

The other person even glanced back every now and then.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief that no one was behind me, I turned around and saw three people in front of me looking embarrassed.

After exchanging glances, the four of them were completely at a loss for words, and for a moment the air seemed to freeze.

In the end, it was Li Kun who reached out and greeted them.

"Haha, what a coincidence! Everyone's out for a walk!"

Shi Yingduan responded with a forced smile.

"What a coincidence! Old Li, weren't you going to the farm? How did you end up here? Did you get lost?"

Li Kun chuckled dryly. "I just felt I couldn't figure it out on my own, so I wanted to ask Director Su for advice."

"Weren't you going to see an old friend? What are you doing here?"

"And Lao Zhao, what are you doing here?"

Zhao Guohua coughed awkwardly twice and forced himself to speak.

"Well... I just saw that you were all busy, and I was bored, so I came to chat with Director Su!"

Seeing this, Shi Yingduan also spoke up directly.

"What a coincidence! The old friend I was talking about is Director Su. What? You're all like this too!"

Seeing that everyone had similar thoughts, Wang Rongshan simply snorted coldly.

"Hmph, what a load of rubbish! Do you think everyone's a fool?"

Just as the atmosphere reached a stalemate, the office door creaked open.

Su Wenchen stood at the door with a teacup in his hand, raising an eyebrow in feigned surprise.

"Why are all of you leaders here? Is there something you need to see me about?"

The four looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Finally, Shi Yingduan gave an awkward smile: "Director Su, we... just happened to be passing by and wanted to chat with you for a bit."

Li Kun quickly echoed.

"Yes, yes, I was just walking around after dinner to digest and I unconsciously came here. Director Su, this is your office."

Zhao Guohua and Wang Rongshan tacitly refrained from saying anything more.

The main issue is that these four men are all the eldest brothers, let alone the second eldest, and they all clearly want to come over privately and discuss things first.

A hint of a smile flashed in Su Wenchen's eyes, and he immediately stepped aside to make way.

"This is indeed my office. Since you're all here, why don't you all... come in and have a cup of tea?"

The four nodded awkwardly and forced themselves to file in.

Inside the office, steam rose from the teacups, and the ceiling fan creaked on, but the four people sitting there didn't know how to start a conversation.

The words they prepared before coming were all things they had discussed in private. How could they say them directly in front of the other brothers?

Upon seeing this, Su Wenchen spoke up.

"Since you're all here, I won't waste any more time on small talk. I'll just say a few words from the bottom of my heart."

"This time we are indeed only prepared to talk to one company first."

"The treatment of saline-alkali land is not something that can be accomplished overnight, so..."

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, Shi Yingduan immediately responded.

"Director Su, we're old friends, so I won't mince words. Feng County can designate nearly 600,000 mu of severely saline-alkali land. Once it's treated, we'll only need 30% of it."

Upon hearing this, Li Kun slammed his fist on the table and said...

"Although Peixian County has little saline-alkali land, we only need 25% of it."

Seeing that his old friend had already started to try and get him involved, Shi Yingduan glared at him.

"It's not like you people in Pei County are struggling to make ends meet, so why are you trying to take things from us?"

Li Kun rolled his eyes.

“Old Shi, don’t blame me. Although we can make ends meet, we also have our difficulties. Our saline-alkali land is located in extremely low-lying areas.”

"Even if we dig a canal, it won't be easy to divert the water out; we'd have to dig it extremely deep. Since there's another, less labor-intensive way, we should definitely try to find one."

"Otherwise, how can I explain this to the people of Peixian?"

Just then, Zhao Guohua put down his teacup.

"Director Su, our Xiao County can refuse all the land you've treated; all the saline-alkali land you've treated will belong to your farm."

"But you also have to take in the population of several very poor communes to the north."

"Our saline-alkali land is mainly concentrated in the north, near the abandoned Yellow River."

"Those particularly difficult communes are all concentrated there, so once you take over, as long as you produce a batch of grain, you can immediately arrange for people to start the management work."

By this time, Zhao Guohua from Xiao County had roughly figured it out.

They each have their own difficulties, so it's highly unlikely they're all of one mind!
So he stopped thinking about gaining any advantage and just wanted to get rid of the burden first.

After all, the areas surrounding their county are developing quite well, especially the sizable hilly region in the south of their county.

A considerable amount of livestock farming, including raising cattle and sheep, has already been developed.

So for him, all he had to do was get rid of the extremely impoverished areas in the north that he had to provide relief to every year.

Then we can gradually have a surplus each year, and it won't be a problem to develop slowly over time.

At least life will definitely be better than it is now.

Upon hearing Zhao Guohua's words, Wang Rongshan, who had remained silent until now, was completely stunned.

The term "involution" didn't exist at that time, otherwise he would have really wanted to say, "You're involution your mother!"

From 30% to 25%.

Now we can get it all in one go, rolling it up until we don't need anything else.

So what should he say next?
We'll have to pay them to take over the farm!
What's the point? He might as well just leave those saline-alkali lands to lie barren!
After all, there wasn't that much saline-alkali land in Dangshan, so the various communes were doing alright.

In addition, there is a railway line passing through their county, so life is not so miserable.

This is also why he initially proposed that they unite, precisely because he feared this situation might occur.

So, faced with this situation, he directly confronted Zhao Guohua angrily.

"Old Zhao, it's not fair of you to do that."

What are we supposed to do?

Hearing Wang Rongshan say this, He Shiyingduan, who was standing next to him, also agreed.

"Yes!"

"You, Xiao County, have shirked your responsibilities, but what are we supposed to do now?"

At this moment, Li Kun from Pei County spoke directly.

"Director Su, we only need 20% of the treated coal, and we can also supply your farm with a batch of coal every year."

"As you probably know, we don't have many trees here, and we're always short of fuel in the winter!"

Shi Yingduan said angrily.

"Old Li, you!"

For Fengxian County, it is the most powerless of the four, as it has the most saline-alkali land, the greatest pressure, and the fewest resources.

We cannot do what Xiao County did, throwing away all the land as a burden, nor can we provide additional resources like Pei County did.

After all, they have too much saline-alkali land, and if they give it all away...

That would mean their county would shrink too much.

Seeing that the group was about to start arguing, Su Wenchen gently interrupted them.

"Well, everyone, how about this!"

"You should all go down and prepare your written proposals. We'll discuss the details this afternoon!"

"Also, you don't need to worry too much about other people's plans; just do what's best for you."

"At that time, our farm will also carefully consider the actual situation and reach an agreement with everyone!"

Upon hearing Su Wenchen's words, they all knew that the information they had gathered earlier might not be true.

In other words, Blue Water Farm might just be using this as an excuse to get them to undermine each other.

But even if they knew, there was nothing they could do.

Because would they dare to gamble on this?

At the very least, none of them wanted to gamble, but Bluewater Farm could adjust its strategy at will.

Thinking about it this way, they realized that the outcome was actually predetermined from the very beginning.

After all, they are the ones who control the core technologies.

They also lacked the ability to subdue others, so there was nothing they could do about the situation.

With these thoughts in mind, Wang Rongshan took his leave of Su Wenchen first.

He knew there was no point in staying, so he decided to go back and reveal their bottom line: if things could work out, great; if not, so be it.

Seeing that Wang Rongshan had left first, the other three exchanged glances and then bid farewell to Su Wenchen one after another.

Su Wenchen smiled and saw them off.

Guo Xiangyang, who had been silent the whole time, said admiringly.

"Director, your prediction was spot on!"

"I never expected that Xiao County would have the lowest standards!"

"Logically speaking, their conditions weren't the worst, yet they were the county that compromised with us the fastest."

Su Wenchen blew on the foam in the teacup, took a sip of tea, and said.

"Each county faces different conditions, and naturally, their desired outcomes will also differ!"

"Xiao County agreed so quickly precisely because the county's conditions are probably still acceptable!"

"After all, for them, the communes in the north are too far from the county seat and difficult to control, and there is also too much saline-alkali land, which means they need the county to provide relief frequently."

"So it's normal that you agreed so quickly."

Upon hearing this, Guo Xiangyang praised it.

"That's why it has to be the director. With just one plan, the four-party alliance can be dissolved. If the four parties really stick together, we'll be in real trouble."

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"Alright, stop flattering me. This kind of thing was never going to be stable anyway!"

Just as Su Wenchen finished speaking, Guo Xiangyang was about to say something more.

"Ring ring—"

The phone on the table rang urgently.

Su Wenchen asked with some doubt.

"Who would call in the middle of the day?!"

Guo Xiangyang also asked in confusion.

"The county and local leaders have all come. Are they here to see them?"

Su Wenchen shook his head.

"I don't know!"

However, she quickly walked to the table and answered the phone.

"Hello! This is the first branch of Blue Water Farm, this is Su Wenchen!"

Just then, Lu Anguo's unusually excited voice came through the receiver.

"Xiao Su, good news! Did you see the newspaper this morning?"

"This is incredibly good news for your farm!"

"You absolutely must seize this opportunity!"

When Su Wenchen heard Lu Anguo on the phone speaking in such an excited tone that his speech was somewhat slurred, he was immediately puzzled.

"Director Lu, you mean the morning newspaper?"

"I haven't seen it yet!"

"This morning, local leaders came over to discuss the delineation of saline-alkali land with us."

"We're all busy tidying up the meeting room and preparing for negotiations, we don't have time to read the newspaper!"

Upon seeing this, Lu Anguo laughed directly.

"We haven't reached an agreement yet!"

"Then there's no need to discuss it further; the local authorities will cooperate with you unconditionally!"

Su Wenchen was initially confused, then seemed to realize something and cautiously asked.

"Director Lu, when you left our facility that time, were you sure you didn't sense anything was amiss?"

"Why are you talking nonsense now!"

Lu Anguo laughed loudly and said.

"Haha, let me tell you, I'm perfectly fine now!"

"Yes, very good, you know that?"

"Just look at this morning's newspaper and you'll know!"

"Xiao Su, you must seize this opportunity. This is about the face of our department, no, it should be said that it is about the face of our country."

"This time, your farm is representing our country!"

Su Wenchen was completely baffled by Lu Anguo's incoherent and rambling speech on the phone.

But he was certain of one thing: something big had indeed happened.

It's still a matter with a particularly large impact.

Otherwise, someone of Lu Anguo's status wouldn't be speaking so incoherently.

He left everyone completely confused!
But judging from the other person's expression, it seemed like it was a good thing for him.

Since Lu Anguo's explanation was unclear, he immediately turned to Guo Xiangyang, who was standing next to him.

"Old Guo, did you read today's newspaper this morning? Has our newspaper arrived yet?"

(End of this chapter)