Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

This year's autumn harvest was completed in this restless atmosphere. Some things were just topics of conversation for the commune members, and they went about their business as usual.

Thanks to the widespread use of agricultural machinery, the autumn harvest was not affected in any way, and this season still saw a bumper harvest.

But now few people care about this issue. A barrage of information is coming in, and everyone knows that times are changing.

At the end of the year, an important meeting was held as scheduled.

The impact of this meeting was extremely profound. After the meeting communique was issued, Fang Wei, in accordance with the requirements of his superiors, organized everyone to conduct no less than three collective study sessions.

Some are happy while others are sad. If all the land is divided up, how can the production brigade and production team still exist?
Fang Wei did not answer this question. The meeting had already established the tone of implementing the "household contract responsibility system," so anything he said would be wrong, and he simply remained silent.

"Next, the whole country will shift its focus to economic development. As an advanced breeding collective, we should work even harder to provide high-quality and high-yield rice seeds for the whole province."

Fang Wei's first task was to bring everyone's wandering thoughts back to normal.

Ultimately, development is the only thing that matters; form is not important, results are what matter.

In any case, agricultural production cannot be relaxed, and breeding work should be continued. As for the rest, Fang Wei is of little influence and there is no need to say too much.

After the return of educated youth to the cities and the dramatic changes in policies, the restless people gradually calmed down.

The sows at the pig farm were due to give birth again, resulting in a total of 3680 piglets. Fang Wei decided to sell 3300 of these high-quality pigs. This was a substantial income, bringing in 330 million yuan in cash.

The remaining number of pigs is 4997, including 320 pregnant sows, 3680 piglets, and 997 adult pigs.

"Secretary, are we about to distribute the land to individual households?"

Fang Wei toured the pig farm, where his fifth uncle explained the relevant situation to him and then inquired about the household contract responsibility system.

"Fifth Uncle, are you really looking forward to the land being divided up?"

Instead of answering his fifth uncle's question directly, he asked a question in return.

"Hope my ass! Look at everyone, they're all doing just fine now. If things were to suddenly change, wouldn't everyone's living standards just go downhill?"

Fifth Uncle had his own ideas. If the land were really divided among households, what would happen to the team's pig farm?
Contracting out to individuals is one option, but it seems that no one in the brigade, including him, has the ability or strength to do so.

Fang Wei smiled and shook his head, indicating that he had not yet received any specific documents and would wait and see.

"Manman, I received a telegram from my work unit. I'll be going back in the next couple of days."

After he left the pig farm, he ran into Fang Tao.

Fang Tao came specifically to see him. The verification experiment of the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety was a complete success. He and his colleagues had completed the data part of the paper, and their unit asked them to go back and do the follow-up work.

Because his workplace was urging him to leave so urgently, he decided to leave the day after tomorrow.

"Alright, go back and finish writing the paper as soon as possible."

Fang Wei and Tao Tao walked all the way back, only parting ways when they were almost home.

He asked Tao Tao to come over for dinner tomorrow night and to invite his family as well.

Day three.

Fang Wei took Fang Tao and his family of three to the county town. Tao Tao's colleague had left a day earlier, but he was a day late.

"Tao Tao, these are some key points I wrote about cultivating [Nanguang No. 3], as well as some theoretical discussions. You can take these and refer to them when you write your paper."

Just before getting into the car, Fang Wei handed his nephew a document.

This information was of great help to Fang Tao in writing his thesis. He felt his uncle's concern and his eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Fang Wei turned and left without waiting for the other person to say anything to thank her.

Tao Tao and Xiao Ya waved to his retreating figure. After this trip back, it probably wouldn't be so easy for the family of three to come back to the team again.

Fang Wei left the bus station and went straight back to the team.

"Accountant Liu, have you finished the settlement work?"

Upon entering the office, he asked someone to call Accountant Liu over to inquire about the year-end settlement.

"Almost done, it should be finished this afternoon."

Accountant Liu said that the settlement work was basically completed and all the reports could be submitted in the afternoon.

Fang Wei nodded in satisfaction. These old partners never needed any help in getting things done; they always managed to mess things up.

in the afternoon.

Fang Wei convened a meeting with team leaders and captains to discuss this year's profit-sharing arrangements.

"Secretary, since the land will be distributed to individual households soon, how about we get a bigger share of the profits this time? Sigh, the team still has so much farm machinery and tools, what are we going to do with them?"

The discussion started with profit sharing, but it quickly veered off-topic.

Zhao Jinsheng talked about the farm machinery and tools in the team. The tools were fine, but how to distribute the farm machinery? Several families would pool their resources to share one machine, which would be troublesome to use and a big problem to maintain.

In the end, all these agricultural machines were ruined, which was a pity considering all the team's savings accumulated over the years.

"Let's put that aside for now and just talk about dividends. My idea is to distribute dividends at an average of 2000 yuan per person, with the necessary reserves set aside and sufficient reserves for the production development fund."

If it really comes to the point where we have to divide the land, then we'll redistribute it. After all, the team's accumulated wealth belongs to all members; no one can take it away.

Everyone's not in a good mood today, and they keep going off-topic.

Fang Wei decisively made the decision and set the profit-sharing standard. This standard once again broke the team's record, and it would make many people envious if word got out.

If you listen to what he says, no one else will have any objections, and that's how the profit-sharing arrangement is settled.

At this moment, Zhao Jinsheng looked at Fang Wei and suddenly asked, "Secretary, our brigade has a special situation. If the land is really distributed to individual households, how can the breeding work continue? Can we maintain the status quo?"

"Yes, Secretary Fang, why don't we stick to the collective economy?"

“Who says it can’t be done? Of course we can continue down the path of collective economy. But there’s a problem here: how to choose is a matter for all the members, not just for a few of us to sit here and talk.”

Fang Wei, going along with the flow, raised a crucial question.

The choice of what economic form to implement cannot be decided by a few team cadres and production team leaders, but must be decided by all members of the commune.

Zhang Chu and the others seemed thoughtful, deciding to go back and find out what the commune members were really thinking. Two days later.

The Xiatang production brigade officially distributed dividends to its members, with an average dividend of 2000 yuan per person, bringing smiles to everyone's faces. Even ordinary cadres in the county don't earn that much in a year; if word got out, it would definitely make people envious.

The team leaders took the opportunity to ask the members what they thought: whether it was better to distribute the land to individual households or to continue on the path of collective economy.

“Isn’t that obvious? If the land is divided up, and we all work individually, how can we expect to earn such a high income? Besides, if the production team and brigade are disbanded, what will happen to the brigade’s primary school, nursery, and clinic? Of course, it’s better to continue developing the collective economy.”

The members all shared similar thoughts. After all, the achievements of Xiatang Brigade over the years were obvious to all, and only a fool would give up their existing advantages.

As feedback came in layer by layer, Fang Wei felt more confident.

This morning.

Qi Haiyang suddenly arrived at Xiatang Brigade and chatted with Fang Wei for a long time.

He was also lucky. He was very resolute when he was fighting with Director Yao and others. After taking over as the county director, Xiatang Brigade developed the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety.

The higher-ups decided to transfer him to Hengzhou region as deputy director, and he came here specifically to say goodbye to Fang Wei.

"Now that the overall situation is settled, I was worried about what to do with your Xiatang brigade. Now that's fine, you can leave that to your successor. Personally, I still hope you can continue to do a good job in breeding."

"There's only so much I can do to help. A couple of days ago, the county passed a resolution to restructure the breeding base, with your Xiatang brigade holding 60% of the shares and the county holding 40%."

Qi Haiyang and Fang Wei's relationship wasn't very close, but they shared common views on matters of principle.

He worried that Fang Wei's breeding work would come to a standstill after he left, which is why he overruled objections and effectively handed over the breeding base to Fang Wei. The brigade didn't need to invest much money; the returns were mostly converted into technical input.

Since Xiatang Brigade is collectively owned, this method is not considered illegal. However, the rights and interests of the breeding base cannot be given to Fang Wei personally. Perhaps this can only be done when the policy is more open in the future.

In reality, Qi Haiyang couldn't have foreseen that after the communes disappeared in a few years, most of the commune and brigade enterprises would be transformed into township enterprises, and ultimately, through various manipulations, the rights and interests would fall into the hands of some "capable people".

Fang Wei didn't care much about those things; what he valued were the 4 mu of high-quality farmland at the breeding base.

"Thank you, Director Qi! I will certainly live up to your expectations and continue to do a good job in breeding."

Fang Wei sincerely thanked Qi Haiyang, who had been a great help to him.

His biggest worry now is that the land he controls will rapidly decrease, and he'll have to start all over again. Of course, future policies will become more and more lenient, and he could turn his life around even if he just contracts a barren mountain or a piece of wasteland.

Fang Wei was reluctant to part with the accumulation of Xiatang Brigade over the years.

Qi Haiyang waved his hand and then left the team.

After this parting, the two didn't know when they would have the chance to meet again. Fang Wei watched the other's departing figure silently.

A week later.

Qi Haiyang left Xinlin County, and no one expected that his successor would be Huang Zhigang.

Huang Zhigang was fortunate to have caught a good time; he was firm in his stance and young and educated. Zheng Xianfa's disadvantage was his low level of education; he only had a primary school education, so his career as a commune director was limited.

Fang Wei took advantage of the week to complete all the procedures for the breeding center.

The breeding center now only has one sign, its full name being "Xinlin County Agricultural Breeding Center." On the surface, it appears to be a state-owned enterprise, but in reality, it's a mixed state-owned and collectively-owned enterprise.

This is permitted by current policy. Ownership by the whole people and collective ownership are collectively referred to as public ownership, so the nature of the enterprise remains unchanged, and there are no policy obstacles.

The problem is that once the Xiatang brigade disintegrates, the ownership of this breeding center will inevitably become a difficult issue.

After New Year’s Day.

The higher authorities required the county to begin implementing the "household contract responsibility system," also known as "contracting production to households."

When the document was issued to the commune, Zheng Xianfa and Zheng Hu convened a meeting of the heads of each brigade to discuss how to implement the requirements of the higher authorities.

“I think the Xiatang Brigade is not suitable for implementing the household contract responsibility system for the following reasons: First, we are engaged in breeding work, which is not suitable for decentralized operation, but should be carried out in a planned and intensive manner.”

Secondly, after consulting with our members, everyone unanimously requested to continue developing the collective economy. Now we'll see what the higher-ups say; if all else fails, we will establish an agricultural cooperative.

Fang Wei was the first to speak, clearly stating his willingness to continue down the path of collective economy.

Since the current implementation of the household responsibility system is only being promoted and not mandated, this provides him with some room for maneuver in his subsequent actions.

Zheng Xianfa knew it would turn out this way, so he wasn't surprised at all.

"Secretary Fang talked about the plans of Xiatang Brigade. What about you? Will you distribute the land to individual households or continue with the collective economy like Secretary Fang?"

Zheng Xianfa is just going through the motions these days. He doesn't know how much longer he can hold his position as director, so he's too lazy to bother with Fang Wei's affairs.

The key issue is that he can't control it even if he wants to.

The remaining 16 brigades did not have a complete consensus, and the problem lay within each of them. But overall, they tended to follow the example of Xiatang Brigade and continue down the path of collective economy.

They are all smart people, and they all know very well that once the land is divided up, breeding work will be difficult to continue.

How much profit can the commune members make in a year by growing rice on that small plot of land?

However, although there are some obstacles to the continued development of the collective economy in each brigade, the obstacles are not significant and should be resolved smoothly with further efforts.

"Director Zheng, we still need to consider this matter."

"Yes, the team members have tasted success in breeding and now they don't want to work alone. The commune needs to give us some time so we can slowly persuade everyone."

"We won't split it up. Just like Secretary Fang said, at worst we'll set up an agricultural cooperative too. What can you force us to do?"

Some had ambiguous attitudes, while others resolutely refused to "separate," so the meeting was ultimately a frustrating one.

Zheng Xianfa waved his hand dismissively and said, "Whatever. I've already conveyed the spirit of the documents from above. I don't care whether you listen or not. Get lost."

A group of brigade secretaries and team leaders left the meeting room one after another, shouting that they were going to go for drinks as soon as they stepped out.

Fang Wei smiled and declined, saying he was going to visit the hardware factory and the bamboo ware factory, and then parted ways with the group.

He first visited the bamboo ware factory, where workers were busily engaged in their tasks. 【Yaoling Brand】furniture and bamboo ware have gained a reputation in many places, with demand exceeding supply. The factory now employs over 300 people.

Fang Ping introduced the best machinery and equipment currently available in China, significantly improving production efficiency. (End of Chapter)