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

"Grandpa, why don't you stay in the village a few more days before you leave? I'll cook for you every day, so you won't go hungry."

Wang Songlin's wife wanted her husband to stay in the village for a few more days, but he shook his head, not wanting to trouble others.

"There's no need. The third brother can drive now. It's just a matter of a word for me to come whenever I want."

Fang Wei and Pan Lianhua were also worried about leaving their grandfather alone on the mountain, so after dinner they took their grandfather and sister back home.

Grandpa, Grandma, and Pan Lianhua went inside to rest, and Fang Wei then went to the office.

"Secretary Fang, these are the documents that were delivered today. I've put them on your desk."

Fang Wei had just sat down in his office when a staff member delivered some documents. These documents had all been delivered that morning, and since he wasn't there, the staff member accepted them on his behalf.

The man put down the documents and left. Fang Wei made himself a cup of tea and then came back to look through the documents.

As Fang Wei looked at it, he frowned.

One of the documents was issued by the provincial government, requiring all regions and counties to actively promote the hybrid rice newly developed by the Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Although it's not officially mandatory for farmers to plant anything, the influence at the provincial level is still significant.

This is not good news for the cooperative. The sales of the "Nanguang No. 3" rice seeds within the province will be further squeezed, and the situation is not good.

Fang Wei immediately convened a meeting of all the directors to discuss countermeasures.

"Secretary Fang, what does the province mean? The seeds we cultivated have made a huge contribution to the province's agricultural production. Now that the rice seeds have arrived, are they going to discard us like a used millstone?"

"But our rice varieties have higher yields and better quality, so why would they do this?"

Everyone was talking about it, and they were all clearly emotional.

"Let me say a few words. Everyone knows that the [Nanguang No. 3] rice variety has a higher yield and better quality, but the problem is that the breeding experience of [Nanguang No. 3] cannot be replicated, do you understand?"
"Being unreplicable means being uncontrollable. The province would rather choose a slightly inferior rice variety than ours. Therefore, let's not discuss this with emotions; we just need to consider how to deal with it."

Fang Wei could roughly guess why the province was doing this. In the past, there was no other choice, so the province gave strong support to the cooperative's breeding work.

Now that the Academy of Agricultural Sciences has developed some good hybrid rice, the province's attitude has immediately changed, which is understandable.

The urgent task is to find a solution to this problem, not to complain.

"Then let's just lower the price. Once other rice varieties lose their price advantage, they will be no match for [Nanguang No. 3]."

Zhao Jinsheng proposed a price reduction again, which shows that he did not approve of the pricing system set by Fang Wei.

“Lowering prices won’t work. They’ve already pulled out all the stops. The provincial government has issued documents to promote their products. This is no longer a matter of commercial competition.”

Fang Wei directly rejected Zhao Jinsheng's suggestion, and the other party gave an awkward smile and said nothing more.

"Isn't [Nanguang No. 3] selling quite well in other provinces? I don't mind if it's popular outside the province, so we can focus on the out-of-province market from now on."

Some council members suggested simply abandoning the provincial market and supplying goods exclusively to their nephew from now on.

"What if other provinces also develop high-yield rice varieties? Should we then give up on them? So, this is a temporary solution, not a permanent one. It can be used, but we can't become dependent on it."

I think that since others are promoting their products through official documents, we should let our actions speak for themselves and proactively reach out to them. We can't afford to lose the market within the province; we must strive to win it over no matter what.

Fang Wei refuted the argument of abandoning the provincial market and suggested that they face the difficulties head-on and take proactive measures.

Some worried that this might offend the provincial authorities, but he didn't care. After all, the yield and quality of "Nanguang No. 3" speak for themselves, and the competition is a process of selection for all farmers—what's wrong with that?

We can't just surrender when someone issues a document, can we?
Hearing his words, all the board members were inspired and declared that they would not admit defeat prematurely. It would be one thing if they couldn't win the competition, but it would be hard to justify not daring to try.

Next, the entire sales department mobilized to launch promotional activities in various regions of the province, detailing the benefits of planting "Nanguang No. 3".

To be honest, an average yield of 1300 jin per mu is still very attractive.

Fang Wei didn't believe they could defeat the rice varieties from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the short term, but they absolutely couldn't allow "Nanguang No. 3" to completely lose its market share within the province. They would try their best to maintain as much market share as possible, but one thing was certain: the cooperative would not engage in a price war.

It was supposed to be the off-season for farming, but everyone is actually busier than ever.

Even the board members are busy, and everyone has divided up the work and assigned specific areas to do, so as to vigorously promote [Nanguang No. 3] before next spring's planting season.

Fang Wei then took time to inspect various places, including Xiangshan and the provincial capital.

Zhang Wenyuan told him that the factory's negotiations regarding the introduction of a refrigeration equipment production line were nearing completion. If all went well, the contract would be finalized within a month, and construction could begin early next year.

The furniture company plans to open five to ten more specialty stores.

Fang Wei strongly supported the two companies' planned expansion, and after he returned to the company, the board of directors quickly approved the two plans.

“Secretary, our promotion work has been very difficult lately. Judging from the current situation, we are very likely to lose 60% to 70% of the market share in the province.”

Zhao Jinsheng and others reported to him on the promotion of the rice variety within the province. As expected, the "Nanguang No. 3" variety was favored by many people, but there were not many people who were actually willing to plant it.

Some were due to price reasons, but most were due to documents issued by the province.

Therefore, the situation remains unfavorable.

"It's nothing, it's even better than I expected. It's a success if we can capture 30% of the market share in the province. After all, our product is of high quality, and I believe that more and more farmers will choose [Nanguang No. 3] in the future."

Fang Wei encouraged everyone, reminding them that their initial goal was to avoid a complete defeat and at least retain a small market share.

With this market base established, as people gain a deeper understanding of [Nanguang No. 3], it is very likely to quickly regain market share. The prerequisite is that [Nanguang No. 3] does not completely disappear from people's sight.

Inspired by these words, everyone perked up again.

After all, the company doesn't have inventory pressure right now, and everyone is talking about things from next year onwards, so there's still time to deal with them.

"Now, let's begin discussing next year's production plan."

Since there's no better time than now, Fang Wei simply moved the production planning meeting forward.

For the next three days, the council meetings continued, and after intense discussions, the production plan for the following year was finally finalized.

"The fields will be left fallow for another season in winter to lay a good foundation for agricultural production in the coming year."

No rapeseed was planted this winter. After the autumn harvest, pasture was planted in the paddy fields to fertilize them next year. The dryland slopes were also left fallow after the chili peppers were harvested.

However, this situation will not continue next year. Dry fields will be planted in the order of soybeans, peanuts, soybeans, and rapeseed, with rapeseed being an overwintering crop.

The paddy fields will continue to cultivate the varieties of "Nanguang No. 3" and "Nongyou 76" rice, with the same proportions as the previous season: 20,000 mu of "Nanguang No. 3" rice and 60,000 mu of "Nongyou 76" rice.

The breeding center will continue to cultivate the "Nanguang No. 3" rice variety. Adjustments will be made based on the actual situation in the future, and production will proceed according to this plan for next spring's planting.

Currently, the cooperative is conducting several trials. Once conditions are ripe, breeding will achieve diversification and maximize profits. "Old Zhao, arrange for Accountant Liu and the others to conduct the year-end settlement."

After the meeting, Fang Wei instructed Zhao Jinsheng to notify the finance department to conduct the year-end settlement.

The annual year-end closing ceremony is a very important task, mainly because it involves everyone's bonuses, so it must be taken seriously.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."

Zhao Jinsheng then went to the finance department, thus beginning the year-end settlement work.

Fang Wei led a team to inspect the water conservancy facilities of each brigade. The climate in the past two years has been rather dry, but fortunately, each brigade has drilled wells, so production will not be reduced due to water problems.

There is no need to repair the canal at present, the cleanup work has been completed, and the overall situation is not bad.

“Secretary Fang, the groundwater level has been unstable in the past two years. I wonder if the overall groundwater level has dropped.”

During the inspection, someone raised the issue of the well's water output.

The Xiatang brigade had never had this problem before, which Fang Wei had overlooked. He immediately went to the site to check and found that the situation they described did indeed exist.

"Groundwater levels are not static; perhaps they will be better by next year."

Fang Wei made a plan in mind and then designated the wells of each brigade.

When he got home, he went to his study after dinner and prepared to undertake a "big project". Apart from Xiatang Brigade (Brigade 1), the other 16 brigades had a total of 50 wells.

Upgrading them all now would be a huge undertaking and would consume a lot of points.

It was for this reason that he had delayed designating and upgrading it. But the reality did not allow him to delay any longer; it seemed that a drought was likely to occur in the next two years, so he finally made up his mind to do so.

每一口水井从1级提升到10级，需要消耗166660点数，50口井就需要消耗8333000点点数。

After the upgrade is complete, these 50 wells will be merged.

[Facility attribution] → [Water conservancy facilities] → [Wells (No. 11-60)]

[Facility Level: (Level 10, 0/50 million)]

[Facility Attributes: Abundant water supply, excellent water quality, controlled water volume, well drilling techniques]

[After this water is used, all attributes will increase by an additional 100%]

Total points: 670664680.

然后再消耗16500000点点数，将（11号-60号）合并后的水井等级提升到了14级，并再次和（1号-10号）水井进行合并。

Finally, spend another 5000 million points to upgrade wells (numbers 1-60) to level 15.

[Facility attribution] → [Water conservancy facilities] → [Wells (No. 1-60)]

[Facility Level: (Level 15, 0.5 billion)]

[Facility Attributes: Abundant water supply, excellent water quality, controlled water volume, well drilling techniques]

[After this water is put into use, all attributes will increase by an additional 150%, and water pressure will be increased by +1]

Total points: 604164680.

After the upgrade, the water volume and pressure of the well increased, so there is no need to worry about water reduction even during the dry season.

Fang Wei had resolved a major hidden danger, and then happily left the study.

Pan Lianhua and Xiao Jie were still waiting for him, so the family of three went for a walk outside as usual.

The next day.

Fang Wei went to the commune and spent a day at the chili sauce factory.

With sufficient raw materials secured, Zhang Chu and his team worked overtime to produce goods for various clients. Export orders were given priority, with dedicated personnel handling subsequent procedures.

Customers who waited at the factory gate almost every day received the second batch of goods, which basically ensured the supply in the market.

When the chili sauce factory was first established, no one expected it to become so popular. In fact, a small bottle of chili sauce has a high added value, making it much more profitable than simply selling raw chili peppers.

“Secretary, as soon as I produce chili sauce, people want it immediately. It almost never stays in the warehouse overnight. Sometimes I’m afraid this is all a dream. I really can’t sleep peacefully.”

Zhang Chu may seem to be complaining, but deep down he's showing off.

Fang Wei knew him well enough, but considering the other party's hard work and contributions, he still feigned agreement with a few words.

"By the way, Lao Zhang, the supply of raw materials is plentiful now. Can you consume this many chilies?"

"Why not? I was talking to the vice chairman the other day, asking him to sign contracts with the chili growers as soon as possible for next year. I want all the Yaoling chilies I can get."

When the topic of raw material supply came up, Zhang Chu revealed his ambition.

Fang Wei nodded. Zhao Jinsheng had already signed purchase contracts with the chili farmers in each commune. Next year, all the Yaoling chilies produced would be purchased by the cooperative in accordance with the contracts.

"You don't need to worry about this. The company has already taken care of it completely."

Fang Wei left with a remark and continued inspecting the workshop.

Clearly, the current production scale can no longer keep up with the needs of the situation, and even if we work around the clock, it will be difficult to continue to break through the production capacity.

Zhang Chu has already submitted a report to the company, requesting the addition of equipment to expand the scale of the Shenzhen branch.

Fang Wei came today mainly for this matter. After on-site inspection, he determined that expanding production was necessary.

Back in Zhang Chu's office, the other party indeed asked about expanding production capacity: "Secretary, have you read my report? What's the commune's opinion?"

"I came here for this matter, and I don't think there will be any major problems."

Fang Wei didn't say much. After returning, he immediately communicated with the directors and approved Zhang Chu's application report.

After all, the chili sauce factory is developing too fast. If it doesn't expand its production capacity, it won't be able to deliver to customers on time.

Zhang Chu immediately ordered a batch of equipment, which should be operational by the time the new production capacity is put into operation after the Spring Festival next year. This will greatly alleviate the supply shortage problem and also absorb more surplus labor. (End of Chapter)