Training the Heavens

Chapter 212 Production Contract
I stayed in Xiuzhi's hometown for half a month, helped them improve their methods of raising earthworms and growing wood ear mushrooms, and taught them how to grow shiitake mushrooms. With these three skills, their family will definitely have a better life in the future than other villagers.

Before leaving, Xu Lingjun left them some money and asked them to build a house for his brother-in-law. The father-in-law was initially unwilling to accept it, as it would not make sense for him to use his son-in-law's money to build a house for his son. Finally, he changed his mind and asked them to lend it to them temporarily and pay it back when they had money. Only then did he agree and solemnly wrote a promissory note to Xu Lingjun.

After leaving Jiangyou, the family went to Chengdu again. Li Xiuzhi had lived in Sichuan for nearly 20 years and had never been to the provincial capital. She took this opportunity to have a good look around.

After eating twice-cooked pork, mapo tofu, husband and wife lung slices and other delicacies, the family boarded the train again, planning to visit Beijing again.

Xu Lingjun had been away from the capital for more than ten years. He had lost contact with most of his former acquaintances. When he came back, he could only look at his old house. It turned out that the courtyard house had become the office of a public institution.

This is nothing, the work of vacating private houses will be started soon. When Xu Lingjun was in Shanghai, Xie Chao was in charge of this work. After being in contact with him for a long time, Xu Lingjun was influenced by him and memorized the relevant policies.

When the time comes, just write an application and go through the procedures, and the house will be returned to you. When you move to Beijing in the future, you can live here. As for moving Qingqing's household registration here, forget it. There is no need to take advantage of it.

After all, he has lived in several worlds and served as an academician. If he still has to worry about his children's education, then he has lived in vain all these years.

After returning from the capital, Xu Lingjun gave the local specialties he bought in Xi'an, Chengdu and the capital to Guo Chenzi, Dong Kuan and others. His life returned to normal. He went to the mountains to graze with everyone, and came back to continue planting various economic crops and raising economic animals.

Unconsciously, the tide of reform also blew onto the grassland.

Some time ago, the Ministry of Agriculture and Reclamation held a meeting on the management of state-owned farms in Wuhan, and decided that the farms would resume the responsibility system with "setting, guarantee, and reward" as the main contents for production teams, and implement the responsibility system of "tasks to groups, responsibilities to individuals, quotas for points, and rewards based on points" within the production teams.

The meeting also studied and promoted the "one-family" pig farming contracting method of Datong Farm in Hunan Province, which is to contract pig farming with couples, parents, and children as the main labor group. This method is actually the prototype of a family farm.

After the meeting, farms across the country began to learn the spirit of the meeting and carry out reforms on local farms.

Simply put, these plans can be seen as the farm version of the household contract responsibility system. The superiors try to stimulate the enthusiasm of the herders to work and produce more products by loosening the constraints.

After Guo Yanzi finished his meeting at the farm office, he felt unsure about what to do, so he went to Xu Lingjun for advice. "Old Xu, you've been educated and have seen the world. Can you give us some advice? What should our production team do?"

"In the past, it didn't matter whether you did a good job or a bad job, so no one had much enthusiasm for work. If we implement the contract responsibility system, then after paying enough to the state, the rest will be yours. Everyone will definitely work hard, because the better you do, the more money will go into your pocket." Xu Lingjun helped him analyze the intentions of these policies.

Guo Chenzi seemed to understand. "So, should our production team respond to the call from above? Distribute pastures and horses to every household?"

"It's not good to spread them out too much! You've been herding for so many years and you know that whether it's horses, sheep, or cattle, one person can herd a large group. Splitting them up to a dozen or so is more troublesome. If you don't herd them, the animals will starve. If you do, it's really not cost-effective to only herd a small number of them. Doing so may increase production in the short term, but the effect is limited and it's difficult to increase it further."

Guo Chenzi was confused again when he heard this. "So, should we divide it up or not?" Xu Lingjun could only make his words clearer. "We have to divide it up. You don't want the farm office to control everything, do you? But we can't divide it up too finely. If we divide it up into individual households, life won't necessarily be easier for everyone. Dividing it into production teams is just right."

"Our production team has plenty of pastures and livestock, and even more people who can work. If we all work together, those who are good at herding can take their horses to the pastures to graze. The rest can stay nearby and build more mushroom sheds to grow porcini mushrooms. Isn't that better than each of us doing our own thing?"

Herding also requires collective labor. Otherwise, why did ancient nomads exist in tribes? Because a single household of a few people could hardly cope with the intensity of herding work and could not withstand various risks.

China does not currently have the conditions to raise thousands or tens of thousands of livestock like in the United States and Australia, where a few people can raise thousands or tens of thousands of livestock. Not to mention vehicles, vaccines, and veterinary drugs, even Guo Xizi and his team may not be able to get the wire to enclose the pasture.

"This time when I went to the capital, I also bought some books related to grazing. I plan to try to improve the feed formula and breeding model. If it works, the cattle and horses raised by our production team will definitely get better and better!"

In his previous life, Xu Lingjun had visited ranches and resold livestock patents, so he had no shortage of knowledge in this area. It was a piece of cake for him to lead a small production team to run a successful business.

When he said this, Guo Zizi immediately believed it and said, "Then I'll listen to you. I'll call them over for a meeting."

Everyone found a flat spot on the grassland and sat down cross-legged, listening to Guo Zizi's story. "The general idea is what I just said. I called everyone here now because I want to ask you: do you want to choose the production responsibility system where everyone works on their own, or do you want to keep the production team and follow Lao Xu's method?"

"Needless to say? Of course I'll follow Lao Xu! I'll do whatever Lao Xu tells me to do!" Haisheng was the first to raise his hand. He went to the city to teach porcini cultivation techniques for two years, which had inspired many farmers. Logically, he should have stayed in the county.

Unfortunately, he was unlucky. In the past two years, educated youth from all over the country returned to the city, and many children of county leaders also came back. As a result, the position that was about to be obtained was taken by others, and he had to return to the production team to continue working as a veterinarian.

Although he didn't get a job, he did see a lot of the world. So Haisheng now understands that the prospects for herding as a single family are limited. In the past two years, they have gained so many benefits by following Xu Lingjun. If he is willing to continue to lead everyone, their future will definitely be good.

"I also think Lao Xu's method is better." Dong Kuan followed closely.

"I believe in Lao Xu!"

"One family raising more than ten horses? Isn't this a joke?"

Everyone spoke at once, and their meanings were basically the same.

After hearing this, Guo Zizi also came to a conclusion, "Okay, then let Lao Xu lead us!"

(End of this chapter)