1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 191 The first level

A gentle morning breeze ripples along the riverbank.

There were quite a few people standing in the courtyard, about 500 or 600 meters from the river.

"This is the new manager, Mr. Chen. From now on, Jiangxin Vegetable Market will be under his full management. Everyone, please welcome him!"

The applause was sparse, and then one of the vice presidents of Yunshan introduced the remaining key personnel of the vegetable market to Chen Jiazhi.

Tong Gang, who is in charge of personnel; Qiu Hang, who is in charge of purchasing; Xu Yao, who is in charge of accounting; and Cheng Tiantian, who is in charge of warehouse management—two men and two women.

The production management team is now down to two people: Huang Rixin and Zheng Zhong, both men in their thirties.

Chen Jiazhi vaguely recognized a face; Qi Yongfeng and Ao Deliang had come with him.

After the introduction, the vice president asked Tong Gang to show him the work environment, and then he left.

Tong Gang was about forty years old, with a buzz cut, a round head, his T-shirt tucked into his pants, his belt sticking out, making his belly look a bit round, and he gave a fake smile.

"Director Chen, let me show you the office."

Chen Jiazhi nodded slightly: "Thank you for your trouble."

The main office building is a two-story building with six rooms on each floor. The first floor is mainly used as a warehouse, while the offices are mostly on the second floor. Chen Jiazhi once had tea with Peng Qian and Zhang Hua from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences on the second floor.

In front of the small building is a spacious courtyard where Chen Jiazhi's light trucks can easily park about ten vehicles.

To the left of the small building is a bicycle shed, and to the right are some staff dormitories, but not many. Ordinary vegetable workers rent their own houses and take care of their own food and lodging.

However, Chen Jiazhi and Yi Dinggan each have a room in the dormitory, and the other four people still need to rent a house.

They then went upstairs, where Tong Gang led him into the director's office. It had ordinary mahogany tables and chairs, a sofa, and a simple tea table, and was fairly clean.

Chen Jiazhi sat down and asked, "Manager Tong, how many more vegetable workers can we contact at the farm?"

Tong Gang said, "It's hard to say. We haven't been working for more than a month, and many people have left. We need to recruit new people, but vegetable workers can be recruited quickly. What Huacheng has in abundance right now is people looking for work."

Chen Jiazhi neither confirmed nor denied it; people come and go, which is the norm in the current vegetable market.

Tong Gang said, "Director Chen, now that the situation has been explained, do you think we need to call a meeting?"

Chen Jiazhi pondered for a moment and said, "Let's set the meeting time for the afternoon. Three more people will be coming over later, and we'll need to trouble Supervisor Tong to process their onboarding."

Tong Gang raised an eyebrow: "Join what position?"

“One deputy director and four group leaders.” Chen Jiazhi pointed to Qi Yongfeng and Ao Dehai, and chuckled, “Including the two of them, President Xu should have told you about them, right?”

"Good~"

Tong Gang hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

In fact, he didn't even have a chance to talk to General Manager Xu, but he knew that the person in front of him was brought by General Manager Xu.

Chen Jiazhi said, "Thank you for your help. Could you please call Accountant Xu in as well?"

Soon, Xu Yao knocked on the door and came in. She was a chubby woman; she might be a beauty if she lost weight.
"Director Chen."

"Please sit down. I'd like to ask how much money is left in the account?"

"There are probably still over six hundred yuan left~"

"Mr. Xu promised me 30 yuan. Ask your superiors when the money will be paid."

Xu Yao's pupils widened slightly in surprise. He had actually given her 30 yuan, which was no small sum. Was this person trustworthy enough?
"it is good."

Chen Jiazhi: "Please call the purchasing and warehouse managers for me again. What are their names again? I've suddenly forgotten."

"Qiu Hang and Cheng Tiantian."

"Yes, have them come together, and it would be best if they brought the list of supplies as well."

A short while later, Chen Jiazhi learned about the situation in the warehouse.

As he expected, the warehouse was mostly empty except for the tools.

The situation is a mess in terms of manpower and resources, and morale is also low.

No one openly defied him, and it's possible they hid it well, but it's more likely because he arrived in a truck.

This proves his ability to some extent.

After jotting down some information in his notebook, Chen Jiazhi walked out of the office and gazed at the overgrown vegetable field in the corridor, where traces of its former state could still be vaguely seen.

Then he led Qi Yongfeng and Ao Deliang downstairs to the field.

He had visited the area some time ago and even cycled around it, so he knew the general layout of the vegetable fields, which were flat and contiguous.

But this time, after going deeper into the ground, they discovered different points.

It's different from the long shelves and short plots of the Dongxiang vegetable market.

The furrows here are very long, at least one or two hundred meters long, and each furrow is 1.2 to 1.5 meters wide. There is a ditch in the middle, which is deeper than the usual furrow ditch, but not as deep as the side ditch or waist ditch.

This was the common layout of large vegetable markets in this era, firstly to facilitate rotary tillage, and secondly for convenience and ease of use.

Jiangxin vegetable market has three or four small rotary tillers, but I don't know if they're any good or bad. The main method of land preparation should still be manual labor.

Watering is entirely done by hand, with only one high-pressure water pump and a few sections of thick water pipe, but these are used for pumping out water.

That's why the vegetable garden was designed this way.

The irrigation ditches can be kept dry for a long time. The vegetable workers walk along the ditches and use a manure ladle to water the 1.5-meter-wide ridges on both sides.

However, this design also has significant flaws.

Firstly, it is difficult to avoid water accumulation during floods.

So, although the Jiangxin vegetable market seems to have well-maintained drainage systems, it still floods during heavy rains. Furthermore, without facilities like small arched sheds, it's quite normal that they can't grow vegetables in the summer.
However, the rainy season will soon be over.

Is there any need to change the vegetable garden?
As expected, October will be affected by high temperatures and drought, and there will be a cold wave at the end of the year.

In the present day, the symbiotic relationship between agriculture and weather is an ironclad rule of the industry; the weather determines profits and losses, and vegetable prices fluctuate with the weather.

A golden age is when the weather is favorable; both rain and drought can cause market volatility.

Because agricultural infrastructure is too weak, production is highly dependent on natural conditions, and technology is outdated. A torrential rain is enough to destroy vegetable fields, and a drought can lead to a complete crop failure.

Farmers view 'climate' as the judge of their fate!

Chen Jiazhi's success in just a few months was due to his contrarian approach; natural disasters were his secret to wealth.

Therefore, we must seize both the opportunities presented by drought and cold waves.

If we want to cope with the drought, the current layout of the vegetable fields is sufficient. The fields are bordered by waterways to the north and south, and the internal ditches have been repaired with money, so there will be no shortage of water.

However, this layout has two drawbacks: low output and low worker efficiency.

If there is water in the furrows for a long time, it will actually affect the growth of leafy vegetables on the furrows.
Furthermore, the ditch is filled with water and silt, so workers have to bend over and stoop to do anything. It's difficult for them to even squat down, so it's no wonder that their efficiency is low and they can't do things precisely.

Furthermore, if all goes well, he might be at the Jiangxin vegetable market by next summer.
In short, he wanted to change the layout from the very beginning.

After wandering around the vegetable field for a while, Yi Dinggan, Li Mingkun, and Guo Mancang arrived in their tricycles.

Chen Jiazhi then returned to the courtyard to resolve the housing issue.

He and Yi Dinggan each had a single dormitory room, neither of which was very big. There was no need for the six of them to squeeze together; they could just rent two rooms in a nearby house.

Two people can rent a room, each paying thirty or forty yuan per month, which can be easily afforded with the group leader's salary.

I settled my accommodation in one morning and half a noon.

Chen Jiazhi then called a meeting with everyone.

Including the six newcomers and the remaining six, a total of 12 people sat in a simple meeting room.

The two groups of people were somewhat clearly distinct.

One group was full of fighting spirit, while the other group was somewhat listless, yet also had a sense of scrutiny.

Chen Jiazhi coughed twice, inviting everyone to briefly introduce themselves, before speaking:
"General Manager Xu promised to allocate another 30 yuan to the market for its operation. We hope everyone can work together one more time to try and get General Manager Xu to give us another big bonus by the end of the year."

Qiu Hang said, "It sounds nice, but whether the 30 yuan will actually be paid is uncertain. When has the money ever been paid in full?"

Chen Jiazhi: "Even if you only get one-third, at least you won't have to worry about your salary this month."

Qiu Hang then asked, "How will the market continue to operate?"

Chen Jiazhi chuckled softly and asked, "Then what are you still doing here? Can't you just leave sooner?"

Qiu Hang retorted, "I haven't been paid my salary from last month. I'll leave as soon as I get it."

"Xu Yao!" Chen Jiazhi shouted, "How much salary do we still owe him?"

"450 yuan!"

"Give him the money." Chen Jiazhi then looked at Tong Gang and said, "Manager Tong, make him take the money and leave immediately."

The elderly people in the office looked at each other, then simultaneously turned to look at Xu Yao.

Xu Yao hesitated for a moment before leaving the meeting room, and a moment later returned with 450 yuan in cash.

Qiu Hang took the money and left without saying a word.

Chen Jiazhi looked at the remaining people and asked, "Anyone else want to leave? You can take your wages and leave right now."

Warehouse manager Cheng Tiantian muttered, "Is there any money left? We might not even be able to pay the electricity bill."

Chen Jiazhi chuckled and pulled out a wad of cash from his bag. "If it's not enough, I'll cover it for President Xu first. Anyone who wants to leave can leave today."

This stack of money is all in hundred-yuan bills, at least a thousand or two yuan, enough to feed the remaining five elderly people.

Chen Jiazhi observed the group.

Huang Rixin and Zheng Zhong seemed interested, but remained silent, while Xu Yao and Tong Gang seemed to have no intention of leaving at all.

Cheng Tiantian was a plump woman. When she saw Chen Jiazhi looking at her, she smiled and said, "Just based on Director Chen's imposing manner, I'll have to stay for another month or two to see how it goes."

"Alright, since everyone's staying, I'll assign tasks."

Chen Jiazhi sat down, took out paper and pen from his bag, and began to assign tasks to each person one by one.

"Manager Tong, the most urgent thing is to get the existing vegetable workers back to work tomorrow, and then continue recruiting. We need a total of 200 to 220 people, the sooner the better."

"Secondly, Xu Yao, if you need money, I'll drive you there when you need it. You can also take charge of the procurement for now, as we need to buy a lot of supplies later."

"Third, regarding the subsequent production arrangements, first remove the weeds, and burn anything that can be burned directly into ash."
Next, dig trenches and adjust the layout of the truck bed.

Chen Jiazhi asked Tong Gang for a piece of letter paper and drew it in a few strokes. Yi Dinggan and the others understood it at a glance. Chen Jiazhi's vegetable garden was laid out in this kind of layout.

Huang Rixin and Zheng Zhong also understood, because Chen Jiazhi had also drawn the rivers and main roads around Jiangxin Vegetable Market.

The direction of the carriage and the drainage ditch is clearly visible.

Huang Rixin asked doubtfully, "Director Chen, is it really necessary to go to such lengths?"

Do as I say.

He had a large number of his own people, so he wasn't worried about losing one or two managers. However, Huang Rixin was also sensible and didn't ask any more questions.

For several days in a row, we were working on finding the right balance.

Chen Jiazhi got right into the swing of things, but Yi Dinggan and the others still needed to adapt to the environment and get to know the workers; their management skills were still somewhat lacking.

Fortunately, the only problem is the slow efficiency; the direction of the work is correct.

In addition, the recruitment of vegetable workers is also very slow, with too many leaving and only about a hundred people being brought back.

But the worst news really came down to the funding; the jinx proved true, and only one-third of the funds arrived: 10 yuan.

Chen Jiazhi estimated that after buying large quantities of supplies such as fertilizer, seeds, and drought relief equipment, he wouldn't have much money left.

It's definitely not enough to pay the vegetable workers' wages this month.

Even if the 200 vegetable workers don't make it this month, and they only earn 250 yuan a month, it would still cost at least 5 yuan.

It was said that something would come later, but this is actually the first test.

(End of this chapter)