Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Minister of Agriculture Li Shaocheng said, "The most appropriate approach at this stage is to redistribute food. We can purchase more food from unaffected areas and put it on the market. As for the food in the Material Reserve Bureau, it will be used during the most difficult times."

"Comrade Chen Guodong, what do you think?"

Chen Guodong nodded.

He didn't feel like he was being criticized at all, and said directly, "I agree. But Secretary Wei, there are three issues that need to be addressed by the central government."

"You said."

Wei Hongjun knew Chen Guodong wouldn't immediately demand the grain from the Material Reserve Bureau. Having served as Minister of Food for so many years, he must be well-versed in China's grain situation. He must have known that the grain from the Material Reserve Bureau couldn't be moved without permission.

Sure enough, he was just throwing out some ideas, and what he wanted was what came later.

"First, we shouldn't set quotas for purchasing grain from unaffected areas. Instead, we should raise the purchase price. Since they've already paid for grain from the government and state-owned grain, setting quotas for them won't be justified and will dampen their enthusiasm at the grassroots level."

"Comrade Deng Zhihui, what do you think?"

"I agree with Comrade Chen Guodong's suggestion. In the face of a nationwide disaster, the government should shoulder greater responsibility. Previously, the difference between the purchase price and the selling price of grain under the unified procurement system averaged 3.5 yuan per 5 kilograms (2 jin), with the highest difference reaching yuan. Since we are purchasing additional grain from rural areas, I believe the purchase price could be increased by around yuan per kilograms ( jin). This way, I believe unaffected areas will have a significant surplus of grain to sell to us."

Grain production increased steadily in the first decade after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and the rate of increase was substantial. However, the increase in state grain and state-purchased grain was limited, so local governments should still have sufficient grain. If you forcefully impose quotas, it's easy for production cooperatives to conceal production and embezzle grain.

If you insist on saying that the peasants have no awareness, you are just talking nonsense. Before communism, since the distribution method was "to each according to his work," it was inevitable that everyone would be nervous about their property.

Issuing administrative orders to purchase grain is actually harming the interests of rural production cooperatives, who will certainly do everything they can to protect their own interests.

Therefore, the best solution is to raise the purchase price. Raising the price by about two yuan per hundred kilograms (2000 jin) would mean an extra 2000 yuan for kilograms. With an extra yuan, you can do so much! You could even buy two three-wheeled motorcycles. This would be very beneficial for many production cooperatives.

"For a national disaster, everyone must bear the responsibility. The government, rural areas, and cities must bear the responsibility. Grain sales prices must be adjusted, and purchase prices must also be adjusted. Both must increase to a certain extent. Of course, the increase in grain purchase prices must exceed the increase in sales prices."

The damage caused by a national disaster must be borne by the entire nation. The increase in grain purchase and sales prices is one example. Only when everyone bears the burden together, the damage will be less severe.

The wages of urban workers have increased a lot in recent years, and they are needed to contribute money to help fight the disaster.

"Comrade Deng Zhihui, this requires you to come up with a specific plan."

"it is good."

"Comrade Chen Guodong, please continue."

"Secretary Wei, the second issue is the transportation of grain. During this year's disaster relief efforts, our biggest concern was the transportation of grain. Our Ministry of Food has grain and has received transportation tasks. However, coordinating with railways is difficult, and we lack the transportation tools for road transport."

"Grain allocations require at least several million kilograms at a time. In some prefectures, several counties have been severely affected by disasters, requiring the allocation of tens of millions of kilograms of grain. Furthermore, once the grain arrives in the prefecture, it must be delivered to each county, requiring a large amount of transportation. However, our Ministry of Food is completely powerless to do anything about it."

The problem of transportation is indeed a difficult problem.

The best approach, of course, is to coordinate with multiple departments to handle the issue. However, with more departments, there's more friction. Grain transportation involves not only railways and highways, but also the coordination of local governments, which involves a host of other issues.

The most effective way is for the Ministry of Food to have its own powerful transport team, which can transport goods as long as there is an order.

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and said, "How many trucks does your Ministry of Food need?"

Chen Guodong immediately became alert.

He said, "Secretary Wei, to deal with this kind of disaster this year, the Ministry of Food will need a transport fleet of at least 5000 trucks. Currently, we only have about 600 trucks, which is not enough."

Wei Hongjun calculated the cost of 5000 trucks. With the development of the domestic economy, there is a shortage of transport trucks throughout the country.

"Comrade Wei Hongjun, I think we can find a solution from the Soviet Union."

Deng Xixian, sitting to Wei Hongjun's right, said, "Our country is currently suffering from such severe natural disasters, how can we spare the energy to do anything else? The Soviet Union produces nearly 50 trucks a year. If we add a few thousand trucks, or even tens of thousands of trucks, it will not be a burden at all for the Soviet Union."

The joint Vietnam War launched by China, the Soviet Union, and Vietnam was a secret negotiation between the Chinese, Soviet, and Vietnamese high-level officials. Even when Vietnam changed its internal party policy, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Vietnam adopted a policy of unifying Vietnam, without ever involving China and the Soviet Union.

Of course, there is no absolute secret once you start doing this kind of thing.

Since it wasn't public, Deng Xixian didn't say it directly. But the meaning was clear: China had suffered severe natural disasters and had no ability to support Vietnam's war of unification.

China was lucky not to ask the Soviet Union for food. Asking you for trucks to solve the problem of food transportation was not the right thing to do.

Wei Hongjun nodded. Deng Xixian was right. A few thousand trucks wouldn't be much of a problem. Once the Vietnam War began, tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of trucks would be needed, all of which would require Soviet support. Just like during the Korean War, China imported 10 trucks from the Soviet Union within two years.

For an industrial power like the Soviet Union, these industrial products are the least valuable.

So he said to Deng Xixian, "You'll need to coordinate this with the Soviets. It would be best if the vehicle problem is resolved within six months so as not to affect next year's grain mobilization. And we need as many as we can get. What our country lacks most right now is trucks."

"no problem."

Deng Xixian was the main Chinese representative in Sino-Soviet cooperation, and he is a suitable person to discuss this issue.

"Comrade Chen Guodong, Comrade Deng Xixian and I will coordinate the transportation for you. Your Ministry of Grain must quickly establish a transportation department and prepare sufficient truck drivers. Don't wait until we have trucks and then tell us you don't have drivers. If that happens, it will be your responsibility."

"Secretary Wei, don't worry. This kind of problem will never happen."

Chen Guodong was overjoyed.

If the Ministry of Food had around 5000 trucks, its ability to move food would increase significantly, and it would no longer have to beg for help everywhere just to get food.

"continue."

"Third, reduce the export of agricultural and sideline products, as well as grain."

“Does our country still have grain to export?”

Wei Hongjun asked Deng Zhihui. Deng Zhihui nodded and said, "In 1957 and 1958, my country exported some grain. Some of it went to Eastern Europe and North Korea, and some was exported to Japan."

"Except for some grain exports that have already been contracted, all other exports have been halted. Until the natural disaster ends and grain production recovers, all grain exports, including some daily agricultural and sideline product exports, will be suspended."

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and said to Chen Yun, "How can we stop the export of these grains and agricultural products without affecting our country's foreign trade reputation? The Finance and Economics Working Committee needs to come up with a plan."

"it is good."

Chen Yun nodded.

Wei Hongjun then asked, "Comrade Fu Qiutao, how much grain can the State Material Reserve Bureau provide? I need accurate data."

"726.54 billion jin."

“The data is not false?”

"Secretary Wei, I guarantee with my Party spirit that not a single word of this is false."

"Comrade Fu Qiutao, the grain data held by the National Material Reserves Bureau alone is insufficient. I need you to spend the next six months figuring out the grain reserve situation in every province across the country. This includes the grain reserves at the provincial, municipal, county, and township cooperative levels."

"This data must be accurate, because food will be allocated based on it during disaster relief efforts. The Secretariat will send a notice to each provincial Party Committee, requiring them to cooperate with your work."

"Yes."

Wei Hongjun breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the natural disasters in 1960 and 1961 were quite severe, China's current annual grain output, coupled with the grain reserves of recent years, should have no problem getting through them safely.

In particular, the National Material Reserves Bureau has more than 700 billion jin of grain, so it can solve the problem in any way.

Zhou Bin said beside him: "Do we need to import some food?"

Wei Hongjun thought for a moment and said, "Let's wait and see the specific situation of our country's current grain reserves."

In particular, we should pay attention to the grain reserves of provinces, cities, counties, and township cooperatives. If these reserves are sufficient, then there is no need to import grain.

Wei Hongjun believes that local and grassroots governments should have a certain amount of grain reserves. As someone who has been responsible for rural affairs in China, he is familiar with grain production data since the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the annual grain collection data from the central government.

New China's grain policy is unified purchase and sale, and free trade in grain is not permitted. Even if there is a black market, it is not a major issue. Therefore, as grain production increases, local and grassroots governments should have a certain amount of reserves.

However, China's animal husbandry has developed rapidly in recent years, so Wei Hongjun cannot accurately judge the amount of grain owned by local and grassroots levels.

Importing grain is a valuable form of foreign exchange. Given China's size, importing grain would require billions or even tens of billions of kilograms, costing hundreds of millions of yuan in foreign exchange.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun should wait and see the situation in 1960, and examine the data on local and grassroots grain reserves before making a judgment. If they can survive on their own, they should not waste foreign exchange.

"Everyone else should talk too."

1082 Family Assets

The natural disasters of 1959 were so severe that, according to final statistics, grain production decreased by 1958 billion catties compared to 837. Although the overall grain output still exceeded 4000 billion catties, the distribution was very uneven.

In some places, there was so much grain that it could not be eaten. After completing the national grain and unified grain purchase tasks, the livestock industry could be developed on a large scale, and there would still be surplus grain.

But in areas severely affected by the disaster, some even lost their entire harvest. If transportation conditions were comparable to those of the 21st century, there wouldn't be any need to worry about food shortages. But with current transportation conditions in China, food distribution requires coordination among multiple departments and local governments.

Moreover, after the winter came, there was not much snow in the northern part of the country, and in some areas there was almost no snow at all, which disappointed everyone. Originally, the northern part of the country was suffering from a severe drought in 1959, and everyone hoped that the winter would bring heavy snow to alleviate the drought, but the weather was not favorable.

As late as January 1960, there was still little snow in northern China. This situation would cause serious problems for the spring plowing in 1, so the central government was extremely nervous.

The drought of 1959 was already severe, but judging by the snowy conditions in winter, 1960 wasn't going to be easy either.

Wei Hongjun, in charge of the central government, set aside two to three hours almost every day to handle disaster relief and coordinate disaster relief efforts among various departments. In some severely affected areas, efforts were made to minimize losses by planting drought-resistant crops; any harvest was good, anyway.

However, some drought-stricken areas are simply unable to cope with the situation. Because the drought is so severe, nothing can be harvested. In these areas, no other crops are planted, and grain reserves are used directly. Meanwhile, the state is sending large quantities of grain to these areas as a work-for-relief program. This is primarily for transportation and water conservancy projects. Since there's nothing to grow anyway, they're focusing on infrastructure development.

Nearly 100 million people were affected by the disaster, with nearly 40 million in severely affected areas. With so many people, we can't just sit there and wait for government relief food. The only option is to organize them to participate in large-scale construction.

Of course, the most important thing is to compile statistics. The Secretariat issued a series of notices, all demanding that provinces, cities, and counties quickly compile data on their grain reserves. This data must be accurate, with no more than a 3% error.

If the reported data after spot checks is off by more than 3%, regardless of whether it's an over- or under-report, the officials involved will be severely punished. Over-reporting is dereliction of duty. If the central government then diverts grain based on the reported data, it would be a disregard for the lives of the people in your province. If serious consequences occur, the offender will be sentenced to prison.

Similarly, if they report an underreport, they are deliberately concealing grain. This is typical localism, disobeying national policies, and disregarding the overall situation. Such cadres must also be dealt with.

“Is this the data reported by the provinces?”

"Yes."

The speed in each province is also very fast.

Because the entire nation knew of the severity of the 1959 disaster, and the Secretariat issued a stern notice, each province knew the central government was reviewing its resources, so it didn't dare delay. They quickly reported their grain reserves at the provincial, municipal, and county levels.

However, the provinces are concerned about the potential problems with the data reported by cities and counties, so they stated that this is only preliminary data and that they will compile and report more accurate data as soon as possible.

Wei Hongjun looked at the preliminary statistical data reported by various provinces for a while and said, "Comrade Chen Guodong, Comrade Fu Qiutao, what do you think of this data?"

"Secretary Wei, if this data is true, then even if the drought in 1960 is as severe as the one in 1959, we won't have too much trouble getting through it."

Compared to his recent tense demeanor, Chen Guodong's expression was much better today. He even spoke with a hint of excitement, "Secretary Wei, several major grain-producing provinces have more grain reserves than we originally anticipated. And this is only at the provincial, municipal, and county levels. Rural cooperatives below them should also have considerable reserves."

The data reported by various provinces, if added together, showed that there were more than 1000 billion jin of grain reserves, which surprised several people.

Especially in some major grain-producing provinces, the amount of grain reserves is really large.

The most typical example is Sichuan Province, which is currently China's largest grain-producing province. The province, cities and counties have grain reserves of about 240 billion jin. This data shocked Wei Hongjun.

四川解放之后粮食产量增加速度的确很快。1948年四川粮食产量只有260亿斤左右，不过1949年不打仗直接就恢复到了320亿斤左右。一直到了1958年，四川省粮食产量增长到了640亿斤。从1948年算起，四川省的粮食产量十年间足足增长了近400亿斤。

However, starting from the Eighth National Congress in 1952, the amount of public grain and state-purchased grain taken by the central government from Sichuan only increased by about 50 billion jin.

Despite the significant increase in grain production, the amount of grain submitted to the government and purchased by the government has only increased slightly, meaning that a large amount of grain has remained within Sichuan province over the years.

Sichuan has been one of the fastest-growing regions in China's livestock industry in recent years, with its pig farming industry ranking among the best in China. Chongqing is home to the country's largest pork canning factory.

Even with the rapid development of animal husbandry, Sichuan still has a large amount of grain reserves. The reported amount of grain is over 200 billion jin, which is incredible.