Chapter 644: Transportation is a big problem

After driving the jeep into the mountains for only two days, Li Long had to change to a tractor.

No way, there were more than thirty people in the mountains, weaving more than a hundred stretchers a day, and after removing the unqualified ones among the novices, the number of qualified stretchers every day was at least 120 or more.

This thing was piling up more and more, if he wanted to transport it back by himself, he could only get on the tractor.

And more than one trip a day—the tractor couldn't pull more than a hundred stretchers either.

Thinking that there were still some in Qingshuihe, two or three hundred stretchers a week, Li Long felt that he had to change a transportation method, otherwise, he would have to be welded to the tractor every day, and wouldn't have time to do other things at all.

However, from the situation last year, collecting fritillaria was his biggest income.

No, must change this situation.

The supply and marketing cooperative had its own cars, but the cars were all out to pull supplies now, so Li Long thought about whether he could use these cars during the mission gap, he didn't care about paying money, as long as he could pull them.

"Forget about cars, don't go ask Old Qin." Li Xiangqian heard Li Long's plan and shook his head, "Our supply and marketing cooperative only has these three cars, now two are sending supplies to the state agency, and one is on a business trip in Wucheng. We now want to toss other things and can't do it."

Old Qin was called Qin Haodong, the transportation section chief of the supply and marketing cooperative, in charge of transportation, car repair, and oil guarantee, and the three drivers were also his subordinates.

The transportation section didn't only have three cars, but also some flatbed carts and horse-drawn carts—transportation at this time wasn't that mechanized.

Li Long naturally didn't look down on those horse-drawn carts, it was better to use his own tractor.

"You can go ask Old Hong of the County Transportation Company." Li Xiangqian gave him an idea, "I will call Old Hong, you go find him, see if anyone on his side is willing to run private work after get off work, but you have to pay money."

"That's no problem." Li Long hurriedly pointed to the phone, meaning you should call quickly.

Li Xiangqian glared at him, little rabbit cub, actually directing me.

However, he still picked up the phone and asked for the County Transportation Company fleet.

Team Leader Old Ma wasn't there, said he took the car to pull supplies.

Li Xiangqian put down the phone and said to Li Long:

"You go find him in the afternoon, I will call him again in a bit. Cars should be fine, but it can only be after get off work."

After get off work is after get off work, the car is fast, it takes less than an hour to run to the mountains, and if it takes half an hour to load the car, it will be just dark when it is pulled back.

Just look at the freight, it shouldn't be too high, right?

Thinking that as long as he didn't have to drive the tractor and bounce around, it was fine.

Li Long came out of the supply and marketing cooperative and went into the mountains in the morning.

He had to check the qualified stretchers first, count them, and pile them together, so it would be easy to pull after get off work.

When the jeep stopped in the mountains, the small white poplar ditch was permeated with a strong smell of burning strips, and Li Long could even see strands of blue smoke floating at a height of more than ten meters from the ground.

Like a fairyland.

It was just that there were no red-crowned cranes to embellish.

The jeep stopped by the dugout, Old Huang was cooking lunch, and he shouted at Li Long loudly:

"Xiao Long is here? Making big stew at noon today, the steamed bread I steamed in the morning is just right for you to taste."

"I won't taste it first, I'll eat in a bit." Li Long responded, and then went to see the situation of weaving stretchers.

In front of each "workstation" for weaving stretchers, quite a few had already been piled up, a rough glance, the few had eight or nine, the many had ten or so.

Eldest brother Li Jianguo and Lu Yingming had the most.

Xie Yun Dong came over and asked Li Long:

"This is..."

"I'm checking the stretchers today, see if I can pull them all back tonight, it's too troublesome to pile them here."

Li Long said so, Xie Yun Dong naturally cooperated. He took out a small notebook and prepared to record.

Li Jianguo's was the first. Although he was the eldest brother, Li Long still checked relatively carefully.

Li Jianguo also knew that in the eyes of these people, he was a benchmark. If Li Long checked his loosely and checked others strictly, others would naturally have opinions.

Li Jianguo wove thirteen stretchers in these two and a half days, one less than Lu Yingming.

But the quality was strong one by one.

When Li Long checked, except for Tao Daqiang and a few others, others looked at it from time to time.

"Pole two meters, this is enough." Li Long looked at it item by item, "Stretcher wide, the handle has no burrs..."

Saying it item by item, it was actually also saying it to others.

The standard of this stretcher was told to everyone, but not everyone could remember it, so Li Long was emphasizing it at this time.

It was also disguisedly telling others, if your stretchers have small problems, I will check others like this in a bit, if checked out, don't argue with me there.

Li Jianguo's ten-plus stretchers were checked one by one, and there was not one unqualified.

Li Long's heart suddenly let go. Eldest brother is really powerful!

Li Jianguo pointed to the open space on the northeast side of the dugout and said:

"Are you putting the stretchers there?"

"Hmm." Li Long responded. Weaving stretchers and burning fire were in the southeast of the dugout, and the placement position was in the northeast, separated by the dugout, just not affecting each other, and wouldn't be messy.

Li Jianguo lifted one stretcher in each hand and carried it over. Lu Yingming wanted to help, Li Jianguo stopped him:

"Next is checking yours, don't move this anymore."

Tao Daqiang hurriedly came to help, and later others came over, Jia Weidong and others each took two, and the stretchers were finished.

This matter definitely had to be taken care of each other, after all, the ones they wove later, others would also help the same way.

Li Long checked Lu Yingming's, two of the fourteen stretchers had problems, one was that the sharpened strip wasn't pressed inside, it was exposed, which was easy to hang things. The root of that strip was also very sharp, and it was easy to hurt hands.

Small problem, it could be solved in three or five minutes, Lu Yingming indicated that he would change it immediately.

Another was that the overall shape was a bit crooked, not flat. Li Long knew this was because the strips weren't burned enough, this needed to be reworked.

Lu Yingming could see it himself, so he put this stretcher aside after Li Long finished speaking. Didn't plan to dismantle it, thinking about taking this one home when returning, it could be used at home.

After checking the two, others also understood. Actually, these were old hands, even if Tao Daqiang didn't come last year, he had followed Li Long for two or three years, and knew the requirements of the stretchers better.

But it was precisely because they were old people that Li Long wouldn't relax, otherwise those young people could jump up.

After checking the stretchers of the other eleven people, Li Long recorded it roughly, there were ten-plus unqualified ones, and the remaining qualified ones added up to one hundred and something.

Seeing there was still time, he climbed over the mountain to Xu Haijun's side.

On this side, Xu Haijun was weaving stretchers while telling the young people about his experiences in the army.

"... When I was a new soldier, we practiced night marching, the squad leader didn't say in advance, and wasn't afraid of us getting lost, directly scattered us around the camp.

Our camp location was in the suburbs, I found it according to the direction, and suddenly felt something was wrong, how did I enter the grave pile?... One grave after another, but the things to find were nearby, I was scalp-numb at that time..."

"Then why not run?" A young man couldn't help but ask.

"Run a fart, can run if the task isn't completed?" Xu Haijun glared at him, weaving stretchers while continuing, "At that time, no matter how scared, I had to find it, from time to time I could see phosphorus fire floating in some places, blue-green, too scary..."

"I've seen it, I've seen it!" A young man shouted, "Went to water with my dad at night, saw it on the edge of the ground, scared me, my dad patted it with a shovel, took a flashlight to shine, it was a bone."

"That is, actually it's nothing if you say it." Xu Haijun looked at him approvingly, "That phosphorus fire is phosphorus in the bones burning, really nothing."

"Then did you find it in the end?"

"Of course found it."

"What is it?" Someone asked curiously.

"Can I tell you that? After finding it, I returned to the camp, and another doll in our squad, from the inland, a city soldier, was washing clothes in the water room, I asked him what's wrong, he said he entered the graveyard, scared to pee, hahahaha..."

Xu Haijun was very proud.

Li Long watched this scene, thinking if he wasn't too strong, maybe staying in the army, he would really be a very good soldier?

"Haijun, I came to check, how many have you woven?"

Actually Li Long also saw it, the one who wove the most also had about ten, but it was obvious that the quality of the stretchers woven here was not as good as the one over there.

"About ten for each person." Xu Haijun was quite proud.

The quantity was not less than the old hands over there.

Li Long looked around and frowned and said:

"Let me say something unpleasant, at least one-third of your stretchers are unqualified."

"What?" Several young people were directly poured cold water. "Don't think I'm strict, in a bit you take the qualified ones to that side and put them well, then look at the stretchers they wove."

The smile on Xu Haijun's face disappeared, there was a sense of frustration, and also a bit unconvinced.

How could there be so many unqualified ones?

"One by one... look at yours first, Haijun..."

Li Long let Xu Haijun take out the notebook and said:

"You weave for the first time, normal. When I brought people over the year before last, it was also such a situation. At first, everyone felt that the stretchers they wove had no problems, very good. But this standard wasn't established by me, nor was it swayed by me.

Even if I gave you a pass, when they are pulled to the supply and marketing cooperative later, and people return them, and deduct my money, I still have to find you in the end. So it's better for me to be strict now, which is good for you and good for me."

Li Long said the ugly words first, and the hearts of the young men were balanced.

However, there were still those who were unconvinced, feeling that when eating every day, looking at the stretchers woven by others, the quality was about the same as theirs?

"This one... crooked. See? It might be straight when weaving, the strips weren't burned enough, and it returned when it cooled, so the stretcher is crooked."

Li Long said to Xu Haijun.

Xu Haijun blushed.

Please... you... collect_()

"There are too many burrs on this handle, need to shave it again. The big one has no

Of the ten carrying baskets Xu Haijun wove, seven were qualified, which was considered quite good.

Next, the quality of the other young men was miserable, with an average pass rate of fifty to sixty percent.

"This one is warped, this one is also warped... You look at it flat, this isn't on the same plane."

"This one is too shallow. There's an arc in the middle of a carrying basket. You made it flat. The strips were saved, but people carrying things also carry less!"

"This pole won't do, one end is thick and one end is thin, the difference is too big—of course, they are all thick at one end and thin at the other, but the difference can't be this big. If you carry heavy things with this, the thin end will break..."

Li Long pointed out the problems one by one. Those people listened and wanted to argue a few words, but were immediately stopped by Xu Haijun's glare.

If there was a problem, solve it; if there was a fault, change it. Although Xu Haijun was a bit frustrated, Li Long's words were correct, and he accepted it.

"Alright, that's all there is. Calculate an average of five qualified per person, that's twenty yuan," Li Long said. "Later, when you know where the faults are, you can earn twenty yuan a day. Four hundred yuan in twenty days, that's not bad."

Li Long's last few sentences brought smiles back to everyone's faces.

That was the logic. Right now, even catching fish at Little Haizi, one couldn't earn twenty yuan a day.

The market in the county was only that big. To go to Shicheng, without a bicycle, the fish would be rotten by the time they arrived.

So weaving carrying baskets was actually the fastest money they could earn in the short term.

"Alright, Haijun, you've recorded it all, right?"

"Recorded." Xu Haijun showed the notebook to Li Long.

After Li Long finished reading, he signed it and asked him to write another one for himself, then said to the others:

"You guys now, hold the qualified carrying baskets and go to the other side of the mountain, and by the way, see what the carrying baskets they wove are like."

As soon as he said this, these young men couldn't wait to take the carrying baskets and go over.

Four or five carrying baskets, the young men didn't find it tiring or dirty, piled them together, put them on their heads, and went over.

"No animals came over these two days, right?" Li Long asked Xu Haijun. "Didn't run into any snakes?"

"No." Xu Haijun shook his head. "But on the edge of the mountain opposite, I saw wild rabbits and pheasants, very clever. By the way, at that end," he pointed to the head of the mountain gully, "I saw a few roe deer there yesterday. We originally wanted to catch them, but before we ran a few steps, those guys ran away."

"Don't be in a hurry, there are still many days, we'll definitely run into some. Just be careful of snakes; most of the snakes here are poisonous."

"Don't worry, I'm here." Xu Haijun took his carrying baskets, and Li Long also helped take two and went over to the other side of the mountain.

Next, he still had to check Liang Wenyu's side.

Old Huang had already made the meal, and started to put out the fire. Li Long hurriedly drove the jeep to Liang Wenyu's side. He was worried that the young men over there couldn't endure the hunger and would come back early, and then he wouldn't be able to inspect them.

Fortunately, when he ran over there, Liang Wenyu was calling these people to prepare to leave.

Seeing the jeep arrive, Liang Wenyu waited for Li Long to get off and asked:

"Why come over at this time?"

"Inspecting and accepting the carrying baskets today, take the qualified ones over first."

"Fine." Liang Wenyu naturally had no objections.

The other young men were also very excited. Liang Wenyu had told them more than once that the carrying baskets woven now didn't count as money; only those registered in the notebook and qualified counted as money.

They also wanted to know how much their carrying baskets were worth.

"Fine, let's inspect now," Liang Wenyu said. "Mine first?"

"Others' first. Inspect one, and take the qualified ones over. They are also preparing to eat over there," Li Long said.

"Good." Liang Wenyu had no objections.

Inspected one by one, the biggest problem was still that the carrying baskets would warp.

Li Long could understand; young people, their temperament wasn't enough yet, and they felt that if the strips for weaving carrying baskets were roasted and softened, they could be used. This thing was naturally no problem to use at home, but taking it over like this, the supply and marketing cooperative would block it.

But what surprised Li Long a bit was that the pass rate here was even higher than Xu Haijun's side, about seventy percent.

Finally, it reached Liang Wenyu's, and the pass rate reached eighty percent. He wove ten, and only two were unqualified.

That was really very impressive.

Li Long asked him to take a few and go forward, and he himself put the remaining few on the jeep. Liang Wenyu refused, saying that there was dust on these carrying baskets, which would ruin the tarpaulin on top of the jeep.

"Not to that extent, this is a car, not a toy car," Li Long laughed. "Alright, you go, I'll arrive even earlier than you."

Actually, Li Long also drove slowly, mainly because the bumpy road would shake the carrying baskets off the roof of the car.

When he arrived at Xiaobaiyang Gou, some people over there had already started eating.

Li Long calculated that there were about one hundred and eighty carrying baskets here.

One car might not necessarily be able to load them all, but he planned to drive a tractor to follow the car over in the afternoon. If it could be loaded, he would load it; if it couldn't be loaded, he would pull it back with the tractor.

It was just that unloading the car might be a bit troublesome.

These quantities weren't worth pulling to the supply and marketing cooperative. Li Long planned to unload the carrying baskets to his own courtyard first, and after accumulating a portion later, pull them to the supply and marketing cooperative.

He had to have at least one thousand before pulling them, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it.

Having eaten lunch here, Li Long drove the jeep back.

Passing by Qingshuihe Village, Li Long originally wanted to stop, but later thought, forget it.

Stopping wouldn't change anything; let's pull everything clean from the mountains first.

When the jeep returned to the county, he went to the transport company first.

The transport company was also considered to be restructured. Its predecessor was the county's transport team. At the beginning, there were horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts, and there was only one truck at first. Later, they gradually increased, and then the horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts were eliminated.

When Li Long drove the jeep into the transport company, it startled quite a few drivers.

County leaders basically wouldn't come here to inspect. With a small car suddenly coming over, they were immediately in a panic. Captain Ma, who had just rushed back, put on a coat and, while buttoning it, rushed out in a hurry.

But after seeing the jeep, he was happy. Damn, it was this kid!

Li Long's driver's license was obtained from him, and his driving skills also passed through his hands. He was very clear about this matter.

"Scatter, scatter, it's not a leader," Ma Chunlei greeted the others. "Go do your own work."

Only then did he complain to Li Long, who had gotten off:

"Little Li, you have to say something in advance when you come. Look at how you scared our drivers."

"Sorry, sorry..." Li Long apologized hurriedly. "I'm in a hurry because I have something to do."

"Pulling things, right? Your section chief said, how many cars do you want?"

"One, maybe two later. One hundred and seventy or eighty carrying baskets, one car should be enough to load, right?"

"Forget it, you'd better want two," Ma Chunlei advised. "Work after getting off work, don't be so tight. Go, go to the office, let's discuss the price." (End of chapter)