Chapter 704

The place Li Long went to was the Old Horse Corral.

Ever since the idea of large-scale breeding was moved last time, although he knew that this matter couldn't be realized in a short time, he would always think about whether the surroundings of the Old Horse Corral could be expanded when he returned to the Fourth Team.

The Old Horse Corral was relatively high, located in the middle of the three residential points of the Fourth Team, with a distance of four or five hundred meters from the three residential points.

This place was originally close to the old team department. Later, the old team department was demolished, leaving only a row of three houses to serve as a preschool, and the team paid to hire people to be teachers to bring students.

Actually, for this kind of old building like the Old Horse Corral, the materials used when it was built were really good, and the foundation was also laid deep. After all, the overall geology of the Fourth Team was a saline-alkali beach, and the surroundings of the Old Horse Corral were also alkali beaches with short reeds.

But the Old Horse Corral had been built for so many years, the houses lived in, and the sheds for livestock basically didn't return to alkali, which showed that the foundation was laid deep, and the soil used under the foundation was all pulled non-saline-alkali soil.

It was really used with heart at that time.

Li Long's jeep drove outside the Old Horse Corral and stopped. After he got off the car, he didn't enter the corral, but circled around the corral to see.

The Old Horse Corral itself occupied a very large area. Besides several large sheds connected together, in the middle was a large field, a part of which was opened into a vegetable plot by Uncle Lao Luo, and a part was empty.

In the past, this field was for the livestock in the corral to be driven out to let out the wind, and it was also a space for horse carts to stay. Just because the sheds were relatively spacious, the red deer and roe deer inside could move to their heart's content, so Uncle Lao Luo usually wouldn't let these livestock out.

Behind the Old Horse Corral was a piece of land that was not flat. On the east side, there was twenty or thirty meters of flat land, and further east was a gentle slope going down. Seventy or eighty meters away was flat land opened into cultivated land.

To the west of the Old Horse Corral was a large piece of alkali beach, the terrain was relatively flat. If he wanted to add construction, he could only use this piece of alkali beach.

The north side was also the same alkali beach, but the north side was relatively narrow—the cultivated land on the east side slowly expanded to the west when going north, causing the north side of the Old Horse Corral to become narrower and narrower.

Then after the matter of tying large brooms ended, he would find the team leader to contract this piece of alkali beach on the west side.

Anyway, within fifty acres of land, the team could make a decision. With Li Long's current influence in the team, to divide a piece of forty-nine acres of land from this alkali beach, he thought the team wouldn't be unwilling...

Dividing the land, digging the foundation, and building sheds were not small projects. Li Long vaguely remembered his eldest brother saying that the whole team moved out to build the Old Horse Corral that year, and it took half a year, and the amount of work was very large.

Of course, there were no tractors at that time, and the team itself didn't have as many people as it did now.

Now there were tractors and bulldozers, and Li Long also intended to use bricks instead of soil blocks when the time came. Although expanding soil blocks could increase income for some laborers in the team, to tell the truth, he felt that under the current conditions of the team, some people might not look down on the labor work of expanding soil blocks.

Giving too little, they wouldn't do it, giving too much, it would affect the market situation.

This would be discussed later. If bricks were easy to buy, buy bricks. If not easy to buy, find people willing to do it—the Fourth Team didn't look down on it, didn't the Third Team and Second Team look down on it?

Expanding the sheds was actually mainly building a surrounding wall. Open circles were easy to handle, just separate them with half-waist walls. The large amount of work was building warm circles for livestock to use in winter.

Right now, enclosing more land was good for later use. At this stage, such saline-alkali beaches were given away for free and no one wanted them. Li Long was willing to contract, and the team was naturally very happy.

Only after twenty or thirty years, when the price of cotton suddenly rose, at that time the technology of planting cotton was relatively mature, saline-alkali wasteland opened up to plant grain wouldn't work, but planting cotton could break even in the first year. At that time, saline-alkali wasteland became valuable.

Later, in just a few years, large pieces of saline-alkali beaches in the Fourth Team were opened up, and the officially recorded and unrecorded ones added up to ten thousand acres.

Unfortunately, further on, the above restricted planting cotton, first letting half of the cotton land be empty and not planted, saying it was to rotate crops.

As a result, it was only empty for one year, the alkali returned, and the land was directly ruined.

Further on, it was said that sixty percent was for planting grain and forty percent for planting economic crops. Those returned alkali lands were planted with wheat, even with drip irrigation, the harvest was not good.

If it weren't for the country having subsidies for cotton, in ordinary years, planting cotton on one's own land could basically break even, I'm afraid everyone would think about giving up—no matter what the original intention of the policy was, but to the common people, it was restricting you from getting rich.

Li Long just thought so much in a flash. Right now, he didn't think about contracting those saline-alkali beaches. No matter what, he had to wait until the second round of contracting in the nineties.

Right now, the technology of planting land was not developed. Those saline-alkali beaches wanted to be transformed, which was time-consuming and laborious and had no harvest, so it was better to wait.

He was looking and thinking and planning, and Uncle Lao Luo in the Old Horse Corral had already walked out.

Although Uncle Lao Luo was over fifty, he had eaten well and slept well in the past two years, and his spirit was also good. His hearing was much better than those old friends of his.

When Li Long drove the jeep over, he was in the courtyard. He heard the movement, originally thought Li Long was going to drive in, but didn't see it after waiting for a while, so he walked out.

Seeing Li Long staring at the saline-alkali beach on the west side in a daze, Uncle Lao Luo walked over and asked:

"Xiao Long, what are you looking at? This piece didn't grow anything, it's not like the alkali beach on the east side, it can still grow some cynomorium."

"Uncle Lao Luo, what do you think if I contract this piece, build it into sheds, connect it with our Old Horse Corral, and raise more cattle and sheep?"

"Alright!" Uncle Lao Luo was excited instead when he heard it. "Actually, I have also thought about it. You can pull a cart of sugar dregs over every day, and that sugar dregs don't cost much money, so why not pull more. The sheds in our corral can actually raise more than a hundred sheep, and there are still several empty sheds. As long as the feed is enough, raising more cattle and sheep is no problem."

"Then Uncle Lao Luo, can you manage it." Li Long thought the problem of sugar dregs was easy to solve. First, the sugar factory didn't think about the problem of utilization of sugar dregs at present, and second, Song Ming definitely wanted to earn more extra money.

"What's that? Isn't it just herding sheep! Let me tell you, several five-guarantee households in the team envy me. At worst, I will pull them over. We old brothers living here is actually good, having a companion."

"They are idle all day now, drinking and chatting, if you let them work, are they willing?"

"What's not willing? Old Yang, do you remember? It was the one you said last time, that Zhou Bin, ran away, ran for a month and came back—came back and asked about you, later I found out, it turned out he was afraid you would report him... This old boy!"

Li Long smiled.

"He also wants to come?"

"Wants to! Our food is so good, eating meat every day, and having money to spend, he wants to come. I just didn't loosen my mouth." Uncle Lao Luo said, "As long as you want, then as soon as I open my mouth, he will come. He also said he didn't want money, as long as he could eat meat every day. He lived a good life before, and now he wants it."

It seemed that Uncle Lao Luo was also not reconciled to just raising a few wild boars and a few deer, and was also thinking about strengthening and developing.

It might also be that he had gotten used to raising these pigs and deer, and it was naturally good to be able to expand.

However, under the current market situation, although the demand for meat was very large, the price was very low.

The price of mutton was always lower than pork at this time, and it didn't suddenly rise until around 2000, surpassing pork, and then never fell again.

On the contrary, the price of pork had been fluctuating over the years.

The price of beef had always been high, until later a large amount of beef was imported, and the price fell, but the cattle farmers in Northern Tianshan suffered miserably, and then the country urgently mobilized subsidies, which was considered to have recovered some losses.

Gone far.

Since Uncle Lao Luo wanted to raise, and there were people to help, Li Long felt that this matter could be carried out.

After October, herdsmen began to transfer fields. At that time, a large number of herbivorous cattle and sheep would flow into the market. As long as Li Long hoarded more sugar dregs feed here, and stored more pasture, there would be no problem raising cattle and sheep in winter.

It was easy to find things for cattle to eat, they could eat wheat straw. Sheep were picky, liking to eat alfalfa and other pasture.

Of course, sugar dregs were good things for both.

"Then buy some wheat straw and store it during this period. When the time comes, if you get cattle to raise, the wheat straw will be enough to feed." Li Long thought about it, took out two hundred yuan and handed it to Uncle Lao Luo.

"Can't use it, can't use it, how can you use so much? Ten or so yuan can buy a stack, even if we raise ten cattle, we can't use five stacks of grass." Uncle Lao Luo only accepted one hundred, telling Li Long that he didn't need to worry about collecting wheat straw.

"I know you have serious business to do, this matter of tying large brooms is urgent, can't be dragged, you go do your work." Uncle Lao Luo had a big picture view. This matter of the Old Horse Corral, except for the sugar dregs and contracting land, he could handle other things himself.

Uncle Lao Luo also had his own plans. The money Li Long gave was for buying wheat straw. This wheat straw was cut into short sections with a straw cutter, and then mixed with sugar dregs, which was good feed for cattle and sheep. He himself had nothing to do and would go to the wasteland to cut grass—the grass in the alkali beach wouldn't work, but the reeds and thatch growing by the water ditch at the head of the land were good grass feed for cattle and sheep in winter. These days Uncle Lao Luo cut grass every day, and after cutting, he dried it in the field. Every two days, he brought some reed waists over, bundled the dried grass, pulled it back, and piled it against the wall in the open space in the courtyard. At this time, there were already seventy or eighty bundles of grass piled up.

Although there was a lot of sugar dregs, it not only had to feed red deer and roe deer, but also had to feed wild boars, so Uncle Lao Luo actually didn't stay in the courtyard every day, and he also arranged things for himself every day.

Uncle Lao Luo had no family, arranged for himself to work, did more when relaxed, did less when tired, and was happy and at ease.

Right now, Li Long had the intention to expand the scale of breeding, which was exactly what Uncle Lao Luo wanted. He actually also thought about being able to raise more cattle and sheep. Anyway, raising one or two was raising, raising a group or two groups was herding. Not only him, but those five-guarantee households in the team also had such ideas.

Who didn't envy him, didn't envy him living such a life?

After Li Long gave the money, Uncle Lao Luo went to arrange it himself.

Some of the wheat straw in the team was sold. Most of these wheat straws were pulled by themselves to sell to the paper mill, but the purchase price was very cheap. At present, the raw materials of the paper mill were very sufficient, it was a buyer's market, and going to sell wheat straw had to queue, and the price was not high.

Therefore, some people who were not short of money simply didn't sell it. Some pulled it home to start a fire, and some simply put it on the wheat field, letting the wind blow and rain hit it, waiting for the grass to weather and rot the next year, just in time to cover the wheat field.

So if Uncle Lao Luo went to buy it, everyone would definitely be willing to sell, and would also take the initiative to pull it over.

Of course, this deal had to wait until the large brooms were tied. Right now, there was no time.

After Li Long left the Old Horse Corral, he returned to the compound. There was no time today, Sister Yang was looking after the children, and had to prepare to cook, so she pulled the small wooden bed for the children to the kitchen door, watching while cooking.

(No Chinese characters)

After Li Long returned, he pulled the small wooden bed for the two children away from the kitchen door. Although the dinner was mainly light, Li Long thought it was better for the children to smell less oily smoke.

When Gu Xiaoxia came back from work, Gu Bo Yuan also entered the door one after another.

After entering the door, both of them were surrounding the children, looking at them as if they couldn't get enough.

While eating, Li Long told the family about the large broom matter.

"Heh, didn't expect you to do such an amazing thing." Hearing Li Long's words, Gu Bo Yuan was a bit surprised, and said with some emotion:

"Then in this way, the job of large brooms can be done every year in the future."

"Hmm, the job of tying handles might slowly disappear in a few years, but this large broom is estimated to be needed every year."

Li Long vaguely remembered that in later generations, some units were still issuing bamboo large brooms—sweeping outdoor hygiene, this thing was essential. Of course, the sanitation department purchased the most large brooms in later generations.

If the reed large broom didn't seek death, Li Long didn't ask for the price to be expensive, just keep doing it like this, before cotton started to rise in price, at least it was a stable way for everyone to earn money.

For him, it was icing on the cake, but for many people in the team, it was really sending charcoal in the snow.

Of course, it depended on how long the county Supply and Marketing Cooperative could persist later. He thought that at least before the county cooperative was withdrawn, or reduced, he would take down the supply and demand relationship.

Just like the merchant who collected fritillaria and other Chinese herbal medicines introduced by Chen Hongjun, the collection station left, but fritillaria still had to be collected.

After dinner, Gu Bo Yuan went back humming a song with his hands behind his back. Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia put the children into the bedroom, checking one by one whether they needed to change diapers.

"I'll go to Qingshuihe in the morning tomorrow, and go to Shicheng in the afternoon," Li Long said to Gu Xiaoxia while busy. "There are also reeds on the Qingshuihe side, our team doesn't have enough grass, so let them tie some large brooms too."

"Then what are you going to Shicheng for?" Gu Xiaoxia packed up the children, asked while gently patting.

"I'm thinking of expanding the corral of the Old Horse Corral, and raising more cattle and sheep. Uncle Lao Luo also has this idea, he wants to pull several five-guarantee households in our team to work together.

I intend to go to the Shicheng sugar factory, tell Song Ming who drives, and see if he can pull a cart of sugar dregs to the team every week. In this way, we can store more sugar dregs, and it will be convenient to raise anything later."

"That's quite good," Gu Xiaoxia said with a smile. "Good thing. Does our team seem to have only Ma Jinbao's group of sheep now?"

"No, there are two more groups. The one who specializes in herding sheep is Ma Jinbao, and he doesn't do work in the fields. There are also a few families who don't raise many sheep, but there are some." Li Long said, "Wait and see later, there is grass, and the above lets raising, our team has such a large place, then the sheep will definitely not be few."

When the Fourth Team had the most sheep, there were more than ten groups of two or three thousand sheep. At that time, there was a lot of wasteland, and herding sheep was easy. Later, reclaiming wasteland caused fewer places to herd sheep, and the sheep groups decreased.

Further on, the country gave subsidies, there were circle-raising projects, and some people in the team partnered to build activity board rooms on the edge of the residential points to circle-raise good sheep.

It was just that some people had bad intentions, thinking about taking the country's subsidies, using some invisible means, and some did it properly, but the protection was not done well, and they got brucellosis.

Quite troublesome.

The two chatted for a while, seeing Mingming and Haohao fall asleep quickly, and the two watched TV for a while and then slept.

The next day after breakfast, Gu Xiaoxia went to work, and Li Long drove the jeep to Qingshuihe.

The harvest time of wheat on the Qingshuihe side was slightly later than in the plains. The corn cobs on the Fourth Team side were already close to maturity, the corn stalks had begun to turn yellow, and the leaves had begun to wither, but the corn fields here still looked dark green, which was very pleasing to the eye.

When Li Long drove to the Qingshuihe village, he saw that there were people cutting reeds on the beach on both sides of the road. Although there were not many, they were divided into several groups.

There were also many reed beaches here, and the area was large. Because the terrain was not very flat, and there were many Gobi stones, large pieces of wasteland here could not be reclaimed into cultivated land, and could only be left to grow red willows, reeds, or other crops.

Precisely because of this, it had maintained the semi-wasteland landscape here until later generations, and it was considered part of the S101 highway tourist area.

Li Long first arrived at Meng Hai's house—mainly because Meng Hai's house was in the north of the village, and Li Long arrived at their house first when driving here.

Meng Hai was shaving handles in the courtyard. Seeing the jeep, he immediately sat up, threw down the axe and handle in his hand, and welcomed him.

"Comrade Li Long, hello, hello! Waited for you for a long time, come in and sit, come, come, come, I'll kill a watermelon for you!"

Meng Hai enthusiastically arranged for Li Long to sit in the courtyard, then hugged a watermelon over, and took a small low table and placed it in front of Li Long. His wife had already taken the knife washed with water and handed it to his hand. Meng Hai "killed" the watermelon into two halves with one knife. Seeing this melon was not bad, sandy pulp, a sweet smell permeated.

"Eat, eat, it's only what time and it's starting to get hot." Meng Hai cut the melon and took the largest piece in the middle for Li Long.

The enthusiasm made Li Long feel a bit embarrassed.

"You are still okay here, we are in that section below, it's much hotter than here," Li Long said while eating. "What are you busy with recently?"

"What else can we be busy with, wheat harvested, corn hasn't started yet, sunflower is not time yet, look, we have all started hitting reeds, just waiting for you."

Meng Hai didn't hide anything, and directly said what was in his heart:

"Comrade Li Long, I think our team's work was okay last year, how about this year, is there still the job of tying large brooms?"

"Heh heh, yes, yes." Li Long said while eating melon, "Not only yes, but more than last year, and the price has also been raised."

"Really?" Hearing this, Meng Hai almost jumped up.

Last year, fifteen hundred large brooms, the team earned some money. Although not much, to tell the truth, it was enough to save an emergency, and the winter life was obviously much better than in previous years.

Many people asked early this year, and Meng Hai was also a bit anxious.

This is not, it came. (End of chapter)