Chapter 722: This Is a Major Project!

This reed-bundle gathering job ended with astonishing speed; just as almost everyone in the Fourth Squad was working hard, planning to tie more and earn more, Li Jianguo announced it was over.

Nine days—it even broke the record for reed-bundle tying jobs set over the past two years.

Of course, not all bundles were tied by the Fourth Squad; some households in the squad still had large piles of reeds stacked at home, intending to tie even more.

On the eighth day, Han Benzhong and Han Da Chun from the Corps Farm led a horse-drawn cart and delivered two cartloads of reed bundles, amounting to roughly four or five hundred pieces.

The day after Li Long delivered the first cartload of reed bundles to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, Han Da Chun arrived at Li Jianguo's home, carrying two plastic jugs of liquor for the Li family.

This liquor had been collected by Han Benzhong on the Huke Highway.

At the time, a tanker truck transporting liquor had overturned in an accident; the tank ruptured, spilling raw liquor onto the ground. Han Benzhong, who was working nearby in the fields, rescued the driver, who then urged him to hurry home and fetch containers to save the liquor—since it would otherwise go to waste once spilled.

"This is raw liquor distilled at the distillery, meant to be transported north for blending at another winery," Han Da Chun explained. "We kept several dozen kilograms at home; this portion is specifically for you, Uncle Li, to drink."

Freshly distilled raw liquor was naturally considered superior by ordinary folks compared to blended spirits—though it tasted extremely harsh, mainly due to its high alcohol content.

This was indeed an excellent gift. Since Li Jianguo was currently accepting reed bundles and knew the Han family was capable of such work, he told Han Da Chun to inform Han Benzhong that if they could tie bundles meeting the standard, he would accept whatever qualified deliveries they brought.

Han Da Chun was overjoyed; grinning broadly, he repeated, "No problem, no problem!" before hastily rushing back.

He had ridden his horse to come here, walking slowly upon arrival, but on his return, he nearly galloped the horse at full speed.

At this time, although all agricultural supplies for Corps farming were distributed from above and workers only needed to plant, at year-end, after keeping enough for themselves, the remainder had to be handed over; how much cash would be returned depended entirely on decisions from above, making it essentially a murky account.

In local areas, land contracts had already been allocated to individual households; farmers decided themselves how much to plant and how much to sell after delivering the required grain tax, with earnings being open, transparent, and clearly understood by all.

Previously, the Corps had been better off than local areas. During the era of the "big pot" system in local regions, frankly, there was little motivation to work hard; most people simply got by. It was normal to receive no money at year-end and even end up in debt. Back then, local residents envied the Corps, since at least Corps members could receive some cash by year-end.

Now, however, the Corps envied the local areas: farmers could choose what to plant, and everything harvested beyond the grain tax belonged to them; how much surplus they retained depended entirely on their own efforts.

It was essentially distribution according to work.

The living standards in local areas suddenly surpassed those in the Corps—naturally, Han Da Chun and his family felt envious.

Although it wasn't yet year-end this year, based on previous years, their entire family would be lucky to save even a few dozen yuan by December.

Now, with the opportunity to tie reed bundles at thirty-five fen per piece, why wouldn't they rush to work? With the whole family, old and young, participating, producing several hundred bundles within three to five days was no problem at all.

As a result, their delivery of two cartloads suddenly surged the quantity of reed bundles piled in the Li family courtyard.

The Han family cherished this reed-bundle tying opportunity so deeply that the bundles they delivered had an exceptionally high pass rate.

When Han Benzhong, after Li Jianguo completed the inspection, received one hundred sixty-seven yuan and thirty fen into his hands, his trembling fingers counted the money once before he exclaimed emotionally:

"Uncle Li, this year we can finally have a proper year-end celebration and buy cloth to make new clothes for the children—all thanks to you folks. We'll head back immediately and tie some more..."

"No more tying is needed; we have enough," Li Jianguo replied. Though he really didn't want to disappoint Han Benzhong, the quantity was indeed nearly sufficient, and given the Han family's long distance, there simply wasn't enough time left for them to tie more.

"Enough?... Alright, alright then." For an instant, the smile on Han Benzhong's face froze, but then he smiled again. "Earning this much money is already plenty. It's far better than others in our company; those families only have a few dozen yuan to last the whole year—sigh."

Corps workers were still quite hardship-stricken at this time; having enough to eat wasn't an issue, but speaking of living well, they truly couldn't compare to farmers under the household contract system.

Li Jianguo thought for a moment and said:

"Next autumn, after the wheat is harvested, Xiao Long will organize the big broom-tying job again. This year there was a lot; next year should also offer plenty.

Around mid-August, I'll let Da Chun come over, and I'll tell you then that you can take on the work. Each big broom fetches over three yuan; tying them for one season can earn quite a bit."

"Hey, no problem at all! I'll go back immediately and prepare the stakes and everything else, then send Da Chun over when the time comes... This is work we can definitely do! These big brooms are quite expensive—over three yuan each... truly not cheap. Good work, excellent work!"

Han Benzhong's tone carried both admiration and envy. Local areas near cities had more opportunities; previously, everyone thought the Corps was better, but now, comparing the two, how had they fallen behind?

Han Benzhong didn't stay for a meal; seeing how busy Li Jianguo was, he delivered the reed bundles and immediately drove his cart back home.

The following evening, after finishing the collection of reed bundles, Li Jianguo went to Xu Chengjun's house and used the loudspeaker to notify the entire team that enough reed bundles had been collected and no more would be accepted starting tomorrow.

This announcement stunned many people; they had been gearing up to work hard, after all, only ten days had passed, and traditionally, tying reed bundles and big brooms usually took about a month.

At this point, some people belatedly began to wonder: why were there so few reed bundles this time?

Once some individuals managed to inquire about the specific details from Li Jianguo, they started to panic.

Over the past two years, people in the Fourth Squad had grown accustomed to having someone weave carrying poles starting early in the year, tying big brooms after autumn harvest, and making reed bundles before winter set in.

Among these three sources of income, at least two were accessible to everyone in the village.

Some people had already planned at the beginning of the year how to spend the money they expected to earn from tying reed bundles at year-end.

Although Li Long had assigned part of the big broom-tying work to other villages last year and this year, the overall volume of such work had increased, barely affecting the villagers' earnings from big broom tying; moreover, due to price increases, they had actually earned slightly more money this year.

Suddenly hearing that reed-bundle tying might no longer be available next year caused widespread panic.

Losing one source of income—wouldn't life become tighter afterward?

This wasn't small money; one or two hundred yuan equaled the total annual income of some households in other villages.

Such news stirred unease throughout the entire village; some people, upon hearing the rumor, even rushed to Li Jianguo's place to verify the truth. Li Long wasn't home, but regardless, given his close relationship with his elder brother, Li Jianguo should certainly know.

The most panicked was Zhang Qiang; he had just spent five hundred yuan to contract the reed ditch, and now reed-bundle tying was stopping? Wasn't this outright bullying?

Filled with indignation, Zhang Qiang also rushed to Li Jianguo's home to verify the news—of course, he wouldn't dare show any disrespect toward Li Jianguo; he even brought gifts when he arrived.

Considering his brother Zhang the Carpenter's relationship with the family, although Li Jianguo didn't directly chase Zhang Qiang away, he neither invited him inside nor accepted his gifts, simply telling him:

"Xiao Long said that according to notices from above, future house construction may use prefabricated slabs, which are more durable, so the demand for reed bundles will gradually decrease. However, your contracted reed ditch won't be affected; weaving reed mats also requires reeds, and they can still be sent to the paper mill... no impact at all."

Carrying his gifts, Zhang Qiang returned home somewhat dejected.

He had already spent a year selling big brooms; was he now expected to sell reed bundles for several more years?

Weaving reed mats was indeed viable, but the Fourth Squad possessed not only reed ditches but also reed lakes, and Little Little Haizi contained reeds as well. If others wanted to weave mats for profit, they certainly wouldn't buy his reeds when free ones were available—wasn't that obviously better?

That left only one destination: the paper mill.

Reeds were an excellent raw material for papermaking; paper mills had always been purchasing them, albeit at low prices, since raw materials for paper production in Northern Xinjiang were extremely abundant, including not only reeds but also wheat straw and others.

Further ahead, there would be no more paper mills.

Manas County seemed to exhibit a rather strange phenomenon: it had always wanted to develop industry yet never succeeded; over thirty to forty years, numerous enterprises had come and gone, changing frequently, but ultimately it remained an agricultural county.

Not bad, though.

After Li Long delivered all the reed bundles, distributed the owed money, and settled Song Ming's transportation fees in full, Song Ming felt somewhat embarrassed.

"There will still be sugar residue to transport during winter when there's no other work; don't feel awkward," Li Long told Song Ming, watching him depart; with that, this job was officially concluded.

He sensed that next year there might be no more reed-bundle tying jobs; even if there were, the quantity would likely be extremely small—if it fell below five thousand pieces, he wouldn't accept the work.

After resting for a few days, Li Long headed to Wucheng before the first snow fell.

Winters in the eighties arrived earlier than they would thirty or forty years later; snow began falling as soon as November started.

Unlike in later years, when the first snow might not fall until early December.

He wanted to finish his business in Wucheng before the snow came, so he could rest throughout the winter.

If he could avoid traveling, he would; during this season, daytime temperatures often plunged to minus twenty-seven or twenty-eight degrees, and nighttime lows of minus thirty were perfectly normal. Staying indoors in a room with a stove was far more comfortable; just like the previous two years, if not forced by necessity, he would never have spent every day smashing holes in the ice to catch fish.

Who wouldn't want to huddle in a warm room during the dead of winter?

After breakfast, Li Long drove his jeep to Wucheng. This time, he didn't stop in Beiting; first, he had no business there, and second, he had nothing to give Director Qian, so he would deal with that later.

He went to the Jade Ware Factory first, where he purchased four carved jade pieces from Liu Gong.

Although there were only four items, they were all substantial in size: a pair of jade bangles, a fist-sized handheld piece, a "Peace and Safety" plaque, and a jade Buddha statue about ten centimeters tall.

The jade quality was excellent; now that Liu Gong's reputation had grown, the factory could obtain slightly larger raw materials.

"I know you like collecting these, so I've saved all the good materials for you," Liu Gong said, arranging the four items on the table for Li Long to inspect.

While people outside were selecting jade ware through the display window, Li Long was the only one allowed inside.

Li Long was naturally delighted; he didn't haggle and paid three hundred yuan for the jade carvings.

"The price of raw jade has started to rise," Liu Gong said somewhat apologetically; previously, four such jade pieces wouldn't have cost this much.

"The price of raw jade will only continue to climb in the future," Li Long replied, unconcerned. "It's best to stock up on what you can now."

!

After chatting with Liu Gong for a few moments, someone from the factory came looking for him, so Li Long left, found a place to eat lunch, and then headed to the Agricultural College.

On this visit to the Agricultural College, Li Long brought three bags of gifts for Professor Wu. One bag contained melon seeds harvested by his eldest brother's family, each seed pressed flat; another held flower sunflower seeds that Sister Yang had helped stir-fry the previous night.

The third bag contained rice produced by the Fourth Squad. Although in later years the rice from Miquan would become the most famous around Wucheng, in reality, within a small local scope, the rice from the Fourth Squad was even more renowned than Miquan's.

Some people in later years even tested and claimed the soil here was rich in selenium; Li Long didn't know if that was true or false, he only knew that the original rice tasted delicious.

After Li Long registered, the gatekeeper let him in and enthusiastically directed him to Professor Wu's office.

When Li Long arrived at the office door, Professor Wu was discussing something with a colleague; noticing Li Long at the entrance, she smiled and stood up.

Her colleague looked curiously at Li Long, so Professor Wu introduced him:

"This is Li Long from Maxian. When I was previously at the Seed Company, he bought melon seeds from me; the subsequent planting went quite well, and Ting You Xiang Fa."

Professor Wu invited Li Long in, and her colleague smiled and departed.

Li Long set down the gifts, and Professor Wu looked at them with considerable interest.

"These are melon seeds; this year's harvest was good, but we won't be planting them next year," Li Long said. "These are flower sunflower seeds, stir-fried just yesterday; they smell quite fragrant. And this..."

Li Long opened the rice sack, and the aroma of new rice wafted out: "This is the rice grown by our squad. Although it's not famous, the taste is excellent."

"Good, good, good; thank you," Professor Wu said without standing on ceremony, accepting everything. "Why aren't you planting melons anymore?"

Li Long then explained the situation.

After listening, Professor Wu remarked with some emotion: "Currently, farmers lack access to information; they want to grow cash crops to make money but don't know which ones meet market demand. This kind of follow-the-leader planting really tends to hurt the farmers."

Li Long nodded. This situation would persist until the early twenty-first century before finally stopping; by then, virtually the entire township would be planting cotton, so there would be no question of following trends or not, since everyone would be doing the same thing.

"So what do you plan to plant next year?" If they didn't plant melons, the economic benefits would vanish; growing grain wouldn't be profitable unless the acreage was sufficiently large.

Professor Wu was certainly clear on this point.

"We plan to plant flower sunflowers," Li Long said. "Our area has a lot of saline-alkali land that hasn't been developed yet. Although the land allocated to us is slightly more than in other villages, large-scale cultivation isn't feasible at the moment."

"Saline-alkali land is quite common in both the northern and southern regions of Xinjiang," Professor Wu said. "Currently, there are no particularly effective methods for remediation. You've heard of drainage ditches for alkali removal, right?"

"Yes," Li Long replied. "I plan to raise some cattle and sheep; the squad has allocated me a piece of saline-alkali land, and I intend to reclaim it... Digging drainage ditches is one method, but I was wondering if we could implement targeted fertilization. For instance, by measuring certain substances in the soil and then applying fertilizer accordingly. Is this approach feasible?"

At present, the term "soil testing for fertilization" hadn't emerged yet; Li Long couldn't state it directly since he was an outsider to the field, so he could only explain the concept.

Professor Wu's eyes lit up, and she began to ponder.

Li Long was merely mentioning the idea; this method was twenty years ahead of its time, and he didn't know if it would work.

Currently, there were chemical enterprises in northern Xinjiang, so the supply of chemical fertilizers wasn't a major issue; however, carrying out refined operations would not be easy. After all, soil testing for fertilization required studying the soil quality of every single plot, which would consume considerable manpower and resources.

However, if treated as a scientific research project, it could be quite a promising endeavor.

This was one of the reasons Li Long had come to find Professor Wu.

"Xiao Li, your line of thinking is very valuable," Professor Wu said after a long while, lifting her head. "I'm not a specialist in this field myself, though I know a little about it. Let me introduce you to someone; please sit for a moment."

With that, Professor Wu went out.

She left in somewhat of a hurry, leaving the door open; Li Long could hear her footsteps moving quickly.

Li Long wondered who Professor Wu would bring back this time.

In less than twenty minutes, footsteps approached; Li Long walked to the doorway and saw Professor Wu returning with a man in his fifties, the two talking as they walked.

The man was slightly balding; Li Long, with sharp eyes, noticed dirt on his hands and mud splatters on his clothes. Anyone unaware might have mistaken him for a farmer who had just come in from the fields.

As the two approached, Professor Wu pointed at Li Long and said:

"This is Li Long, the one who proposed the idea. Although the young man is young, he Ting You Xiang Fa; I think you should have a chat with him."

Then Professor Wu said to Li Long:

"Xiao Li, this is Professor Luo from our college. He has been engaged in agricultural research for over twenty years, specializing in soil science. You can discuss your ideas with him in detail."

"Hello, young man!" Professor Luo said warmly. "I heard about your idea from Old Wu; it's truly excellent. Come, let's go to my office and have a proper discussion!"

Li Long bid farewell to Professor Wu and followed Professor Luo to his office.

It was located nearby, just next door, though obviously Professor Wu hadn't been in her office earlier.

"I have an experimental plot within the college; I was busy working in the field just now," Professor Luo explained as he opened the door. Once inside, he pointed to a wooden sofa and said:

"Come, Comrade Xiao Li, have a seat."

After pouring water for Li Long, Professor Luo took the initiative to ask questions.

Li Long then recounted everything he knew regarding soil testing for fertilization.

He didn't know much either; after all, once the cooperative was established, it initially had shareholders like him work to earn money, but later, as increasingly advanced fertilizers, herbicides, and planting methods were adopted, cotton no longer required manual weeding, so they stopped concerning themselves with how to farm under such advanced scientific methods.

Therefore, most of his knowledge about soil testing and fertilization was hearsay; he only knew the general outline.

But even that general outline made Professor Luo's eyes light up; he took out paper and pen and began recording incessantly.

"Little Li, I truly never expected a farmer like you could think so deeply on this matter. In fact, targeted fertilization in agriculture has always been a subject of research, but everyone has been studying the broad directions; the kind of small-scale details you mentioned remain a blank slate. This is an excellent research direction; targeted fertilization aligns with our Party's principle of 'concrete analysis of concrete problems'—it's a good method!"

Li Long smiled; professors were indeed different, managing to tie even this to matters of principle.

But since the other party was an expert, he was certainly superior in this regard, so Li Long simply listened carefully. He truly hoped to properly reclaim his own plot of saline-alkali land, preferably without causing too much disturbance.

Of course, if reclamation proved possible, then the several thousand mu of saline-alkali land bordering the Fourth Squad would become immensely valuable.

To be used in advance. (End of chapter)