Chapter 899: There's Hope for the High-Horsepower Tractor

In the office, Director Qian watched Li Li Xiangqian, who was sweating on his forehead and gulping down tea, and said with a smile:

"Li Xiangqian, is it that you have no confidence in me, no confidence in yourself, or no confidence in the quality of the large brooms Li Long is producing? Since we've undertaken this, we've certainly thought it through; some of your worries are unnecessary."

Compared to Li Li Xiangqian's excitement, Director Qian was far more composed. Of course, he had taken office earlier than Li Li Xiangqian, had sorted out most of the unit's relationships, and moreover, the words from the Autonomous Region leaders had long circulated within the joint cooperative and been conveyed to the cooperatives of each county through unofficial channels.

Therefore, assigning the majority of the fifty thousand large broom task to Maxian and instructing Li Li Xiangqian to hand it directly to Li Long did not place much pressure on Director Qian.

Of course, there was definitely pressure; if Li Long failed to perform well this time and the quality of the large brooms submitted by Maxian was even worse than those from other counties and cities, then apologies, but the task quota would certainly be drastically reduced next year.

Reality is just that cruel.

But Director Qian did not transmit his own pressure to Li Li Xiangqian; such matters required personal realization.

Li Li Xiangqian had realized it, but he had not transmitted it to Li Long.

Li Long, through a strange combination of circumstances, had pulled the Corps company into the project due to an excessive task volume, resulting in the quality of the first batch of large brooms jumping up a whole notch, which instantly alleviated the pressure weighing on Li Li Xiangqian.

No wonder he was so excited.

Of course, the feedback given to Li Long at this time also made him understand that he had nearly failed to handle this matter properly before.

Fortunately, it could still be remedied.

Now, seeing Li Li Xiangqian rush over excitedly to report on the situation with the large brooms, Director Qian felt like laughing, but he held it back. To be honest, he agreed with Li Li Xiangqian and the others taking this so seriously.

Although connections were very important in these times, the quality of the goods was equally crucial. Without that hard strength, even if someone wanted to push you up, could you actually stick?

"Director, let's go take a look; once you see it, you'll surely understand that this batch of large brooms is truly high-class!" After drinking his tea, Li Li Xiangqian's originally excited mood had calmed down somewhat.

But he still insisted that Director Qian go see the large brooms and, while at it, have them directly entered into the warehouse.

"Alright, then let's go take a look." Director Qian smiled. "After we finish, come to my home for a meal; it's been some time since you last visited."

After standing up, Director Qian had someone summon several deputy directors and the head of the Procurement Section to go down and inspect the large brooms together.

Of the fifty thousand large broom task, thirty thousand were assigned to Maxian; this was decided by Director Qian, with the remaining scattered portions distributed among a few other counties and cities, while Beiting City received none directly.

Director Wei Zhuren was at the Beiting City Cooperative, and he had no objections; anyway, the cooperative didn't have any outstanding candidates, so receiving none was just fine, as he was actually worried that if tasks were assigned, those old slickers working under him would farm the work out, only to submit results that failed inspection, leading to criticism for him later.

Being a senior veteran, if he got criticized by the prefecture, he would lose face.

Regarding Director Qian directly assigning thirty thousand tasks to Maxian, some among the deputy directors held objections. But this amount of work wasn't enough to warrant a formal meeting; since Director Qian had decided directly, they could do nothing about it.

So now, they just had to see how the work submitted by the Maxian Supply and Marketing Cooperative, which Director Qian had "personally designated," turned out.

The atmosphere was similar to that at the county cooperative, with just a few leaders chatting and laughing, revealing nothing on the surface. Of course, everyone understood the situation.

The result was much the same. Seeing the plump Li Li Xiangqian personally climb onto the truck, untie the ropes, and hand the large brooms one by one to the leaders, these deputy directors and section heads looked them over and fell silent.

They didn't praise them as extravagantly as they had at the county cooperative, but basically, any thought of watching the spectacle faded: if all the large brooms sent up by Maxian were like this, then what harm would there be in giving them all fifty thousand?

At the very least, when the prefectural cooperative handed the goods over to the Autonomous Region side, they would certainly receive praise. Although they didn't know how the quality of tasks from other prefectures was, at least the quality of the goods in these three trucks deserved a thumbs-up.

Director Qian also saved face; smiling, he told the head of the Procurement Section to have people unload these three truckloads into the warehouse, and the leaders dispersed while chatting and laughing. As middle-level leaders, unlike those at the county cooperative, even if they felt unconvinced in their hearts, they still had to maintain an appearance of harmony on the surface.

The next day, when Li Long went to the supply and marketing cooperative to request trucks, he was quite justified in his demeanor.

Li Li Xiangqian arrived at work slightly later than usual. The previous night, he had gone to dinner with Director Qian, drank a bit of wine, and returned somewhat late.

When Li Long saw him in the office, he felt that although Li Li Xiangqian's face was a bit pale, his spirit was good.

"Alright, two trucks, right? Go find the Transport Section and tell them I've approved it. Xiao Long, for the remaining large brooms, you must still maintain strict quality control; let me tell you, yesterday when I went to the prefectural cooperative, the leaders praised us profusely."

"Of course, Director Qian also said to keep up the good work. As long as we can consistently meet this standard, the bulk of the work for the coming years will definitely still be given to you."

"Director, rest assured; if I continue doing the work in the future, the quality will certainly remain like this."

Li Long's advantage lay in his ability to bind together two villages with geographical resource advantages and one Corps company, thus concentrating strength to accomplish great tasks.

Moreover, having engaged in this undertaking for several consecutive years, he had cultivated a group of "technical backbones."

Therefore, he believed that even if these thirty thousand large brooms were assigned to others, no one else could do as well as he could; indeed, if assigned to just one person, they might not even be able to produce the full thirty thousand large brooms by the deadline.

Li Long took the truck to Passing Qingshuihe and brought back the two thousand large brooms from there. He conducted a spot check; these large brooms indeed showed some improvements, and the issues he had mentioned to Meng Hai had basically been addressed.

Although overall they hadn't reached the level of Wang Mingjun and his group, generally speaking, there was an improvement compared to last year.

That was sufficient.

For the next few days, Li Long basically just drove around with the supply and marketing cooperative's truck, rotating among the four locations.

On this day, when he arrived again at Wang Mingjun and his company, Zheng Xiang Yang was present.

"The company commander has gone to the division headquarters," Zheng Xiang Yang explained to Li Long. "The division has introduced a large-horsepower tractor from inland; it's wheeled, different from our Dongfanghong 75; reportedly, it has high horsepower and even comes with something called air conditioning, making the cab warm in winter and cool in summer, extremely comfortable!"

Hearing this, Li Long's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked:

"Will your company be able to get one of these large tractors in the future?"

"How could that be possible? It's said that this large-horsepower wheeled tractor is imported; currently, the entire division has only one, and one costs over a hundred thousand yuan! The company has taken the agricultural machinery operators over to visit and study." Zheng Xiang Yang hurriedly waved his hands to explain:

"Right now, having a Dongfanghong 75 tractor for our company is already quite good. For these several thousand mu of land, the 75 is sufficient—of course, the agricultural machinery operators will be tired, but if you want to live a good life, how can you avoid hard work?"

Zheng Xiang Yang didn't have much interest in the large tractor. In his view, even if such a tractor were allocated downward, it would at most go to the regiment headquarters, impossible for it to reach the company level.

It was too expensive. Let alone this imported large-horsepower tractor; even for a Dongfanghong 75, it was already good enough if every company could have one. Although they were old and outdated models, they were definitely capable of doing the work.

The Corps companies had agricultural machinery groups whose members could drive and repair; moreover, they could frequently visit the regiment and division headquarters to observe and learn. If they encountered problems they couldn't solve themselves, they could apply for assistance, which was better than what the production teams had.

Li Long was naturally tempted. A large-horsepower wheeled tractor equipped with air conditioning was most likely an imported Deere & Company model; even if not, it would be similar, and this was exactly the target he wanted!

Of course, for the time being, the Dongfanghong 75 tractor that he had bought for his eldest brother to operate in the Fourth Small Team was sufficient; it couldn't be replaced in the short term, but at least now he had a goal.

He was thinking about when to go over and take a look, to see the direction of future development.

When inspecting and accepting the large brooms, Li Long was very satisfied. The quality of these large brooms was as good as ever; Li Long paid readily, even accepting the few large brooms that had slight defects.

These large brooms, combined with some substandard ones collected from the Fourth Small Team and the Liang family, Li Long planned to gather three thousand in total and finally deliver them to units such as the Education Bureau and township primary and middle schools.

Delivering these practical tools was neither conspicuous nor ostentatious, yet it would make these units feel indebted—after all, this was his line of work, so no one could say anything against it. Because he wanted to hear more about the large tractor, after finishing the acceptance of the large brooms, Li Long had the truck take the brooms back first, instructed the driver to hand the acceptance form to Li Li Xiangqian, and let Li Li Xiangqian direct the warehouse keeper to complete the acceptance.

Lunch was eaten at the company headquarters; Zheng Xiang Yang wanted to make it grand, but Li Long said casual was fine, noting that pulled noodles were the most filling, so that's what they would have.

Wang Mingjun returned with his people only in the afternoon when the sun was about to set—they had driven a small four-wheel tractor to the division headquarters, which was over in Shicheng. Actually, Li Long could have gone directly to Shicheng to see it, but he lacked connections on the Corps side, and they wouldn't have allowed him to go anyway.

Going through Wang Mingjun was the most convenient way.

"Xiao Long, you also like large-horsepower tractors? Let me tell you, this is what you call a large-horsepower wheeled tractor! Our Model 28 tractor, in front of it, is like a half-grown boy; the difference is huge!"

Seeing that Li Long was still there, Wang Mingjun was quite happy; then, when Li Long asked about the high-horsepower wheeled tractor, Wang Mingjun immediately became excited, his eyebrows dancing with delight:

"It's a pity the entire division only has two units; if there were more, even if our regiment could get just one, that would be fine!"

As a veteran of the company, Wang Mingjun was familiar with the leaders at the regimental headquarters; if the regiment could allocate one unit, he might even get the chance to drive it himself.

But with over a dozen regimental farms across the entire Corps division and only two tractors in total, there was no way one would be allocated to their regiment.

Wang Mingjun felt a bit regretful, and Li Long felt somewhat regretful too; when he asked about the brand of this high-horsepower tractor, it turned out to be indeed from the Deere company.

In these times, for the Corps to import two high-horsepower wheeled tractors from abroad showed considerable boldness.

"The cab has air conditioning, extremely comfortable! We went up to experience it; even in the scorching heat, it feels freezing inside!" Wang Mingjun said exaggeratedly, "Once started, the horsepower is immense; we tested it in the fields, and plowing is much faster than with the Oriental Red 75; reportedly, it can plow two or three hundred mu of land in a single day!"

Locals here habitually call the tractor's cabin the "driving tower," perhaps because it sits relatively high.

Unfortunately, Wang Mingjun was unclear about the import channels; however, knowing Li Long was interested, Wang Mingjun said he would help inquire and see before making any promises; since Li Long had brought such profitable work to the company, helping him inquire about this was no problem at all.

In early September, Li Long delivered the final batch of large brooms to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, marking the complete end of this job.

Roughly calculating, he had collected over thirty-three thousand large brooms, of which more than three thousand were kept aside to be distributed to various units.

All things considered, this single "large order" yielded a profit of nearly thirty thousand yuan; the extra three thousand brooms collected cost nearly ten thousand yuan, but the nearly twenty thousand brooms collected by the Fourth Squad and the Corps were calculated at three point five yuan without inspection fees, balancing things out so that the comprehensive rate effectively remained three point five yuan.

A net profit of over thirty thousand yuan was very good.

Every payment had been settled in advance at the time of collection, so what he held in hand now was pure profit.

Over in Passing Qingshuihe Village, ten thousand large brooms were produced, and Meng Hai himself earned nearly five thousand yuan; making money was satisfying, but the trouble was real, especially when raising the standards for the second time, requiring him to visit every household to explain; some people were unwilling, since the standards had been set initially, but only because Meng Hai had sufficient prestige in the village, combined with the fact that the purchasing rights were in his hands, could he enforce the higher standards by refusing to buy otherwise, leaving others with no recourse.

So, in reality, it was quite troublesome; if Li Long had faced those making the large brooms directly, he might not have been able to smooth over such relationships.

Therefore, although Meng Hai earned money as the intermediary, reducing Li Long's profit slightly, Li Long felt this arrangement was quite good; having an agent who already had good relations with the villagers meant he didn't need to appear in person, avoiding much trouble.

Once money was earned in certain quantities, what he thought about more was how to reduce trouble.

Meng Hai was also very happy; earning this money meant he could pay off the loans he took out to buy the tractor and harvester and still have plenty left over; with such a big job, although the villagers had some complaints, they had genuinely earned a lot of money, and once the work was done, there was nothing more to say.

After all, he had provided them with an opportunity to make money; to put it bluntly, when Meng Hai was pressed hard by questions, he even retorted: "Do you believe that if you don't take this opportunity, there are plenty of people in the neighboring village who will!"

Just that one sentence was enough.

Now everyone was thinking about how to earn more money; who would still be picky and choosy?

Liang Liang Wenyu did not earn much; he only tied over three thousand large brooms here, earning over fifteen hundred yuan in "inspection fees," far less than Meng Hai, but in Liang Liang Wenyu's view, he was extremely satisfied.

Cutting Achnatherum grass also earned some money; adding it all up, it came to nearly two thousand yuan.

It was the first time doing this, stumbling along the way; overall, it was finally accomplished; there were many shortcomings in the process, and both Li Long and his father Liang Donglou gave him guidance; after completing this job, Liang Liang Wenyu had truly grown significantly.

Li Long did not know if this counted as "pulling up seedlings to help them grow"; at least in his previous life, at this time, Liang Liang Wenyu had not grown to this extent.

As for his eldest brother, needless to say, after the last batch of large brooms was hauled away, Li Jianguo could not wait to drive the Oriental Red 75 tractor to plow the fields; quite a lot of grass had already grown in the wheat fields, which other squads had long since plowed; in previous years, Wang the Money-Grubber would have definitely plowed these wheat fields by now, but this year many people wanted Li Jianguo to plow for them and were willing to wait; because Li Jianguo had been busy with these large brooms, these matters had been delayed until now.

Wang the Money-Grubber only accepted a small amount of plowing work; after finishing the plowing, he himself started tying large brooms; anyway, as long as it made money, he would do any job and could do any job; at this time, people's manual abilities were extremely strong; tying large brooms was a task that almost every household in the village had someone capable of doing.

Li Long went last to Wang Mingjun's company; the accounts were actually already settled, but Li Long made a special trip, bringing gifts to thank Wang Mingjun and the others, and also to strengthen connections and finalize matters for next year.

Both Wang Mingjun and Zheng Xiang Yang were present, and they were quite happy to see Li Long arrive; seeing that Li Long had bought several baskets of apples, peaches, and other fruits, and also brought several cases of Bai Yang Daqu and other bottled liquors, they were all very pleased.

"Xiao Long, the first few times you came, we were all busy, so we only treated you to pulled noodles; now that we have free time, we must properly compensate you at noon."

"Old Wang got itchy-handed yesterday, went to the sand hollows in the north, and shot two gazelles; since you've arrived just in time, let's eat some wild game!"

Li Long did not stand on ceremony; after handing the goods over to Old Chen, he started chatting with Wang Mingjun and Zheng Xiang Yang.

"Regarding that imported high-horsepower wheeled tractor you asked about, I've inquired; our division specially entrusted someone to purchase it; that company only accepts foreign currency; right now, foreign currency is hard to come by..." Wang Mingjun shook his head and said, "Moreover, it's not cheap; fifty thousand US dollars; if we could use the official exchange rate, that would be one thing, but he cannot obtain the official rate.

If exchanging through private channels, I heard it's at least one to seven or one to eight, which means three or four hundred thousand; it's damn expensive!"

Although mentally prepared, such a high price still surprised Li Long somewhat.

Calculating his assets, he could barely afford to exchange for just one such tractor.

For now, it was not worth it.

Thinking back, if he had kept that box of foreign currency, it might have truly been enough.

However, such opportunities are rare and cannot be sought; moreover, keeping that stuff would make it impossible to explain its origin; one could only say that his speed of making money was still not fast enough.

Many items left in the cellar were actually quite valuable, but selling them now would truly be not worth it.

Li Long thought for a moment, decided to record this information first, and deal with it later; currently, the Fourth Squad did not have enough land; not even one-third of all the land had been developed, so a high-horsepower wheeled tractor would be somewhat like using a cleaver to kill a chicken.

At least wait until half the land was reclaimed before it would be useful; of course, cotton planting also needed to reach a certain scale.

After all, only by planting cotton in large contiguous patches, and with cotton prices fluctuating, could everyone's interest be aroused; only then would the farmers realize that planting cotton on saline-alkali land was indeed feasible.

He casually shifted the topic to cotton planting.

"Cotton, ah, that stuff is much more troublesome to plant than wheat," Wang Mingjun said while urging Li Long to eat quickly; "the price is also unstable; when bad, it's five or six mao per kilogram; when good, it's nine mao or one yuan per kilogram; planting this stuff is like gambling; the yield isn't great either; harvesting over one hundred kilograms per mu is already very good."

Although Wang Mingjun said this, by any calculation, it was still more profitable than growing grain.

Should he give it a try?

PS: Two things. First, I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday. Second, it's the end of the month; the second lottery draw will take place tonight; the prizes this time include dried fruits and honey; the local small red apricots haven't come down yet; I asked around, and for the small white apricots from Southern Xinjiang, including the box, it's two kilograms, meaning the gross weight is two kilograms, but the actual fruit is just over one kilogram, costing ninety-eight yuan... better to wait a bit longer. (End of Chapter)