Chapter 2000

In late November, Lu Xiaoya ended her maternity leave and returned to work. The unit she worked for was still the Propaganda Department, which was also her old profession. Her position was still the head of the News Section. Yuan Yifu originally wanted to show favor to Su Xinghui and promote Lu Xiaoya to be the Deputy Minister of the Propaganda Department, but Su Xinghui politely declined.

This was actually Lu Xiaoya's own intention. Lu Xiaoya's ability was naturally enough to serve as the Deputy Minister of the Propaganda Department. However, she was only twenty-five years old, and being the head of the News Section was already conspicuous enough. How could she let people who didn't know the inside story know that she was promoted based on ability after becoming a Deputy Minister?

After all, she hadn't worked in Chongjin County for a day. It was too conspicuous to be promoted as soon as she was transferred.

Besides, although she was back at work now, her son was only three months old and still in the breastfeeding period. She had to go home several times a day to breastfeed her son, so it was impossible to put all her energy into work. Therefore, she asked Su Xinghui to decline Yuan Yifu.

Lu Xiaoya was too smart a woman. She knew that Su Xinghui had always been at the forefront, so she didn't want to add any pressure to Su Xinghui. She just wanted to support Su Xinghui silently behind Su Xinghui and be a good wife.

And the sacrifice Lu Xiaoya made for herself was naturally seen by Su Xinghui. He also thanked Lu Xiaoya silently in his heart. All he could do was love Lu Xiaoya forever and treat her well forever.

After Lu Xiaoya returned to work, fortunately, there was still Aunt Liu Yujiao at home. She brought the children and cooked at home, which kept the family in good order, allowing Su Xinghui and Lu Xiaoya to eat as soon as they got off work and have more time to rest.

Liu Yujiao was also a woman who didn't have too many words, but she really had nothing to say about her work, which made Su Xinghui and his wife very satisfied with her.

Several key tasks in the county were being pushed forward in an orderly manner. In late November, Su Xinghui began to run to the countryside. Increasing rural income had always been the task he valued most. However, the situation in Chongjin County was a bit special. The most important task was to repair the embankment, and then animal protection, investment, and road repair work also involved Su Xinghui's energy, making Su Xinghui focus on the countryside only now.

Su Xinghui first ran to the lake area. Almost half of the townships in Chongjin County were in the lake area. Therefore, the situation in these townships was very universal, and the population here was the most dense. If the problems here could be solved, then the problems in Chongjin County would be easy to handle.

Chongjin County had always had the reputation of being a land of fish and rice, and the main production areas of fish and rice were naturally in the lake area. Many cultivated lands in the lake area were obtained by enclosing lakes to create fields in the early days of liberation. The fields obtained by enclosing lakes were indeed very fertile, with high yields and high-quality rice. However, enclosing lakes to create fields also brought many problems.

The original Yanglan Lake was connected to the Yangtze River in the north of Chongjin County. Here, there were many small rivers and lakes connecting Yanglan Lake with the Yangtze River. The water area of Chongjin County was much larger than it is now. When the Yangtze River water level rose, it could flow into Yanglan Lake and be regulated through the large water area here.

However, enclosing lakes to create fields meant building sluice gates here, separating the Yangtze River from Yanglan Lake, so that the Yangtze River water could no longer flow into Yanglan Lake, and then repairing lake embankments to enclose large areas of lake surface, which became fertile fields after being dried.

After enclosing lakes to create fields, the water area of Chongjin County shrank significantly. A large number of small rivers and lakes here also disappeared, and Yanglan Lake was no longer connected to the Yangtze River. It also lost the role of regulating the Yangtze River water level. Even if the sluice gates were opened when there was a flood, the shrunken lake surface could not accommodate so much water.

This was also one of the reasons for the frequent occurrence of large-scale floods later, and it was a major reason.

Su Xinghui mainly looked at how much water area had disappeared due to enclosing lakes to create fields in the lake area these days. According to the data, in Chongjin County, enclosing lakes to create fields created tens of thousands of mu of fertile land. These tens of thousands of mu of fertile land produced a large number of high-quality rice for decades, feeding thousands of people in Chongjin County, but also caused many problems.

The biggest problem was naturally the flood control problem. The tens of thousands of mu of water area that disappeared made Chongjin County's flood control pressure very high every year, and the manpower and material resources paid for this every year were definitely not less than the rice produced.

Su Xinghui knew that after the great flood of 1998, the Chinese government realized the various problems caused by enclosing lakes to create fields and proposed the policy of returning farmland to lakes. In the following years, they began to relocate the people on the fertile land caused by the period of enclosing lakes to create fields and turned these fertile lands back into lake surfaces.

Since he knew there was this policy, Su Xinghui's series of decisions had to consider this factor, and he could not cause huge waste due to his wrong decisions.

For example, it is inappropriate to promote any special planting and special breeding here now. The current investment will all be wasted in a year, and a super flood will occur next year. If you invest heavily in fish farming here now, when the flood comes next year, all the fish will be washed away.

Manpower sometimes has its limits. Such a huge natural disaster cannot be recovered by manpower.

After passing this great flood and the policy of returning farmland to lakes comes out, Su Xinghui has many ways to let the people in the lake area engage in sideline businesses and increase income.

Of course, he cannot do nothing now and wait until a year later to start doing things. That is not his style.

Moreover, the life of the people in the lake area is indeed very difficult now, and they urgently need to increase their income.

The income of the people in the lake area mainly comes from cultivated land and Yanglan Lake. The main crops on the cultivated land are rice and cotton. Now the purchase prices of these two agricultural products are not high, and the yields are not very high, so the income brought is not very high.

And the income obtained from Yanglan Lake is mainly the catch of fish, as well as other aquatic products, such as lotus roots, lotus seeds, water caltrops, and other aquatic plants. This part of the income is not very stable and mainly depends on the weather.

Su Xinghui plans to vigorously develop cage culture after returning farmland to lakes, which can significantly increase the income of local people.