Riding the wind of rebirth

"Keeping sheep in pens allows for castration and tail removal, reducing exercise, increasing fat, improving meat yield, facilitating management, and providing manure—there are many benefits," Zhou Zhi said. "But most importantly, we can protect the natural vegetation on the mountains while vigorously developing forage grass cultivation to make the mountains greener. The alfalfa and sweet potato we introduced have nitrogen-fixing and fertilizing properties. After a few seasons, the soil quality will improve, and then we can switch to planting buckwheat, potatoes, tobacco, and other cash crops."

"When did potatoes become a cash crop?" Sharo was confused again.

“If it can be transported out, it’s a cash crop; if it can’t be transported out, it’s… a crop used by both humans and livestock, right?” Tu Liangzhi said.

“That’s how it is.” Zhou Zhi was a little amused and exasperated. “But in the future, we can develop the processing of non-staple foods. If done well, potatoes can really become a real cash crop.”

She picked up a boiled potato from the table and said, "Once you've eaten this, no other potato tastes good!"

"Is it possible that the decision to assign Wazu Township to the town this time is due to the higher-ups' consideration of freight transport?" Sharo had worked there before and was quite familiar with the situation: "In the future, the United Town will definitely have a lot of freight transport needs, and Wazu Township can be considered a railway freight transport corridor."

"What's the road condition like from the town to Wazu?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"Oh? Then we'll have to extend the highway further over there."

Zhou Zhi thought for a moment and said, "This is probably what the higher-ups expect of the leadership team. They hope that we can solve this problem ourselves."

"How do we solve this? We can't expect the horse to run without eating grass, can we?" Liu Zhigang asked.

This is actually a common phenomenon nowadays, known as "whipping the fast ox." You can even interpret it as leaders giving you opportunities to train and showcase your abilities. If this issue were interpreted according to Liu Zhigang's understanding, his career might have ended there. However, the correct approach is to interpret it according to the latter interpretation.

“Trucks can’t drive on those roads yet,” Sharo shook his head. “Besides, if we were to build them, they’d have to be winding mountain roads. The trains there all run on winding mountain roads, you understand, right?”

“Hmm.” Zhou Zhi nodded: “Is it like the road to Lingshan Temple? Although that road is a gravel road, it’s very well constructed overall. We can ask the prefecture about how that road was built and what the cost was…”

"Just keep this in mind, let's leave it for now and not discuss it further." Tu Liangzhi waved his hand: "Xiao Sun, you continue."

“Once the agricultural projects are over, the next step is the light industry projects,” Sun Jiacai said. “Light industry projects include porcelain workshops, lacquer painting workshops, wineries, mountain product collection points, and the original grain processing facilities at the grain station. Now, silage processing and feed processing plants have also been added.”

“Some of these projects are collectively owned, and some are privately owned. However, the property rights have been clearly defined beforehand, and there are no longer many situations where township collectives and individuals are entangled in disputes. Many of these are legal entities of the company.”

“These are not the focus of the township’s future. I personally think we can follow the example of Lao Zhong’s nine kilns and turn them into private businesses. There are quite a few talented people in the town now. Since they are all doing a good job, if they are willing, then we can transfer them to the current project managers.”

"This...wouldn't it be more appropriate to transfer it to the collective?" Tu Liangzhi knew what Zhou Zhi meant. His wife was the manager of several of the businesses here. Although Zhou Zhi didn't mention whether or not he wanted money, Tu Liangzhi still felt that he had taken advantage of Zhou Zhi.

“Transferring it to the collective would actually cause problems,” Zhou Zhi shook his head. “It would involve reports and approvals from all levels, going back and forth through procedures. And since it’s going to belong to the collective, we’d have to widely adopt the town’s opinions and form a resolution, which would be even more troublesome. Why not just do it my way, a transfer and takeover, a simple contract between the two parties and it’s all over.” “Don’t think that just because these industries are profitable now, it’s better for them to belong to the collective,” Zhou Zhi smiled. “We should plan ahead and think more about what to do if these businesses encounter difficulties in the future.”

“If it’s a private business, then it’s easy to turn around. If things go wrong, you can just close down and that’s it. At most, you’ll suffer a little loss, but it won’t hurt the whole village. But if it becomes a collective enterprise, then it will be tied to everyone’s future. So I think…” Zhou Zhi shook his head at this point: “It’s not a very good plan.”

Liu Zhigang and Sun Jiacai realized that what Zhou Zhi said was indeed a problem. Many of these industries were started by Zhou Zhi himself, who invested money and "hired" people locally. At the time, they were not told that they were charitable industries for the collective, and he was the legal representative. In principle, how to transfer them should be a matter of his word.

Moreover, if these are all included in collective industries, the problem that Zhouzi mentioned will indeed exist. In fact, these problems are happening in the surrounding towns and villages. The management regards them as a burden that cannot be shaken off, involving disputes over contract fees, employee resettlement, and many other issues that are causing headaches.

If these industries were to be converted into collective enterprises, as newly arrived cadres, they would not receive any credit for doing a good job, but would be blamed entirely for doing a bad job. Liu Zhigang and Sun Jiacai both felt that it was unnecessary to provoke such trouble, so they both agreed with Zhouzhi's decision.

“The rest are the tertiary industry and public utilities,” Sun Jiacai said. “The tertiary industry projects include guesthouses, hotels, and two bases where we also have service stations to serve them. In addition, there are construction teams that undertake building and road projects.”

"We have a radio station, a library, a computer room, and the village primary school as well, which are part of our cultural undertakings."

"There are also some logistics and transportation projects, I'm not sure if they should be included."

"We still need to take that into account, especially after the road to Wazu Township Railway Station is completed, we will definitely need a good logistics and transportation team."

“These are mostly contracted out,” Sun Jiacai said. “The combined assets of our town, including both public and private businesses, amount to roughly this much.”

"They've built a very solid foundation," Liu Zhigang laughed. "It's only been two years, and the key is that it's just the beginning. The future is limitless!"

“There has to be a hierarchy, right?” Tsuchiya sighed. “Now I realize how hard you and Renzhong work every day. How did you manage to build such a large business while everyone else was just lazing around doing nothing? You can’t help but admire that.”

“Uncle Tu, you can’t say that in front of Grandpa.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “I don’t know if Renzhong is a slacker, but I’ve been following Grandpa Chi Ri to investigate customs and organize Bimo scriptures. Be careful he hears you and scolds you.”

"You..." Tsuchiya Yoshishi was speechless.

"Actually, prioritizing is quite simple," Zhou Zhi said. "The town government is the core leadership force leading the villagers toward common prosperity. So, anything related to the villagers' path to common prosperity is the primary undertaking, and the rest are secondary."

In just one sentence, he clearly explained the town's future work priorities. (End of Chapter)