Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1211 The Li family's success in cotton cultivation has inspired many to try and replicate it.
Liu Gaolou's tone was filled with joy:

“My second uncle said that your batch of leather coats is very popular. Some families in Almaty are running out of fuel, and having a leather coat like this will at least make winter a little less difficult.”

Not everyone can enjoy centralized heating. In the early 21st century, Kazakhstan's social welfare system was quite good. After all, the country had a lot of energy resources, social resources were well integrated, and the population was not large, so public facilities were relatively good.

But at this point, it is far from what people imagine.

There are still people in the city who haven't joined the centralized heating system, while people in rural areas have to rely on themselves.

People in rural areas are better off, but those on the outskirts of cities have to find their own way.

"A leather overcoat costs forty dollars, a leather jacket costs thirty dollars, and a leather vest costs ten dollars. Cotton-soled rubber shoes cost ten dollars a pair, and cotton-soled leather shoes cost twenty dollars a pair," Liu Gaolou said. "We need as much stock as you have for the next period of time."

"How about a leather coat with some moth damage? Do you need it? Can you lower the price?"

"Worms? It's alright, as long as it doesn't have a big hole, there are people here who will want it." Liu Gaolou now had a clearer understanding of the situation in the neighboring country, and he made the decision directly for his second uncle.

Li Long felt relieved. After hanging up with Liu Gaolou, he called Hongguang Leather Factory again and told them his thoughts.

"You mean, you want all the leather coats?"

"Yes, leather coats, coats, and leather vests—send them to me whatever you have. If you have the capacity to produce them before the end of October, make a batch for me as well."

"Really? You want to place an order?" Factory Manager Zhang's eyes lit up. "How many do you want?"

"Of course, the more the better. By the way, bring over those with some worm damage too. I need to place an order, and we need to sign a contract. I won't have to come to your place anymore. Do you have a copy of the order contract? Bring one over, and once we sign it, you can start production."

"Okay, okay, I'll go tomorrow!" Director Zhang was very excited.

It's important to understand that currently, due to outdated production processes and relatively obsolete machinery, it's very difficult to produce leather products using more advanced techniques.

The leather coats and similar items that Li Long needed were conveniently located within their comfort zone of production, as both the workers and managers were skilled laborers.

Regardless, producing these things can make money. As for whether the raw materials will be wasted... come on, we're about to close down, why worry about that?

With money, the production line can continue to operate, and only then can we think about the future.

As expected, Factory Director Zhang arrived the next day with two trucks, hauling all the leather coats and jackets from their inventory. They were out of leather vests, but he planned to continue production—using their own manufacturing process, whole hides would be used to make leather coats, and the scraps would be used to make leather vests, thus avoiding waste.

Li Long naturally welcomed them. Since Factory Director Zhang had brought his unloading team, Li Long only had Liang Shuangcheng and his team conduct random checks, while he and Factory Director Zhang discussed the contract signing in the meeting room.

"I never imagined you, Comrade Li Long, had set up such a large purchasing station! Business seems to be booming. By the way, what about those cars in the front yard..."

When Director Zhang came in, he took a closer look. Li Long's purchasing station was busier than he had imagined.

But if you think about it, how could a recycling station be simple if someone can afford so many leather coats?

"Those cars are secondhand cars I brought from the neighboring Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic... or rather, nearly new cars in good condition," Li Long explained with a smile.

“I’m currently doing business with some merchants over there. The leather goods I buy from you are sold to them, and the cars are also sourced from there for resale. Director Zhang, would you like one? They’re all in excellent condition, and the price is absolutely cheap…”

"We can't afford it," Factory Director Zhang said, shaking his head. "Our factory isn't doing very well right now. Let me tell you this, Comrade Li Long, these two orders you've placed are the biggest orders our factory has received this year. If it weren't for these orders, I'd be worried about where we'd get the money for the next round of raw material purchases."

Li Long certainly didn't believe Director Zhang's words. With the farm behind him, he could at least produce the products the farm needed.

We can only say that exports may be a bit difficult right now, but survival is absolutely not an issue.

However, since they had already said that, Li Long couldn't expose them. He smiled and said:

"Then I wish us a pleasant cooperation."

The contract is very simple; it mainly specifies the quantity, quality, specifications, and price per unit that Li Long needs.

As agreed by both parties, the price will be based on what Li Long took away yesterday, which is already the wholesale price.

Factory Director Zhang meant that if Li Long wanted it, the minimum order would be at least 500 pieces. Li Long, however, was worried that Factory Director Zhang and his team wouldn't be able to finish 500 pieces in a month.

"Comrade Li Long, you can rest assured about that. Although our factory is not big, it is relatively simple to make these leather coats. Even if it is a large order of 500 pieces, it only adds up to about 10 pieces a day. We can definitely produce them."

Let me be frank with you, I started procuring raw materials as soon as I received your call yesterday. So don't worry, we absolutely have the capacity to produce 500 units.

"Alright, the first batch should be 500 pieces. We can talk about the rest later. I'll also pay a 30% deposit, and the rest upon delivery. How about that?"

"Okay." Factory Director Zhang nodded in agreement, and so these details were written into the contract.

After signing and stamping, and collecting the deposit, Li Long took Director Zhang and the others to lunch. As they were about to leave, Director Zhang glanced at the trucks and asked:

"Comrade Li Long, how much did you sell these cars for?"

"The Volga is 100,000 yuan each, the Lada is 60,000 yuan each, and the GAZ-69 is 35,000 yuan each. Don't be fooled by the fact that they say they're used cars. They're selected from hundreds of vehicles, and their condition is absolutely fine," Li Long said.

"So expensive..." Factory Director Zhang said, but he kept looking back.

As the factory director, he can only commute to get off work by bicycle, which is frankly a bit embarrassing.

However, the situation at the factory has improved somewhat now. If we can build a good relationship with Li Long and production continues to improve, maybe the factory will be able to buy a car next year or the year after.

The idea is good, of course, but we still need to see how the production tasks go.

In fact, Director Zhang also had his own plan. Even if Li Long did not buy their inventory now, they planned to transform into producing a batch of leather jackets similar to work uniforms for the farm's employees.

However, the design is not yet finalized, so the plan has not been implemented.

Li Long's orders have essentially extended their comfort period, giving them more time to research what styles their employees want.

Actually, at this time, as long as the price of a leather jacket is not too high and the style is not too old, young people are still willing to buy it.

In rural areas, weddings and banquets are mostly held in autumn and winter, when farming is less demanding. Leather jackets are most suitable for autumn and winter, especially those with fur collars, which look even more stylish.

This fur collar was popular for many years, and even 30 or 40 years later, many people still like it.

It's really warm.

If Li Long knew, he would definitely tell Director Zhang that there's no need to design any styles. Just modify the leather jackets worn by pilots or tank commanders in the military, keep it simple, and set the shape.

At that time, military uniforms were still very popular. Wearing a leather jacket in the style of a pilot or tank commander would immediately make you the center of attention at a party. You know, it was one thing for the army, but now there were too many imitations. Pilot and tank commander uniforms were practically treasures.

Of course, this is just a casual remark.

After lunch, Factory Director Zhang hurriedly drove back; he needed to organize production immediately. During the meal, he also asked Li Long what would happen if he produced too many leather coats by the end of October.
Li Long said he would accept any product that passed the test.

Factory Director Zhang was relieved.

After Director Zhang left, Li Long's life became more regular.

This year, on the Mid-Autumn Festival, the second brother Li Anguo's family and the sister Li Xia's family all drove back, making the Li family home lively all of a sudden. Although they were still picking cotton that day, the Li family members were celebrating the festival. The odd jobs picking cotton in the fields each received two mooncakes and two apples.

The day laborers were overjoyed; this was an extra bonus for them, since a five-nut mooncake like this sells for one yuan in the store.

After the first and second cotton harvests were completed, the average yield per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) was just under 180 kilograms, which was considered a high yield. This was mainly due to good management. The second harvest was completed in early October, and some of the third harvest could still be harvested. Finally, the unopened cotton bolls were picked back and peeled slowly over the winter.

There's no need to hire people for the third crop of flowers; it's unnecessary. The main problem is that we simply can't harvest enough produce. We can't even harvest ten kilograms per acre. Random laborers either demand high prices or simply don't come.

So the Li family members picked it up slowly on their own.

After picking the cotton, they still need to be threshed. Li Long has already arranged with the agricultural machinery factory for the threshing machine. To be honest, this thing is quite simple. It's just a small four-wheeled tractor with a drive shaft at the back that drives the blades of the threshing machine. The threshing machine is a square frame with wheels at the bottom and four fan-like blades inside.

When the tractor starts moving, the blades spin rapidly, breaking the cotton stalks. People follow behind, fork the stalks up, and haul them away in a vehicle.

This stuff is too hard, unlike wheat stubble which can rot in the ground. Even if cotton stalks are turned into the ground and left to rot for a year, they will still be hard.

Therefore, it must be interrupted and pulled away.

Li Long just hasn't been able to develop a machine to recycle plastic film yet, otherwise he could have cleared the plastic film from the fields sooner. The harm from this stuff isn't visible in the short term, but the long-term damage is quite serious.

In mid-October, Li Long drove his GAZ truck to the newly cultivated 280 mu of land on the east side and saw Li Junhai and others preparing to irrigate the land.

If the ground is uneven, you need to build ridges when watering to prevent all the water from flowing to the low-lying areas and not reaching the higher areas.

Li Junhai and his colleagues have become accustomed to doing all kinds of farm work here. Being farmers themselves, they are quite adaptable and have become used to farm work in northern Xinjiang. After a year, they have become quite adept at it.

They even felt that they were no longer used to farming if they went back to it.

After all, back in my hometown, watering? It takes half an hour to water the land of three families.

Here, half an hour? Probably not even a third of a plot of land would be thoroughly watered!
Moreover, there are occasional little surprises while watering the plants. For example, today, Li Junxian's rubber boots were touched by a snake, he caught a hedgehog, and he even used reeds to skewer three large crucian carp.

Theoretically speaking, these crucian carp belong to their family—the water comes from a small lake, and that area was contracted by Li Long, so the fish are considered theirs, which makes sense.

Li Long drove the car and watched them water the plants, watching the water rush out of the irrigation ditch, flow into the fields, carrying away the salt and alkali, and then flow into the drainage ditch.

The water was released from a small lake, which was contracted by Li Long. Theoretically, the Li family shouldn't have to pay for the water.

Even if the team wants to water the plants, they have to negotiate with the Li family, otherwise they will have to build a new canal.

Of course, this is in theory. In reality, the Li family has never stopped the team from watering the plants. On this point, Xu Chengjun and the team's water manager only speak well of the Li family.

After all, with only one small lake, the fourth production team can irrigate their fields one or two more times each year than other production teams. This might not have a significant impact on ordinary crops, but it makes a big difference for cotton.

Two hundred and eighty acres of land—it's a huge expanse. All the land Li Long owned in his previous life combined didn't amount to this much.

I've already got it, and it's incredibly cheap.

This land will still be worthless ten years from now; it will only become truly valuable twenty years from now.

Now, if we acquire the land, we can lease it for another 30 years during the second round of land contracting in 1997... In fact, ten years later, because the contracting of saline-alkali land became a trend, the land was not that valuable, and in some places, the contract was for 70 years at a time.

However, around 2010, the rules were changed. The original 70-year cooperation was nullified, and the current land contract law was strictly enforced, with a maximum term of 30 years.

Moreover, the village has become smarter, signing contracts for five or ten years, which cannot be extended.

Therefore, Li Long felt that when the land was contracted out for the second time in ten years, they should just follow the thirty-year timeline.

It's neither possible nor necessary to get all the benefits.

At Li Long's feet was a tin bucket, inside which a rustling sound was heard—the hedgehog that Li Junhai had caught was crawling and spinning around.

Li Long planned to take it back to keep the other hedgehogs in the yard company.

The water rushed in, and Li Long thought that the history of at least four teams had changed drastically.

Just then, a car drove up. When he turned his head, he saw that it was Xie Yundong's GAZ truck, followed by Tao Daqiang, Liang Dacheng, and Jia Weidong's cars.

It's been a while since I chatted with them; I never expected them to come here.

The car kicked up a cloud of dust, which smelled alkaline. Li Long moved back a few steps to avoid the dust.

After Xie Yundong and the others came down, they walked up to Li Long and greeted him. Then they looked at the large area of ​​land that had been reclaimed, with drainage ditches dug and irrigation underway.

"Hey, this piece of land is huge," Jia Weidong exclaimed.

"Who would have thought that cotton could be grown on saline-alkali land, and the harvest is quite good!" Tao Daqiang exclaimed. "Brother Long, the cotton-growing plot of land on the east side of your house must yield at least 150 kilograms per mu, right?"

"More or less." Li Long nodded. "We washed away the alkali with water and used a lot of fertilizer... We also put in a lot of effort when we replanted the seedlings at the beginning of the year."

"It took a lot of effort, but the harvest was huge. 150 kilograms, that's about 300 yuan per mu...tsk tsk..."

Liang Dacheng's eyes were filled with envy.

Because of his family background, he is extremely sensitive about money.

"You can also contract it out; it's not too late now. How's your cotton crop this year?"

"Not bad. So far, the yield is at least 180 kilograms per mu. There are still some peaches in the field that haven't fully opened. I plan to check them again in a few days and then pick them to peel," Liang Dacheng said.

"By the way, that scoundrel Ma Jinbao brought all the sheep into my cotton field. I chased them out. I told him that if he dares to bring the sheep into the cotton field again, I will slaughter his sheep to compensate for my cotton."

He spoke sternly, and everyone else laughed.

Ma Jinbao was like that; instead of properly herding his sheep, he often allowed them to wander into other people's fields and nibble at their crops, taking advantage of the situation.

His sheep wreaked havoc on wheat fields where no wheat had ever been harvested and cornfields where no stalks had ever been cut.

Everyone's used to it, he's just an old jerk.

"We didn't plant much this year, but I've been managing it according to Xiaolong's instructions. I should be able to get about 200 kilograms per mu this year?" Jia Weidong was actually quite happy, but also a little dissatisfied, mainly because he blamed himself for planting too little.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. There are advantages to planting less. If he planted too much, he wouldn't be able to manage it so meticulously.

“Our land yields about 180 kilograms a year,” Tao Daqiang said. “We have a lot of land, and some of it hasn’t been managed properly.”

“Ours might not even reach that level,” Xie Yundong said, “but it’s good, much better than I imagined. 180 kilograms, that’s 360 yuan. After deducting costs, we can still make at least 200 yuan, right?”

At this stage, the cost is roughly half or slightly more than half of the harvest. When drip irrigation arrives, the cost will be about three-quarters or more, and that's without even considering the contract fee.

"Well, after the cotton harvest, I'll go find the team. Let's look for suitable land first. Even if we ask around back home, we can't find that many people. I've learned that to grow cotton, you need a lot of people to grow a lot of land, otherwise you simply can't manage it all," Liang Dacheng said.

"I plan to go see the team leader this afternoon, and then go to the township. I also plan to contract 100 mu of land; the team won't have the authority to contract more than 50 mu." Xie Yundong's eyes gleamed. "I took some time to properly drain the alkaline soil, and I'll use more fertilizer next year when planting—I think cotton will do!"

Li Long smiled; this was exactly what he had hoped for.

P.S.: I saw two news stories in the video. One was about a certain place where the newspaper said the cabbage farmer didn't want a piece of land anymore and could take it for free. As a result, hundreds of people went to cut cabbages. It turned out to be fake news. The cabbage farmer was actually planning to sell the cabbages. Now he has nowhere to complain.

Another example is in a certain area of ​​southern Xinjiang, where saline-alkali land was contracted out without proper treatment, resulting in large areas of cotton failing to sprout, and the owner losing hundreds of thousands of yuan. He said that next year he would still contract out such land for 1,200 yuan per mu.

Those who want to contract land in northern and southern Xinjiang should at least take a look at the cotton plants in the fall.
(End of this chapter)