Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1226 Joining is a two-way choice; you want to make money, and so do I.
Li Long felt that Xu Haijun's choice was correct.

However, he did not agree immediately, but instead said to him:

"This isn't something I can decide alone. So, I think you shouldn't rush things. Let Lao Xie come up with all the terms and conditions of the cooperative, and then we can sit down and discuss it together. Don't just focus on the benefits of the cooperative. I'm also telling you clearly that we all want to make money by joining the cooperative. However, everyone's ideas might be the same, but everyone might have their own ulterior motives, so we might not be able to get along."

Furthermore, the cooperative isn't something I can decide on my own, so we'll need to consider the opinions of others. Of course, if everyone agrees, then I have no objections. Oh, and one more thing: this matter is pretty much over for you. If anyone asks you later, you need to make it clear that the cooperative can only add you at most; it's impossible to add anyone else for the time being.”

"Okay, okay, I understand." Xu Haijun nodded repeatedly.

Li Long then said to Xie Yundong, "Brother Yundong, it's up to you now. Take some time these next few days to write down the details of the cooperative. We'll find a day when we're both free to sit down and discuss it together. If there are any things that might need to be discussed, you can prepare a plan in advance."

“Okay, I’ll do it today.” Xie Yundong agreed.

"When you have some free time, you should also tell them that if anyone asks about the cooperative, you should explain that we don't need any new people for the time being. Our cooperative is just starting out, so we shouldn't make it too big to attract attention. The news has already spread to the county before the cooperative is even established."

"Okay, okay, okay," Xie Yundong assured him repeatedly.

He went back and discussed it with his wife; they were certain the cooperative would be successful. Growing cotton is tiring, but it's incredibly profitable.

Making money requires skill, and currently only Li Long possesses that skill. It's a huge stroke of luck that Li Long got into the cooperative. This year, he's sharing his skills with everyone because of their close relationship. But what about next year? Li Long has his own purchasing station; doesn't he need to manage it?

With a cooperative, things will be different. Li Long himself will contribute his farm tools and land as shares, so he will definitely be enthusiastic.

So I definitely have to join.

After finishing their business, Xie Yundong and Xu Haijun didn't linger and got up to leave.

Li Long cracked a handful of melon seeds in the house, and after thinking things through, he got up and went to the backyard.

In the backyard, Liang Yuemei was listening to Li Jianguo talk about the cooperative. She had experienced half of the cooperative period herself, and to be honest, she didn't have a very good impression of it.

Of course, he didn't have a very good impression of Xu Haijun either.

"I have no problem with Yun Dong and Da Qiang joining the cooperative. But Xu Haijun, is it okay for him to join? Wouldn't that be taking advantage of us for nothing?"

“This isn’t as simple as just taking advantage.” Li Jianguo had actually figured it out. “You think he’s rushing to join because he’s taking advantage of us, but have you considered the possibility that we might end up getting the lion’s share?”

“We should take the lion’s share, right? Or rather, Xiaolong should take the lion’s share,” Liang Yuemei said matter-of-factly. “That’s 280 mu of land. If we add a few dozen mu of cultivated land, that’s 300 mu. Which other family can take that much? Plus, there’s the big tractor, so they really should take the lion’s share.”

"That's true, but if you look at it closely, half of the cooperative's profits might end up in our family's hands. Do you think we're still getting a good deal?"

"How could that be?" Liang Yuemei didn't believe it at all.

"See? You just can't understand it." Li Jianguo chuckled. "You can't possibly think that just because Xiaolong is rich now, he's helping everyone out, doing good deeds, and letting others make the money, can you?"

“What else could it be?” Liang Yuemei said. “That’s how I feel.”

“They might have that in mind, but it’s definitely not all of it,” Li Jianguo said while cracking sunflower seeds. “Wait until Xiaolong explains things to them, then you can ask him again.”

Li Long arrived shortly after. He sat down on the sofa after entering the house, and Liang Yuemei, who had been sewing cloth shoe uppers at the sewing machine, asked him:

"Xiaolong, what's your motive for starting this cooperative? Is it just to help Xie Yundong and Daqiang get rich?"

"That's partly true, but not entirely," Li Long said with a smile. "I'm not that noble. The main reason for establishing the cooperative is to share the risks of farming, and also to help our family earn more money."

"Now that a cooperative has been established, everyone should make money, so how can we let our family earn more?"

Li Long laughed and said:
“Sister-in-law, I plan to invest a high-horsepower tractor in the cooperative.”

“Isn’t that the right thing to do?” Liang Yuemei said. “If you put together land from five or six families, it would be at least a thousand acres. If you don’t get a tractor, how much would it cost to plow the land? I just think that people like Yun Dong and Da Qiang, who you all started with, are fine as shareholders. But Xu Haijun, you’re not that close to him. Isn’t it right for you to help him make money?”

"Sister-in-law, do you know how much I can sell a high-horsepower tractor for?"

"I don't know, but what does this have to do with investing?" Liang Yuemei asked, puzzled.

“It’s a huge deal,” Li Long said with a smile. “Think about it, I ask for 300,000 for a high-horsepower tractor, but I end up selling it for 260,000. If that were to be used as equity, how many shares would I get? Right now, all the land we’re talking about for equity investment is saline-alkali land. How much yield can you get per acre? If we’re talking about equity investment, it’ll definitely be based on yield, right? With just one high-horsepower tractor, I’d get more than 60-70% of the shares, right? Even if it’s halved, how much would that be?”

Liang Yuemei didn't react for a moment, but after a while, she suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. That's really... But, would others be willing?"

"So I told Xu Haijun today that we should wait until the detailed terms are finalized before deciding whether to join or not. Maybe by then he won't want to join anymore."

"What about Yun Dong and the others?" Liang Yuemei was now worried that others might be unwilling to invest at this time.

"Don't worry, they'll definitely be fine," Li Long said with a smile. "If there are no outsiders, then the tractor shareholding calculation will be different."

"Oh, I see." Liang Yuemei smiled. "I really didn't understand this. I always thought you were too generous and letting others take advantage of you. Now I'm relieved."

Li Jianguo, who had been listening attentively the whole time, now said with a smile:
“Xiaolong, this high-horsepower tractor is really convenient to use. It would be a waste for our family to have two. It would be perfect for the cooperative to have one. When the cooperative finishes its land, it can be taken out to make money, and then they won’t have any objections.”

“Exactly. That’s what I was thinking too,” Li Long said. “There are still a few high-horsepower trucks at the purchasing station. But there probably won’t be many left later. I’m thinking of selling them first and seeing how they sell. If they don’t sell well next year, I’ll drive them back to plow the fields and make some money first.”

“That’s one way to do it,” Li Jianguo said. “But I think it’s better to keep those high-horsepower machines for sale. Our team is only so big, and the surrounding villages are also only so big. One or two high-horsepower machines are enough. Any more than that, and we’ll have to sell them elsewhere.”

"Well, we'll see. Winter is still long, so it's hard to say for sure right now. We'll have to wait a few more days for the cooperative thing, and we'll put the tractor thing on hold for now. Maybe by spring, the tractor will be sold."

After having lunch at his elder brother's house, Li Long drove back to the county. The next day, it snowed. Factory Director Du called from Kuitun, telling Li Long that snowplows had been shipped in large quantities recently, and companies from outside the autonomous region had come to place orders.

"There are imitations, quite a lot of them. But our technical department hasn't been idle either. Since the one you designed, we've already improved it to the sixth version. As long as our technology keeps improving, we'll be the ones eating the meat, and they'll only be drinking the soup." Director Du's words to Li Long were filled with strong confidence.

Li Long believed that Lao Du would do even better. After all, times have changed. A series of excellent products had given Lao Du a new understanding of technological innovation, and he had also increased his investment in technology. Now, weren't the results already visible?
On December 6th, Li Jianguo called the purchasing station and told Li Long that Xie Yundong and his team had finalized the terms and asked when he would return so they could all sit down and discuss the cooperative's affairs.

Li Long didn't expect Xie Yundong to get things done so quickly, so he said he would go back in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, Li Long drove back to the fourth team. When he arrived at his elder brother's house, he found several cars parked there.

Have all the people arrived yet?

When Li Long got out of the car, Xie Yundong and the others came out of Li Jianguo's house and said:
"Let's go to your room, it's convenient there," Xie Yundong said with a smile.

Besides the five of them, Li Jianguo also came along.

This was necessary because the 280 mu of saline-alkali land that Li Long mentioned as a shareholding was reclaimed in his elder brother's name, so naturally he should have a share. Li Long's room was still very warm. After they sat down, Li Junfeng came over to pour tea and brought melon seeds. Just as he was about to leave, Li Jianguo called to him:

"Junfeng, sit down and listen. There's more to this than meets the eye.

No one else had any objections. If it really became a cooperative, the Li family members would definitely have to join in the labor—after all, it was thousands of acres of land, and although most of the work could be done by machine, not all of it.

Replanting, meticulous weeding, watering, and topping all require manual labor.

Finding odd jobs solely from the county wouldn't be enough. The Li family members have worked in the cotton fields for a year; they're experienced and trustworthy.

If casual labor is paid by the day, some people will dawdle; if it's paid by the acre, then speed is the only factor.

In my previous life, someone planted cotton in rows. When it was time to let the seedlings emerge, they hired odd jobs. These odd jobs used a special tool for getting the seedlings emerging—a stick with a wire tied to it. They used the wire to poke open the plastic film so that the seedlings could grow.

The normal way to allow seedlings to emerge is to expose the film to each seedling individually. However, some workers, in an effort to speed things up, simply use tools to pull the film from one end to the other. While all the seedlings emerge, the film is ruined.

Therefore, we cannot overestimate the quality and moral bottom line of these odd jobs. On the contrary, the Li family members are easy to use, and at least there are restrictions, so they are unlikely to do bad things.

“Then I’ll listen.” Li Junfeng was also curious. He had heard about the cooperative, but didn’t know the details. Besides, he was too young to remember when the cooperative was established in his hometown.

"Since everyone is here, I'll first go through the detailed procedures for setting up a cooperative, and then we can discuss them one by one. If you see anything that needs to be added or revised, we can bring it up."

"Yes, that's the idea. This is our cooperative's first meeting," Li Long said half-jokingly. "Everyone can speak, and then we'll discuss it together. We're discussing it now, but once we've all confirmed it, the terms will be finalized and can't be changed. All that's left is to abide by them."

You can't just say you feel something's wrong in a few days and then want to change it; it's not that easy.

"So, it will remain unchanged forever?" Jia Weidong asked.

“No need for that.” Li Long waved his hand. “There are six of us now. If four of us agree, then we’ll have a meeting to discuss how to change it. We can’t just change it because one person disagrees. That won’t work.”

"Hmm, it's quite formal." Liang Dacheng smiled and didn't say much.

Li Long knew he had concerns, after all, he was the one who leaked Xu Haijun's information, and he still felt guilty.

Li Long didn't say much and looked at Xie Yundong.

"Alright, I'll start now. First, let's talk about the cooperative's organizational structure. Our cooperative has one manager, mainly responsible for the cooperative's daily management, and several shareholders—that's us. The staff positions are as follows:"

One agricultural machinery operator, specifically responsible for operating agricultural machinery—plowing, sowing, cultivating, spraying pesticides, etc…

"One person managing so much land, you can't possibly handle it all, can you?" Tao Daqiang interjected. "We have almost a thousand acres of land combined, right? Doing so much..."

Xie Yundong looked at Li Long.

“This is the person in charge, not just one person doing the work,” Li Long explained. “This person is responsible for these things, and then he can hire people to work together. The cooperative will pay for the hires—of course, the number of people must be determined by the cooperative, or decided at the time through a small meeting or by consulting the manager.”

"That's more like it," Tao Daqiang said with a smile.

“It’s not just agricultural machinery; it’s the same for watering, spraying pesticides, and other tasks, including field management. You can hire people for all of these… We’re responsible for these tasks, not doing the work. Everyone needs to understand this concept,” Li Long emphasized.

Everyone laughed; they had suddenly gone from being workers to managers and supervisors, and they were quite excited.

"Yes, the following are all the same: one water manager, responsible for watering all the land in the cooperative; one field manager, responsible for field management, including weeding, topping, and finding pests and diseases, etc.; and one accountant, mainly responsible for the cooperative's financial matters."

Okay, that's the personnel setup, and the specific responsibilities are roughly divided like this. We can discuss the details later.

Xie Yundong looked up at everyone.

Several people then began to speak. Since it was about assigning responsibility, the subsequent discussions would likely involve everyone present, so they proceeded to deliberate in greater detail.

"Agricultural machinery operators, are the responsibilities of operating tillers and sprayers mixed up with those of field managers?" Liang Dacheng couldn't help but ask.

“No, it’s not mixed up.” Xie Yundong explained, “If the field managers find that there are too many weeds in the field, they will notify the farm machinery operators to cultivate them. If they find that there are pests or diseases in the field, they will notify the farm machinery operators to spray pesticides. It’s that simple.”

"I understand now." Liang Dacheng nodded, indicating that he understood.

"What about the technology? I think we should set up a technical position, just for Xiaolong," Jia Weidong said. "We all look to Xiaolong when we grow cotton. We have to ask him questions from time to time. If there's anything we don't know, or if the people in charge of field management don't know, we have to ask Xiaolong, right?"

“Xiaolong… originally we were thinking of him contributing his technology as equity.” Xie Yundong looked at the notebook in his hand and said, “Contributing his technology as equity means he can get a larger share of the profits when the time comes… just like you said, Xiaolong has his own things to do, so he definitely can’t participate in field management.”

“Yes, let’s do it this way,” Li Jianguo said. “If Xiaolong contributes his technology as equity, it’s a bit weak. How about we set up a technical position? He can ask him any technical questions, such as what pesticides to use or what to do if the bells fall off.”

Technical staff receive a direct salary, so there's no need for separate bonuses... What do you think, Xiaolong?

Li Long understood what his elder brother meant.

A few days ago, I was explaining to my older brother that I had a large stake in DaMaLi Tractor. Now that my brother is bringing this up, I guess he's worried that if I invest in DaMaLi, and also in land, and if I also invest in technology, then if one person has too many shares, the others will have objections.

Why not just create a position with a salary, or even better, share profits?

“Sure. I feel I have some skills in growing cotton,” Li Long said with a smile. “Even if I’m not good at it, I can call the experts and professors at the agricultural college for advice. In that case, let’s set up a position.”

The others naturally had no objections, and the matter was settled.

"Okay, that's how the positions are set up. Next, we'll calculate the shareholdings." Xie Yundong crossed out the clause about Li Long's technical investment and added a clause to the personnel management section: "Establish technical positions."

"As for the land, I think it should be calculated based on the yield," Xie Yundong said. "One yuan per share, and the number of shares is determined by the yield per acre, based on this year's or next year's price. This is fairer and less likely to cause conflicts."

“Why do you say that? Aren’t the lands we’re investing in all saline-alkali land? Anyway, there’s not much output. Just calculate it by the acre, one share per acre, that’s much easier,” Tao Daqiang said. “The way you’re talking about is too complicated.”

"You can't calculate it that way," Xie Yundong said. "Think about it, everyone is currently investing in saline-alkali land. If things look good next year, and they invest in some cultivated land as well, how do you calculate it? Will you still calculate it by the acre? Wouldn't that result in a loss?"
Another question is, if we're calculating costs by the acre, how are the costs of agricultural machinery and supplies calculated?

Tao Daqiang was speechless, but he still found it troublesome, so he turned to look at Li Long.

“Old Xie is right,” Li Long explained. “I dare say that once this cooperative is established, everyone will gradually think about including other cultivated land. So, we should still calculate based on yield to avoid disputes.”

Since Brother Long had spoken, Tao Daqiang had no further objections and continued to listen.

Li Long knew that the clause most likely to cause conflict was about to appear!
(End of this chapter)