Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1227 There's no such thing as a free lunch. How can you make money without spending money?

The previous points have been largely agreed upon; the following points are the more crucial ones.

“Since everyone has saline-alkali land, I think we should calculate the yield of saline-alkali land at 50 kilograms per mu. Based on the current wheat price, that would be 15 yuan per mu,” Xie Yundong said. “Let’s each do the calculations ourselves. If we have 100 mu, that would be 1,500 shares.”

Of course, if we include cultivated land, we'll calculate it based on the team's yield plus 30%. For example, the team previously set a yield of 200 kilograms for good irrigation land, but now it's actually reaching at least 250 or 260 kilograms. That should be fine, right?

Everyone agreed on this. With chemical fertilizers, the yield of the land has increased. Take that saline-alkali land, for example; before, it wouldn't even yield 30 kilograms, let alone 50. But with specialized chemical fertilizers, 50 kilograms is considered a basic yield.

Everyone started calculating. The Li family had the most. Li Jianguo and Li Long whispered to each other that in addition to the newly opened 280 mu, they would also include some of their original land, which included both wasteland and cultivated land. All things considered, the Li brothers would own a total of five or six thousand shares of land alone.

The rest are basically around 1,500 shares. Some have less than 100 mu, and they joke that next spring they'll apply to the team to cultivate some more saline-alkali land next to their plots to make it 100 mu, which would be just right.

"Then there's the agricultural machinery," Xie Yundong continued. "Let's go through them one by one. As I mentioned before, we'll invest one yuan per share. The land is one part, and the agricultural machinery is another part. Since each household has a sprayer, which is mainly used in cotton fields, my idea is to include all the sprayers in the shares. At two hundred yuan per machine, that's two hundred shares."

No one objected to this. The cooperative mainly grows cotton, and all the cotton-growing land has been brought in. If the spraying machine weren't brought in, it would be useless to leave it at home.

"Is that too many?" Jia Weidong asked with some concern. "Won't we be able to use so many sprayers?"

“How could we not have enough? How much cotton did we plant this year? How much cotton will our cooperative plant next year? It’s not even the same level.” Liang Dacheng smiled and said, “If there’s a real outbreak of pests and diseases, we might not even have enough.”

"Besides sprayers, there are also seeders, which every household has, but they have to be depreciated and are all charged 150 yuan, which is 150 shares."

Tao Daqiang did the math and said:

"If we calculate it this way, our family would have 1,850 shares. If everyone contributes 100 mu of land, it should be the same."

“Yes, that’s right.” Jia Weidong nodded.

"Do any of you still have any machines left? Have you acquired any small four-wheeled vehicles?" Xie Yundong asked.

Everyone else shook their heads.

Although I've joined the cooperative, I still own other land, so my small four-wheeled vehicle can't join. If I join, how will I be paid for working for my own family?

"Then that's settled," Xie Yundong continued. "We've covered the machines that everyone already owns. Next, we'll consider the ones owned by Brother Li and Xiaolong. Xiaolong has a high-horsepower tractor, a small four-wheel tractor, and a battering machine, right?" He looked up and asked Li Long, "Xiaolong, how much did your high-horsepower tractor cost?"

"Didn't you say you sold one a few days ago?" Tao Daqiang had asked when he and Li Long were fishing last time. "It cost 260,000 yuan."

Everyone was stunned when these words were spoken.

All the items from all the companies combined amounted to less than two thousand shares, but Li Long's high-horsepower tractor alone was worth two hundred and sixty thousand shares.

If we calculate it that way, then the cooperative is basically just working for the Li family.

Who can bear this?

Even Tao Daqiang, who had the best relationship with Li Long, couldn't stand it.

Everyone contributes their labor, and in the end, the lion's share of the money goes to Li Long, so that he can earn his wages.

Li Long smiled.

He and his elder brother Li Jianguo exchanged a glance, and then he said:

"Let's try a different approach. I won't invest in this high-horsepower tractor, but I'll invest in the small four-wheeled tractor, plus a pole-breaking machine."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after he said that, and Liang Dacheng said with a smile:

"If you really want to take over, then all the shares of our companies combined won't even amount to one-tenth of yours."

Li Long hadn't actually calculated it with a pen beforehand; he just felt that the high-horsepower tractor would be worth a lot of shares. But if it was worth too much, that wouldn't work. So, if the cooperative wanted to be established, this tractor had to be withdrawn. Of course, even if it was withdrawn, there was still a small four-wheeled tractor. His small four-wheeled tractor was useless sitting there, but the cooperative needed it for sowing, spraying pesticides, cutting stalks, and cultivating.

It's just right.

“If you don’t join, we’ll have to pay extra for the plowing work in our cooperative later. Everyone needs to be aware of that. This family has 100 mu, and Brother Li and Xiaolong together have 350 mu, right? That’s nearly 1,000 mu. Just plowing in the spring will cost 8,000 yuan,” Xie Yundong reminded them.

“That’s normal. Even if you don’t join the cooperative, you’ll still get the same amount of money,” Jia Weidong said.

"Next up is Xiaolong's little four-wheeled tractor. You've had that tractor for four or five years, haven't you?" Xie Yundong asked.

"More than that. Let's do it this way: it cost five or six thousand when I bought it, and now it's discounted by three thousand." Li Long said generously.

Everyone knows that tractor is definitely worth more than three thousand yuan now. Even if a used tractor has been used for ten years, as long as the diesel engine is still working, it can easily sell for one or two thousand yuan.

"Okay, then let's add another three thousand shares. By the way, Brother Li, are you and Xiaolong going to split the shares?"

“No separation,” Li Long said. “We’ll combine them into one company and settle the accounts together.”

"Alright, so if we add the baton-beating machine, your two brothers together will have 9,500 shares, and the others will each have 1,850. That's a total of 16,900 shares, less than 17,000. Brother Li, you two brothers will have about 60%?"

This time, no one said anything. They contributed a lot of land and machinery; if they occupied less land, then there would really be a problem, and it would still be considered poverty alleviation.

Everyone nodded, and no one expressed any opinion.

"Next, let's talk about salaries for each position. Will you be the manager, Xiaolong?"

"I won't take the job, you'd be the best candidate," Li Long said bluntly, indicating that he wouldn't be involved.

"Then you'd like to be the leader, brother? I heard from Xiaolong that you had experience with cooperatives back then, so you know a lot about this," Xie Yundong asked again.

“I won’t take it. I have a lot of things to do at home.” Li Jianguo waved his hand and shook his head. “Two Kangmain trucks, two high-horsepower trucks, plus the remaining land. Xiaolong is in charge of the purchasing station, so I have to take over those jobs.”

"Old Xie, don't be so polite," Liang Dacheng said. "Nobody will have any objections to you being the manager."

"Alright, then I'll be the manager." Xie Yundong said with a smile. "As for the others, the three of you can discuss it. We don't have enough people for things like field management, farm machinery, water management, and accounting."

“If that’s not enough, we’ll hire someone,” Li Long said. “We also need to find an accountant, and we’ll have to find one from outside.”

"By the way, isn't Xu Haijun supposed to be joining? If we're willing to let him join, wouldn't that count as a position for him?"

"Which position should we give him?" Tao Daqiang asked. "We can't just give him the accountant position, can we?"

“That’s definitely not going to work,” Jia Weidong said, shaking his head. “He can do other things, but not accounting.”

"Weidong, you can do the accounting," Xie Yundong said with a smile. "The other tasks, you two can each take one, and the rest can be given to Xu Haijun... By the way, do you want Xu Haijun to join us?"

"I have no objection." Tao Daqiang shook his head.

“If it were me… it wouldn’t be a big deal.” Jia Weidong also felt it was nothing. “It’s just that he suddenly interfered with our idea, which makes me a little uncomfortable. But I heard he’s planning to pay a thousand yuan upfront, so that’s fine too.”

With Xu Haijun joining, the Li brothers now own about half the shares, while the others share the remaining half.

That's alright.

"Okay, I'll talk to him about it then, and we can have another meeting later when we have some free time. Oh, and also, Xiaolong will be the technical supervisor, that's another position. What I mean is, the manager and all five other positions will have the same salary, what do you guys think?"

"How much is the salary?" Tao Daqiang asked. "One thousand, I guess," Xie Yundong replied after thinking for a moment.

His thinking was this: ideally, the cotton yield per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres) would be over 100 kilograms, and at 1.8 yuan per kilogram, the income per mu would be 180 yuan. After deducting costs, the profit per mu would be approximately 100 yuan.

The salary for one position is roughly equivalent to the net income from ten mu of land, which is neither high nor low, and is about the same as the average salary of county cadres.

“Okay,” Li Long said with a smile. “The bulk of the profit comes from the bonuses, and the salary is just for the work done, so it can’t be too much. But your salary as manager needs to be increased a bit, at least two hundred more than ours, since you do a lot of different jobs and have to think about a lot more.”

“It’s not just the manager, but also you, Brother Long, the technical supervisor,” Tao Daqiang said. “Everyone else can be replaced, to be honest, anyone can do the job, but your position can’t be filled by someone else. So I think it’s a loss if we only give you the position and pay you according to the position.”

“Yes, yes, that’s right.” Everyone else agreed. Liang Dacheng said, “Without Xiaolong, our cooperative wouldn’t be able to operate. Although Xiaolong has a large share, that’s a real investment. If this technical position is also paid a salary of 1,000 yuan, it would be better to convert it into shares.”

"In that case, the salaries for other positions will remain at 1,000, while Xiaolong's technical position salary will become 2,000?" Xie Yundong said. "Or we can convert it into shares. As for how many shares to convert, we can discuss it among ourselves."

"If you ask me, two thousand isn't much," Jia Weidong said.

"Alright, alright, two thousand is enough." Li Long smiled. He knew the technology was indeed valuable, but only for the next few years. In a few more years, everyone would have experience growing cotton, and it wouldn't be worth much anymore.

So having this position is fine; once everyone has mastered the skills, we can eliminate it. If we make it a shareholding arrangement, even if people don't say anything, they'll definitely have their opinions.

Just like the high-horsepower tractor I mentioned earlier, although tractors are essential supplies, their high price means that if we were to invest at a loss, others wouldn't be willing.

That's how it was settled. The salary for each position was 1,000 yuan, 1,200 yuan for managers, and 2,000 yuan for technical positions.

Li Long was thinking that the two thousand was actually compensation for him taking back the high-horsepower tractor.

After all, everyone, including myself, had previously thought of investing in the high-horsepower tractor, but we hadn't carefully calculated the share price and number of shares.

What a blunder!

After Xie Yundong finished writing all of this down, he read it aloud from beginning to end, and no one had any further comments.

“There’s no rush right now. This is the general framework, and we’ve agreed to it, but this is just a temporary meeting. Winter is long, so we can think about it some more,” Li Long said. “Two heads are better than one. We can hold a few more meetings and finalize it before making a decision.”

"Yes, yes, that makes sense. Everyone should go back and think about it again. I'll also talk to Xu Haijun about this when I get back."

And let me emphasize again, no one else can join this cooperative now. If anyone asks you about this, you must state this firmly. Don't wait until a few days later when someone comes with a group to ask me or Xiaolong; don't blame me for scolding you then.”

"No, no, someone came to ask me a couple of days ago, and I told them right away that there are no more members, it's impossible for anyone else to join," Liang Dacheng said with a forced smile. "I even went to Xu Haijun to make sure that no one else can join."

“Yes, yes, I said that too,” Jia Weidong said. “To be honest, we’re pretty confident doing it ourselves, but if we bring in an outsider, things might not be so easy.”

"Then why did you say it was no big deal that Xu Haijun came in?" Tao Daqiang glared at him. "Why didn't you say that earlier?"

"Well... by the time I found out, it was too late." Jia Weidong chuckled dryly. "And as for the accounting, I'm not very good at bookkeeping either."

"What's there to not remember? Just write down every time you spend money. When the cotton is sold in the fall, record the income, then deduct the expenses, pay everyone's wages, and what's left is the dividends according to shares."

Li Jianguo's words immediately gave Jia Weidong confidence, and he said:
"Then I'll get a hardcover notebook and a good fountain pen tomorrow, just for keeping track of my expenses."

"Hmm, that's a good attitude," Xie Yundong said. "That's how you should get things done."

The matter was pretty much settled, Li Jianguo said:

"Alright, we've discussed it enough. Let's go to the back and get ready for dinner. Establishing a cooperative is a big deal, and it's impossible to discuss it all at once. There will be more meetings later, so there's no rush. We still have time."

After exchanging pleasantries, Xie Yundong and the others went to the back to eat.

After they left, Li Jianguo and Li Long, together with Liang Yuemei, cleared the plates and bowls off the table. As they sat down, Li Jianguo sighed and said:
"I really didn't expect that adding this high-horsepower tractor would cause so many losses... Xiaolong, if you hadn't had the guts to just remove this high-horsepower tractor, this cooperative would have been impossible."

"What? Da Mali isn't going to invest?" Liang Yuemei, who was busy in the kitchen, heard this and poked her head out to ask, "What does that mean?"

Li Jianguo then told Liang Yuemei what had just happened.

"So many? This is really not a good idea." Liang Yuemei wasn't naive. The cooperative was manageable if the Li brothers pooled their resources and held half the shares, but if Da Lima joined and held over 90% of the shares, then it would be impossible to manage.

It's like everyone else is working for their own family.

“That’s alright,” Li Long said with a smile. “It’s more flexible this way. Next year, my brother will have Junfeng and the others take the big horse out to other places to get plowing jobs.”

Our whole township has 60,000 to 70,000 mu of land, Tougong, Juan's maternal grandfather's side has tens of thousands of mu of land, and Qingshuihe has tens of thousands of mu of land.

Besides our team's three or four thousand mu of land, we can also contact other places to plow more land and sow more seeds. Then we can recoup our costs in just a few years.”

The advantages of using high-horsepower tractors for plowing and sowing are obvious. Autumn is better, but in spring, when it's crucial to seize the planting season, most places now use Dongfanghong 70 tracked tractors, which are slow.

If we could get a high-horsepower tractor to plow and sow in the village where an acquaintance lives, wouldn't the money just come in like a river?

So Li Long wasn't disappointed that Da Mali didn't join; in fact, it gave them more flexibility. The cooperative's 1,000 mu of land could earn them 16,000 yuan just by plowing one end and one end, which wasn't bad.

Besides, Li Long's main focus was on the purchasing station, while Li Jianguo's focus was on the agricultural machinery. The cooperative owned half of the shares and received dividends, but didn't need to spend too much time on it.

If things go well next year, we can invest in more land reclamation projects, and like a snowball, a small group that makes money will be formed, and it won't interfere with doing other things. Isn't that great?
After returning, Xie Yundong urged Tao Daqiang and Liang Dacheng to quickly choose jobs. Tao Daqiang, being simple-minded, chose agricultural machinery and was responsible for operating and communicating with various agricultural machines.

Liang Dacheng, being more thoughtful, chose field management. Xie Yundong told him that field management required more attention; he should go to the fields frequently and report any issues to Li Long and himself so that solutions could be found.

“That’s what I think too,” Liang Dacheng said.

Actually, he was thinking of getting involved in field management so he could learn more techniques and grow cotton well even if the cooperative eventually shut down.

After confirming the situation, Xie Yundong went to Xu Haijun, explained the situation, and clarified the remaining water management positions.

After listening, Xu Haijun asked Xie Yundong what other positions were available. After a moment's hesitation, Xu Haijun finally accepted. He also hoped that he could be invited to the next meeting of the cooperative so that he could participate.

In fact, like Liang Dacheng, he hoped to take on field management work, but he had no choice.

However, since we've joined the cooperative, it's easier to learn the skills now, so it's best not to worry too much about it at this point.

Xie Yundong had no problem with that. We told him about the acreage of land everyone had invested, hoping his would be about the same, so that we could calculate the final figures more easily.

Xu Haijun naturally had no objections. One hundred mu it was, it wouldn't hurt. If that wasn't enough, they could open more early next year. Anything under fifty mu was approved by the team, which was just a matter of a word from Xu Chengjun.

In this way, the cooperative was beginning to take shape. Xie Yundong also reminded Xu Haijun that the 1,000 yuan was really necessary.

At this moment, Xu Haijun still felt a little sorry for him.

But how can you expect good things without spending money?

P.S.: Following a suggestion from netizens, I got a tablet and started typing while standing, which is definitely much better. However, I can't stand for too long, so I change my posture every now and then.

Ugh.

(End of this chapter)