1988: Back to the human world for a few years

Chapter 168: Qingmiao Law? No, this is the Resource Reversal Law! (1)

As a well-known industrial powerhouse in later generations, Qilu set the tone of "industry + agriculture" a long time ago. However, due to the concepts of the times, industry, especially the machinery manufacturing industry, has always been regarded by the public as the representative of advanced productive forces.

Therefore, in this era, if we want to create a comprehensive demonstration effect, the machinery manufacturing industry is definitely a hurdle that cannot be avoided.

Therefore, Yang Mo asked Miss Mu to invite a number of business leaders and technicians from three small and medium-sized machinery manufacturing plants as the first batch of people to meet, in addition to some leaders of the competent authorities of Linyi County.

………………

8:10 in the morning.

Zhaojia Township, Shiping Village.

With the sound of wheels crushing gravel, several cars of different models stopped under the crooked tree outside the village entrance.

Under the surprised gazes of several villagers carrying spades, Yang Mo jumped down from 212, covered his brows with his hands with some dissatisfaction, turned his head to glance at Miss Mu who was greeting several officials, took two steps forward, and began to look around.

Chen Feiyu jumped out of the car carrying a backpack that looked quite heavy. After exchanging a glance with Su Yu, one of them walked towards the crowd while the other walked towards where Yang Mo was.

"Yang Mo, don't be angry. Those three companies are quite far from Shiping Village, and there are some difficult roads in between. It's normal for us to be late. Didn't you see that we were delayed for almost an hour on the road? Besides, the time you set is indeed a little early. You also asked the technical staff responsible for production and design to be on site at the last minute, so it's normal for them to be unable to get up all of a sudden."

Chen Feiyu looked around, took out a cigarette and handed it over, then spoke in a low voice.

He saw Yang Mo frowning and thought that he was dissatisfied with the three machinery factories that did not arrive on time.

Yang Mo took the cigarette and lit it, then shook his head: "I'm not that stingy. If it's due to objective conditions, being a few minutes late is nothing... The reason why I frowned is that I felt that there was something wrong with the time plan I made at the beginning... If the current road conditions leading to the villages in Linyi County are still so bad, starting from tomorrow, we need to get up at 5:30 and set off!"

July is the rainy season in Qi and Lu, so many problems were immediately exposed.

Although the competent authorities have ordered all townships and villages to build township roads and village roads in the past two years, the financial constraints on each township and village have often forced them to build a flat dirt road as a last resort.

This may not be a big deal in the dry season or winter, but June to October is the rainy season in Shandong. It is normal for a sudden heavy rain or even a rainstorm to come. The roads are suddenly turned into plasticine in the hands of children by the heavy rain and the pressure of vehicles and cattle and horses... Some sections are difficult for even Dongfeng trucks to pass, let alone ordinary cars.

Upon hearing that they had to set off at 5:30 tomorrow, Chen Feiyu hadn't said anything yet, but Bai Mengmeng, who was holding a notebook and standing obediently behind Yang Mo, had a bitter expression on her face - if they were to set off at 5:30, wouldn't that mean they would have to get up at 4:30 to wash and eat breakfast?
Yang Mo glanced at the young apprentice and snorted, "The sun rises early in Qilu at the end of July. It starts to get bright around 6:30... Unlike working in an office, people in the countryside always work from sunrise to sunset, so the time on the watch doesn't have much reference value for them."

Pointing at the two villagers who were carrying spades and watching the excitement from afar, Yang Mo put a cigarette in his mouth and said, "See, it's a quarter after 8. People who work in the units haven't stepped into the office yet, but in the village, some people have finished their morning farm work and are starting to go home... We came here to show those units and supervisory units how to discover the needs of the grassroots and how to open up grassroots channels. You can't even catch up with other people's farm work, so what's the point of discovering needs!"

As he spoke, Yang Mo patted Chen Feiyu on the shoulder and said, "Feiyu, you will definitely need to coordinate and communicate in this area in the future... Remember, all the work and life in the countryside are closely related to the two words [season]... In this regard, we have been away from the countryside for too long, and we need to review our shortcomings!"

Chen Feiyu turned his head to look at the two villagers who were watching the fun, then glanced at a few figures bending over to work in the farmland in the distance, and nodded as if he understood something.

Bai Mengmeng on the side had no feelings about this. Although she had lived in the compound in TR City since she was ten years old, as a person who came out of the Ten Thousand Mountains, she was confident that she knew more about this aspect than this delicate and tender master.

Well...even though I am also very delicate and fair-skinned.

After taking a faint glance at the smiling little disciple, Yang Mo glanced at the notebook that he had never opened. He said nothing, but looked at it for a while under the already scorching and dazzling sun, then stepped over the earthen ditch and walked towards a farmland...

………………

"Young man, what are you looking at here for?"

Liu Guifen, who was harvesting early rice, stopped what she was doing and looked with some caution at Yang Mo and others who had been watching from the side for a while.

Although these two young men and one woman are all very handsome, fair-skinned and don't look like bad people, this is not a very safe time, and we need to be wary of any unfamiliar people from other villages.

Didn’t you see that two children were lost in the neighboring Niujia Village last month? I heard that it was done by a few outsiders... These days, the less likely outsiders look like bad guys, the more we should be on our guard.

Yang Mo smiled and pointed to the distance, asking the aunt to look at the village director who was shaking hands and talking with Miss Mu and others. Then he squatted down and asked in a tone of a latecomer: "Aunt, shouldn't our early rice be harvested in early August? How come it's still a few days before the end of July, and you're already releasing water to harvest it?"

Liu Guifen listened to Yang Mo's slightly mottled and impure dialect, and glanced at the village director who was smiling apologetically, and she finally felt a little relieved.

Well, it seems that the leaders of the County Agricultural Bureau are here to inspect, and this young man is here to do a field survey.

Adjusting the direction of the sickle blade, Liu Guifen continued to bend down and skillfully cut the rice in the still slightly muddy mud: "You young man, you can tell at a glance that you grew up in the city and don't know how to farm!"

"It's exactly the same as last year. There was drought for half a year in the first half of this year. Since the beginning of July, God has been pouring heavy rain on you from time to time. It is clear that you will have floods in the second half of the year;"

"If I don't hurry up and harvest the rice now while the sun is rising, why should I wait for it to ripen and then eat the rain water in the field?"

As she spoke, Liu Guifen put down her sickle and expertly tied the harvested rice into several small bundles. She then looked at Yang Mo with a bit of disdain: "They are all covered with pulp. If you harvest them now, although the rice you get will be less and of a worse quality, it's still much better than letting them rot in the field at the beginning of next month... If they were really moldy or rotten, would you definitely harvest them?"

Yang Mo looked at the rice stalks without a trace of yellow on them, and smiled at the villagers who were also rushing to harvest the early rice in the fields next door: "Aunt, if we thresh the early rice from these two ridges now, the harvest will be reduced by at least 20%. The most important thing is... I'm curious, when it comes time to pay the public grain, will these threshed rice pass the inspection?"

"In other words, Auntie, have you ever considered how to survive the second half of the year after harvesting the early rice and paying the public grain tax?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Liu Guifen's expression changed.

Although everyone has heard of the three words "paying public grain", in most contexts it is just a general term.

Generally speaking, the public grain paid by the people includes two categories: "public grain" and "surplus grain", and the collection ratio varies from place to place.

Taking the current Qi and Lu as an example, the proportion of public grain that farmers need to pay is 25% of their harvest, which is a free agricultural tax;
The proportion of surplus grain is 15% of the harvest, and this part will be purchased at a unified low price in accordance with national standards.

The two together account for 40%, which accounts for a small half of the farmers' harvest, and is indeed a heavy burden.

But this is not the worst thing.

The problem is that no matter whether it is public grain or surplus grain, there are quality standards. If the quality of the grain you hand in does not meet the standards, it will either be rejected or converted into less grain according to regulations... and this ratio often depends on the mood of the grain station staff on that day.

Objectively speaking, I can’t say this about all of them, but the faces of most of the grain station staff in those days are probably very impressive to those who have experienced it.

So, this is very life-threatening.

If August is a month of continuous heavy rain as Liu Guifen guessed, harvesting the early rice in advance can indeed avoid huge losses, but at the same time, it will also bring endless other troubles.

Even if the grain station staff did not make things difficult for her and followed the rules, at least 60% of the rice harvested early had to be turned into public grain and surplus grain;

As for the remaining 40%, they can only keep it for themselves... There is no other way. Most of the early rice are hybrid varieties that do not have much advantage in taste. This kind of early rice harvested in advance has even less commercial value.

This then involves the second issue - the livelihood of Liu Guifen's family in the next six months.

You know, as a province with a large population, the per capita arable land area in Qi and Lu is only about 1.2 mu per person even in later generations. At present, when industrial upgrading and urbanization process have not been fully completed, it is common for a family of six to have to rely on two or three mu of land to beg for food.

In other words, how much money the remaining early rice from these two fields can be exchanged for is directly related to nearly half of their family's livelihood in the next few months.

Eating, taking medicine, buying seeds, buying fertilizers and pesticides, hiring workers, sending children to school, buying clothes, weddings and funerals, and social interactions all cost money.

Moreover, even if you save again and again in these aspects, there are still some expenses that you cannot save even if you want to - if your home still has a "Farmer's Burden Supervision Card", open it and look at the five items and thirteen items on it, you will know how heavy the burden on farmers is these days.

Therefore, for most of the farmers at this time, even if they could sell ten yuan more, or save ten yuan in losses, it would be enough to make them happy for a whole month;

And the situation that Liu Guifen is about to face now, where both ends are shrinking, is undoubtedly like the sky falling down.

………………

"But, but if we don't rush to harvest now, what else can we do? Going hungry for two months is better than getting nothing!"

Liu Guifen murmured softly, her slightly dark face actually showed a hint of paleness, and her tone carried a hint of despair and helplessness.

As a rural woman who has been digging in the soil for food for half her life, although she cannot read a single word, she trusts her own judgment very much... There will definitely be continuous rain in the next few days, and if these early rice are not harvested now, large pieces of them will rot in the fields and mold in the house.

She had originally thought about getting together with her sisters-in-law to discuss the matter, and then pooling some money to buy a bottle of good wine to send to the grain station staff, asking him to show some mercy;
but now……

He glanced woodenly at the group of people in the distance who were obviously the leaders and the village director who was smiling apologetically.

Liu Guifen sighed. It seemed that these people must be the leaders of the agricultural department. Although she didn't know why such a large group of people suddenly came to their village, looking at the situation, the leaders were going to make an example of them again. The staff at the grain station probably didn't dare to make any concessions.

Seeing this originally tough auntie suddenly become depressed and desperate, as if all her energy and spirit were drained out of her, Cheng Feiyu suddenly felt sorry for her.

Although he didn't know why Yang Mo's just two sentences made Liu Guifen's aura so low, but for some reason, the other party's aura full of despair and helplessness made him very uncomfortable.

Just as he moved his lips and wanted to comfort Liu Guifen with words like "Maybe it won't rain all the time in August as you guessed",
Yang Mo smiled and suddenly said, "Aunt, I believe what you said. It will definitely rain in August. After all, I am from the countryside, so I know that people like you who travel around the countryside every day can tell you more accurately than the weather forecast!"

"But similarly, as someone who has been accompanying my parents to push wooden donkeys to pay taxes since I was a child, I also know what life will be like in the second half of the year if the grain is collected in advance."

As he spoke, Yang Mo took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs and walked over, letting the mud in the field make his fair feet dirty. He stepped on the bundle of rice stalks that were already falling apart, tied the bundle of early rice into a knot with a technique that was not very skillful but obviously practiced, and then dug it onto the ridge of the field with a little effort:
"So, Aunt, if there is a way to harvest on time, so that you don't rush to harvest the early rice, and the rice doesn't get moldy and spoil, and it doesn't cost much, I wonder if you are willing to give it a try?"

As he spoke, Yang Mo took two small bundles of early rice from Liu Guifen and threw them on the ridge of the field: "Aunt, you are an old farmer, you should know the proverb [South wind at the head, north wind at the tail, rain showers and clear skies without stopping];"

"Summers in our Qilu area are always like this. No matter how heavy the rain is, there will definitely be three or four hours of sunny weather within a day or two... In the past, we relied on our two hands and a sickle to harvest the rice, so we couldn't catch up at all. In addition, there was not enough sunshine for us to dry the rice, so the ripe rice would naturally become moldy and be thrown away;"

"But...what if there is a way to harvest all the early rice in the village in two or three hours under the sun, and even if it rains, there is a way to dry it?"

Can all the rice in the village be harvested in two or three hours?

And can the rice be dried even if it rains?

Liu Guifen didn't quite understand the latter sentence, but she could guess what the former sentence meant.

only……

Looking at the dozen or so rice fields scattered around like broken porcelain, Liu Guifen looked at the young man in front of her as if he were a fool... It's not like she hasn't seen harvesters in New Year pictures. She has also seen how this thing works when she passed by the large fields on the farm when she entered the county town before.

That thing does work well in the fields, but here... Are you sure you've done farm work?
Yang Mo smiled when he saw this. As the sound of vehicles came from afar, he turned his head and saw that everyone had arrived. He patted the mud on his hands and said, "Aunt, how about this, please tell the uncles and aunts nearby to put down their work for a while, and we can go over there and have a chat... Anyway, it should be sunny in the next two days, so it shouldn't be a big deal to delay two or three hours... As compensation, we will pay for your lunch, and we guarantee there will be meat. How about sending a bag of urea to each family?"

Is there meat?

And a bag of urea?
Liu Guifen's originally empty eyes suddenly had a hint of color: "Hit!"

(End of this chapter)