1968: Started from breeding

Chapter 199: Yellow River Ferry! (Subscribe!)

After leaving the Qingshigou Production Team, Su Wenchen and his group continued heading south.

When we come out of Yanggu County and just enter the Yellow River flood area, the comfortable highway comes to an abrupt end, replaced by a hardened dirt road.

Obviously, at this time, building a road on such saline-alkali land was not a cost-effective approach, because due to the erosion of salt in the soil, the road would probably need to be rebuilt with manpower and material resources in a short time.

Su Wenchen rolled down the car window and looked around. There were quagmires covered with alkali flowers in many places on both sides of the road. The land here seemed to have cracked into thousands of mouths, and every crack was spitting out white foam from the salt and alkali.

However, in the distance, there were also wooden signs with the words "Fighting Heaven and Earth Experimental Field" on them.

At this time, tender green seedlings of winter wheat have grown in the improved fields surrounded by reed mats.

Although they still look malnourished, they have stubbornly taken root in this improved saline-alkali land.

After generations of restoration efforts, no trace of the Yellow River flood area can be seen anymore.

There are farmlands everywhere and fruit trees growing in forests.

Even when Su Wenchen went there to travel, the Yellow River was no longer so yellow, and it was even relatively clear during certain periods of time.

But if he hadn't gone there in person, he would never have known that the predecessor of the Yellow River Flood Area was like this.

Thinking of the news I heard in Yanggu County.

Su Wenchen turned and said to Zhao Weiguo who was driving.

"I asked at the Yanggu County Guesthouse, and they said there is a Dongfeng People's Commune here, and they have a special ferry shipping team, so we can take a ferry across the river."

"I'll ask someone I meet later how to get to Dongfeng People's Commune."

As soon as Su Wenchen finished speaking, he noticed that there seemed to be a large herd of sheep in the distance.

"Old Zhao, do you think that's a sheep?"

"Stop by the roadside. I'll ask for directions."

Hearing what Su Wenchen said, Zhao Weiguo immediately turned the steering wheel and stopped on the side of the road.

Su Wenchen jumped out of the car and took a few steps.

A gust of wind blew by, blowing up tiny white grains on the ground and hitting his face like a knife.

Su Wenchen touched the crystals on his face.

For a moment, he felt as if there was a faint salty smell in the air here, and even made him feel like he had come to the seaside.

After approaching the flock of sheep, Su Wenchen found an old man wearing a black patched cotton jacket, who was herding sheep while directing saline water into the drainage ditch.

The sheep nearby did not run around, but were licking the Glauber's salt that had separated from the edge of the ditch.

Su Wenchen took out a cigarette, handed it over and said.

"Old comrade, I want to ask you for directions. How do I get to Dongfeng People's Commune?"

"If we want to cross the river, is there a repaired bridge besides taking the ferry?"

The old man took a look at Su Wenchen's military coat, and then glanced at the large truck parked on the side of the road.

After taking the cigarette handed over by Su Wenchen, he slowly shook his head.

"I don't know about that, but I heard that there is indeed a railway bridge a long way west across the province, but I don't know if it can be used by cars."

"But Dongfeng Commune Shipping Team, you just need to drive forward and you will see the sign when you reach the river."

"There's only one ferry nearby, and there are quite a lot of people there. You'll see it when you get there."

After Su Wenchen heard it, he found that the information was similar to that given by Yanggu County.

As for the railway bridge that the old man mentioned, it is marked on the road network, but the bridge is already in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province.

If they go that way, they will have to take a long detour, which will take at least half a month.

So I just took the ferry.

After driving along the dirt road for more than an hour, Su Wenchen finally understood why the old shepherd said he would know it once he got there.

Because there were indeed a lot of people, large trucks were parked at the ferry, waiting in line to cross the river.

Su Wenchen glanced forward and found that there was actually no end in sight.

Many truck drivers here were wrapping themselves in quilts in the cab to keep warm, and there was even a car in front of Su Wenchen where the driver got out and started setting up a stove.

Seeing this scene, Su Wenchen was a little confused.

Brother, are you going to spend the night here?
Su Wenchen looked at Zhao Weiguo.

"Old Zhao, have you ever traveled long distances to the south before?"

Zhao Weiguo shook his head.

"Our troops are in northern Xinjiang. If it's too far away, the supplies are basically transported by train. Only nearby places a few days away will be transported by car."

"This is also my first time to transport goods across a river. It seems that crossing the river must be very slow, otherwise we can't accumulate so many vehicles."

Su Wenchen nodded, put his hand on his brow to shade his eyes from the sun, and looked towards the other side.

Although it is not clear, but from the appearance alone, I can tell that there should be quite a few large vehicles.

Su Wenchen got out of the car.

With his hands in his sleeves, he walked towards the driver who was building a stove not far from his car.

"Comrade, why are you setting up the stove? Are you going to stay overnight?"

Hearing this, the other party looked at Su Wenchen.

"Is this your first time racing a car? Don't you have a mentor?"

Su Wenchen shook his head. It was indeed the first time for a long-distance trip. Our car was not from the transport station, but was the farm’s own car.

After hearing what Su Wenchen said, the other party suddenly realized.

However, he was still quite enthusiastic in explaining it to Su Wenchen.

"Only two vehicles can pass through this ferry at a time. If it is carrying heavy objects, only one vehicle can pass at a time." "Now is not the season of abundant water in the river. Sometimes the ferry will run aground. Then it needs manpower to pull it. At the slowest, only about ten vehicles can pass through it in a day."

"Just wait! It will probably take three to five days for them to reach us."

Su Wenchen was speechless. He had never expected that he would have to queue to cross the Yellow River at this time.

"If you have to wait for so many days, why don't you go west for a few days? Isn't there a bridge across the river over there?"

The driver rolled his eyes and said unhappily.

"You know all this, so how can those of us who often go there not know? Even though it's faster over there, there are more cars going that way."

"The other bridge is a railway bridge, and sometimes you have to leave time for trains to pass."

"So it's not much different from here. Besides, it's a detour, so we might as well just wait here for a few days."

"But it's not too far downstream. I heard that Ji City is already building a new bridge across the river. It should be much better by then."

"By the way, have you registered? You need to go to the front and register. Someone will come to check the cargo transportation documents. If they find that the items you carry are different, you will have to pay the agricultural construction fee."

"But if it's less than five kilograms, you don't have to pay."

Su Wenchen didn't expect that the leader of this commune's shipping team actually had some ideas.

They actually generate income from these drivers.

Obviously, this agricultural construction fee is the same as the service fee, because every driver will carry some things that are not on the list.

To be honest, this agricultural construction fee is definitely not that reasonable, because nominally all the vehicles are used for national transportation.

Shipping teams like theirs would be allocated food and paid a fixed salary.

However, the reason why no driver reported this incident was mainly because the problem itself lay with the driver himself.

Now that I have reported it, I don't know if there is anything wrong with the shipping team, but I can't get away with smuggling the goods.

Besides, the proportion of the supplementary agricultural construction fee will definitely not be too high, so the driver probably has no choice but to accept it.

Su Wenchen even felt that other places were probably similar, otherwise no one would come here.

After receiving this news, Su Wenchen returned to the car with the cargo list and the letter of introduction from the yard, and prepared to go to the ferry ahead to register according to the description of the previous driver.

Open the car door.

"Old Zhao, I'm going to the ferry to register. You take Xiao Zhou and Master Zheng down to build a makeshift fire. I'll see if I can get some food back."

"Okay, Director, just leave it to me."

Su Wenchen walked forward.

I saw quite a few drivers, some of whom were sitting together in front of a fire, keeping warm and chatting.

Su Wenchen also truly understands the wealth of drivers in this era.

In front of the fires of various shapes, Su Wenchen found luncheon meat, canned fish, canned fruit, and many people were roasting several large Yellow River carps on wooden sticks.

Putting aside other things, Su Wenchen was sure that these fish were not caught by these drivers in the river, but were definitely exchanged with local members.

Looking at the brown grilled fish and smelling the fragrance in the air, even Su Wenchen felt hungry.

I decided to buy some big Yellow River carp from the locals after I finished registering to try.

No, it should be to try a few different fish.

Walking all the way to the ferry, Su Wenchen estimated that there were at least sixty or seventy cars.

This would only take minutes in later generations, but at that time, with two cars on one boat, even if the Yellow River was not that wide, it would still take half an hour to an hour for a trip.

Looking at the ferry, a dispatcher wearing a blue cotton work coat was directing vehicles to board the ship with a tin horn in his hand.

Another hand held a signal flag tied with a red cloth, which seemed to be used to notify the other side.

On the wide ferry, there were many militiamen carrying Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, checking vehicles that were about to cross the river.

Su Wenchen directly found a free dispatcher and asked.

"Comrade, where do I go to register to cross the river? How long will it take for my turn?"

Hearing Su Wenchen's question, the other party looked at Su Wenchen.

Pointed to the brick house in the distance.

"Registration over there, river crossing arrangements are based on administrative levels. National and provincial units will be arranged immediately, and there are still six or seven vehicles ahead of district and city units. The remaining vehicles from counties and communes will be able to cross in about three to five days."

Su Wenchen was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that they were sorted according to administrative levels.

Judging from this, they seem to be quite front of the queue and may be able to pass it tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

Su Wenchen came to the red brick house of the registration office and found that this should be the office of the ferry.

Even on the side, Su Wenchen saw a supply and marketing cooperative and a fishery product purchasing point. Obviously, although there are a lot of saline-alkali lands here, which leads to a reduction in food, they live by the water. The fish they catch can not only be eaten by themselves, but the food coupons obtained by selling them to the purchasing points can also alleviate the insufficient grain production here.

In difficult places, the people will eventually find a way out for themselves.

After Su Wenchen finished registering, he led a middle-aged man and a young man wearing glasses towards the car.

In the cabin of a large truck.

The young man with glasses held the shipping list in his hand and checked them one by one.

"One, two, three, four?"

The young man glanced at the shipping list in his hand in disbelief.

I found that there were only three black pigs written on it.

He turned his head and looked directly at the breeder Xiao Zhou in the carriage.

"How dare you smuggle a whole pig?"

(End of this chapter)