Era: I was a farmer at the foot of Yaoling Mountain

Chapter 128: A Massive Battle of Ten Thousand People, New Varieties of Flue-cured Tobacco

Pan Lianhua has been rehearsing the program with Hao Aizhen and others since this morning. The rehearsal time takes up half of the morning, so she doesn't have to go in the afternoon.

When Fang Wei went out early in the morning, he told Tian Guihua that he would come over for lunch these days and asked her to cook extra meals for two people.

When he returned to the village, his eldest brother's family and Pan Lianhua had already had lunch.

"Grandpa, come with me to our house and have something to eat."

"I don't want to eat. There's food at home. I'll take a nap first and then heat up some leftovers."

Guan Chongyang had no appetite at this time and just wanted to sleep.

Fang Wei didn't force him. He sent the other person home and went to his eldest brother's place alone.

Tian Guihua hurried to heat up the food, while Fang Wei stood by the kitchen door and talked to her.

"Sister Lianhua just got married, and her personality hasn't settled down yet. Don't worry about it, little brother. I tell you, everything will be fine once you have a child. Then she'll settle down."

Tian Guihua was worried that Fang Wei would be unhappy about Lianhua showing up in public, so she tried to persuade him gently.

Fang Wei didn't argue and responded with a smile.

After dinner, Fang Ping came in. He had just gone to the slope to take a look and was thinking of talking to his third brother about it.

"Brother, why are you working in the fields instead of taking a break at noon?"

"It's okay, I'm not sleepy. Third brother, the sweet potatoes in the field are ripe, let's find some time to harvest them."

"Okay! I have nothing to do right now, I'll go check it out."

After saying that, he and Fang Ping went to their one-acre sloping land.

The sweet potatoes in the fields have gradually matured, and the two of them will harvest them in batches during their free time. They are busy until after New Year's Day, and have harvested a total of 4500 kilograms of sweet potatoes.

[Harvesting crops, points +4500, total points: 195158 points.]

With so many sweet potatoes, the first thing to do is to make wine.

There is very little sweet potato wine left at home. The largest amount consumed last year was when Fang Wei got married.

Tian Guihua immediately started making sweet potato vermicelli. Pan Lianhua would come to help her every afternoon. Some relatives, including Tian Youlan, Fang Mei, and Tian Bingyi also came.

Fang Wei and Fang Ping each kept some of the leftover sweet potatoes and gave some to their relatives.

After finishing this matter, Hao Aizhen and her friends had almost finished rehearsing their program, so they came to Fang Wei and asked to go to Yaojialing to perform a congratulatory performance.

"Then let's go the day after tomorrow. I also want to go and take a look. We can go together then."

Fang Wei also wanted to go see Zheng Hu and the others, so he went with the propaganda team to comfort the young people in the team.

Hao Aizhen naturally had no objection, and the matter was settled.

Two days later.

Fang Wei and Hao Aizhen took Pan Lianhua and a few others to Yaojialing together.

The journey of several dozen miles was quite far according to current traffic conditions. The team sent a tractor to take them there, which was so noisy and bumpy that it almost made the people there feel exhausted.

The daytime temperature is now between 17 and 20 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime temperature is around 11 degrees Celsius.

It’s not very cold, but the temperature difference between day and night is a little big.

At the scene, everyone saw the spectacular sight of over 10,000 people working together. Flags were flying everywhere, and Fang Wei later spotted the flag of the Xiatang Second Team [Youth Commando].

"Tiger!"

"Third Brother!"

When I saw Zheng Hu again, I found that he had become thinner and darker, but in good spirits.

During the break, Hao Aizhen and her team performed a program. The program mainly consisted of singing and dancing, with a positive theme, which won warm applause from the young people in the team.

At the end, Pan Lianhua improvised a folk song with a melodious tune that even surprised Fang Wei.

It was the first time he heard Lianhua sing folk songs, and he felt that she sang very well.

"Huzi, where do you live? Will it be cold at night?"

"The dormitory is right over there. We have a shed there. Although the conditions aren't great, they're not so bad that we can't survive."

There are dozens of miles of bumpy roads, and it is impossible for people like Zheng Hu to go home every day. At most, they can go back once a week.

The accommodation conditions are as bad as you can imagine, but the commune distributed quilts, so it wasn't too cold when I slept.

"Okay, from now on we'll switch shifts once a month, and the whole team will take turns repairing the reservoir."

Seeing this situation, Fang Wei naturally would not stick to the original plan of changing shifts every three months, but decided to change shifts every month.

The conditions here are quite difficult, so we need to give everyone time to rest and adjust.

"Captain, you're the best for us! There's no harm in rotating the teams more frequently, as it helps maintain our combat effectiveness."

When the others heard that the shifts would be changed once a month, they couldn't help but cheer.

They can persist in changing shifts every three months, but if they change shifts more frequently, they will suffer less and will definitely be happier.

noon.

Fang Wei and the others brought dry food with them, and they ate what they brought with them for lunch.

The construction site provided meals, and Zheng Hu sent two people to bring them back. The dish was a large bowl of radish vermicelli, with one or two slices of pork with skin occasionally in it.

The staple food is rice, which is not very white and not very tasty.

"Third brother, the food at the construction site is just like that. It's filling, but not very oily. Don't worry about whether it tastes good or not. To be honest, everyone is very motivated, and even a small difficulty can be overcome."

Zheng Hu and others are optimistic. No matter how hard life is now, can it be worse than the disaster years in the past few years?
Although the food on the construction site is not good, at least I can eat my fill, which is pretty good.

"It seems I underestimated everyone's courage in facing difficulties. You are all great! The team brought you some salted duck eggs, which have been cooked. You can eat them as pickles later."

Today's trip was not in vain, Fang Wei felt a lot.

In the afternoon, Fang Wei unloaded the few gifts he brought with him and set off on his journey home with Hao Aizhen and others.

He had dinner at his eldest brother's house. He returned to the village quite late, so how could he have time to cook? Fortunately, he had said hello to Tian Guihua before leaving, so he had dinner as soon as he got home.

After hearing about the construction site, Fang Ping couldn't help but give a thumbs up.

These guys were not so tough in the team before, but after going to Yaojialing, each of them has been transformed. This large-scale engineering battle involving tens of thousands of people is really a training exercise.

After New Year's Day, Fang Wei had two sows slaughtered.

Don't worry about not having pork to eat during the Chinese New Year. Excluding these two pigs, there are still 91 pigs left in the [pig farm].

[Pigs are produced, points +562, total points: 195720 points.]

In addition to distributing it to the members, he also specially asked someone to make a big pot of [braised pork], packed it in a large thermos, and sent it to Yaojialing.

Zheng Hu and others were extremely excited. They had consumed a lot of energy during this period of time. Being able to eat a meal of fragrant [braised pork] was better than anything else.

Next, Fang Wei and the senior accountant reviewed the previous year's accounts and decided to distribute money to the members. This year's income was good, and after accounting for various expenses and setting aside enough for the production development fund, each member received an average of more than 500 yuan.

The number of people in the team who did not receive dividends was significantly reduced. Even the "lazy guy" Xie Wang received more money than the average and paid off his debts.

Fang Wei received 700 yuan, Fang Ping received more than 600 yuan, and Tian Guihua received an average of more than 500 yuan.

Pan Lianhua had only been with the team for a short time, so she only received less than 200 yuan. But she didn't mind. She knew that next year she would at least get the same average as Tian Guihua.

"Sister, the New Year isn't far away now. Let's go buy some things and go up the mountain to visit Grandpa."

There is nothing big happening in the team for the time being. The rations and money have been distributed, and we are just waiting for the New Year.

The Yaojialing Reservoir construction project would be suspended before the Spring Festival, and Zheng Hu and his colleagues would be back home for the holidays. Therefore, the shift change would have to wait until after the Lunar New Year, and the only major concern was the rapeseed crops.

Rapeseed is a winter crop that is sown locally in October and will not be harvested until the spring plowing of the following year.

Fang Wei asked Zheng Hu to choose early-maturing rapeseed varieties so as not to delay the sowing time of early rice, otherwise it would not be cost-effective.

Taking advantage of the break before the New Year, Fang Wei took Pan Lianhua to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some daily necessities, and carried the load to the Yao village.

"Sister Lianhua, son-in-law, you're finally back. Grandpa often stands under the archway and looks out when he has nothing to do. He won't tell me when you ask him, but who doesn't know that he's waiting for you two?"

The two entered the village and met an older sister, who said that her grandfather had been waiting for them to come back.

Hearing this, Pan Lianhua finally couldn't control her emotions and ran home quickly.

Fang Ping smiled and shook his head. The sister's words just now must have been exaggerated. He often sent messages and things to the village. Grandpa was not unaware of his and Lianhua's schedule.

He then chased after them with his load on his shoulder, and as soon as he entered the door, he heard Pan Lianhua and Grandpa arguing.

"Grandpa, at your age, why are you standing under the archway for no reason? My third brother and I will come back when we have time. What will others say if you do this?"

"How could I stand under the archway so often? Only once or twice at most, when I was out doing some work and wanted to rest there."

Fang Wei quickly put down his things and interrupted the argument between the two.

"Grandpa, Lotus, don't talk about those trivial things. We brought some cured fish from the mountain today. Grandpa, make some for lunch and I'll have a couple of drinks with you."

After hearing Fang Wei's words, the grandfather and grandson stopped arguing.

These are just minor incidents not worth mentioning. Grandpa was very happy to see his granddaughter and grandson-in-law, and immediately went to find someone to help him cook.

Pan Lianhua was now in high spirits and said, "No need to bother anyone else, I can do it myself."

It’s no wonder that Pan Lianhua’s cooking skills have improved a lot. Even Tian Guihua praised her for being smart.

noon.

Pan Lianhua made several dishes, and when grandpa tasted them, he was really surprised.

It seems that the girl has matured a lot after getting married. If she had been under my wings, she would probably never grow up.

"Third brother, how many days do you plan to stay this time?"

"We're not very busy recently, so we plan to stay for three days before leaving."

"That's great! Let's wait until tomorrow. I'll call them all over and we'll discuss the production plan for the new year."

"Okay, I want to talk to you all too."

Grandpa and Fang Wei took turns drinking and chatting happily.

Pan Lianhua looked at her husband and felt very proud. The village had to consult her third brother about the production plan for the next year.

After dinner, everyone rested for a while.

Grandpa originally said that he would wait until tomorrow to ask the core members of the team to come over, but they came to the door on their own initiative in the afternoon.

Pan Lianhua was busy making tea and preparing food, while Grandpa, Fang Wei and the backbone members of the village sat together and chatted casually.

"Everyone, try this tobacco. This is the flue-cured tobacco our team planted last year. Please give us your feedback."

Fang Wei did not get straight to the point, but took out a pack of tobacco for everyone to taste.

After dehydration and curing, the flue-cured tobacco leaves can be turned into raw materials for cigarette production. Locals love to smoke water pipes, and the raw materials can be made into shredded tobacco after a slight secondary processing.

These people were all heavy smokers. They took out their pipes, filled them with some tobacco and started puffing away.

"Not bad! The flavor of your tobacco is rich and mellow, without any acrid smell."

"It's very fragrant, not the kind of fragrance that comes from added flavorings, but the fragrance of the flue-cured tobacco itself."

"Top quality, absolutely top quality."

After tasting, everyone gave unanimous praise.

"Third brother, is your second team producing at this time?"

Grandpa also tasted it and was amazed.

"Yes, Grandpa. But our second team only has a quota of 40 mu of flue-cured tobacco. But it's easy to get quotas in the village. You might consider working hard on flue-cured tobacco.

After all, the terraced fields on the mountain are not as good as the farmland below. Growing food is enough to provide for basic needs. It is better to invest more in side businesses so that everyone can live a better life. "

Fang Wei had thought about the development of the Yao village before coming here. The village could not just rely on growing rice. It had to find a new way to move forward.

Many people believe that there is a lack of arable land in the mountains. However, this is not the case. The per capita arable land in the village far exceeds that of the second team, but the land is relatively poorer and the conditions for planting are not as good.

However, the land in the village is very suitable for growing economic crops such as soybeans, peanuts, and flue-cured tobacco. Therefore, Fang Wei proposed the idea of ensuring the basic output of rice and vigorously developing sideline businesses.

And flue-cured tobacco occupies an important part of it.

"Third brother, the flue-cured tobacco you have is of a very good variety. I wonder what the yield is like?"

"This is a new variety I cultivated. The yield per mu has reached 500 kilograms, and there is still room for growth in the future."

Grandpa then asked about the yield. He originally thought that a yield of 200-300 kilograms per mu would be good, but Fang Wei's answer surprised him.

"500 jin? Seriously?"

"Grandpa, Third Brother couldn't possibly lie to you. Considering the special nature of flue-cured tobacco, the seeds of this kind of tobacco have never been circulated outside, but Third Brother first considered our village."

Pan Lianhua said proudly that she hadn't even realized that she had become completely accustomed to her current role without realizing it.

She is Fang Wei's wife, so she has to protect him everywhere.

"Hahaha, let alone 500 catties per mu, I'd wake up laughing even in my dreams if I could achieve 400 catties per mu. Third brother, your idea is great. Let's plant more flue-cured tobacco later."

Grandpa laughed heartily, thinking that his granddaughter had good taste and had found a good husband.

"Yes, Third Brother, why don't you just come live in the village with Sister Lianhua? The captain has asked you to be the captain, and you will definitely lead everyone to a good life."

Several key members of the village envied Fang Wei because he was not only handsome but also capable.

Everyone knows the important role of good varieties in agricultural production, but how many people can actually cultivate good varieties?
They felt that Fang Wei was more than qualified to be the team leader, not to mention the production team leader.

Fang Wei smiled but said nothing, he had no way of responding to this.

(End of this chapter)