Reborn in 1977

Chapter 348: Getting a Little Sunshine

The three strolled back, also taking it as a way to digest their food.

It was rare to have such a big meal, and Team Leader Yang had eaten quite a bit earlier, to the point where his stomach was bulging, making Chen Fan secretly chuckle.

He quickly cleared his throat, trying to change the subject, "Team Leader, how much grain did you harvest this year?"

Team Leader Yang raised his head and thought for a moment, then said, "The team has 350 mu of paddy fields, all planted with rice. 280 mu were planted with ordinary rice, yielding a total of over 168,000 jin, averaging just over 600 jin per mu, a little more."

Chen Fan couldn't help but nod slightly. With the current grain seeds and farming technology, being able to harvest 600 jin of grain per mu was already very high.

Team Leader Yang continued, "The remaining 70 mu, including the 40 mu of educated youth fields, were all planted with new hybrid rice."

Speaking of this, he suddenly became excited, "This hybrid rice is amazing! Do you know how much grain can be harvested per mu?"

Chen Fan shook his head gently, "I don't know."

He had been swamped with work lately, so he didn't have time to worry about hybrid rice.

However, he did have confidence in hybrid rice. In later generations, the yield per mu of hybrid rice had reached about 1000 kilograms, and the highest could even reach more than 1200 kilograms. At this time, halving that, 500 kilograms should be possible, right?!

Speaking of which, since last year, hybrid rice had already begun to be promoted on a large scale in the south, and it had achieved good results. However, the lessons of more than ten years ago were still fresh in everyone's minds, so many commune members simply didn't believe that there were rice seeds that could increase production so much.

Therefore, when it was promoted for planting in Lujiawan this year, everyone felt so unwilling.

At that time, the commune also used a forced assignment method, giving Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang a strict order to take out 20% of the paddy fields to plant hybrid rice, and it had to be top-quality fields.

For the sake of the political task, the team leaders of each small team reluctantly accepted it at the time. They even prepared for this part of the paddy fields to have reduced production or even a complete crop failure.

Chen Fan still remembered Team Leader Yang complaining to him privately several times, saying that if there really was reduced production or a complete crop failure, he would definitely go to the commune to demand an explanation, and at least get a reduction in the amount of public grain to be handed over.

It wasn't until the seedlings were bearing ears and the grains were full that everyone dispelled their doubts.

Now that the rice had been harvested, it could be considered a conclusion.

Just as he was silently guessing, Team Leader Yang took the initiative to reveal the answer. He gestured with both hands and said, "900 jin! That's half as much again as ordinary rice. Secretary Qian said it would increase production by 50%, and it's actually true!"

"900 jin per mu?"

Chen Fan's mind turned slightly, and he came to the answer, "So the experimental field yielded 63,000 jin of rice."

Team Leader Yang nodded vigorously, "Yes, it's more than 63,000 jin. Adding the ordinary rice, the total output of this summer harvest is more than 232,000 jin, an unprecedented bumper harvest!"

Chen Fan's mind raced, "A total income of 232,000 jin means we have to hand over 23,030 jin of public grain and 45,500 jin of purchased grain, leaving a total of more than 163,000 jin. Our Team 6 has more than 340 people, so on average, each person can get 480 jin of grain?"

Even if Jiang Lili said that they still had to reserve enough for the collective, and then distribute rations at 70% of the remainder, this grain should be enough to eat!

With so much grain, there was almost no risk of starvation.

What's more, this was just rice, and it didn't include other sideline income, such as cotton, rapeseed oil, fish in the fish pond, pigs in the pigsty, chickens, ducks, and geese in the cages, coarse grains such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes planted in inferior fields, vegetables in the vegetable garden, and so on.

From this point of view, although the income situation of Lujiawan was not as good as that of urban working families, it was not too far off, and even slightly stronger in terms of grain.

Just as Chen Fan was pondering silently, An Quan next to him said with a smile, "That's about right, but there's one thing that hasn't been deducted."

Chen Fan turned to look at him, "The part reserved for the collective?"

An Quan smiled and said, "Yes, and no."

After a pause, he explained, "The so-called collective is the production team, but above the production team, there is also the commune. So this part is officially called 'Three Extractions and Five Unifieds', which existed since the establishment of the production team in the 1950s.

Public grain and purchased grain are handed over to the state, and the 'Three Extractions and Five Unifieds' are handed over to the collective. Among them, the 'Three Extractions' are given to the brigade, including the 'Public Accumulation Fund', 'Public Welfare Fund', and 'Management Fee'. This part belongs to the village-level retention."

Hearing this, Chen Fan also remembered that the commonly said "retention" was this.

An Quan continued, "The Public Accumulation Fund is a public accumulation fund, mainly used for the maintenance and renovation of collective assets of the production brigade, such as the maintenance of the brigade headquarters' office space, and the investment in breeding farms, all of which use the Public Accumulation Fund.

The Public Welfare Fund is mainly used for relief, such as condolences to poor households, which use the Public Welfare Fund. The Management Fee is simple, the office expenses of the brigade headquarters and the subsidies for the cadres, that is, work point wages, are paid from the Management Fee."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Fan and smiled, "This also includes your work point expenses."

Chen Fan suddenly realized, "So the brigade headquarters' money comes from here?!"

At this time, he had already remembered the relevant memories of "Three Extractions and Five Unifieds", and immediately said, "Then the 'Five Unifieds' are handed over to the commune, right?"

An Quan nodded and said, "The retention is called village-level retention, and the Five Unifieds are called commune-level unified planning. Including the education surcharge, family planning fee, militia training fee, civil affairs preferential fee, and civilian transportation fee (rural road construction fee)."

That's right, there was also family planning this year, and it started to be promoted in 1971, but it wasn't written into the Constitution until 1982.

Even earlier, starting in the early 1960s, family planning had already been advocated.

It's just that at that time, it wasn't required to have one child, but it was advocated to have at most two.

At that time, there was also a slogan, "One is not too few, two is just right, three is too many."

In addition to slogans, there were also various propaganda picture albums and slogans, which were sent to the countryside by family planning workers to do ideological work for the commune members, one small team at a time.

At that time, it did have a very good effect. Whether in the city or in the countryside, the number of siblings of the generation born in the 1970s was much smaller than that of the generation born in the 1950s and 1960s.

Even in the city, more and more only-child families had appeared, all of which were affected by family planning propaganda.

On the contrary, the simple method of fines later was far less effective than the previous "propaganda team."

As for the other four items, the education surcharge was used to support schools. As for whether the village elementary school had received appropriations from the commune, Chen Fan said he hadn't paid attention.

There was a militia training fee. The equipment of the militia almost all came from the commune's allocation, and there was also a food subsidy for each collective training. The civil affairs preferential fee was for the five-guarantee households and the like. The civilian transportation fee was for road construction.

Each project had a specific destination, and the specific details were only known to the commune leaders.

Listening to An Quan's words, Chen Fan suddenly thought of a question, and he asked, "How much do the Three Extractions and Five Unifieds have to pay?"

An Quan smiled and shook his head, "Not much, it mainly depends on the production team's expenses in the previous year, the plans for the coming year, and the harvest situation of the production team. Generally speaking, adding them up is about half the amount of public grain."

Only public grain, not including purchased grain.

That is, about 5% of the total income.

Only 50%, doesn't it seem high?

But at this time, Chen Fan secretly sighed.

It's not high now, but it will be several times the public grain in the future.

The highest example is more than 15 times, isn't it terrible?!

It's a pity that even if Chen Fan knew the result, there was nothing he could do.

This kind of thing is not something he can worry about.

Forget it, let's take care of the people around me first!

...

After completing the task of handing over grain, the three were not in a hurry to return to the small team. They walked north along the main road of Lujiawan, neither going to Team 6 nor to the brigade headquarters, but strolling all the way to the small water tower.

Ye Shubao was there, staring at the progress of the construction. Naturally, Master Qiu and Master Ma were in charge of directing.

When they saw the three coming over, they greeted them with a smile.

Master Qiu smiled at Chen Fan and said, "I heard you went to hand over public grain today?"

If it had been for some other reason, they might have been a little unhappy. After all, they had stayed to tell Chen Fan stories, but the next day he was gone. Wasn't that deliberately teasing them?

However, when they heard that it was for handing over public grain, they had no temper at all.

Having come from the countryside themselves, they naturally understood the importance of delivering public grain to the production team.

On the contrary, seeing Chen Fan, a coordinator from the brigade, going to deliver public grain with the team made them think he was a man of action, which gave them an even better impression.

Ye Shubao also inquired about the delivery of public grain.

Team Leader Yang immediately stepped forward and said with a hearty laugh, "It went very smoothly.

Our team was the first to arrive today, and the inspectors were very easy to talk to.

They helped with the inspection as soon as they started work, and then the weighing and warehousing went very smoothly.

We finished everything at about 11 o'clock."

Ye Shubao was an old hand, and as soon as he heard this, he knew there must be something fishy going on.

However, since there were outsiders present, he didn't say much, but just nodded and smiled, "Smooth is good, smooth is good."

Team Leader Yang looked up at the cylindrical structure that was already three stories high and asked with his mouth open, "How high will this be built?"

"It'll be soon."

Master Qiu took a puff of his cigarette and said, looking at the water tower, "The terrain here is uneven, and the houses are generally built on the hillside.

If you build multi-story buildings in the future, the requirements for water pressure will be even higher.

Even though the terrain here isn't low, to be on the safe side, we're still building the water tower a bit higher."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Chen Fan, "Teacher Chen designed the height to be 15 meters, which is equivalent to the height of a five-story building.

The bottom is the support section, and the top is the water storage layer.

Moreover, for safety and stability, the foundation diameter has also been enlarged.

In fact, according to this foundation, it would be no problem to build it to 20 meters, and the 50-cubic-meter water tank above could also be slightly expanded.

According to this design standard, as long as you don't build buildings higher than three stories, even ordinary three-story buildings, you don't have to worry about water pressure."

Team Leader Yang didn't understand the technical standards that Master Qiu was talking about, but he understood that it was possible to build a three-story building, so he laughed and said, "What's the point of building a three-story building?

Building a two-story building is already very good."

It was entirely foreseeable that after Chen Fan taught everyone how to make earth bricks, Lujia Bay would definitely usher in a building boom this winter.

Maybe some people would even learn from Chen Fan's house design and build two-story buildings.

But as for three-story buildings, there was absolutely no need for that!

While they were chatting about the small water tower, An Quan and Ye Shubao took the opportunity to discuss the matters of the breeding farm.

Although the vast majority of chickens, ducks, and geese were raised in individual households, the brigade also had to worry about feed and disease prevention.

In addition, the rabbits in the breeding farm were gradually getting on the right track.

Under Chen Fan's almost meticulous guidance, all the situations were within expectation and control.

The two veterinarians staying at the breeding farm day and night with several breeding workers was the best guarantee.

In addition, there were 11 more mules, horses, donkeys, and cattle in the brigade's livestock shed this year.

When these livestock grew up, they would definitely greatly help improve the production team's transportation capacity.

So what An Quan and Ye Shubao were talking about now was the sales problem for the next stage.

An Quan flicked the ash from his cigarette, frowned, and said, "The number of households in the production team participating in breeding has reached 90%.

The remaining 10% have also increased the number of chickens they raise based on the original number.

The entire brigade has a total of 586 households, and those who participated in breeding each have 30 chickens, 20 ducks, and 10 geese.

In addition, each team also has its own duck herders, and each team has about 300 ducks and geese.

Adding this up, there are almost 17,000 chickens, 13,000 ducks, and 6,000 geese, which is much more than the number of rabbits.

Relying on a single Nanhua Commune, we definitely can't consume so much goods.

We still have to prepare in advance and follow Little Chen's suggestion to contact the channels in the county more often.

We must sell all these chickens, ducks, and geese."

Ye Shubao nodded repeatedly, "The chickens we raise generally start to slow down their growth after 6 months, and they are basically fully grown at 8 months.

The first batch of chicks was brought back in March, and it has been more than 4 months.

These chickens eat grass and leaf feed mixed with earthworm meat, and they also eat a meal of rice bran every few days.

They are almost the same size as the 6-month-old chickens in the past, and each one weighs more than 2 kilograms.

It is estimated that they can be sold in another month or so."

As he spoke, he sighed faintly, "If we don't sell them soon, the hens can still lay eggs, but the roosters are just wasting feed, which is not cost-effective.

Also, the ducks and geese are actually already grown up and can be sold at this time.

We should strive to sell a batch as soon as possible, on the one hand, to make room for new poultry seedlings, and on the other hand, to recover a sum of money.

We will soon have to pay the 'Five Unified Fees'.

There is only a little change in the brigade's account, and we also have to repay the money owed to other production teams…"

These raised chickens, ducks, and geese cannot be regarded as the private property of the commune members, because the seedlings are provided by the brigade.

They are only responsible for raising them.

After these chickens, ducks, and geese grow up and are sold, the money sold will first deduct the cost of seedlings and feed, and the remaining money will be distributed according to the ratio of 6:2:2.

The commune member families get 60%, and the team and brigade each get 20%.

The team seems to have invested nothing, but what they invest is management cost.

The team veterinarian is responsible for the disease prevention of all poultry and livestock in the team, and the money collected by the team will eventually be used for the team's infrastructure construction and other expenses.

Everyone has no objection to this.

Ye Shubao put his hands on his hips, let out a long breath, and said with a sad face, "The key is that we don't know anyone in the county.

How are we going to find this way?!"

The two looked at each other, and their worries increased.

Although An Quan can also be regarded as a grassroots cadre, he also knows a few old educated youth comrades in the county.

Those people work in several units in the county and can ask them to think of a solution.

But unless a long-term sales channel can be opened, such as setting up fixed stalls in several vegetable markets in the county, how many chickens, ducks, and geese can be sold by relying on a few acquaintances?

When building the breeding farm a few months ago, Chen Fan did give sales ideas, but at that time it sounded very easy.

Now that we are going to do it, we realize that there are many difficulties.

An Quan turned his head and happened to see Chen Fan listening attentively to Master Ma telling stories, and he also took notes with a serious attitude, exclaiming from time to time,

"Wow, that's amazing?"

"So the difference between a master worker and a junior worker is so big!"

"So it's said that knowledge is very important, and experience is also very important.

Didn't you give the experts from the province a lesson this time!"

"Master Ma, don't be humble, can a veteran master be ordinary?!"

An Quan's mouth twitched as he listened.

I didn't expect you to be such a Teacher Chen!

He turned around and gave Ye Shubao a wink.

Ye Shubao said thoughtfully, "You mean let Little Chen think of a way?"

An Quan smiled slightly, leaned closer to him, and said in a low voice, "That's one aspect.

Another thing, don't you think Master Ma and Master Qiu can help?"

Ye Shubao was stunned, "What do you mean?"

An Quan smiled and said, "The county construction company is a big unit, with seven or eight hundred official workers, plus two or three hundred temporary workers, plus their employees' families, I'm afraid three thousand people won't be enough…"

Hearing this, Ye Shubao instantly understood, and an eerie smile appeared on his face.

In this hot weather, An Quan couldn't help but shiver, glared at him fiercely, "It's a good business, can you not make it seem like you're plotting conspiracies and tricks?

You have to be more positive."

Ye Shubao immediately coughed dryly, adjusted his expression, straightened his attitude, and then put his hands behind his back, made eye contact with An Quan, and the two walked towards Chen Fan together.

Chen Fan was listening with great interest, and when he saw the two of them walking over, he couldn't help but ask, "Team Leader Ye, is there something wrong?"

At this time, Ye Shubao's expression was quite heavy.

An Quan also sighed, trying to recall how his wife kicked him out of bed last night, and said in a deep voice, "Isn't it all for the breeding farm's business?"

Chen Fan was stunned, and the famous saying flashed in his mind: "A great fortune means nothing when livestock is involved."

No matter how much wealth you have, as long as there is an epidemic, even a "million-dollar chicken" can be wiped out!

He immediately asked anxiously, "What's wrong with the breeding farm?"

Don't let there be any problems.

Then he heard An Quan say, "The earliest batch of chickens, ducks, and geese have been raised for more than 4 months.

The ducks and geese have a short production cycle and could have been sold long ago, and the chickens are estimated to be ready in these two months, but we don't have any way to sell them.

You have to help us think of a way!"