Reborn in 1977

Chapter 394: Dong, clang, dong, clang!

September 28th, Water Transportation Company Repair Shop.

Today was the day the large boat was launched and delivered. More than a dozen people from Lujiawan stood on the bank, watching the traction cables slowly lower the large steel frame. After a moment, the steel frame was completely submerged in the water along the guide rails. The large wooden boat on top of it shook a few times before settling on the water's surface.

The boat drifted a short distance with the current, just away from the steel frame. Then, first a long whistle sounded, followed by a burst of roaring, and billowing water sprayed from the stern, pushing the boat forward slowly.

The large wooden boat first sailed to the center of the river. After reaching the middle, it emitted two short whistles, then turned left along the river, heading downstream.

The large wooden boat went down with the current, sailing for about two or three miles. The silhouette of the boat became smaller and smaller. At this time, there were two more short whistles, the hull slowly turned sideways, and then it turned left again, heading back against the river.

Chen Fan blinked and asked curiously, "A long whistle means leaving the berth, two short whistles mean turning left, how many whistles mean turning right?"

Secretary Tian stood next to him and laughed, "Did you figure that out yourself just now?"

Chen Fan smiled and pointed to the boat, "Listening to the signals and watching the actions, shouldn't be wrong, right?"

Secretary Tian nodded repeatedly and smiled, "That's right, that's right. A long whistle means starting the boat, two short whistles mean turning left, one short whistle means turning right. Sailing a boat is like driving a car. The waterway is also on the right. When two boats meet, they usually pass from the other boat's port side.

When turning left, you will use the whistle to remind the other boat to pass from the outside of the turn, which is the starboard side, and vice versa.

Also, three short whistles mean reversing, and four whistles mean rejecting the other party's request. Generally, four whistles are the most. Then there are combinations of long and short sounds. There are nearly twenty kinds of whistle signals.

So, sailing a boat is not just steering, but also whistling. In addition, you must also understand the boat's size parameters, turning radius, and be familiar with the hydrological information and river flow of each waterway…"

After saying a lot, he looked at the approaching large boat and said seriously, "That is, your cargo ships only run fixed routes from here to the prefectural committee and the county town wharf. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to issue driver's licenses to those few people without half a year of training."

He was talking about the several drivers sent by Lujiawan for training, who were preparing for the large boat.

When Secretary Yang heard his words, he immediately said, "Secretary Tian, don't worry. We will definitely cherish our own boat and will never mess around. If they don't practice their skills well, I won't let them leave the dock!"

No matter how beautiful the words were, they couldn't hide the cold sweat on his forehead.

Good heavens, the villagers who used to drive the assembled small boats didn't understand any long or short whistles. Basically, they relied on their eyesight to navigate on the water, just like driving fishing boats. Fortunately, nothing happened, otherwise, if they were hit by someone, people would still say it was their responsibility, and there would be nowhere to cry.

The large boat with the installed marine propeller was different. In a few words, the large wooden boat had already sailed over. At this time, the steel frame had already been pulled back to the dock. The large boat steadily docked in front of the dock, lowered the iron anchor at the bow, and two sailors threw down the cable ropes and tied them to the wooden stakes to secure the hull. Then, they pushed down two gangplanks to connect to the shore.

Everyone went on board along the gangplank and walked to the deck. Secretary Tian turned around and smiled at Secretary Yang, "Take a look at your boat, are you satisfied?"

Cui Baozhang had already reported the parameters: the boat was 23 meters long, 4 meters wide, and had a draft of 1.6 meters. There was no need to mention the load capacity. For Lujiawan's agricultural products, it wouldn't press down to the deepest waterline or pile up above the driver's cabin's line of sight anyway.

Within the scope of the cargo hold baffle, load whatever you want!

If the live poultry cage is used as the standard, its loading capacity is more than 10 times that of the assembled small boat.

In addition to the cargo hold, the cabin at the stern is also a highlight.

Now, almost all wooden cargo ships have only one-story cabins. The engine room is inside the deck of the cabin, and a wooden house is built on top of the deck. The front is the driver's room, and the back is the kitchen and rest room. That's basically it.

And this wooden boat, at Chen Fan's request, had two-story cabins. The first floor was slightly shorter, with the engine room in the back and the kitchen in the front. The second floor was higher, with the driver's cabin in the front and two rest rooms in the back.

This one boat can accommodate 3 to 5 people living on the boat at the same time. If you squeeze, 6 or 7 people can also fit, almost catching up with the Water Transportation Company's large cement boat.

Chen Fan wandered around the boat and couldn't help but nod secretly. These two thousand yuan were definitely worth it!

Even he was so satisfied, so Secretary Yang and the others naturally had nothing to say. They immediately completed the handover procedures, and then the helmsman master arranged by the Water Transportation Company helped to drive it back.

The boat went upstream against the river, and after a few minutes, it arrived at Lujiawan's territory.

The villagers of Lujiawan, who knew that they were going to pick up the boat today, had already waited on the dike, all looking forward to seeing a boat coming.

Secretary Yang stood in the driver's cabin and quickly greeted, "Master, master, please move closer to the side so that the villagers in our team can see it."

The helmsman master would naturally not refuse this small request. He took the cigarette and clipped it behind his ear, and laughed, "You Lujiawan are going to shake up this time. Besides our Water Transportation Company, which production team has such a big boat?"

Secretary Yang was so happy that he couldn't open his eyes, "Hahahaha, you're too kind, you're too kind. We're just lucky, and we still have to thank your unit for your help."

Being praised, the veteran master also smiled happily and brought the boat closer to the river bank, almost sticking to the dike.

Chen Fan looked at the dike only three or four meters away, and the distance remained unchanged, and couldn't help but gasp. This veteran master is really a veteran master!

When they got closer, the people on the river bank could already see Team Leader Zhang and the others standing on the deck.

Team Leader Zhang of the 5th team, who was Zhang Wenliang's father, suddenly turned around, raised his hands, and shouted, "Start the gongs and drums!"

A gong and drum team immediately began to beat the gongs and drums, dong, clang, dong, clang… The passionate sound of gongs and drums resounded on the river bank, interspersed with a few sounds of cymbals crashing.

Two more people each picked up a bamboo pole, with 500-firecracker strings hanging on it. After lighting them, there was a burst of crackling noises.

Then, in less than half a minute, it was gone. At this time, the boat hadn't even reached the front.

Zhang Guangwen couldn't help but stomp his feet and chest, "We shouldn't have bought electric firecrackers. They're gone in a flash. It's better to buy small red firecrackers."

A 14 or 15-year-old boy immediately ran over, took out two strings of 200-firecracker small red firecrackers from his bag, and said happily, "Uncle, look!"

Zhang Guangwen was overjoyed, "Good, good, good, light them quickly."

Then he was a little suspicious, "This isn't something you saved for yourself to play with, is it?"

The boy turned around and slipped away.

At this time, the boat had already sailed in front of them, and the brigade leaders were grinning, while the others were jumping and cheering, greeting the people on the shore.

The later small red firecrackers had also been lit at this time, just in time to make a crackling sound towards the boat.

After the 200-firecracker small red firecrackers were set off, the large wooden boat happened to pass by the 5th team's village and headed towards the 4th team.

The people waiting in front of the 4th team had already faintly heard the movement from the 5th team. Everyone was standing on tiptoes, looking forward, and could already see the shadow of the wooden boat.

Captain Wang Dongping couldn't care less that the boat hadn't arrived yet, and immediately raised his right hand, "Comrades, start the gongs and drums!"

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a dong, clang, dong, clang sound.

Old Master Wang Decang of the Wang family leaned on his crutches, shielded his eyes with his hand and looked forward. After a while, he grinned and laughed, "It's coming, it's really coming."

He didn't care who was next to him, grabbed the other person's arm and said, "In the old days, many people from our old Wang family worked in that dock, building large boats. I don't know how many boats were built, but I never thought that I, we, could become the owners of large boats."

He smiled and wiped his face, "Although the boat belongs to the production team, the production team belongs to everyone. Everyone in our Lujiawan is a boat owner, hahahaha…"

The large wooden boat sailed north all the way, and each team along the coast organized gong and drum teams to greet it. The sound of large and small firecrackers kept ringing, more joyful than the New Year.

When the boat sailed to the 1st team, the helmsman master didn't dare to sail close to the river bank anymore. He first went straight to the center of the river that had a big bend, and then turned around to the southeast.

The river surrounding Lujiawan is very interesting. The direction of the water flow is not fixed.

The Yangtze River water is higher than the water level of the Liuhua River, so the Yangtze River water backflows and flows into the confluence of Lujiawan's 7th team through the Liuhua River. The water flow then diverges, one heading north, turning southwest after a big bend, and the other heading south, flowing in a southeast direction.

So even if it turned around, the large boat was still going against the current.

They waited until they passed the river exchange point of the 7th team before turning downstream.

Before long, they arrived at the temporary dock of the 6th team.

Only then did the big boat dock and stop.

Today was a day for celebration at Lujiawan for receiving the boat. Secretary Yang had already invited Secretary Tian of the Water Transport Company and Cui Baozhang to come over. Right there on the big boat, Liu Jujiang, along with a group of female comrades, slaughtered chickens and geese, preparing several tables of sumptuous meals.

For a while, the dock was filled with laughter and cheerful voices. It wasn't until the sun began to set in the west that Secretary Yang arranged for people to send Secretary Tian and the others back by horse-drawn carriage.

…

On the deck, Secretary Yang paced back and forth, measuring the deck with his feet. After a long while, he stood at the bow, looking at the assembled small boats in front, and said with emotion, "Lujiawan has come to this day!"

Ye Shubao lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and grinned, "We've traded muskets for cannons! Things will definitely get better and better in the future."

Team Leader Zhang walked over and said, "Getting better and better is for sure, but…"

His face showed some hesitation, and he looked around before quietly saying, "Old Ye, this boat is so big, can we fill it with our chickens and ducks every day?"

Ye Shubao choked and glared at him, "Old Zhang, can't you think of something positive on such a joyous day?"

Xiao Liewen also chimed in with a chuckle, "See, I didn't mention it. If you want to ask, you should wait until we get back to the brigade headquarters and ask Sanhu."

Zhang Wenliang walked over and said weakly, "Then you might as well ask me now."

Xiao Liewen looked at him, "Will I get good news if I ask you now?"

Zhang Wenliang gave a forced dry laugh, "No."

Ye Shubao could be considered to be on the same boat as him. Uh, well, it seemed that the four of them were on the same boat with him.

Xiao Liewen was Zhang Wenliang's half-teacher and direct superior. Ye Shubao and he were jointly responsible for the management of the sideline production team. Team Leader Zhang was his own uncle, and Secretary Yang…

Ye Shubao glanced at Yang Xingxiu, who was not far away, and thought silently, 'It just depends on when he calls Secretary Yang 'Dad!'

His thoughts raced, and Ye Shubao cleared his throat and said with a soft laugh, "We can't blame Sanhu for this. The two tasks we gave him before, especially the purchase of live poultry, were completed very well. He and his team can buy three or four hundred chickens and ducks every day.

It's just that opening up the out-of-town market is not easy. Shuanghe County is still okay. Xiao Chen has already smoothed things over with their Health Bureau. Sanhuzi went over there and opened two cooked food stores in front of their hospital. The business is still decent, with daily sales of eight hundred to a thousand yuan."

Speaking of this, Ye Shubao himself felt like he was floating.

When did he start looking down on daily sales of eight hundred or a thousand yuan?

He shook his head to get rid of this arrogant thought and continued, "But the other counties aren't giving us any face at all. As soon as we mention opening a cooked food store, they make all sorts of excuses to prevaricate. One moment it's against the rules, the next they say they have their own arrangements. Anyway, they just don't agree.

If they don't agree, there's nothing Sanhuzi can do. He can't just shamelessly pester them, can he?"

Xiao Liewen looked at him in surprise, "Oh, not bad! You even used two idioms!"

Ye Shubao was speechless, "Is that the point?"

Xiao Liewen waved his hand, "Alright, alright, no one is blaming him."

He took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, borrowed a light from Ye Shubao's cigarette, and said as he smoked, "Before, with Xiao Chen taking the lead, it was like fighting a battle with the wind at our backs, unstoppable. It made me think that running a sideline business was easy. We've had such smooth sailing from contracting seedlings to opening cooked food stores."

Ye Shubao took a puff of his cigarette and chuckled, "You're not bad either. You've used two idioms in a row. It seems you've been secretly studying at home."

Xiao Liewen glared at him and continued, "It wasn't until Sanhuzi took over that I realized how difficult it is to run a sideline business. The only unit that succeeded was thanks to Xiao Chen's connections. Without that, if we had to do it ourselves…"

He shook his head repeatedly, "Difficult, oh."

Team Leader Zhang took a puff of his cigarette, looked at the river in the distance, and sighed, "What isn't difficult? When I used to go out and look for odd jobs, I saw people selling chicks. If it rained heavily, an entire basket of chicks could die, and they wouldn't even be able to cry.

Three or four years ago, in the Qingshan Commune, some people from out of town who were trying to make a living had their carts overturned into a ditch. All their belongings were submerged in the water. They were so distraught that they wanted to hang themselves on the spot. If the local production team hadn't helped them salvage what they could and given them dozens of pounds of rice and a few quilts, they probably wouldn't have made it through the winter. Who isn't having a hard time?"

After saying that, he looked up at Zhang Wenliang and said seriously, "But no matter how difficult things are, they can't compare to the difficulty our army had in conquering the world back then. Sanhuzi, you're still young and haven't really suffered. It's not necessarily a bad thing that you've hit a wall this time.

Difficulty isn't scary. Being timid is what's scary. As long as you put your back into it and keep moving forward, you'll definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Ye Shubao and Xiao Liewen were both surprised, "Oh, you can even use two idioms in a row now."

Zhang Changjiang rolled his eyes, "Get lost."

Zhang Wenliang saw them joking and tugged at the corners of his mouth but didn't smile.

After a pause of two seconds, he nodded heavily and said, "Uncle, don't worry. This little thing is nothing. I'll continue to try again later. If they don't let me open a store, I'll just pick up a basket, take the cooked food I've made, and go to the docks of those counties as a peddler!"

Zhang Changjiang nodded with satisfaction, "That's the spirit."

After chatting, Ye Shubao turned his head and looked around, "Hey, where's Xiao Chen?"

Hearing this, the others also looked around, but they couldn't see Chen Fan.

At this moment, Yang Xingxiu walked over and said softly, "After sending Secretary Tian and the others away, Xiao Chen said hello to me and said he had too much to drink and was going home."

Zhang Wenliang glanced at Yang Xingxiu, who was slightly different from usual, and muttered to himself, 'Did this girl take the wrong medicine? She didn't even come to laugh at me at such a good opportunity?'

Just then, Yang Xingxiu said to him, "You've been running around every day. Don't think about this matter for the next two days. It's more important to prepare the celebration program. After you're done, start again. I believe you will definitely achieve something!"

Zhang Wenliang shuddered and looked at Yang Xingxiu in panic. 'Did this girl really take the wrong medicine?'

Yang Xingxiu knew what he was thinking as soon as she saw his expression. Without saying a word, she raised her leg and kicked him, then turned and left without saying anything else.

Zhang Wenliang breathed a sigh of relief. 'That's right, that's the feeling. It seems she didn't take the wrong medicine.'

Secretary Yang felt he couldn't bear to watch and could only sigh and shake his head, "Let's go, let's go. The program will be held the day after tomorrow. The commune will send representatives to observe the ceremony. Let's go back and discuss it again to see if there's anything we've overlooked, so we don't get outdone by the other teams and become a laughingstock."

Zhang Wenliang immediately said, "That's impossible. Our team is especially motivated this year and will definitely take first place!"

Xiao Liewen bit his pipe, blew hard, and blew the ashes out of the pipe bowl, scattering them in the wind.

He tapped the railing again and walked towards the gangplank with his hands behind his back, "Do more practical work and brag less. Bring your people over here tomorrow for a test, and you'll know how good they really are."

Secretary Yang and the others also got off the boat.

As they crossed the riverbank and walked down the slope, everyone could hear the sound of an accordion coming from the educated youth compound.

Secretary Yang said with a smile, "Sanhuzi, do you see that? No matter what else, Xiao Chen's attitude alone is worth learning from."

Zhang Wenliang stretched his neck and looked into the yard, but his view was blocked by the high courtyard wall.

He nodded mindlessly and walked forward, soon descending the slope and arriving at the gate of the educated youth compound.

The gate was wide open, and inside the courtyard, Chen Fan was sitting on a chair, playing the accordion attentively.

In front of him, four girls stood in a row, singing with serious expressions, "A thousand drops of sweat for a seedling, ten thousand loads of yellow earth for a mu of land, ah ah ah ah eh… We work hard through drought and flood, Dazhai flowers bloom in our hearts, Dazhai flowers bloom in our hearts."