Chapter 232 What if we can withstand it?
Jiang Si pondered for a moment, "I think the possibility is not very high."
As she spoke, she repeated what Huo Tingzhou had said.
"If the military really had money to give everyone subsidies, the barracks staff wouldn't have been so slow to start construction after so many days."
Hu Meili thought about it and agreed that it made sense.
If you say it's because it's the first two days after the typhoon makes landfall, and you can't buy materials or spare manpower, that's understandable.
But the floodwaters have receded for several days now.
Moreover, the supply trucks used by the troops to reach the county resumed operation yesterday.
But there's been no movement from the military camp stock side so far.
That only shows that the military is really short of money right now.
But upon closer reflection, it doesn't seem strange.
The Fourth Division is a major spender, with the Navy and Air Force alone costing millions of dollars annually.
If the Fourth Division hadn't started clearing land and preparing for war early on, raising money to build a state-run farm, it would have been a disaster.
Otherwise, relying solely on the meager military funding allocated by higher authorities, we probably wouldn't even be able to solve our basic needs for food and clothing.
Thinking of this, Hu Meili sighed.
"The disaster is so severe that we don't know when the farms down there will be able to resume production."
"It may not recover in the short term."
Although Jiang Si had never been to the farm below, she knew the situation in the family compound.
She felt the situation was not optimistic.
Xu Mingjuan's next words confirmed her guess.
The situation was even more serious than Jiang Si had imagined.
Xu Mingjuan said, "The issue now is not whether production can be resumed, but whether this farm can continue to operate."
"What does this mean?" Hu Meili asked, puzzled.
Xu Mingjuan then told them what she knew: "The leaders of the provincial military region came over early this morning. I heard that the higher-ups intend to shut down the farm."
"Shut down the farm?" Hu Meili's eyes widened.
"right."
“But a third of the military dependents in the family compound work on the farm. If the farm closes down, what will happen to their jobs?”
Although Hu Meili doesn't work on the farm, many of the items in the service center come from the farms below.
Another portion of the goods were obtained through the exchange of farm resources.
If the farm closes down, it will have a significant impact on them.
"Don't worry, Commander Yao and Political Commissar Li will definitely argue their case based on reason."
After a pause, Xu Mingjuan added, "Actually, it's quite normal for the higher-ups to have this idea about stopping the farm."
Jiang Si looked over and asked, "Sister-in-law, is it that the army can't afford the reconstruction?"
Xu Mingjuan nodded, "The collapse of the farm's factory building and the flooding of the production line alone will cost a considerable amount of money."
"If you add in the cost of replanting fruit trees, purchasing breeding pigs, and disability compensation for the workers..."
"It's like the previous ten years of hard work were for nothing, and now we have to put in hundreds of thousands more."
The accounts were jointly calculated by the logistics department and the finance department. When they saw the estimated amount, everyone gasped.
At that time, they had a premonition.
The farm reconstruction is probably doomed.
Sure enough, the people from the provincial military region arrived early this morning.
Xu Mingjuan said, "If it's just a matter of lacking money, that's easy to talk about."
"The main problem is that typhoons happen every year. If a factory collapses this year, it can be rebuilt; if a production line breaks down, it can be repaired. But what about next year?"
After hearing this, Hu Meili fell silent.
Jiang Si listened thoughtfully.
Yes, even the wealthiest family can't withstand the shock and blow of 'working hard for decades only to be wiped out overnight'.
Especially this kind of situation, where you've just started to appreciate the benefits, and then this happens suddenly.
This kind of blow is the most torturous.
But if...
Can the factory withstand a typhoon of this magnitude?
If we withstand the attack, does that mean the production line is saved?
Will the number of injured people decrease accordingly?
In those short two or three minutes, countless thoughts popped into Jiang Si's mind.
Thinking about all this, she looked up and asked, "Sister-in-law, what percentage of the total losses were due to the factory and production lines?"
Xu Mingjuan said, "Ninety percent!"
Upon hearing this number, Jiang Si fell into deep thought, and after a long while, she said, "Okay, I understand."
Upon hearing this, Xu Mingjuan and Hu Meili exchanged a glance.
What's the meaning?
What did she know?
The doubt in their eyes was too obvious, but Jiang Si didn't know the decision made by Commander Yao and Political Commissar Li at the moment, so she didn't explain too much.
After exchanging a few brief words, seeing that it was almost time, the group headed towards the political office.
Hu Meili was originally going to go along, but Xiao Qingqing was already at the age where she needed to be breastfed.
So she assigned the task to the eldest and second youngest sons.
The meeting was held in the large conference room of the Political Department.
The youngest and second youngest ran fast and went early to save seats for the two of them.
When Jiang Si and Xu Mingjuan arrived, the huge conference room was already packed with people.
"Auntie, over here, over here!" The second son waved frantically.
Seeing that a bunch of people had blocked the aisle, he quickly ordered his brother to help him.
"Brother, go and greet Auntie."
After saying that, he stretched out his hands and tightly protected the two seats.
Seeing this, Director Pan couldn't help but laugh and joke, "Don't worry, Weimin, no one will take your seat."
The younger brother thought to himself, "That's hard to say!"
He hadn't even had a chance to sit down properly when Xiaohong and Xiaohua's grandma came over.
They kept calling them "good girl," and he actually thought they had a change of heart.
As it turns out, no way!
They're only after their own seats.
The second child isn't stupid, so naturally he disagreed.
Then Grandma Xiaohong glared at him and said that he did not respect the elderly and care for the young.
Fortunately, his brother reacted quickly and immediately asked, "In the saying 'respect the elderly and love the young,' doesn't 'young' refer to children?"
Unlike him, he's slow to react.
They also frequently misuse idioms!
Then he opened his mouth and said to Grandma Xiaohong, "You took the child's seat, which is clearly wrong of you, but you still act disrespectfully and blame others!"
"And...and the way you were baring your teeth and brandishing your claws just now was just like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey!"
"Hmph, don't think that just because you're old, you can bully others and act like a bully!"
After thinking for a moment, the second child said again, "What you're doing is simply 'going too far'!"
Grandma Xiaohong's face immediately darkened. "What nonsense are you spouting?"
The second child blinked his innocent eyes, his expression extremely sincere.
"Grandma Xiaohong, I'm just telling the truth. I haven't distorted the facts or made any unreasonable arguments. Why are you so angry?"
Finally, Grandma Xiaohong rolled her eyes in anger and ran away.
It seems that Grandma Xiaohong is very angry.
Otherwise, she wouldn't still be glaring at him after so long.
"Why--"
Thinking about all this, the second son couldn't help but sigh.
Jiang Si arrived at this moment and saw the second son resting his chin on his hand, sighing and complaining.
I couldn't help but ask curiously, "What's wrong?"
Upon hearing this, the second child immediately shook his head.
My mother said that pregnancy is very hard.
He wouldn't talk about such unhappy things, lest he affect the mood of his aunts.
He quickly got up from the ground. "Auntie, please sit down."
At this moment, the eldest brother also helped Xu Mingjuan over.
"Auntie, slow down."
After the two aunts sat down, the two brothers sat cross-legged in front of them.
Seeing this, Jiang Si grabbed a handful of White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket and secretly stuffed them into their hands.
"Sweetie, eat up."
"Thank you, Auntie!"
The two brothers looked incredibly well-behaved, which moved Xu Mingjuan to tears.
"You know what, after a typhoon, these two kids really seemed to have grown up overnight."
"Yes." Jiang Si nodded with a smile.
Actually, she was quite worried a while ago that this pregnancy would result in twins.
But now that I think about it, having two sons seems pretty good too.
Director Pan, who was standing to the side, remained silent after hearing this.
Grandma Xiaohong, who was not far away, was so surprised that her eyes almost widened.
Those two little rascals are really good at pretending!
Just when she was feeling resentful and upset, someone patted her on the shoulder.
"Hey sis, hurry up, move your butt a little to the side."
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