Chapter 133
Li Hongliang wanted to refuse, but Xia Juhua's face turned serious: "Comrade Li, you have been in Ping'an Village for quite some time. Although I know you have called the troops to report, but you have been dragging your feet. Is this not your original idea?"
Since the troops had sent someone here specifically, they naturally wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible so as to test the results. Li Hongliang couldn't deny this, so he nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll report the recent situation to Captain Xia."
No matter how others called her Captain Xia, Xia Juhua still couldn't get used to it. She said to Li Hongliang, "If you don't mind that I'm a rural woman, you can just call me Auntie Xia. Calling me Captain Xia sounds too strange. We still have a long time to interact with each other in the future."
Li Hongliang grinned, "Okay, then we can call you Auntie. Auntie, we have indeed reported the situation of Ping'an Village and you to the army chief. After the army chief knew about some of the needs of Ping'an Village, he came forward to coordinate with the Chengping District. Now the power line has been connected to Hongxing Commune, and it will be connected to Ping'an Village in three to five days."
"Also, we have found the laminator you mentioned, but we don't know how many Ping An Village will need."
Hearing that the laminator had been found, Xia Juhua was naturally delighted: "That's good. How much is one?"
Li Hongliang and the other man looked at each other and said, "The commander said that if it weren't for the production of hot and sour noodles for the troops, you wouldn't have to buy a laminator, so the money for the laminator should be paid by the troops."
Xia Juhua shook her head and said, "Ping An Zhuang should buy the equipment by itself. You don't have to persuade me." Seeing that Li Hongliang wanted to say something, Xia Juhua stopped him directly. "This is what I think. If you don't come to me, Ping An Zhuang will also build its own vermicelli factory and buy equipment. It's just that it may not need a plastic sealing machine for the time being. But Ping An Zhuang's vermicelli factory needs to develop, and plastic sealing machines will have to be purchased in the future. You found it for us now, which is a big help. If the army gives us money again, we will not feel at ease using it. I have to think, after the hot and sour vermicelli is processed, will you take the equipment away or not?"
This is indeed a problem. The army's funds have always been tight, and they have to spend a lot of energy to coordinate sweet potatoes everywhere. Not to mention that they have to spend extra energy and money. Li Hongliang has made it clear that the army will not let Ping'an Village work in vain, so Xia Juhua, as the captain of Ping'an Village, cannot add extra burden to the army.
Li Hongliang stood up and saluted Xia Juhua. Xia Juhua hurriedly pulled him to sit down, and the two continued to discuss the matter of hot and sour noodles: the raw materials used for sweet potatoes and seasonings would still be coordinated by the troops and transported to Ping'an Village, and the troops would pay a processing fee of one cent for each bag of hot and sour noodles.
In order to get Li Hongliang to agree to this price, Xia Juhua took a lot of effort to persuade him: the processing fee of one cent per bag sounds not high, but the raw materials are all provided by the troops, and Ping'anzhuang's costs are only labor and electricity.
Nowadays, one kilowatt-hour of electricity used for lighting costs only two cents, and industrial electricity may be a little higher at four cents. If it is spread out on each bag of hot and sour noodles, it is less than four cents.
The remaining 6 cents is labor cost. Xia Juhua believes that as long as the production volume increases, at least the wages of production staff can be guaranteed to reach the work points of the Ping'anzhuang production team last year.
Last year, the work points of the Ping'anzhuang production team were worth 2.6 yuan, which means 10 work points a day is 2.6 yuan. The monthly income is more than 70 to nearly 80 yuan, which is close to the salary of Li Hongliang, a company-level cadre.
"So don't feel bad. As long as we have sweet potatoes all year round, our Ping'anzhuang Brigade will not suffer any loss." This is what Xia Juhua advised Li Hongliang.
Li Hongliang finally proposed that the troops help coordinate the coal used for burning bricks in Pinganzhuang Vermicelli Factory. Xia Juhua thought about it and agreed. The comrades in the troops were uneasy about the processing fee of one cent. They wanted to compensate the members of Pinganzhuang as much as possible. If they did not agree, they would be uneasy. When the coal was brought in, Pinganzhuang Brigade would pay for it. After all, if Xia Juhua was asked to find coal by herself, she might not find so much.
After seeing Li Hongliang off, Xia Juhua went to the brigade headquarters. Li Changshun was indeed there. When he saw Xia Juhua coming, he asked hurriedly, "Why don't you stay at home and rest for a few days? What are you doing here? If you have anything to say, please let Zhishuang come and tell me. I'll come find you."
Hearing him worrying about her, Xia Juhua looked at Li Changshun's legs with some sadness - since Li Changshun became the captain of Ping'an Village after retiring from the army, he has never rested for a day because of his leg injury.
She didn't want to talk about her own health anymore, so she asked, "Captain, I didn't agree with you that day about processing hot and sour noodles for the troops without processing fees. Are you angry?"
Li Changshun smiled: "Why should I be angry? Later I figured it out. We promised not to charge processing fees, but the members have to eat and drink, and they have to support their families. It's okay to work for free for one or two days, but if we work for a long time, we will definitely be resentful towards the troops."
"That's it." Xia Juhua was very happy that Li Changshun could figure it out on his own, and asked with confidence: "How are the bricks being made by each production team? If they are almost ready, start firing them in the kiln."
Xiawo Brigade had only one kiln, and the bricks needed to build the vermicelli factory were estimated to be around 400,000 to 500,000. They could only be fired slowly. One day earlier could produce one more kiln of bricks.
Li Changshun calculated in his mind and said, "I estimate that the production teams have already dried more than 100,000 adobe bricks, and there are about 200,000 bricks drying now."
"That's still a few hundred thousand bricks short, and we need to lay the tiles, too." Xia Juhua was not worried about not having enough adobe bricks, but she was worried about not laying the tiles in time - building a house with just four walls is definitely not enough, you need tiles to cover the roof. When you think of tiles, you think of the beams and purlins that are also needed, and they are not easy to replace.
Li Changshun was worried about coal. He was very happy to hear that the army could coordinate. He was not happy to take advantage of the army, but the army's coordination of coal could prove to the members that the army was doing its best to help Ping'an Village develop production and did not take advantage of Ping'an Village.
As a veteran, Li Changshun would not allow any gossip that would tarnish the reputation of the unit to be spread.
However, he would not completely sacrifice the interests of the members, and asked with some concern: "Only one cent per bag, no compensation?"
Xia Juhua smiled and said, "I have been lying in bed these days and have nothing to do. I calculated the labor and other costs. As long as we produce enough, we won't lose money. You forgot that we have electricity now, so we can save a lot of manpower."
"Won't that mean there will be fewer people to use?" Li Changshun had a new worry.
Xia Juhua was sure about this: "Of course, we will need more people. The production this time is large, so it will take a lot of people to pick and wash the sweet potatoes, and it will also take a lot of people to make the vermicelli balls and prepare the seasonings."
Li Changshun was still worried: "You came up with the seasoning yourself. If someone else learns it, you..." Aren't you worried that the apprentice will starve himself to death?
Are you worried? Of course you are, but Xia Juhua has a plan to deal with it: "You can only guarantee that you will not lose money if you produce it in large quantities. If you just make it on a small scale at home, you won't even consider the labor costs. People who know how to calculate the cost won't do that. But I'm also afraid that someone will take the seasoning formula and give it to someone else to start a factory, so at the beginning, I still do the last step of the preparation myself. After a long time, I can pick a few reliable people to teach me."
Li Changshun was relieved. The two discussed that the vermicelli that should be delivered to the grain station had already been delivered, so the remaining vermicelli in Ping'an Village, except for the ones that Qi Weidong had already ordered, would not be sold anymore, but sold to the members at cost price - everyone had missed out on the vermicelli for half a year, and they couldn't go without a bite.
The entire Ping'anzhuang Brigade was mobilized all at once. Since there were not many sweet potatoes in the powder room, not so many people were needed, so those who were free went to make tiles: with the model from the Xia'ou Brigade, it would be easy to find carpenters to copy it.
In addition to the tile laying workers, there were also people who helped the power supply bureau to erect poles and pull cables. It was not until the poles reached the entrance of Team 5 that everyone felt that Pingan Village was really going to have electricity.
Now everyone was even more motivated - in the surrounding area, apart from the commune, which other brigade had electricity? Only Ping'an Village had electricity! When people heard about this, they couldn't help but puff out their chests.
Ping'an Village is able to rely on the fact that it can now not only use tractors to plow the soil, but also has seed drills for sowing seeds, which greatly saves the manpower needed to go to the fields. Otherwise, no matter how proud they are, the crops in the fields will be wasted.
The production captains of each team have now transformed into Zhou Baopi, and every day before dawn they shout at the members to get up and go to the fields, dozers, and remove damaged bricks. Xia Juhua doesn't have to worry about anything - Li Changshun has told them that whether it is electricity or the future combine harvesters, they are all what Xia Juhua fought hard for for everyone at the expo.
Xia Juhua is exhausted outside. Would I still be a human being if I made her worry about me when I come back?
If Xia Juhua was exhausted again, would they be able to accomplish something bigger for the Ping'an Village Brigade than turning on the electricity or bringing in the harvesters? They couldn't, but Xia Juhua might very well be able to do it.
If we want Xia Juhua to continue to do big things for Ping An Village, then we have to make sure that Xia Juhua doesn't worry too much about these little things - if you can't do big things, and you can't even handle small things, what are you production team leaders for? !
Although Li Changshun hoped that Xia Juhua would worry less, it was impossible for her to not think about anything at all. Now she was thinking about the storage of sweet potatoes: she was still thinking about the cold storage.
Since Ping'an Village has electricity, it should not be a problem to build a cold storage. On the contrary, if it is not built, it will affect the supply of hot and sour noodles to the troops. Xia Juhua had already mentioned this issue when negotiating with Li Hongliang.
最終幫助夏菊花解決的還是遠在京城的薛技術員。那是夏菊花借到齊小叔辦公室給楊司長打電話、希望能替平德縣多要兩臺聯合收割機的機會，同時給薛技術員打了個電話。
可能是有楊司長同意替平德縣再協調兩臺聯合收割機的喜氣加成，薛技術員聽說平安莊要替部隊大量生産酸辣粉兒，只沉吟了一下，就答應替夏菊花找如何建冷庫的圖紙，還讓夏菊花先把庫房建起來。
于是平安莊的社員們要脫的土坯更多了，卻沒有一個叫苦叫累的：自從平安莊開始漏粉起，每到開春出現紅薯腐爛是不可避免的問題，現在聽說要建一個讓紅薯長年不壞的冷庫，大家都高興着呢——都是種地的，誰願意看到自己辛苦種出來的東西，白白爛掉？就算不是自己種的，不爛的話不是還能變成錢嘛。
結果就是平安莊大隊通電不久，建冷庫的土坯還沒燒成磚，薛技術員親自帶着圖紙出現在了劉家院門前，可把夏菊花給吓了一跳：“你咋來了，也不提前打聲招呼。”
薛技術員可不覺得夏菊花是不歡迎他：“我聽我叔說，嬸子你現在可是L省的大功臣了，要是再不來，怕你下次都不認我了。”
“不認誰也得認你。”夏菊花笑着把他讓進屋，又給他沏了一杯麥乳精才問：“你這是要幫我們建好冷庫再走？”
薛技術員點點頭：“不光是冷庫，還有絞漿機、定型機、烘幹機，我都有些想法，也帶了一些圖紙，能改進的改進，能試驗的試驗，争取讓你們實現半自動生産。”
半自動生産呀，聽聽就讓人心生向往。夏菊花自是高興的說：“那敢情好，做起紅薯粉來更方便了。”
不過也有不好的地方，那就是以前夏菊花他們自己琢磨出來的廠房劃分，都得推倒重來。薛技術員最先要建好的，還是夏菊花最關心的冷庫：部隊協調的紅薯馬上就要運到了，如果沒有冷庫的話，只怕放不上幾天紅薯就得開始爛。
紅薯爛了沒有原糧，建再好的廠房，試驗再多的機器都是一場笑話。
好在最早一批磚已經燒出來了，平安莊的壯勞力們不分生産隊，齊心協力用了不到三天時間，便把地基打好，按照薛技術員的圖紙壘好牆體，就等着上梁。
“大隊長，梁啥時候能拉來？”李大牛看着比原來平安莊漏粉房大出一倍的冷庫牆體，有些擔心的說：“一根大梁怕是不夠呀。”
“志雙他們已經去拉了，地區供銷社替咱們協調了三十根大梁，縣裏運輸隊去了兩臺上車呢。有了這三十根大梁，足夠咱們把廠子都建好了。”夏菊花自己也算着時間呢，今天肯定能把梁都拉回來。
李大牛幾個看向夏菊花的眼神裏都挺佩服。他們覺得李長順說的沒錯，離了夏菊花，這麽大的事兒他們真的辦不來：
來幫着建冷庫的薛技術員，是夏菊花聯系的。縣裏運輸隊的車，是看夏菊花的面子派的。地區供銷社，更是他們平時接觸不上的，更別說一個電話，人家就幫着協調大梁和檩子……
樁樁件件，只說明了一件是，那就是跟着夏菊花幹，才有好日子過。
夏菊花算的沒錯，大梁和檩子在當天傍晚就運到了，跟着一起運來的，還有上萬片瓦。這也是夏菊花向地區供銷社求助的：平安莊大隊雖然打了一些瓦片，可是還沒曬幹，更不知道啥時候能燒出來，可是冷庫卻等不及了。
跟夏菊花一起打電話的還有薛技術員，後來他要單獨跟薛副主任說話，夏菊花出屋等了沒一會兒，薛技術員就告訴夏菊花，薛副主任答應下了協調的事，今天就跟着大梁一起運來了。
第二天社員們一見東西齊了，便開始上梁鋪瓦，常會計卻找到了夏菊花：“大隊長，咱們帳上的錢不多了。”
“花這麽快？”夏菊花真沒想到錢這麽不經用。
常會計苦笑一下說：“各生産隊說好的錢，除了平安莊的五百塊錢交到大隊了，剩下的四個生産都的二百塊錢都沒交。”
“我手裏就是大隊的七百塊錢加上平安莊的五百塊錢，這幾天買煤和大梁，又付了鍋和絞漿機的錢，只還剩下九十三塊錢了。你說這要是部隊把塑封機拉來，咱們拿啥錢付給人家。”
夏菊花一聽有點兒急了：“我走之前，他們不是都說把錢交到大隊部嘛，沒交你也沒催催？”
常會計苦笑了一下說：“我倒是催了兩回，他們都說得等你回來再說。誰知道你一回來就住院了，我也不好為這事兒讓你沒法安心養病。”
“把他們叫過來。還有李大隊長、劉隊長和孫主席，都叫到大隊部開會吧。”常會計擔心自己的身體，夏菊花也不能說人家擔心的不對，只讓他找人來開會。
為啥開會？夏菊花不是要搞□□，而是她發現了，有些事情可以私下交流，重要的事情卻一定要會議上說清楚。
場合不一樣，人的心理也不一樣。哪怕是兩個人的會議，坐姿一端正，态度一嚴肅，與會的人不重視也得重視起來。
果然，見夏菊花沉着臉坐在桌子前，進來的人心裏都打了個突，誰也不敢開口說話。李長順劉力群三人還好點兒，四個生産隊長心裏都在想着，自己這幾天有沒有哪兒做得不到位。
除了常會計外，心裏不打鼓的還有一個陳秋生，他倒是也一臉沉思，想的卻是等夏菊花忙差不多了，該不該跟她提一提編席組那邊的事兒。
“叫大家開會沒別的事兒，我就想問問你們四個生産隊，這個粉條廠你們還參與不參與？”夏菊花見人齊了，也不兜圈子，直接問四個生産隊長。
那四個人都給問蒙了，不參與他們這些天跟打了雞血似的又讓人脫坯又跟着蓋冷庫，圖的是啥？
不過有了以往的經驗，都知道夏菊花不是憑白無故說這樣話的人，連李大牛都不冒頭，只拿眼向李長順求救。李長順也有些不明所以：“他們是哪件事沒辦明白？”咋張口就問人家是不是不參與了呢？
夏菊花堵到胸口的那股氣，被李長順這一問洩了一半：老同志，建粉條廠是整個平安莊大隊的事兒，不是誰惹不惹她的問題好不好？
所以夏菊花說出來的話反而平靜不少：“他們沒惹我生氣，只是我覺得四位生産隊長看起來并不想參與粉條廠了。”
“這樣，秋生你考慮一下，回去問問平安莊的社員，看能不能先借給生産隊點兒錢，把四個生産隊不肯交的八百塊錢湊齊了，平安莊生産隊自己把粉條廠建起來。這些天四個生産隊誰脫坯、誰蓋冷庫都記着工分呢，按平安莊生産隊的工分值給他們結帳。”
李長順一聽就急了，拍着桌子問李大牛幾個：“你們當初應下的錢，一直沒交到大隊來？”
李大牛幾個一下子低了頭，一直跟着平安莊走的牛隊長更覺得沒臉見夏菊花，腦袋都快低到桌子底下去了。李長順又問常會計，常會計便所自己催過，可幾個生産隊長一直不交的話又說了一遍。
李長順快吐血了：“我是咋跟你們說的，別讓夏菊花為小事操心，合着你們覺得這不是小事兒是吧？答應好的事兒都不辦，人家憑啥還帶着你們幹？”
見李長順真的怒了，夏菊花反而不好多說什麽，只等着陳秋生的答案。陳秋生有啥不答應的:有薛技術員承諾的一系列機器在，漏粉肯定比以前省力多了，他覺得平安莊生産隊的社員能幹的過來。
所以他向夏菊花點頭說：“沒問題。我要是回平安莊一說，不用半個小時這錢就能湊出來，要是錢不夠的話，我們生産隊還能多湊一點兒。”去年他們家分紅加上張翠萍的計件錢，收入足有兩千，他自己就能拿出那八百塊錢來。
李大牛臉都快滴血了：“大隊長，一開始我想着就是脫坯挖地基，用不上啥錢，所以沒交。這幾天活多給忘了，下午，不我馬上就回去，把錢給常會計送過來。”
牛隊長站了起來，向夏菊花彎了彎腰：“大隊長，不管咋說都是我辦事不地道，你說不用三隊參與粉條廠我沒二話。”
夏菊花眉頭微微一皺，這可不象是牛隊長一向的作風，以往就數他跟平安莊跟得緊，咋這回認了錯之後一點也不想彌補呢？
話都已經說出去了，夏菊花自然不會現在問牛隊長為啥，只留心想着等會後再找他問問是咋回事。
四隊長和五隊長見小莊頭和三隊表出了兩種态，對視了一眼都沒說話。李長順氣得想踹人，又拍了一下桌子問：“你們兩生産隊是咋想的？”
The fourth captain was unable to explain. The fifth captain also hesitated for a while. Seeing that Li Changshun was staring at him like a knife, he moved his butt uncomfortably and whispered, "I'll go back and get the money later."
Hearing his attitude, the fourth team leader also said he wanted to go back to get the money. Xia Juhua laughed: "So your two production teams have money, but they just don't want to pay it, right?"