Chapter 149
Technician Xue has already tested all the machines that can be tested in the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory. He has no idea about the dehydration machine that Xia Juhua requested, so he has to go back to Beijing to ask relevant professionals for advice. It would be a waste of time for him to stay in the Ping'anzhuang brigade.
So a few days ago, he had asked Xia Juhua to return to Beijing. In the past few days, he has been intensively training the operators of the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory, with the focus on enabling them to troubleshoot and repair minor machine faults by themselves.
If there is a major problem, you have to make a phone call to resolve it.
Technician Xue was able to stay in Ping'anzhuang for such a long time, helping to test and install the vermicelli factory's machines and doing his best to help the Ping'anzhuang vermicelli factory save manpower. If it weren't for him, Xia Juhua would have been even more worried about the shortage of manpower.
Therefore, he was very grateful to Technician Xue, and thinking of his good relationship with Technician Lin, he specially asked someone to invite Technician Lin to Ping'an Village so that the two could reminisce.
Now that Technician Xue mentioned leaving again in front of everyone, Xia Juhua still felt reluctant to let him go, but she also knew she had no reason to keep him, so she smiled and said, "If you like to eat, it's not hard to help. Anyway, you have vacation every year, so you can come back to Ping'an Village to eat during your vacation. When you get a wife in the future, you must bring her back to show us so that we can all feel at ease."
When the topic of getting married was suddenly brought up, Technician Xue was a little shy and didn't even respond. He just ate the food with chopsticks, which made Xia Juhua secretly laugh: the young people nowadays are different from those 20 years later. The young people back then would bring their wives home without being urged by their families. Of course, this was not Technician Xue's home. I wondered if he would bring his wife back to Ping'an Village to see her after he got one.
On the contrary, the two technicians from the Transportation Bureau felt more reassured when they saw Xue and Lin getting along with Xia Juhua and the people from Ping'anzhuang. It was similar to the situation when Technician Lin was sent to the Ping'anzhuang production team. They were not successful in the Transportation Bureau and were afraid that they would not be taken seriously after arriving in Ping'anzhuang.
Now it seems that the leader of Ping'anzhuang Brigade, who is no different from an ordinary rural woman, is actually a person who attaches great importance to knowledge, which makes them feel relieved.
Thinking about the fact that it was the director who personally assigned them the task, and who had encouraged them more than ever before when they set out, the two of them felt that working in Ping'an Village for a period of time might be an opportunity. They talked with Xia Juhua and the others, and gradually eliminated the barriers between them and became harmonious with them.
When the two technicians mentioned that road surveying seemed simple, but there were still many details involved in how to measure the road and determine the direction, Xia Juhua suggested that Ping An Village send a few young people to survey with the two technicians. They didn't need to learn how to survey, but at least they could help the technicians move the equipment and run errands to communicate with the passing teams.
The two technicians were more than happy to have them. Xia Juhua sent Shuanzhu from Sun Zhaodi's house and Qixi, who was encrossed in reading, over there. Qixi was given a task every day to take care of the two technicians' diet.
Xia Juhua has always felt that no matter who she is dealing with, she must first do her best to gain other people's sincere treatment. She can't always ask others for favors and expect them to please her.
The survey work started here, and after seeing off Technician Xue, we went to the county immediately following the district's reply: the Ping'anzhuang Brigade was allowed to build the road.
As soon as the news came out, fundraising was immediately put on the agenda. Ping'an Village Brigade held another general meeting of all members. At the meeting, Xia Juhua reiterated the purpose of fundraising, which was that it was entirely based on everyone's willingness and the brigade would never distribute funds.
However, in order to motivate everyone, Xia Juhua handed five thick stacks of RMB to Li Changshun in front of all the members of the brigade. In order to supervise the use of the raised funds, Li Changshun, Liu Liqun and Wu Ye were elected as supervisors. Every penny used in the road construction project had to be agreed upon by the three of them before the accountant could spend it.
To Xia Juhua's surprise, Secretary Zhang and Uncle Qi actually showed up at the meeting and raised 100 yuan each in their personal names, expressing their optimism about Ping An Village's fundraising for road construction.
When this move was made, the members of Pingan Village were shocked far more than when Xia Juhua raised 5,000 yuan on her own: Uncle Qi was the county head and Secretary Zhang was the commune secretary. They both participated in the fundraising. Does that mean that this road should be built and will definitely be built?!
Xia Juhua was also shocked: the arrival of the two leaders was beyond her expectation, and they actually participated in the fundraising on the spot. She didn't even dare to think about it until the two of them took out the money.
So Xia Juhua's first thought was: "Two leaders, you can attend our Pingan Village meeting, all of us members are already very encouraged. On behalf of all the members of the Pingan Village Brigade, I assure you two leaders that this road can and must be repaired. But you two leaders don't need to raise funds..."
Uncle Qi looked at Xia Juhua with a smile and said in a loud voice: "Compared with you who has been commended by the provincial supply and marketing system and the ministries, Secretary Zhang and I certainly don't have much money, but this is our way of supporting the Ping'anzhuang Brigade in building roads. Besides, you still have to pay interest every year, it's not like you're taking my money for nothing. What's the matter, you don't want to pay Secretary Zhang and me the interest?"
Xia Juhua waved her hands repeatedly after hearing this, knowing very well that Uncle Qi said this in order to let the members of Ping An Zhuang know where her 5,000 yuan came from, so that one day in the future, no one would question whether her money came from legal sources.
Xia Juhua bowed deeply to Uncle Qi and Secretary Zhang and said, "Thank you, County Governor Qi, thank you, Secretary Zhang, and thank you for your support for the road construction of Ping'an Village Brigade. Please rest assured, both leaders, and the folks of Ping'an Village, that the funds raised this time will definitely be returned to everyone, and the interest promised to everyone will be paid one day before the funds are returned!"
At the end of her speech, Xia Juhua's voice rose unconsciously, and it was transmitted to the ears of every member through the loudspeaker, causing everyone to applaud spontaneously.
The collection of the fundraising funds went very smoothly and was completed in less than half a day. The accountants and general accountants of each production team worked separately and quickly counted the money received.
The amount of money collected was not the original 82,000 yuan, but a full 90,320 yuan. The amount collected from Ping An Village remained the same, and the small village head and the third team were the main contributors to the increase in money.
Such a large amount of money naturally could not be left at the brigade headquarters. It was already dark the day after the total was counted, and the accountant was still sent to the county town by Liu Zhifu on a tractor. With the help of Uncle Youqi, the bank opened a separate account for the Ping'anzhuang Brigade.
This is the first public account of the brigade-level unit in Pingde County. If we want to use large amounts of funds in the future, we have to apply to the bank in advance, which adds another layer of protection to the safety of funds.
On that day, Liu Zhiquan called back and told Xia Juhua that Deputy Director Gu had already known about the road construction in Ping'an Village. He had been in the provincial supply and marketing system for too short a time, knew too little about the situation, knew few people well, and his mother asked for too little time, so Liu Zhiquan had to ask Deputy Director Gu for help.
Deputy Director Gu was indeed an old supply and marketing expert. He quickly contacted Pingan Village with a stone factory in the province. Liu Zhiquan called back to tell his mother the address and contact information of the stone factory. He told Xia Juhua that Deputy Director Gu said that he would continue to contact the lime factory and asphalt factory for Pingan Village.
The good news came so timely that both Xia Juhua and other Ping'anzhuang Brigade cadres were very happy, and the road construction team was quickly set up: this time Xia Juhua was no longer the team leader, and Li Daniu took over instead - Xia Juhua's main focus had to be on external contacts, but Li Daniu never lost out at work, so there was no problem in letting him manage the members of the road construction team.
Li Changshun's main task was to help Li Daniu coordinate the relations between several production teams. Liu Liqun was responsible for the liaison work with the brigades passing through the road. It was his responsibility to coordinate the labor force and divert the vehicles and people using the road.
The members who participated in the road construction were all led by the production team leaders as deputy team leaders, who started digging the roadbed from Ping'an Village to the commune. The personnel of each production team had to be adjusted again.
Xia Juhua once again felt that there was a severe shortage of manpower: the Ping'anzhuang production team had more than 90 able-bodied workers working in the vermicelli factory, and almost all the women in the village were engaged in mat-weaving work. In total, three-fifths of the people in the production team could not participate in the road construction, and they had to draw people from those engaged in field management to level the roadbed.
Fortunately, the sweet potatoes planted in the field are late, so the task of field management in the later stage is not heavy, otherwise it would be difficult to choose between farming and roads.
This alone was enough to make Chen Qiusheng's eyes red with worry. He had to run between the Ping'an Village production team, the vermicelli factory and the road construction site every day. people. If Liu Erzhuang, who had been a production team leader, didn't lead everyone to work together, who would?
As for whether Liu Erzhuang himself would have any opinions, that was not something Xia Juhua considered - there was also Li Daya, who would tell Liu Erzhuang that he had his opinions to himself.
After the allocation of personnel for the Ping'anzhuang production team was settled, the coordination of labor for other production teams was equally difficult: although everyone was very enthusiastic about building the road, they were afraid of comparison in everything, and several production teams tried to allocate as many strong laborers as possible to the road construction project, leaving a shortage of manpower for field management.
In the early stages, the energy of several production team leaders was obviously more inclined towards road construction, and they wanted to dig the roadbed within a day.
This was undoubtedly unrealistic, and Xia Juhua had to call the team leaders together for a meeting again to make everyone understand that while road construction was important, farming was the foundation for the Ping'anzhuang Brigade.
Not to mention that now is not an era for everyone to engage in business. Even if it does, it will be painful for farmers to leave their land uncultivated. Xia Juhua does not want to see this situation happen now.
If that day ever comes, she wants to contract the abandoned land and hire a few people to start a farm. If a farmer doesn't grow crops, what's a farmer? The lesson of the drought happened just a few years ago!
Although Xia Juhua's words were harsh and her tone was very impolite, none of the brigade cadres and production team leaders thought she was wrong. Even Li Daniu, who was so stubborn, told Xia Juhua on the spot that he would go back to the production team to arrange the field management and road construction, and no longer just focus on road construction and ignore field management.
At this point, things on the construction site were somewhat smoother, and Xia Juhua asked the technicians from the Transportation Bureau to calculate how much stone was needed so that she could call the stone factory and confirm the time for delivery.
The two technicians had completed their survey work and had also revised two places where the road could be straightened: both places were close to the Xihe River, and straightening the road could save more than three miles, but the roadbed would have to be rebuilt. Although rebuilding the roadbed sounded a bit troublesome, the Ping'anzhuang Brigade still accepted their opinions, making the two technicians feel that their expertise was respected.
Now Xia Juhua asked them to calculate the materials again, and the two gave more practical suggestions: "If we follow the current standards, you only need three layers for this road. Dig the foundation at the bottom, cover it with stones mixed with lime, and then cover it with a layer of asphalt. However, such a road will not have any problems within five years, but it is hard to say after five years."
Five years later, in 1982, the national economy had just improved. Although some places had proposed to build roads before getting rich, it was still too early to build roads in every village on a large scale. In the five years, the Ping'an Village Brigade estimated that it would just be enough to pay back the funds raised this time, and then raise funds again... Xia Juhua shook her head.
The two technicians were actually delighted to see Xia Juhua shaking her head. They knew that Xia Juhua was not shaking her head because she disagreed with what they said, but because she thought five years was too short. They were more confident in what they said next: "So we suggest that this road be paved with five layers, that is, add a layer of soil under the asphalt and then add a layer of gravel mixed with lime. In this way, even if all trucks are used, there will be no problems within ten years."
Ten years. Xia Juhua felt that if it took ten years, even if the government did not pay for the road construction, Ping An Village would raise funds again, and the members would not be too disgusted. The most important thing was that she had confidence in the vermicelli factory and the weaving team. She believed that in ten years, with the strength of these two factories, the road would be repaired without the need for members to raise funds.
"Then let's build the fifth floor." Xia Juhua gritted her teeth and prepared to persuade the brigade cadres and production team leaders.
Fortunately, everyone agreed to build the road, and now they are willing to build a five-layer road that will last longer. Even though they are a little worried about the cost of materials and that the roadbed that has already been dug needs to be deepened, everyone still agrees. Xia Juhua is grateful for this, so she was the one who went to the stone factory to negotiate the price.
What she didn't expect was that the stone factory didn't even need to negotiate the price, they just quoted the cost price. The reason was that although the stone factory was called a "factory", most of the workers were local farmers, who would take care of the production team's land after work every day.
The stone quarry is located near the mountain, otherwise it would not have been built. Because it is near the mountain, the land is relatively poor, and the yield of large crops is not high, but the output of miscellaneous materials such as sweet potatoes is not small.
In order to gain a better foothold in the local area and provide some benefits for the workers, the stone factory asked Pinganzhuang Vermicelli Factory to purchase their sweet potatoes at the market price, so they did not mind giving Pinganzhuang the stones at the cost price. It sounds like the raw material price of the vermicelli factory has increased, but the sweet potatoes used now are coordinated by the army. Xia Juhua believes that they will not let the members near the stone factory suffer losses, so she agreed immediately.
Transportation was not a problem either. Pingde County had its own transport team, and the Red Star Commune Agricultural Machinery Station and Ping'an Village also had their own tractors. Once the rumbling fleet started moving, stones were transported to the road construction site in an endless stream.
Looking at the piles of stones scattered along the roadbed, Li Changshun said to Master Wu, "We need to get everyone to work harder to dig out the roadbed."
The fifth master nodded - the two old men were members of the supervision team, and they had spent nearly 17,000 yuan on buying the gravel belts for transportation, which made them feel very distressed. They were afraid that someone would steal the gravel back home in the dark, so they took turns to watch the scene, and their eyes were very vigilant to everyone they looked at.
Liu Liqun was very worried about their health. After discussing with Xia Juhua, he had to organize the militia to patrol again so that the two could go home and sleep peacefully at night. However, he could not stop them from appearing on the roadside all day.
"Captain, Master Wu, you should go home and have a rest." Seeing the two men discussing something in a low voice, Liu Liqun came over helplessly to persuade them, "There are people watching here. I have also seen the roadbeds dug by other teams, and they all meet the standards. There are also two technicians from the Transportation Bureau watching over them, so there won't be any problems. But if you two are exposed to the wind and sun and have some problems, the captain will fight me to the death."
It is said that an old man in the family is like a treasure, and these two are the treasures of Pinganzhuang Brigade. Not only does Xia Juhua wish them to be healthy, but the members of Pinganzhuang Brigade have now reached a consensus that these two people must not fall, not only must they not fall, but they must live a long life.
The Fifth Master, who was expected to live a long life, thought of himself as an ordinary member and just smiled at what Liu Liqun, the militia captain, said. However, Li Changshun waved his hand impatiently at Liu Liqun and asked him to stare at the construction site:
"You are only a few years younger than us, yet you dare to look down on us. It is better to supervise your workers well and not let those people get paid for nothing. Alas, Juhua is good in every way except that she is too lenient and pays too much. If they still don't repair the roadbed properly after receiving such a small salary, you have to ask their brigade cadres to replace them. Don't be embarrassed to ask for help."
Liu Liqun just laughed and said he was not old. Hearing this nagging, he had no idea what it meant. It was because he had been working with Li Changshun that he could understand what he was complaining about.
Knowing that he was complaining, Liu Liqun had to speak up for Xia Juhua: "I guess the captain must think that a big reward will bring out brave men. Let's offer them a little higher wages. If those people still don't work hard, it's their problem. We have every reason to fire them."
This was indeed true. Li Changshun had nothing to refute, but he could continue to ask Liu Liqun to inspect the construction site, making Liu Liqun laugh and cry. He wished Xia Juhua would appear in front of him so that he could talk to these two old people who refused to accept their old age.
Xia Juhua didn't have time to discuss with Li Changshun and Wu Ye about the wages of other members of the brigade. She was answering a call from the head of the army: "... So, head, please don't misunderstand. We just want to make it more convenient for members to travel, so we use the time after summer harvest and before autumn harvest when members are not too busy to repair the road. Yes, yes, we don't have any difficulties. The roadbed has been repaired. Yes, yes, the gravel and lime have also been purchased."
The military commander on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then asked, "So can the hot and sour noodles still be delivered on time?"
Ping'an Village had already found a solution to this problem before the road was built, so Xia Juhua said confidently: "Please rest assured, Chief, there will be no problem. In order to ensure that the hot and sour noodles are supplied to the troops in time, our Pingde County leaders have coordinated a warehouse in the county seat for Ping'an Village. Our finished products are now transported to the warehouse every three days. The troops can send vehicles at any time and transport them away at any time." Xia Juhua did not explain how the noodles were transported from Ping'an Village to the county seat.
But the person on the other end of the phone understood immediately that the road was blocked and they could only move or carry the goods by hand. After a moment of silence, a deep voice of thanks came from the phone: "Comrade Xia Juhua, thank you, thank you all the members of Ping'anzhuang Brigade, and thank you the leaders of Pingde County."
Obviously, Xia Juhua's explanation just now did not convince the other party to believe that Ping'an Village built the road just for her own travel. After hanging up the phone, Xia Juhua wanted to slap herself.
It was all because she was afraid that the troops had too many sweet potatoes coordinated from other places and could not purchase sweet potatoes from the brigade near the stone factory. So she called Lin Hongliang in the army, hoping that he would consider the commune where the stone factory was located when coordinating sweet potatoes again.
Who would have thought that Lin Hongliang was so sharp that he directly asked Xia Juhua how she knew the people from the stone factory and even coordinated with the troops to buy sweet potatoes for them - Ping'anzhuang grew sweet potatoes itself, and he hoped that the troops should give priority to the Ping'anzhuang Brigade when buying sweet potatoes.
Xia Juhua was afraid that Lin Hongliang would misunderstand, and was even more afraid that they would think that the stone factory had ill intentions - everyone's awareness of confidentiality was still very strong at that time - so she told the troops about the agreement between Ping'an Village and the stone factory. As a result, the army knew about the road construction in Ping'an Village.
I don't know how Lin Hongliang reported this to the military chief, but today the chief called Ping'anzhuang directly and asked whether the road was being repaired in Ping'anzhuang because of the damage caused by the transportation of sweet potatoes and hot and sour noodles.
Xia Juhua of course refused to admit it, and kept emphasizing that it was Ping An Zhuang's own problem. But the military commander was not easy to fool, and his final thanks showed that he remembered Ping An Zhuang's kindness in his heart.
This made Xia Juhua feel very uneasy.
She believed that the biggest beneficiary of the road construction were still the Pingan Village Brigade and the members along the road, and the troops were only indirect beneficiaries. Besides, with the reputation of supplying the troops, Xia Xiaohuo's hot and sour noodles would not have to worry about sales in the future. They were like helping Pingan Village invisibly, so Pingan Village should remember their kindness.
"What do you think we should do?" guilty when she took even a little thing from them.
Because she knew that in less than two years, the war would start, and those tough guys who loved hot and sour noodles on the other side of the phone might be dragged to the battlefield, facing the gunfire and smoke, and maybe...
Why did they go to the battlefield, why did they face the smoke of gunfire, why did they bury their loyal bones everywhere in the green mountains? Wasn't it so that thousands of villages like Ping'anzhuang could develop themselves safely, and thousands of farmers like Ping'anzhuang members could eat their fill in peace?
For such a group of people, Xia Juhua felt that she could do very little for them, so naturally she didn't want to ask too much from them.
Unfortunately, the army chief already knows about it, and Xia Juhua has to call Uncle Qi to avoid the possibility that if the army chief asks Uncle Qi for confirmation, the two sides' words may not match, which will make the army chief feel guilty about Ping An Zhuang.
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