Secretary Song has been in Jinhe County for two days now.
The situation in Jinhe County is even worse than in Baotian County. After all, Baotian County had received his help before, so things had improved considerably for Lao Yan. Jinhe County, however, is still suffering from the effects of natural disasters. The streets are filled with severely ill people.
He took a car arranged by the county to the local commune to talk to the commune leader about the local mountain products.
Knowing that he had come to discuss mountain products, the leaders of the commune warmly welcomed him and took him on a tour of the local countryside.
When the nearby communes learned of this visitor's arrival, they all rushed over from their respective communes, ready to invite him to visit their communities.
Secretary Song didn't agree casually. After all, the main purpose of this visit was to assess the environment and, incidentally, see who was suitable to be won over and who was suitable to be sidelined.
During the two days he spent there, he only spoke with a few commune secretaries who seemed honest and reliable about the local situation. Then he stayed at the home of a production team leader under the Linshui Commune, and casually inquired about the militia's development.
The old team leader said, “The militia’s situation isn’t good. There’s a food shortage everywhere. We recruited militiamen, but we don’t pay them wages. We still need to feed them. The commune has no grain, and these militiamen are all from our local production teams. But if the commune needs anything, we just need to call, and everyone will listen. But it’s still inconvenient. Leader, we’ll definitely do our best to get the mountain produce this time. Although we won’t get as much as those production teams near the mountains, we’ll definitely work hard and not hold the higher-ups back. You have to help us exchange for more grain. We’re all counting on grain to get through the winter.”
Secretary Song smiled and said, "Of course, no problem. This is my responsibility, and since I know how difficult things are for our comrades, I will definitely help."
Hearing Secretary Song's words, the old captain smiled and said, "Then we can breathe a sigh of relief. We're counting on the organization to provide us with life-saving rations."
Secretary Song said, "If the higher-ups can provide grain, and the commune recruits militia, will the production teams send anyone?"
"Of course, if there's food, the commune can quickly assemble a militia. You don't know, if the commune doesn't have enough people, things get difficult. Some production teams are all from the same family. They used to have the same ancestor, and they even had a clan system. The commune's propaganda is completely untrue. Just last year, someone in the next production team tried to drown a widow, and it was our production team's militia who rescued her. They almost started a fight."
Secretary Song offered him a cigarette, but the old captain had never smoked such good cigarettes before and was reluctant to smoke it, so he tucked it behind his ear. Secretary Song then stuffed the remaining half pack into his hand. The old captain excitedly grabbed a match, lit it with a snap, and quickly began to smoke.
"Boss, why aren't you smoking?"
"I don't like smoking. I quit a long time ago."
Secretary Song then said, "I've heard that some places are producing tens of thousands of catties per mu. How come you still can't get enough to eat here?"
People are most relaxed when they're smoking, and the old team leader retorted without a second thought, "Bullshit! Ten thousand catties per mu? That's just idle chatter from people who have nothing better to do. I've farmed for half my life and never seen a yield of ten thousand catties per mu." Seemingly realizing his words might be inappropriate with Secretary Song, he chuckled and said, "Hehe, I'm just being casual. Leader, please don't take it to heart. I'm not very educated; I used to be a guerrilla, and my mouth just loves to talk nonsense."
Secretary Song smiled kindly, "Come on, I'm practically a soldier myself. I grew up in the base area."
"Oh my, it's still the Red Demon!" the old captain exclaimed excitedly.
Seemingly finding Secretary Song's identity credible, he spoke less cautiously, "Anyway, we don't know what the higher-ups are trying to do. We're criticized for honestly farming, but for doing those pointless things, they want to be high-ranking officials. I know this is definitely something the commune and county are messing around with. The province definitely doesn't know. Otherwise, you wouldn't have come to help us, leader."
Secretary Song didn't offer any opinion, but instead asked, "Is this the only thought you have, or is everyone else thinking this way?"
“Some people think this way, and some people don’t. Anyway, that’s what a few of my old buddies think. As for the others… we can’t control them. Last year there were still people fleeing famine, and the commune told us to keep an eye on the people in our team and not let us go out to flee. So we kept them here. Fortunately, the higher-ups also provided us with relief grain, so at least no one starved to death. As long as we can eat our fill, we don’t care about anything else.”
Upon hearing this, Secretary Song had a better understanding of the situation.
The common people don't ask for much; they just want to have food to eat. As long as they can be fed, establishing a militia is not a problem. Once the militia is established, along with the county's public security bureau, these two forces will be sufficient to manage the production teams that don't obey orders and to deal with feudal remnants.
Secretary Song then toured the production team again and realized that if he were to go down and do the work, he would definitely have a lot to do in the future.
When he passed by the production team's cowshed, he discovered that people were actually living inside.
The old team leader explained, "This is an old scholar from the village. His family used to be landlords. There was a policy from above that these people needed to undergo labor reform, so we arranged for him to be reformed here."
Secretary Song asked, "Has he harmed people in the village before?"
"No, not at all. He's just an old scholar. He used to teach in the village. Anyway, he's not a working-class person. Whatever the higher-ups say, we'll do the same."
"..."
Secretary Song was speechless when the old team leader pointed to an elderly man carrying a basket and shoveling cow dung. He was as thin as a bamboo pole, with a white beard, and looked quite old.
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