Chapter 131 Paying Public Grain
Wang Yuanchao slept until three in the morning and was awakened by Widow Du knocking on the door.
Today is the grain delivery day for the Red Flag Brigade. At the same time, all the brigades in the commune also deliver grain during these days. So on this day, everyone must get up early and rush to the commune early so that all the grain can be delivered today.
Wang Yuanchao put on his clothes, washed up, and came to the brigade's threshing ground.
He found that the threshing ground was bustling with people, some holding torches, some pushing carts, some pulling carts, and some watching the fun. Almost the entire Red Flag Brigade was out. Wang Yuanchao looked along the crowd, and there was no end to the team. Wang Yuanchao was shocked in his heart. He didn't expect it to be so spectacular.
There are about 2,000 people and 200 households in the Hongqi Brigade.
There is a lot of cultivated land. The brigade has 3,400 acres of land. Excluding homesteads, private plots, roads and ditches, the cultivated land area is about 3,000 acres.
This year's wheat production is higher than in previous years, at around 420 kilograms. Generally, a harvest of over 400 kilograms is considered a good harvest.
The yield of rice per mu is slightly higher than that of wheat, at 510 per mu.
The corn production this year is about 600 kilograms.
Overall, it is a lot more than last year.
The grain output of the Red Flag Brigade was also among the best in the entire commune.
This year, the Hongqi Brigade planted 400 acres of wheat, 2,000 acres of rice, 300 acres of corn, and 300 acres of peanuts, sweet potatoes, rapeseed and other crops.
The wheat output was 168,000 catties.
The rice output is more than 10 million catties.
The corn yield was 180,000 jin.
At this time, the public grain payment required 25% of the per-acre yield and 15% of the surplus grain, a total of 40%.
However, in this era, many brigades would falsely report their production in order to become advanced brigades, resulting in the actual amount of public grain paid sometimes reaching around 50% to 60%.
There is no way around it. These days agriculture subsidizes industry, and people across the country tighten their belts to fully support the country's industrialization.
This year, the Red Flag Brigade is far ahead in mass production, so the brigade leader reported it truthfully.
According to the calculations of Party Secretary Zeng, their village will have to hand over 67,200 kilograms of wheat, 4 million kilograms of rice, and 72,000 kilograms of corn this year.
Because the rice has to be of good quality and husked, the overall rice harvest of the Red Flag Brigade will be reduced a lot.
Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, the team leader stood at the front of the pitch-black threshing floor, holding a tin trumpet and shouting loudly,
“Fellow villagers, the teacher has said that speeches should be brief and to the point, and meetings should not be too long.
I will also make a long story short. First, I would like to commend everyone for their hard work in the autumn harvest. This year, our Hongqi Brigade has another bumper harvest! Once again, I declare that our Hongqi Brigade will pay the public grain today and distribute the grain tomorrow.
Okay, fellow villagers, everyone take your positions, find your team leader, and start delivering food according to the tasks assigned to you. "
The Red Flag Brigade only had one tractor and two ox carts. There were not enough vehicles to transport the huge amount of grain that was to be handed in.
So at this time many women were holding torches and using flashlights, and the strong laborers were pulling carts or carrying loads, walking in the dark to the commune to deliver grain.
Wang Yuanchao was assigned to carry rice. There were nearly 300 kilograms of rice in the shoulder pole. The "sharp pole" in the middle made Wang Yuanchao's shoulders red and swollen. The teams delivering food had a long queue and they could not rest in the middle. Wang Yuanchao could only drink the spiritual spring water in the military water bottle while gritting his teeth and carrying the load. He walked unsteadily, and his legs kept shaking and becoming weak. He was in danger of falling at any time, but Wang Yuanchao finally persevered in the pain.
After carrying 300 kilograms of food and walking more than 20 miles, the villagers of Hongqi Brigade finally transported the food to the grain station of the commune. But everyone was faced with another round of suffering.
The people at the grain station are really awesome these days.
The grain sent by the production team must be dry or have full grains. In mid-October in Northeast China, the weather was already very cold.
Everyone had to dry the grain in the grain station. The villagers and people from several other teams scrambled to use windmills to fan the grain. Everyone got up at three in the morning without food. The villagers had to work overtime on an empty stomach, without water and without a penny.
Just when Wang Yuanchao was exhausted, the team leader pedaled his bicycle very fast and came to the commune.
At the door, I met several captains of other teams. Some of them looked worried, while others were very proud. They all came to discuss work. Obviously, some teams were very proud, while others were very frustrated.
Wang Yuanchao followed everyone to pay the public grain tax and was busy until the evening. When he came back to Hongqi Brigade, the news brought back by the villagers made Hongqi Brigade lively again.
As everyone returned to the village, the Hongqi Brigade had the highest grain contribution this year. Even if affected by the incident involving Erlaizi and his group, the Hongqi Brigade still had hope of being evaluated as advanced. As long as it could be evaluated as advanced, the Hongqi Brigade would be able to apply for more fertilizers next year. The village cadres did a good job and naturally received praise from their superiors, and their political future was bright.
For all the villagers in the Hongqi Brigade, the most important thing is fertilizer. Fertilizer is a treasure for farmers. A good harvest depends entirely on the fertilizer. Even now farm manure is a treasure. People are not allowed to emptie their pit toilets, let alone fertilizer.
On the second day after paying the public grain tax, the Hongqi Brigade began to distribute the grain from the warehouse. After the grain was distributed, it meant that the life of hibernation was about to begin.
After all, during the entire autumn harvest, many strong laborers in the Red Flag Brigade lost a lot of weight.
After taking it off suddenly, I felt much more energetic and spirited.
The next day, early in the morning, the Red Flag Brigade began beating drums and gongs to notify all villagers to attend a meeting.
When the villagers came to the threshing ground one after another, Wang Yuanchao also brought his young wife and mother-in-law, and moved a bench to find a more secluded place to sit.
Secretary Zeng was sitting at the front of the threshing ground holding a thick notebook. The team leader, Captain Liu, and the village militia comrades were standing on the periphery. All the villagers were sitting in the threshing ground square for the meeting.
Secretary Zeng held up a tin loudspeaker and put it to his mouth, reporting the amount of public grain paid this year and the amount of grain purchased by the state.
"This year, our Hongqi Brigade has a bumper harvest, and this is inseparable from the hard work of many villagers!"
Secretary Zeng announced the data in a loud official tone, and the villagers applauded one after another. There was applause at the threshing ground and the atmosphere was very lively.
"Excluding the seed grain and feed grain for next year, a total of 500,000 catties are reserved, and there is also the three-pronged and five-unified unified funds, and the village levy, 300,000 catties. A total of 5.52 million catties remain."
When all the villagers of the Red Flag Brigade heard this set of data, they went crazy and cheered!
Secretary Zeng raised his hand and signaled everyone to be quiet.
"The rules of our Red Flag Brigade have always been to give people six points for every four hours of labor they do.
Of the 5.52 million jin of grain, 2.21 million jin were distributed per person.
The remaining 3.31 million kilograms were used as work points and grain.
There are 2,335 people in our village, including men, women, old and young.
Each person was given 947 catties of grain.
The remaining food was divided equally among every centimeter, and everyone received a share according to their own centimeter.
Now, Accountant Wang will inform everyone in our Red Flag Brigade of their poundage and the amount of food they can get.”
(End of this chapter)
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