Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1407 Drip Irrigation Tape Price Drops Significantly, Time to Hand Over the Guns

After exchanging their boastful remarks, Li Long and Factory Director Du went into the office together to discuss business. Li Long took the teacup offered by Factory Director Du and asked, "Old Du, how many of these drip irrigation systems have we sold to northern and southern Xinjiang? Have any private companies used them to produce drip irrigation tape?"

Factory Director Du thought for a moment and said, "Wait a minute, let me go take a look. I think I don't remember, but I'm not sure. I'll bring the items over and give you a definite answer."

After saying that, Director Du got up and left the office. A little while later, he returned with a notebook in his hand, sat down, and began reading to Li Long:

"Look, the Corps bought a total of three sets of equipment, two in northern Xinjiang and one in southern Xinjiang. The research institute in the autonomous region bought one set, and with your set, there are a total of five sets of equipment in northern and southern Xinjiang."

Of the remaining equipment, 10 sets were purchased by domestic research institutes and manufacturers, and another 12 sets were purchased by foreign companies. This constitutes the total shipment volume and destinations so far.

Li Long calculated that there were a total of twenty-seven sets of equipment, which wasn't a large number. Of course, this was related to the current situation of drip irrigation farming. After all, drip irrigation farming hadn't been widely implemented yet, so the number of drip irrigation tapes needed was small; they were mainly used by research institutions for research and experiments. However, he imagined that this stuff would soon become a bestseller.

Having obtained the specific quantity and knowing that no private enterprises in northern and southern Xinjiang had yet started processing drip irrigation tape, Li Long felt that the market prospects would definitely be good, and his earlier decision to purchase 150 tons of raw materials was correct.

Of course, this all depends on someone actually buying the drip irrigation tape. So Li Long plans to promote it properly when he gets back. But once he's had his fill, others will surely want a second, or even just some broth. So Li Long told Factory Director Du:

"After the Dushanzi petrochemical plant went into operation, the price of the polyethylene granules it produced was relatively low. So, once the production cost of drip irrigation tape decreased, someone would definitely see the business opportunity in it."

Our factory will try to produce more complete sets of drip irrigation tape equipment when we have some free time. I estimate that by next year at the latest, someone will definitely come here to buy them.

Factory Director Du nodded and said, "Don't worry about that. Our production line is always running, although it's not operating at full capacity, we still produce one or two sets every month. We currently have six sets in stock in the warehouse, so if someone comes to buy, we have enough inventory."

Factory Director Du also said to Li Long, "Since you're here, let's settle the accounts. It's almost the end of the year, and it's about time to transfer your dividends."

"Now that you're here, let's save ourselves the trouble. We can just have the finance department calculate it, and then you can take the money with you. That way, it'll be easier for both of us."

Li Long said with a smile, "Since you're so eager to give me money, of course I'm happy to accept it."

The machinery factory distributes dividends to Li Long every quarter. After the money is deposited into Li Long's account, they will inform him. These dividends are often seasonal; in winter, the main profit comes from snowplows, while in summer, it comes from harvesters.

Of course, there are also occasional profit sharing from complete sets of drip irrigation equipment. The amount of profit sharing is relatively stable, and according to Director Du, Li Long can keep earning this money indefinitely.

After discussing the profit-sharing arrangement, Factory Director Du made a phone call to have the finance department do the accounting. Once the accounting was complete, he brought the accounts over for Li Long to review.

After finishing discussing the important matters, Li Long said to Director Du, "I have a small favor to ask of you. It's a personal matter and might be a bit troublesome."

Factory Director Du asked Li Long what was going on.

Li Long said, "In the past two years, gun control has become increasingly strict. The village militia's guns have all been handed over to the township, and then transferred to the county militia weapons depot. The security section of the supply and marketing cooperative, which I used to be affiliated with, has also handed over its guns."

"I probably won't have any self-defense tools left in the future. You see, I'm not exactly rolling in money. If you give me my share of the profits today, it'll be quite dangerous for me to drive home with all that money. So I'm thinking of getting some self-defense gear, and of course, it'll be nice to have some fun on the side."

Factory Director Du asked him, "What are you doing? Do you want a knife made? Do we need to make those things? You can buy them anywhere in the market. Long knives are inconvenient to carry, and there are plenty of short knives at the stalls."

Li Long shook his head and said, "No, I want to get a crossbow. Get me two of these, one that requires foot to operate, and one that's a hand crossbow. Hand crossbows are convenient to hold, and although their shooting range isn't very far, their power at close range is quite considerable."

Factory Director Du shook his head and said, "None of our technicians have done this before. We can do it, but without the design drawings, we don't know how to do it."

Li Long laughed and said, "Don't worry about that, I know how to do it. Call a technician over, and I'll explain it to him." In his previous life, there were many hand crossbows with scopes that fired steel balls sold online, but they weren't shipped to the northern border regions. However, Li Long had seen this thing before and knew its principle. It was simply a steel wire pulling a steel bow arm to cock the crossbow. It could fire not only steel balls but also short crossbow bolts.

Factory Director Du smiled and said, "Since you know about this, then it's simple. I'll call a technician over, and you can talk to him. We have all kinds of parts and materials in our workshop, so producing this thing won't be a problem."

In fact, Li Long could also tell that Director Du was quite interested in this. He figured that if he were to develop it, Director Du would definitely have a few made to keep for himself.

Factory Director Du called a technician over. When the technician arrived, Li Long recognized him immediately. He had worked with everyone on the drip irrigation tape system when they were developing it, but he had forgotten the technician's name after so much time had passed.

The man naturally recognized Li Long, greeted him with a smile, and then asked Director Du what was the matter.

Director Du gave a brief explanation, and to his surprise, the technician seemed quite pleased. He said he had heard of this thing but had never worked with it before. Since Li Long knew about it, they could chat about it together.

Li Long began to explain using gestures. Director Du pulled some sheets of white paper from the table and lent Li Long a ballpoint pen. Li Long then began to draw the various parts of the crossbow and briefly explained what materials it was made of.

The technician asked, "Is the crossbow string made of steel wire?"

Li Long nodded and said, "Yes, it's made of steel wire, which is very strong. The crossbow arm is also made of steel sheet, the kind with good elasticity. As for what material to use for the crossbow bolts, you can decide for yourselves."

Because his drawing was relatively simple and his explanation was quite detailed, the technician quickly understood. He said that the production process for this thing was relatively simple and could be processed in one or two days. He would then conduct an experiment and make adjustments.

Li Long said, "Alright then, you guys keep an eye on production. Give me two sets of each size, small and large. I'll have someone come and pick them up, or you can find a vehicle to take them to me."

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Long said goodbye to Director Du and drove away. Now, his second brother's family had moved to the oil city, while in Kuishan, it was just Li Junshan's family and Yang Yongqiang's family.

Although they had a good relationship before, Li Long felt it was best not to disturb them at the moment. So he took the dividend check from the machinery factory, went to the city to collect the money, and then drove back to the county.

The next morning, after Li Long ate breakfast, he took the child to school and then quickly drove back to the team.

He first went to Old Ma's place and asked Uncle Luo and the others to prepare to slaughter two sheep and set up the stove in the yard to cook the mutton.

Uncle Luo asked him if something was wrong, and he said that he needed to call people over to work at the drip irrigation tape factory and also entertain the drivers coming from Dushanzi.

Uncle Luo said, "How about we make a big stew of mutton, stir-fry some mutton offal, and have some mutton soup? Now I'll have Lao Liu knead the dough, and we'll steam some buns for lunch. Is that enough?"

Li Long quickly said, "That's enough, that's enough."

Uncle Luo then got ready to slaughter the sheep. Li Long went to the residential area and called Xie Yundong, Tao Daqiang, and a few others to go to the factory yard, where they usually cleaned up the place.

Because we hadn't worked for a long time, the snow in the yard was still quite thick. Several grown men worked together, using snowplows, and spent half the morning clearing the snow from the yard. Then they also cleared some snow from the road to make it easier for trucks to park when they needed to bring materials.

After clearing the snow here, Tao Daqiang wiped his sweat and asked, "Brother Long, how much material did you bring back?"

Li Long said, "150 tons."

Xie Yundong, standing nearby, was startled: "Why are you bringing in so much? According to our previous calculations, even if the Navy's 1000 mu of land is completed, we would only need drip irrigation tape for 3000 mu in total. At ten kilograms per mu, 3,000 mu would require at most 40 tons of tape. Are you planning to stockpile so much?"

Li Long smiled and said, "No, it's because the raw materials are cheaper, the prices have dropped a lot. Let me put it this way, based on the current prices, we might make a fortune next year, we really will."

Everyone was very excited and immediately asked, "How much has it dropped?"

Li Long said, "Last year and the year before, I calculated the cost price for everyone, which came to about four or five hundred yuan per mu. This year, after I bought new raw materials, if we plant in 1994, the cost of drip irrigation tape per mu will be 200 yuan."

"Do the math. With our 3000 mu of land, just from this cost alone, we can save 200 yuan per mu, which is 60 yuan! Isn't that a windfall?"

"Six hundred thousand a year!" The others were stunned for a moment, then their faces lit up with surprise. Even if the six hundred thousand was divided among shares, each family could get at least tens of thousands.

Of course, the Li brothers received a larger share. However, everyone knows that they own more land and have invested more, so it's normal for them to receive a larger share.

Everyone stared at their share and calculated that they could easily get thirty or forty thousand yuan. This was truly a windfall. They exchanged glances and burst into laughter.

After laughing, Liang Dacheng immediately said, "Then I have to hurry up and work hard. Clear out that piece of land behind the tripod and make it two thousand acres. Next year, get the initial investment in drip irrigation tape, pump house and everything else done, and by the year after, we can directly make five thousand acres. If we farm for two years, we can really enter a well-off life ahead of schedule!"

Xie Yundong laughed and said, "That's for sure. At that time, even a small share will amount to hundreds of thousands a year. We'll be living a comfortable life, let alone a moderately prosperous one, and we'll be entering a modern society."

"Hey, then I'll have to build a house by then," Tao Daqiang said with a smile. "People say that a moderately prosperous society means having an apartment with electric lights and a telephone."

Everyone looked forward to a bright future, but Xu Haijun remained relatively clear-headed. He said:

“The cost has gone down, Xiaolong. From now on, when you sell drip irrigation tape to our cooperative, you can’t do it at cost price. You have to add some, otherwise we can’t keep letting you lose money. Besides, there will definitely be people outside who want to buy drip irrigation tape. If you offer a different price, they will definitely have complaints.”

Li Long nodded and said, "I've thought about it, don't worry. I definitely won't let myself suffer a loss."

Xu Haijun nodded and didn't ask any further questions. By lunchtime, the trucks from the petrochemical plant hadn't arrived yet, so Li Long called everyone to go to Lao Ma's place.

The mutton is already cooked here, and the whole yard is filled with its aroma. Dried chili peppers, onions, and stir-fried mutton offal are being mixed in the pot. On another pot, large steamed buns in three tiers of bamboo steamers are steaming hot—everything is just right.

Li Long said to Uncle Luo, "The convoy hasn't arrived yet, and the drivers probably haven't eaten. Let's leave some for them, keep it warm in the pot, and then we can start eating. It's time, we can't wait any longer."

Although the variety of dishes wasn't extensive, the quality was excellent. The hand-pulled lamb, stir-fried lamb offal, lamb soup, and large steamed buns were all delicious, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Uncle Luo said to Li Long, "One sheep is enough to handle all this stuff. I've broken down the other sheep for you; you can take it back with you."

Li Long nodded, planning to put the butchered meat and bones into plastic bags, take half to his older brother's place, and bring the other half back to his family in the county to keep for themselves. Actually, neither side was short of meat, but since it had already been slaughtered, fresh meat was always better than frozen.

We didn't drink alcohol because we had to prepare for unloading in the afternoon. But no one thought it was a big deal; we'd drunk quite a bit this winter, so we figured we were in for a treat.

The main reason was that the cooperative members got together again to discuss the development direction for next year, which made everyone quite happy. In particular, the news that Li Long had mentioned earlier about the reduction in the cost of irrigation tape, which would allow everyone to earn more, has been a great source of motivation for them, keeping them energetic whether they are working or eating.

Uncle Luo and the others had a few drinks. They were going to try to persuade Li Long and the others to drink more, but knowing they still had work to do, they didn't. None of them had drunk much; each of them had only a glass or two, just a token amount. These days, people their age are mostly working and toiling away at home. In other production teams, these "five-guarantee households" (households receiving government assistance) live independently at home, cooking for themselves; loneliness is definitely a factor.

Unlike Lao Luo and his friends, when they get together, they have wine, meat, work, wages, and a promising future. They all seem quite young and energetic.

Yang Laoliu also said that after feeding the sheep, he wanted to go with Li Long and the others to unload the feed, but Li Long refused. Yang Laoliu was a little unhappy, feeling that Li Long was looking down on him.

Li Long said half-jokingly, "It's not that I look down on you, it's just that I'm afraid of what others will think if they see us. They might say we're abusing the elderly, and that wouldn't be good. Besides, you're stronger than us young people when it comes to work, so how would we save face? So you'd better not go, and save us some face."

Yang Laoliu laughed heartily. Although he knew Li Long was exaggerating, saying nice things to him and to save face, it still sounded pleasant to him.

After finishing their meal, the group rested for a while before heading back to the drip irrigation tape manufacturing plant. Li Long, worried the convoy might get lost, told Xie Yundong and the others to stay at the factory while he drove his Land Cruiser westward to see if he could catch up with the convoy.

Xie Yundong and the others weren't idle either. After Li Long left, they set up the stove; they couldn't just freeze inside. Once the stove was up, the room warmed up a bit, and the group started playing cards.

Li Long drove his Land Cruiser westward into the village but didn't see the convoy. Instead of continuing into the county, he parked the car by the roadside, bought two packets of sugar cubes at a local shop, and asked the shop owner if he had seen the convoy pass by.

The boss said, "A long convoy passed by; it headed straight north."

Li Long asked him for the license plate number, and the boss remembered it. Li Long knew he was in trouble as soon as he heard it, so he quickly grabbed the sugar cubes, went out, got in the car, and turned north.

He was driving his Land Cruiser quite fast, and when he was almost at the intersection of Huke Highway, he saw a long convoy of cars ahead. He recognized the license plates as belonging to Dushanzi. He quickly overtook them, got in front of the convoy, and stopped them.

The driver of the lead truck was a little puzzled. He opened the door and shouted to Li Long, asking why he had stopped the truck. Li Long then asked, "Are you delivering polyethylene raw materials?"

The driver immediately realized what was happening and asked, "Who are you?"

Li Long pointed directly at Lu Xun and said, "Didn't your Section Chief Hou tell you? The one driving this car is me, Li Long. The materials you delivered were for me."

I showed you the way, but you took the wrong turn. If you keep going, you'll end up in the desert.

The driver blushed slightly and said, "There were no road signs along the way, and we were thinking of driving a little further to take a look."

Li Long smiled and said, "Come on, turn around and come with me."

He thought to himself that these people were really careless, driving so far without asking for directions. He wondered if it was just a momentary oversight or if they were inexperienced novices.

The cars behind stopped, and the drivers got out to ask what had happened. The lead car driver quietly explained to them, then turned around and followed Li Long back. Although the other drivers were complaining about the lead car, this wasn't the time to hold a grudge, and they all adjusted their cars' directions.

Li Long drove slowly, watching in the rearview mirror as the vehicles caught up one by one. He then gradually increased his speed, leading the convoy to the fourth team, and finally to the drip irrigation tape production plant.

Hearing the commotion, Xie Yundong and his men came out of the house. After the truck was parked, Li Long said to Xie Yundong, "Old Xie, take them to eat. We'll unload the goods first."

The lead driver was quite professional, explaining to Li Long how many tons each truck could carry, providing a handover form, and even letting Li Long inspect the goods. Li Long didn't insist they stay, telling them to go eat first and unload the goods for inspection. Only after they had inspected the goods and filled out the forms were they allowed to go eat.

Then they started unloading the materials. They were all young people, so although it was a bit strenuous, it wasn't a big deal. A little while later, the driver finished his meal and joined the unloading team.

The drip irrigation tape factory has two large warehouses: one for raw materials and one for finished products. The warehouses are particularly large, modeled after the original grain depot of the production team.

When Li Long started this factory, he considered the loading and unloading problem from the beginning, so he prepared eight flatbed handcarts in the factory. Unloading didn't require anyone to carry the goods. The sacks containing polyolefin raw materials were thrown from the truck onto the handcart, and then two people, one in front and one behind, pushed the cart into the warehouse and dumped it in a corner. It was very convenient.

Although Li Long didn't ask Yang Laoliu and the others to come and help, after they had been unloading for a while, the old men from Lao Ma's ship actually came over, wobbling along. After watching for a bit, they couldn't resist joining the team and started helping unload the goods. Li Long declined a few times, but seeing that they wouldn't listen, he didn't bother them anymore.

150 tons of cargo sounds like a lot, but because the loading and unloading distance was short, three trucks handled about one ton each. The drivers unloaded the cargo from above, while eight trucks moved back and forth below. Before it even got dark, all the cargo was unloaded.

The drivers quickly drank some mutton soup, ate a few pieces of mutton, and then headed back under the cover of night. Li Long originally wanted them to stay in the county for the night, but the drivers said they had transport duties the next day and wouldn't wait for them there.

Exhausted from the night, Li Long and his companions ate a quick bite at Lao Ma Hao before heading home to rest.

After the raw materials arrived, there was no rush for production. Since sowing wouldn't begin until April, starting production in March when the snow melted would be fine. So Li Long simply locked the gate and went home as usual.

On January 4th, 1994, Li Long received a phone call from Guo Tiebing of the township police station at the purchasing station. Upon hearing Guo Tiebing's voice, Li Long thought that someone in the village had gotten into gambling trouble again, but Guo Tiebing was talking to him about something else entirely.

Guo Tiebing said, "We just finished a meeting, and the county issued a notice to start confiscating private firearms. Private individuals are not allowed to possess standard-issue weapons, and in principle, hunting rifles are also not allowed. So, you'd better prepare in advance and not keep those guns you have. Keeping them in your hands will cause trouble sooner or later."

Guo Tiebing and Li Long had a good relationship. They had known each other since they worked at the town police station and had even handled arrests together. So Guo Tiebing felt it was necessary to talk to Li Long about this so that Li Long could be mentally prepared.

He knew Li Long loved guns and probably owned more than one, so when he called Li Long, he was actually hoping to give him some advice. After all, the guns were bought or acquired with real money, and taking them back so easily would indeed be a loss for Li Long.

To Guo Tiebing's surprise, Li Long readily agreed, saying, "Since the country has a policy, we can't disobey it. As a representative, I must take the lead in this matter. How about this, I'll go to your place this afternoon to hand over these guns."

Guo Tiebing was surprised that Li Long agreed so readily. He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Good, good, good. With you taking the lead, we can set a good example. You really are different. Okay, I'll wait for you at the police station."

After hanging up the phone, Li Long went home and loaded the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, several pistols, a shotgun, and small-caliber guns into his car. Then he drove to the Fourth Team. He didn't know if his older brother had been involved in gun-related matters over the years, so he planned to talk to him about it.

Li Jianguo was listening to the radio at home when he saw Li Long come over, so he asked him, "When do Mingming and Haohao get their holidays?"

Every year during winter and summer vacations, Mingming and Haohao would come to Li Jianguo's house to stay for a while and play with Li Qiang. Now that Li Qiang and Li Juan have gone to university, Li Jianguo feels a little lonely when he's at home, which is why he asked about this.

Li Long said, "About a week more."

Then he asked about the gun.

Li Jianguo waved his hand and said, "That thing is a troublemaker, I don't want it. Back when there was armed conflict in the area, a lot of people had one."

Later, the organization went to confiscate our weapons—all kinds of pistols, rifles, and grenades—they collected them by the basketful. The people confiscating them were generous back then, letting each of us take one home, but I didn't take anything.

Then, around 1977 or 1988, they started investigating retroactively, and in the end, I was completely innocent. So I know this stuff isn't good; I don't have it.

Li Long was relieved.

Despite saying he wasn't interested, Li Jianguo stood up and said he wanted to see what guns Li Long was going to hand over. When he saw the pistols, his eyes lit up. Then, he picked up his holster, took a Mauser pistol in his hand, and played with it, asking Li Long suspiciously, "Where did you get this thing? I don't know anything about it."

Li Long smiled and said, "I got it from the mountains a couple of years ago. I really liked it back then, so I didn't hand it in. I didn't really play with it much at home. Although it's a bit of a pity to hand it in, it's like what you said, brother. Keeping it at home is a troublesome thing, so it's better to hand it in."

Looking at the heavy Mauser pistol in his hand, Li Jianguo regretted his words. If he hadn't said it, he might have been able to get one from his younger brother to play with. He brandished the pistol a few times and sighed, "..."

“Back when my second uncle was the captain of the armed forces, he always carried this thing on his waist, two 20-shot guns. He was quite famous in the county back then. It’s a pity he became too stubborn later on, otherwise, our family could have produced some people in the county.”

Li Long had heard these stories from his elder brother; in short, the situation was quite complicated. History is not what people imagine, nor can it be entirely represented by the few lines written in history books. Therefore, he couldn't judge the matter concerning his second uncle.

After playing with it for a while, Li Jianguo put the pistol back into Li Long's car, shook his head and said, "Just hand it over, it'll save us trouble."

After having lunch at his elder brother's house, Li Long, seeing that it was almost time, drove to the police station. Guo Tiebing was indeed waiting for him at the station entrance. Seeing Li Long's Land Cruiser drive into the yard, Guo Tiebing smiled and said:

"Comrade Li Long, your car is really nice. No other car in the whole township has your style."

Li Long smiled and said, "They're all second-hand cars, just a means of transportation anyway. I travel to a lot of places, so driving this kind of SUV is more convenient."

Then he opened the car door and started taking out the guns. Guo Tiebing thought it was normal, but when Li Long took out the pistols, his expression changed, and he said, half-jokingly and half-surprised:

"Comrade Li Long, I never expected you to have so many guns. This could arm a whole squad, right? Where did you get all these guns?"

After Li Long finished moving the guns, he placed them on the table outside and explained, "The semi-automatic rifle was obtained in exchange from a herdsman, the hunting rifle was given to me by someone else, the small-caliber rifle was given to me by Director Li of the supply and marketing cooperative, and these pistols were dug up from the mountains several years ago. By the way, I also have a gun license here."

Guo Tiebing was just asking casually. Li Long's swift and decisive surrender of his weapon was commendable and set a good example. As for the origin of the gun, there was no way to register it; he was just curious, since ordinary people rarely had access to weapons like Mauser pistols and other handguns these days.

After handing over the gun, the police station staff registered it and gave Li Long a receipt. Then Guo Tiebing led him into the office. After sitting down, Li Long took the water Guo Tiebing poured for him and asked with a smile, "Is it convenient for you to have an official vehicle now? Would you like me to give you an SUV?"

Guo Tiebing hurriedly waved his hand, glanced outside, and whispered, "After this is done, I might be transferred. If you want me to see you off, wait until I get to my new unit, okay?"

Li Long smiled and said, "No problem."

The two had a good relationship, so it was really nothing for Li Long to give him a car for his workplace.

Because of Li Long's initiative, Guo Tiebing even specially signed a certificate of merit for him. Li Long accepted it with a smile, half-jokingly. He really deserved it.

The mulberries I picked in the courtyard of our community today are incredibly sweet, like a bag of sweet juice. (End of Chapter)