Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

From late February to early to mid-March, Li Long was busy selling harvesters.

The road surface of the country roads has dried up, and children can happily walk on the clean roads when they go to school.

The reeds on the roadside had sprouted, but the children had plucked them out as soon as they appeared. Every boy would have a bunch of sprouts in his hands, whether walking to school or home.

As for what's fun in getting this thing down - there really isn't any fun in it. After all, it looks like an arrow with a pointy end, and at most it can be thrown out as an arrow. It's also prone to rolling over due to its imbalance.

But for boys, when they are seven or eight years old and even dogs dislike them, they will do it themselves when they see others doing it.

Fortunately, Li Qiang set an example for the other children. When he came back, he brought a pinch of reed sprouts to the Laomahao and fed them to the roe deer in the pen.

There are already quite a few roe deer and red deer in the pen. Li Qiang and Li Juan especially like the small ones that are born in winter.

When they are free, they will take reed buds and feed the greedy young roe deer and red deer. They can squat on the edge of the pen and watch for half an hour.

The other children didn't dare to enter the old horse pen at first. The main reason was that when Uncle Luo first started raising wild boars, he was worried that the animals would become wild when they grew up. And those children were too naughty and liked to climb up and down. If they climbed into the wild boar pen and were pushed, or climbed into the elk pen and were pushed, it would be a serious matter.

So the children who sneaked in were punished twice, and when the news spread, they dared not come anymore.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were not among them. From the beginning when Li Long lived here, to later when Li Anguo and his friends lived here, and later when Xue Ping and Xue Qin lived here, Li Juan and Li Qiang never considered this place a strange place.

Uncle Luo is like a relative to them. He often comes to say hello and help feed the deer - as to whether he is helping them, it is hard to say.

Only with Li Juan and Li Qiang following them did the other children dare to come over to see the deer and roe deer here. When a group of children came over, Uncle Luo still patiently received them.

So these days, roe deer, red deer and wild boars all have some reed sprouts as snacks. Although there are not many of these reed sprouts, they are much tastier than those hay.

When the children saw that they could bring reed sprouts to see the deer, they immediately started to pull the reed sprouts with great interest. This activity continued until the reeds grew tall.

It is difficult to pull them now because the reeds have become tough, and the children are not as interested in wild boars and red deer as before.

The main reason is that these guys grow up too fast and are not as cute as they were when they were little.

These days, Li Long sells two harvesters every three days on average, which forces him to go to Kuitun once a week.

Director Du said that the sales speed at the agricultural machinery factory was not as fast as that of agent Li Long.

Of course, Director Du was also very happy. At this rate, he would have to build a new workshop soon.

When Tao Daqiang found Li Long, Li Long was teaching a buyer who came from Wujiaqu of the No. 6 Agricultural Division how to buy a harvester.

Tao Daqiang was waiting quietly on the side. Not only him, but also his father Tao Jianshe.

Li Long greeted Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang, and after finishing the client's work, he wiped his hands and asked:
"Uncle Tao, Daqiang, why are you here?"

"The land is almost done," Tao Jianshe said with a smile, "We are thinking of buying a tractor as soon as possible. Now that we are familiar with the land, we can start farming."

Li Long smiled and said:

"Yes, yes, I almost forgot about it." He looked at the sky. It was only a little after eleven o'clock, so he said, "If you are ready, let's go now. Let's go to the Shicheng Tractor Factory and buy a tractor. Then we can come back to the county for lunch."

"Okay." These are the words that Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang were waiting for.

Of course, they could buy it themselves, but Li Long had bought it before, so it was always a good idea to follow someone with experience - and Li Long had mentioned this to them before.

The two came by bicycle, Tao Daqiang brought his father. Now they were going to Shicheng, so they couldn't ride bicycles. Li Long asked them to park the bicycles in the yard. Li Long went to the inner room to get the money, put it in a black leather bag, and the three of them went out together.

After Li Long locked the gate, the three of them went to the bus station together.

In the waiting hall, you can see many people carrying large and small bags. If they are alone, they are silent, and if they are in groups of three or five, they talk loudly together.

You can tell from the voices that they are migrant workers who came here from the outside, or at that time they were called blind migrants.

Or a rogue. To use an old saying, it means a person without a house or land.

Mobile population.

The sources are quite complicated, including those in Shaanxi and Gansu, Henan and Anhui, Sichuan and Chongqing.

Some were leaving the station, some were coming in. Li Long bought three tickets, and they took a minibus to Shicheng.

We walked from Shicheng to the tractor factory and it was already past twelve o'clock when we arrived.

There weren't many people buying tractors, but there were some. The venue was large, and several people were testing the tractors. The rumbling sounds were heard one after another, and one person was scolded by the seller.

After listening to a few words, Li Long realized that the driver had stepped on the accelerator very hard and almost crushed someone.

In Li Long's opinion, there is nothing to be picky about this thing. It is produced on an assembly line and only leaves the factory when it meets the quality standards. Of course, there are also cases where you may be unlucky and encounter a tractor that is prone to problems and is one in a hundred or a thousand miles away. In that case, you should contact the manufacturer.

At least based on Li Long's experience in his two lifetimes, when there is a problem with the tractor here, the manufacturer is relatively cooperative and replaces or repairs what needs to be replaced.

A high-horsepower wheeled tractor worth more than 300,000 yuan had engine problems within half a month of being used, so the manufacturer directly shipped a new engine to replace it.

Very neat.

Having said that, Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang still picked and chose, and once they set their sights on a tractor, they decided on it.

Li Long also chose one. He planned to buy this tractor and drive it to the Liang family.

This is what we promised. We will buy a few more in the future, some for Xie Yundong and some for Liang Dacheng.

As for the harvester given to his eldest brother, Li Long had already pulled it back.

He thought of asking Tao Daqiang to transport the harvester back with a tractor today.

By this calculation, I have to go to Kuitun the day after tomorrow and bring back another truckload of harvesters.

Not enough to sell!

Pay the money, get the invoice, collect the tools, and then drive the tractor away.

Li Long was in front and Tao Daqiang was behind.

Tao Jianshe sat in the truck bed - Tao Daqiang wanted his father to sit on the paddle board, but Tao Jianshe refused, saying that it felt good to sit in the truck bed, and asked Tao Daqiang not to drive too fast.

So, Li Long was originally driving in fifth gear in the front, but when he turned around, he saw Tao Daqiang driving slowly there, so he had to stop and wait.

When Tao Daqiang drove the tractor over, Li Long could tell that it was okay because he was using third gear.

The tractors they drive now have four actual gears, but there is a power gear lever on the side.

In other words, with this gear under your crotch and pressing the clutch mechanism, you can only shift to the third, fifth, sixth gear and reverse gear.

But if you want other gears, don't release the clutch after shifting the gears, and then switch the power gear on the side over. The third gear will become the first gear, the fifth gear will become the second gear, and the sixth gear will become the fourth gear.

The reverse gear remains unchanged, of course, but the power is increased.

If you are going up a 30-degree slope without pulling anything, you can climb in third gear. If you are pulling something, you have to shift to first gear or from fifth gear to second gear, otherwise you will suffocate halfway.

Speaking of experience.

"Da Qiang, why are you driving so slowly? If you drive for another two minutes, you will burn up the oil before you can reach the oil depot." Li Long shouted, "Hurry up, shift to fifth gear, drive faster to the oil depot and add oil!"

"How can it run so slowly and waste so much fuel?" Tao Jianshe didn't understand.

"This tractor is different from a human-pulled cart. It has a fuel-efficient speed. If you run it to fifth gear and hear the majestic sound and see that there is no black smoke coming out of the chimney, it means it is not consuming fuel."

After Li Long explained, he said, "You have to run faster, but not the fastest. Just follow me."

The last sentence was addressed to Tao Daqiang.

Tao Jianshe stopped talking. The two tractors rumbled to the oil depot, refueled, and then drove east to Ma County.

When they arrived at Li Long's large courtyard, it was almost time for dinner. Li Long asked Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang to stay for dinner. Gu Boyuan and Gu Xiaoxia had also arrived and said the same thing.

But Tao Jianshe and Tao Daqiang refused to do so and just ran away after installing the harvester.

Li Long could probably guess that they were worried that the meal was not enough. After all, two grown men knew how much they could eat. Once they ate, what would the Li family eat?
The main thing they made was rice. This was what they were worried about - they couldn't let the people in the yard go without food.

In this era, every family has encountered a similar situation: when guests come to the house, the food is cooked just right, but the guests are full, while the women and children at home are not.

Why wasn't it because the man didn't eat enough? Because the man had to accompany the guests. There was no other way. At this time, it was really like this. After lunch, Li Long and Gu Boyuan lifted a harvester and put it on the tractor bucket, and he drove east.

The snow had melted and the road was easy to walk on. Gu Xiaoxia could ride her bicycle to work. It was okay if she was careful. She also refused to let Li Long pick her up.

It was a very important time period and her belly was very obvious. Li Long insisted on sending her off, so Gu Xiaoxia got a little angry.

Okay, Li Long gave in.

The tractor drove to the Liang family, where Liang Donglou and his son Liang Wenyu were packing up farm tools in the yard.

It’s almost time to plant the crops, and all the farm tools need to be packed up.

The brand new tractor still attracted a lot of people's attention.

Li Long drove the tractor into the Liang family's yard, which caused many people to murmur.

Li Long had driven a tractor here before, and Li Jianguo had also driven a tractor here before.

Tractors back then were not like this, how could they be so new?
What do you mean? It's only been a year and you're already changing it?

When they saw the new tractor, the Liang family understood what it meant.

This had been agreed upon before, but when Li Longzhen drove the tractor over, Liang Donglou was okay, but Liang Wenyu was really excited.

Li Long got off the tractor, did not turn off the engine, and said with a smile:

"Wenyu, do you want to open it now? You can practice more in the open space when you have nothing to do later. We will be planting soon, and this will be useful right away."

A neighbor had already entered the Liang family's yard. After greeting Liang Donglou and Li Long, he looked at the tractor with eager eyes.

The village here has little land, and so far, there is no such small four-wheel tractor in the village. The team does have large tractors, but like the fourth team, they are historical relics, old and often repaired.

Although it is larger than this one, this tractor is more attractive for an average family.

"Twelve horsepower, small four-wheeler, with a set of accessories." Li Long introduced, "It can carry a small plow at the back, but those farm tools are not very useful, so I didn't buy them. Right now, it's mainly used to transport goods, and when the wheat is ripe, I'll use the harvester to harvest it."

When neighbors came over, Li Long deliberately promoted the use of harvesters to harvest wheat.

Sure enough, the neighbor was very interested, so Li Long took the opportunity to introduce the harvester pulled on the tractor bucket.

Liang Wenyu also knew that this harvester was related to whether he could actually get the tractor this year. After listening to Li Long's words, his attention turned to the harvester.

Li Long asked him to help lift the harvester down, and after turning off the tractor, he taught him on the spot.

Uncle Liang, the brother-in-law of his eldest brother, used to help with the family affairs, so Li Long taught him with all his heart and soul.

The neighbor knew that it was useless to learn it, but he still took note of it. It cost two yuan per acre to harvest wheat with this tool, and ten acres of wheat could be harvested in less than an hour.

How fast!

Two dollars... I thought about the 18 acres of winter wheat I planted this year, and it would take several days to harvest.

If we let the Liang family's harvester harvest the crops, wouldn't it only take half a day to finish?

It’s this money...it’s quite a good deal if you do the math.

Liang Wenyu learned very seriously. After installing the harvester's belt onto the engine of the small four-wheeler, he tried to crank it himself.

The new car had not been run-in yet, so it was quite difficult to crank it. However, Liang Wenyu was quite strong. It was his first time to crank his own tractor, so he cranked it too hard and caused black smoke to spew out of the chimney.

At least I didn't embarrass myself, I managed to shake it.

When Liang Wenyu sat on the tractor, he was so excited that he didn't even know how to move his hands and feet.

I have driven it before at my eldest brother-in-law's house and was very skilled at it, so why have I become so stupid now?
At least following Li Long's instruction, he pressed the clutch, shifted gears, drove forward a short distance, and then started the harvester.

He didn't continue driving, and if he kept going forward, he would have hit the wall. His reversing skills were not very good.

Li Long asked Liang Wenyu to stop. He got on the tractor and slowly backed it up to the gate. Then he asked:

"Do you want to go out and practice driving it? You should practice driving through the door more?"

"Okay." Liang Wenyu nodded hurriedly. This tractor will be used frequently in the future. What if it can't be driven properly in and out of the door and hits the wall of my house?
Liang Wenyu thought it was a good opportunity to practice more while Li Long was around, so that she wouldn't be embarrassed if she drove alone after Li Long left.

So I started practicing.

Since there was nothing specific to do, Li Long stood at the door and taught Liang Wenyu how to turn in a relatively narrow place and how to reverse.

In his opinion, as long as the speed is slow enough, there will be enough time to adjust.

Liang Wenyu quickly adjusted his mindset and started practicing following Li Long's rhythm. In less than an hour, he was able to reverse quite well and could drive in and out normally.

Li Long saw that it was almost done, so he prepared to go back. When he was about to go back, he suddenly thought of something and asked:
"Uncle Liang, now that we have the tractor, I can take No. 76 back."

"Pull it back?" Liang Donglou was a little surprised.

"Well, if you don't need it, I'll pull it back and put it in our old horse. This old horse has worked hard for me. Now that all three of us have tractors, it's time for this old horse to retire."

"That's right. You have done a lot for my family." Liang Donglou nodded, "Then take it away. It's time to have a good rest. Xiaolong, you are very thoughtful."

When Liang Donglou went to get No. 76, Li Long told Liang Wenyu how to go through the formalities and how to take the test. At that time, the agricultural machinery driver's license was very easy to pass. Li Long also reminded him that if he could upgrade to a car driver's license B later, he must upgrade it.

But that was several years later.

Such an opportunity should not be missed. At that time, it cost 800 yuan to upgrade the license, and you could pass it after a little training. But there will be no such opportunity in the future.

I think many people know how difficult it was to get a B driver's license.

Liang Wenyu also knew that this was very important, and he also said that he should complete the formalities before starting to farm.

Li Long left him the tractor invoice and other things and asked him to handle the formalities himself, which was not difficult.

Liang Donglou led out No. 76 with the carriage. When the old horse saw Li Long, he snorted, and it was unclear whether he was complaining or greeting him.

Chen Xiuzhu asked Li Long to stay and have some porridge in the evening, but Li Long refused, saying that the sun was still high and he had to drive the carriage back to Team 4 first.

To get to the Fourth Squad from here, you have to take a detour to the county. Li Long also had to go to the county to put his bicycle on the horse-drawn carriage, so that it would be more convenient to go back to the Fourth Squad and then to the county.

It would take at least two hours for the carriage to get from here to Team 4, so we had to hurry.

Even so, when Li Long arrived at Team 4, the sun had already set.

When he got his bicycle, he told Sister Yang that he would not go back to the county that night and would stay in Team 4.

When Tao Daqiang drove the tractor back to the team, it caused a commotion.

After all, everyone knows what the Tao family’s situation was like two years ago. In just two years, they became the latest family in the team to buy a tractor, except for the Li family.

Some people have understood it, some people haven't gotten used to it yet.

Some of the people watching the fun at Tao's house were envious, some were jealous, and quite a few made sarcastic remarks. When Tao Daqiang almost fell into the ditch while driving his tractor into the yard, some people were still laughing.

But no matter how much he smiled, he couldn't hide the envy and jealousy in his heart.

A tractor costs more than 5,000 yuan, which is equivalent to ten years' salary of an ordinary worker. How many families in the team can afford it?
People bought it, that’s strength!
When Li Long towed No. 76 to Laoma, Uncle Luo was chatting with his old friends about Tao Daqiang driving a tractor.

Seeing Li Long pulling No. 76 in, Uncle Luo immediately became excited. He stood up and walked over quickly to take the reins from Li Long and asked:

"Is this... not necessary?"

"Well, Uncle Luo, the rest of No. 76 is now yours." Li Long said with a smile, "It's like retirement."

"Oh, it's good to retire, it's good to retire!" Uncle Luo sighed.

He had raised the horses and donkeys for a long time and had developed feelings for them. Those that were distributed to other families were still working hard, and No. 76 was the first to retire.

He guessed that this one might be the only one that could "retire", and the others would basically have to work until they died of old age. (End of this chapter)