Rebirth 1979: Marrying a poor girl at the beginning

"You are investing, not lending money to Lin Zhengjun. You have to bear the risk of losses. If you lose money, you can't ask Lin Zhengjun for the debt!"

Xu Zhigong patiently explained: "Also, making money is not as easy as you think. There are many cooperatives run by communities and teams that lose money."

"For example, our commune's glass products factory had a serious product squeeze for a long time and couldn't even pay wages, let alone dividends!"

"There is also the brick and tile factory of Tuanjie Commune. At the beginning, the product quality was not good. The bricks and tiles were not solid and no one bought them. After much effort, the product quality was improved. However, in recent years, the members have built fewer houses, the demand is small, and the sales are not very good. Last year, it went bankrupt. The funds raised by more than 80 members, more than 10,000 yuan, were all wasted..."

Many members did not realize until this moment that they might lose all their shares if they joined the cooperative, and they immediately began to back off.

Finally, after another count, it was found that, excluding the brigade cadres and original members of the food cooperative, only more than 50 members were willing to invest in the cooperative.

The name and investment amount were registered.

Afterwards, the brigade cadres came to the office and conducted democratic evaluations based on their cultural level, work performance, and usual moral character.

More than a dozen new members were selected and announced on the spot.

Those who were able to join the society were all delighted.

Those who were not selected will inevitably feel a little disappointed.

"I am a child who grew up in Hewan Brigade. You are all my elders and fellow villagers, even my relatives. Of course, I am willing to lead you out of poverty and into prosperity."

Lin Zhengjun softened his tone and said, "But, to be honest, I am not satisfied with the overall quality of our team members. Their awareness is too low and their quality is too poor. If you join the team, some people will interfere with the operation and come to me for payment when you lose money. Do I dare to lead these people?"

"My idea is to have 40 members join the cooperative and buy shares for now. When the profits are stable and we expand the production for the second time, the risk will be much lower. You will have no worries and will be able to accept the cooperative's management method. I won't be so troublesome!"

Lin Bingde took the microphone and said, "We have chosen the address for our factory, and we will start to build it. Those who are willing to work will get one dollar each, and a lunch will be provided! Members who are willing to participate, please wait until the meeting is over and find Comrade Wei Shuangxi to sign up!"

The crowd was cheering and everyone had a happy look on their face.

In fact, even if you don’t join the society, everyone still benefits.

Earning one dollar a day, this income is comparable to that of city workers!

Immediately afterwards, Lin Bingde announced the adjournment of the meeting, and a large group of members surrounded Wei Shuangxi and registered their names.

After registration was over, the crowd dispersed and returned to the fields to continue working.

Lin Zhengjun, Wei Shuangxi, Lin Bingde and others went to the back mountain to mark the factory area, sprinkled lime, and drove in wooden wedges as signs.

After finishing all this, Lin Zhengjun was about to go back to the brigade headquarters to review his lessons, but Lin Bingde stopped him and asked, "Zhengjun, you have a radio at home, did you listen to the weather forecast?"

"Yes, I listen to the news every night, followed by the weather forecast."

"Will it rain soon?"

"There has been no rain in the entire Central Plains region for the past three days."

Lin Bingde's resolute face suddenly showed a sad look. He took a few puffs of his cigarette and sighed, "Zhengjun, the situation is not good. There has been no heavy rain since the autumn harvest. Now the drought is serious and the wheat seedlings are wilting. If the drought continues, the harvest will definitely be affected! We have to think of a solution."

Lin Zhengjun has also noticed the drought during this period.

The Qingshui River has run dry and the canal has completely dried up. There is no way to divert ditch water or use water pumps for irrigation!

"Let's open the gates of Qiaoban Reservoir and release the water!" Lin Zhengjun thought for a while and said.

"The reservoir is under the jurisdiction of the county water conservancy bureau, and it supplies water to more than a dozen communes downstream. Not to mention our brigade, even the communes don't count."

Lin Bingde said depressedly: "The key is that the reservoir also undertakes the important task of aquaculture. Whether the supply and marketing cooperatives in the county can sell fish by the end of the year and whether the cadres and workers in the county can eat fish depends on them!"

"Once our brigade applies to open the gates to release water, the brigades and communes downstream will certainly follow suit, the reservoir water level will drop, and we don't know how many fish will escape. The Water Conservancy Bureau will definitely not agree!"

"No, they will agree!"

"Do you have any ideas?" Seeing Lin Zhengjun full of confidence, Lin Bingde asked curiously.

"Don't worry, we have to let them go even if they don't want to. I have my own way!" Lin Zhengjun said with a smile.

This reservoir is a small earth-rock dam built in the 60s.

Lin Zhengjun was still a child when the reservoir was being built. He vaguely remembers that several members of the commune built the reservoir along this narrow mountain path, carrying stones in their hands and on their shoulders.

The scene was packed with people, red flags waving, firecrackers blasting, gongs and drums roaring, and there was a surging passion to build socialism and catch up with and surpass Britain and the United States. It was quite shocking.

The problem is that it was launched in a hurry and the design is not scientific.

The cross-sectional size of the dam is insufficient, the dam slope is too steep, and the dam slope and dam body have poor anti-slip and stability.

After investigation, it was found that the reservoir was bred with a large number of termites and was corroded and riddled with holes. Due to the negligence of the reservoir manager, the reservoir was not promptly sterilized and repaired.

As a result, when there was continuous rainfall next year, many problems emerged, including leakage in the dam body, dam foundation, around-dam leakage, landslides and cracks, infiltration, swamping, soil flow, pipe bursts, etc.

In addition, for some unknown reason, several of the five flood discharge outlets were blocked.

After the gates were opened, the floodwaters could not be released in time, and the pressure on the reservoir dam became increasingly severe, eventually exceeding the warning line and causing the dam to collapse!

Since there is a problem with the reservoir dam, it must be inspected and repaired, and the gates must be opened to release water to expose the problem!

In this way, not only can the drought in Hewan Brigade be solved, but Lin Zhengjun's spicy canned fish will also have raw materials.

"Secretary, you go ahead and do your work. I'll go check out the reservoir!"

As soon as he thought of this, Lin Zhengjun immediately took big steps and rushed towards Qiaoban Reservoir.

Qiaoban Reservoir is five or six miles away from Hewan Brigade, on the back mountain.

Well, actually this mountain is called Gongji Mountain, but because it is located to the north and rear of the Hewan Brigade, everyone is accustomed to calling it the Back Mountain.

The rocky road leading to Qiaoban Reservoir was bumpy and uneven, making it impractical to ride a bike. It would be more convenient to walk, so Lin Zhengjun decided to walk there.

Lin Zhengjun was tall and had long legs, so it only took him more than half an hour to reach the reservoir.

From afar, the reservoir is surrounded by green mountains. Pine trees grow all around the reservoir, and wild chrysanthemums on the ground sway gently in the wind, like a landscape painting, very beautiful.

These fish feed on humus from vegetation in the mountains surrounding the lake, such as coniferous forests, pines, cypresses, and wild chrysanthemums, all year round, and grow up in a unique environment free of any industrial or agricultural pollution.

The fish is big and fat, with unique meat and delicious soup. It is called "pine needle fish" and is sold not only in the county but also in Huanghuai City. It is very popular among the citizens!

However, Lin Zhengjun was not in the mood to appreciate the scenery. He took big steps, went down the wide flood discharge channel, and walked up the stone steps at the end of the channel to the embankment to observe carefully.

Soon, Lin Zhengjun discovered the problem.

There are a lot of mud and mud lines distributed on the dam body, indicating that termite damage has been exposed and there are many ant nests distributed. Looking closely, there are densely packed termites, both with yellow wings and black wings.

What’s even more frightening is that the slope where the ant holes are located is very damp. This is because termites have built arched ant tunnels inside the dam in order to find food and water, which has caused leakage.

As the termite population expands, their ant tunnels will continue to thicken and lengthen, and may even cross from the back slope of the dam to the front slope of the dam.

When the flood season arrives, the water level rises and the water flows into the ant tunnels, forming pipe bursts.

As the water pressure rises, a large amount of mud and sand will be carried out by the high-pressure water flow, causing the diameter of the ant tunnel to continue to expand, and finally causing a landslide collapse.

After checking the situation of the termites, Lin Zhengjun walked up the ladder to the river bank, intending to check the slope of the bank and consider how to repair it.

He was observing and calculating carefully when he suddenly heard a deafening roar: "Hey, you sneak around, what are you doing? Are you trying to steal the fish?"