Reborn in 1977

Chapter 214: Resistance and the Sweet Smell of Success

The solar term 'Start of Spring' brings the return of yang energy, 'Rain Water' sees the riverbanks moisten; 'Awakening of Insects' heralds the crow's call, 'Vernal Equinox' dries the land; 'Pure Brightness' and 'Grain in Ear' bring millet, 'Grain Rain' calls for planting in the fields.

The cold winter has passed, and the warm spring has arrived. The Vernal Equinox is almost upon us, and it's time to prepare for spring plowing.

In the front yard of the Lujiawan Brigade Headquarters, bags of grain seeds were piled up like mountains, and people from each team came to collect the early rice seeds.

Following the last meeting to compete for the quota for the veterinarian class, the leaders of the 12 teams gathered again.

And this time they were not alone; each of them brought their own "team."

Su Yujun, the leader of Team 10, stood with his legs apart, his hands behind his back, a hand-rolled cigarette in his mouth, squinting at the pile of rice, "Old Zhang, have you seen this year's grain seeds? What do you think?"

Tang Xianjun, the leader of Team 7, smacked his lips twice, "Don't you trust Little Ye? He's been in charge of the production part for so many years, and he's never made a mistake."

Hou Chenggen, the leader of Team 12, chuckled, "It's not a question of trust. Old Ye definitely doesn't have problems with his work, but it concerns the livelihood of hundreds of people for a year, who dares to be careless?"

Yang Chuanfu, the leader of Team 6, took off his hat and opened his thin cotton coat to fan himself, "This damn weather, it's only the beginning of the second month (lunar calendar) and the sun is so strong. I don't know if the feng shui will be smooth this year."

Tang Xianjun glared at him unhappily, "You crow's mouth, it'll definitely be smooth if you don't speak."

Yang Chuanfu glanced at him, "Feudal superstition is not allowed."

One sentence almost angered Tang Xianjun to death.

Zhang Guangwen, the leader of Team 5, put one hand on his hip and held a smoking pipe in the other. At this time, he said slowly, "I've seen this year's grain seeds. Every grain is full and they are all good seeds."

As soon as he said this, everyone smiled.

Whether the harvest is good or not depends on the seeds. If they are good seeds, even if the climate is slightly worse, it can be saved by 'man can conquer nature'.

But if the seeds are not good, no matter how much fertilizer you apply or how much water you irrigate, it's all useless work.

Hearing Zhang Guangwen say that the seeds were full, they were naturally happy.

After everyone laughed for a while, Su Yujun suddenly looked at him and asked, "Old Zhang, why do you look a little unhappy?"

As soon as this was said, the area where the team leaders gathered gradually quieted down.

Only then did the others remember that Zhang Guangwen's face didn't seem too good today. He's collecting seeds today, so why does he look like this?

Zhang Guangwen glanced at everyone, took another puff of his pipe, and then exhaled a long stream of smoke, saying softly, "This year, the commune has issued a strict regulation that each team must take out 20% of its paddy fields to plant new rice."

New rice?

Everyone looked at each other. After two seconds, Yang Chuanfu asked softly, "What new rice?"

Zhang Guangwen pursed his lips, his face quite heavy, "It's the hybrid rice that was mentioned in the newspaper last year, saying that it can increase production by 200 kilograms."

As soon as he said this, the whole place fell silent.

In the past, the ordinary rice they planted generally yielded about 200 to 250 kilograms per mu. If the weather was good, one mu of land could produce 300 kilograms, which was the limit!

Increase production by 200 kilograms? Who are you trying to fool?!

They have been farming all their lives and only know that moldy seeds will affect the harvest. When can seeds increase production so much?

Isn't that like cracking a whip while plowing — urging the ox on?

Thinking of this, everyone's faces looked bad.

(This has been adjusted here, mainly to explain why there is resistance. Smart readers should be able to guess what it is, regarding the yield!)

… …

"Hybrid rice?"

Chen Fan held a notebook and pen in one hand, and spread out the rice seeds in his hand, looking at Ye Shubao with a face full of surprise, "This is hybrid rice?"

Ye Shubao's face was so bitter that he could cry, and he kept smoking silently.

"Oh dear, what are we going to do?"

Xiao Liewen took off his hat and scratched his head in distress, "Secretary Qian of the commune said that the data from the experimental fields of this hybrid rice is 500 kilograms per mu. Even if we discount it, planting it here will yield at least 7 or 800 jin per mu, which is 70-80% more than before. He also said that these rice seeds were hard-earned by him. Oh dear, Secretary Qian is usually a sensible person, why is he so obsessed?"

Team Leader Zhang wiped his face, picked up his tea mug and took a sip, saying with a worried face, "We have to use 20% of our land all at once, and it must be top-quality paddy fields. If this thing is not reliable, Lujiawan will have a 20% reduction in income next year, and we may have to buy resold grain."

Secretary Yang snorted twice, "Reduce income by 20%, and you still have money to buy resold grain? It's good enough if you don't have to beg for rice with a bowl."

After a pause, he said, "No matter what, this is a task assigned by the commune, and you have to listen whether you want to or not."

Saying that, he sighed deeply, and stood up, supporting his thigh, "A homely daughter-in-law must eventually meet her parents-in-law, everyone go out."

Team Leader Zhang, Xiao Liewen, and Ye Shubao also sighed and got up to walk out.

Zhang Wenliang and Yang Xingxiu also followed behind with worried faces. Although this matter was not under their control, the income of the production team was closely related to them. Seeing that 20% of the paddy fields were going to be wasted, how could they not be worried?

Only Chen Fan in the house had a dazed expression on his face.

My God, this is hybrid rice, and you all despise it so much?

Listen to what Secretary Yang is saying?

Begging for rice with a bowl?

You're going to beg for rice with a 20% reduction in harvest? Are you all reluctant to use your savings?

Bah, that's not the case at all.

Wait a few months for a bumper harvest of rice, and see if you shout "So fragrant!"

Holding back his laughter, Chen Fan threw the rice back into the bag and trotted out behind them.

In front of the courtyard, the team leaders surrounded the leaders of the brigade headquarters, talking all at once, and the whole scene was chaotic.

Chen Fan put his hands in his pockets and watched the excitement with a smile.

The people here don't know, but he does.

In 1974, Yuan Lao led a team in Hainan to cultivate 177 kilograms of sterile seeds. In 1975, they first expanded the reproduction of 177 kilograms of sterile seeds in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, and harvested 9,500 kilograms of sterile seeds.

Then, the 9,500 kilograms of sterile seeds were divided into two. Half was transported to Nanning to continue expanding reproduction, and the other half was transferred to Hainan in winter to continue reproduction. A total of 310,000 kilograms of hybrid rice seeds were obtained, laying the foundation for the promotion of hybrid rice throughout the country.

And after doing all this, it was already December 1975.

In order to catch up with the spring plowing of 1976, the higher authorities took the lead in uniting more than a dozen departments, including agriculture, scientific research, finance, banking, grain, supply and marketing, and transportation, and mobilized all levels of institutions from top to bottom, taking out a special fund of 1.5 million yuan.

Among them, 1.2 million was compensation for Hunan's transfer of seeds, and the remaining 300,000 yuan was used to buy 15 Jiefang brand trucks for Guangdong, equipping an independent motorcade to be responsible for transporting "Nanhai" seeds.

Subsequently, hundreds of relevant persons in charge from 13 southern provinces gathered in Guangzhou to discuss the planting of hybrid rice.

Just in the past year of 1976, all the paddy fields that planted hybrid rice generally increased production by 20% to 30%.

The data was quite different from the experimental fields, but that was because many places did not dare to use good fields to plant, but used medium or even lower fields, and the planting technology was insufficient. Otherwise, this data should be doubled again, reaching 40% to 50%.

Even so, the yield of hybrid rice greatly encouraged everyone, so there was the continuous promotion this year.

Chen Fan leaned against the courtyard wall, watching the noisy team leaders and brigade leaders, smiling very secretly.

At this time, he had to be secretive. If he smiled too obviously, he might be sprayed to death by these "old team leaders."

Even if it wasn't scolding, he couldn't stand the simple ideological education class.

He couldn't stand it, and Secretary Yang couldn't stand it either.

Unable to bear their noise, he put on a stern face and roared, "All of you shut up. This matter is a task assigned by the commune. If you understand it, you must implement it. If you don't understand it, you must also implement it."

Seeing that the 12 team leaders were all dejected, he weakly added, "At worst, we'll plant it for one season. If the effect is not good, Secretary Qian will definitely not issue such a task in the second half of the year."