Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 100: Became one of the three major officials

There are large-scale projects, and naturally there are also medium-sized and small-scale projects.

Medium-sized river engineering projects are generally organized by the provincial government. For example, the Subei Irrigation Main Canal and the Huaihe River management project are provincial projects. They are usually built by mobilizing resources within the province, and the manpower and material resources are all solved within the province.

This period of time will not be too long, and the work location will not be too far away.

The smallest of these is naturally the county-level project, which is what locals often call "dike construction".

Generally, the county water resources bureau is responsible for overseeing the project, with each commune (township) managing it in sections, and then the production brigades below implementing it independently.

In most cases, there is no need to bring bedding and luggage when going out. You go to work in the morning and return home in the evening. If you are in a rush or the work is long, you can also set up a shack on the dike for a short stay.

In addition, there wasn't much machinery or materials available; they mainly relied on baskets, carrying poles, shovels, and wheelbarrows to gradually reinforce, raise, and widen the dike.

Levee carrying is physically demanding work, and generally only people aged 18 to 45 are selected to participate. If there is a shortage of labor in the family, the age limit will be extended to 16 to 50 years old. In principle, women are not allowed to participate.

However, if there is really no man in the family, the woman can be allowed to help with cooking and tending the fire.

Why is it that everyone is scrambling to do such tiring work?
Of course, it's because of the high salaries.

Some people online later claimed that the workers on the river did not receive work points and had to bring their own food, but that is actually a big misunderstanding.

It's not that it doesn't exist, but it's not in this era.

Before that, people were forced to perform forced labor in the Blue Zone before liberation.

Then came the disbandment of the production teams and the abolition of work point recording, which was the period when misunderstandings arose.

In the 1980s and 1990s, farmers contracted their own land and were responsible for their own profits and losses, but the stipulated "retention" could not be reduced, and the river works had to be completed.

At that time, the river workers no longer had work points, but they could still record "work" points. These work points were valuable and could be used to offset "levies," which were part of the agricultural tax.

Moreover, for projects that take a long time, meals are arranged in a unified manner, with grain and meat distributed to the production teams according to the number of people, and the production teams organize their own cooks to prepare the meals.

If no arrangements are made and farmers are required to bring their own food, this subsidy will be converted into "work" and used to offset "retention".

This is completely different from the self-funded "labor service" before liberation.

Some people born in the 80s and 90s remember their parents bringing their own food to work without pay, and they thought it was free labor, but that's not the case at all.

Now, when people are tending the dike, under normal circumstances, a strong laborer can earn 12 work points, and the highest can even earn 15 points. Even a woman tending the fire can earn 10 points.

Not only do you get more work points, but you also get two meals a day.

Whether the food is good or not is another matter, at the very least, you must be able to eat your fill. Doing this kind of heavy physical labor, you can't do it without eating enough; in serious cases, it can really kill you.

With work points to earn and free meals to eat, it was a dream job in the eyes of the older generation who had experienced hunger, so it's no wonder that everyone wanted to go to work there.

If it's a long trip with limited spots, some minor conflicts might even arise in the competition for those spots.

Captain Zhang then told an interesting story.

Once, when they went out to work on the river, a production team from the neighboring Qingshan Commune was allocating manpower. It was agreed that each family would send one person, but one family only had a woman. The man had gone to the frontier to support the border region, and his woman, unwilling to give up the opportunity to earn work points, insisted on going as well. The team leader asked him, "We are all men, where will you sleep if you go?"

The woman wasn't easily fooled, and immediately shouted, "How about I crawl into your bed and warm your feet?"

This caused a burst of laughter. The team leader had no choice but to agree to let her go, but he didn't assign her any heavy work. Instead, he made her a cook, and she slept in the makeshift kitchen.

This shows how much farmers nowadays value this work.

The work points earned for these jobs were not paid by the production team, but were settled between the higher-level departments and the production team. They were either directly allocated funds or materials, or used to offset the production team's quota. In short, the work points would not fall on the commune members' shoulders.

While it cannot be ruled out that some local officials may have manipulated the system to embezzle or intercept funds, in general, the villagers viewed the dike-building work as a tiring yet rewarding task.

No wonder that a few days ago at the banquet, someone asked Captain Yang if there was still any dike-breaking work to be done this year.

……

Sitting in the smoke-filled office, Chen Fan listened with a dazed and confused mind as the four leaders took turns talking about the things that happened at the Shanghe Construction Company. Combining this with what he had heard his grandfather and his family say when he was a child, he finally had a general idea of ​​what the job was like.

After figuring out the situation, he couldn't stand the secondhand smoke anymore, and it was almost time to stop the broadcast, so he immediately prepared to say goodbye and leave.

At this moment, Secretary Yang, seemingly lost in thought, suddenly had a brilliant idea and said to Chen Fan, "Little Chen, do you know how to write news articles?"

Chen Fan, (◎_◎)? "Huh?"

Before he could react, Captain Zhang immediately understood Secretary Yang's meaning, cleared his throat, and said in a friendly tone,
"This dike breaching project, although it's just a small undertaking, is a significant event in the overall picture. Xiao Chen, if you have the ability, why don't you try writing a few news articles for our team members?"

"It would be an honor to be selected by the commune's broadcasting station. If we weren't selected, it wouldn't matter; we could just broadcast it on our own broadcasting station."

Upon hearing this, Ye Shubao, who was standing next to him, immediately continued, "In the past, every year when the dike was being repaired, the county radio station would select some typical cases to report on, and sometimes they would even be sent to the prefectural party committee's daily newspaper."

"It's a pity that, all these years later, even that wretched Ganjiacun village has been featured on the county radio once, but our Lujiawan village has never been selected."

Then, looking at Chen Fan, she said, "It doesn't matter if they don't choose us. We have our own radio station now, and we even have you, the star of literature, here..."

Chen Fan was so frightened that he quickly waved his hands, "No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense."

Ye Shubao chuckled, "Anyway, that's the gist of it. If the county can send candidates to the prefectural committee, then our production team can send them to the commune, and the commune can send them to the county, right?"
Once you've written the press release, the rest is up to us. The opportunity to make Lujiawan famous is right in front of us; if we miss it, we'll have to wait until next year. You absolutely must seize this opportunity!

Chen Fan stared blankly. "You guys were just saying that today's dike breach was a small project, nothing to brag about. Now, if you miss it, you'll have to wait until next year. Does things have to change this fast?"
Hearing Ye Shubao's words, Xiao Liewen also joined in the persuasion, "Whether it works or not, you should at least give it a try. This is a matter of collective honor. Not even trying is not the attitude of doing a job."

Chen Fan, well, he's even bringing up work attitude now. What can I say?

He could only smile wryly and say, "I've never written anything like this before. I can only say I'll try. If it's not well written..."

Secretary Yang immediately raised his hand, "It has nothing to do with you if it's not well written. These roughnecks in our team don't even have the ability to try, so who has the right to blame you?"

He took a puff of his cigarette and grinned, "Didn't Old Zhang just say that at the very least, we can broadcast it within our own team? It's an honor, no matter how small."

Since things had come to this point, Chen Fan naturally stopped refusing.

At this moment, Captain Zhang chuckled and said, "Young man, do a good job. If your article is selected by the commune, I will personally award you a certificate and also let you work as a correspondent."

Chen Fan grinned awkwardly.

I'm already a broadcaster, data clerk, and a communications officer. Well, from now on, I might as well call myself a triple agent.

But you guys aren't raising our wages!
(End of this chapter)