Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 214 Resistance and the Allure

Spring begins with the return of Yang energy, and Rain Water arrives along the riverbanks; the crows caw at the Awakening of Insects, and the ground dries up at the Spring Equinox; millet is sown at Qingming and Mangzhong, and the fields are planted at Grain Rain.

The cold winter has passed and the warm spring has arrived. The spring equinox is just around the corner, and it's time to prepare for spring plowing.

In the front yard of the Lujiawan brigade headquarters, bags of rice seeds were piled up like mountains, and people from various teams came to collect the early rice seeds.

Following their previous meeting to compete for spots in the veterinary training program, the team leaders from the 12 teams gathered once again.

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

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

Tang Xianjun, the captain of Team 7, smacked his lips twice. "You still don't trust Xiao Ye? He's been in charge of production for so many years, and he's never made a mistake."

Hou Chenggen, the captain of Team 12, chuckled and said, "It's not a matter of whether you believe it or not. Old Ye is definitely capable of doing things right, but when it comes to the livelihoods of hundreds of people for a year, who dares to be careless?"

Team 6's captain, Yang Chuanfu, pulled off his hat and opened his thin cotton-padded jacket to fan himself. "This awful weather! It's only the beginning of February (lunar calendar) and the sun is already so strong. I wonder if this year's feng shui will be good or not."

Tang Xianjun glared at him irritably, "You jinx, if you didn't say anything, things would definitely go smoothly."

Yang Chuanfu glanced at him and said, "Feudal superstition is unacceptable."

One sentence made Tang Xianjun furious.

Team 5's captain, Zhang Guangwen, with one hand on his hip and the other holding a pipe, slowly said, "I've seen this year's grain seeds; every grain is plump and full—they're all good seeds."

As soon as he said that, everyone beamed with joy.

Whether a year's harvest is good or not depends on the seeds. If the seeds are good, even if the climate is a little bad, it can be salvaged by human will.

But if the seeds are not good, no matter how much fertilizer you apply or how much water you irrigate, it will all be in vain.

They were naturally happy to hear Zhang Guangwen say that the seeds were plump.

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 these words were spoken, the area where the squad leaders had gathered gradually quieted down.

Then the others remembered that Zhang Guangwen's complexion did not seem too good today. Why was he like this when he was receiving the seeds?

Zhang Guangwen glanced at everyone, took another puff of his cigarette, exhaled a long plume of smoke, and said softly, "This year, the commune has made a strict rule that each team must allocate 20% of its paddy fields to plant new rice."

New rice?
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. After a couple of seconds, Yang Chuanfu asked softly, "What new rice?"

Zhang Guangwen pursed his lips, his face quite grave. "It was in last year's newspaper that they said hybrid rice could increase production by 200 kilograms."

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

In the past, the yield of ordinary rice grown by everyone was generally around 200 to 250 kilograms per mu. If the weather was favorable, the yield of 300 kilograms per mu was the highest possible!

An increase of 200 kilograms in production? Who are they trying to fool?!

They've farmed all their lives and only know that moldy seeds affect the harvest. When did seeds become able to increase yields so much?

Isn't that like cracking a whip to urge an ox on while plowing the field?

Thinking about this, everyone's expression turned grim.

(This part has been adjusted to explain why there's resistance; astute readers should be able to guess what it is—it's about production!)
……

"Hybrid rice?"

Chen Fan, holding a notebook and pen in one hand and spreading out rice seeds in the other, looked at Ye Shubao with surprise, "This is hybrid rice?"

Ye Shubao's face was so bitter it looked like he was about to burst into tears, and he kept smoking in silence. "Oh dear, what should I do?"

Xiao Liewen took off his hat, scratching his head in distress. "Secretary Qian of the commune said that the experimental field data for this hybrid rice showed a yield of 500 kilograms per mu. Even with a discount, if we planted it here, it would yield at least 7 or 800 jin per mu, which is 7 or 8% higher than before. He also said that he had worked hard to get these rice seeds. Oh dear, Secretary Qian is a sensible man. How could he be so blinded by greed?"

Captain Zhang wiped his face, picked up his teacup and took a sip, then said with a worried look, "We have to take 20% of the land at once, and it has to be top-quality paddy fields. If this stuff isn't reliable, our Lujiawan harvest will drop by 20% next year, and we might have to buy grain from the resold grain."

Secretary Yang snorted twice, "With a 20% reduction in revenue, you still have money to buy back grain? You should be grateful you're not begging for rice with your bowl in hand."

He paused for a moment, then said, "No matter what, this is a task assigned by the commune, and we have to listen to it whether we want to or not."

With a long sigh, she stood up, supporting herself on her thighs. "Even an ugly daughter-in-law has to meet her in-laws eventually. Everyone, get out."

Captain Zhang, Xiao Liewen, and Ye Shubao also let out a long sigh and got up to walk outside.

Zhang Wenliang and Yang Xingxiu followed behind with worried expressions. Although this matter was not under their jurisdiction, the income of the production team was closely related to them. With 20% of their paddy fields about to be lost, how could they not be worried?

Only Chen Fan remained in the room, his face blank.

My goodness, this is hybrid rice, and you all dislike it like this??
Listen to what Secretary Yang has to say.
Going to beg for rice with a bowl in hand?

Are you going to beg for rice after only 20% of your harvest? Are you all reluctant to touch your savings?
Pshaw, that's not the case at all.

Wait a few months until the rice harvest, and see if you'll still be saying "It smells so good!"
Suppressing a laugh, Chen Fan tossed the rice back into the bag and skipped after them.

In front of the compound, the squad leaders surrounded the brigade leaders, talking all at once, making the whole scene chaotic.

Chen Fan stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the commotion with amusement.

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

In 1974, Yuan led his team in Hainan to cultivate 177 kilograms of sterile seeds. In 75, the 177 kilograms of sterile seeds were first propagated in Zhanjiang, Guangdong, and 9500 kilograms of sterile seeds were harvested.

Then, the 9500 kilograms of sterile seeds were divided in two. One half was transported to Nanning for further propagation, while the other half was moved to Hainan in the winter for continued propagation. In total, 31 kilograms of hybrid rice seeds were obtained, laying the foundation for the nationwide promotion of hybrid rice.

And by the time all this was done, it was December of 75.

In order to catch up with the spring plowing in 76, 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 organizations at all levels, from the top down to the production teams, to allocate a special fund of 150 million yuan.

Of the 1.2 million yuan, 1.2 million yuan was compensation for the seeds transferred from Hunan. The remaining 300,000 yuan was used to buy 15 Jiefang brand trucks for Guangdong, equipping an independent fleet specifically responsible for transporting "Southern Seed Breeding" seeds.

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

In the past 76 years, all rice fields where hybrid rice was planted generally saw an increase in yield of 20% to 30%.

The data is quite different from that of the experimental fields, but that's because many places dare not use good fields for planting, and instead use medium or even low-quality fields. In addition, the planting techniques are somewhat lacking. Otherwise, this data should be able to double again, reaching 40% to 50%.

Even so, the yield of hybrid rice has greatly encouraged everyone, which is why it has been promoted this year.

Chen Fan leaned against the courtyard wall, watching the noisy squad leader and brigade leaders, and smiled very discreetly.

He had to stay hidden at a time like this; if he smiled even slightly, he might get roasted by these "old captains."

Even if it's not scolding, I can't stand just being given a moral education class.

He couldn't stand it, and neither could Secretary Yang.

Unable to bear their arguing any longer, he sternly shouted, "Shut up, all of you! This is a task assigned by the commune. Whether you understand it or not, you have to carry it out."

Seeing that the 12 team leaders were all dejected, he weakly added, "At worst, we'll just plant one season. If the results aren't good, Secretary Qian definitely won't assign such a task again in the second half of the year."

(End of this chapter)