Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 64, Two Questions

Steel plant, secretary's office.

"Lao Yang, what's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Xing Shuqi smiled and invited Yang Shourong and Zhao Mancang to sit down, greeting them in a very gentle manner.

Yang Shourong, who sat down, was not so anxious anymore.

After a few polite words, Yang Shourong asked Zhao Mancang to repeat what he had just said.

After Zhao Mancang finished speaking, Xing Shuqi also understood why the two of them came to see him.

"Xiao Zhao, I have two questions for you. If you can solve these two problems, I will shamelessly take you to Daxing Farm to borrow a Holstein bull."

Hearing the leader's question, Zhao Mancang said respectfully: "Secretary, please ask, I will tell you everything I know."

Xing Shuqi and Yang Shourong smiled lightly, and then the former said seriously:

"First, how can we solve the problem of silage? Second, are methods like Chinese herbal medicine that stimulate lactation and increase production truly free of side effects?"

Both issues are not small problems, especially the second one, which is what Xing Shuqi is most concerned about.

However, Zhao Mancang felt that the second question was very simple. After all, anyone who had studied Chinese medicine pharmacology knew that the Chinese medicines he had mentioned before were indeed very mild in nature.

As for the side effects?

Haha, all medicines are poisonous. It would be a lie to say that there are no side effects at all.

But for cows, eating these Chinese medicines is actually no different from eating grass.

Therefore, Xing Shuqi's second question was easy to solve, but it was the first question that really caught Zhao Mancang's attention.

The silage in the feeding room is rationed. Part of it is purchased from sister units, part of it is purchased from outside by the transportation team, and the remaining part is produced by ourselves.

The entire breeding room is home to livestock such as horses, donkeys, cows, and pigs. Horses and donkeys need to be fed with concentrated feed, which means they all eat grain. To a certain extent, these livestock eat better than humans.

Cows eat grass, and there are quite a few wastelands and dry lands near the steel plant, so we can just lead the cows there.

Of course, that’s not how the breeding room works. Instead, they work with teenagers from the steel mill or nearby rural areas.

The children exchanged the cut grass for work points, and the steel plant paid a certain amount of food or other things to their production team, and settled the accounts at the end of the month or half a month.

The food source for pigs is roughly the same as that for cows, except that pig feed needs to be added with a little rice bran, rice husk crumbs, etc. in different proportions, and it must be cooked before it can be fed to pigs.

Of course, rice bran is also a good thing, but it is not necessarily used to feed pigs.

But in winter and spring, everything is barren in the north. At that time, not to mention rice bran, even coarse grains such as sweet potatoes have to be used to feed pigs.

Zhao Mancang pondered for a while, and just when Xing Shuqi and Yang Shourong thought he had no solution, he spoke.

"Secretary, Director, if we plant some alfalfa and oats near our factory, we might be able to completely solve the silage problem."

Hearing his words, Xing Shuqi and the others rolled their eyes:
"How can it be so easy to grow? And fertilizer is also a big problem."

Behind one problem, more problems arise.

If you want to grow alfalfa and oats, you need a place to grow them. Farmland is easy to solve. After all, it is 1958 and there is still a lot of wasteland. With the power of the steel plant, it is not a problem to reclaim more than ten or twenty acres of wasteland near the factory.

But the problem is fertilizer!
Don’t even think about potassium fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer, or compound fertilizer in this era. Not many potassium salt mines have been discovered, even if geological experts have found potassium salt mines with rich reserves.

For example, there are many potash mines in Qinghai, but the mining and transportation problems that come with them are big problems.

In 1958, industrialization in the mainland had just begun and had not even started, so what else could we talk about?
Since industrial fertilizers are of no use, we can only find a solution from farmyard manure.

However, farmyard manure is a precious resource in this era.

Why were the public toilets in the courtyard houses of Beijing cleaned so frequently? That's because over 5,000 dung collectors toiled day and night to keep the capital clean.

From Yu Deshun, the dung tyrant in the early days of the People's Republic of China, to Shi Chuanxiang, a model worker in the new era, they are just a microcosm of an era in the dung collection industry in Beijing.

Yu Deshun, who took over the feces disposal work of 36 streets in the capital, owned more than 100 properties and 1,500 acres of fertile land at the peak of his career. He was the famous feces tyrant in the capital.

However, the arrogant Yu Deshun wanted to continue to monopolize the market and oppress the people. In 1951, he was executed, ending his legendary yet sinful life.

In 1952, Shi Chuanxiang, a night soil collector, worked in the Chongwen cleaning team and was later selected as a national model worker.

So many big things happen in the industry of night soil collectors because the night soil they carry on their shoulders is not something that can be thrown away casually, but rather a treasure like farm fertilizer.

Farmyard manure needs to be purchased, and there is not enough to go around.

Therefore, Xing Shuqi and Yang Shourong’s rolling eyes were not without reason.

Zhao Mancang blinked and suddenly realized that in this era, if one wanted to do something, there were too many constraints and problems everywhere.

Even if we unravel these problems and try our best to solve them, there will be bigger and bigger problems behind them.

A deep sense of powerlessness swept over him, making Zhao Mancang admire those people in the history of the original time and space even more. How did they overcome so many setbacks and difficulties and lead the new China to glory? Only they probably knew the hardships involved.

"Boss, I think everything depends on human effort. We just need to work hard and persevere."

After thinking about it, Zhao Mancang advised so.

At this moment, the thoughts of 'intermittently lying down and playing dirty, and continuously living a life of idleness and waiting to die' in his mind had long since disappeared.

People are indeed more impulsive in certain environments.

For example, there are many people who think they are invincible and handsome just because they drink three taels of urine, and they don’t even know their own last name.

At this time, Zhao Mancang was not drinking and his mind was not confused. On the contrary, he was very sober.

If he were to live his whole life again, his goal would be to "lie down and do nothing intermittently, and then continue to live a life of idleness and wait for death."

However, if he can achieve his goals while ensuring his own health, Zhao Mancang certainly doesn't mind contributing part of his strength to the land under his feet.

Even if this part of the power is very weak and insignificant, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Besides, everything depends on human effort, so just do your best.

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(End of this chapter)