Affection for Sidaogou during the Famine

“Although this cave is not big, it has good ventilation and is very suitable for storing food. The city is too chaotic now, and the food cannot be transported home.

During the day, Xiaomin, Xiaosanzi and you older ones should transport the food here.

Zhaozhao, Xiaoyun, the three of you harvest the crops. Your uncle Niu and I have prepared some large canvases. We will dry the millet and sorghum in the valley first. We are not in a hurry to thresh them.

After drying, we put them all in sacks and store them in the cave. When winter comes and no one goes out, we will find a way to thresh the grains and transport them home if necessary. "

The third child walked around the cave and couldn't help but praise, "Dad, this cave is very dry, perfect for storing food.

No wonder you and Uncle Niu have been acting so mysterious during this period, and have not been home day or night!

So you were looking for a cave in the mountains where food was stored.”

Uncle Qian glanced at the third child and said, "What do you know? Will we be like you, doing everything without a plan and getting into the sedan chair and getting our ears pierced right away?

This cave existed many years ago. I have been here since I was a child. I remember that when we were young, we also ran around all over the mountains.

I even hid in this cave for several days and escaped from the Japanese devils!

Our unit has been working in shifts to make steel these days. If we had time, we would have harvested the corn long ago.

It just so happens that your classes are suspended, so apart from reporting to the cafeteria at mealtime, you should rush to harvest the ripe crops.

Be careful when you enter the mountains, and remember to carry people on your back. Don't let anyone find you and take the back road!"

"understood!"

"Don't worry, we have always been careful!"

Qian Shuangxi still had to go to work, so at daybreak he pretended to take a stroll and returned to the city to work.

Several children were missing for a day or two, and no one noticed.

Before dawn, they spread sacks in the cave and took a nap. As soon as the sun rose, they started working again.

They broke off the corns, leaving three or four husks unpeeled, tied them up in pairs of two, put them into a backpack, and the two boys carried them to the cave.

After transporting the corn into the cave, a few logs were placed in the corner and the corn was placed on the logs to dry naturally.

At noon, several children each carried a bundle of firewood down the mountain to eat, and then continued to work up the mountain.

"Xiaomin, we're already eating in the canteen, why are you still collecting firewood? You don't have to cook for yourself."

"Hey, save it for heating water and heating the kang in winter. The canteen provides meals, but will it also provide us with heating and hot water?

There are so many households in our street, we can’t expect the government to solve all our problems, we still have to pay more attention to our own family affairs.”

Director Zhang from the neighborhood committee happened to pass by and heard the children's conversation. He expressed his support and praised them:

"The Niu family kid is right. Those of you who have children should learn from him. You can't leave everything to the government.

I tell you, this winter, every household will have no coal to burn, and they will have to find their own way.”

An old lady was anxious, "Why, don't we have a supply of coal?"

Director Zhang pointed at the numerous thick smoke columns over the capital and said, "Don't you understand? This year's coal supply is not enough for steelmaking. The coal transported to the city by train from other provinces is still not enough for the local blast furnaces.

The situation in Beijing is better, as we still have coal for steelmaking, but other provinces and cities have started burning firewood. "

After saying that, she left without looking back. She was busy and had to go to the coal company to negotiate for coal.

Once the earthen blast furnace is lit, it cannot be stopped no matter what. If it is stopped, the task will not be completed.

It took Han Zhaozhao and his team five days and five nights to harvest all the crops in the valley.

The harvest of corn, millet, and sorghum weighed more than 8,000 kilograms, peanuts weighed 200 kilograms, sesame seeds weighed 110 kilograms, and red beans and mung beans weighed more than 30 kilograms each.

In addition, they also harvested more than 1,000 kilograms of castor beans, more than 500 kilograms of buckwheat seeds, and more than 200 large pumpkins weighing five or six kilograms.

I only picked the loofahs a few times, and the rest were not picked in time and turned into loofah strings on the vines.

The caves deep in the mountains were so packed that people couldn’t even turn around once they entered.

There were only more than three acres of sweet potatoes and various crop straw left in the valley.

Normally, sweet potatoes are at the stage of producing starch, so they can be harvested after half a month.

But recently more and more people have gone up the mountain, and finally, they made up their minds and dug out all the sweet potatoes that were still growing.

After hiding the food, they finally felt relieved.

The children carried firewood down the mountain and delivered it to the kitchen of the canteen. That was their mission.

Now, all the coal in the canteen has been used for the steelmaking furnace, and people start cooking with firewood.

Director Zhang and his men went door to door collecting firewood. The hard wood was sent to the steel-making furnace, and the soft firewood was sent to the canteen. Some activists even dismantled the door panels of their homes and sent them to the steel-making furnace.

National sports are great. Now, except for children under five or six years old, there is basically no one free.

If you don’t have enough fuel, use trees!

After all the firewood was burned, the neighborhood committee called on everyone to go up the mountain to chop trees.

Looking at the people like ants on the mountain, Niu Xiaomin and his companions were trembling with fear.

They feared that if these crazy people pushed further into the mountains, they would discover the valleys where they farmed.

Han Zhaozhao pretended to be scared on the surface, but he was actually calm inside!

The mountain she chose originally had no big trees, mostly bushes.

To burn earthen blast furnaces, you must use hard wood, which must be from big trees. Not far from the valley where they were clearing land, there were mountains with their heads shaved.

Even small trees as thick as wrists were not spared. People carried axes and saws on their backs, and cartloads of wood were pulled down the mountain and sent into the earthen blast furnace while they were still wet.

Anyway, a strong fire is not afraid of wet firewood, so just burn it as long as the fire is not extinguished!

The sky over the capital looked like it had been struck by war, with thick smoke billowing up into the sky everywhere and a gloomy haze all over the sky.

Walking on the gray street, my nostrils are filled with black gray when I breathe in!

Xiao Sanzi laughed: "It saves the money of a grown man to buy cigarettes. Take a puff and the smell of cigarettes will choke your nose. How exciting!"

The children had no idea what sorrow felt like and they all laughed foolishly in unison.

After I went to school to hand in the assignment, the teacher announced that the furnace would not be closed until steel was produced. Not only would the class be suspended, but the students were also assigned new tasks. They had to continue collecting iron tools and each student had to hand in 20 kilograms of firewood every day!

The students were all confused. Even though they were young, they had already thought of this situation!

The streets have to hand in firewood, and the schools have to hand in firewood too. The children are not primary school students, so they simply became firewood collectors!

No one dared to object! The adults at home had instructed us not to worry about whether we could complete it or not, but to shout the slogan first!

"Guarantee that the task is completed! Firmly support the production of good steel for the country!" The clear child's voice shouted loudly.

After the teacher gave some encouragement, the children dispersed.

It’s still early, let’s go up the mountain to collect some firewood first.

The thick branches of the big trees on the mountain were pulled away by the adults, leaving only small branches and fallen leaves on the ground.

The children picked up small branches, tied them together with vines, and ran to the city with them on their backs.

He rushed into the cafeteria, handed over to the person in charge of logistics in the kitchen, and went to the front dining room to wait for the meal to be served.

I stewed big tofu and had big steamed buns tonight.

Han Zhaozhao ate two bowls of dishes and four big steamed buns by himself.

After finishing his meal, he wiped his mouth, said goodbye to his friends, and ran home.

The old lady is on night shift tonight, and the children locked the door and had a meeting.

Niu Xiaomin spoke first: "The night is so long, it seems a bit of a waste to sleep at home."