Time Travel Article: Tool Man Rejects Plot

The news that Gu Mingwei brought back was that the country was about to launch a large-scale steel-making campaign.

All ironware in each household must be handed over unconditionally, including iron pots used for cooking.

As for the issue of eating.

Each brigade has its own collective canteen.

The main slogan is: Eat for free, work hard to produce. The canteen is like my home, life is collectivized.

Gu Mingyue sighed secretly, what was supposed to come finally came.

Even though the world we live in now is a fictional world.

The general background environment remains the same.

I originally had a lucky mentality, thinking that since even leaders have deviations, perhaps some major events will also occur.

But it was just her wishful thinking after all.

What has happened so far has proven that the historical process is highly similar.

She has seen many interpretations of various events during this period.

What impressed her most was an analysis of the Great Leap Forward in Steel Production.

It is said that in August 1958, a meeting was held at which it was formally decided that steel production in 8 would double that of 1958.

The proposed value is a high indicator that is seriously out of touch with reality.

In order to accomplish this impossible task, a mass movement of producing steel was launched across the country.

Go up the mountain to cut trees and dig coal, look for ore and smelt iron...

Millions of small earthen blast furnaces and coke ovens were built, production standards were lowered, and iron and steel were smelted using primitive methods.

Iron pots used for cooking at home, door locks, and even many farming tools are all used as raw materials for iron and steel making.

Some steel mills also broke various rules and regulations, launched mass movements, and disrupted normal production order.

After several months of reckless work, by the end of 1958, two-thirds of the steel produced was scrap steel and could not be used at all.

At this point, the movement was urgently stopped.

The article concluded:

This mass movement of producing steel resulted in a huge waste of manpower and material resources, as well as serious damage to natural resources and the ecological environment.

However, since a large number of rural laborers were occupied and farm tools were confiscated, major agricultural crops such as grain had "high yields but low harvests."

After that, three years of disasters occurred and people's lives fell into dire straits.

It can be said that during the famine period when the ground was filled with corpses of starving people, natural disasters were inevitable, but man-made causes could not be ignored either.

This is why Gu Mingyue specially wrote "chaos brings disaster" on the yellow paper.

It is both a reminder and a warning.

This is the limit of what she can do, the rest is up to fate.

Today, just like the Ghost Festival, all the men, women, and children in the village gathered in the ancestral hall.

At this time, they were at a loss and in a state of panic all day long.

No one would remain indifferent if they knew there was a guillotine hanging over their head.

Gu Mingyue saw that her uncle was smoking more heavily than usual, so she forcibly snatched his pipe and said, "You smoke too much."

Uncle Gu forced a smile, then reluctantly took the tea that Gu Mingyue handed over and drank it in one gulp.

Then he straightened his face and said to everyone, "Don't speculate. We can only take one step at a time. The commune will come to inspect at any time. If the village is passive, I believe they will charge us with obstructing production."

Someone said, "Why not let the prophecy go?"

Gu Mingwei snorted, "Go ahead, you bastard. See how many people will believe you. If you are arrested for spreading feudal superstition, don't say you are from Gujia Village, so as not to implicate us."

Li Gousheng was so embarrassed that he retracted his head.

"This doesn't work, and that doesn't work either. What are we going to do? Wait till we die."

Obviously, some people have begun to lose their patience.

Gu Mingyue said unhappily, "If you want to die, then die early. Stay away and don't get in everyone's way."

Seeing that some villagers were not convinced, she said directly, "Why, you don't like it? Don't like it? Then I have to tell you, so that some people won't feel that everyone owes you after living in peace for too long. Are you going to starve to death or can't survive? Aren't you all standing here like human beings? You have no missing arms or legs, you can breathe and complain, right?"

The villagers were so shocked that they dared not say a word.

Gu Mingyue continued, "Okay, let's not talk about anything else. What if the prophecy comes true? Can you fight against the government or persuade God? No. Who are you pretending to be dying for? Show me! What you should think about now is how to get through this difficult time, not waiting for others to give you food.

If you really think so, then I can only say, just wait for death. We are village cadres, not your parents or ancestors, so we have no obligation to do so. If the time comes, we will all be in a difficult situation, so who will have the energy to take care of others?

What's the matter? No one helps, no one saves. Can't you survive? Don't you still live as usual? In recent years, every household in the village has worked hard from dawn to dusk. Those who should get married have gotten married, those who should build houses have built houses, and they have land to farm and food to eat. Isn't it all achieved by our own hard work bit by bit?

Who is dependent on others for support? No one. The country is peaceful now. We no longer have to worry about a bomb dropping on our heads one day. Isn't it a natural disaster? If our ancestors really appeared, how many connections would they have to go through to tell us that what we should do, first, is to be grateful. Second, what is it? "

The people below looked confused.

Gu Mingyue said loudly, "Of course we should store food. If we save one mouthful a day, we can last for half a year. Besides, we are not at the end of our rope yet. There are so many wild vegetables, fungus and fruits in the back mountain, we can pick them. There are fish, shrimps and snails in the river, which are all edible? We can catch them. If our village cannot survive, those who have no mountains and no water will not be able to survive. You can tell me, can we survive like this?"

The villagers shouted "Yes!"

Gu Guoqiang stood up and said, "You are all great. This is the spirit we need. With this, we are not afraid of any hardship or difficulty."

Gu Mingwei took over the conversation and discussed the next series of arrangements with everyone.

First of all, no one in the village is allowed to go out and talk nonsense.

They cannot be sure whether the prophecy on the yellow paper is true or false, so they can only wait.

Waiting for the results of this Great Leap Forward in Steel Production.

If successful, it would be a false alarm.

If steelmaking really fails, we will have to race against time to stock up on supplies and notify relatives on all sides.

But regardless of success or failure, they have to build a few furnaces first to deal with the inspections from above.

There is also a large cafeteria.

The commune required each household to hand over all their food rations, and each household was only allowed to keep one laying hen; the rest had to be confiscated.

They should hide in their own villages first and don’t need to hand it over. We will decide later based on the situation.

Gu Mingwei warned, "This concerns the interests of the entire village. If anyone talks too much and spreads it, harming the village, once discovered, no one will be allowed to plead for mercy and will have to leave the village on their own."

For this purpose, Gu Mingwei specially wrote a letter of guarantee.

Every household in Gujia Village, even the babies who can't walk, have put their fingerprints on it.

In this era, pressing a fingerprint is like signing a life and death agreement, which is far more deterrent than a formal document.