Time Travel: Volume 1! Starting from a Small Mountain Village

"Row"

Li Chang'an remained silent for a moment, tapping the table incessantly with his right hand, before finally nodding in agreement. He then instructed his secretary beside him, "Xiao Zhao, please call and inform the cadres of each commune to come to the county committee tomorrow."

"Yes"

Secretary Xiao Zhao responded and turned to leave the office.

Pingwu County has 12 communes under its jurisdiction, with a total population of approximately 40. In theory, Pingwu County should be a large county, but the county seat was attacked by artillery fire during the war. The old town, bathed in sunlight, tells stories of the past in every brick and tile.

Although the county town has changed somewhat after more than 20 years of development, it still exudes a sense of history. The county committee office is located in the very center, a simple three-story building that now houses the committee. As a local administrative body, the county government's unpretentious design reflects the national spirit of diligence, thrift, and hard work in building the country.

The conference room is located on the second floor and is spacious enough to accommodate over a hundred people at the same time. However, the layout is very simple. At the front of the conference room, there is a raised platform with a set of tables, chairs, and microphones, while below are neatly arranged tables and chairs.

At this moment, 12 people were sitting upright in the seats below. They were the leaders of various communes who had been notified by Secretary Zhao to attend the meeting yesterday.

"Da da"

With a series of clattering sounds, Xu Tiansheng strode into the meeting room with his head held high. When the commune cadres saw the face of the person who had entered, they all looked puzzled.

Although Xu Tiansheng was a government employee, he did not belong to any administrative unit and had never met the secretaries of the various communes.

"Hello everyone." Xu Tiansheng's loud voice came through the microphone, and then he introduced himself: "My name is Xu Tiansheng, and I am the director of the county machinery factory. I know you are all wondering why I am here and what my purpose is in gathering you all here."

"Bring it in!" Xu Tiansheng didn't keep them in suspense and shouted towards the door. Immediately afterwards, several workers from the machinery factory carried in a batch of new farm tools and placed them on one side of the high platform.

“Everyone here is in charge of their respective communes, so you should know what a good farm tool means to the members.” Xu Tiansheng bent down, picked up a sickle from the side, and said, “This is the latest farm tool researched by our machinery factory. It not only saves time and effort, but most importantly, it won’t hurt your arms.”

“I also come from the countryside and know how hard it is for the villagers. During the harvest season, they kept bending over to harvest, and the next day their arms were so sore they couldn’t use them. In view of this situation, our factory specially developed this new type of sickle. Everyone is welcome to come up and try it out.”

Upon hearing this, the cadres rushed to the platform, holding sickles and gesturing with them, discovering that they were indeed much lighter than before.

"Director Xu, you've gathered us here just to show us this sickle," a commune cadre said, his tone somewhat unfriendly. The sickle was good, but to gather the heads of all their communes together in such a grand display just to show it off was really a waste of time.

"Hehe, of course not." Xu Tiansheng chuckled, ignoring the man's attitude. Instead, he said directly in front of everyone, "As the director of the county machinery factory, it really pains me to think about how hard the villagers are living."

Xu Tiansheng clutched his chest, feigning heartache. After all, these were all things that Long Zhiqing had taught him, and now he was putting them to good use.

"Although my abilities are limited, I hope to provide some assistance to the members of the commune within my capacity. Therefore, I have decided to provide 50 new farm tools to each commune, and I hope everyone will accept them."

"what?"

"50!"

……

Upon hearing this, the commune cadres below immediately perked up. This was aid, and it didn't cost them a penny—where else could they find such a good deal?

Although the price of these sickles is unknown, each one must cost at least two or three yuan, which is equivalent to providing each commune with over a hundred yuan in aid.

"Director Xu, are you telling the truth?" The commune leader who had spoken in a bad tone earlier stepped forward again, his face full of disbelief.

Keep in mind that there are more than ten communes here, meaning the machinery factory provided over a thousand yuan in aid at once. That's no small sum!

"Of course it's true. What kind of man is he if he doesn't keep his word?" Xu Tiansheng said with an air of arrogance. Anyway, Long Zhiqing had told him that this aid was just bait, and they would recoup it later.

"Of course, I also have a request: I hope you will distribute the supplies equally to the brigades below. I don't mean anything by it; I just want the commune members below to feel the deep care that our machinery factory has for them."

Upon hearing this, the people from each commune unanimously assured him that there was no problem. Xu Tiansheng was overjoyed to receive their assurances. According to Long, a educated youth, these commune cadres usually favored the more developed brigades when it came to benefits, which was why he said this – to ensure the new farm tool could be promoted in all brigades.

"Excuse me, are you Secretary Ma of the Red Star Commune?"

Xu Tiansheng had the commune cadres each select a sufficient number of farm tools. After that, he walked over to a man in his forties and asked him in a low voice.

“It’s me, Director Xu. Is there something you need to tell me?” As the top leader of the Red Star Commune, Ma Jianshe was extremely good at reading people and could tell at a glance that Xu Tiansheng had something to say.

Xu Tiansheng was the factory director of the machinery factory. Although he wasn't an administrative staff member, his rank was higher than theirs. In addition, he was in a good mood because they had just donated a batch of farm tools to him, so his attitude was extremely enthusiastic.

"It's like this, I had an agreement with Captain Lin of the Dongwan Brigade to provide them with 50 new farm tools. I'd appreciate it if you could help us pass them on." Xu Tiansheng remembered his agreement with Long Zhiqing and was certain he wouldn't break his word. However, sending someone to make the trip himself would be counterproductive, so he asked Ma Jianshe for help.

"East Bay Brigade..."

Ma Jianshe moved his lips, repeatedly muttering those words. He hadn't expected that Lin Guodong knew Xu Tiansheng, and that the latter had even provided them with a batch of farm tools as a separate donation.

It should be noted that there were seven or eight brigades under the Hongxing Commune. If the weapons were distributed equally to each brigade, there would only be six or seven weapons. The Dongwan Brigade alone had 50 weapons.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Seeing Ma Jianshe lost in thought without saying a word, Xu Tiansheng assumed that he was unwilling.

"No, no problem. I promise to personally deliver it to Lin Guodong." He was momentarily confused about the relationship between Lin Guodong and Xu Tiansheng, and dared not cause any trouble. He quickly reassured them, pulling himself together.

"Then I'll have to trouble Secretary Ma." Xu Tiansheng nodded, and then had someone hand over the prepared farm tools to Ma Jianshe. Only after doing this did Xu Tiansheng leave, satisfied.

The fishing nets have been cast, and we're just waiting to catch the fish.

"Old Ma, how come you have twice as many as us?" A person familiar with Ma Jianshe walked over and asked curiously when he saw the quantity in front of him.

"This is what Director Xu asked me to pass on to the Dongwan Brigade."

"Why? As far as I know, your Dongwan Brigade is the poorest brigade in the Hongxing Commune. Why would Director Xu provide assistance to them alone?"

Ma Jianshe forced a bitter smile, remaining silent. He still wanted to know why Dongwan was being given special assistance.