May 18th. Taiwan, Central Plains, No. 1 Sugar Cane Manor. Under the warm sunshine. In the sugar cane fields, the sugar cane grows very rapidly, generally reaching a height of three to four meters, if the top leaves are included.
, must be five or six meters high, as if small trees form a large forest.
The variety called White Jade Sugarcane in the sugarcane field has the advantages of fast growth, high sugar content, resistance to diseases and insect pests, etc. It also has a well-developed root system, strong stems, strong wind resistance, and is not prone to lodging and breakage.
Even so, its growth cycle still takes 7 months. This is why the grain estates on Hainan Island were established relatively late, but they were the first to produce rice. After all, rice can be harvested in about a hundred days.
In the past few months, for the Yang Dayan family, who were very lucky to be assigned to the No. 1 sugar cane estate through the lottery, this period of time has been very busy and fulfilling.
Not only are we busy building houses, but we are also building brick kilns, biogas digesters, warehouses, roads, sugar refineries and other infrastructure.
You also have to take good care of the sugarcane in the sugarcane field. You have to regularly raise the soil, weed, spray pesticides and insecticides, water, fertilize, etc. It is definitely not easy.
Even though they have to be busy for more than 10 hours every day, tens of thousands of farmers in No. 1 Sugar Cane Manor also make use of the land in the corners of the manor in their spare time, planting various vegetables, including watermelons and melons.
, achieving self-sufficiency in fruits and vegetables.
Occasionally, I go into the mountains to pick some wild fruits, capture elk, wild boars and other prey. Or I go to the beach to pick up some seafood.
Some women with skillful hands can also use the fibers of palm trees and coconut trees to weave linen cloth and twist hemp ropes, which slightly reduces the demand for cloth.
It can be said that in addition to the absolute dependence on food, in theory, sugar cane manors can achieve basic self-sufficiency. Even if they are severely blocked, as long as they ensure sufficient food, they can continue to operate normally, or they can plant less sugar cane and plant more food.
An economic fortress is formed.
However, this kind of situation usually does not happen and will not be allowed. But at noon on the 18th, a broadcast announcement made Yang Dayan and other villagers suddenly shaken up: "The sugar cane harvest has begun. Experts said we planted it."
The sugar content of sugar cane has reached the standard and can be harvested. This afternoon, all young villagers are invited to come and pick up tools to start harvesting sugar cane and send it to the sugar factory to be processed into white sugar. This year our manor can earn
How much depends on how much sugar you can get." This broadcast caused Yang Dayan and others to talk about it.
"Having harvested it so quickly, I think our white jade sugar cane can last for a while longer."
"Yes, the leaves are still very green and can grow for at least ten more days."
"Experts say that this kind of sugar cane will have no problem if left in the ground for a year and will continue to grow. It will just grow more slowly later."
"The sugar content has just reached the standard, so we have to mention it again." In response to these comments, Manager Song directly criticized them and said: "You stupid people among us, do you know what it means to make things rare and valuable? Do you know what it means to be rich?
Do you want some soup? Sugar is scarce and extremely expensive on the market now. We seize this opportunity and can sell our sugar at the price closest to the market price. We can sell it for one silver dollar per pound. We will wait for the sugar cane manor later.
We have had a good harvest and a large amount of sugar has been put on the market. How can we still sell it at such a high price? We are the first to go on the market and have the highest profits. What does it matter if the output is low? You can't even calculate such a simple account?" After such a criticism.
Yang Dayan and other villagers suddenly had nothing to say, and even had to nod, because making money is the most real thing. Compared with the sugar content of sugar cane, the white silver coins are more important.
...In the afternoon, in the sugar cane field, Yang Dayan and his wife Liu Xiniu started harvesting sugar cane with shovels, machetes and other tools.
First peel off the excess leaves on the surface. Use a shovel to dig out the sugar cane from the root. Then use a machete to cut off the muddy part and the green leafy part.
Only a relatively clean sugar cane stalk is left. Finally, children or older people are asked to transfer the sugar cane to wheelbarrows, pallets and other transportation vehicles, and then transport it to the sugar factory for processing. It can be described as an assembly line operation.
Although this process consumes a lot of manpower, the level of mechanization is very low, and it seems to be inefficient, but tens of thousands of men, women, and children in the manor work together, and with the large number of people and strength, the harvesting speed is also very impressive.
You can also chat while immersing yourself in work.
"Mother, how many kilograms of sugar can be produced from this acre of sugar cane?" Yang Dayan asked.
"Didn't experts say that the sugar content of sugar cane is generally between 15% and 18%? A piece of sugar cane weighs six to seven kilograms in light weight and more than ten kilograms in heavy weight. Multiplied by the sugar content, it is
The white sugar can be beaten." Liu Xiniu said.
"Wouldn't one sugar cane produce more than a pound of sugar? If more than 3,000 sugar canes are planted on this acre of land, wouldn't it be possible to produce more than 3,000 pounds of sugar? Impossible, that's certainly not how it is calculated.
There definitely isn't that much sugar." Yang Dayan shook his head.
"That's how much juice can be squeezed out of sugar cane, and more than ten percent of this juice is sugar."
"Can one sugarcane squeeze out a pound of juice?"
"It should be possible. This kind of sugar cane is so big. Isn't it easy to squeeze out a pound of juice?" Liu Xiniu said.
"That means one sugar cane produces three ounces of sugar. If you plant three thousand sugar canes in one acre, that's nine hundred kilograms. The sugar yield of this kind of sugar cane is more than what Wu Xiaochun said. He said before that there would be two to three hundred kilograms.
sugar."
"He has never grown this kind of white jade sugar cane. Of course he doesn't know how much sugar it can produce."
"I'll be less careful. One acre of sugar cane field only produces 600 kilograms of sugar. Now the white sugar on the market is 1 silver dollar per kilogram. Doesn't it mean that we can earn 600 silver dollars from one acre of sugar cane? This, this is too much
Are you making money? If you grow grain, even if you plant a hundred acres, you won't be able to earn as much as an acre of sugar cane. It's not very hard. If you plant a hundred acres of grain, people and cattle will probably die from exhaustion." Yang Da
Stupefied.
"Have you seen the benefits now? But even if one acre of sugarcane field can earn 600 silver dollars, we are not sure how much we can get? If Xujiazhuang takes half, and the manor takes another half, it will fall directly into our hands.
, I wonder if you have a hundred silver dollars? Our family came here to develop, and it would be great to earn food and clothing. It is impossible to get rich, so maybe we can just give a few silver dollars to spend." Liu Xiniu said, advising Yang Da
Give up the idea of getting rich.
"This... we have worked hard for more than half a year and have not been paid a penny of wages. This time the sugar cane has been harvested and we have made money by selling the sugar. You must give us some wages. I heard that other manors in Xujiazhuang have the lowest wages.
The salary has been increased to 10 silver dollars per month. Between the two of us, we can get a salary of 140 silver dollars, right?"
"I don't know, it's just that the investment in building this manor is so huge. We have to eat every day, fish once every two days, meat once every five days, as well as the clothes we wear, the tools we use for work, and the place where we live.
Do you think Xujiazhuang should ask us how much silver dollars we need for a two-story rough brick house, education and medical treatment for three children? You, Yang Dayan, are a starving man in Henan, how dare you ask for wages?" Liu Xiniu gave
He settled the accounts.
"This..." Yang Dayan was stunned for a moment. If he really calculated it like this, it would be very difficult for his family to pay off what he owed to Xujiazhuang. If he asked for wages again, calling him a wolf-hearted person and being ungrateful would be an easy matter. He would be kicked out directly.
I don't think anyone would object to leaving the manor.
The fantasy of getting rich was shattered. But life is good now, with food, housing, medical care, education, and pensions all covered by the estate. There is no need to worry about any accidents. This is much more secure than having dozens or hundreds of silver dollars in hand.
Forget it. Contentment is enough, and people should not be too greedy. Thinking of this, Yang Dayan abandoned the distracting thoughts in his mind and started working seriously.
...Three days later, on May 21st, the harvest of 33,000 acres of sugar cane in No. 1 Sugar Cane Manor was completed, except for a small amount of sugar cane left for seed.
And sent to the sugar factory for processing. A total of 196,000 shi of white sugar was obtained - that is, the average yield of white sugar per mu is more than 742 kilograms. If the sugar cane is allowed to grow for a while, the sugar content will increase by another three to five percentage points, and the yield per mu will increase.
It is entirely possible to do it with a thousand pounds of sugar.
Also on the 21st, a fleet of twelve shipping cargo ships arrived at the Sugar Port. Immediately, the men, women, and children from Sugar Cane Manor No. 1 joined the battle together, and also borrowed many from other manors.
It took a full day of transportation to deliver all the sugar to the sugar port more than ten miles away, and helped move it into the cargo hold of the cargo ship. Finally, I saw these ships leaving full of sugar.
However, the next day was a rare day off. In the morning, the sound of the loudspeaker sounded again, asking all the young men and women in the manor to gather in the square and distribute dividends to everyone.
"Dividends?" Yang Dayan immediately cheered up and called his wife Liu Xiniu, and they went to the big square in the center of the town. Sure enough, he saw treasure chests placed on the cement stage, which seemed to contain money.
.
Still the familiar Manager Song, he took a microphone, stood on the stage, and said to the thousands of young people below: "Everyone, this is the first year. Xujiazhuang's investment in us far exceeds the return. Logically speaking,
There should not be any dividends, but in order to increase everyone's enthusiasm and make everyone more motivated, this year's dividends will still be distributed! You will still get real rewards, so that you can understand that this year's sweat has not been in vain.
.”
"The white sugar harvested this time is stone. The market value of each stone is about 100 silver dollars. The headquarters purchased it at the origin price of 70 silver dollars per stone, but can only pay 50%, which is 6.86 million silver dollars. This situation will last for five years.
, after basically offsetting the construction costs of our manor, starting from the sixth year, we will be able to get 100% of the origin price."
"In addition, the operation of the collective manor requires a large amount of funds to maintain, so the manor will withhold 50% and put it into the public account to support everyone's daily expenses such as food, medical treatment, education, etc. Everyone can supervise the rest.
3.43 million silver dollars, each of the 7,854 young men and women in the manor can get a share of dividends. Everything is complicated, so it will be divided evenly this year. Next year, a more reasonable and fair dividend system will be adopted. What do you think?" Song
the steward asked.
But the buzz below has become chaotic, and every young man has a face full of excitement and starts to calculate, how much dividends can he get?
Yang Dayan was quite smart and quickly figured out the answer. He jumped up happily and said: "436 yuan and 7 silver dollars. Everyone can get more than 436 yuan. Two people can get 873 yuan. 4
, I’m getting fat, mother-in-law, our family is getting fat!” He hugged his wife and said jumping and laughing.
"Look at your potential~" Liu Xiniu smiled and rolled her eyes at him, but she also felt extremely happy, and her sense of belonging to the collective estate was naturally greatly improved.
...On May 23, at 8 a.m., Harbor City, Outer Harbor. Under the gaze of a large number of reporters and spotlights, twelve sugar ships loaded with sugar arrived at the dock one after another, and then moved a bag.
Another bag of sugar weighed nearly 200,000 stone. The reporters took a lot of photos, interviewed the captain and crew, and obtained enough news materials.
On May 24th, another huge public opinion storm swept across the entire Ming Dynasty. Just the headline on the front page made countless people's breathing become extremely short. This chapter has been completed!