Chapter 184: The Tiandihui Takes Action

After receiving a positive reply, he continued to read with excitement. He had also received a call from Wu Nanhai—this was not surprising, it was probably work-related. But the next one was more special, it was from Liu Muzhou.

He had dealt with Liu Muzhou before. Since the Leizhou station had gradually become “Lingao-ized,” the People’s Committee for Civil Affairs had also extended its hand, especially in the Leizhou sugar industry cooperative he was in charge of. Liu Muzhou had helped him a lot. But since he was transferred back to Lingao, their interactions had become much less frequent. For him to suddenly call, Chang Shide realized that the new appointment was very likely related to the civil affairs system.

“Damn it, I’m going to be a major local official,” Chang Shide couldn’t suppress his excitement. Although staying in Lingao allowed him to enjoy modern living conditions, it was not as grand as being sent out, where he could call the shots everywhere. The housing conditions alone were much worse. He was not used to it when he first moved into the apartment—the entire area of this apartment was not as large as the three main rooms he had lived in in Leizhou.

The last call was from Ye Yuming, which he didn’t pay much attention to—he was definitely looking for him to talk about the work of the agricultural cooperative. Since they saw each other every day, they could talk about anything at any time, so it probably wasn’t anything important.

Chang Shide considered whether to call the organization department, but finally decided not to. The other party would definitely come to him again. If he took the initiative to call, it would seem a bit too eager—as a high-ranking cadre, the word “stable” was also very important.

The next day, Ming Lang did indeed talk to him. Chang Shide was appointed as the deputy director of the Qiongshan County Office, to be fully in charge of the local Tiandihui work and to promote the intensification of land use.

Chang Shide was quite satisfied with this appointment. Being the deputy county magistrate for agriculture in Qiongshan County was much better than being an inspector of the Tiandihui with unclear powers in Lingao. Besides, the nature of the Tiandihui, no matter how you looked at it, could only be considered a fully funded public institution. How could it compare to the prestige and power of the official deputy director of the Qiongshan County Office?

In the week after the announcement of the conversation, Chang Shide was very busy. On the one hand, he discussed with Wu Nanhai, Ye Yuming, and others how to carry out the work of the Tiandihui in Qiongshan. On the other hand, he also frequently contacted the Planning Commission and the Government Affairs Council. Liu Muzhou gave him a general introduction to the current land and agricultural situation in Qiongshan, especially mentioning Liu Xiang’s current predicament.

“This is the land ownership status map of Qiongshan County that he sent. Take a look first. It’s not easy to handle.” Liu Muzhou pulled open the map curtain, revealing the latest land ownership schematic map of Qiongshan County.

Faced with the riddled schematic map, Chang Shide took a sharp breath.

Because the agriculture in Qiongshan County was more developed than in Lingao, the situation of fragmented land was also much more serious than in Lingao. And it was different from Leizhou, where he had once fought. Leizhou mainly relied on the promotion of agricultural technology to increase production and did not involve much in the intensive management of land. Although he had established some relatively large sugarcane plantations directly under the Agricultural Committee, the main means were still economic, such as purchasing and foreclosing on loan collateral. He had never faced such a complex situation.

“This is his prediction map of post-disaster land transfer,” Liu Muzhou said, pulling open a second map.

He explained the meaning of the complex patterns, markings, and alphanumeric codes on it. Chang Shide shook his hand. “Hey, don’t say any more. My head is already a mess. This will only make it worse.”

Liu Muzhou smiled wryly. “This is to let you understand how complex the land situation in Qiongshan County is.” He picked up a cigar. “The Government Affairs Council is pressing hard on this matter. It seems they hope to consolidate more than 30% of the land in Qiongshan after the autumn harvest—at the latest before the spring planting next year.”

“That’s not very likely…” Chang Shide said. The rate of land consolidation in Lingao was the highest. Through direct confiscation, purchase, Tiandihui contracting, and the promotion of “agricultural cooperatives,” the Agricultural Committee controlled 40% of the “old fields”—the so-called old fields were the existing fields that did not include the land reclaimed by the Senate after D-Day. It was a bit too aggressive for Qiongshan County, which was a completely new area, to complete one-third in more than half a year.

“We won’t discuss whether it’s possible or not. Anyway, the Government Affairs Council hasn’t issued a clear directive. Just do your best,” Liu Muzhou said.

“Hmm, hmm,” Chang Shide carefully studied the two maps. This was a heavy burden. He calculated and calculated, and then asked, “Are there any Elder cadres working with me? Can the Wan brothers be transferred to me? And I need a few naturalized citizen cadres too.”

“I don’t know the specific personnel arrangements. Wanlihui is the head of the agricultural technology department, so he definitely can’t leave. Wanlihuang probably can. The Agricultural Committee was going to send people to Qiongshan to guide the post-disaster rush planting and replanting work anyway. As for the others, you can submit a list first. If you want naturalized citizen cadres, you can include them as well.”

“You have to give me a few people, otherwise the naturalized citizen cadres alone won’t be able to handle it,” Chang Shide nodded carelessly and continued to study the map. “But Comrade Little Liu still has some things he hasn’t said clearly,” he suddenly said. “The ones circled on the map are the lands that might be sold. There are also some plots marked with a 0. What are those?”

“That’s ‘state-owned agricultural land.’ This is the land that was confiscated during the security war and the land measurement campaign. This village was forced to merge and consolidate because of ‘colluding with bandits,’ and all the village’s land is currently fallow,” Liu Muzhou explained. “As for the ownership of this land, there is no clear statement yet.”

“There’s quite a lot,” Chang Shide refocused his attention on the land plots that were not gridded and were marked with a 0. He counted them briefly and found that there were quite a few. These fields were composed of official fields, school fields, unregistered land, and confiscated land. Although they were also scattered, they could still meet some of the needs of intensive planting. Chang Shide used a pencil to trace a few plots on the transparent paper. These were all places where farms could be directly established.

Then he focused his attention on the banks of the Nandu River—this was the most densely cultivated area in Qiongshan, but there were still large areas of undeveloped wasteland on both banks, especially upstream of the Nandu River. The area of wasteland that could be developed was amazing, far exceeding the developed farmland.

“Why is the Government Affairs Council so obsessed with seizing the old fields?” Chang Shide found it strange. Although old fields had the advantage of being cultivated land and did not require a large investment, the administrative costs were not small. Developing wasteland was extremely labor-intensive and difficult for individual farmers, but it was not a difficult matter for the Tiandihui, which had mastered mechanized agricultural production methods.

Liu Muzhou said, “Isn’t it for the labor force and rural social transformation?” He coughed. “You know, Governor Ma has always attached great importance to rural issues…”

Chang Shide waved his hand dismissively. “I know, I know. The new countryside of the Senate, this is the keynote of political construction.” He used a pencil to scribble on the transparent paper on the map again. “I want to develop this state-owned agricultural land. Who is in charge of it now? The Planning Commission?”

“Yes, the Planning Commission. All ‘state-owned agricultural land’ belongs to the Planning Commission,” Liu Muzhou said. “As for the specific implementation and management, in Lingao County, it is managed by the Agricultural Committee on behalf of the Planning Commission. In the outer counties, it has not yet been specified who is responsible for the specific management.”

“In the end, the Senate’s attitude towards the nature of land is still ambiguous. Do they recognize private ownership of land or simply nationalize the land and then sell it for 70 years?”

“This is a major policy, and it’s a monthly topic,” Liu Muzhou laughed. “Besides, the internal differences are too great. The land issue is the G-spot of the Senate. If you press it, all the Elders will have an orgasm. It’s easy to get hurt. Governor Ma and A’de said that this time, we won’t talk about the ownership issue first. We’ll first issue a general order in the name of the Planning Commission, and the Agricultural Committee will fully manage the state-owned agricultural land, regardless of whether it’s in Lingao or the outer counties. The Tiandihui will send agricultural workers to these lands to first carry out restorative production. The ownership issue can be studied slowly in meetings.”

After leaving Liu Muzhou, Chang Shide did not go directly back to his apartment, but went to a farm under the Agricultural Committee. It was located near Bopu and was not large in area, but it had a port. And what was very unusual was that there was an iron factory on the farm, with black smoke constantly coming out of its chimney. It even had a dedicated railway track. From time to time, huge roars and bellows could be heard from the courtyard, and occasionally there would be a violent explosion. Therefore, the natives all gave this place a wide berth.

At the entrance of the farm, there were two prominent and magnificent signs: “First Marine Mobile Brigade of the Agricultural Reclamation” and “Lingao County General Agricultural Machinery Station.”

This was the county’s general agricultural machinery station, which shouldered the heavy burden of agricultural mechanization for the entire Lingao. In addition to being used by the farms directly under the Agricultural Committee, it also provided agricultural machinery services to the farmers who participated in the Tiandihui. However, there was not a single tractor from the old timeline inside—the agricultural machinery brought from the old timeline belonged to the agricultural machinery station directly under the Agricultural Committee. The agricultural machinery here was all manufactured by the general machinery factory of the manufacturing directorate. At the current industrial level, they were naturally all of the “big, clumsy, and crude” type.

Most of the tractors here were steam-powered crawler-type. The huge portable engines could provide power ranging from 15 to 50 horsepower, so the equipment was very bulky, so much so that land mobility could only be carried out over short distances. The steam tractors used before the Chengmai battle had shown the difficulty of land mobility: slow speed and frequent breakdowns. Therefore, the policy of using ships for transportation as much as possible was adopted.

A small number of light agricultural machines, such as water pumps, used locally made single-cylinder diesel engines, equipped with coal gas generators. The size was also quite amazing. In addition, there were various huge combined agricultural tools, neatly parked in the garage, looking imposing and ferocious. Against the backdrop of the bright red safety production slogans, it had a very postmodern feel.