Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 1413 Chen Dajun Asks for Help; This Matter Is a Bit Tricky

Professor Yang's words to Li Long were like a reassurance to him.

Professor Yang also thanked Li Long and his production team for the local specialties they brought him. He said they were all family and there was no need to be so polite; he would visit the fourth team when he had time, after all, he had lived there himself back in the day.

In fact, Professor Yang spent most of his time in the experimental fields in the countryside, but he was also very familiar with Team Four. After all, with Li Long as the link, it would be difficult for him not to be familiar with them.

Professor Yang also mentioned that when they were chatting, Professor Luo was the one who most wanted to visit Team Four, as he had spent a considerable amount of time there with his students. Professor Wu was the second most interested, since he had known Li Long for so long, yet he had never even been to Ma County, let alone Team Four.

Li Long told Professor Yang that he would invite all the professors to visit Team Four when he had some free time. Team Four is not what it used to be.

Back then, Professor Luo and his group lived in Old Ma's House, where conditions were harsh and food and lodging were inconvenient. Things are different now. The roads in Team Four are now paved, there's more farmland, and the families have become much wealthier. If they came here, they would definitely be amazed at how much this place has changed.

Professor Yang also said, "Definitely, definitely." But everyone knew that making the trip happen wouldn't be easy. After all, although the area has become wealthier, the increased farmland will undoubtedly make things even busier.

The same principle applies; the agricultural college will receive more research projects and conduct more research, making the professors even busier.

After hanging up the phone, Li Long quickly went to tell Xu Chengjun the good news. He didn't rule it out completely, but told Xu Chengjun that he was very confident about the outcome.

Xu Chengjun was also quite happy, and said that when the definite news came out, the matter of registering Li Long's relatives' household registration would be resolved at the same time when the village representative meeting was held.

After all, everyone here is reasonable. If the large-scale farmland renovation project is finalized, it will save each household at least tens of thousands of yuan. Compared to that, the number of household registration slots is really insignificant.

Even though the villagers were worried that the newly settled residents would have to share the land, after the land was measured, the extra land that was not registered was enough to distribute to the newly settled residents, and there was even a surplus.

Li Long didn't care about all that. He believed Xu Chengjun wasn't the type to discard someone after they'd served their purpose, and Li Long himself was confident he could get Xu Chengjun to fulfill his promise.

He needed to hurry to the drip irrigation tape factory to organize production. Although Xu Chengjun said that his two nephews, Li Junfeng and Chen Qianjin, were already capable of managing the factory, one in charge of production and the other in charge of shipping.

However, a significant part of Li Long's motivation for selling drip irrigation tape stemmed from his role in providing theoretical guidance to others. Therefore, whenever he had free time, he primarily stayed at the factory. Li Long patiently explained things to those who were understanding and genuinely wanted to learn.

Given that the land allocated to the drip irrigation tape factory by the team was large enough, Li Long and his team built a lot of factory buildings and even reserved a workshop for the second set of drip irrigation tape equipment.

Even from this, a few rooms could be set aside to be used as offices and meeting rooms. This became the place where Li Long and his cooperative often held meetings.

Actually, the cooperative's courtyard in front is large enough, and it's not as noisy as the drip irrigation tape production plant. But since Li Long explains the technology to people who come to buy drip irrigation tape, Xie Yundong and the others, especially Xu Haijun who was separated last year and Liang Dacheng who will be separated this year, would often come here to listen to Li Long explain the technology to others.

They had heard some of these things countless times, to the point that they were practically tired of hearing them, and they could even recount them to the customers. However, they still felt that Li Long's explanation was more thorough.

Of course, there was another reason they came specifically to listen: the businesspeople would ask all sorts of questions. Some questions were within their expectations, and they could help solve them; others were unexpected, and even if they had the wildest imagination, they wouldn't have thought the businesspeople would ask such questions.

For example, a few days ago, a businessman from the neighboring county suggested: if we don't build a pumping station, we can directly draw water from a higher water level upstream to the main pipe, and then use the water level difference to release water into the farmland in the lower area for irrigation. Would that work?

Such problems are unlikely to occur in Team Four. This is because the land in Team Four is mostly flat, and even if there are occasional undulations, they are only a few small areas that need to be leveled.

South of the Urumqi-Yining Highway, some land is naturally higher in the south and lower in the north, with a certain slope. Such land does not exist in Team Four, so the people of Team Four can hardly imagine it.

Fortunately, Li Long was quite knowledgeable, and this kind of problem was no challenge for him. He would tell the merchants that small-scale planting was possible. However, for large-scale land, it was simply impossible to do without building a pumping station.

Although there is a pressure difference due to the slope, the pressure created by the natural elevation difference is not large enough. Therefore, unless there are enough branch pipes in the middle of the field, the drip irrigation tape at the end will not flow smoothly due to insufficient water pressure.

However, if there are too many branch pipes, the pressure from the elevation difference will be dispersed, resulting in uneven distribution of water among the branch pipes, which is certainly not as good as fields with pump stations.

Some people do not want the land to be leveled, believing that as long as there is a pump house, the water will be able to flow up the uneven areas in the middle of the plot due to the pressure of the pump.

At worst, we can build a pumping station for every two or three hundred acres, which will provide a pressure surplus and completely solve the problem of uneven land.

Li Long gave the same answer, saying, "Theoretically, this is indeed feasible, but in reality, because there are differences in elevation in the same piece of land, uneven land will cause less water to flow in higher areas and more water to flow in lower areas. The depression effect will cause some cotton seedlings to grow poorly due to water accumulation."

In short, staying at the drip irrigation tape factory broadened Xie Yundong's horizons. He heard all sorts of questions.

After the merchants left, they discussed the matter and realized how vast and wondrous the world is. The situation here is relatively simple; other places have their own unique planting characteristics.

On April 10th, Professor Yang called and said that he had received inside information that Li Long's team's 4-mu farmland renovation project had passed the preliminary review and the project's approval document had been submitted to the leaders of the Department of Agriculture for approval.

Formal approval may not be granted until the end of April or May, and the project will be officially implemented around the end of the year. Once approval is granted, a working group from the Department of Agriculture will come to conduct planning.

Li Long expressed his gratitude to Professor Yang. He was familiar with this process because the cooperative's support project was organized in the same way.

The working group will come to inspect the land and then make plans. After all, it's 10,000 mu of land, and the locations for building pump houses and filter ponds, the renovation of canals, the repair of roads, the replanning of land boundaries, and so on all need to be addressed.

Moreover, after this year's plan is completed, it cannot be implemented immediately. After all, sowing has already begun and the land has been planted. It will be necessary to wait until the end of the year, after the land has been planted, re-divided, and measured, before any further modifications can be made.

Li Long immediately went to find team leader Xu Chengjun. Xu Chengjun was busy in his own field. A pump house and filter bed had been built on his land, and drip irrigation would begin this year.

Although he had watched Li Long and the others plant for two years and had a pretty good grasp of the process, he was still a little worried when he started doing it himself, so he had to keep an eye on things in the field every day.

When Li Long found Xu Chengjun, he was staring blankly at the water pump in the pump room.

Seeing Li Long walk into the pump room, Xu Chengjun exclaimed, "I've been a farmer for half my life, and I never imagined that technology would develop to this extent. In the past, when we were farming, we had to spread fertilizer in the fields by hand, handful by handful, carrying a basin to spread it by hand."

"It's so convenient now! With drip irrigation, after laying the soil, you just pour the fertilizer into the inlet, and it goes directly to the roots of the seedlings along with the water. It's so easy! I never dreamed it would be this convenient and worry-free!"

Li Long smiled and said, "This is the benefit of agricultural technology modernization. Farming will become more and more convenient and less troublesome in the future. Not to mention the fertilizers we have now, even pesticides in the future may be made this way. Of course, the specific development will be studied by the researchers, and we can just enjoy the fruits of their labor."

Xu Chengjun nodded, agreeing with Li Long's statement. Then, he dusted off his hands and asked, "What brings you here? What's up? I see you're all smiles; do you have good news for me?"

Li Long then relayed what Professor Yang had said to Xu Chengjun.

Xu Chengjun slapped his thigh and said, "Hey, that's good! I can finally relax after being on edge these past few days. It's just that we still have to wait a while before we get any notification. Oh well, we definitely won't be able to enjoy it this year anyway."

Don't worry, I'll convene a village meeting in the next couple of days to resolve your relatives' residency issues with the representatives. Give me a list, and I'll represent them at the meeting. We can take advantage of this redevelopment project to allocate land to them and designate residential plots.”

Li Long had been waiting for him to say that. During this time, Li Junhai and the others had learned that Li Long would use the large-scale farmland renovation project to get them to settle down, and they were all working very hard.

But they still wanted to ask Li Long about the progress of things from time to time. Now Li Long had given them an explanation. After all, these cousins ​​had worked really hard over the years, and their eldest brother was very satisfied.

When Li Long arrived, Xu Chengjun seized the opportunity to ask him about the operation of the pump room filter and the location of his own buried main pipe. He wanted Li Long, an expert, to give him some feedback.

Li Long didn't offer any opinions on the already constructed pump house, filter pool, and main pipes, but he did point out the locations of the branch pipes.

These branch pipes need to be placed after sowing and the drip irrigation tape has been laid, and then the capillary tubes will be reconnected. This location is quite important.

So after Li Long told Xu Chengjun, Xu Chengjun immediately marked these locations and took some wooden wedges to drive into the middle of the ground to prevent himself from forgetting them.

Li Long drove back and saw that some people had already started preparing to sow seeds. The roar of tractors echoed in the fields, and in some places, it even stirred up clouds of dust.

He didn't even need to look to tell that it was a high-powered tractor, belonging to his elder brother, though he didn't know exactly who was driving it.

Li Long drove to his elder brother's house. Li Jianguo was tidying up a farm tool in the yard, his hands covered in grease. After Li Long entered the yard, Li Jianguo looked up, smiled, and said, "You're here."

Li Long walked over, squatted down next to his older brother, and asked, "What's this?"

Li Jianguo patted the farm implement and said, "This is the steel sleeve for the tractor. Take it off and wash it with diesel. Is your factory free now?"

Li Long shook his head and said, "The factory won't be idle for a while. But there's good news: the preliminary review for this large-scale farmland renovation project has been passed."

I just spoke to the team leader, and he said there will be a representative meeting in the next couple of days to finalize the household registration for Junhai and the others. He asked me to give him a list. His idea is that after that, they'll allocate residential land, and the land allocation will happen during the farmland renovation project. Aren't you a village representative, brother? You can just give him the list then.”

Li Jianguo put down the steel cylinder sleeve in his hand, thought for a moment and said, "I still need to discuss this with Junhai and Qianjin."

Li Long asked with some doubt, "Didn't Qianjin's household registration fall to the outskirts of the county? Is he planning to move it back?"

Li Jianguo said, "I just have to ask for his opinion. After all, you know he's excellent at his job. Although he's small, he's definitely among the best, if not the best."

Li Long said with a smile, "Let them move back. Anyway, five household registration slots are almost enough. Even if it's not enough, two people can make up one household, and then we can separate the households later. As long as the person's household registration is transferred here, we can bring the family members over later."

Li Jianguo nodded and said, "That's true, that works too. By the way, Daqiang's brother-in-law, Yang Yong from the third team, also wants to transfer his household registration here. Daqiang's dad told me a couple of days ago that he wanted me to give him my support at the meeting, and I said no problem."

Li Long laughed and said, "Our team's household registration is highly sought after."

Li Jianguo said proudly, "Of course. Once you settle down, you get land, a homestead, and you can even contract more spare land. No other team has this policy, so it's definitely a good thing."

Du Chunfang, the old woman who was sunbathing and dozing in the yard, heard the dragon's voice, opened her eyes and asked, "What's wrong now?"

My mother, Du Chunfang, is in relatively good health, but her hearing is gradually becoming harder, as she's getting older. When she was young, she suffered from malnutrition and often went hungry. Although she didn't suffer much hardship, her life was still far from what it is now.

She's not as active as she was a couple of years ago. She helps Liang Yuemei with things like tending the fire when she has free time, and she goes to the vegetable garden less often. Most of her time is spent walking around the yard or checking the gate to see if anyone's coming. Now that she sees Li Long, a smile appears on her face.

After finalizing the residency arrangements with his older brother, Li Long went over and sat down next to his mother, asking loudly, "Mom, what did you eat for breakfast?"

Du Chunfang smiled and said, "White flour steamed buns, cornmeal porridge, and dishes cooked by your sister-in-law. I don't eat much, I just had two pieces of meat, and I'm not hungry yet. Are you hungry? If you are, I have some steamed egg cakes in my cupboard."

Li Long laughed and said, "I'm not hungry. You should eat that sponge cake quickly, or it will expire and grow mold."

Du Chunfang smiled and said, "No, no. Junfeng's kids come over from time to time, and I can't finish all the food. When they come, I give them a piece, but I don't dare give them more, because I need to eat some myself."

Li Long said, "Take it or leave it. I'll buy you more if you run out."

He realized he'd been so busy with the drip irrigation tape factory that he hadn't brought anything back for his mother in a while, so he figured he'd buy some and bring them over next time he went back to the county.

Now, Li Juan and Li Qiang have both gone to university, and Mingming and Haohao don't come over often anymore. Without the children, the old mother lives in the kitchen. Most of the time, only the old mother, Du Chunfang, and her sister-in-law are left in the yard. When Li Junfeng's children come to play, it brings some liveliness to the house, which is quite nice.

Then he added, "It will be fine in a while. Junhai and the others will have their household registration settled. At that time, many of their relatives from their hometown will be able to move over. They will definitely come to talk to you then."

Du Chunfang didn't hear clearly and asked, "What did you say?"

Li Long then said it to her loudly again.

Du Chunfang said in surprise, "Can they really register their household registration here? That would be great, then we'd have someone to talk to."

Just then, Junfeng's mother came over carrying a basket filled with freshly picked alfalfa. Li Long quickly greeted her.

The old woman told Du Chunfang that she often went to the field to pick alfalfa when she had nothing to do. She also heard from the villagers that they could pick the flowers of the bell thorn in the next few days, which were quite delicious when steamed.

(The bell-shaped thorn flower photo is a bit old, but it's still passable.)

The elm tree in the yard also bore elm seeds. I took some time to cut down two branches, cleaned them, and steamed them. They tasted pretty good. People in the Central Plains region love to eat steamed dishes; they can steam almost anything.

Du Chunfang, the old woman, said, "You're quite capable. You've only been here for two years, and you've already found out all the good food in this wild area."

The old woman smiled and said, "We've got nothing to do anyway, and they won't let us do any work in the fields, so why don't we go and get some food?" Du Chunfang said enviously, "I want to go too, but my legs aren't very strong." The old woman said, "It's not far, actually. If you want to go, I'll take you there when I have time."

Li Long actually agrees with letting his mother go out for walks from time to time, as long as she doesn't go too far in the surrounding area and doesn't get too much exercise. Staying in the yard all the time without moving around is not good for her health.

So he said to his mother, "Mom, go take a walk and see where there are wild vegetables outside the village. With your sister-in-law leading the way, you won't get lost. You don't need to go far. I remember there are some thorny bushes by the ditch south of this settlement. Just be careful not to prick your hands when you pick them."

Older sister Du Chunfang was actually quite eager to go, and was considering whether or not to go.

Then the older sister-in-law gave them a few more words of advice, and the two of them agreed to have lunch and then go for a walk in the afternoon. They would give it a try, and if they found something, great; if not, they would just consider it exercise.

Li Long ate lunch at his older brother's place, and after that, he went to the factory. He didn't stay there long before Xie Yundong and the others came to get the drip irrigation tape, preparing to sow the seeds.

This year, the cooperative has agreed to use a new planting method. Previously, they used narrow film, planting two rows of cotton within one film. This year, they plan to use wide film, planting four rows of cotton within one film.

This would improve land utilization and increase cotton yield. However, to plant this way, we would need to buy new seeders. Fortunately, the cooperative is now quite large, so buying a few seeders is not a big deal.

Of course, wide-film cotton cultivation will also increase the amount of drip irrigation tape used. Previously, 12-15 kg per acre was used; now it may be necessary to use 18-20 kg. However, because the cost is lower, even an increase of 5-10 kg of drip irrigation tape will still result in a significantly lower cost price, making it affordable for cooperatives.

Two trucks carrying drip irrigation tape were delivering it to the fields on either side. Xie Yundong was leading one truck towards the team headquarters, while Xu Haijun was leading the other towards the second team. The second team's 1000 mu of land had already been transformed and would be used for drip irrigation this year. Xu Haijun was also ambitious, planning to plant cotton with wide plastic film mulch this year, aiming for a yield of over 350 kg per mu.

Xie Yundong and his team were even more optimistic, aiming to achieve an average yield of 400 kilograms per mu (approximately 0.16 acres). Because they were using wide-film mulching, the number of cotton plants per mu was significantly increased. Coupled with their mature planting experience, Xie Yundong was quite confident in this regard.

Liang Dacheng's situation was even simpler. After the newly reclaimed wasteland was flooded with water, cotton was planted in the traditional way, but with wide plastic film.

He plans to achieve a yield of over 100 kg per mu in the first year of his work. Because the salinity of these lands is higher than that of the land reclaimed by Xu Chengjun and his team in the second team, the cooperative has decided to give Liang Dacheng a reward of 10,000 yuan as long as the yield reaches over 100 kg per mu.

So Liang Dacheng was also full of motivation. During the planting season, he followed the truck all day long, his body and face covered in dust, but he didn't mind at all. It was much more tiring than in previous years, but they were happy to do it.

Li Long could understand their mindset. The cooperative had distributed relatively high dividends in the past two years, and the average standard of living for its members was now considered mid-range in the village. At this time, they needed a sense of accomplishment even more.

For them, going out to work independently and achieving a good cotton harvest is the most direct way to gain a sense of accomplishment.

After loading Xie Yundong and the others' truck in the afternoon, Li Long originally planned to drive back to his elder brother's place to check on his mother and the others' progress in picking bellflowers. Then a phone call came in, and he hurriedly drove back to the county. It turned out that the convoy from the border had arrived. To Li Long's surprise, the person escorting the convoy was none other than Liu Shanmin himself.

In the meeting room, Li Long asked with a smile, "You, Boss Liu, what brings you all the way from Kazakhstan? I heard you're a favorite of Namibia now. He's probably keeping you in Almaty to consult on development policies, right?"

Liu Shanmin smiled and said, "Don't be so modest. Although I've met you twice, you're just so-so in your eyes. I can consult you about policies and offer some assistance in implementing them."

But to be honest, he's far from being the kind of celebrity you described. Old Na is decisive and ruthless; he's surrounded by capable people. It's best to keep a certain distance when dealing with someone like that.

Of course, I came here on a mission, but I won't go into details. Mainly, I need to gather some data to deliver to Wucheng. Since I'm already here, it wouldn't be right not to see you.

Hearing this, Li Long understood. Combining the information he had previously gathered, Li Long knew that some of the technologies in our country at this time did indeed originate from Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The Russians, on the other hand, have always maintained a tighter control over this technology. Kazakhstan inherited a portion of the legacy from the Soviet Union, including not only hardware but also software resources and a large number of skilled personnel.

Kazakhstan may not need this information, but if we bring it to our country, it will be of great use whether for reference, imitation, or research.

Li Long nodded and didn't ask any further questions, changing the subject to another topic.

He asked, "Are there any businessmen from our area who have been kidnapped over there recently?"

Liu Shanmin nodded and said, "Yes. Those people are desperate for money. They're kidnapping not only people from our country, but also some people from Central Asia, and even some from Europe and America."

I brought two people with me on this trip. My plan is to take them to Wucheng and then let them go back on their own.

Li Long asked curiously, "Where is he?"

Liu Shanmin pointed outside and said, "They're in the car. After they were taken there, they suffered some torture and are still quite weak, so they didn't get out."

Li Long could understand this. Not everyone was as lucky as Dai Jianguo, who only suffered minor physical pain. Some people were tortured quite severely, even suffering lifelong disabilities.

Of course, some people simply disappeared without a trace, neither alive nor dead. In short, although the official narrative portrays our country as having good relations with the five Central Asian countries, in reality, for every individual who goes there to do business every day, there are lucky ones and unlucky ones.

To Li Long's surprise, Liu Shanmin brought not only cars but also a crane that was clearly a military-grade vehicle converted for civilian use—the kind that was bulky and heavy.

According to Liu Shanmin, most of these things would be dismantled and sold as scrap in Kazakhstan, so he simply shipped a batch over. If they could be used here, they could be used; if not, they could be resold.

Liu Shanmin sighed and said, "Some military bases over there have been completely abandoned, with large quantities of original military equipment lying in the open. Tanks, armored vehicles, special vehicles—some of them have ended up as scrap metal."

It would be great if these things could be shipped directly to our country. However, some can be transported, while others are restricted at the border, and some key weapons and equipment have already been dismantled, making them inconvenient to handle.

Li Long was quite curious about this, so he asked in detail. He remembered hearing some news about the equipment factory in the media, and even heard that there used to be businesses that specialized in this area, which involved buying up items from former Soviet military bases as scrap and selling them domestically as scrap – a lucrative business.

Liu Shanmin was in a hurry. After handing over the supplies to Li Long, he drove to Wucheng. Before leaving, he instructed Li Long:

"After unloading these supplies, load the truck with canned goods and sugar, and then have the driver take it back to the port. Gao Lou is waiting at the port and will organize the customs clearance. I'm in a hurry to get to Wucheng, so I'll talk to you when I have time to come back."

Li Long had a good relationship with Liu Shanmin, and both sides were quite at ease, so he naturally said there was no problem. All he had to do was hand the handover form to the driver when he went to the sugar factory to load the sugar.

When Liu Shanmin left, half of the supplies had already been unloaded. The hides and antelope horns were, as usual, put back into the warehouse, and the staff would process them when things calmed down.

The two truckloads of scrap copper were also unloaded; this stuff sells very well, there's no worry about selling it. The remaining special vehicles will be parked in the backyard for now, and dealt with later when there's time.

The most valuable items were the luxury cars. Sun Jiaqiang and Liang Shuangcheng directed the workers to carefully unload the cars and park them under the carports in the front and back yards. By the time everything was unloaded, it was almost dark.

The two men led the drivers and staff to the canteen for a meal, and then arranged their accommodations; these matters no longer required Li Long's personal attention. As usual, Liu Shanmin brought Li Long a batch of Central Asian specialties.

Honey, candy, wooden swords, crystal products, and a box full of miscellaneous antiques. Li Long loaded all these things into the car and drove it to the courtyard.

A warehouse that used to store antelope horns was cleared out and used specifically to store these odds and ends. Li Long and Gu Xiaoxia would sort out some and give them to relatives and friends.

The next day, after breakfast and taking Mingming and Haohao to school, Li Long went to the purchasing station. The drivers hadn't returned yet, so Li Long called Chen Dajun and told him about what Liu Shanming had said.

Chen Dajun said he understood. To Li Long's surprise, Chen Dajun mentioned the large-scale transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland in their village, saying that the project had been approved and that Li Long could rest assured.

Li Long immediately realized that Chen Dajun must have inquired about the matter, or at least been aware of it; otherwise, he wouldn't have known. He was genuinely surprised that Chen Dajun had even noticed this. He expressed his gratitude, and Chen Dajun smiled, said it was nothing, and hung up.

Around 11 a.m., the drivers arrived at the purchasing station one after another. By then, Li Long had already organized the workers to load the canned goods, and then led the convoy to the sugar factory in Shicheng to buy white sugar. They paid half in US dollars and half in RMB, and then hauled away 100 tons of white sugar.

After the convoy left, Li Long and Section Chief Hu talked for a while, mainly to inquire whether the sugar factory had any plans for restructuring.

Section Chief Hu's words were ambiguous, but Li Long understood. Some things are inevitable trends, beyond the control of a small butterfly like himself. So he didn't say much, but in his heart, he was thinking that it seemed he needed to prepare a second way to contact Bai Tang.

After all, the Shicheng Sugar Factory ceased production around the year 2000, while Kazakhstan continued to need white sugar, at least until around 2010. Naturally, Li Long needed to find a stable source of supply for the ten-year gap in between.

Of course, he couldn't tell Section Chief Hu about this. He gave Section Chief Hu a set of carved wooden tableware, then left the sugar factory and returned to the county town. Basically, every time Li Long came to buy sugar, he would bring back some local specialties. Since they were given to him by Liu Shanmin, it was making the most of them.

After Li Long left, Section Chief Hu examined each of the intricately patterned wooden tableware pieces. He wasn't particularly impressed with this exotic style, but he knew which factory leader preferred it, and he already had a plan in mind.

Section Chief Hu was not at all disgusted by Li Long's attempts to get close to him; on the contrary, he thought the young man was quite good at interpersonal relationships.

He put away the tableware, walked to the window, and looked at the factory in the distance that was making a rumbling sound. He felt a mix of emotions.

He naturally understood what Li Long was saying. However, as a mid-level manager in the factory, not being in the decision-making level, there were some things he couldn't influence. Moreover, the factory was large and the management system of the Production and Construction Corps was quite unique, so restructuring was no easy task.

The sugar factory has a good reputation, but some people in the factory know that although the factory is thriving now, some things are actually outdated. Section Chief Hu is also thinking about his way out.

The day after seeing the convoy off, Li Long received a call from Chen Dajun at the purchasing station. Chen Dajun rarely called Li Long directly; usually, their communication involved Li Long reporting to him. Therefore, Li Long knew as soon as he answered the phone that things might be serious.

Chen Dajun said to Li Long, "I just received a report. A group of technicians from our petroleum department went to Kazakhstan because our country's oil situation is not very good, so we need to cooperate with Kazakhstan."

I won't go into the specifics of the cooperation, but the current situation is that the second batch of technical personnel has already crossed the border at the port. They went there the day before yesterday, and according to the itinerary, they should have arrived at the oil field, which is their work location, yesterday morning.

But so far, there's been no news from them. Furthermore, there were traces of them near Panfinov the day before yesterday, but they disappeared after passing Panfinov. Our manpower there is still quite limited, so I'm asking you, in a personal capacity, to help us search for them.”

Li Long immediately realized that this was a serious matter.

He immediately asked, "How many people are in the second group of personnel? What are their characteristics? What are their names? Are they carrying weapons? What kind of vehicles are they traveling in? What equipment are they carrying? Do they have any valuable supplies?"

Chen Dajun also had limited information and couldn't provide Li Long with particularly detailed details. He only told Li Long that this group consisted of three men and one woman, all petroleum technicians, and they were traveling in a white pickup truck.

Since it wasn't their first trip there, they didn't carry any weapons, which is not allowed in Kazakhstan.

Chen Dajun described the physical characteristics of the four men to Li Long; they were all young, the oldest being no more than forty years old.

Li Long told Chen Dajun that the only person he could contact was Liu Shanmin. Liu Shanmin was currently in Urumqi, and Li Long could only wait for him to return before seeking his help.

Of course, he could also call Liu Gaolou and ask him to explain the situation to Liu Shanmin's people in Kazakhstan. As for the extent to which that would be possible, that remains to be seen.

Li Long could hear the anxiety in Chen Dajun's tone, but at this point, there was no better solution.

Chen Dajun replied, "I understand. Contact me immediately if anything happens. Do your best."

After hanging up the phone, Li Long felt a tightness in his chest, but he couldn't let it out. Those people over there were really too arrogant; not only did they dare to kidnap business travelers, but now they even dared to kidnap employees sent by state-owned enterprises.

But thinking about it, it doesn't seem like much. After all, they once sheltered a large number of separatists, allowed them to establish separatist training camps, and even allowed separatists to smuggle more than one batch of weapons and guns here.

Policy exchanges between nations at the highest levels do not prevent individuals at the lower levels from engaging in destructive acts.

Unable to contact Liu Shanmin, Li Long immediately called Liu Gaolou and told him about the situation.

Liu Gaolou was also taken aback: "How dare they do something like this? I suppose the authorities must have already urged them to take action."

Li Long then told Liu Gaolou, "Don't place too much faith in what efforts they can make. We all know what kind of country that is in now. When it really matters, we still have to rely on ourselves."

If you can call your second uncle's men, you'd better get in touch with them. Your second uncle is already in Wucheng, and I can't reach him. We can't wait for your second uncle to come back before we take action.

The situation of government officials being kidnapped is more serious than that of private businesspeople, since they know that if they release the individuals, they will most likely face a crackdown. Therefore, the lives of these four technicians are truly in danger.

Liu Gaolou also knew the seriousness of the matter, so he said to Li Long, "I'll call them right away and go find someone as soon as possible."

Liu Gaolou wasn't Liu Shanmin, after all. He could call him, but the number of people he could mobilize was limited. Therefore, the best solution was to contact Liu Shanmin immediately and have him directly explain the matter to his subordinates in Kazakhstan. Fortunately, Liu Shanmin drove back to the county that afternoon to find Li Long.

Li Long waited at the purchasing station, not daring to go to the drip irrigation tape factory for fear of missing Liu Shanmin. Even meeting Liu Shanmin 10 minutes earlier meant an extra 10 minutes of life-saving time for the engineering technicians.

When Liu Shanmin drove to the purchasing station, he was all smiles. He had done a good job on his mission, and his contact not only commended him but also gave him a reward. Liu Shanmin couldn't wait to share his joy with Li Long.

Before he could finish speaking, Li Long rushed over as he got out of the car and recounted the whole story. Liu Shanmin's face immediately changed. Having spent a long time in Kazakhstan, he knew exactly what kind of people those kidnappers were. He immediately rushed into the purchasing station, picked up the phone, and started dialing.

Seeing Liu Shanmin almost shouting as he explained the situation to the people on the other side, Li Long felt slightly relieved. He could only hope that all the technicians were still alive.

I hope everything's alright. (End of Chapter)