Chapter 4 Field Survey
Although Liu Jun was skeptical about Xu Qiang's plan to get rich, the great unity on the table was real. No matter how much he could not trust anyone, he could not distrust money. Besides, Liu Jun had had enough of his current life. As long as he had the chance to marry a wife, he would definitely be willing to take a gamble.

"It's actually very simple. It's about refining fertilizer. For example, the mud bricks you burn actually contain rich humic acid. I have a way to extract it. The specific method is..."

Liu Jun, who was sitting opposite, seemed a little confused. Actually, he was a very smart man, but because of his poor family background, he did not finish elementary school and his parents passed away. In order to make a living, he started working in the fields at an early age, turning the soil and digging manure. Years of hard work made him have strong muscles, but it was a pity that he had no education and had never learned any chemistry.

"If we get caught selling fertilizers, it would be bad!" Liu Jun said with some guilt.

It's okay for others, but people of his status are afraid of being settled with old scores. Moreover, under the planned economic system in recent years, it is illegal for ordinary people to do business. If things go wrong, it may be a disaster. A few years ago, there was a woman in the neighboring village who sold cloth coupons. After she was caught, the local villagers still feel scared when they mention this matter. So it is impossible for Liu Jun not to be worried.

"The country has already implemented reform and opening up. Besides, in this business between us, you just need to help me with the work and I will be in charge of selling things. It has nothing to do with you, so you can rest assured." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

In fact, Xu Qiang knew in his heart that now that we were about to enter the 80s, the country was beginning to gradually realize the market economy, and more and more people were doing small business. Even the events that later shocked the whole country eventually came to a conclusion very quickly. So in this era, as long as the limelight was not too big, basically no one would care.

Moreover, this time Xu Qiang is testing the waters, and it is still uncertain whether he will succeed. In addition, there is actually a reason why he has the courage to do so.

In his previous life, Xu Qiang had heard that as early as the early 70s, there was an entrepreneur who did this kind of business.

At that time, the common people mainly used rice and wheat straw as fuel for cooking, and it was often not enough. However, there was peat under a swamp in the area that could be used as fuel. When people did not think of using it, this entrepreneur came up with the idea of ​​using peat. In February 1972, he and two partners spent 30 yuan to buy a dung bucket, a shoulder pole, a shovel, and two thin bamboo poles used as measuring tapes. They built a small thatched house with adobe and made a door with straw curtains. This is where their "career" began. This team, called the peat farm, developed a soil fertilizer made of peat as raw material - humic acid, which made a profit of 4000 yuan in the first year and 6000 yuan in the second year.

Although he was later falsely accused of speculation by some village cadres, with the support of on-site cadres and the commune party committee, this entrepreneur ultimately did not let his "career" die, and his business grew bigger and bigger. By 1979, his stall's annual profit had reached yuan.

Although Xu Qiang didn't know what process the entrepreneur used to extract humic acid, he was an expert in chemical engineering after all, so solving this process and technical problem was no problem at all. It was just a matter of cost and feasibility.

"I'll listen to you!" Liu Jun gritted his teeth, stuffed the money on the table into his pocket, and raised his glass.

The next moment, the two of them drank the wine in their glasses.

When people have a common goal, they talk more. Xu Qiang wants to start a business, while Liu Jun wants to make money to marry a wife. Although Xu Qiang now seems to have drawn a pie in the sky, for Liu Jun, who has been living like a stagnant water for many years, it is like a life-saving straw in the quagmire. No matter how thin it is, he must hold on to it tightly.

The two of them drank and chatted until very late. Xu Qiang was quite good at making promises, which made Liu Jun feel energized and ready to follow Xu Qiang wholeheartedly.

The next morning, as agreed, Liu Jun drove a horse-drawn carriage and brought farm tools to Xu Qiang's doorstep.

"Let's go!" Xu Qiang sat down on the carriage and waved his hand to signal Liu Jun to set off.

Now that Xu Qiang offered him a high "salary" of 25 yuan a month, Liu Jun naturally "sold" himself to him.

The ravine where they dug peat was not far from the team, but it was not close either. After crossing two mountain streams and walking along a small path, in less than an hour, a relatively flat swamp appeared in front of them.

"It's right here." Liu Jun said, pointing with his finger.

In fact, Xu Qiang is not unfamiliar with this swamp. Through this body memory, Xu Qiang often came here to play when he was a child. Every rainy season here is a big pond where you can catch fish and shrimps. In difficult times, almost every household, adults and children, would come here to catch fish during the rainy season. Now, because there was an incident where a child was suffocated in the swamp, and the brigade has basically handed over the peat digging work to Liu Jun, except for the occasional villagers coming here during the slack season, you can hardly see anyone here at other times.

At this time, in front of the two of them, there was a large pit half a meter deep. This was actually where the villagers usually dug peat. There were many similar pits, all left over the years.

"The soil is good." Xu Qiang jumped into the pit, grabbed a handful of soil and rubbed it, his eyes suddenly lit up.

As someone who had spent most of his previous life in the chemical industry, he could tell at a glance that this piece of peat was indeed "fertile", but how much humic acid it contained still needed to be tested.

Xu Qiang used to be bored with the laboratory where he worked. This is easy to understand. After all, anyone would have this feeling after working in the same environment for many years. But at this moment, he hoped very much to have a laboratory of his own and quickly start his "gold-digging" career after his rebirth.

However, it is still quite difficult to buy chemical equipment these days. Not to mention the price issue, under the current planned economic system, even the simplest chemical testing equipment cannot be bought without the approval of the relevant enterprise or unit.

So if Xu Qiang wants to refine fertilizers, he can only think of some crude methods to solve the problems of refining and testing.

"Uncle, do you think this thing is really feasible?" At this time, Liu Jun was still skeptical about Xu Qiang's plan.

In Liu Jun's opinion, this so-called peat is of no use except for burning firewood, and he really can't figure out how to extract fertilizer from this mud.

"I'll give you a task." Xu Qiang threw away the peat in his hand, clapped his hands, and then said, "There is an open space in front. You can build a thatched house with adobe bricks on the side. You can use it to rest and sleep temporarily. Can you do this kind of mud work?"

"That's no problem!" Liu Jun replied straightforwardly.

(End of this chapter)