Chapter 417: Harvest Nearly Collapsed

However, Yi Zhonghai solved the problem as soon as the deaf old lady came forward and settled the matter before Yan Bugui could speak.
Just like the neighbors, I just said something to him.
"Okay, since everyone agrees with this plan, let's implement it.
Old Yan, the neighbors are right. Now is not the time for you to be clever. If you really dare, we will report it to the police.

You may not be able to keep your current job by then, so you should think carefully about it."

Hearing Yi Zhonghai say this, Yan Bugui knew that no one would help him this time. Between the furniture at home and his work, he decisively chose the latter.

"Lao Yi, don't worry, I will definitely respond to your call and there will be absolutely no problems."

Seeing that the stingy Yan Bugui had surrendered, Yi Zhonghai nodded with satisfaction, and then began to organize the neighbors to donate things, preparing to take them to the small blast furnace tomorrow to report.

Compared with the selfish neighbors in the Siheyuan, other ordinary people in the city don't have such troubles at all.
Time slowly came to September.

That morning, He Yuzhu had finished his breakfast in the public canteen and had just returned home to push his bicycle out when he saw Xu Damao pushing his bicycle into the courtyard with two thermos bottles hanging on his bicycle.

So I asked curiously,
"Da Mao, didn't you go to the countryside with the film projection team to show movies to the people? Why are you back so early?
Also, where did these thermoses come from? Now is not the time to distribute them."

Seeing He Yuzhu asking about the origin of the thermos, Xu Damao couldn't help but sigh.
"It could have come from somewhere, maybe the commune leader gave it to us.

You don't know the pillars.
As for the past when everyone drank boiled water and took frequent baths, I don’t even dare to think about it now.”

At this point, Xu Damao carefully looked around and found that there were no people around before he said in a low voice,
"You know what, Pillar?
This time we went down to show movies to various communes, and it happened to be the autumn harvest in the countryside, and everyone was asked to rush to harvest grain, but there was a serious shortage of manpower for the harvest."

Just as Xu Damao said this, Yi Zhonghai and Liu Haizhong finished their breakfast and walked into the courtyard.

Seeing this, Xu Damao simply kept silent and pushed his bicycle to the backyard.

Although he hadn't finished speaking,
But how could He Yuzhu not know what he meant?

You know, although the grain production cycle is very long, the harvest time is almost always a race against time with God.

There is even a proverb popular among the people: "If it is 90% ripe, harvest it; if it is 100% ripe, throw away 10%."

This is because during the waxy maturity period of grains, there are often strong winds and heavy rains. In addition, the grains are extremely easy to fall off by themselves after they are fully mature. It is completely impossible to store every grain in the warehouse.

Therefore, it is necessary to harvest in time when the harvest is 9% mature.
This time window is only one or two days.

that's the truth,
Due to natural disasters, by 1960, the yield of various crops in Daxia had dropped significantly.
Grain output was 1453 billion kilograms, cotton output was 2126 million dan, oil crops were 3405 million dan, and pig output was 8227 million heads.

Compared with 1957,
1950.5 billion kilograms of grain, 3280 million dan of cotton, 7542 million dan of oil crops, and 1.459 million pigs.

They decreased by 26.4%, 35.2%, 54.9% and 43.6% respectively.

At the same time, the urban-rural dual structure, which had just been established not long ago, saw a large influx of people into cities, causing the industrial population to increase from 1957 million in 1500 to more than 1960 million in 3900.

The proportion of urban population increased from 15% to 20%, which means that there are more than 1.4 to 1.5 million urban population eating commercial grain.

1960 years 1 months,
In view of the decline in grain production and the sharp increase in consumption, the grain rations for urban residents were once again reduced on a large scale after 1955.

Provisions:

For workers who do heavy manual labor, the monthly food ration will be adjusted from 50 to 60 catties to 46 to 76 catties.
For heavy manual laborers, the allowance was reduced from 40-50 catties to 34-40 catties;
For light manual laborers, the allowance is reduced from 30-40 catties to 28-32 catties;
For cadres, staff, shop assistants, and students, the weight will be reduced from 28 to 36 catties to 24 to 28 catties;
For general residents and children over ten years old, the weight will be reduced from 24-28 catties to 23-27 catties.
9岁以下儿童，从6~25斤下调至5~23斤。

并且这些粮食当中仅有20%的面粉、10%的大米，其余70%全部为红薯、玉米、土豆等粗粮（每2公斤折合0.5公斤主粮），
At the same time, as oil crop production dropped by more than half,
Ordinary cadres, employees and residents are allocated 50 grams of cooking oil per month, workers are allocated 220 grams per month, and senior cadres and senior intellectuals are allocated 500 grams per month.

As for other items like pork and eggs, their distribution was greatly reduced.
布匹从54年刚实行时的36尺到60年消减到了5尺4寸，给穿破的衣服裤子打补丁都够呛，

Vegetables such as radishes and cabbages have also been officially included in the national second-class commodity list and are subject to limited supply.

Each person is only provided with 2 taels per day.
As a result, the people of the entire Daxia looked pale, and Peking, as the capital, was barely better than other places.

As food supplies decrease,
Restaurants of all sizes in areas surrounding Beijing, such as Jinmen, Baocheng, and Changshan, have already started to accept food coupons.

Only in Beijing at that time were there some breakfast stalls and restaurants that maintained the policy of not accepting food coupons for staple foods.

On Sunday morning, He Yuzhu and his wife got up, washed up, and walked out of the house with 4-year-old He Ying and half-year-old He Yuejin, who was still breastfeeding.

At the Yan family next door, Yan Bugui had just come out of the house and was leaning weakly against the door frame.

"Hey, Uncle Yan, why are you here instead of going out to have breakfast?

If you don’t hurry up, there will be no food.”

Maybe he didn't eat enough last night, or maybe it was some other reason. After hearing what He Yuzhu said, Yan Bugui smiled listlessly.

"I'm waiting for my eldest grandson.

Zhuzi, go call your father first, and we will set off together later."

Hearing this, He Yuzhu looked at him in surprise.
I wondered if this stingy old man had changed his character.

Ever since Yan Jiecheng got married and the Yan family split up, even after his eldest grandson Yan Wentao was born, the old man never had the chance to take care of his eldest son's family.

(End of this chapter)