The grain crops harvested each year are divided into three destinations, the first is the state requisition, then the collective retention, and finally the largest is the self-retained rations of the members.

In the past five or eight years, there has been a bumper harvest in an all-round way, agriculture has been released on satellites, and the proportion of state requisition and collective retention has remained unchanged, but according to the exaggerated output reported, the figure has increased greatly, and it has to be deducted from the collective grain and rations. The members don't care, anyway, there is a big canteen for dinner, and the state is full.

The year 1958 passed like this, and the large-scale steel-making movement ended quietly after a meeting of the Central Committee, the earth blast furnace was dismantled, and the steel-making commandos returned to their original units to do whatever they wanted, and 90 percent of the iron lumps that were trained were scrap, which were placed in warehouses to occupy space, and the impact of throwing them outside was not good, so they could only be quietly pulled to the river and thrown away.

The demolished pagodas, ancient temples, plane trees and camphor forests that have been cut down on the streets can never be restored, and the suburbs of Beitai are bare, with no trees, only wild grasses.

The day began to drought, there was no rain for three months, and the experimental field in Nantai sowed 30 to 80 catties of wheat seeds per mu, but nothing grew out, but sparse wheat seedlings grew in the normally sown wheat field, because of the drought and lack of water, it was much lower than in previous years.

The enthusiasm of the members to work is decreasing day by day, the rain and wind do not go to the ground, and the atmosphere of not working is very serious.

It's the season of wheat harvesting again, because of drought and lack of water and unreasonable dense planting, nearly half of the grain fields in Nantai County have not been harvested, and the secretary of the county party committee is inspecting everywhere under the poisonous day of white flowers, and he is anxious, and this year's state requisition cannot be completed, how to explain to the higher authorities first.

The disaster is even worse than imagined, the Dawang River, which used to flow endlessly, has been cut off, the bottom of the river has dried up, occasionally a few sun-dried fish lie on the cracked bottom of the river, the water level of the Huai River has also dropped to an unprecedented position, the ship has run aground, and the shipping has stopped.

Yang Shugen inspected all the communes in the county, and the situation was very serious, and it was said that the harvest in the neighboring counties was also very poor, not to mention that it was worse than last year, and even worse than before the liberation.

The prefectural party committee convened a meeting of county and department-level cadres, and Yang Shugen went to the meeting with a nervous heart, and he planned to propose that this year's state requisition and collective retention should be less, and that enough rations should be left for the peasants.

However, at the meeting of the prefectural party committee, the leaders of other counties and districts all raised high spirits and proposed that this year's public grain should still be handed over according to last year's leverage, and not a pound would be missing, and the secretary of the prefectural party committee highly praised their revolutionary spirit of sacrificing their small family to take care of everyone.

Yang Shugen felt that his face was hot, his consciousness was still too low, and he was sorry for the party's teaching and cultivation.

"Xiao Yang, tell me about the situation in your county." The secretary of the prefectural party committee nodded his general with a smile.

Yang Shugen stood up and said: "This year's situation is quite special, but we have confidence, certainty, and ability to overcome difficulties, not only will we not add to the burden on the country, but we will be able to raise the summer grain collection to a higher level, and we will pay 5 percent more public grain than last year." ”

The secretary of the prefectural party committee said: "Don't be reluctant, if you have difficulties, put it forward, and the organization will consider it." ”

Yang Shugen said categorically: "There is no difficulty, resolutely complete the task." ”

When he said this, he actually had no bottom in his heart, but the situation did not help him not to say so, and if he retreated at this time, his political future as a cadre would be gone.

Back in the county, Yang Shugen convened a meeting of the county's commune secretaries and gave them the task of summer grain requisition.

"Let's make a statement, in short, I have already said this to the local committee, you can watch it." Poplar Root's majestic gaze swept over the crowd, some avoiding his gaze, but others stood up.

"What I didn't say, Secretary Yang's words are an order, even if you are hungry, you have to complete the national summer grain requisition task, if you can't complete the task, I, Li Huazi, am willing to be punished."

At the critical moment, it was Li Huazi who supported the poplar roots.

A warm current surged in Secretary Yang's heart.

Since someone started, the rest of the work was easy to do, Yang Shugen explained softly and hard, and finally let everyone accept the task, and after the meeting, he called Li Huazi and asked him what difficulties there were at home.

"There is no difficulty, everything is fine, thank you Secretary Yang for taking care of me, that is, my lover has been idle at home and wants to find something to do." Li Huazi learned the style of the people in the city, and called his wife zuo-ai person, which looked very fashionable.

Yang Shugen said: "The county women's federation is still short of manpower, I think first let my sister-in-law do it, work instead of work, solve the establishment and household registration, and then slowly solve the problem of cadre identity." ”

Li Huazi's heart was overjoyed, and his wife and children went to the city to eat household registration food, which was a fish leaping into the dragon gate, and he was loyal to Secretary Yang in vain.

"Secretary Yang, I will personally make another statement, if there is anything, you can say hello and go to the soup to say a word." Li Huazi's chest rose and fell, and her voice was high-pitched.

Yang Shugen smiled and nodded: "Old Yang, when this time is over, you must also be prepared to carry a heavier burden." ”

When Li Huazi came out of Yang Shugen's office, her chest was tall, like a rooster that had won a battle, and the eyes of the other commune secretaries had changed from looking down on them.

The summer grain collection was vigorously launched, and there was no resistance, but after an accounting, Li Huazi was startled, and after paying the public grain, the rations of the members were only less than half a catty per person per day.

The accountant of the commune pulled the abacus and asked Li Huazi hesitantly: "Secretary, what should I do?" ”

Li Huazi smoked the cigarettes brought from the city, frowned and thought for a long time, and said: "If there are difficulties, overcome them, it's nothing to eat one or two less meals, before liberation, I still ate bark and grass roots, but now it's good to have a bite to eat, what else do you want." ”

The summer grain was handed over in full.

……

In the provincial capital, No. 1 Fenglin Road, the first secretary of the provincial party committee returned from a meeting in Lushan, and he told his lover Pan Xin a shocking news that Peng Dehuai was defeated.

"What, Mr. Peng was knocked down!" Pan Xin was dumbfounded. I can't believe my ears.

"Yes, Mr. Peng actually criticized the Great Leap Forward and the People's Commune, which is his own fault." Zheng Zeru sat on a rattan chair, lit a cigarette, closed his eyes, and the scene of criticizing Peng Dehuai on Lushan was vivid, and the former general had to give in.

"We must take this as a warning and maintain a high degree of consistency with the central government at all times." Zheng Zeru seemed to be talking to himself, and it was like talking to Pan Xin.

Pan Xin, who was just an ordinary staff member of the General Office of the Provincial Party Committee and was not very interested in high-level politics, diverted the topic and said: "My hometown in Nantai sent a letter saying that this year's grain harvest is not good, and if it is not good, I will starve." ”

Zheng Zeru chuckled: "Joke, how can a socialist country starve the common people, this year's weather is dry and the grain harvest is poor, the organization understands and grasps, if there is a shortage of grain in some areas, the state can return a part of the public grain, and if it doesn't work, there will be relief grain." ”

Pan Xin said: "Then I will rest assured, the villagers in my hometown are panicking." ”

The next day, Zheng Zeru came to the office and asked the secretary to check the grain production of Nantai and ask if there was no need for state relief.

The secretary said with a smile: "Nantai still has a bumper harvest this year, not only does it not need state relief, but it also reaches a new high in paying public grain." ”

Zheng Zeru sighed, and sighed in his heart, Xiao Yang is a good comrade, it is difficult to carry it by himself, and he does not stretch out his hand to the leader, which is worth cultivating.

However, the general environment of this year's grain harvest is certain, and the food supply of urban residents has been affected, which Secretary Zheng knows, and he said to the secretary: "Take 30 catties of grain stamps and send them to their mother and son." ”

The secretary nodded: "I'll do it immediately." ”

The food stamps sent by Zheng Zeru came in handy, Hongyu was worried about how to increase nutrition for his son who went to college, although the urban residents had a food plan, but the quota was very small, Wang Beitai was the captain of the basketball team of the Normal College, and he had to exercise every day, and his physical strength was very large, and he would be hungry in the afternoon, and he would be hungry in the afternoon, and he would be able to get an extra 30 catties of food stamps per month, at least he would not be hungry and swollen like some of his classmates.

Most of them are children of poor middle peasants, their family conditions are not well-off, and they are about 20 years old with a lot of activity, how can they eat enough to eat four taels a day.

Wang Beitai is different from others, although he also lives in the school, but often goes home, and is riding a bicycle back and forth, these years there are not ordinary people who have bicycles, either rich or expensive, and the classmates have never heard of what Wang Beitai is doing at home, what is more suspicious is that Wang Beitai often brings biscuits, meat buns, etc. from home to share with classmates.

These suspicious factors attracted the attention of Ye Qian, the secretary of the Youth League branch of the same dormitory, Ye Qian is a native of the countryside of Longyang, his ancestors are all extremely poor, Gen Hongmiao is from a good background, although he is stupid and does not study well, he is a teacher who is sent by the organization, but he has always been politically active, and he is the general branch of the Russian Youth League.

Ye Qian is a cadre of the League, but his prestige is far inferior to Wang Beitai, especially those female classmates love to associate with Wang Beitai when they have nothing to do, and even joke that Wang Beitai is the prince charming of the Russian Department of Teachers College, which is not biased, Wang Beitai inherited the advantages of his parents, he was born tall and handsome, with a height of 1.74 meters Yushu is in the wind, his skin is fair, his smile is charming, especially the croaking of Russian, and he can talk directly with Soviet experts without being stunned.

And Wang Beitai is the shooting champion on the basketball court, Romeo on the drama stage, he always wears a white shirt and a shiny imported bicycle, how many girls dream of sitting in the second-class seat of that bicycle, including Ye Qian's dream lover Guo Nina.

These are secondary, and the most important reason why Wang Beitai has a high prestige among his classmates is that in this difficult era, he will share the food at home with his classmates, which is the most valuable.

Ye Qian felt that his light was suppressed, and he couldn't help but hate Wang Beitai, he began to quietly pay attention to Wang Beitai, wanting to find out the other party's handle, such as whether these non-staple foods were stolen? Is it an improper relationship with a female classmate in private or something?

Wang Beitai was still happy every day, not noticing that there was a pair of cunning and vicious eyes staring at him in the darkness.

Ye Qian stared at it for a long time, but did not find any evidence, and when he was in frustration, he suddenly discovered a major problem, why is Wang Beitai so good at Russian, because he has a shortwave radio and can listen to Soviet radio!

Ye Qian's heart was beating violently, no wonder, Sino-Soviet relations broke down, he still insisted on listening to enemy Taiwan, he not only supported Soviet repair, but also probably even must be an important chess piece planted by the Soviet KGB in Jiangbei, spying on the intelligence of our country's military industry, in exchange for a large amount of non-staple food, yes, it must be like this.

Thinking of this, Ye Qian, a classmate of the general branch of the Youth League, was dry and excited, and he ran to the school security department overnight to report this major discovery to the security cadres.

When they heard that there were Soviet spies in the school, they immediately cheered up, took sticks and flashlights, and went to the small garden near the large playground of the campus to catch Wang Beitai, who was listening to the Russian broadcast.

Wang Beitai was escorted to the security department, Ye Qian made a great contribution, and he said triumphantly: "Wang Beitai has been trying to corrupt me with bourgeois sugar-coated shells, but it has aroused my vigilance, and this is how he is caught." ”

The case was so big that the security department didn't dare to handle it without permission, so it was nine o'clock at night, and they still called the local police station and told them that the school had arrested a Soviet spy.

The side three-wheeled motorcycle of the police station immediately drove up, and the director personally led the team, he had an iron face, and did not interrogate Wang Beitai, but pulled the security section chief aside and asked him: "Do you know what family background you should have?" ”

The chief of the security section said: "I don't know, the file is filled in with ordinary urban residents, what's wrong?" Another mystery? As he spoke, he handed the director a cigarette.

The head of the police station said: "I don't know anything else, I only know that he is the main leader of the provincial department who has sent a message to take special care for a long time, and every month his family has mail from the provincial capital, flour, soybean oil, clothes and shoes, and the postmark is from the family home of the provincial party committee, you know." ”

The security section chief's eyes blinked, as if he understood or not.