After a brief communication with the project leader from the Transportation Bureau, Zhao Tie, Chen Daxing, and a few others, along with the people from the valley, drove bulldozers and various road construction machinery, loaded a truck with road building tools, and departed with the Transportation Bureau workers.
Their actions completely stunned everyone at the county Transportation Bureau! They never expected that the people specially arranged by Chen Lan to teach them how to use the new machinery for road construction would be so capable. They were far superior to those who were physically exerting themselves to build the roads! If they could truly learn all these skills, their future work would be much easier.
Those in the Transportation Bureau who were initially a bit unconvinced, watching the departing figures of Zhao Tie and his wife, and Chen Daxing and his wife leading the way, were now completely won over! There was no longer any dissatisfaction in their hearts!
Frankly, this was exactly the effect Chen Lan wanted. It's known that everyone in the valley, men and women alike, except for kindergarten children and young primary school students, are almost all multi-talented. They not only know how to farm and raise livestock but also how to build roads and operate various machinery!
During busy farming seasons, they are farmers in the fields; during the off-season, they are workers in the valley's factories, and also hunters in the valley.
Everyone was busy with their respective tasks. The couple, Chen Lan and Xu Mingxuan, were also not idle. They felt that it was still a long way before the houses and factories were fully built, and this large expanse of wasteland was now theirs! They couldn't just let it lie barren. Adhering to the principle of planting even a little, and with the spring planting season approaching, the couple decided to at least cultivate something to prevent it from being wasted!
So, the couple got to work! They planned to clear land and plant some spring wheat and various vegetables for their own consumption. For Chen Lan, clearing land in the valley was something she had done for decades and was no difficult task.
Even with the use of machinery for planting, it took the couple and a group of young wives more than ten days to finally plant spring wheat on all 120 mu of cleared land. They also cleared an additional six mu of land and sowed various vegetable seeds.
Xiang Dong and Xiang Xi, along with Er Hu, finally arrived thirteen days after receiving the telegram.
At this time, the old village chief sent word through the village accountant that the old brick kiln site had been renovated according to Chen Lan's drawings and could resume production immediately!
Chen Lan then found someone in the system to design recruitment posters. She handed a stack of these posters to Xu Mingxuan and asked him to go to the county government again to find his old comrade-in-arms, Zhou Weiqiang, who worked at the County Labor Bureau. She asked them to use the Labor Bureau to recruit construction workers and skilled technicians for the new brick kiln equipment throughout the county.
Xu Mingxuan picked up a recruitment notice and began to read. The general content was: "The new village in the valley is currently undergoing investment and construction. We are now recruiting workers from all brigades and villages throughout the county."
The application requirements were: age limit of under forty-five years old, males aged eighteen and above, requiring good health and no bad habits, and being residents of Gu'an County;
Educational requirements were: construction workers must have at least a primary school education or five years of work experience in the same industry. Skilled technicians for operating the new brick kiln equipment must have a high school education.
Number of positions: 150 construction workers, 15 skilled workers for the brick kiln.
Benefits included: all workers would be provided with three meals a day, but accommodation would not be provided for the time being; each worker would receive two sets of work clothes and two pairs of work shoes annually, along with other monthly labor protection benefits.
Salary was: apprentices at 33 yuan per month, general workers at 38 yuan per month, skilled workers at 43 yuan per month, and masters at 50 yuan per month, plus a 10 yuan subsidy for mentoring apprentices.
Xu Mingxuan withdrew his gaze and said, "Lan'er, this time you're only recruiting men to work here. Shouldn't you give women a chance to work too? That would truly reflect equality for all!"
Chen Lan smiled and said, "Brother Mingxuan, don't be so impatient. When the garment factory is built in the future, won't women from all villages and brigades have plenty of work to do? I guarantee they'll have more work than they can handle every day. However, you've reminded me. Let's find twenty more people to help in the large kitchen. With so many people, Sun Xiaomei and the others will likely be too busy!"
With such good conditions, within a week, all 185 newly recruited workers had arrived at their designated posts.
Under the leadership of Xiang Dong and Er Hu, the infrastructure work for the new valley village officially commenced. Xiang Xi had also long since taken Xiao Shuan and Lin Mao, and Xiao Shan drove the new brick-making equipment to the brick kiln site for installation and debugging.
Every day, people were working enthusiastically on the land of the new valley village. Building houses was the bread and butter for Xiang Dong and Er Hu, so under their command and the supervision of the children studying architecture in the valley, thirty-six three-story country villas were erected in neat rows, providing Chen Lan with many pleasant surprises daily.
Xiang Xi, Xiao Shuan, and the others were also busy. After several days of hard work, they finally determined the location for building the factories and came to find Chen Lan.
As soon as Xiang Xi saw Chen Lan, he said, "Little Lanzi, according to the overall plan of the new valley village, we have chosen the site for building factories in the industrial park you designated for us! Prepare the light steel keel frames for us, and we plan to build the factories ourselves. Oh, by the way, Teacher Zhou and his laboratory also chose their site and took their apprentices with them. They asked me to mention it to you as well."
Chen Lan smiled and asked, "What? Teacher Zhou and his team really don't plan to go back? Or do they plan to continue their research with us? Don't they know that with national backing, they will have considerable research funding in the future? It's uncertain with us!"
Xiang Xi also smiled and said, "I told Teacher Zhou and his team that, but this old man is very stubborn, and his students are just like him, all stubbornly persistent! They still say they don't plan to leave. They all say the external research environment is too poor. The country is currently focusing its energy on economic development, and the research funding available for them is very limited." Sudang.com
Since that was the case, Chen Lan decided to respect their choice. She smiled and said nothing else, simply asking, "I understand! Do you have any special requirements? Is it the same as the factories in the valley? If there are no other requirements, I'll prepare them for you right away."
Xiang Xi shook his head and said, "No special requirements, the original setup will be fine!"