NOVEL FULL

1979 My Life in the Era

Chapter 256: Arrival at Suifen

Chapter 256 Arrival at Suifen "Bang~Bang~" "Bang~Bang~" Ning Weidong sat on the train, listening to the rhythmic sound of the train wheels hitting the rails and looking at the snow-covered forest outside the window, his mood becoming increasingly heavy. After ten hours, the train was about to arrive at Suifen Station. There is no doubt that the next battle will be a tough one. If Kadyrov takes action, how should we respond? What attitude should we adopt? How confident are we that we can resolve the crisis... Ning Weidong was not sure in his heart. He had too little information at hand and was not sure in which direction things would develop. What exactly do Kiroryov and Khoramov think? They want Ning Weidong to give them some shares. What are their psychological expectations? How big is the military's appetite... All kinds of thoughts lingered in Ning Weidong's mind along the way. Hu Bayi and Wang Ye on the side didn't say much along the way. They could feel the oppressive aura emanating from Ning Weidong's body, which was an invisible pressure.

As the train approached Suifen, the pressure gradually increased. In this silent atmosphere, the train finally arrived at Suifen Station. Ning Weidong and the other two got off the car and were immediately greeted by several people on the platform. One of them looked familiar. It was Wang Sen, who came to pick them up in a cart last time. Ning Weidong smiled and stretched out his hand from a few meters away: "Comrade Wang Sen, thank you for your hard work." Wang Sen smiled and shook hands, and his attitude towards Ning Weidong was different from last time. Last time, Wang Sen was just doing his job, but this time he gave people a very positive feeling. No wonder he was like this. When he was in Suifen, it was like being exiled to a desolate place where no one lived. It was very likely that he would live like this for the rest of his life, in a daze. But the appearance of Ning Weidong brought him a huge turning point, and Suifen suddenly became a key node. Wang Sen said hurriedly: "It's not hard, it's not hard, Manager Ning, you are a leader from Beijing, it is our honor to have the opportunity to work with you." Then he stepped aside and said: "Let me introduce you, this is Mayor Zhang... This is Station Master Li..." Ning Weidong shook hands and greeted everyone one by one. In fact, Mayor Zhang and Stationmaster Li are still a little confused. They only know that an important person has come from the capital to do something in their town and they need their full cooperation. The two were feeling nervous, but when they saw that Ning Weidong was so young and came from the capital, they couldn't help but let their imagination run wild and their attitude became more enthusiastic. Although Ning Weidong knew that the positions of these two people were relatively important, he was in no mood to spend too much energy on them. The top priority now was to get in touch as soon as possible after crossing the border. He immediately got to the point: "Mayor Zhang, are the truck and driver ready?" Before coming, Ning Weidong contacted here and asked them to prepare trucks for transporting the goods. Mayor Zhang said, "Don't worry, I have borrowed three Jiefang trucks from the county transport team." Ning Weidong nodded and was about to thank him politely, but at this moment a young man suddenly came jogging over and came to Mayor Zhang, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself. Mayor Zhang frowned and scolded, "Fuck you, if you have something to say, just say it. If you have something to say, just fart. You are fussy like a woman."

The young man shrank his neck when he was scolded, and said quickly: "It was Director Li who wanted to take away the car we sent." Mayor Zhang frowned. The Director Li mentioned by the young man was the deputy director of the town's Ge Committee and had always been at odds with Mayor Zhang. Upon hearing this, Mayor Zhang was immediately furious: "How can this be possible!" He looked at Ning Weidong and said, "Manager Ning, this... there is a small problem. I will deal with it right away and make sure it does not delay your work." Ning Weidong narrowed his eyes slightly. Although Mayor Zhang's attitude was quite sincere, he always felt that this might not be that simple. Just at this moment, two people rushed in from outside the train station. The leader was a man in his early thirties, with a square face, a big beard, and a medium build, but he gave off the impression of a decisive soldier. Ning Weidong guessed that this person was probably the Director Li mentioned earlier. Sure enough, the man came closer, looked at Ning Weidong and the others, then looked at Mayor Zhang, and said in a deep voice: "Old Zhang, what's going on? We are repairing the road there, and you moved all the cars away. What does that mean?" Mayor Zhang looked a little aggrieved, glanced at Ning Weidong, stepped forward to greet the visitor, and said with a smile: "Old Li, don't worry, there are leaders from other places here, can we discuss anything later?" Director Li frowned and wanted to say something, but was pulled out by Mayor Zhang. Mayor Zhang said to Ning Weidong again: "Manager Ning, don't worry, it will definitely not delay your business." "Wait~" Ning Weidong shouted when he saw the two were about to leave. Mayor Zhang paused and Director Li also looked over. Ning Weidong didn't say much. He looked at Mayor Zhang meaningfully and said to Wang Ye, "Show this comrade the letter of introduction." Wang Yeqing knew that Ning Weidong was referring to the later Director Li. Wang Ye is definitely a brilliant person, as he has become a young cadre who is being trained as the focus of the Foreign Education Department at such a young age. She saw through the trick in Mayor Zhang's performance just now and immediately took out the letter of introduction she brought from the capital. Director Li was a little stunned, and his pupils suddenly shrank when he saw the title of the letter of introduction. He was born into a military family. Although his education level was not very high, he was familiar with some common sense. He immediately understood what was going on. He glanced at Mayor Zhang fiercely and secretly thanked God that he had come just now, otherwise he would have fallen into the pit without knowing who dug it. Mayor Zhang was startled. He originally wanted to take this opportunity to put Director Li in a bad light, or even find a way to kill Director Li with a borrowed knife and get him fired. According to his plan, Director Li should not be here. Then he can say whatever he wants and put the blame on anyone. As long as Ning Weidong and other greenhorns from Beijing believe that Director Li is interfering with their work, he will have room to maneuver. However, I don’t know which link was missed, but it directly irritated Director Li, so he just came in person. The young people from Beijing were smarter than he expected and didn't fall for it at all. Mayor Zhang licked his dry lips and felt a little regretful that he shouldn't have been so smart. Director Li returned the letter of introduction, suddenly stood at attention to Ning Weidong, and saluted: "Former 40j, 118s, 352nd Regiment, Assault Battalion, 2nd Company, 1st Platoon Leader Li Jinjun reports to you, please give me your instructions!" Ning Weidong raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t realized that Director Li was quick-witted and immediately made his position clear when he found something was wrong. In comparison, Mayor Zhang's skills are inferior.

However, Ning Weidong did not have too many thoughts. The conflict between Mayor Zhang and Director Li was not uncommon. It was just that Mayor Zhang's self-righteousness easily made people disgusted. Ning Weidong adjusted his mood and did not argue with Mayor Zhang and Director Li anymore. He directly asked the two of them to unload the goods from the train together. Then he left the train station with Wang Sen, and asked as they walked, "Old Wang, is there any movement over there these two days?" Wang Sen shook his head. Two days ago, when Ning Weidong left the capital, he received an order to pay attention to the situation on the other side, but Wang Sen did not send anything in the past few days. Ning Weidong couldn't help but feel confused after hearing this. It can be seen from the telegram from Seryosha that the Far Eastern military is almost certain to take action against him, and the best place to start is the almost abandoned train station not far away. The last time Ning Weidong went there, he visited the train station. It could be used as a freight yard for transshipment and was a place that absolutely could not be avoided. And there are few people here, so there is no noise. There is still no movement from the other side, I don't know what's going on. Hu Bayi, who was following beside him, said seriously: "Leader, the situation over there is unclear, we..." Ning Weidong raised his hand to interrupt, "Don't worry, everything will go according to the original plan. If it goes wrong, we will only lose a thousand boxes of wine." Hu Bayi responded and said nothing more. He knew very well that a team outside must have only one voice. Opinions or suggestions can be made before a decision is made, and once a decision is made, it must be implemented with all efforts. According to the original plan, Ning Weidong would stay in Suifen for one night and cross the border early the next morning. This time they did not go to the "guesthouse" as last time. Ning Weidong and the other two stayed directly in Zhenzheng Mansion. Mayor Zhang would like to invite us to dinner in the afternoon. If it were an ordinary time, Ning Weidong would not hesitate to do him a favor, but at this moment he didn't have the time to deal with irrelevant people. After a quick bite of food, Ning Weidong approached Wang Sen and asked, "Old Wang, is there anyone coming from the other side yet?" According to the prior agreement, after Ning Weidong arrived, Xie Liaosha would arrange someone to pick him up. But the person who is supposed to pick him up hasn't arrived yet. Wang Sen looked at his watch. He had received orders from his superiors to fully cooperate with Ning Weidong. Although there was a similar order last time, the intensity was completely different. Wang Sen said: "I have someone watching over there. We will be notified immediately if anyone comes." Ning Weidong responded and said nothing more. There is no point in saying more now, we must wait patiently. The conditions at Zhenzheng Mansion were okay. There was a kang in the house and paper strips were pasted on the windows. Even though it was almost minus 20 degrees Celsius outside, it didn't feel cold in the house. As for the alcohol stored outdoors, 40-degree vodka will generally not freeze until the temperature reaches minus 30 degrees Celsius, so there is no need to worry about the bottle cracking. …… It was seven o'clock in the evening and it was pitch black outside, with only the occasional barking of dogs being heard.

There was a howling north wind outside the house, and no stars could be seen in the sky. At this moment, Wang Sen pushed the door open and came in from outside, stomping his feet hard in the room. "When did it snow?" Ning Weidong asked Wang Sen, who had a lot of snowflakes on his hat. "It just snowed~" Wang Sen replied. It was very common to snow here and it was not a big deal at all. Taking off his cotton hat and brushing off the snow, Wang Sen said, "Leader, the people over there are here." Ning Weidong was cheered up. He had already prepared for the possibility that the opponent would not come tonight, but he did not expect that he would come this way. Immediately asked: "Where is the person?" Wang Sen asked, "It's in the office in front. Do you want to go over there or ask them to come here?" "I'll be there~" Ning Weidong, who had just been lying on the kang, immediately got up, put on his shoes, put on his cotton jacket and went out. The two men came to an office more than ten meters away, where a Sulian man wearing a peeling leather hat sat. He was about forty years old, of medium build, and had a red nose. When he saw Ning Weidong come in, he immediately stood up and shook hands with him and said, "You must be Comrade Ning Weidong, right? I'm Leoni." He actually spoke very standard Mandarin. Ning Weidong was not surprised. This person looked like a Sulian, but he could also be a Russian in China. The fact that he could speak Mandarin like this probably wasn't a latecomer. "Hello, Comrade Leonie, I'm Ning Weidong." Ning Weidong shook hands with him and asked, "What's the situation now?" Leonie said, "I'm very sorry, Comrade Ning. I was only ordered to come here to help you cross the border. I don't know much else, so I can't answer you." Ning Weidong frowned slightly, but did not embarrass the other party. Whether Leoni really didn't know or knew but didn't want to say it, he couldn't force him and could only act according to circumstances. But from another perspective, the fact that Leoni can appear here shows that the situation does not seem to be particularly bad. Afterwards, the two sides discussed some details, and the three trucks prepared by Suifen would need two trips to deliver all 1,000 boxes of vodka. After arriving there, Seryosha arranged a special train to pick up the goods, and then transferred them to Blagoveshchensk via Vladivostok. Although the more than one thousand boxes of vodka this time do not require a special train to transport, but for future preparation, once the channel is opened, it will definitely not be a matter of one or two thousand boxes. According to Ning Weidong's idea, 20,000 tons of vodka will be consumed in the Far East every year in the future, which is 40 million bottles or million boxes. Converted to daily, that’s almost 10,000 boxes a day. By then, even if it is transported once a week, it would probably take a whole train to fill up. After meeting Leony, Ning Weidong returned to his residence and lay down, still wondering what the military leaders on the opposite side were thinking, where exactly Kadyrov was going to take action, or... Seryosha's side had been resolved, and the two sides had reached a new distribution of interests. I have no clue for the moment and can only wait until tomorrow. The next morning, just as it was dawn, Ning Weidong climbed up from the kang. After breakfast, he took Hu Bayi, Wang Ye, and Leonie to the station. Suifen was not perfunctory. Mayor Zhang and Director Li were both there. When Ning Weidong arrived, the two were smoking together. There was no sign of the dirty deeds from yesterday. If you didn't know better, you would think they had a good relationship. Next to them were three old Jiefang trucks parked, and several porters were loading wine onto the trucks.

Yesterday a thousand cases of vodka were unloaded from the train and laid out on the platform covered with canvas. The people who were moving the wine knew that it was quite valuable, so they moved it very carefully. When they noticed Ning Weidong and others coming, Mayor Zhang and Director Li immediately went to greet them. "Thank you for your hard work." Ning Weidong shook hands with the two of them and glanced at the surrounding situation. I silently thought to myself that if Sulian's plan went smoothly, this place and Heihe would become important trade channels. I haven't been to Heihe, so I don't know what's going on there, but it must be expanded, with stations, platforms, loading and unloading, and some large equipment... Ning Weidong's mind was filled with thoughts, but at this moment a driver suddenly got off the middle truck, inserted a crutch in front of the car, and shook it vigorously in circles. The car engine made a series of muffled noises like farts, interrupting Ning Weidong's thoughts. He looked over there and his heart skipped a beat: "The car broke down?" Mayor Zhang and Director Li frowned and hurried forward to ask. There were three trucks in total, and if one of them broke down it would cause a lot of trouble. Moreover, Mayor Zhang had previously sworn that there was absolutely no problem with the truck, but in the end he was slapped in the face. Ning Weidong was not so anxious. The most important thing was that there was no point in being anxious. There were only two trucks left, so the worst that could happen was that he would have to make one more trip. After waiting for a while, the car was not repaired, but the goods were loaded. Mayor Zhang came over and asked, "Comrade Ning, do you think we should wait a little longer, or should these two cars leave first?" - I will resume writing 10,000 words tomorrow. (End of this chapter)