Black Gold 1983

Chapter 13 Plan

Renye's words were so mysterious that the group was completely confused.

Ma Maocai was about to retort with his neck stiffened, but Ma Tiejun raised his hand and pressed him down.

"Brother Ren, we're all roughnecks, we don't understand any of those policies, just tell us what to do."

Renye didn't rush to reply. He finished his Daqianmen cigarette, stubbed it out at his feet, and then slowly spoke:

"Do you know that in two months, the government will loosen its policies and allow communes and production teams to collectively run mines?"

All four of them were stunned.

Ma Xiaojun was the first to react: "What? You said? You're allowing private coal mining?"

"It's not a private operation, it's a collective operation of the village," Renye corrected. "To put it bluntly, it's a mine run in the name of the village collective. Villagers can pool their money to invest and receive dividends at the end of the year. Then we won't have to mine secretly anymore, but can do it openly and honestly."

Renye emphasized that it was collective rather than individual because although the policy was relaxed in April, the relaxation was limited. It only allowed the masses to raise funds, joint households, communes, or collectives to run mines, or individuals to contract to run mines. However, it implicitly prohibited private mining, and private encroachment on national mineral resources was strictly prohibited. There was no loophole to be found.

To put it bluntly, this policy means that if you have money, you can contract out the entire business to yourself.

If you don't have money, you can find a community or team to pool your resources and work together.

The terms "individual contracting" and "sole proprietorship" are two different things.

Simply put, contracting is like renting a shop in the village. The shop belongs to the village, but you can source and sell the goods yourself, and most of the profits are yours. You only need to pay rent to the village as agreed.

Being a sole proprietor is equivalent to buying the shop outright. The shop is entirely yours, all the profits are yours, you don't have to pay rent to the village, and the ownership of the shop belongs to you from the very beginning.

Under the policy of 1983, coal mines were like shops; individuals were not allowed to buy them and operate them as sole proprietors, but they were allowed to lease them and operate them as contractors.

Until after 1987, policies gradually loosened, and a model of "affiliation with collectives and private operation" began to appear in various places, commonly known as "red hat".

It wasn't until the 1990s that private coal mines were truly legitimate, but don't even think about it now.

Ma Maocai scoffed, his face full of disbelief: "Are you dreaming? State-owned mines don't allow ordinary people to mine there! Who do you think you are, some high-ranking official?"

Renye wasn't annoyed, and gave him a smile: "Do you know why the country is relaxing its policies?"

He stood up and walked out: "In recent years, the country has been carrying out reform and opening up, and there is a shortage of coal everywhere. Factories need to burn coal to start operating, power plants need to burn coal to generate electricity, and even city dwellers have to scramble for honeycomb briquettes to get through the winter."

"But state-owned mines only have so much equipment and so many people. They mainly operate on a 'picking and choosing' approach, only mining the main coal areas that are easy to mine and have high output. They don't even look at the scrap areas like Shigou Village, nor do they have the energy to mine them. Otherwise, why did they simply seal the mine after that roof collapse incident?"

Upon hearing this, several people nodded in unison, and even Ma Dehou, who had been standing aside, listened attentively.

Renye looked at the four people and continued, "The country isn't stupid; it can make sense of this. Rather than letting this coal rot in the ground, it's better to loosen the policy and let the people dig it themselves."

"If we dig it up, it can improve the economic level and boost local employment. If we can't dig it up, it's still in the ground, so we don't lose anything. That's the trick of the policy."

Ma Xiaojun listened attentively, nodding in agreement from time to time: "Hey! The country really thinks things through comprehensively. This policy is well-designed, taking both sides into consideration."

Ma Maocai glanced at him sideways and snorted irritably, "What do you know? How could you possibly know what the country is thinking?"

Ma Xiaojun wasn't annoyed, and chuckled, "I don't understand, but what Brother Ye said makes sense. The state-owned mine doesn't want this land, and we just happen to have no work to do, so it's like a godsend."

Renye smiled noncommittally: "That's true. The country wants to protect the dominant position of state-owned mines, but at the same time, it can't waste resources and cause development to lag behind. That's why it opened the door and allowed us to run mines in the name of the collective."

"This way, we don't have to compete with state-owned mines for the main coal areas; we can just pick up the scraps they don't want. They'd love for someone to take over, so they don't have to send people to guard this barren mine. As for us, we can also take this opportunity to make some real money."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the group: "This is called everyone getting what they deserve."

Everyone fell silent. Renye was right. At that time, state-owned enterprises still carried the inertia of the planned economy, resulting in low efficiency, heavy burdens, and many resources being left idle.

In rural areas, people are eager to escape poverty; they have plenty of energy, but no connections or means.

The state's policy of opening up mining to collectives and communes, to put it bluntly, gave ordinary people a way to earn money through their own labor, and also revitalized the idle resources that state-owned mines had neglected. It did not touch the foundation of state-owned mines, but allowed ordinary people at the bottom to taste the benefits. This was the most practical way to survive in the 1980s.

Ma Maocai opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but found himself unable to say anything.

Ma Tiejun finally spoke, his voice low: "When will this policy you mentioned be implemented?"

"April."

How did you know?

Renye looked at him and smiled: "I have my own connections. Whether you believe it or not, we'll see in April. But what I want to say is, it will be too late to take action once the policy is released."

"Why?" Ma Xiaojun asked.

Before Renye could speak, Ma Dehou, who had been silent all along, finally spoke up, his voice unhurried: "If he can find out the information, others can too. When the policy is truly relaxed, it will be a competition of who can act the fastest."

He tapped the ash from his old pipe heavily on the sole of his shoe and continued, "The bold get rich, the timid starve; that's always been the way of the world."

That hits the nail on the head.

Renye nodded: "Uncle Dehou is right. If we just stand by and watch, by the time we figure it out, it will be too late."

Ma Tiejun's brows furrowed even more.

Although he was the one who spearheaded this, he knew in his heart that he couldn't live this clandestine life for long.

Not being caught today doesn't mean you won't be caught tomorrow. If the patrol happens to come along one day and catch you red-handed, going to jail would be the least of your worries.

If it were possible to do it openly and honestly, who would want to be a mine rat?

"What you're talking about..." Ma Tiejun carefully chose his words: "How exactly does collective mining work?"

Renye knew that the fish had taken the bait.

Instead of revealing everything immediately, he first offered the simplest solution:

"There are two ways to do it now. The first is private contracting. To put it simply, I contract the mining rights of this area from the village and pay the village a contract fee every year. The village doesn't have to invest a penny, and it can also solve the employment problem. Anyone who wants to work in the mine can get a wage."

Ma Xiaojun's eyes lit up: "No money required, and I still get a class! This is a great deal!"

Ma Maocai slapped him hard on the forehead: "Are you stupid! Wasn't this the same thing as Hongxing Mine before? And what happened next? The well was sealed off, the land collapsed, the compensation stopped, and the villagers had nowhere to even farm."

Although Ma Maocai was a chatterbox, he was much more clear-headed than Ma Xiaojun. His words were ostensibly flattering his own brother, but in reality, they were a challenge to Ren Ye: What's the difference between your idea of ​​individual contracting and the old system at Hongxing Mine?

Renye smiled and said, "That's right. This is indeed the plan that Hongxing Mine and Shigou Village negotiated back then, except that I have now taken over Hongxing Mine's position."

"However, this plan requires too much initial investment. I've calculated that without introducing advanced equipment, relying solely on manual tunneling, plus safety facilities and worker wages, the initial investment would be at least 50,000 yuan."

"Fifty thousand!" Ma Xiaojun's jaw almost dropped.

Tiger Vanguard, who was squatting in the corner eating half a dry steamed bun, was startled by the shout and shuddered, dropping crumbs of steamed bun from his mouth.

"You have 50,000 yuan?"