Chapter 1514: Prosperity 3
A manual flatbed cart can carry a little over a thousand catties of goods. Mule and horse-drawn carts are larger, so they can carry double the weight. Compared to mule and horse-drawn carts, tractors can carry yet another double.
Xibao was good at arithmetic; one trip with a tractor was equivalent to seven or eight trips with a manual flatbed cart.
Most importantly, it saved people from tiring labor.
Xibao was too young to think of this, but Father Lu had. The turmoil outside hadn’t ceased, and if the Lu Family wanted to establish a solid foothold, they needed to make sure that everyone in the Wanglou Brigade became beneficiaries.
The words Xibao spoke were taught by Father Lu, and it was also Father Lu who persuaded him to request a tractor within the framework of national rewards.
In fact, Huaibei City always had quotas for agricultural machinery, but they were very limited and never made it to the Wanglou Brigade.
In situations like this, it all came down to who had stronger connections—those with influence could secure benefits for their commune or brigade. Cheng Baoguo had considered getting a single-axle tractor for the Wanglou Brigade to change the reliance on manpower and animals for farming, but he’d failed several times.
Huaibei City wasn’t solely under his control.
Some believed that since the Wanglou Brigade was already performing well and had gained recognition from the senior leaders, they should be given support to develop further and bring even more glory to Huaibei City. However, others felt that precisely because the Wanglou Brigade was doing so well, they didn’t need assistance from the state, and the support should go instead to other underdeveloped production brigades.
Now, when Xibao requested a tractor, Wang Zhenguo, who was present, was overjoyed. He hadn’t expected Xibao to speak up like that, but when he thought of Father Lu, it all made sense again.