Chapter 401: Employee Benefits (Part 2)

Chapter 401 -188: Employee Benefits (Part 2)

October 14th.

A low-profile convoy slowly traversed the center of Home County before turning north.

Much of the farmland on either side was already bare, with only the stubble left after the harvest stubbornly clinging to the vast, boundless Monan Grassland.

Beyond the farmland, in the pastures, the grass had begun to wither and turn yellow. Many herdsmen were driving tractors to gather the last of the hay, storing it up in preparation for the winter.

This year, however, the local herdsmen seemed more at ease.

They no longer had to worry as much about the winter supply of pasture and feed. The impact of falling beef and mutton prices was merely a temporary setback.

This was reflected in the market: while beef and mutton prices had plummeted, the prices for lambs and calves had risen by 8 to 12 percent compared to previous years.

This phenomenon pointed to one thing: livestock farmers were optimistic about the future of the domestic breeding industry. Even the massive drop in beef and mutton prices hadn’t dampened their expectations for the future.

The convoy crossed the highway bridge over the Yangxumu River.

From inside a pickup truck, he could see through the window that the number of residential buildings in Upper Yangxumu Village had increased significantly. Among the many single-story houses, more than a dozen new five- or six-story self-built homes had appeared.

These new buildings were freshly decorated, with large, red-lettered signs hanging from their roofs.

There were restaurants like “Grassland People,” “Sichuan and Chongqing Hot Pot Restaurant,” “Sha County Snacks,” and “Sister’s Grilled Skewers.”

There were also places for lodging and bathing, such as “Tamin Chagan Homestay,” “Silver Sand Bay Hotel,” “Yanghe Bathhouse,” and “Health Care Bath Center.”

And then there were general stores, hardware stores, small supermarkets, fruit and vegetable stands, butcher shops, and hair salons.

When Jiang Miao had visited back in March, Upper Yangxumu Village was just an ordinary village on the edge of the grassland, its main characteristics being desolate, empty, and lonely.

Returning half a year later, the bustling, marketplace atmosphere was even more palpable here than in the center of Home County.

The entire population of Home County was only 151,100, with sixty to seventy thousand in the county seat and eighty to ninety thousand in the surrounding villages. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Upper Yangxumu Village served as the headquarters for Hailufeng’s Monan Branch and the core of the Tamin Chagan Base. It contained not only the branch’s office building but also an accompanying employee residential area, a training center, an agricultural machinery station, a soybean seed processing plant, a fodder processing plant, fodder storage warehouses, and grain storage warehouses.

To the west of Upper Yangxumu Village, next to the Silver Sand Bay Scenic Area, was the Tamin Chagan Breeding Base, which raised over a hundred thousand cattle and sheep.

The Tamin Chagan Breeding Base also had numerous facilities, including breeding farms, a veterinary station, silage warehouses, an organic fertilizer plant, a slaughterhouse, cold storage warehouses, and a logistics center.

Meanwhile, about 12 kilometers east of Upper Yangxumu Village, amidst the sandy terrain, the Tamin Chagan Bee Farm and its supporting facilities, such as a honey processing plant, were under construction.

The Monan Branch alone now had about 2,700 employees here, and that number was still skyrocketing.

The convoy entered the main gate of the Tamin Chagan Base.

The branch office had already moved from the previous temporary container buildings to the new office district next to the employee residential area.

And Jiang Miao’s convoy was now in that very office district.

The entire office district consisted of 12 nine-story office buildings, all based on a residential building template.

Since they weren’t designed for residential use, the buildings had been put into service in September with very simple interior renovations.

For Jiang Miao’s arrival, branch managers Liu Zhiben and Wu Song hadn’t notified many people. The two of them, along with their assistants, were there to greet him in the parking lot.

“Boss! We’re honored by your visit.”

Jiang Miao nodded. “Thank you for your hard work. Let’s go inside and discuss the schedule for tomorrow.”

Liu Zhiben led the way. “This way, Boss.”

They arrived at one of the new office buildings.

The building wasn’t very large, with a footprint of just five hundred square meters, but ten such buildings combined were more than enough. Plus, the large number of container buildings from before had not been dismantled, providing ample accommodation for the more than two thousand people on the base.

Taking an external elevator attached to the outside of the building, the group ascended to the top floor.

The fresh air system in the chairman’s office had been turned on in advance, making the temperature and humidity quite comfortable.

Jiang Miao didn’t take a seat. Instead, he stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down through the one-way glass at the employee residential area and the office district. “Zhiben, the temperature is going to drop sharply starting next month. Is the heating for the residential area all set?”

“It’s all taken care of. Back in July, we custom-ordered several heating systems from a company specializing in molten salt thermal energy storage. The installation and commissioning will be fully completed by the end of the month.”

Jiang Miao had read about this in a brief from the Monan Branch.

Molten salt thermal storage heating systems were not yet widely used in the North. Compared to traditional coal-fired hot water systems, their advantage was the ability to use off-peak electricity, thereby reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Liu Zhiben elaborated on the electricity arrangements. “Regarding power, we’ve signed a dedicated-line cooperation agreement with the Zhelimu City branch of Jingneng International. Their wind farm provides us with a dedicated power supply. We use their off-peak wind power, and the contracted price is 0.145 yuan per kilowatt-hour.”

For both Jingneng International and the Hailufeng Monan Branch, it was a win-win partnership.

Wind farms all over the world currently face a common problem: the instability of wind power places enormous pressure on the electrical grid. The State Grid has extremely high requirements for connecting wind power, and even when a farm is connected, it doesn’t mean all of its generated power can be effectively fed into the grid.