Meng Hai and Li Long were both men of action. Once they settled on a dredging plan for Little Haizi, Meng Hai immediately sent the loaders, excavators, and workers needed for the job over to the Fourth Team.
The cooperative had communal kang beds ready to use, so there was no need for them to sleep in tents. The workers' wages were clearly agreed on too: ten yuan a day, with separate rates for the excavator and loader operators, since theirs were skilled jobs.
The construction crew had its own cook, so Li Long did not need to provide their meals. Still, he slaughtered a sheep at Old Ma's Place and brought it over, which made the workers very happy.
On the day work began, several dozen people around there heard the news and went to Little Haizi to watch. It was an impressive sight. The excavators and loaders started working from both the west and the southeast at the same time.
First, they dug earth from the waste ground outside the yard and loaded it into dump trucks. The trucks then hauled it onto the embankment and tipped it into Little Haizi.
Originally, Li Long and Meng Hai had planned to use the excavators to dig sludge straight out of Little Haizi and build a temporary cofferdam with it.
But once they tried, they discovered it simply would not work. The sludge they dug out was runny and sticky. Even if they could pile it into a cofferdam, the excavators and trucks would have no firm footing on it.
So they first dug dry earth from outside to lay a road vehicles could travel on, before removing the sludge.
The excavators and loaders made quick progress. Two or three bucketloads of earth were enough to build a road from