Chapter 419

St. Petersburg, Randall Quilt Factory. The workers in the workshop are busy, and now they are rushing to make a batch of military uniforms. Winter is coming soon, and cotton-padded clothes are a must.

If you look closely, you will find that there is a problem with this batch of cotton coats. The fluffy thing is obviously not cotton, and the rags mixed in it are still clearly visible.

Nicolas Cage is the owner of Randall's clothing factory, and he has had a headache for several days after seeing the report of the shortage of raw materials.

At first, the products of Randall's quilt factory were made of cotton, and the main market was still the private sector. Although it was the worst cotton, it was also a real cotton-padded coat.

However, with the outbreak of the war, the situation changed. After the sea route was cut off, the supply of raw materials became their biggest problem.

After the military order, the situation became more serious. To make up for the lack of raw materials, Randall's clothing factory used substitutes.

For example: shredding waste clothes, purchasing some waste cotton-padded clothes and remaking them, gauze thrown away by the hospital...

However, this is still a drop in the bucket. But it's not Nicolas Cage's style.

"Yadir, let's go and increase the straw content, we must complete the order with the current raw materials."

Yadir said with trepidation: "Mr. Cage, we have already added a lot of straws. If we continue to increase, I am afraid there will be problems!"

There is nothing strange about adding straw to a cotton-padded coat, but now this addition is not a cotton-padded coat, but a straw suit.

Except for the outer layer of cloth, the inside is all broken straw, and it is almost certain to be found.

There is no reason that Yadir is not worried. This is a military uniform. The winter in Russia is so cold, and it will cause a big disaster.

Nicholas Cage said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, the battlefield is in Poland. It's a warm winter over there, and the soldiers' bodies are strong and can't freeze!"

Although he was a little nervous in his heart, as long as he thought about his backstage, he felt relieved. If he produces unqualified military uniforms, when did the military uniforms he produced pass the standard?

Fading, shrinking, and perishability are all normal, and Nicolas Cage is used to it. Anyway, it can be delivered, and it doesn't matter if it is defective or not.

Playing a bit too much this time, after a pause, Nicolas Cage added: "Thicken it up!"

No problem, straw can also keep you warm, anyway, gray animals are worthless, make do with it!

...

It's not just Nicholas Cage who made the same decision, many suppliers have opted for shoddy ones.

Qualified products, stop dreaming, do you still want to make money?

The cost of industrial production in Russia is already high, and the bureaucrats eat so hard. How can they make money without reducing production costs?

...

Changes in suppliers are directly reflected on the battlefield. The earliest victims were the Russian troops in the Baltic Sea region, most of which were supplied by the St. Petersburg Industrial Zone.

Colonel Gerard Reed is the quartermaster of the Eighth Division of the Russian Baltic Regiment.

However, Colonel Gerard was now afraid. Prior to this, Austria supplied more than seven layers of materials, and the quality of these products may also have problems, but it does not affect the use.

Now the situation has changed. In the last month, the Chinese production of materials received has increased sharply, which has exceeded half of the entire logistics supply system.

It can be said that as long as it can be purchased in China, the bureaucrats of the tsarist government are giving priority to domestic production, which makes the officers of the logistics department a headache.

If only 20 to 30 percent of the materials are substandard, they can still think of ways. For example: report the battle damage directly, or make do with a mix and match, anyway, the Russian army also eats empty wages.

After taking the benefit fee, they settled the matter, and now all the junk products can be seen at a glance, what can I do?

Post it? The soldiers on the front line are making trouble, who can hold it back? Except for things, these quartermasters need to take responsibility.

The Russian army also has rules, prohibiting the acceptance of substandard products. However, if you don't accept it, you can't do it. Blocking it back at this time will not make the big man behind you look ugly?

Gerald ordered: "Check carefully to see how many can be used here, and give me the statistics!"

Now he is just looking forward to the fact that the bureaucrats in the rear have a bit of integrity, and there will always be something that can be used.

Time passed by, and the results of the test made Jerry Shangde shocking. Not to mention the cotton-padded clothes and quilts with straw, they can keep warm anyway.

Weapons and ammunition are not up to standard, these things are easy to handle, and they are lost in direct battles. Anyway, there is no standard for the consumption of these things on the battlefield.

The most troublesome thing is the food. The cans supplied to the lower-level officers are all moldy. Colonel Gerald Reed opened one and found that there were small animals in motion.

Not to mention the food of ordinary soldiers, potatoes, corn that has changed color, black bread that can be used to repair fortresses...

Only unexpected, not impossible. The only thing that pleased Gerard was that three months of supplies had been delivered at once.

Except for non-conforming products, it is qualified products. The number of supplies calculated now is distributed according to the full staff. After a long battle, the actual number of the Eighth Division is less than the seventh floor of the full staff.

If more people die on the battlefield, or if you grab some supplies from the enemy, and report more battle losses, this winter will barely pass.

...

For the Russians, the only thing that can knock them down is

have themselves. Even if it is beleaguered on all sides, the tsarist government has enough strength to deal with it.

It is a pity that Alexander II ignored the terribleness of the wrong political signal. The colder Russian-Austrian relationship led to an increase in tariffs. On the one hand, the bureaucrats wanted to flatter, and on the other hand, it was for profit.

Although there are rebates available in the Russian-Austrian trade, the rebates given by the Russian capitalists cannot be held up!

For the same commodity, Austrian capitalists will give a maximum of 20 to 30 percent of the rebate. In exchange for local Russian capitalists, this figure can be reversed, and the bureaucrats will get the largest share.

As for the added cost, it is enough to cut the production cost. As long as you are willing to sacrifice product quality, are you afraid that you will not be able to control costs?

Alexander II never dreamed that the reformist officials he promoted would be corrupted in such a short period of time.

In the previous purchase of Austrian goods, on the one hand, it was because the bureaucrats still had a bit of integrity and knew the importance of logistical materials to the war. However, people would not be satisfied, and if they received more rebates, they naturally became more greedy.

On the other hand, because of the lack of domestic production capacity in Russia, even if the bureaucrats do not care about the life and death of the soldiers on the front line, the quantity cannot be less, and they can only be purchased.

With the passage of time, the production capacity of Russian capitalists has also increased, and the current political changes have allowed bureaucrats and capitalists to see opportunities.

Before that, there were still several disciplined officials who did not dare to act recklessly. Now misinterpreting Alexander II's political signal, these officials chose to remain silent.

The consequences are naturally not as simple as the bureaucrats think. Layers of deduction have become the practice of the Russian army, and those who can remain rational in the face of interests will always be a minority.

When the upper ranks are rotten, how can one expect the officials at the lower ranks to be honest and upright?

This time Franz didn't sit quietly as a spectator, but gave a push. To the bureaucrats of the tsarist government, it provided a space for full play.

In his view, the Prussians sent a caravan, which can give the greatest damage to the present Russian army. Waving the banknotes directly, he said to the quartermaster: buy, buy, buy. It is far more rewarding than fighting to the death on the battlefield.

As long as there is money, even the enemy can be the guest of honor for the Russians, and there is no enemy in the face of interests.

Franz admitted that the Russian military logistics system was corrupt, and the Austrian capitalists also played a great role. In order to get more orders, everyone is also showing their magic.

But this is only an incentive, and in essence the tsarist bureaucracy has long since decayed. In the absence of effective oversight, the Russian bureaucracy has been enjoying life.

At the beginning, the Vienna government also sent people to supervise export commodities, worried that the brand would be smashed and the big market would be lost.

No need now, and Franz chose to ignore it in retaliation for the Russians to increase tariffs.

Indifference is not only about relaxing the supervision of domestic goods, but also allowing counterfeit and shoddy products to appear in the Russian military system.

To put it simply, it is the inferior goods produced in Russia, and a trademark is attached to act as an Austrian military product.

Prior to this, the Vienna government had cracked down severely, and had dispatched special personnel to supervise it. Once found, it would be dealt with by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When it comes to the diplomatic level, the bureaucrats of the tsarist government did not dare to mess around. After dealing with a few scapegoats, the rest of the people did not dare to mess around.

By convention, Austrian-produced goods do not need inspection at all, and the defective rate is within a controllable range; while for locally-produced military supplies, it is necessary to select qualified products mixed in defective products.

There is no doubt that Austrian exports of munitions are more expensive. Now that there are no constraints, capitalists naturally don't mind impersonating.

As long as some qualified samples are provided, along with a thick red envelope, and hand them over to the officials in charge of the procuratorial, all problems will be solved.

This is definitely not an Austrian pit teammate, it is completely the death of the Russian bureaucracy. Franz had already sent someone to collect the evidence and waited for it to be revealed after the incident.