Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 161 Military Uniform Factory

ps: Thanks to my old classmate Bishanyao for the reward and support.

After the operation of transporting Cuban Chinese workers was completed, the number of Chinese in Pelotas and Passo Fundo exceeded 30,000, and the two places were officially upgraded to county-level units.

Pelotas is an agricultural production area mainly based on animal husbandry and agricultural product planting, so it was named Hetao County.
Passo Fundo is a concentrated area of ​​various types of factories and was named Xing'an County, which means prosperity and peace.

With the establishment of two new counties, the number of county-level administrative units in Rio Grande do Sul has reached six. Among the six county-level administrative units, Xinjing is located in the central coastal area and is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. It takes care of the security of other regions. The remaining five counties are scattered in the central, northern and southern regions of Rio Grande do Sul, serving as the core force of their respective places to control the surrounding lands.

After the formation of the structure of five counties and one capital, the Chinese have achieved overall control over the domestic areas. In the absence of foreign enemies and unexpected wars, the Chinese rule in Rio Grande do Sul will become increasingly stable.

The uniforms of the Wehrmacht were based on the black uniforms of the SS, and after some modifications were made to suit the body shape of Chinese officers and soldiers, they became the standard uniforms of the Chinese Independence Army. Before the official establishment of the country, there was a shortage of cloth and mechanical equipment, and most soldiers could not get black uniforms. In this situation, many soldiers cut their old clothes into military uniforms, and then dyed them with black ink to make black uniforms.

Neat and uniform military uniforms are crucial to the morale of the troops. After a large amount of supplies and machinery and equipment purchased from Europe arrived in Rio Grande do Sul, Li Mingyuan allocated half of the clothing machinery and equipment to establish a military uniform factory affiliated with the army, focusing on the production of a complete set of military uniforms, military caps and other military equipment.

On February 10, the day before the military uniform factory officially started operations, Li Mingyuan was invited by the factory director Ma Hai to inspect the factory's preparations.

"The military uniform factory covers an area of ​​25 acres and is divided into four main workshops: textile production, cloth coloring, cloth cutting, and ready-made clothing."

Ma Hai welcomed Li Mingyuan into the military uniform factory and said as they walked, "A week ago, the Logistics Department issued a batch of orders for the military uniform factory to trial-produce 3,500 sets of naval uniforms to equip the naval forces that are about to be formed. After receiving the order, I worked overtime with 500 brothers in the factory and completed the production of the last batch of 500 sets of military uniforms by noon yesterday. Now those uniforms should be worn by the navy brothers."

"The Navy's inauguration ceremony will be held this afternoon. It's a bit urgent to produce 3,500 sets of uniforms in a week. Brother Ma and the brothers in the uniform factory have worked hard."

Li Mingyuan encouraged, glancing around the workshop.

"Military uniform production is our job. If we fail to complete the production of naval uniforms on time and delay the prince's attendance at the navy's founding ceremony, then that will be the responsibility of the military uniform factory." Ma Hai did not dare to take credit for it and said modestly.

"The military uniform factory is responsible for producing uniforms for the Army's field troops, the garrison troops, and the militia. Old Ma, you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. Do your job well and don't let any major mistakes occur in the factory's production."

"Don't worry, my lord. Old Ma checks the production status of military uniforms every day. There will be no production accidents." After Ma Hai made his statement, he felt that his verbal assurance was not convincing, and continued, "My lord, the technical staff of the military uniform factory have just designed several sets of military uniform samples based on your suggestions. Would you like to take a look?"

"The military uniform factory is quite efficient. Let's go and take a look."...

In the warehouse in the backyard of the military uniform factory, more than 20 sets of brand new military uniforms were hung on hooks on the wall.

Ma Hai took a dark black windbreaker-style military uniform from the hanging purchase and introduced it, "Prince, this uniform is made of leather and woolen cloth. The shoulder straps on both sides of the top are decorated with golden tassels. It is matched with a black wide-brimmed hat and leather boots. It is a standard uniform for senior officers above the rank of major general."

"Not bad, it's pretty much the same as the military uniform I imagined." Li Mingyuan nodded with satisfaction and said to Wang Dashan beside him, "Dashan, try this uniform to see if it fits."

Wang Dashan took off his clothes, put on his black military uniform neatly, put on a wide-brimmed hat, and fastened the belt around his waist. The image of a heroic young officer appeared in everyone's eyes.

Li Mingyuan glanced at it appreciatively and said with a smile: "How do you feel wearing this military uniform?"

Wang Dashan felt a little uncomfortable as he was surrounded by dozens of curious people. He adjusted his collar with his right hand and said, "The military uniform fits me well, but I'm not used to wearing a wide-brimmed hat."

Wang Dashan is a Hakka from Guangxi. Hakka people are used to tying a tight scarf on their heads. It is normal that they feel uncomfortable wearing a wide and high-brimmed military cap at first. "The wide-brimmed cap is just right for this military uniform. You will get used to it after wearing it a few times."

Li Mingyuan was in a good mood and praised Wang Dashan a few words. Then, under Ma Hai's introduction, he looked at several other sets of military uniforms.

According to the military branch, the military uniforms in the military uniform factory are mainly divided into three types: army field force uniforms, navy uniforms, reserve guard force uniforms, and militia uniforms.

The uniforms of soldiers in the Army's field forces are light black and are equipped with narrow-brimmed field caps.

The uniform style of the navy forces is not much different from that of the army, except that the color is changed from black to white, and the peaked cap is replaced by a sailor cap.

Since the garrison and militia are reserve forces, their uniforms are different from those of the field army. They are equipped with light gray uniforms, and ordinary soldiers do not wear formal dresses when participating in major ceremonies.

Li Mingyuan was very satisfied with several sets of military uniform samples, but he was a little disappointed when he saw the matching military shoes.

Military shoes, military caps and other soldier clothing are supplied by the military uniform factory. According to the standards set by the Logistics Department, each soldier is allocated two sets of combat uniforms, one set of dress uniforms, and two pairs of cloth shoes.

Military uniforms and caps are durable and not easily damaged during combat and training, but cloth shoes are damaged very frequently.

The climate conditions in the Rio Grande do Sul Mountains are similar to those in the southern part of the mainland. When soldiers are marching, fighting, and training, the cloth shoes they wear out after just a few days.

The cloth shoes issued by the Logistics Department were replaced every six months. In order to wear the cloth shoes longer, the soldiers often made two pairs of straw sandals and used them instead of cloth shoes when marching.

Soldiers' marching training is labor-intensive and wearing straw sandals can easily cause blisters on their feet, which in turn affects their combat effectiveness.

Li Mingyuan showed dissatisfaction when he looked at the cloth shoes. Ma Hai saw the clue and explained quickly: "Before the establishment of the military uniform factory, the military shoes in the army were sewn by hand, which were more wear-resistant during marching. The cloth shoes made by machines are not as strong as those made by hand. The cloth shoes of soldiers wear out faster during marching. In the past, two pairs of shoes could be used for half a year, but now the service life is shortened to about four months. We have just received feedback from the logistics department on this issue. The factory plans to increase the production of cloth shoes and allocate three pairs of cloth shoes to each soldier."

The use of machinery cannot solve all problems. What Ma Hai said is not without reason.

Frequent changing of cloth shoes not only wastes resources, but also has an adverse effect on long-distance combat of the troops. After listening to Ma Hai's words, Li Mingyuan was silent for a while and thought of a way to improve it.

"Old Ma, I have an idea. Come and see if it is feasible."

"Please speak, my lord."

"There are currently more than 400,000 wild rubber trees discovered in various places, and more will be discovered in the future.

The rubber produced by rubber trees can be made into rubber shoes, which are waterproof, wear-resistant and not easy to damage. I plan to build a rubber factory. On the one hand, I will use rubber raw materials to make rubber shoes for export to tropical areas such as Southeast Asia where the weather is hot and there are many poisonous insects. On the other hand, I will use rubber to make soles, and then use cloth to make uppers to make cloth shoes for the soles of the feet. In this way, the shoes made are wear-resistant and the uppers are breathable, so bacterial diseases will not be caused by stuffy feet. "

Rubber-soled cloth shoes are suitable for military marching, but they have not yet been widely used in other countries. Li Mingyuan's words inspired Ma Hai. He found several Prussian technicians in the military uniform factory and after a discussion, they were sure that the cloth shoes that Li Mingyuan mentioned could be produced under the existing technology. So the military uniform factory changed the military shoe production plan and prepared to produce a batch of rubber-soled cloth shoes first, and then promote them to the National Defense Army after successful trial.

(End of this chapter)