Chapter 416: Chapter 103: Courting Death by Meeting Pitfall Teammates
 

St. Petersburg, Randall Textile Factory. Inside the workshop, the workers are busy assembling a batch of military uniforms. Winter is quickly approaching, and cotton jackets are a necessity.

If one were to look closely, they would notice there are problems with these cotton jackets. The fluffy material is obviously not cotton, and bits of torn fabric are clearly visible.

Nicholas-Cage is the owner of the Randall Textile Factory, and he has been troubled for days by reports of a critical shortage of raw materials.

Originally, products from the Randall Textile Factory were made of cotton and primarily intended for the civilian market. Even though it was the lowest quality cotton, those were genuine cotton jackets.

However, as war broke out, the situation changed. The sea routes were cut off and the supply of raw materials became their biggest problem.

After receiving military orders, this situation became even more serious. To make up for the shortage of raw materials, the Randall Textile Factory began using substitutes.

For example: shredding old clothes, buying used cotton garments to recycle, discarded gauze from hospitals…

Nevertheless, these measures were still a drop in the bucket. But passing up the chance to make money was not in Nicholas-Cage’s style.

“Adil, notify everyone to increase the straw content. We must fulfill the order with the materials we currently have,” he said.

Adil responded fearfully, “Mr. Cage, we have already added a lot of straw. If we continue to increase it, I’m afraid there will be problems!”

Adding straw to cotton jackets is nothing unusual. But the current amount of straw being added makes it no longer a cotton jacket—it’s more like a straw suit.

With only a layer of fabric on the outside and all chopped straw inside, it was almost certain to be discovered.

Adil couldn’t help but worry. This was military gear after all, and Russian winters are so cold; it could lead to serious trouble.

Nicholas-Cage spoke nonchalantly, “Don’t worry, the battlefield is in the Polish Region. They have mild winters there, and the soldiers are strong; they won’t freeze!”

Although he felt somewhat uneasy, thinking of his powerful backers reassured him. Producing substandard military uniforms was nothing new to him—when had his uniforms ever met the standards?

Fading, shrinking, falling apart—all were normal occurrences for Nicholas-Cage, who had grown accustomed to them. It didn’t really matter whether the products were substandard as long as they could be delivered.

This time, perhaps going a bit too far, Nicholas-Cage added after a pause, “Make them thicker!”

No problem. Straw can also provide warmth. After all, the grey beasts are cheap, so just make do!

…

Nicholas-Cage wasn’t the only one to make such a decision. Many suppliers chose to pass off inferior goods as quality products.

Quality goods? Don’t dream about it. Everyone still needs to make a profit.

With the already high industrial production costs in Russia and the voracious appetite of the bureaucrats, how could they make a profit without cutting production costs?

…

The changes made by suppliers directly impacted the battlefield. The first victims were the Russian troops in the Baltic region, most of whom were supplied by the St. Petersburg Industrial Zone.

Colonel Gerald was the quartermaster of the Russian Baltic Legion Eighth Division, a lucrative post. Taking advantage of his position, he too had made a tidy sum of money.

But now, Colonel Gerald was frightened. Before, the materials supplied by Austria accounted for more than seven layers, and though the quality of these products might have been questionable, they didn’t affect usability.

Now, the situation had changed; the recent increase in domestically produced goods within the logistics supply had surged to more than half.

It can be said that as long as it was available domestically, the Tsarist bureaucrats prioritized domestic products, causing a headache for the logistics officers.

If only twenty or thirty percent of the supplies were substandard, they might have found a way to deal with it, such as reporting them as combat losses or mixing and matching to make do, as the Russian Army also had soldiers who were paid but didn’t exist.

Having accepted bribes, they used to be able to smooth things over, but now with the sight of nothing but substandard products, what were they to do?

Distribute them? If the frontline soldiers made a fuss, who would be able to contain it? If a problem arose, it was the quartermasters who would have to take responsibility.

The Russian Army had its regulations, forbidding the acceptance of substandard products. But not accepting them wasn’t an option—sending them back at this point would make the higher-ups look bad, wouldn’t it?

Colonel Gerald ordered, “Check everything carefully, see how much of it can be used, and give me a count!”

Now, all he could do was hope that the bureaucrats at the rear had some integrity, and that at least some of the supplies would be usable.

As time ticked away, the results of the inspection were shocking for Colonel Gerald—cotton jackets and blankets stuffed with straw weren’t to be mentioned, at least they could keep one warm.

Weapons and ammunition were substandard, but those were easy to handle. They could just be written off as combat losses, as there were no standards for the consumption of such things on the battlefield.

The biggest headache was food. The canned goods supplied to lower-ranking officers were all moldy. Colonel Gerald opened one and found to his dismay that there were small creatures moving inside.

Not to mention the food for the ordinary soldiers: Potatoes gone bad, corn that had changed color, and black bread that could be used to repair fortresses…

One could only achieve it if they could imagine it. The only thing that consoled Gerald was that they had received three months’ worth of supplies at once.

Besides the subpar goods, there were also those that met the standards. The supply numbers now being calculated were based on full troop strength. However, after prolonged fighting, the actual number of men in the Eighth Division was less than seven-tenths of its full strength.

If more men died on the battlefield, or if they managed to capture supplies from the enemy and exaggerated their combat losses, they could just barely scrape by this winter.

…

For the Russians, the only ones who could bring them down were themselves. Even if they were surrounded by enemies on all sides, the Tsarist Government had enough strength to cope.

Unfortunately, Alexander II failed to recognize the terrible nature of misinterpreting political signals. The chilling of Russian-Austrian relations led to increased tariffs—and bureaucrats were kissing up on one hand and seeking benefits on the other.

Despite there being kickbacks available in Russian-Austrian trade, Russian capitalists offered much higher kickbacks! For the same product, Austrian capitalists could at most offer kickbacks of two to thirty percent, whereas Russian domestic capitalists could reverse the percentage, with bureaucrats pocketing the largest share.

As for the increased costs, just cut production costs. If willing to sacrifice product quality, is there fear of not being able to control costs?

Alexander II could never have dreamed that the Reformist officials he had promoted would become corrupt in such a short period of time.

Purchasing Austrian goods in the past was partly because the bureaucrats still had some integrity and understood the importance of logistics to warfare. But people are never satisfied. The more kickbacks they received, the greedier they became.

Another reason was that Russia’s domestic production capacity was insufficient. Even if the bureaucrats did not care about the lives of frontline soldiers, they could not afford to have insufficient quantities and had to procure from abroad.

Over time, the production capacity of Russian capitalists also increased, and the current political change gave bureaucrats and capitalists an opportunity.

Before, there were still some officials with integrity holding them back, and they did not dare to act recklessly. Now, by misinterpreting Alexander II’s political signals, these officials chose to remain silent.

The consequences were not as simple as the bureaucrats had imagined. Skimming off the top had become a standard practice in the Russian Army, and only a few could remain rational in the face of interests.

If the top ranks were rotten, how could one expect the lower-level officials to be upright and honest?

This time, Franz did not just silently watch; he gave a push. He provided the Tsarist Government bureaucrats with a space to fully exert themselves.

In his view, a trade mission sent by the Prussians could deal the greatest blow to the current Russian Army. Simply waving cash at the quartermasters and saying “buy, buy, buy” would yield far greater benefits than a hard-fought battle.

As long as there was money, even enemies could become honored guests of the Russians; there were no enemies before the interests.

Franz acknowledges that the Russian Army’s logistics system is corrupt, and Austrian capitalists have also played a significant role. To obtain more orders, everyone showed off their skills.

However, this was just the inducing factor; fundamentally, the Tsarist bureaucratic system had long been rotten. Due to the lack of effective supervision, life had always been comfortable for the Russian bureaucrats.

Initially, the Vienna Government would send personnel to oversee the exported goods, worried about damaging their reputation and losing this large market.

Now it was not necessary. To retaliate against the Russians for increasing tariffs, Franz chose to turn a blind eye.

Turning a blind eye wasn’t just about relaxing the monitoring of domestic products; it included permitting counterfeit goods in the Russian military supply system.

Simply put, substandard goods produced in Russia were labeled as Austrian military products.

Previously, the Vienna Government had strictly cracked down on this practice and even sent specialists to oversee it. Once discovered, it was dealt with through the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

When it involved diplomatic levels, Tsarist bureaucrats did not dare to mess around. After dealing with a few scapegoats, the rest didn’t dare to commit further misdeeds.

Traditionally, Austrian-made goods did not need inspection since their defect rate was within a controllable range; however, domestic military supplies required picking out the good from the defective ones.

Without question, Austrian military supplies were priced higher. Now, without constraints, capitalists naturally didn’t mind the deception.

As long as they provided a portion of quality samples along with a thick envelope of cash to the officials responsible for inspections, every problem was solved.

This was definitely not Austria betraying an ally but the Tsarist bureaucrats digging their own grave. Franz had already gathered evidence, waiting for the situation to unravel and reveal it all.