Chapter 674

St. Peter Castle, Randall Quilt Factory. The workers in the workshop were busy. They were rushing to make a batch of military uniforms. Winter was coming and cotton clothing was a necessity.

If one looked closely, they would find that there was something wrong with this batch of cotton clothing. The fluffy thing was obviously not cotton, and the torn pieces of cloth were still clearly visible.

Nicholas Cage was the owner of Randall Quilt Factory. He had been having a headache for a few days when he saw the report of the raw material shortage.

At first, Randall Quilt Factory's products were all cotton. The main market was the people. Although it was the worst cotton, it was still real cotton clothing.

But 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 receiving the military order, the situation became even more serious. In order to make up for the lack of raw materials, Randall Quilt Factory used substitutes.

For example, they shredded old clothes, bought some old cotton clothing to be remade, and used the gauze thrown away by the hospital …

However, this was still a drop in the bucket. But it wasn't Nicolas Cage's style to turn down a profit.

"Yadier, tell the people to increase the amount of straw. We must complete the order with the current raw materials."

Yadier said in fear, "Mr. Cage, we have already added a lot of straw. If we continue to add more, I'm afraid there will be problems!"

There was nothing strange about adding straw to a cotton-padded coat. However, this method of addition was no longer a cotton-padded coat, but a straw bag.

Other than the outer layer of cloth, the inside was all broken straw. It was almost inevitable that they would be discovered.

Yadier couldn't help but worry. This was a military uniform. Russia's winter was so cold. It would cause a big disaster.

Nicholas Cage said nonchalantly, "Don't worry. The battlefield is in Poland. It's warm there. The soldiers are strong and won't freeze! "

Although he was a little nervous, he was relieved when he thought about his backer. Producing substandard military uniforms. When had the military uniforms he produced ever passed the standard?

Fading, shrinking, and fragile were all normal situations. Nicholas Cage was used to it. Since he could deliver the goods, it didn't matter if it was substandard or not.

This time, he went a little overboard. After a pause, Nicholas Cage added, "Make it thicker!"

No problem. Straw could also keep warm. Anyway, gray livestock was not worth much. Just make do with it!

…

Nicholas Cage wasn't the only one who made the same decision. Many suppliers chose to use shoddy goods.

Don't even dream about it. Everyone still wanted to make money.

Russia's industrial production costs are already high, and the bureaucrats eat so much. If they don't lower production costs, how can they make a profit?

…

The change of suppliers was directly reflected on the battlefield. The earliest victims were the Russian troops in the Baltic Sea region, whose supplies were mostly supplied by the St. Petersburg industrial zone.

Colonel Gerald Reed was quartermaster of the Eighth Russian Naval Regiment. It was a lucrative position, and he made a lot of money by virtue of his position.

But Gerald Reed was now afraid of the Colonel. Prior to this, Austria had supplied more than 70% of the goods. There might be problems with the quality of these products, but it did not affect their use.

Now, the situation had changed. In the past month, the number of domestically produced goods received had skyrocketed, more than half of the entire logistics supply system.

It could be said that as long as it was available in China, the bureaucrats of the Tsarist government would prioritize domestic products, which gave the officers in the logistics department a headache.

If it was only 20% or 30% of the materials were substandard, they could think of a solution. For example, they could report the losses, or they could make do with it. Anyway, the Russian Army didn't get paid for nothing.

After getting paid, they could settle the matter. Now, all they could see were junk products. What should they do?

Distribute them? If the soldiers at the front line made trouble, who could handle it? If something went wrong, the quartermaster would have to take responsibility.

The Russian Army also had rules that forbade them from receiving substandard products. However, they couldn't not accept it. If they rejected it now, wouldn't it make the big shots look bad?

Gerald Reed ordered, "Check carefully and see how many of them are useful. Count them for me!"

Now he just hoped that the officials in the rear would have some integrity. There must be some useful ones.

Time passed, and the results of the test shocked Jared. Not to mention the cotton-padded clothes and quilts with straw, they could at least keep warm.

If the weapons and ammunition were substandard, these things could be easily dealt with. They could be destroyed in battle. Anyway, there was no standard consumption of these things on the battlefield.

The most troublesome thing was the food. The canned food supplied to the low-level officers was moldy inside. Colonel Gerald Reed opened one and found that there were small animals moving inside.

Not to mention the food for the ordinary soldiers. There were moldy potatoes, corn that had changed color, and black bread that could be used to repair the fortress.

There was nothing that couldn't be done. The only thing that comforted Gerald Reed was that three months of supplies were sent in one go.

Other than the substandard products, there were only qualified products. The current calculation of the number of supplies was based on the full number of soldiers. After a long period of fighting, the actual number of soldiers in the 8th Division was less than 70% of the full number.

If more people died on the battlefield, or if they snatched more supplies from the enemy, and reported more losses, they could barely make it through the winter.

…

For the Russians, the only thing that could defeat them was themselves. Even if they were besieged on all sides, the Tsarist government had enough strength to deal with them.

Unfortunately, Alexander Ii Of Russia ignored the danger of the wrong political signal. The cold relationship between Russia and Austria led to an increase in tariffs. On the one hand, the bureaucrats wanted to suck up, and on the other hand, it was for benefits.

Although there were rebates in Russia's trade with Austria, the rebates given by Russia's capitalists were too high!

For the same goods, Austria's capitalists only gave a rebate of 20% to 30% at most. If it was Russia's capitalists, this figure could be reversed, and the bureaucrats would get the biggest share.

As for the increased cost, they could just reduce the production cost. As long as they were willing to sacrifice product quality, why would they be afraid of not being able to control costs?

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

The first purchase of Austrian goods was because the bureaucrats still had a bit of integrity and knew the importance of logistics for the war. However, people would never be satisfied. The more rebates they received, the more greedy they became.

On the other hand, it was because Russia didn't have enough production capacity. Even if the bureaucrats didn't care about the life and death of the frontline soldiers, they couldn't reduce the quantity and could only purchase.

With the passage of time, Russia's capitalists also increased their production capacity. The current political change allowed the bureaucrats and capitalists to see an opportunity.

Before this, there were still a few officials with integrity to restrict them, so they didn't dare to act recklessly. Now, the mistaken interpretation of Alexander Ii Of Russia's political signal made these officials choose to remain silent.

The consequences naturally weren't as simple as the bureaucrats thought. Embezzlement had become the practice of the Russian Army. In the face of benefits, there would always be a minority who could remain rational.

The top level was already corrupted. How could they expect the lower level officials to be honest?

This time, Franz didn't quietly watch the scene. Instead, he gave it a push. It gave the Tsarist government bureaucrats a space to fully play.

It seemed to him that the Prussians would be able to inflict the greatest casualties on the Russian army by sending a caravan. He directly waved the banknotes and told the quartermaster: Buy, buy, buy. It was far more profitable than fighting to the death on the battlefield.

As long as there was money, even the enemy could become a VIP of Russia. There were no enemies in the face of benefits.

Franz admitted that the Russian Army's logistics system was corrupt. The Austrian capitalists also took credit for it. In order to obtain more orders, everyone also showed their skills.

However, this was only an incentive. The essence was that the Tsar's bureaucracy had long been corrupted. Due to the lack of effective supervision, the life of Russia's bureaucrats had always been comfortable.

In the beginning, the Government of Vienna also sent people to supervise the export of goods. They were worried that the brand would be ruined and they would lose this big market.

Now, it wasn't necessary. In order to retaliate against Russia for increasing tariffs, Franz chose to ignore it.

Ignoring it wasn't just about relaxing the supervision of domestic goods. It was also an example of allowing fake and inferior products to appear in the Russian military system.

Simply put, it was inferior products produced in Russia that were labeled as Austrian military products.

Before this, the Government of Vienna severely cracked down and also sent people to supervise. Once something was found, it would be dealt with by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

When it came to the diplomatic level, the Tsarist government bureaucrats didn't dare to mess around. After dealing with a few scapegoats, the rest of them didn't dare to mess around.

According to the usual practice, the goods produced in Austria didn't need to be inspected at all. The rate of defective products was within a controllable range. However, the domestically produced military supplies needed to be selected from the defective products.

There was no doubt that the military supplies exported by Austria were more expensive. Now that there were no restrictions, the capitalists naturally didn't mind pretending.

As long as they provided a part of the qualified samples, they would be given a thick red envelope and handed it to the official in charge of inspection. All problems would be solved.

This definitely wasn't Austria cheating their teammates. It was completely the Russian bureaucrats seeking death. Franz had already sent people to collect evidence and was waiting for the incident to be exposed.