Chapter 115: Military Uniforms

Despite all the commotion, the food was exceptionally good. The “chiefs” had no concept of coarse grains. They ate three meals a day, with plenty of brown rice. Each person got a salted fish, and there were also many vegetables. At first, a few of the young men ate until their eyes rolled back at every meal. People in ancient times rarely consumed enough protein and fat, so their demand for carbohydrates was particularly high. It was not uncommon for farmers to eat two pounds of flatbread in one meal during the busy farming season, and these soldiers, who were undergoing high-intensity training every day, were no exception. Ma Qianzhu soon discovered that the monthly ration of 20 kilograms of grain would not last until the end of the month. But there was nothing he could do, unless he could increase the supply of meat and oil—both of which were scarce even for the transmigrators themselves.

The training had to continue. First, it was marching in step, then goose-stepping, and then running. After the footwork training was completely finished, they learned to march in formation to the rhythm of drums and flutes. According to the PLA’s training manual, after completing the training, each soldier would march at a pace of 110-120 steps per minute and run at 180-190 steps per minute. This marching speed was already among the fastest in the world at that time.

The improvement in food and physical exercise began to make these once sallow and emaciated people strong and powerful. In fact, in terms of endurance and load-bearing capacity, they, who had long been engaged in high-intensity labor, were much stronger than the transmigrators. But that was a pathological physical adaptation, not the healthy strength that came from adequate diet and exercise.

The soldiers’ physique improved, and through drill training, their morale also greatly improved. The long-term posture of holding in their stomachs, raising their heads, and puffing out their chests, along with their brisk walking and clear, concise speech, gave them a confident and capable demeanor. The ordinary laborers who had not enlisted now began to envy these soldiers, and the women of the commune often lingered by the training ground.

“If they had good-looking uniforms, they would look even more impressive,” Ma Qianzhu realized that the army had no logistics department, so he, as the chief of the general staff, had become the logistics minister in addition to being in charge of army training.

The call for military uniform designs immediately set off a wave of excitement among all the transmigrators. In this dull and boring environment, this was something of an entertaining event. Soon, Ma Qianzhu had collected more than a hundred various design drawings, from the Chinese-style Type 65 uniform to Frederick’s grenadiers with their bishop’s hats, Napoleon’s bearskin-hatted Old Guard, the British “lobsters,” the Budenovka-hatted Soviet Red Army, and finally the German Wehrmacht… everyone’s peculiar tastes in military uniforms were gathered.

After summarizing them, Ma Qianzhu sadly discovered that the crowd had little creativity; they were all replicas of the uniforms of various famous armies in history. They could be categorized into three main schools: one was the traditional Chinese school, represented by the Type 65 uniform, with some from the Type 55 and Type 87 schools mixed in; the second was the “line-infantry-tactic” school, based on 19th-century European military uniforms, emphasizing gorgeousness and splendor; the third was the World War II school, basically copying the uniforms of the German, Soviet, and American armies, with some eclectic combinations that resulted in bizarre hybrids. In addition, there were some niche hobbies, such as the small round hat of the National Revolutionary Army, and even fans of the Showa-era uniform of the old Japanese army.

“Heavens, did a ‘fei-ou’ sneak in?” Ma Qianzhu took a sharp breath.

Since this matter had attracted the enthusiastic attention of the vast number of transmigrators, Ma Qianzhu naturally could not make an arbitrary decision. A great advantage of democracy is that no one has to take responsibility. So he convened a so-called hearing, composed of the Military Committee, the Industrial Department, the Planning Committee, and 10 representatives of the masses, to review all the proposals.

To avoid the influence of personal aesthetic taste on the selection, Ma Qianzhu stipulated two basic principles: the production of military uniforms could not exceed the current productivity of the transmigrators, and the uniforms must be adapted to the local environment.

As a result, attire such as bearskin hats and long boots were immediately eliminated, and the number of candidate uniforms was immediately halved. Then there was the issue of productivity. The industrial department pointed out that according to their investigation, Lingao’s traditional dyeing and weaving industry could only dye three colors: gray, blue, and black. Lingao also did not produce wool. The “line-infantry-tactic” party was immediately wiped out. Colorful and ornately decorated uniforms were clearly impractical.

The remaining candidates were actually modern military uniforms. The Type 65 uniform was finally chosen due to its simple production and fabric-saving qualities. To appease the opinions of the many who were not selected, the new uniform also underwent some formal changes to cater to the public.

The new uniform was called the “Year One” pattern, also known as the “Type 28.” Like the Type 65 uniform, it was basically based on the Zhongshan suit, using cotton fabric. The distinction of four pockets for officers and two for soldiers was also inherited. The hat was changed to an octagonal cap, which was slightly larger than the small octagonal cap of the Red Army and closer to the American style, looking more fashionable.

The collar tabs and cap badges were temporarily left blank. Considering that the future military system would inevitably have ranks, the Year One uniform was pre-made with shoulder loops, and a space for an armband was left on the left arm. Both officers and soldiers would use cloth puttees imitating those of the German infantry in World War II. There was no need to wrap them around like a rice dumpling; they could be directly put on and tightened, making them easy to put on and take off. There were two types of military shoes: straw sandals for training, and black cloth shoes for going out and inspections.

For ease of mass production, the uniforms were not distinguished by army or navy styles, but only by color: the army wore gray, and the navy wore blue. Of course, this blue was not navy blue or sky blue, but a blackish indigo. Fortunately, the navy’s requirements were not high at the moment; it was enough to be distinguished from the army.

Considering Hainan’s hot weather, a summer uniform was specially designed. It was actually a short-sleeved military uniform made of linen. Someone suggested that knee-length shorts could be issued with the summer uniform, but the ugly and猥琐 appearance of the British colonial army immediately led to its rejection.

In addition to the military uniform, standard military shorts, undershirts, and military blankets were also designed. The blankets were not made of wool, but were just two layers of cotton cloth with a little cotton batting in between, stitched with a grid pattern. This was sufficient in Hainan, where the temperature rarely drops below 20 degrees Celsius year-round.

The transmigrators had plenty of cotton cloth in stock, but there were only five sewing machines, and even more tragically, only three ladies who knew how to use them. It was obviously unrealistic for them to make 1200 sets of uniforms. Ma Qianzhu, after consideration, decided to adopt a method of outsourcing the work to the women of the commune. Almost all of them knew how to cut clothes—the clothes of ordinary people in ancient times were rarely made by tailors; they were all made by women themselves, so this manual labor was not difficult. As for not knowing how to cut modern styles, that was not a problem either. The logistics department had already made a large number of paper patterns, which were distributed with the materials. They just had to follow the pattern. Before distributing the materials, the Planning Committee had someone trial-produce a complete set of clothes of all sizes and styles. This was to see the effect of the clothes when worn, and also to calculate the approximate consumption of fabric and cotton thread for each piece of clothing and each pair of shoes, to avoid distributing too much or too little.

Wu De quickly assigned all the work and set the acceptance standards. Those who failed would be fined by having to compensate for the fabric. In addition to earning work points, the leftover scraps of cloth from this outsourcing also belonged to the processing households. This measure made the enthusiasm of the commune women soar to an unprecedented height. Even those who already had regular jobs worked late into the night after getting off work. Wu De planned to take this opportunity to discover some dexterous women, specially invite people to train them in clothing production, and then open a clothing factory in the commune, taking the opportunity to take over the sewing and cutting equipment. This was a big business—besides the army, there were also future schools, various agencies, and once a large number of immigrants poured in, the demand for clothing would be even greater.

The equipment was relatively simple. The only leather craftsman in the county, upon hearing that the “Short Hairs” were looking for a leather craftsman to do a large batch of work, immediately defected with his wife, children, and all his production tools. The first task given to him left him speechless: 1200 leather belts. This generosity and boldness completely won over the leather craftsman, who developed the simple idea that “following the Short Hair masters will always mean having food to eat.”

The combat belt was made of cowhide, imitating the German Y-strap. After observing Wei Aiwen’s replica Y-strap, the leather craftsman thought it was very easy to make. With his whole family working, they could make 10 a day without any problem. The metal buckles on the Y-strap were directly stamped from wrought iron by the mechanical group; they didn’t even bother to use steel. However, Wei Aiwen still used a pack of cigarettes to get some private work done—a small part was made of brass.

Lin Fu stood anxiously in front of the office door. This rugby star from Yanchang Village had also enlisted this time. Although Xi Yazhou had not assigned any quotas to the village committee, only asking them to send a few people for demonstration, the village committee, after discussion, decided to let these few demonstration militiamen enlist to express Yanchang Village’s determination to follow the “chiefs” in making revolution—this term was learned from Du Wen. As for what revolution was, none of them knew—Yanchang Village had no scholars, otherwise they would have been scared to death by this word.

Lin Fu was not tall, about 165cm, but he was considered quite good among the people of that time. Long-term rugby training had also made him burly and strong. He naturally became a guide soldier. At this moment, he was fully dressed and equipped according to the future model of the New Army, ready to be reviewed by all the personnel of the Planning Committee and the Military Committee.

“Lin Fu, come in,” the voice of Chief of Staff Ma came from inside the door. Lin Fu didn’t know what a chief of staff was, but he understood that he was the biggest on the training ground. He quickly pushed the door open and walked in, and couldn’t help but be startled.

Inside was a large room with a long horseshoe-shaped table. A dozen “chiefs” were sitting there, all staring at him in the middle, like a three-court trial in a play.

Lin Fu, following the etiquette taught by Wei Aiwen, saluted and said loudly:

“Report! First Company, First Platoon, First Squad, Guide Soldier Lin Fu, reporting as ordered!”

Wei Aiwen stood up and returned the salute: “At ease!”

“Yes, sir!”

The exchange was well-practiced. The training of more than a week had not been in vain. Everyone looked at him with appreciative eyes. The soldier before them was holding a Year One Minie rifle with a Year One triangular bayonet attached. He was wearing the Year One uniform, a cowhide imitation of the German Y-strap, and two cartridge boxes, one large and one small, on his waist. He looked very imposing.

“This is an imitation of the Japanese Taisho 11th year cartridge box, with some changes in size,” Wei Aiwen explained. “It’s made of cowhide and comes in two sizes, large and small. The large one is for storing paper-wrapped ammunition, 60 rounds per box. The small box is for percussion caps.” Percussion caps were more sensitive, so they couldn’t be stored with the paper-wrapped cartridges. The cartridge box was also designed with the possibility of accommodating metal fixed ammunition in the future, so the size was universal.

“This is a water bottle,” Wei Aiwen pointed to a cylindrical object on Lin Fu’s waist. “It’s made of a bamboo tube with a cork stopper. With a net rope cover, it can be conveniently tied to the waist. Doesn’t it look a bit like the German gas mask canister?”

Now that he mentioned it, it did look a bit like it. Everyone nodded. Wei Aiwen seemed very proud of this “German element.”

On his belt was a cloth grenade pouch containing bamboo-cased grenades made by the chemical group—although their power was a bit lacking, their sound was impressive and could be used to intimidate people.

Lin Fu was carrying a peculiar backpack on his back. It was more like a flat little box than a backpack. This was the newly developed standard issue back-box, inspired by the back baskets commonly used by the local people. It was woven from thin rattan, lined with cloth brushed with tung oil, and had a lid, making it waterproof. It was oval in shape and came with an ergonomic carrying frame.

This newly developed back-basket was both in line with their current industrial capabilities and much more practical than a traditional bundle. It was a new product that combined modern technological concepts with contemporary productivity levels.