Chapter 113 - Logistics Training Team

Although both the People’s Commissars of the Army and Navy gave a not-so-optimistic view, especially He Ming, who frankly told Wu De that the current state of the army was not good. The troops had been continuously engaged in security warfare and were very tired. Although casualties in security warfare were small, with a death report only every few days, this endless combat and duty had lowered the morale of the troops. The security warfare in northern Qiongzhou had all ended, and southern Qiongzhou was sparsely populated, so the scale of the security warfare was relatively small. The army planned to withdraw some troops for rest and recuperation. In this situation, it might not be appropriate to immediately throw them into the next long-range combat operation. However, He Ming still promised to dispatch two infantry battalions and some support troops to participate in the Engine Operation.

The navy promised to provide one marine battalion and would do its best to provide ships for this operation. Chen Haiyang was not sure how many ships could be mobilized—the old-style ships were undergoing a full overhaul, and the number of ships the navy could deploy depended largely on the shipbuilding speed of the Lin’gao and Hong Kong shipyards.

While Yang Zeng was busy receiving Schneider and the others, Xie Shu was leading the non-commissioned officers of the Ma’niao Fort logistics training team to the logistics warehouse. Their task was to count and organize the newly arrived materials and to learn the new management procedures.

In the wave of promotions after the Chengmai campaign, the word “probationary” was removed from Xie Shu’s title of probationary staff officer. However, his rank was still second lieutenant. He also participated in the training course, and due to his outstanding performance, he was transferred from battalion logistics staff officer to the logistics command. He was not very satisfied with this transfer. The logistics command sounded high-level, but it actually only had one office, one Elder chief of staff, and a few staff members, with little presence in the army.

However, he had recently received news that the logistics command would “soon undergo a major adjustment.” A special logistics training detachment had been established at Ma’niao Fort to train specialized logistics officers, and a logistics training team had been established to train all the army’s logistics non-commissioned officers. Xie Shu was appointed as the captain of this training team.

Although Xie Shu had not been engaged in logistics work for long, he was literate, proficient in mathematics, young, and eager to learn. He had experienced the second anti-encirclement campaign and was considered to have both knowledge and experience. During his studies, he was highly appreciated by Hong Huangnan and Thorpe. Thorpe had recently been transferred from the Planning Department to the army to be in charge of logistics.

Thorpe was young, but in the old world, he had written a book called Theoretical Logistics. He had a background in operations research and was originally a key member of the Planning Department, a typical “academic” logistics cadre. If it weren’t for his desire to wear a military uniform and the Planning Department’s intention to cultivate a professional and capable logistics organization, Wu De would not have been willing to let him go.

Because of his solid theoretical foundation, he was responsible for teaching most of the courses in the training of logistics officers and non-commissioned officers. He had a subtle relationship with Hong Huangnan, who was from the “practical school.” The two maintained a polite reserve. But every time Hong Huangnan talked about his increasingly remote plan for a carriage 4S shop, Thorpe would always listen with an indulgent smile, without saying a word.

Although Xie Shu was young, he was, after all, from a landlord family and had received an education. It was not difficult for him to understand the peculiar relationship between these two “chiefs.” Therefore, he maintained the same respect for both teachers.

Xie Shu’s sleeve already had a new service branch patch. It was personally put on by his military academy teacher, Major Thorpe, an Elder. His old boss, Dongmen Chuiyu, joked when he met him, “Little Xie, you’ve been transferred to the four headquarters, eh?”

Xie Shu was very confused by this. The Australian chiefs liked to call someone “Little X,” and even called each other that. Xie Shu felt that this was how large households called their house servants or bachelors. Xie Shu preferred to be called Staff Officer Xie. The so-called four headquarters was even more baffling. He could recite the regulations by heart and had never heard of this organization. He went back and searched through the organizational regulations but could not find the unit “four headquarters.”

In the loading and unloading area in front of the warehouse, various new types of vehicles and tools were neatly arranged: screw-type manual forklifts, trailers, standard military animal-drawn carts, Zidian-kai handcarts, towed kitchen carts, water purification carts, and even movable wooden ramps. The animal-drawn carts and Zidian-kai handcarts had been redesigned. The load-bearing concave iron frame could just fit a one-ton or 200-kilogram transport box and had fasteners for easy fixing. These materials had cost Thorpe a great deal of effort to get from the Executive Committee and the Planning Department. If it weren’t for the blast furnace already being in operation, the second “standardization of cart tracks” that Thorpe had proclaimed would not have been implemented so early.

Xie Shu first explained the general purpose, usage, and structure of these logistics vehicles. Depending on the logistics unit the NCOs were assigned to, the types of vehicles they would come into contact with would also be different. However, the training outline required every logistics command personnel to be “familiar with the usage and understand the structure” of common vehicles.

Next to the warehouse was the livestock shed, which housed donkeys, cattle, and mules. The only things missing were horses and horse-mules. To reverse the long-term shortage of horses and livestock in the army and the lack of related training for artillery, transport, and engineer soldiers, the Planning Department and the Agriculture Committee organized a joint investigation team. Despite Nick’s strong opposition, they screened the horses, donkeys, and mules at the Mopanling Horse Farm. After leaving enough breeding stallions and a sufficient number of mares to maintain and expand the population, all other horses, donkeys, and mules that were not suitable for breeding were transferred out of the horse farm for use. Some were allocated to the Agriculture Committee, and some to the Fubo Army.

According to the latest planning instructions of the Fubo Army, the majority of usable horses and horse-mules were given priority to the artillery units, with a small number left for the cavalry units that were being formed.

Although there were few horses, at least the army now had horses. Especially for the transport troops. Because the Fubo Army had no horses or mules, land transport had long been “large quantities pulled by oxen, small quantities carried by men.” Ox-carts were too slow, and whenever there was an urgent transport of goods, they had to mobilize militia and civilian laborers to use handcarts or simply carry them on their backs and shoulders, which consumed a great deal of labor.

The warehouse guards meticulously checked Xie Shu’s documents and authorization files, counted the number of people entering from the logistics training team, and registered them one by one with a dip pen. Xie Shu signed his name on the entry and exit registration card with a writing brush. Among the Guihua, those who could write with a brush were pitifully few, and even fewer in the army.

Although the warehouse garrison was personally arranged by Xie Shu, and the sentries were familiar with most of the people from the various training detachments and teams studying at Ma’niao, no one dared to be careless since a certain soldier was made an example of during a surprise inspection.

The warehouses at Ma’niao Fort were new standard warehouses built according to the new edition of the Military Material Storage Regulations. The warehouses used an iron-clad wood truss structure, with glass windows near the ceiling. The warehouses were tall with good air circulation, providing ample natural light while avoiding direct sunlight. The walls of the warehouses were made of hollow bricks for insulation, and the ceilings under the roofs were also laid with insulation materials to reduce heat from solar radiation.

On the shelves and pallets, hundreds of boxes were neatly stacked. The boxes were painted in different colors and had numbers written on them. Boxes of different colors were stacked in different areas according to regulations. Xie Shu knew that the boxes were divided into three types: 1000 kg, 200 kg, and 20 liters. The 1000 kg boxes were used on animal-drawn carts, and the 200 kg and 20-liter boxes were mainly used on Zidian-kai handcarts.

Each model of box had the exact same size and dimensions. The four sides of the box had handles, and the bottom had fasteners for connecting and fixing to the cart frame. The frame of the box was made of riveted angle iron, the panels were made of wood coated with coal tar, and the inside was lined with a layer of oilcloth. On top, there was a red paint stamp of the so-called “iron fist and chrysanthemum” and a serial number. Finally, there was a line of small characters: “Property of the Council of Elders.”

In Lin’gao, packing boxes were not consumables. Each packing box was registered and had to be recycled and reused after use.

With the dimensions of the standard packing boxes, there would be a certain reference value for the design dimensions of future shipbuilding and vehicle manufacturing.

Xie Shu led the NCOs of the training team here to teach them about goods classification management and distribution procedures. Although the national stock number system was advanced, in an era where everything had to be done manually and data was transmitted by telegraph or by hand, mastering and skillfully using this system required great effort. Especially since this system now ran on forms, the workload and calculation volume were very large.

To make it easier for the less-educated NCOs to manage, besides the code system, Thorpe and Hong Huangnan had also invented a color and pattern recognition system, using various different colors and patterns for simple category marking.

While Xie Shu was busy explaining the color and pattern recognition system to the training team, his current immediate superior, Thorpe, was sitting in the conference room of the Joint Operations Command, along with several major figures of the Fubo Army.

“If there are no other problems, it’s settled. We will report to the Executive Committee and the Organization Department immediately,” Chen Haiyang said.

“What about Staff Officer Hong?” Thorpe asked.

“He went to Guangzhou to set up a carriage 4S shop,” Chen Haiyang waved his hand. “Someone in the Ministry of Colonies and Trade is interested in that carriage 4S shop. After discussing with the Planning Department, we let Staff Officer Hong go to Guangzhou first to set up a pilot carriage 4S shop with the people from the Ministry of Colonies and Trade. This pilot station belongs to the Ministry of Colonies and Trade. Of course, Staff Officer Hong’s personnel establishment is still in the logistics command. This is his specialty. Besides, his proposal to purchase horses from the southwest through Guangzhou has also been approved. Let him get some horses back from Guangzhou first. Although the Dian horses are small, a few hundred of them are still good for pulling carts and so on.”