Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 848 General Mobilization

The farce that happened in Congress soon formed a report and put it on Rock's desk.

The result of the vote was indeed no surprise, 117 to 8, with 6 abstentions, and it was rejected without any suspense.

This is the current situation in southern Africa. The world war is about to break out, European countries are preparing their troops, and southern Africa is still busy fighting for power. Fortunately, Yang Smother went to the mainland, otherwise it would be even more serious.

"Progressive Party, huh——" Stoudemire shook his head and smiled wryly. The Progressive Party is a political party founded by Cecil Rhodes, and it has become depraved. Dr. Starr Jameson is still alive, but it has nothing to do with death On the other hand, the Progressive Party has completely escaped the control of Dr. Starr Jameson, and the number of seats in Congress is constantly decreasing. It is not even satisfied with the 15 seats in the Cape.

Theoretically, the congressional seats in southern Africa are distributed in proportion to the population of each state. When the federal government was established, the Cape had the largest population, so it also had the largest number of 15 seats.

It can be seen from the voting results that even Cape's MPs do not support Edmund Gaunt [-]%, with only a pitiful eight votes in favor, which shows the chaos in Cape.

In contrast, the situation of the Liberal Party is completely dominant. When the federal government was established, the Liberal Party had to unite with the Progressive Party to gain power. Now even if it loses the support of the Progressive Party, the Liberal Party has won more than half of the seats and has the right to form a cabinet alone .

This is also the root of the conflict between Philip and Adelaide. This year is a general election year. Adelaide and Philip are competing for the right to represent the Liberal Party in the prime ministerial election. No matter who wins, they can basically defeat other party candidates without any suspense.

Edmund Gunter was nominated by the Progressive Party to run for prime minister, and Edmund Gunter's support rate can be seen from the votes.

Of course, other parties have also launched their own candidates, but the support rate is lower. If the Progressive Party unites with other parties to lose, there may be a slight chance of winning and a chance to form a coalition cabinet, but even that chance is very slim , if the situation is serious, the Liberal Party can also choose to form a coalition cabinet with the Nyasaland Party.

"Forget about these things, how is the research on compressed biscuits going?" Rock doesn't care about the bad things in Congress, with Philip and Owen present, any proposal that is not good for Rock can't be passed, and Rock is now focusing all his energy on In the organization of supplies.

In the upcoming world war, southern Africa has now clearly defined the role of European factories. To provide all war-related materials to the Allied Powers, weapons and equipment are of course important, as are textiles and food.

Textiles are mainly handled by the Johannesburg Textile Company, and Stoudemire's South African company is responsible for food.

Prior to this, the luncheon meat, coffee, beverages, and various cans produced by the South African company had been a great success, but these were not enough. Rock also needed compressed biscuits to provide better supplies for the Allies.

Compressed biscuits were not invented in southern Africa. Compressed biscuits were found in ancient Egyptian tombs more than 4000 years ago. Now there are factories in Europe producing compressed biscuits, but the quality is uneven, the taste is rough, and the nutrition is insufficient. The most important thing is that the shelf life is not enough. For a long time, it is often found that the compressed biscuits have deteriorated when they are eaten.

Think about it, the soldiers who fought on the front line for a day only found out that the distributed compressed biscuits were a pack of rubbish full of stinky bugs when they were eating, how bad they would feel.

Therefore, Roque asked the South African company to research compressed biscuits with longer shelf life, better taste and rich nutrition. This was not Roque's personal request, but a request made by Roque to the South African company on behalf of the Ministry of Defense.

"According to your instructions, we have developed six flavors of compressed biscuits, namely scallion, beef, salt and pepper, barbecue, pineapple, and coffee. The shelf life has reached more than two years. Are you satisfied now?" The South African company is efficient, However, the engineer who developed the compressed biscuit has a strange idea. The onion, pepper and salt are understandable, and the roasted coffee is so strange.

"Two years?" Rock wondered. It has only been a few months since Rock put forward higher requirements for compressed biscuits. I really don't know how this "two years" is determined.

"The engineers of the South African company found that the deterioration of compressed biscuits is mainly due to the oxidation of oil, so we use palm oil now, combined with the existing information, the shelf life can definitely be extended to more than two years." Stoudemire's engineers are still very satisfied If you are confident, the South African company may be the most powerful food processing company in the world.

After the independence of East India, the South African Company bought a large number of plantations in East India for the first time. Like spices, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and natural rubber, the production of palm oil in East India is also very high.

"Now we have formed a complete production line. The individual rations for each soldier include luncheon meat, canned food, compressed biscuits, instant coffee, and nutritious and delicious chocolate. An individual ration can fully meet the nutrition of a soldier on the front line for a day Demand, all the food included in this individually packaged individual ration has a shelf life of more than two years. The company has begun to organize large-scale production. I have prepared material warehouses in Port Edward and Walvis Bay. Each warehouse can store 500 million copies.” Stoudemire feels that 500 million copies is already an extremely huge number. According to the needs of southern Africa, the two warehouses add up to 1000 million copies, which can meet the annual consumption of the Rhodesian Northern Division and the First Cavalry Division. In Europe, by the middle and late stages of the World War, 1000 million individual rations could only meet the consumption of British troops for two days.

This is just the UK, what about France?What about Germany?What about Russia?

Forget about the Russian army, it is estimated that Russia cannot afford it.

Fortunately, the production capacity of South African companies can continue to be tapped. The Nyasaland Military Industry Group has begun to go all out, and South African companies must keep up with the pace.

Not only the Nyasaland Military Industry Group and the South African company, the horror of the mobilization order is that once it is issued, the whole society will become a precision instrument of close cooperation, and all production and living materials must serve the war.

Although Nyasaland and Rhodesia have not issued a mobilization order, the current situation is similar to the general mobilization. The automobile company in Nyasaland has begun to adjust the production line. The new production lines that were put into operation after 1912 are all used to produce military vehicles and tractors. The factory was also urgently converted to produce tanks. It doesn't matter if there are no orders for the time being. Rock hopes that only southern Africa in the world can provide the materials needed by Europe when Europe needs them.

In this regard, southern Africa has a huge advantage that even the United States does not have. Although the industrial capacity of the United States is strong, it is impossible for private companies in the United States to start mass production without orders like companies in southern Africa. Items that cannot be sold.

In this way, once the demand becomes a reality, Southern African companies that have already prepared will become the only choice. After all, the construction of factories and the training of skilled workers will take a long period, and the industrial background will take time to become a reality.

Kitchener's order of 200 million rifles represents that the United Kingdom is gradually shifting the focus of the arms race to the army. Even Britain, a traditional maritime country, has begun to attach importance to the army. This also means that the arms race has reached the point where the bayonet is red.

"Cecil, you underestimated the scale of the world war. 500 million copies are far from enough." Rock reminded Stoudemire to plan ahead. Unlike weapons, food is a fast-moving consumer product. Not only the military needs it, but civilians also need it. If you are not prepared now, you will be caught off guard and the opportunity will be handed over to others.

"Then expand the size of the warehouse, if two are not enough, build ten—" Stoudemire also underestimated the intensity of the world war. This is not a small-scale conflict between colonies. Once it breaks out, it will be protracted, unless one party completely admits defeat.

Rock smiled and said nothing. No matter how good the relationship is, Rock can't make decisions for Stoudemire.

Stoudemire is still very smart, and later decided not only to expand the scale of the warehouse, but also to expand the scale of the food factory.

Like those in Nyasaland and Rhodesia, businesses in the Transvaal are also beginning to mobilize. The Johannesburg Textile Company is researching cold-proof clothing far beyond the needs of southern Africa. In addition to cotton and wool textiles, various Sheepskin, cowhide, and poultry down have also begun to be used in large quantities. The clothes produced from these raw materials have better thermal insulation effect, and of course are more expensive and more profitable.

The scale of the current pharmaceutical company has expanded five times compared to two years ago. Starting from the Russo-Japanese War, after the Italian-Turkish War and the Balkan War, the pharmaceutical industry in southern Africa has greatly improved. The South African company has prepared individual rations for the Allied forces , the pharmaceutical company prepared a portable medical kit for the Allied Forces.

This kind of medical kit, which is only the size of a water bottle and weighs no more than two kilograms, can be carried by an individual soldier. Each medical kit includes band-aids, tourniquets, bandages, trauma medicine, iodine, sutures, sewing needles, and cold medicine .

Rock will not ignore the threat of influenza. In the 21st century, severe influenza patients will be fatal, and the fatality rate is higher in this era.

A medical kit like this is priced at 1.5 pounds. As long as soldiers understand simple battlefield first aid, they can play a huge role when they or their comrades need it.

In addition to textiles and pharmaceuticals, more companies took action upon hearing the news. Vodka factories switched to producing alcohol, camping tents were transformed into temporary field tents, and agricultural cooperatives in various places once again unified the purchase and sale of agricultural products. The last time they did so was just after the end of the Boer War.

Beginning in April, the newspapers began to publicize the situation in Europe. Everyone deeply felt the approach of war, so that the attention to the election of the prime minister was declining.

(End of this chapter)