Chapter 257 : Numbers! Numbers! And Still More Numbers!

Although it sounded somewhat ridiculous, it was actually true—

Fundamentally, driving a tank was no different from driving a tractor...

That was especially true considering that the operation of the Little Bun and Sherman light and medium tanks was relatively complicated. The newest Tiger Heavy Tank simply came equipped with a steering wheel. Anyone who knew how to drive could operate it.

After compiling statistics on all the tractor operators registered under the Farmers' Associations, the Alliance concluded that by adopting a veteran-teaches-newcomer training model on a large scale, combined with the military's own armored vehicle training system, there would no longer be any shortage of basic tank crews in the future.

The Air Force, however, presented a much more complicated problem.

The requirements for Air Force personnel were considerably higher.

To address this, Mitia proposed rapidly expanding the existing flight schools.

Admission standards would be lowered.

Tuition would become completely free.

Students would even receive financial and material subsidies instead.

At the same time, the reserve civilian pilot recruitment age would be set between fourteen and twenty.

This was not a short-term project.

Building a mature pilot training system required time.

For now, the Air Force itself would continue to shoulder the primary responsibility for training pilots.

Fortunately, Mitia had always attached great importance to the long-term development of the Navy and Air Force.

Most bomber crew members already qualified as half-trained pilots.

They had joined the military years earlier and had received comprehensive education and training.

With intensive emergency instruction, they could quickly become competent fighter pilots.

Meanwhile, apart from professional flight crews and reconnaissance observers, the remaining bomber personnel would be replenished with new recruits from civilian society.

It didn't matter if their bombing accuracy was poor.

As long as they managed to drop the bombs outside the aircraft instead of blowing up their own bomb bay...

They qualified.

During the conference, the governors of each state stood one after another to report on the progress of their respective regions.

Dedicated statisticians continuously wrote the figures across the blackboard.

Apart from long-established industrial states like Astar, the newly established inner-ring states had likewise begun constructing enormous numbers of supporting industrial facilities under the guidance of relocated engineers and technical specialists.

Meanwhile, veteran technicians and skilled workers had all been transferred to the safer rear areas.

Over the course of just three months, more than one million railway freight cars had been put into operation.

Above them, transport airships flew continuously from dawn until dusk without pause.

The result was the rapid emergence of more than a thousand new factories throughout the rear resource regions.

But that still wasn't enough.

To resolve the contradiction between military mobilization and industrial manpower requirements, Mitia reorganized the staffing ratios inside factories, further exploiting the nation's hidden labor potential.

The proportion of female workers in heavy industry—which had previously been below ten percent—would be increased to fifty percent through mandatory recruitment quotas.

Large numbers of men unfit for military service, disabled veterans, and disabled civilians would likewise be recruited into factory production.

At the same time, vacations would be suspended.

Using the Labor Red Banner campaign to encourage overtime, working hours would be extended.

Machines would never stop.

Production time would be forcibly increased by at least one-third through rotating shifts.

The large-scale recruitment inevitably resulted in declining quality across military production.

There was simply no avoiding such consequences while simultaneously reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

To compensate, every experienced veteran technician would be centrally reassigned and concentrated within the production stages demanding the highest technical standards.

For example—

Tank, armored vehicle, and aircraft engines.

Fire-control targeting equipment.

Chemically etched Rune Arrays.

Gearboxes, transmission systems, and other precision-machined components.

All of these would remain exclusively in the hands of veteran technicians.

Everything else—

Aircraft fuselages.

Vehicle hulls.

Mecha frames.

Outer armor plating.

Artillery barrels.

Rubber products.

Metal ammunition.

All of it would be simplified and distributed among less-skilled workers.

It didn't matter if the finished products looked ugly.

As long as they worked,

they passed.

The same principle applied to firearm production.

For the newest People's Submachine Gun—the PPSh BBS-1 with its high-capacity magazine—

All experienced technicians would be concentrated solely on manufacturing precision components such as the barrel.

The wooden furniture.

Stamped outer barrel jackets.

Magazines.

And every other non-critical component...

would all be produced by Alliance women.

The standard remained exactly the same.

If it worked,

it passed.

Every industrial machine tool throughout the Alliance was the latest available model.

The manufacturing standards were likewise the newest.

Operations followed the same veteran-teaches-newcomer system.

The total number of industrial machine tools across the Alliance had stood at six hundred thousand before the war.

Now, that figure increased by another ten to thirty thousand every month.

Coincidentally, the workers freed by these technological improvements could immediately operate the newly produced industrial equipment.

Any surplus labor would then establish even more factories, further expanding production.

"I believe all of you understand this perfectly well."

"Even a poorly manufactured tank is far more reliable than asking our sons and daughters to stop magic and bullets with their own flesh."

"Even an artillery barrel with a lifespan of only one hundred shells can still flatten trenches and city walls."

"The shell craters it creates won't become even one centimeter shallower."

Mitia slowly swept her gaze across the projected images of every state governor attending the conference.

"I want all of you to remember this."

"I don't care what a tank looks like when it rolls off the production line."

"I don't care how rough its exterior is."

"I don't care if the barrel has a shorter service life."

"I don't care if the hull and turret are covered with dents."

"As long as it reaches the minimum operational standard..."

"It qualifies."

"But every single month, you will complete the minimum production quotas issued by the General Armaments Department."

"Even if you have to work personally on the factory floor..."

"You will deliver the required numbers."

"I will only hold you accountable."

"Is that understood?"

"We guarantee we'll complete the mission!"

Everything ultimately came down to one thing.

Numbers!

Numbers!

And still more numbers!

The difference between having no reserves...

And possessing even barely usable reserves...

Might very well be the difference between life and death.

"Oh, right."

"A lower standard doesn't mean there are no standards."

"For every batch of equipment that rolls off the production line, you must personally be present to conduct testing."

"Internal Affairs Department soldiers will assist you."

"If your weapons suffer barrel explosions, ammunition jams, or aircraft lose steering control..."

"You'd better die inside them."

"Don't come back here and offend my eyes."

Quite a few governors immediately pulled bitter expressions.

Driving a tank?

Fine.

They could probably fumble around well enough.

But now they were expected to personally fly the fighters they manufactured too?

How many governors in the room had actually trained as fighter pilots?

"If you don't want to conduct random inspections yourself, that's acceptable."

"We'll simply compile combat loss statistics together with frontline soldier feedback."

"If the failure rate remains excessively high..."

"You'll bear the consequences yourselves."

"Any major safety hazard..."

"Bring me your heads."

"Every single case will be prosecuted as treason."

Mitia completely ignored the miserable expressions worn by the senior officials.

Extraordinary times required extraordinary measures.

Besides, as long as no one secretly cut corners, major safety hazards were virtually impossible.

After all, every precision component continued to be manufactured exclusively by veteran craftsmen.

The three most critical components of a fighter aircraft were nothing more than its engine, propeller, and flight-control transmission system.

Most of the aircraft's integrated functions—including the synchronized machine guns and shield generator—were built directly into the engine assembly.

Therefore, if nobody tampered with the production process, random inspections made little practical difference to them.

But if something did go wrong...

Then they deserved whatever fate awaited them.

Only after this extreme redistribution of the industrial chain did the Alliance finally free up an enormous reserve pool of combat personnel.

At the same time, compulsory military service would also be expanded to include women.

Recruitment standards for ordinary combat arms would be further opened.

Women of military age would be organized into Army Groups composed primarily of female soldiers.

Within the new armored army groups, however, men would still assume the more dangerous mechanized infantry positions.

It was the final measure of consideration Mitia could offer the women of the Alliance.

If the day ever came when the Alliance was pushed back onto its own homeland...

Rather than waiting unarmed to be slaughtered by the enemy...

It would be better to die together on the battlefield—

Their flesh and blood mingled with one another.

At the very least...

No one would ever dare look down upon them again.