Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 143 Organization

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"No problem. Let's go to Guangzhou together another day."

Aren't you afraid that the Guangzhou authorities will take drastic measures against you?

Liu Ye laughed and said, "I've already been granted amnesty and am now one of the court's men. Even if the new governor-general wants to resort to underhanded tactics, he'll have to consider whether the 'Bofu pirates' he's finally managed to pacify will rebel again. However, to be on the safe side, it's best to enter the city discreetly."

When it came to shoulder insignia and other designs, Liang Xiaoming, wanting to save trouble, suggested, "Let's just copy the designs of the People's Liberation Army from later generations."

"Let's just take a look; copying it verbatim would be too shameless," Liu Ye chuckled.

After discussion, the two finalized the designs for the shoulder boards: soldiers' shoulder boards were red with gold trim, while officers' shoulder boards were black with gold trim, both with gold patterns. Privates had one chevron at the bottom of their shoulder boards, privates had two chevrons, and privates had three chevrons; corporals had a five-pointed star in the center with one chevron on the outside, sergeants had one star and two chevrons, and sergeants had one star and three chevrons; officers of the rank of lieutenant and above had shoulder boards: second lieutenant had one horizontal bar and one star in the center, first lieutenant had one bar and two stars, and captain had one bar and three stars; majors had two horizontal bars and one star in the center, lieutenant colonels had two bars and two stars, and colonels had two bars and three stars.

According to Liang Xiaoming's plan, there would be no division or brigade-level or higher organizational structure for a long time, and the corresponding military rank would only go up to colonel. However, considering the honorary nature of military ranks, in order to leave room for future rewards, the shoulder insignia of general officers were designed as well, which was a copy of the olive branch and five-pointed star pattern of the later People's Liberation Army, only changing the olive branch to auspicious cloud pattern.

"The army is taken care of, but what about the navy?"

Liang Xiaoming slapped his forehead, "I almost forgot! Let's just use the army's uniform for the navy, but change the color of the uniform to white and add blue trim to the cuffs."

Liu Ye nodded and said, "The military uniforms and badges have been designed, but what about the hats? Or rather, how do we finalize the design of the helmet?"

Liang Xiaoming said, "It depends on whether we use a cloth hat or a steel helmet."

"Tell me the pros and cons of the two types of hats first, then I can make a judgment."

"The advantages and disadvantages of steel helmets are very obvious. Their protective ability is far superior to that of hats. In the era of cold weapons, they can protect against arrows or swords. In the era of firearms, they can protect against shrapnel. The disadvantage is that the difficulty and cost of manufacturing them are far greater than those of cloth hats. The biggest advantage of cloth hats is that they are cheap and easy to manufacture—you can get a few tailors and start making them."

Liu Ye thought about it carefully and asked, "Can current technology manufacture steel helmets? What would the cost be?"

"It's a bit of a problem. The only material we can currently smelt on a large scale is carbon steel, and that's low-carbon steel. If we use low-carbon steel directly as the material, the process of making helmets is relatively simple, but the hardness is not enough. It might be able to withstand light arrows, but when facing the heavy arrows and melee weapons of the Later Jin, even if it is not penetrated, the resulting deformation will cause considerable damage to the soldiers. Such armor is not very effective."

Liu Ye was educated by Liang Xiaoming about carbon steel. He learned that low-carbon steel, also known as mild steel, has the advantages of good plasticity and toughness, making it a good material for rolling gun barrels. However, its disadvantages are low strength and hardness. Because it uses black powder, the chamber pressure is low when firing. This material is fine for making flintlock muskets, but it is obviously unsuitable for resisting the close-combat slashes and blows of the Later Jin soldiers.