New Logistics Base

PoV Base Commander Brittan Beans

"So, with the recent completion of what the Supreme Commander is calling a factory, we are now creating a hundred new swords. The 'assembly line' is the refining process, leading to the blacksmiths creating the base weapons based on orders from the main army for the weapons their people use. So hammers, swords, spears, rapiers, daggers, whatever is created then are sent down the line to the Artisans, where they create handles and quality check the weapons, which are then put onto a wagon and sent to the front lines whenever they are full with the next convoy." The Bunny-kin reporting to me smiled, "This has increased our production of all weapons from fifty weapons a day in this factory to one hundred and fifteen. Which is staggering if we are being honest. With the apprenticeship and training, we believe we can move the Assembly lines into the new Factories and move the labor from other factories into the new ones, then convert the old factories into the new ones or change the production there."

The Young Blue Bunny-kin was smiling, as was I. Weapons had been lagging behind with the latest attacks from the Empire, and many were using looted weapons. We were already hugely behind on weapon manufacturing, and many went to war with bone weapons, let alone steel or enchanted weapons. Which reminded me, "How is the Enchanting part of the factory going?" I asked.

"That is showing positive signs the problem is labor tires out easily," The bunny-kin looked down at his sheets, and his face tightened, "The workers there need more concentration and skill, and ruined enchantments can destroy the weapons as well. This means we cannot just put an apprentice on them and hope for them to produce one or two and not harm others. So it is a matter of slowly scaling up the number of people who can do the one or two enchantments we want and then putting them to work. We have roughly five hundred so far, and each of us can only enchant one every day if we are lucky. The most skilled can do three, but we are talking about the teachers teaching the workers how to enchant the weapons. We also cannot spare anymore from the front lines as they are needed for the fortresses that the Supreme Commander is insisting be created in case of a general retreat."

I winced, wishing the Supreme Commander was happy with what she already had for defenses and sent back those extremely needed enchanters. There are buildings, factories, roads, wagons, and so much more that could use their enchanting ability to make them last longer or work better. I understood why she was keeping them and making more defensive structures, but there was a point of diminishing returns.

"I will write a letter to the Supreme Commander now that the front is finished, I will see about getting some extra educational hands," I told the boy, "You tell your people that we are trying to get more to help them out," I told the Bunny-kin who had made it to Staff Sergeant in the Logistics army. He was now in charge of the weapons factories and was highly competent. He was running all over the place as if he did not know what he was doing, but everything was running even better under his watch than the previous noble Loveknot was there. They had been demoted because they messed up and now were under the boy despite being twenty years older than the boy. It was something that was common to see in the Logistics army. Someone older is being ordered around by younger people who could think of more solutions.

The Logistics Army logo of being punished for a job well done was running rampant. Promotions were dreaded because the people at the top were always the most exhausted at the end of the day. I pinched the bridge of my nose, and I looked at the paperwork in front of me.

"Base Commander, I think we need to start looking into expanding to a new base," The boy suddenly told me, and I looked up surprised.

"What do you mean?" I asked bluntly.

"I mean, I think we are too concentrated lately. We have six weapons factories, three armor factories, Wagon craft shops, shoes, clothing, tailors, and much more that I am sure I do not know about. The Tina 1's," he said slowly, and I frowned and glared at him.

"You know-" The boy put up his hand, stopping me.

"Base Commander, We are rapidly running out of space, and there is almost no ability to do things in the dark anymore. We have almost daily attacks on the base, and whenever we start up a new construction of a crafts shop or factory, I have started to question how much the construction is going to slow everything else down around it. It hurts our speed more and more, and the place is soon going to be a maze that will be impossible to defend if we don't expand to the outskirts of the base, which I would recommend against since we are on the border of a city and there is only so much farmland we can take, or we start a new base in a new place."

My mind froze for a moment, and then I nodded, "Bring me a map with the location of all the buildings and our land. I want to see an overview of our space, and I also want you to bring me a possible place where we could start the next main logistical army base. Understood. You brought it up, which means that you were either already ready for a good time or asking for it." I replied to him with a smile, and his smile turned sharp.

"Actually, I am ready," He replied, bringing out two rolls of paper. I opened the first, and it was an overview of our base as it currently is. "The dotted lines are under construction, and the arrows are the roads for the wagons, now," He paused to take a deep breath and began, "Now, if you look at what we have available on the map, we technically have a lot of space, we have a courtyard, but that area is also used as our gym to keep people in shape and to punish people for breaking the rules. So that area is off-limits, and although it is a bit big, there is not enough space to add any buildings. Honestly, it is an oversight from the early construction of the barracks, but it also provides a great workout and event location to keep up morale. Then we move on to the back, and each of the spaces you see have dotted lines around them for construction that we are either about to do or are already doing. Then, we move to the outskirts of the base, where warehouses, material collection, and shipping are almost entirely surrounded. With few exceptions with are," He paused, "Marshalling points in case of an emergency. We are running dead out of space, Base Commander; we have enough space for about five buildings."

"I can't believe I did not see this," I said honestly, and the man chuckled.

"No one did; we had so much space that we thought we would never fill it up. It has only been a couple of years, though, and it is full." The boy shrugged, "The worst part is, I think that the way we are doing things is making things worse. I think having a base for weapons and armor and a base for clothing would be much better. I think it would be better to ship the leather in, separate things more, and gather them at another point to ship them out. Obviously, that is not possible at this moment, but the logistics, as the Supreme Commander would put it, are fucking insane right now. It is a miracle everything is still working, and I think that is because all of us so desperately work hard to make it work. I think we need to spread out production into multiple cities and create what I want to call a supply chain."

"Supply chain?" I asked.

The boy smiled.

"Yes, So the bottom of the supply chain is something like Wood, cut from a tree that is a base resource, like Iron or a carrot. These are base resources and are the starting point of what they are useful for. So we then bring them back, and we turn that Iron into, let's say, steel, then ship it somewhere else to turn them into weapons, shields, armor, or whatever. We will have a place where we can just do that all day, every day. That is the second point of the supply chain, which can be as long as it needs to fulfill what they need it to do. Then we only need to bring in the materials we need to those locations instead of having thousands of Wagons bringing in various things that take our security longer to look through." The boy smiled, "If they know what they are looking at and what it is supposed to look like, then they can catch smugglers and people with ill intentions out." 

I looked at him, and I understood what he meant now. It would simplify things, and we could even partition the base so that certain materials go to only such places. This would allow carts and wagons to only carry what they needed for each place. It was just simplifying everything and stopping them from getting in each other's way while they did the same thing over and over.

"Could we do this with the Assembly line too?" I asked, and the boy looked at me stunned.

"Wait, before we continue down this rabbit hole, I want to show you where I was thinking of setting up the second base. " The boy said with a grin, "Have you heard about the Project that one of the Supreme Commanders Harem members is working on? The one to the north in that large area just below the Elven forest?"

"Yeah?" I replied, unsure, then I realized.

"We will have the mountains, where there are some mines to the east and south; we will have wood; we will have everything we need there, and there will be a large area where the project is a city. If we move in now, we can pick out the perfect spots for the production of certain things, and we would be helping the Supreme Commander create many jobs for uneducated people there. But more importantly, if we go back to what we were just talking about," He grinned, "We can create the best Supply chain to minimize transportation and maximize production." The boy grinned and looked at me with expectation.

"Staff Sergeant, I think I need to write a letter to the Supreme Commander; what is your name? I forgot, and I think the Supreme Commander will want to know about your thoughts."

The boy looked shaken. "Please, not another promotion," he replied, looking worried, and I grinned.

"What, I am only going to recommend you to the Base Commander position you recommended; NOW REPORT YOUR NAME, SOLDIER!" I barked, and the boy flinched and stepped back.

"Staff Sergeant Hibbins Goodblock!" He snapped with a sad expression.

"Good. Now go out, show me some ideas you were thinking about, and get that Harem member here. It seems we need to have a chat with her," I ordered.

"YES, SIR!" Staff Sergeant Hibbins Goodblock barked and was out the door a moment later.

Poor kid was probably going to get promoted. 

Good. I did not want to become second in command. I don't think they've seen their spouses since the war started. If I could push off all the ideas that kid came up with onto him, I could avoid that promotion and continue where I was. 

I chuckled and opened the door to see my lovely wife turn to me. " Can you get me some paper to write a letter to the Supreme Commander? I have someone to promote," I said with a smile.

"Poor boy, he just got promoted a couple of months ago," my wife said mournfully. The boy did not learn his lesson to keep his mouth shut and stop showing his intelligence."

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