Rise of the Argentine Empire

Saint Hérse was lying on the hotel bed, contemplating problems, while Rosa, looking content, leaned on his shoulder.

"Cohen, what are you thinking about? Your brow is furrowed so intensely; you could sail a ship on it."

Rosa's gentle voice accompanied a shake of his hand, a far cry from her usual strong-willed persona.

She managed the financial flow of Saint Hérse's dozen or so corporate entities, serving as his chief financial officer. She could only reluctantly sacrifice herself; after all, if I don't go to hell, who will?

Financial management is a complex issue, and it must be handled by someone trustworthy.

"Rosa, do you think our country's tariff policies are a bit problematic? The taxes are ridiculously high, especially on exports."

Last night's storm had left him refreshed today, but there was also a very serious problem that needed to be addressed. This issue not only concerned Plarri International's exports but also Argentina's future development.

Strictly speaking, Plarri International's import and export trade had quite a few issues because it wasn't normal export trade.

"Darling, are you referring to Plarri International's import and export activities?"

Rosa tied up her loose hair with a hair tie and replied, "Currently, most of Saint Hérse's company's products are exported through Plarri International." She was aware of the enormous profits involved, enough to drive people crazy.

"Yes, that's right. Continuing like this isn't ideal. It's not that I dislike paying taxes, but the current tariffs are too outrageous."

Saint Hérse embraced Rosa, lit a cigarette, blew out a smoke ring, and then slowly began to speak.

"It's not easy for our company to do these things, or rather, one company can't stand against customs, especially the coast guard, even with the help of people from the Ministry of Foreign Trade."

Plarri International had a decent relationship with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, having contributed quite a bit in political donations. Moreover, it had connections with the military. Although the Blue Party's influence in the navy wasn't strong, Plarri International's ability to feign authority was very much in Saint Hérse's style—he had taught them himself.

Why didn't Argentine companies have international competitiveness during the Perón era? Besides high welfare, high wages, and union strikes,

there was another reason: the Perón government, while imposing high tariffs on imports, also imposed high tariffs on exports. This is why Arturo, the vice president, said Perón didn't understand economics. He was absolutely right. It's impossible that no one in the presidential palace understood economics,

but clearly, having such a clueless president was similar to having a doomed emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Trade protectionism is meant to protect domestic companies by restricting imports to shield domestic goods from foreign competition and providing various incentives to enhance international competitiveness.

It involves two types of measures: tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers. The former mainly involves imposing high import tariffs to prevent large-scale imports of foreign goods; the latter includes a series of non-tariff measures, such as import licensing and import quotas, to restrict the free import of foreign goods.

In his opinion, $300 million was easily obtainable for a country with an annual GDP of over $5 billion. Borrowing from the jackals of American capital was simply incomprehensible. It was imaginable how bad the mess Perón was leaving behind was.

"Yes, we also used connections with the military to smooth things over, but it's not a long-term solution."

"The strength of one company isn't enough. We can unite domestic companies to find a solution together. Didn't you join the Radical Civic Union? Many business owners should have joined the Radical Civic Union. Although there aren't many in Cohen City, there must be many in Buenos Aires as an export port."

Rosa's face flushed slightly. Since she and Saint Hérse had become intimate, she had decided that she didn't need anything else. She didn't even need a title. He had a special aura that fascinated her. She was now willing to stand behind Saint Hérse to help him and advise him.

Perhaps having a child would be a good choice, but that required his permission. Illegitimate children were traditionally frowned upon in the West.

"Yes, fighting alone is too risky. Maybe it's time to do something. We can't let our country continue to rot like this."

Saint Hérse took a hard puff, blew out a smoke ring, and continued.

"I'm not just thinking about the interests of our company, but also the interests of our country. After all, only when the country is strong can we Argentines become prosperous again and live a good life."

The second home port of Plarri International, Puerto Blanca, was rife with smuggling, which wasn't a long-term solution. Moreover, Saint Hérse didn't want Argentina to completely become a mess. The high import taxes also made Saint Hérse feel very helpless.

Just importing steel from Brazil would incur at least an 80% high tariff. Steel was already expensive, and now it was even more ridiculously expensive. If Rhein Metal wasn't good at controlling costs, he suspected he would lose money. So he also controlled some armed smuggling teams to reduce costs.

The high welfare was temporarily untouchable, but the export tariffs had to be adjusted. This was already damaging Argentina's foundation and needed a major overhaul.

Saint Hérse didn't like the smuggling industry too much, as it was illegal. So he decided to take action to lobby various parties and get the presidential palace to change its current policies.

"Yes, my great Cohen, your Majesty, you are truly a great saint who has made great contributions to the country. Without you, our great Argentina would surely be doomed."

Rosa said with a chuckle, not exposing Saint Hérse's shameless behavior. Saint Hérse had almost fulfilled all her previous fantasies about a Prince Charming.

He was much better than her abusive and cheating ex-husband. She was very fond of him now.

Although Rosa's heart yearned for two children, she had met several men after her divorce, but most of them had major problems. She had originally planned to never have any contact with other men again.

Saint Hérse smiled, extinguished the cigarette, patted Rosa's plumpness, kissed her forehead, and then said.

"You're such a little enchantress. I love hearing you say that, haha."

Being praised by a beautiful woman was truly enjoyable.

"By the way, darling, our conglomerate's finance team needs to expand; it's already overwhelmed."

Saint Hérse had established many new companies last year, and they were also very large in scale. There was indeed a lot of pressure on financial construction, especially since the companies were scattered throughout the country.

"No problem, I'll take care of it this year. We may need to have our own bank."

Without a bank as a financial institution, how could it be called a conglomerate? At most, it was a slightly larger factory. This couldn't be rushed. It was best to invest in a bank.

In the words of the original timeline, opening a bank in Argentina was equivalent to courting death. Even in the 21st century, all banks in Argentina, except for the central bank and the mint, were occupied by foreigners.

"Let's not talk about this; let's go to the restaurant for dinner."

Saint Hérse got out of bed, pulled open the curtains. The sun was shining brightly. He looked at the time.

It was already 2 o'clock. He hadn't eaten lunch. Saint Hérse didn't want to continue discussing this. He already had some ideas in mind on how to completely resolve the tariff import and export issues and legalize the solution.

Saint Hérse went to the bathroom for a shower, picked up the white shirt and pants on the floor to change into, and put on his watch. His black hair was somewhat soft and damp, making him very handsome and dashing.

Rosa had already put on her clothes, changing into a sea-blue silk long dress. Her skin was fair, her figure was plump and slender, and she had more intellectual charm than Natalie. Both had their own merits, Saint Hérse subconsciously compared them.

This kind of charm could perhaps be called mature intellectual beauty, with gorgeousness attached to the full smoothness.

Her beautiful emerald green eyes and smooth, chestnut-brown hair were tied up with a bow hairpin,

which once again made Saint Hérse's eyes light up. He thought to himself, "She's really beautiful. How didn't I realize it before? It's not too late now."

"Although it's impolite to ask a lady's age, you look like a 25-year-old girl. You look young and charming."

Saint Hérse kissed Rosa's hand and complimented her. He had always thought Rosa was around thirty years old. Her eldest daughter, Delia, had started kindergarten last year.

"Cohen, you're becoming more and more popular with the girls. Well, I'll reluctantly tell you that I'm the same age as that American movie star, Marilyn Monroe. Keep guessing!"

Rosa said playfully and happily, without giving a specific answer.

Marilyn Monroe is famous, but who knows how old she is? Saint-Hesse stopped paying attention to this matter.

At 3 p.m., Rosa took Saint-Hesse's arm and went to the hotel restaurant by elevator. They ordered some dishes. Because it was still early, there weren't many people in the hotel restaurant. Saint-Hesse found a window seat with a view of the scenery outside.

The restaurant was on the second floor of the hotel, with several kapok and jacaranda trees growing outside.

The sunlight and shadows intertwined, and the clover under the trees looked like golden leaves in the summer sun. The weather was good today, and the temperature wasn't too high. Looking at the thermometer on the wall, it was only 24 degrees Celsius.

Saint-Hesse took out his lighter and took out a cigar. Recently, he had been a bit addicted to cigars and cigarettes, which helped relieve stress. He was about to light it when he remembered that this was a public place, so he asked,

"Do you mind if I have one, Ms. Rosa?"

Now there are no such things as public places where smoking is not allowed.

"Hmm, it's okay. I think you look more manly when you smoke a cigar, dear."

Rosa looked at Saint-Hesse sitting across from her with some infatuation, not caring about this matter at all, and stood up to straighten Saint-Hesse's collar.

"How are Andy and Delia doing with their studies?"

Saint-Hesse asked vaguely, with a cigar in his mouth.

"Well, they are both doing pretty well in their studies. Now Maria Town is developing very fast, and all kinds of infrastructure are being built well. Moreover, Constantine is in charge of security and is doing a great job."

"Is that so? Then I have to give them some rewards. I have prepared gifts for them."

Saint-Hesse said without changing his expression, and would secretly tell Andrew later to buy some children's gifts quickly.

Constantine succeeded Cruz as the militia company commander and is still the number two figure in Maria Town.

At the same time, he is in charge of the new intelligence bureau. He is loyal to him. Although he is not a particularly creative genius, his execution ability is very strong.

"Maria Town should have become the second largest city in our province last year. The population has exceeded 100,000, and there are many more small companies, which are developing well."

Rosa took a sip of white wine, her face turning a little rosy, and then said,

"If you have time to go back, you can come and see the two little ones. They miss you very much."

"Well, school is already on vacation, but I've been quite busy recently. I'll see if I can go back to Maria Town when the summer vacation ends. To be honest, I haven't been back for almost half a year."

It's been almost 6 months since I went there during the winter vacation last year. Maria Town should be getting better and better.

"Well, I'm going back to Maria Town in a few days. It's almost the end of the month, and there are many things to deal with. I can't stay with you for too long."

The current financial processing is very backward. There are no computers or anything like that, and accounting is also troublesome.

There are no bank transfers or anything like that. If it weren't for the opening of a Cobank branch in Maria Town, it would be a pain to pay wages in cash, especially now that the peso is depreciating badly.

"It's okay. It's all for the development of the company. I'll find some reliable accountants then, and it won't be so busy."

Too fast development of the company also has too many troubles, especially for clothing factories, beverage factories, and beer factories, where the number of workers is large, and the wages are astronomical figures. Fortunately, Saint-Hesse's armed forces are strong. After taking the cash from the bank and paying the wages, the workers deposited it back into their personal accounts, which is equivalent to going through a process.

In fact, the depreciation of the peso is not too outrageous now, so everyone still has a sense of saving, unlike the Argentines in the future, who enjoy the moment and spend all their money as soon as they have it.

After sending Rosa back to her room, Saint-Hesse said he would come over tonight. Seine was still waiting for him to give instructions. It had been almost a year since he had seen Seine.

Seine is in charge of Sequoia Company in the United States, a ruthless money-making machine, executing Saint-Hesse's purchases of stocks and funds, and enjoying the bull market dividends of the American stock market for more than ten years after the war.

Every month, he takes money from Saint-Hesse and then buys, buys, buys. When needed, he sells it off.

After the war, the American shipping, electronics, and automobile industries, almost all industries, were constantly rising. You only need to buy the stocks and funds of well-known large companies in the future, and basically you will make money. Occasionally, you will lose money, and after a while, it will rise again.

Moreover, Seine's business trip to Japan two months ago was also a great help. He bought shares in three small companies, namely Sony, Honda, and Panasonic in the future, which were purchased in the name of the American Sequoia Fund. Other companies either asked for too high prices,

Or they didn't allow buying. Moreover, the prototype of the Japanese consortium has already appeared, and Saint-Hesse cannot spend too much money to invest in Japan. Just honestly develop the domestic market. This is just earning some extra money.

The focus is still on importing various production equipment in Europe, which is the foundation.

"Berkeley, let's chat casually tonight."

Saint-Hesse invited Seine to the office of Rhein Metall, Saint-Hesse's trump card enterprise.

Although Saint-Hesse arranged multiple insurances, the heavens are high and the emperor is far away, and who knows when bad thoughts will arise? This time, he also has to arrange for people from the Falcon Bureau and Delta Company to go to the United States together to keep an eye on Seine.

"Boss, your business is getting bigger and bigger now."

Seine was also a little emotional. He came to see Rhein Metall in the afternoon. It was very powerful and very strong. Saint-Hesse also specially arranged for him to go to Delta Security to extinguish the little thoughts in his heart.

The boss is not as simple as he seems on the surface, he can deal with the Argentine military and his own security company. He is not particularly capable.

With such a high salary, just honestly follow the boss. He also secretly follows the boss's account to buy stocks, and it is rising well, which makes him a little swollen, and then he chases the rise and kills the fall according to his own ideas, and as a result, he loses a lot.

"Berkeley, you did a good job on this trip to Japan. Can you tell me specifically about the situation in Japan?"

"Okay, boss, I'll just talk about it casually."

"The Japanese are a very terrible nation. Even if they were bombed twice by the Americans, they are now redeveloping. I have negotiated with more than a dozen companies such as Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui Corporation, and Toyota Motor Corporation. They don't need our investment at all."

The Japanese have undergone the baptism of World War II and have American troops stationed there. Even so, they are still proud and arrogant in their bones. It is normal to not be able to acquire shares.

"The recovery is very fast. The orders from the US military have made them very full. In addition to the three companies that were acquired, I also met some interesting people, such as Konosuke Matsushita, Soichiro Honda, Akio Morita, and Masaru Ibuka. These people are simply geniuses among geniuses."

Seine has seen a lot in the United States, but the boss gave him a list, and large companies are not allowed to invest in them. These few small companies, according to his idea, buying 30% to 40% of the shares is simply a small matter,

Then he found that it was impossible. Except for Tokyo Telecommunications taking 15% of the shares, the other two companies were 10%, and it was also because Rhein Metall wanted the production line of Honda Motor Company.

"Well, Japanese companies are just icing on the cake. Your focus is still on the United States. This year I will remit more funds to you. You should buy more of these companies' stocks and index funds."

"Okay, boss."

"Relax for a few days. I'll give you a new list in a couple of days, and you can buy some of their stocks."

"Yes, boss."

The two talked for another half an hour before Saint-Hesse drove to the hotel to accompany Rosa, and by the way, told Andrew to buy gifts. As a result, just as he was about to leave the manor, he saw his girlfriend, Elena.

Saint-Hesse stopped the car and quickly opened the door to let Elena get in.

"Cohen, what have you been busy with recently? You haven't come to see me during the holidays. I've been waiting for you at the manor all day today."

As soon as she got into the car, Elena said angrily.

"Dear, the Radical Party has been too busy with meetings recently. I'll keep you company tonight. I'm really sorry. There are too many things at the company waiting for me to deal with."

Saint-Hesse said apologetically. As a result, just as he drove back to the academy district, he saw Natalie walking out of the building. Saint-Hesse's heart was in his throat.

"Okay, I forgive you. I'm going to your house tonight. I haven't eaten yet."

Elena quietly stopped talking.

Fortunately, Natalie pretended not to know Saint-Hesse, and Saint-Hesse secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"No problem, I'll make you something delicious, dear."

"Cohen, you used to rarely call me dear, you always called me by my name, and did that girl just now know you?"

"Oh, that girl is the neighbor upstairs. I've seen her a few times and occasionally say hello. She seems to be a man."

Saint-Hesse said without blushing or skipping a beat.

Too scary! What the hell is today? They all ran into each other! This is going to crash!