Rise of the Argentine Empire

8 PM, Buenos Aires, in an ordinary family's home.

"Mom, why haven't we been turning on the lights lately? I really want to read and study."

A little girl's voice spoke from the darkness.

"We can't afford the electricity bill anymore. Get up early tomorrow morning to read. There aren't any streetlights outside either, and the world is dangerous at night. Remember that, or someone will snatch you up and sell you."

A tired young woman's voice echoed in the darkness. She worked hard all day at the laundry factory, but now she couldn't even afford the electricity bill.

"Okay, Mom, but haven't we been earning more money? Dad went out to sea to fish, too."

"The electricity bill has gone up even more. Our money can only buy black bread and instant noodles, and we can't even buy too many instant noodles."

"I understand, but I really want to eat meat. It's been so, so long since I last ate it. I really, really want to eat it."

"I also want to go back to the countryside. At least we could eat meat often there, and I could play with the puppy."

"But, we can't go back."

The young woman sighed, saying helplessly.

"Okay, I'll be good. Can we have another little brother?"

"Maybe when our family is a bit better off."

"Okay, but why did we leave the countryside?"

"Our fields were taken away by those landowning nobles. The president also said there was work in the city. You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

"Mom, I read in the school newspaper today that there's a place called Sunshine Farm. They're recruiting workers, preferably families going together."

"Go to sleep early. We'll talk about it tomorrow, or we'll be even hungrier. Talking wastes energy."

"Okay."

This situation occurred in almost every Argentinian city. To ensure core electricity usage and production needs, Argentinian power companies continuously increased residential electricity prices.

This led to many families being unable to afford electricity. Especially in the past year, at least 270,000 people had moved into Buenos Aires, representing at least 200,000 votes, most of whom would vote for Perón.

Moreover, Argentina currently had fewer than three million votes that could be cast, of which 700,000 were women, all mobilized by Eva Perón, and they would also vote for Perón.

Many of these new residents couldn't find work, let alone afford electricity. Lighting a candle at night was a luxury.

If there were Earth satellites now, you could see that almost 99.9% of Argentina's land was unlit at night.

Even the capital, Buenos Aires, had started implementing power rationing measures due to the massive population. Fortunately, electricity for factories could basically be guaranteed, or the union members would scatter the electricity company's ashes.

In fact, most of the strikes in Argentina were in state-owned factories. Private companies wouldn't dare to mess around. They had many ways to fire people, and even hired thugs. If you were really removed from the list, it would be very difficult to find a job. Argentina's job market was currently extremely competitive.

In the past decade or so, Argentina's urbanization had progressed rapidly, but the supporting infrastructure and job opportunities couldn't keep up. This could be said to be a completely failed urbanization, with the urbanization rate directly approaching that of the United States, and there were almost no people left in the suburbs.

Relatively affordable, they could meet the replacement needs of ordinary families. Meat products such as beef often had a lot of starch and seasonings added.

Saint-Jose had to formulate a brand new internationalization strategy for Praly Foods in order to allow the Praly factory to continue to develop rapidly. Fortunately, the demand in the international market was still very large, such as the South American market and the European market.

There were also French people in Vietnam and Chinese in Nanyang, all of whom had huge food and beverage demands. Of course, Praly's main market was still the nearby Brazil and other countries. Other country markets were not cost-effective, and the freight was relatively high.

To truly become a global food and beverage company, it was necessary to establish new factories in local countries. Saint-Jose didn't want to do it for the time being, as it required a lot of talent.

It could be said that the Argentine food and beverage market environment was already extremely harsh, as if overnight, beverages, soda, beer, and coffee had suddenly become luxury goods, and the bottom people were living cautiously.

If it hadn't been for the new instant noodle production line developed last year, this high-growth point, which saved Praly's domestic market, it would have been an unexpected surprise.

Praly was almost on the verge of losses. Not to mention beef, ordinary Argentinians could now only afford black bread, and instant noodles were their new choice.

The people's resentment had already begun to accumulate, and Perón's ruling foundation had begun to be shaken.

… …

Recently, Saint-Jose had attended several funerals of his subordinates, all of whom had sacrificed in Europe. When they went out, they were still lively people, but when they came back, only urns of ashes remained, making him feel a little uncomfortable, and he didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong.

At the funerals, the priests recited prayers for them. Saint-Jose stood silently at the back of the crowd, bowing and mourning for them. Seeing their families crying their hearts out, he once again fell into a long silence.

Up to now, he had personally seen off quite a few people. Some people had also died in the Potassium Triangle due to some incidents. He couldn't personally attend to each one, so he could only let Guerrero be responsible for presiding over it.

In order to combat some gangsters, warlords, bandits, private armies of land nobles, and foreign rebel armies, the Thunder Cross had been under a lot of pressure in the Potassium Triangle. Of course, the rewards were also generous, giving Saint-Jose's industrial farms reserved land.

Saint-Jose engraved the names of all the sacrificed people in his heart. In addition to properly settling their families and making generous compensation, he planned to build a special monument for them in the future to commemorate their outstanding contributions.

To be honest, even the construction of the steel plant in La Plata had lost many workers due to some accidental safety accidents. For this reason, the city of La Plata had specially set up a medical team at the construction site.

There were also accidental deaths in Praly International's fleet, which made him sigh at the fragility of life again, and he became more careful. He felt that the responsibilities he was shouldering were getting bigger and bigger.

This also made him more firm in his inner thoughts. If he didn't do this now, Argentina might die hundreds or thousands of people in a simple military coup in the future, which he didn't want to see.

They sacrificed for the bright future of Argentina, and they were all nameless heroes of Argentina.

Saint Marx once said that the road is tortuous, but the future is bright. The current darkness is to welcome a better and brighter future.

Recently, his Falcon Intelligence Bureau's intelligence search and analysis capabilities had become stronger and stronger, and he had recruited a lot of intelligence analysis talents, which was an unexpected surprise. Argentina was currently in economic difficulties.

Many students couldn't find jobs after graduation, and the high-paying Cohen Consulting Company was a good place to go. If the assessment was successful, they would be developed into members of the Falcon Bureau.

The Thunder Cross had also returned to the path of simultaneous personnel expansion and reduction. Expansion was to expand the scale, and reduction was to improve combat effectiveness. Several families who interfered with Morado Town were directly eliminated.

Their land was annexed. It could be said that the Thunder Cross now had the final say in the Potassium Triangle.

Also, the North Americans in the north were developing mines in Bolivia and Paraguay, trying to create a split in Argentina, and there were many conflicts with the Thunder Cross.

Making the Thunder Cross very passive.

… …

Buenos Aires, headquarters of Sunshine Agriculture, Saint-Jose was discussing some specific implementation matters of industrial farms with some employees.

Sunshine Agriculture was originally a shell company registered by Saint-Jose, but now it had become an agricultural reclamation company. The name was just chosen casually.

Saint-Jose had brought Nora from Praly International over, and with the help of some university talents in the biology department, the headquarters was still located in Buenos Aires.

Saint-Jose and Nora were in the office.

It had been a long time since he had seen this little chili pepper, and he felt a little guilty. He had brought Nora to Buenos Aires in the first place, and sent her directly to Praly International because he was too lazy to deal with it, letting her go there to study. By his reckoning, it had been almost eight months.

"Nora, have you been doing well lately? Are there many things happening at Plarrie International?"

"Boss, I feel like I've learned a lot. I'm very grateful for this great learning opportunity you gave me."

Nora was wearing a black dress today. Her long black hair was tied up, and she no longer had that wild feeling she once had.

"That's good. This time, I'm letting you work at the newly established agricultural company. If you like, you can work back home. I'll set up a branch office in Oran."

"Boss, I don't want to go home anymore. Home isn't as interesting as Bu City." Is this the legendary saying that girls don't stay home when they grow up? It made him a little embarrassed.

"Boss, I still want to work with you in the future. I can continue to be your secretary. I've learned a lot of new things recently." Nora hugged Saint Hesser, her eyes filled with tears.

"Is someone at Plarrie International bullying you?" Saint Hesser asked softly, touching Nora's head.

"No, I just feel that you're better, Boss."

"Okay, then. You can come back here to work from now on. I'll arrange for you to go to Cohen Consulting. I'm mainly going there more often now."

"Okay, you're so good, Boss." Nora kissed Saint Hesser, her tears stopping instantly, and she smiled slyly.

After multiple studies and learning from the Soviets' experience, Sunshine Agriculture finally optimized various plans before starting experiments in northern Argentina.

Saint Hesser's initial goal wasn't to hire farmers, but to carry out collective labor and then hand over the output.

However, it was strongly opposed when implemented and turned into a capitalist mode of production, but with various good benefits.

The most important thing was actually agricultural mechanization and the use of fertilizers, but in order to simultaneously allow these Argentinians to have better incomes, it was changed to building various infrastructure.

The final product is likely to become a production and construction corps model, which can very well protect the safety of their farms.

The development of northern Argentina is very backward, but the conditions here are among the best in the world. Saint Hesser found some agricultural experts to estimate that,

not counting the fertile Pampas grasslands, just the eleven provinces of northern Argentina, if well-constructed, could produce at least 60 million tons of various food crops, accommodating over 30 million people, and living very comfortably.

Such agricultural potential is terrifyingly high, and this is far less fertile than the Pampas grasslands. The population density of the eleven provinces is very low.

In the last decade, the north has lost nearly 1.2 million people, most of whom have flowed to large cities in the south, such as Bu City, Ke City, and Luo City, which is very detrimental to the construction of northern Argentina.

Currently, Argentina's development is showing a severely unbalanced trend, which is that the Argentine central region, especially around Bu City, is gradually decreasing outward towards Ke City.

Whether it is southern Argentina or northern Argentina, both are very poor and backward, while the central region is the most developed area in the country.

Because his Thunder Cross developed very quickly, and many of these security guards, due to their physical fitness and other reasons, directly became employees of Sunshine Agriculture after retiring.

In order to improve combat capabilities, Thunder Cross has a very high attrition rate. Employees who leave Thunder Cross often cannot find other good jobs, so industrial farms have become a very good place to go.

These security guards also have another part-time job, becoming militiamen of the farms, protecting the safety of the farms while also reducing the pressure on Thunder Cross, equipping them with some standard weapons to defend against some large beasts.

Through the support of the Potassium Triangle and Thunder Cross, and the initial crackdown on some land nobles and bankrupt households, forcibly seizing and acquiring wasteland, they suddenly possessed 57,000 acres of land in northern Argentina, and initially integrated it into a large farm company.

Salta Province, Salta City, on the eastern side of the Andes Mountains, with autumn leaves falling.

A group of Sunshine Agriculture employees are preparing to divide the land and build a large industrial farm, or rather, a large-scale farm. This is a barren plain, with weeds and杂草丛生 growing on the land, which has been abandoned for a long time. The surrounding villages have also declined, leaving only some elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people in the villages.

This is named No. 1 Sunshine Industrial Farm, and it will be the first industrial manor under Sunshine Agriculture.

The person in charge of the No. 1 Farm project is a senior student from Buda who graduated a few years ago, named Scott Fann, who is responsible for surveying and dividing the land, carrying out repairs, excavating water conservancy facilities, and building small reservoirs. In a few months, when spring comes, spring sowing can be carried out.

The autumn and winter seasons are just right for building water conservancy projects. Although Saint Hesser is not exactly using work as a form of relief, he did purchase and equip them with some excavation machinery and trucks for transporting cement and bricks produced by the Cedec factory, as well as building canals, small reservoirs, storage ponds, biogas digesters, breeding farms, and other facilities.

Northern Argentina has a subtropical climate, with simultaneous rain and heat, and the rainfall is quite good, but the water conservancy facilities are not as good as the developed south, and there are very few local people engaged in agriculture, belonging to the stage of relying on the sky for food.

After Sunshine Agriculture was established, it directly created many jobs locally. Saint Hesser's goal was to bring farmers who had left their homes to work back to the villages. Next year, they can raise dairy cows, chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep on the farm, drive tractors, and grow food crops such as wheat and corn. In the future, they can also grow rice.

For this reason, many advertisements and newspapers were scattered in the slums of Argentina to recruit more family employees.

Such measures were welcomed by many people at the bottom. Saint Hesser took advantage of the situation to propose the "Northern Argentina Development Plan", referring to the Western Strategy of New China in later generations, the American Westward Expansion, and Brazil's future Brazilian Highlands Development Plan.

He is working hard to improve his plan. As an agricultural company, it is impossible to fundamentally change the overall face of Argentina.

The climate and natural conditions in northern Argentina are much better than in the south. Now, the north is declining year by year, and the central region continues to prosper, which is very detrimental to the overall situation in Argentina.

Moreover, even neighboring Brazil is thinking about developing the Brazilian Highlands. The conditions in northern Argentina are much better than those in the Brazilian Highlands and have great potential.

Saint Hesser plans to start from agriculture, mining, and industry, and write an Argentine version of the small northern plan. The amount of capital required will not be too much, and it will also involve land reform, urban construction, and other issues.

The purpose is to invest the bottom-level population and private investment in the central and eastern regions into the north, revitalize economic vitality, and improve the development level of the northern region of Argentina. At the same time, it can consolidate national defense, prevent the evil separatist intentions of the Americans, and also very well prevent the guerrillas of the Bolivians from sabotaging.

Moreover, by the end of the year, there will be tractors and motorcycles produced by Argentinians themselves. Thinking about it is exciting. In order to produce molten iron faster, according to the Belgians' intentions, a medium-sized blast furnace will be built first, which can be put into production in less than 4 months.

The converter can also be made in an experimental version first, so the problem of steel raw materials can be said to have been solved. The rest is to arrange for the tractor factory and motorcycle factory to be built quickly.

Now the international grain market is constantly deteriorating, and the population growth after World War II is very fast. Argentina is one of the few countries in the world that can continue to be self-sufficient and export.

At least until it grows to a population of 100 million, Argentina's grain self-sufficiency rate will not decrease in any way. Countries like Argentina that can export grain are fewer than ten fingers.

"Cohen, what's the situation with this Northern Development Plan you're talking about?" Saint Hesser was invited by Arturo again.

"Respected Mr. Arturo, I believe that Argentina is now in crisis and needs to develop the vast north, especially the penetration of the Soviets and Americans into the north. They collude with the northern land nobles and try to split Argentina, which is not conducive to our country's territorial integrity."

"My plan is based on the American Westward Expansion. We Argentinians can also carry out a Northward Movement. The president moved the Sans-chemise army to the cities, causing the cities to be overwhelmed,"

"And we still have so much land in the north that has not been developed. By the way, the Brazilians are also preparing a large-scale Brazilian Highlands Development Plan. I heard that they are also planning to move the capital."

In order to increase his persuasiveness, Saint Hesser directly threw out the practices of the Brazilians two or three years later.

"Really? The Brazilians don't want Rio de Janeiro anymore?" Arturo asked in surprise.