Rise of the Argentine Empire

After a series of thunderclaps, a steady drizzle began to fall, nourishing the land south of the La Pampa prairie.

Truthfully, the rainfall in Blanca City was still a bit lacking compared to Buenos Aires in the north.

This was the first rain before the arrival of summer in Blanca City. The temperature had slowly risen to 18 degrees Celsius, and around noon it was almost 22 degrees Celsius, feeling a bit like summer.

"It seems like it hasn't rained in a long time. Fortunately, the Blanca City water plant's supply isn't a major problem, and we can store some water."

With nearly seven or eight hundred thousand people in the entire city, the demand for drinking water, as well as for industry and agriculture, put a little pressure on Blanca City, which doesn't receive as much rainfall as the northern provinces. Fortunately, it's close to the Colorado River and has small tributaries, and the hydropower station is large enough, with sufficient water storage in the reservoir, so there aren't any major problems.

Saint-Hesse changed into a set of refreshing clothes and stood by the window of the city hall, watching the continuous drizzle and listening to the thunder, feeling surprisingly peaceful.

Although he wasn't old, only twenty-four this year, in the prime of his life, he could already be considered a local strongman.

He casually sat in the chair, the two wisps of mustache above his lips adding a bit of authority, making him look like a capable and efficient official around thirty years old, adding maturity and a sharp temperament.

The rain fell and stopped, then stopped and fell again. In the morning, the sun shone, but by noon it had become gloomy. The lingering rain still fell from the sky, making one feel refreshed and pleasant.

This rain lasted for three days and three nights before it completely stopped, thoroughly soaking the dry land, which was quite rare.

The three neighboring provinces of Blanca City had been infiltrated quite well by Saint-Hesse. The largest tentacle was the Southern Radical Party, and the rest were various commercial companies. Chubut Province and Santa Cruz Province were the key development provinces for Southern Petroleum, and they were slowly getting closer. Tierra del Fuego further south was just a marginal area and not very important.

Now he had recruited and gathered a large group of social talents. Besides the talented individuals distributed in various companies, some were also placed in the Blanca City and provincial city halls to help him control these vast forces. The San Martin City Hall could also be seen as his sphere of influence.

Some of these talents were good at financial management, managing companies and factories, while others were political elites, good at urban management, forming a vast, complex, and sophisticated force.

For example, San Martin City now had a population approaching five hundred thousand, firmly holding the position of the second-largest city in Cordoba Province, and vaguely challenging the authority of Cordoba City, just like Rosario City.

San Martin City was still under his control. Most of the councilors in the San Martin City Council and city hall officials were also closely related to him. About 30% of the city's economic industry belonged to him. He owned most of the city's real estate, and most of the industrial areas were developed by him. He was also the largest landlord in San Martin City, but at least this money wasn't much, and he didn't want to earn this money.

San Martin City was developing very quickly, and its economic strength was already very close to Cordoba, only its political status was not as good as Cordoba. But as long as the population of San Martin City could continue to grow, then one day it could compete with Cordoba.

Another important thing was that the geographical location of San Martin City was actually not bad. It was also a railway transportation hub city, and it was convenient to connect with neighboring provinces and cities. Moreover, because it was located in a plain, it could better connect with other provinces, such as Santa Fe, San Luis, Santiago del Estero, La Pampa, and Mendoza.

Some of Saint-Hesse's established companies, such as Blue Cloud Textile, Philip Industries, Maya Chemical, Plarrie Foods, Miranda Beverage Foods, and Cohen Construction, all had important production bases or regional headquarters here, and they were also Saint-Hesse's eyes and ears.

Like the newly established San Martin Commercial Bank, San Martin University, and San Martin Insurance Company, basically all had his shadow and equity participation behind them, or even controlling shares.

If the current mayor, Klose, really wanted to get rid of his control, then just replace him with someone else. Klose used to be just a general manager of his company. His ability level was also relatively ordinary. There weren't many people like this, but there were definitely not few.

Some of the key departments of San Martin City were also firmly controlled by Saint-Hesse. This was, after all, the place where he made his fortune, so how could he not value it? At most, he would just tolerate and retreat a little. If anyone really wanted to eat the fat of San Martin City, they would have to see if their teeth were good enough.

Others, like the Potassium Triangle region, this partial direct line, now Thunder Mining and Andes Tobacco Company earn him 30 to 40 million US dollars in profit every year. After the Pachon Copper and Jujuy Iron Mine are put into production, it may even reach 70 to 80 million US dollars in profit.

These huge profits were also one of the reasons supporting the rapid development of Saint-Hesse's various industries and Blanca City.

Currently, the development of Blanca City had entered a small bottleneck, and he was thinking about how to solve it.

He couldn't help but feel complex thoughts.

......

In order to further increase the development potential of Blanca City, and at the same time develop a large area of land west of the urban area, Saint-Hesse planned to develop a new district between the Posca District and the Ahriki District, as the new administrative center of Blanca City, moving the city hall here, and at the same time, it could also promote the development of the Ahriki District and the Posca District, and maintain a good relationship with the provincial city hall.

With the continuous expansion of the prosperous areas of Blanca City, the original Blanca City, which only had one east-west urban area prosperous area, could no longer meet the development situation.

The current administrative center, the West City District, which was the first to have scaled development in Blanca City, had reached its limit after a long time. Although the administrative divisions of the East and West City Districts had been expanded and redivided by merging five old districts in the past two years, whether it was land, industrial zone development, or various development population developments, they had all reached a certain level.

Saint-Hesse's solution was to plan ahead and accelerate this trend, carry out the relocation of the administrative center, and develop some more future-oriented industries, such as finance, electronics, electrical appliances, education, technology, biomedicine, aerospace, and commercial trade, all of which required more land to develop and support.

In fact, Alta District was now the fastest-growing district in Blanca City, surpassing the original East District, not only along the coast, but also large enough in area.

Not only was the port excellent, but the portside industrial area adjacent to the East District was now building a large number of industrial plants, forming many industrial zones. The development of industry and manufacturing was rapid, making it the most important industrial development zone in Blanca City.

Currently, there were 24 large, medium, and small industrial zones built, with at least more than 600 factories, plant buildings and supporting facilities of 2.2 million square meters, as well as a large number of trade markets, which were huge in scale and quite prosperous.

Many universities, led by the National Southern University, were also located here. A large number of factories in building materials, textiles, food, steel, automobiles, leather, hardware, watches, etc., were increasing their taxes every month.

The problem was that Alta District was too far away from the expanded Blanca City, even further than the West City District, and did not have the conditions to establish a new administrative center at all.

Rapidly developing Alta District, which was close to Buenos Aires Province, was a wrong path, and it would also cause the city's development to be unbalanced, failing to exert the advantages of the provincial capital. After all, as a large province, it was not conducive to the development of the provincial capital city if it was close to other provinces rather than close to its own province.

It would also easily cause the future development of Blanca City to be distorted, unable to drive the development and interaction of the small brothers in La Pampa Province, and it would be even further away from the three small coastal cities, which would miss the opportunity for development.

Saint Hérsé's goal of establishing the Greater Blanca Metropolitan Area will not change, nor will the goals of the cities in the Blanca Bay area change. A prosperous and developing urban cluster is a virtuous cycle of development, far better than going it alone, and it is also easier to develop industrial chains and achieve industrialization.

Moreover, it has been a while since the La Pampa Provincial Government Hall was relocated. Although the Provincial Government Hall and the Blanca City Hall are in a honeymoon period, their relationship may deteriorate in the future if they are not bound together, and resources may be concentrated elsewhere.

The wide area in the middle can also allow the new central urban area and the old central urban area to jointly form a super center serving the entire city, a larger, more mature, and more complete city center.

Since Blanca City expanded its area last year, the West District is no longer located in the center of Blanca City, and a large amount of land in the west and south has not been developed, which is also an unstable factor in the future development of Blanca City. It has reached the point where it must be changed.

The development of the Posca district is currently relatively slow, far inferior to the Arta district, and even has a tendency to be surpassed by the Macro district. This completely wastes the carefully planned merger by Saint Hérsé. This is also one of the reasons why Saint Hérsé wants to establish a petrochemical industrial zone, and it is not just for the development of southern oil and Maya Chemical.

The Posca district itself is located within the currently planned Second Ring Road. Saint Hérsé has timely adjusted the transportation plan. In addition to the existing five old districts, the large new districts and towns east and south of the Posca district have also been included in the development plan, which can be connected through several new main roads.

The new administrative center is roughly closer to the geographical center of Blanca City, and the distance to each district and town will be more reasonable and convenient. It is also located at the end of Blanca Bay, which is more conducive to urban defense and is also closer to La Pampa Province and further away from the Belgrano Naval Port.

The Posca district can also be included in the main urban area. The Southern Petrochemical Industrial Zone actually only occupies a very small part of the Posca district, and other land resources are quite abundant and completely unaffected.

Under these conditions, Blanca City's advantages in developing a port-based economy and building an international metropolis will continue to expand. A truly emerging industrial city will also completely rise in southern Argentina, exert influence on Chile and the Strait of Magellan, and become a core city in the South Pacific and South Atlantic regions.

The backward transportation, slow economic development, limited fiscal revenue, slow construction of educational infrastructure, and slow population growth in the Posca and Ajerich districts will also be completely changed. A large amount of construction funds can continuously flow into these two districts, and a large amount of infrastructure investment will also completely change the current backward situation and achieve a change from being transfused to achieving self-sufficiency.

......

Blanca City Hall Office,

Deputy Mayor Rostek is reporting on the latest situation, which is not very optimistic. The recent public opinion has put him under a lot of pressure.

Although Rostek once served as a councilor in Buenos Aires, the situation he faces is far more complex than that of Blanca City now.

Blanca City is now truly a mixed bag, with all kinds of people, not only locals but also outsiders, foreign workers, spies, all kinds of people, and the population is also increasing rapidly every month.

It is impossible to send out the police or something whenever there is trouble. This year's situation is no longer comparable to the small-scale troubles of the past. Every time something happens, sending out these police departments and defense forces is also a sign of incompetence.

"Mr. Mayor, the survey on moving the City Hall from the West District to the Posca District is not optimistic. A large amount of public opinion opposing voices has emerged among the citizens, and the workers have also been instigated."

"The people who strongly oppose this new policy can be classified into the following categories: 1: Those who occupy major leadership positions in the City Hall, 2: Those whose main social relationships and properties are in the two urban areas of Blanca City. These people account for about 30%, belonging to the current upper class. Once they are划归, the interests of this group of people are likely to be damaged. These people are strongly opposed to reform, are the vested interest group, and are the biggest obstacle to the reform and relocation of the City Hall. 3. Those who have acquired a large amount of wealth or investment in the development of the east and west urban areas of Blanca City due to land and construction."

"In fact, there are many people who support it. A large amount of construction means that there are many civil service vacancies and many new opportunities. Many young people actually support the relocation."

"Mr. Mayor, that's roughly the situation."

Rostek quietly wiped away a handful of sweat. He had to say that Saint Hérsé gave him a lot of pressure, but he was also very grateful in his heart, which also meant that he had a brighter future.

Saint Hérsé is now a very scheming person after all, his face only twitched slightly, and he immediately recovered.

"Blanca City has now formed a certain interest group, and they own a large amount of assets in the east and west districts. If the administrative center is transferred, it will easily cause devaluation and even fail to develop as expected in the future. State-owned enterprises have been established here, becoming the place with the most high-end job positions in Blanca City. If the City Hall is relocated, it will also slowly shift westward."

Rostek continued, the development of state-owned companies and factories in Blanca City is very rapid now, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has made great contributions. It currently controls 19 medium and large companies such as Blanca City Commercial Bank, Blanca City First Construction, Second Construction, Blanca City Department Store, Blanca City Port, Blanca City Medical, and a batch of municipal infrastructure companies. The scale is relatively large, and the management is very advanced.

The treatment of these state-owned companies is also good, the benefits are good, and they are very standardized. Joining a state-owned company is the dream job of many Blanca City citizens, but the recruitment demand is not large, and the requirements are relatively high.

"Actually, this is a good thing. I will personally promote this matter."

Saint Hérsé's expression did not change much, but he found it interesting.

In the past few years, the development of Blanca City has been too smooth. The east and west urban areas alone have created a large number of nouveau riches who rely on real estate, but now they have become a constraint on the reform and relocation of the City Hall. Interesting, interesting.

Because of the huge amount of import and export, the customs duties of Blanca City are also increasing on a large scale. Blanca City will soon become one of the two major trade centers in Argentina.