Rise of the Argentine Empire

Saint Hesser changed into light clothing and, with the support of most people, arrived at the banquet hall with a group of high-level officials and subordinates from Blanca City.

Fortunately, the banquet hall had turned on the air conditioning early, otherwise everyone's image would definitely have been a bit unsightly.

The wealthy Blanca City Hall logistics department had been preparing here for a whole day.

The freshest seasonal seafood, fine Cuban cigars, and top-quality beef and mutton from near Blanca City all showed the luxurious preparation of this banquet, which had reached the level of high-end banquets in Buenos Aires.

At least it wouldn't be too rude.

And the big shots also received meticulous reception. Dozens of luxury cars from Britain and Germany were provided by the newly wealthy in Blanca City and driven by skilled military personnel to pick up and drop off the big shots. The reception etiquette personnel were provided by the old three major families, which was their way of showing off.

The new rich in Blanca City may not have much else, but they have a lot of money and can compete with some companies in Buenos Aires.

But apart from the five richest companies and those who rang the bell today, most companies were not qualified to participate, even though they had started lobbying long ago. In short, they were not qualified enough.

Saint Hesser also prepared a banquet of similar standards for these hundreds of wealthy individuals, except that the big shots didn't attend. The other standards were comparable to alleviate their dissatisfaction. Saint Hesser arranged the most outstanding investment promotion team for them, along with two deputy mayors and municipal officials.

Only the top businessmen and families in Blanca City could send representatives to the Argentine National Stock Exchange's thank-you banquet.

This banquet was only for hospitality. Saint Hesser kept his interactions with these powerful figures brief, only offering casual greetings. He only needed to obtain their approval so that Argentine funds could continuously pour into Blanca City.

Blanca City's desire for funds and investment exceeded that of any other city in Argentina.

In fact, there were many acquaintances and some enemies attending the banquet, but Saint Hesser maintained his composure, neither being too intimate nor causing conflicts, only appearing as the host.

Among the people sent by the Radical Civic Union, besides the old acquaintance Luis, who had been promoted to Secretary-General of the National Office, there was a Radical Civic Union member named Bosado Américo who almost clashed with Saint Hesser. Saint Hesser didn't bring his wife but brought Nora Mesandes from Future Agriculture.

As a result, this guy was quite lecherous. He took a fancy to Nora and started pulling and tugging at her. Nora had never suffered such treatment and slapped him twice directly across the face.

He endured it in order not to spoil the atmosphere, at least for now the relationship with the Radical Civic Union was still quite pleasant, and the help was great.

Sabo was the nephew of Frondizi, a giant within the Radical Civic Union, and was as lustful as his life. The female companion he brought was actually quite attractive, but he wanted to play some tricks, which turned out to be quite tragic.

The Southern Radical Civic Union was not directly affiliated with the Radical Civic Union, but a hybrid. After persuasion from others, that was the end of it.

Sabo left early with his female companion.

Apart from this unpleasant little incident, Saint Hesser also got acquainted with Argentine Minister of Economy, Andrés Cel, who was over fifty years old. He looked strong and vigorous on the outside, but in reality, his body had long been hollowed out by wine and women.

He was holding a mixed-race beauty in her early twenties, looking like he was losing his strength. This mixed-race beauty had a pure and lovely face, no less than Nora. It was said that she was a newly debuted starlet, a canary he kept.

"Minister, I wish you a pleasant time."

The conversation with the Minister of Economy was quite pleasant. With Andrés's approval, Blanca City would have more freedom to develop.

Saint Hesser only needed to pay a small price. As for what the price was, no one knew.

When the banquet ended, it basically followed the strict order of status, with the higher-ups leaving first and the lower-ranking ones leaving later. As the host, Saint Hesser saw them off one by one, to the most luxurious hotels or estates.

This establishment of the Stock Exchange officially ended. Although the top Argentine bosses didn't come, there were still some gains.

This time, Saint Hesser, as a local tycoon, had friendly conversations with the major bosses, securing nearly 70 million US dollars in investment, as well as investment intentions from 47 companies.

Saint Hesser offered land and loans.

The energy of these big shots was still quite amazing.

And Blanca City had the potential to be the most foreign-trade-oriented city in Argentina. No one would嫌钱多 (dislike having more money).

In addition to discussing some Stock Exchange matters, Saint Hesser continued his investment promotion efforts, hoping to bring more excellent companies to Blanca City.

Saint Hesser didn't feel much excitement or pride in the current development of Blanca City.

The world was developing too fast. The development of Blanca City could only be said to be eye-catching in Argentina or South America. Compared to other countries and established cities in Europe and America, it didn't stand out.

Most Argentine companies or state-owned manufacturers, affected by trade protectionism policies, didn't participate in export competition and didn't have much motivation to update their products.

Argentina still had many excellent companies and factories that held a position in South America. The annual output value of these companies, which weren't part of the Saint Hesser Group, was around 500,000 to 2 million US dollars, and they were still living quite comfortably.

After Argentina opened its doors, a number of excellent companies in the industry had already been acquired by large companies in the UK, US, and European countries.

This situation mainly occurs in Buenos Aires. As the capital, Buenos Aires has nearly 60,000 companies and factories of all sizes, accounting for almost 40% of the total number of companies in Argentina. In contrast, Bahía Blanca, even after its rapid expansion, only has around 7,000. The excellent enterprises in Buenos Aires are also the focus of Saint Hérse's poaching efforts.

Despite large-scale economic expansion, the economic size of Bahía Blanca is only about 1/5 of that of Buenos Aires, currently at a scale of 450 million US dollars, ranking second in Argentina.

This is due to the commissioning of several major projects after the war. Refineries, steel plants, and automobile factories are all powerful tools for boosting GDP, and these factories have also greatly promoted the economic development of Bahía Blanca.

It is estimated that Bahía Blanca can grow by another 30%-40% next year.

Buenos Aires' GDP accounts for approximately 30% of Argentina's total GDP. Last year, Argentina's total economic output was approximately 7.5 billion US dollars, 1.3 billion US dollars less than Brazil's 8.7 billion US dollars.

In the 1950s, the economic levels of the two countries were not much different, but now Argentina has been completely surpassed, and Brazil's economic growth rate is even higher.

Argentina's foreign exchange reserves have slowly recovered this year, reaching 380 million US dollars, 190 million US dollars more than when Perón stepped down, while Brazil's foreign exchange reserves have exceeded 600 million US dollars.

Of course, in terms of national average wealth, Brazil is still far behind Argentina, but these figures are only passable in South America.

The United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, West Germany, Italy, and even formerly impoverished Australia, India, and New China have begun to develop rapidly.

The economic scale of the United States has exceeded 390 billion US dollars, far surpassing the Soviet Union, and it is also the world's largest market.

The Soviet Union is currently hovering around the 100 billion US dollar mark, with fierce pursuers behind it.

Australia, across the Pacific, has a very fast economic growth rate. Last year, its GDP was close to that of Argentina. This place, which was once almost a penal colony, has discovered large-scale mineral deposits and is rapidly developing them to supply the world.

Under the leadership of Nehru, India's development is very rapid, and it has begun to fully unify the country, clean up the princely states, and implement centralism.

The economy of New China in East Asia has begun to take off, completing its economic recovery and starting the First Five-Year Plan, with its economic scale directly reaching 30 billion US dollars.

Italy, once the weakest of the major European powers, has also begun to take off, with its economic scale exceeding 10 billion US dollars.

Britain and France have directly exceeded 50 billion US dollars, second only to the United States.

West Germany is also approaching a scale of 50 billion US dollars.

India, Japan, and Canada have all exceeded 20 billion US dollars, among which Japan's development does not seem fast, but its investment is amazing. The scale of investment in steel, chemicals, and oil far exceeds that of India and New China. The United States also needs to support an Asian bridgehead.

The strength of a city is still too weak.

After a few more days, the market value of the stock exchange doubled again, reaching 140 million US dollars, which is a good start.

Next week, start screening new companies for listing.

Bahía Blanca is also creating momentum across the country, taking the opportunity to expand its influence.

This is a win-win situation.

In one week, another 40 million US dollars of intended contracts were signed. In return, Saint Hérse personally endorsed them.

The Bahía Blanca Customs also announced its establishment. The free trade port, bonded zone, and port-adjacent industrial zone began to be legitimized and entered Argentina's national strategy.

The province of Buenos Aires announced the establishment of the La Plata Customs and Monte Hermoso Customs to counter the Bahía Blanca Customs, but with little effect.

Argentina has entered a new era of opening up and development. Foreign trade has begun to become a growth point for the Argentine economy, with the share of industrial equipment growing rapidly. The main export goods are still beef, mutton, and grain.

Argentina is expected to have a bumper grain harvest this year.

Autumn has arrived.

… …

March 5th,

Bahía Blanca, Cohen Manor, a large room.

Cohen Manor is a new manor built by Saint Hérse, with a main structure made of reinforced concrete, built by Cohen Construction.

It has 5 floors underground and 3 floors above ground, built quite solidly and discreetly. Only Saint Hérse's most capable subordinates are qualified to enter. Only 13 people are seated on site.

The entire room was very quiet, and some people could even clearly hear the sound of their own heartbeats coming from their chests, and the heartbeat was very clear.

Saint Hérse cleared his throat and looked at these core members around him.

“My campaign goal this time is very simple, which is to win the second term of the La Pampa Province high-ranking official position.”

The term of office for high-ranking officials in Argentina is generally three years, and they can be re-elected. Generally, if they get more than 50% of the votes, they can be directly elected. If not, they need to carry out other work, such as re-election among the candidates.

“Although we have obtained the support of the La Pampa high-ranking official, our campaign is very difficult, so we must be fully prepared.”

Saint Hérse has many opponents in the election. Although he is capable and has achieved quite a few results, he is not stable and there is a possibility of failure.

Even with so many votes in Bahía Blanca.

His age is a major weakness. He has publicly stated that he is already 28 years old, and will be exactly 29 years old when he participates in the election.

And his actual age is only 25 years old, just after his birthday, and he is already the father of 4 children, including 3 illegitimate children.

The competitors tried to amend the election law, but Saint Hérse's people rejected it.

Saint Hérse is more than capable of being the mayor, but many people still have concerns about him taking charge of a province.

“Our goal is to dispel their concerns and let them cast their votes for me.”

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The chapter is wrong, it should be chapter 274. I didn’t contact the editor to change it. I will try to update another chapter tomorrow. I wish you all a happy Dragon Boat Festival.